Monday of the Third Week of Lent

Today's Mass Readings

Today’s first reading relates the story of Naaman, an Aramean army commander who suffered from leprosy. Naaman, a pagan foreigner reluctantly approaches Elisha, the prophet of Israel, to find healing for this dreaded disease. Doubtful that the prophet’s seemingly simplistic instructions to plunge into the Jordan River seven times could possibly bring about a cure, he drives away in his chariot with angry pride. Yet, when his servants reason with him to obey the command of the holy man, he finally submits and finds restoration of his diseased flesh. But more than physical healing has occurred, for he proclaims: “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel” (2 Kgs 5:15). He has come to faith in the God of Israel.

Jesus uses this account of the miraculous healing of a foreigner to admonish the people of his hometown of Nazareth for their lack of faith in him. “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place” (Lk 4:24). They could not believe that the son of a local carpenter could possibly be the Messiah, even though they “were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth” (Lk 4:22) and had heard of the wondrous signs he was performing.

This gospel gives us pause to examine the depth of our own faith and spiritual health. Do we truly believe that Jesus really can bring about the healing of the “leprosy” found in our own lives, in whatever form that may be? Such a cure can come about only if we invite the Divine Physician to enter our hearts and act in our souls. We must seek out Jesus—in the same way Naaman implored the aid of Elisha—and humbly submit to his prescribed remedy, even if it seems overly simple to us. Let us cry out with the psalmist: “As the hind longs for the running waters, so my soul longs for you, O God” (Ps 42:2).

Reflection by Br. Michael Marcotte, OSB