March 8, 2021 Monday of the Third Week of Lent
2021년 3월 8일 사순 제3주간 월요일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
<이스라엘에는 나병 환자가 많이 있었지만 아무도 깨끗해지지 않고 시리아 사람 나아만만 깨끗해졌다(루카 4,27 참조).>
제1독서
열왕기 하. 5,1-15ㄷ
그 무렵 1 아람 임금의 군대 장수인 나아만은 그의 주군이 아끼는 큰 인물이었다.
주님께서 나아만을 시켜 아람에 승리를 주셨던 것이다.
나아만은 힘센 용사였으나 나병 환자였다.
2 한번은 아람군이 약탈하러 나갔다가,
이스라엘 땅에서 어린 소녀 하나를 사로잡아 왔는데,
그 소녀는 나아만의 아내 곁에 있게 되었다.
3 소녀가 자기 여주인에게 말하였다.
“주인 어르신께서 사마리아에 계시는 예언자를 만나 보시면 좋겠습니다.
그분이라면 주인님의 나병을 고쳐 주실 텐데요.”
4 그래서 나아만은 자기 주군에게 나아가,
이스라엘 땅에서 온 소녀가 이러이러한 말을 하였다고 아뢰었다.
5 그러자 아람 임금이 말하였다.
“내가 이스라엘 임금에게 편지를 써 보낼 터이니, 가 보시오.”
이리하여 나아만은 은 열 탈렌트와 금 육천 세켈과 예복 열 벌을 가지고 가서,
6 이스라엘 임금에게 편지를 전하였다.
그 편지에는 이렇게 쓰여 있었다.
“이 편지가 임금님에게 닿는 대로, 내가 나의 신하 나아만을
임금님에게 보냈다는 사실을 알고, 그의 나병을 고쳐 주십시오.”
7 이스라엘 임금은 이 편지를 읽고 옷을 찢으면서 말하였다.
“내가 사람을 죽이고 살리시는 하느님이란 말인가?
그가 사람을 보내어 나에게 나병을 고쳐 달라고 하다니!
나와 싸울 기회를 그가 찾고 있다는 사실을 그대들은 분명히 알아 두시오.”
8 하느님의 사람 엘리사는 이스라엘 임금이 옷을 찢었다는 소리를 듣고,
임금에게 사람을 보내어 말을 전하였다.
“임금님께서는 어찌하여 옷을 찢으셨습니까? 그를 저에게 보내십시오.
그러면 그가 이스라엘에 예언자가 있음을 알게 될 것입니다.”
9 그리하여 나아만은 군마와 병거를 거느리고
엘리사의 집 대문 앞에 와서 멈추었다.
10 엘리사는 심부름꾼을 시켜 말을 전하였다.
“요르단 강에 가서 일곱 번 몸을 씻으십시오.
그러면 새살이 돋아 깨끗해질 것입니다.”
11 나아만은 화가 나서 발길을 돌리며 말하였다.
“나는 당연히 그가 나에게 나와 서서, 주 그의 하느님의 이름을 부르며
병든 곳 위에 손을 흔들어 이 나병을 고쳐 주려니 생각하였다.
12 다마스쿠스의 강 아바나와 파르파르는 이스라엘의 어떤 물보다 더 좋지 않으냐?
그렇다면 거기에서 씻어도 깨끗해질 수 있지 않겠느냐?”
나아만은 성을 내며 발길을 옮겼다.
13 그러나 그의 부하들이 그에게 다가가 말하였다.
“아버님, 만일 이 예언자가 어려운 일을 시켰다면 하지 않으셨겠습니까?
그런데 그는 아버님께 몸을 씻기만 하면 깨끗이 낫는다고 하지 않습니까?”
14 그리하여 나아만은 하느님의 사람이 일러 준 대로,
요르단 강에 내려가서 일곱 번 몸을 담갔다.
그러자 그는 어린아이 살처럼 새살이 돋아 깨끗해졌다.
15 나아만은 수행원을 모두 거느리고 하느님의 사람에게로 되돌아가
그 앞에 서서 말하였다. “이제 저는 알았습니다.
온 세상에서 이스라엘 밖에는 하느님께서 계시지 않습니다.”
복음
<예수님께서는 엘리야나 엘리사처럼 유다인들에게만 파견되신 것이 아니다.>
루카. 4,24ㄴ-30
예수님께서는 나자렛으로 가시어 회당에 모여 있는 사람들에게 말씀하셨다.
24 “내가 진실로 너희에게 말한다.
어떠한 예언자도 자기 고향에서는 환영을 받지 못한다.
25 내가 참으로 너희에게 말한다.
삼 년 육 개월 동안 하늘이 닫혀 온 땅에 큰 기근이 들었던 엘리야 때에,
이스라엘에 과부가 많이 있었다.
26 그러나 엘리야는 그들 가운데 아무에게도 파견되지 않고,
시돈 지방 사렙타의 과부에게만 파견되었다.
27 또 엘리사 예언자 시대에 이스라엘에는 나병 환자가 많이 있었다.
그러나 그들 가운데 아무도 깨끗해지지 않고, 시리아 사람 나아만만 깨끗해졌다.”
28 회당에 있던 모든 사람들은 이 말씀을 듣고 화가 잔뜩 났다.
29 그래서 그들은 들고일어나 예수님을 고을 밖으로 내몰았다.
그 고을은 산 위에 지어져 있었는데,
그들은 예수님을 그 벼랑까지 끌고 가 거기에서 떨어뜨리려고 하였다.
30 그러나 예수님께서는 그들 한가운데를 가로질러 떠나가셨다.
March 8, 2021
Monday of the Third Week of Lent
Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass
Reading 1
2 Kgs 5:1-15ab
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 in a raid on the land of Israel
a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman's wife.
"If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria,"
she said to her mistress, "he would cure him of his leprosy."
Naaman went and told his lord
just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said.
"Go," said the king of Aram.
"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.
To the king of Israel he brought 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 to me to be cured 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 chariots
and stopped at the door of Elisha's house.
The prophet 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 and stand there
to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy.
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," they said,
"if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
'Wash and be clean,' should you do as he said."
So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at 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."
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Gospel
Lk 4:24-30
"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.
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
My daughter gave me a paperwhite narcissus. In winter I often buy kits of pre-planted bulbs in pots of dirt and watch them bloom to life on my kitchen windowsill. I set her gift aside and didn’t look at the box for a while. I was so disappointed when I finally opened it a few weeks ago and found a dry glass vase and a parched, papery bulb with two small, shriveled roots at the bottom. I had waited too long to get it into water!
I was ready to throw the bulb into the trash but decided to at least have my daughter see the bulb in water when she came over. As if by a miracle, this tiny “dead” bulb has now put out dozens of long, white roots. This morning I see two tiny blooms; flowers that will fill the kitchen with a lovely scent in a day or two. How did that dead brown bulb transform into beautiful flowers?
I think of that simple bulb when I look at today’s readings. We humans often look for dramatic hard work when we ask God for something. It can’t be as simple as a conversation with God, right? Shouldn’t I be on my knees with candles lit and dozens of prayers to read? And yet that’s not the way God works in our lives, or Naaman’s.
When the servant girl told Naaman’s wife that the prophet Elisha in Israel could cure Naaman’s leprosy, he and his king did not seem to even consider that a simple prophet could do that. Surely it would take the power of a king! So, loaded down with silver and gold pieces, festal garments and a letter from his own king, Naaman was presented to the king of Israel for a cure.
In dramatic fashion, the king of Israel is powerless to cure Naaman and rips his garments, a sign of grief and anger. Then the prophet, Elisha, sent word to the king of Israel, “Let him come to me….”
When Naaman arrived at Elisha’s house accompanied by the magnificent sight of his horses and chariots, Elisha does not even come out to meet him. He simply sends word to Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan River. Perhaps embarrassed at this slight, Naaman angrily leaves because he expected a more dramatic reception and healing. He wanted the prophet to come out to him, raise his hands over the leprosy and pray loudly. What kind of “healing” is this to wash in some river?
I picture Naaman with a disgusted snort, turning his party around and starting for home. Yet his servants suggested that he would have done any dramatic or difficult thing Elisha had suggested. Although Elisha’s suggestion was simple, Naaman should try it. So, he washed in the Jordan seven times and was healed, his skin “like the flesh of a little child.”
We can be like Naaman and refuse to believe that healing from God requires a lot of work from us. We might surround ourselves with prayer books or theology books, educating ourselves about God before we ask for something. We believe deep in our hearts that we need to be perfect before God. We might feel we have to “know” God before we ask something. We forget that with God it is a heart to heart conversation. The God who loves us endlessly does not require us to be perfect before we ask for something. God always loves us and simply waits for us to speak. We don’t need fancy words any more than Naaman needed anything more than washing in the River Jordan.
I wonder if our search to do it “right” before we speak to God, the right studies, the right posture or devotional practices, can even be our way of keeping God at a distance from us. If I feel I have to be perfect before I speak to God, then I keep working on perfection, rather than speaking what is in my heart. I might be afraid of what I encounter if I am truly in an easy loving conversation with God. What will I be asked? How will my life be changed? If I keep God at a distance, I won’t face my fears of God.
Greg Boyle, S.J. who serves gang members in Los Angeles, tells each one of them as they face him in their disgrace, that they are loved by God at this very moment. “You are exactly what God created you to be.” And in all of our imperfection, so are we.
In today’s gospel Jesus repeats the story of Naaman and of a humble widow who receive help in the midst of a famine. He may be trying to tell us that God comes simply and humbly, but his listeners at the synagogue refuse to listen. They are blind to his message of turning to God in humility and simplicity and maybe believe that only their rites, ritual and law are the real way to God. And they are blind once again when Jesus simply slips from the midst.
The psalm response for today asks, “When shall I go and behold the face of God?” Perhaps we will behold that face that longs to see us, when we drop our fears and are willing to sit in simple silence and then speak to our loving God.
Loving God, you know how imperfect I am, and yet you look at me with joy and love, waiting for me to just turn my face to you. You long for me to ask for your help, and I too often worry, as if I don’t deserve it. Teach me to trust your love for me and your deep knowing of all parts of my life.
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
ON HIS TERMS
“At these words the whole audience in the synagogue was filled with indignation. They rose up and expelled Him from the town.” —Luke 4:28-29
Jesus’ hometown folk accepted Him as Teacher (see Lk 4:22ff). But Jesus wanted to serve His hometown by being a Prophet. However, “no prophet gains acceptance in his native place” (Lk 4:24). Like the people of Nazareth, many of us also refuse to accept Jesus on His terms.
Soon, on the first day of the Easter season, all Catholics of the world will be given the opportunity and the challenge to renew their baptismal promises. The heart of these promises is to accept Jesus on His terms. Jesus’ terms are focused on the cross. Jesus wants us to come to Him first of all to carry the crosses of repentance, forgiveness, sacrifice, evangelization, service, persecution, and other forms of love. While Jesus wants to bless us with happiness, success, and healing, He usually wants to give these blessings to His disciples in the shadow of the cross.
Will we accept Jesus on His terms? Will we resolve to know nothing “but Jesus Christ and Him crucified”? (1 Cor 2:2) Will we decide to carry our crosses daily? (see Lk 9:23) Or will we try to throw Jesus over “the brow of the hill” (Lk 4:29), re-crucify Him, and hold Him up to contempt? (Heb 6:6)
Prayer: Father, send the Holy Spirit to convict me (see Jn 16:8) of the sin of trying to make Jesus in my image.
Promise: “So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” —2 Kgs 5:14
Praise: St. John of God didn’t discover true faith until his early forties. He first endured many self-inflicted penances, repenting for his past life. Later he was inspired to look outward and care for the sick.
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
Do you believe that God wants to act with power in your life today? Power to set you free from sin and hurtful desires, fear and oppression. Throughout the Scriptures we see God performing mighty acts to save his people from death and destruction - from Noah's ark that spared his family from the flood of wickedness that had spread across the land to Moses and the Israelites who crossed through the parting waters of the Red Sea as they fled the armies of Pharoah their slave Master and oppressor.
Throughout the Gospel accounts Jesus praised individuals who put their faith in God as they remembered the great and wonderful deeds he had performed time and again. Jesus even praised outsiders - non-Jews and pagans from other lands who had heard about the mighty deeds of the God of Israel. One example Jesus mentioned was Naaman the pagan army commander from Syria who was afflicted with leprosy - a debilitating skin disease that slowly ate away the flesh (2 Kings 5:1-15). Naaman's slave-girl was a young Jewish woman who had faith in God and compassion for Naaman her master. She urged him to seek healing from Elisha, the great prophet of Israel.When Naaman went to the land of Israel to seek a cure for his leprosy, the prophet Elisha instructed him to bathe seven times in the Jordan river. Namaan was indignant at first, but then repented and followed the prophet's instructions. In doing so he was immediately restored in body and spirit.
Healing the leprosy of soul and body
What is the significance of Naaman's healing for us? Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 AD), an early Christian teacher from Edessa, tells us that Naaman's miraculous healing at the River Jordan, prefigures the mystery of the healing which is freely granted to all nations of the earth by our Lord Jesus through the regenerating waters of baptism and renewal in the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).
"Therefore Naaman was sent to the Jordan as to the remedy capable to heal a human being. Indeed, sin is the leprosy of the soul, which is not perceived by the senses, but intelligence has the proof of it, and human nature must be delivered from this disease by Christ's power which is hidden in baptism. It was necessary that Naaman, in order to be purified from two diseases, that of the soul and that of the body, might represent in his own person the purification of all the nations through the bath of regeneration, whose beginning was in the river Jordan, the mother and originator of baptism." (commentary ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 5.10-1)
Jesus told Nicodemus, "unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). The Lord Jesus wants to renew in each one of us the gift of faith and the regenerating power of baptism and the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) which cleanses us of the leprosy of sin and makes us "newborn" sons and daughters of God.
Confronting the sin of indifference and unbelief
When Jesus first proclaimed the good news of God's kingdom to his own townspeople at Nazareth (Luke 4:23-27), he did not hesitate to confront them with their sin of indifference and unbelief. He startled his listeners in the synagogue at Nazareth with a seeming rebuke that no prophet or servant of God could receive honor among his own people. He then angered them when he complimented Gentiles who had shown more faith in God than the "chosen ones" of Israel. Some who despised the Gentiles (non-Jews) even spoke of them as "fuel for the fires of hell." Jesus' praise for "outsiders" offended the ears of his own people because they were blind-sighted to God's merciful plan of redemption for all the nations. The word of rebuke spoken by Jesus was met with indignation and hostility. The Nazarenes forcibly threw him out of their town and would have done him physical harm had he not stopped them.
The Lord brings healing and pardon to all who humbly seek him with faith and trust
We all stand in need of God's grace and merciful help every day and every moment of our lives. Scripture tells us that "the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:22-23). God gives grace to the humble who seek him with expectant faith and with a repentant heart that wants to be made whole and clean again.
The Lord Jesus will set us free from every sinful habit and every harmful way of relating to our neighbor, if we allow him to cleanse and heal us. If we want to walk in freedom and grow in love and holiness, then we must humbly renounce our sinful ways and submit to Christ's instruction and healing discipline in our lives. Scripture tells us that the Lord disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness (Hebrews 12:10). Do you want the Lord Jesus to set you free and make you whole again? Ask him to show you the way to walk in his healing love and truth.
Lord Jesus, teach me to love your ways that I may be quick to renounce sin and wilfulness in my life. Make me whole and clean again that I may delight to do your will.
Psalm 42:2-4; 43:3-4
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me continually, "Where is your God?"
4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
3 Oh send out your light and your truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!
4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Could anyone refuse to love our God?, by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Fulfill the commandments out of love. Could anyone refuse to love our God, so abounding in mercy, so just in all his ways? Could anyone deny love to him who first loved us despite all our injustice and all our pride? Could anyone refuse to love the God who so loved us as to send his only Son not only to live among human beings but also to be put to death for their sake and at their own hands?"
More Homilies
March 16, 2020 Monday of the Third Week of Lent
