Sunday, 15 March 2020

GOD USES ORDINARY INSTRUMENTS TO HEAL US

20200316 GOD USES ORDINARY INSTRUMENTS TO HEAL US


16 March, 2020, Monday, 3rd Week of Lent

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Violet.


First reading
2 Kings 5:1-15 ©

There were many lepers in Israel, but only Naaman, the Syrian, was cured

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.’


Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 41(42):2-3,42:3-4 ©
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?


Gospel Acclamation
2Co6:2
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!
Or:
cf.Ps129:5,7
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!


Gospel
Luke 4:24-30 ©

No prophet is ever accepted in his own country

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.

GOD USES ORDINARY INSTRUMENTS TO HEAL US


SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 2 Kings 5:1-15Psalm 42:2-342:3-4Luke 4:24-30]
Very often, people want to be treated differently.  Those who are rich, powerful and influential seek preferential treatment. This happens also in the Christian community.  Just because we have given so much to the church, we feel we should have special seats accorded to us or special privileges and benefits.  But the truth is that in baptism, all of us are equal in the eyes of God because we are all His children.  Indeed, this is even true for those who do not know Him.  St Peter, after seeing the faith of Cornelius a pagan remarked, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.  (Acts 10:34f)
God does not take one’s status in life into account when it comes to helping us.  It is significant that Naaman, army commander to the king of Aram, a very powerful man who enjoyed victory over his enemies, was powerless in the face of an illness.  No matter how powerful, rich or famous we may be, we are never secure in our position.  Anything can strike us, be it an illness, a tragedy or an accident.   In the case of Naaman, God did not come to his help directly.  Contrary to what he thought, no amount of gold, silver and luxuries could earn him his health. “Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten festal robes to see the King of Israel for a cure.”  When the King heard of it, “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.'”  Indeed, we are all finite and limited in skills, knowledge and powers.  Life and death, sickness and health belong ultimately to God alone.
God reaches out through those who are ordinary.  It was through an insignificant servant of Naaman’s wife that a solution was found.  She said to her mistress, “If only my master would approach the prophet of Samaria.  He would cure him of his leprosy.”  Often, help comes not necessarily from great and influential people.  God comes to our help using ordinary people with no status to lead us, inspire and edify us.  Hence, it behooves us never to look down on those whom we think are below our status.  Unfortunately, this was how the Jews regarded Jesus.  When Jesus returned to His homeland, they could not accept that one of their contemporaries had such powers when they knew Him then only as the son of a carpenter, the son of Joseph.  They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?”  (cf Mk 6:2f)
God not only uses ordinary people to bring about our conversion and healing, he also uses ordinary things.  When Naaman came to Elisha, he was all smug and arrogant.  He expected Elisha to attend to him personally simply because he was a man of high reputation and social standing.  But Elisha ignored him.  Instead he sent him a messenger to say, ”Go and bathe seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will become clean once more.”  But Naaman’s ego was bruised.  He 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, 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.”  Such pride! He was suffering an incurable illness but he was still so haughty.  He wanted to be healed spectacularly.  Instead, he was asked simply to bathe in the river.  He wanted healing on his own terms. 
This was also the case of Jesus’ townsfolks who expected something spectacular from our Lord.  They wanted to see Him perform wonders and signs to satisfy their vanity and to show proof that He was indeed the Visitation of God.  They said to Him, “Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.”  (Lk 4:23) They demanded that Jesus demonstrate some remarkable miracles for them.  But it was not so that they might have faith in Him.  It was solely to satisfy their curiosity.  And the Lord told them off, “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.”
Without faith, the Lord will not heal us.  Faith in Him is a presupposition.   Faith, of course, requires humility and trust.  Those who lack humility cannot have faith.  Those who trust only themselves and their intelligence do not realize that in a moment all that they have could be taken away.   All that we have is due to God’s grace alone.  But there are those who, like the Jews, rejected Jesus simply because they were prejudiced.  The religious leaders could not accept Him because He was not a trained rabbi from any theological school.  Naaman initially was open to the idea of seeing the prophet.  But he wanted things his way.  He dictated to the prophet how he should be healed.  But the prophet had to teach him what faith is.  It requires humility to bathe in the river Jordan seven times.
Faith is also to trust in God’s ways, which are ordinary ways, just like the sacraments that He uses to transmit His grace to us.  Just as He used the water of Jordan to heal Naaman, God too uses different means to mediate His graces.  In the sacraments, water, oil, bread and wine are used to mediate the power and healing grace of God.  Some people ask why only blessed oil and water can heal.  The answer is simple, because the Lord left such sacramentals for the Church to mediate His grace. In the case of baptism, by the pouring of water over the forehead of the catechumen or by immersing oneself in the water, one’s sins are forgiven and the whole being is made new.  Through one’s immersion in the waters of Baptism, we are cleansed of our sins and made a new creature, as in the case of Naaman. This is where faith in the sacraments as given to us by the Lord is required.  Of course, water is the matter of the sacrament of baptism whereas the pronouncing of the words “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” is the form of baptism.  But even with the matter and the form, what is required for the sacraments and sacramentals to be efficacious depends also on the depth of our faith in God’s mercy and the graces conferred by the sacraments.  If faith is lacking even if we receive the sacrament, it is latent and ineffective, although valid.  If faith is not present at all, the sacrament is even invalid!    What is needed is humility and faith.  The stronger the faith, the more graces we can receive.  The lesser the faith, the more obstacles we put in allowing His grace to touch us.
Finally, growing in faith needs encouragement.  And this is where the servants of Naaman had a role to play.  They provided him the faith when faith was lacking.  His servants persuaded him, “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.”  Indeed, when a person is skeptical or too proud, he needs the encouragement of those who have faith.  We all have a great role to play by inspiring faith in those who are searching for Him through our teaching, sharing of faith stories and testimonies and our encouragement.  This is why, in RCIA, we need sponsors to journey with our catechumens in their faith.  Not only do catechumens require faith companions, even baptized Catholics too, need to be connected with other Catholics so that by sharing faith stories and insights with each other, they can encourage, edify and inspire each other in faith.


Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved


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