The Catholic Calendar for Monday, March 15, 2004
Monday of the Third Week of Lent

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:`
2 Kings 5:1-15
Psalm 42:2-3; 43:3-4
Luke 4:24-30

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

“No prophet is accepted in his own native place.”

So we hear the voice of our Lord in today’s Gospel as He preaches to the people of His own land. The reaction He gets from them is a bit surprising, at first. But after some reflection it becomes no surprise at all.

In today’s first reading we see that during the time of Elisha only one leper is cured by God through His prophet and that person was a Syrian. As Jesus points out, in the time of Elijah during the long famine, only one widow is helped and she too is a foreigner. This occurs again and again in sacred scripture as one man of God after another is rejected by his own people only to be accepted by gentiles.

And this is where you and I come into today’s gospel. We are gentiles, born with original sin, plunged into the cleansing water of our Baptisms much like Naaman the Syrian into the Jordan. We accept the rejected Savior and He accepts us into His eternal kingdom.

- Don Claunch, sfo

____________________

These meditations are also available by email subscription
©1986-2004 The Way, The Truth, The Life

posted by joachim at 5:42 AM