The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate our openness to accepting invitations from God to live more fully in love and humility.
Open to accepting help
The reading from the Second Book of Kings describes the healing of Naaman.
* [5:12] Wash in them and be cleansed: typical of the ambiguity in ritual healing or cleanliness. The muddy waters of the Jordan are no match hygienically for the mountain spring waters of Damascus; ritually, it is the other way around.1
Psalm 42 expresses longing for God and His Help in Distress and Psalm 43 is a prayer to God in time of trouble.
* [Psalms 42–43] Ps 42–43 form a single lament of three sections, each section ending in an identical refrain (Ps 42:6, 12; 43:5). The psalmist is far from Jerusalem, and longs for the divine presence that Israel experienced in the Temple liturgy. Despite sadness, the psalmist hopes once again to join the worshiping crowds.2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus becomes the example that no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.
* [4:25–26] The references to Elijah and Elisha serve several purposes in this episode: they emphasize Luke’s portrait of Jesus as a prophet like Elijah and Elisha; they help to explain why the initial admiration of the people turns to rejection; and they provide the scriptural justification for the future Christian mission to the Gentiles.3
Maureen McCann Waldron comments that 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.
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.4
Don Schwager quotes “Could anyone refuse to love our God?,” by Saint 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?"5
The Word Among Us Meditation on 2 Kings 5:1-15 comments how God reveals himself through unlikely people and circumstances. The Bible tells us about Gideon, the youngest of the least of the families of Israel, who leads his people to victory. There is Ruth, a widowed and impoverished foreigner, who wins the heart of a wealthy Israelite and becomes part of Jesus’ family tree. And there’s King David. This heroic leader was just a young shepherd boy when the Lord chose him.
In a similar way, God can use you to reveal himself. You may not be wealthy or powerful or famous. You may feel that you don’t have a lot of control over your circumstances either. But none of that matters to God. In fact, you might be just the right person he is looking for. Just as he worked through a little girl to change the course of history, he can use you to bring powerful change to the people around you. Whether you’re doing the dishes, shoveling snow, or filing papers, you can be a vessel of Jesus’ love and grace. A simple word of encouragement, spoken from a heart of love and trust, can do far more than you can imagine. Just ask that little girl who set Naaman on the road to healing! “Lord, use me to reveal your love today.”6
Franciscan Media comments on Saint of the Day, Saint John of God, that behind John’s outward acts of total concern and love for Christ’s sick poor was a deep interior prayer life which was reflected in his spirit of humility. These qualities attracted helpers who, 20 years after John’s death, formed the Brothers Hospitallers, now a worldwide religious order.
The utter humility of John of God, which led to a totally selfless dedication to others, is most impressive. Here is a man who realized his nothingness in the face of God. The Lord blessed him with the gifts of prudence, patience, courage, enthusiasm, and the ability to influence and inspire others. He saw that in his early life he had turned away from the Lord, and, moved to receive his mercy, John began his new commitment to love others in openness to God’s love.7
Friar Jude Winkler connects the proclamation of Naaman about God to the developing monotheism in Israel in Elisha’s time. Pagans were more ready to accept God’s message than the people of Israel. Friar Jude suggests Jesus moved with chutzpah as he disappeared in the midst of the crowd.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments what became All Saints Day and All Souls Day (November 1–2) were already called “thin times” by the ancient Celts, as were February 1–2 (St. Bridget’s Day and Candlemas Day, when the candles were blessed and lit). The veil between this world and the next world was considered most “thin” and easily traversed during these times. On these days, we are invited to be aware of deep time—that is, past, present, and future time gathered into one especially holy moment. We are reminded that our ancestors are still in us and work with us and through us. We call it the “communion of saints.”
Deep time, or the communion of saints professed in Christian creeds, means that our goodness is not just our own, nor is our badness just our own. We are intrinsically social animals. We carry the lived and the unlived (and unhealed) lives of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents as far back as DNA and genomes can trace them—which is pretty far back. It does take a village to create a person. We are the very first generation to know that this is literally and genetically true. There is deep healing and understanding when we honor the full cycle of life. No wonder so many are intrigued today by genealogy searches and ancestry test kits. Many cry and laugh at their newly discovered place in a long family tree about which they knew little.8
The voices of others, present and past, act as agents of the Spirit to prompt us to humble openness to the help of God.
References
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