Gospel: March 4, 2024
(Monday)
3rd Week of Lent
Psalter: Week 3 / (Violet)
St. Casimir
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 42: 2, 3; 43: 3, 4
Athirst is my soul for the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God?
1st Reading: 2 Kings 5: 1-15b
Gospel: Luke 4: 24-30Jesus added, “No prophet is honored in his own country. Truly, I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens withheld rain for three years and six months and a great famine came over the whole land. Yet, Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in the country of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet; and no one was healed except Naaman, the Syrian.”
On hearing these words, the whole assembly became indignant. They rose up and brought him out of the town, to the edge of the hill on which Nazareth is built, intending to throw him down the cliff. But he passed through their midst and went his way.
Reflection:“Cult of separation”
Jesus came to bring salvation which is for all. However, there is a strong tendency even among Jesus’ followers to appropriate salvation for themselves. This is the danger of the so-called cult of separation. This is the danger of the so-called cult of separation, which generates an understanding of salvation that is exclusive and which is limited to only a chosen few. Today’s Gospel narrates Jesus reminding the people of the two prophets: Elijah and Elisha. Jesus emphasized the association of these two prophets to people outside the territory of ancient Israel; namely, the woman of Zarephath in Sidon and Naaman from Syria. The people became angry against Jesus because he reminded them that God’s salvation, mediated by Elijah and Elisha, had crossed the borders of Israel. Furthermore, Jesus seemed to emphasize that God saved the strangers rather than their own ancestors in the respective times of the abovementioned prophets. The point is that God’s salvific act knows no boundaries. As Christians, there are times when we are tempted to believe that we are the ones favored by God and that others are condemned because they neither belong to our group nor share our belief system. It is time to open our hearts to see that God’s salvation is all-encompassing.
