Daily Liturgy
Monday March 8
Third Week of Lent
SALVATION FOR PAGANS
Introduction
Today’s liturgy thinks especially of converts who are baptized and immersed into the baptismal water. Are conversion and missionary action still valid? Why be concerned about unknown, distant peoples? – Elisha cured the pagan officer from Damascus, Syria, and the man found both healing and faith. Jesus, not accepted as a prophet in his own town, says that salvation will be offered to pagans. That doesn’t mean that the missionary will not be always understood and welcomed in the missions…
Opening Prayer
Lord God, our Father,
you want all people to be saved
through faith in Jesus Christ, your Son.
May Christians not practice
spiritual selfishness and clannishness
but may their faith mean so much to them
that they want to share it with others,
that your Son may be known and loved everywhere,
for he is the Lord of all for ever.
Reading 1: 2 K 5:1-15
Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, was highly esteemed and respected by his master, for through him the LORD had brought victory to Aram. But valiant as he was, the man was a leper. Now the Arameans had captured from the land of Israel in a raid a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman’s wife.She said to her mistress, “If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
Naaman went and told his master, “This is what the girl from the land of Israel said.” The king of Aram said, “Go. I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments.
He brought the king of Israel the letter, which read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” When he read the letter, the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed: “Am I a god with power over life and death, that this man should send someone for me to cure him of leprosy? Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!” When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the king: “Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.”
Naaman came with his horses and chariot and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent him the message: “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.” But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand there to call on the name of the LORD his God, and would move his hand over the place, and thus cure the leprous spot. Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?” With this, he turned about in anger and left.
But his servants came up and reasoned with him: “My father, if the prophet told you to do something extraordinary, would you not do it? All the more since he told you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant.”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
A thirst is my soul for the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God?
As the deer longs for streams of water,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
A thirst is my soul for the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God?
My soul thirsts for God, the living God.
When can I enter and see the face of God?
A thirst is my soul for the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Send your light and your fidelity,
that they may be my guide;
Let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place of your dwelling,
A thirst is my soul for the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God?
That I may come to the altar of God,
to God, my joy, my delight.
Then I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.
A thirst is my soul for the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Gospel: Lk 4:24-30
And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
Intercessions
– For those who are preparing for baptism, that the Word of God may become their guide in life and that baptism may renew them, we pray:
– For the Christian community, that they may prepare a hearty welcome and support for the newly baptized, we pray:
– For those who have joined us in the faith, that they may experience us as joyful, redeemed people who know how to love and to serve, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord, our God,
may we have enough faith
to welcome your Son among us
in these simple signs of bread and wine.
May we and people everywhere
accept that you come to us all
with a human approach
through the humanity of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord, our God,
Father of all people everywhere,
strengthen with your word and your body and blood
all those who have left
their country and culture
to bring your Good News
to different countries and other cultures.
May they humbly serve their new people,
receive their love and gifts of mind and heart,
and help the local Church
to grow in Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord.
Blessing
We should also think during Lent the converts who will be accepted into the Church through baptism, the great Lenten sacrament. It is not merely that individuals join us in the Church, but that the community of the Church must be ready to receive these people and to make them feel at home. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Commentary
What has irritated the assembly in Nazareth were the words of ‘grace’ of Jesus. And Jesus is expelled from the village. The word ‘village’ in the Gospel always have a negative connotation. The people of the village remained closed, attached to their traditions, not wanting to change, even when the prophets brought the new message from God, the village remains resistant.
We remember that when Jesus heals the deaf and dumb, what does he do? The evangelist Mark says that Jesus took him away from the people. Therefore, to open the ears and begins to speak in a new way, it is necessary to move away from what everyone says, what everyone thinks. You must leave the town. And when Jesus heals the blind man from Bethsaida, he takes him out of town and at the end tells him: do not go back to the village. If you go back to the way you thought before, you will go back to blindness.’
Jesus and his message were not well received; people did not like it. As announcers of the Gospel we must keep this in mind because if what happened to Jesus does not happen to you, you should ask yourself: Did my message present the authentic Gospel or I just sought to say what people expected, what they wanted to hear? Sometimes it is thought that the capable evangelizer is the one who does not provoke, the one who does not disturb, the one who says what people like to hear, what has always been done…
But, the aim of the evangelizer is not to please people. He must announce the Word of Christ,
not what people expect them to speak. Do we experience resistance to changes from our Churches and faith communities? Certain traditions that have little or nothing to do with faith in Christ, but that is what the people like to observe and practice. That is why we come across very good Catholics, who are but convinced that the teachings and life of Pope Francis is heretical and therefore, reject him.
This is the important message that comes to us from Nazareth; Jesus did not dilute his message to win the sympathy of the people. The Gospel must be announced in its authenticity, it can be received or rejected, but not modified.
One day two bishops met. One of them lived in a place where Christians were persecuted, and his colleague asked him: How do you live as a Christian in a place where you are persecuted? The bishop was a little pensive and then goes to his colleague and says: ‘What I do not understand is how you manage to live as a Christian without being persecuted.’