20150309 RECOGNIZING THE ORDINARY MEANS TO THE EXTRAORDINARY GOD
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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2 Kings 5:1-15 ©
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Naaman, army
commander to the king of Aram, was a man who enjoyed his master’s respect and
favour, since through him the Lord had granted victory to the Aramaeans. But
the man was a leper. Now on one of their raids, the Aramaeans had carried off
from the land of Israel a little girl who had become a servant of Naaman’s
wife. ‘She said to her mistress, ‘If only my master would approach the prophet
of Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy.’ Naaman went and told his master.
‘This and this’ he reported ‘is what the girl from the land of Israel said.’
‘Go by all means,’ said the king of Aram ‘I will send a letter to the king of
Israel.’ So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand
shekels of gold and ten festal robes. He presented the letter to the king of
Israel. It read: ‘With this letter, I am sending my servant Naaman to you for
you to cure him of his leprosy.’ When the king of Israel read the letter, he
tore his garments. ‘Am I a god to give death and life,’ he said ‘that he sends
a man to me and asks me to cure him of his leprosy? Listen to this, and take note
of it and see how he intends to pick a quarrel with me.’
When
Elisha heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the
king, ‘Why did you tear your garments? Let him come to me, and he will find
there is a prophet in Israel.’ So Naaman came with his team and chariot and
drew up at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent him a messenger to say,
‘Go and bathe seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will become clean once
more.’ But Naaman was indignant and went off, saying, ‘Here was I thinking he
would be sure to come out to me, and stand there, and call on the name of the
Lord his God, and wave his hand over the spot and cure the leprous part. Surely
Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, are better than any water in Israel?
Could I not bathe in them and become clean?’ And he turned round and went off
in a rage. But his servants approached him and said, ‘My father, if the prophet
had asked you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? All the
more reason, then, when he says to you, “Bathe, and you will become clean.”’ So
he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, as Elisha had told
him to do. And his flesh became clean once more like the flesh of a little
child.
Returning
to Elisha with his whole escort, he went in and stood before him. ‘Now I know’
he said ‘that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.’
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Psalm
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Psalm
41:2-3,42:3-4 ©
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My soul is
thirsting for God, the God of my life: when can I enter and see the face of
God?
Like the deer that
yearns
for
running streams,
so my soul is
yearning
for you,
my God.
My soul is
thirsting for God, the God of my life: when can I enter and see the face of
God?
My soul is thirsting
for God,
the God
of my life;
when can I enter and see
the face
of God?
My soul is
thirsting for God, the God of my life: when can I enter and see the face of
God?
O send forth your
light and your truth;
let these
be my guide.
Let them bring me to
your holy mountain,
to the
place where you dwell.
My soul is
thirsting for God, the God of my life: when can I enter and see the face of
God?
And I will come to
the altar of God,
the God
of my joy.
My redeemer, I will
thank you on the harp,
O God, my
God.
My soul is
thirsting for God, the God of my life: when can I enter and see the face of
God?
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Gospel
Acclamation
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2Co6:2
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Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
Now is the favourable
time:
this is the day of
salvation.
Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
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Or
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cf.Ps129:5,7
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Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
My soul is waiting
for the Lord,
I count on his word,
because with the Lord
there is mercy
and fullness of
redemption.
Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
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Gospel
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Luke 4:24-30 ©
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Jesus came to Nazara
and spoke to the people in the synagogue: ‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is
ever accepted in his own country.
‘There
were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven
remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged
throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent
to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time
there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the
Syrian, Naaman.’
When
they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their
feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the
hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped
through the crowd and walked away.
RECOGNIZING
THE ORDINARY MEANS TO THE EXTRAORDINARY GOD
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: 2 KINGS 5:1-15; LUKE 4:24-30
The
season of Lent is a time of conversion. But how can conversion take
place? Sometimes, we wish that we could experience something
extraordinary, like a lightning bolt that comes from heaven, similar to that of
the experience of Moses at Horeb or Paul at Damascus. Yet for most of us,
our experience of the wonders and powers of God are not that dramatic.
Does it mean therefore that we would never have the grace for conversion?
Today’s
liturgy is quite consoling for those of us who have never had such an
experience. For the way of the Lenten program is via the ordinary way
of fasting, prayer and almsgiving. In other words, the Church’s way of
conversion is not via the spectacular, but an ordinary means of grace.
Conversion and healing take place gradually in most instances, just like
leprosy, which affects us gradually. All that is required from us is a
humble faith in God.
This
message is brought out in both scripture readings today. We have the
example of the faith of the little girl captured from Israel who became
a servant of Naaman. In spite of being held captive, she bore no hatred
or resentment. Instead, she trusted in the divine providence of her
Lord. So faith-filled was she that she could show compassion for Naaman.
She believed in God in spite of the fact that she lived in exile in a foreign
land. It was her faith that gave her a compassionate heart.
In
contrast, we have the King of Israel who supposedly had experienced the
power of God in his life and in his kingdom. God had liberated them from
the slavery of the Egyptians. But instead of trusting in the power of
God, he was more concerned about his own needs and his throne. Hence,
when he received the letter from the envoy of the king of Aram to help his
servant Naaman, he immediately suspected that the king was trying to pick a
quarrel with him. Clearly, the king of Israel had no faith in God; hence
he lived in fear and lacked compassion for others.
Naaman however had some faith in God.
But his faith needed to be purified. He lacked humility. He
expected God to work wonders in a spectacular manner. Thus he became
indignant when told to wash himself seven times in the Jordan River. He
felt humiliated and left in a rage, because he thought: “Here was I thinking he
would be sure to come out to me, and stand there, and call on the name of the
Lord his God, and wave his hand over the spot and cure the leprous part.
Surely Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, are better than any water in
Israel? Could I not bathe in them and become clean?” His rejection of
Elisha’s instruction was due more to pride and ego than his lack of faith in
the power of God
Again it was the ordinary
faith of the simple people that made him change his mind. It was the
humility of his servants that convinced him that he should not test the power
of God.
In the gospel, we are given
a synthesis of faith and compassion. During the time of Jesus, the
people had no faith, like the king of Israel. But also like Naaman, they
wanted Jesus to prove Himself by working miracles and wonders in their
midst. They failed both in faith, in humility and therefore in
compassion. They could not accept Jesus, the son of a carpenter, to be
their prophet. They could not believe that someone of their kind could be
God’s representative.
However, Jesus refused
to submit to their desire for spectacular means to prove His
divinity. He is the kingdom of God in human lowliness. God wants to
come to us in human and ordinary ways. Jesus would perform miracles only
out of compassion for the sick, the poor and needy, not for Himself or for His
self-interest. This God who comes to us is not self-centered and
egoistic. For Jesus, His miracles are performed for all, including the
Gentiles, the Syrians and the Sidonians. Jesus, like God, is not so
insecure and narrow-minded in love that He would reserve His love and kindness
only to the chosen people. Most of all, Jesus shows His faith in His
Father’s love and power by accepting the rejection of His people. He
trusted in His Father who will protect Him from harm.
Consequently, the lesson we
must learn from today’s liturgy is that we must not try to provoke God into
acting to satisfy our curiosity. Rather, we are called to surrender
ourselves in humility to whatever ways the Lord wants to work in our
lives. We must be contented with the ordinary means of salvation.
God can work wonders only if we have faith and humility.
What is said of the water
that cleansed and healed Naaman must also be said of the spiritual exercises
recommended by the Church during the season of Lent. A deep devotion to
the Divine Mercy or a pious devotion to the Stations of the Cross surely can
help us to experience the love and mercy of God, evoking in us repentance and
conversion. Of course, we must not forget the discipline of doing penance,
fasting and prayer, especially praying and meditating on the scriptures.
We must make use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation or daily participation of
the Eucharist. These are the proven means to help us grow in holiness and
live a life of grace.
Most of all, we must not
forget the words of Jesus that “No prophet is ever accepted in his own
country.” If Jesus lamented this fact, it is because Jesus came as a
prophet from God, but His townsfolk could not accept Him. He was simply
too ordinary for them. We too, sometimes cannot accept the fact that we
have so many ordinary prophets around us in this community. A
correction that comes from a concerned colleague at work is not accepted simply
because he does not have the authority. Instead we become defensive like
the contemporaries of Jesus. We react like them by retaliating
instead. Why must we only listen to authority? Why can’t we be more
humble to realize that quite often, God could be sending His prophets to us
through ordinary people in our lives? Are we missing out opportunities of
grace for conversion?
Yes, this extraordinary
God of ours is extraordinary only because He is so ordinary. He comes
to us in the incarnation, in the life, passion and death of Jesus to reveal to
us His greatness in ordinariness. He wants us to experience His power
according to our humanity and struggles. Happy are we who are humble
enough to receive His grace and extraordinary love through such ordinary means.
God is truly great because He works in such ordinary ways, leaving us the
freedom to respond in faith.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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