DAILY- HOMILY

MARCH 16, 2009
MONDAY 3RD WEEK OF LENT – YEAR I

2 KINGS 5:1-15AB
Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, 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."

LUKE 4:24-30
Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth: "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.

REFLECTION
From his birth to his death, Jesus' life was plagued with rejection.
At his birth, there was no room for him at the inn in Bethlehem, and
he was cast off into the cold night. Herod feared his kingship and
sent an army to kill the Child Jesus, and so he was exiled to Egypt.
Rejected by the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes and the Synagogues, "he
came to his own and his own did not receive him". The list of
rejections goes on and on.

Effort in prayer is a sure way to prepare ourselves for the everyday
"rejection" that comes with following Jesus. These "rejections" come
in many forms. They are the consequences of our faithfully living out
the teachings of our Catholic faith. With Jesus by our side, we can be
strong in front of any type of rejection. Jesus taught us the way to
respond to rejection. As the Gospel says, "he passed through the midst
of them and went on his way." Rejection did not cause Jesus to shrink
into himself but rather emboldened him to continue living and
preaching his message of love.

What does Jesus do after being rejected in his hometown? In the verses
that follow today's Gospel, Luke presents Jesus teaching in Capernaum,
where "they were astonished at his teaching for his word was with
authority". Jesus never missed an opportunity to spread his message.
Not only was Jesus emboldened by rejection, he also preached with ever
greater passion and zeal after experiencing it. Paul confronted
rejection in a similar way. On one occasion, Paul was dragged out of
the city of Lystra and stoned. All thought that he was dead. Upon
recovering consciousness, he returned to the city and continued his
ministry.

Let us ask Jesus today to give us strength when faced with rejection.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the healing and strength of:
- Elena
- Marlyn Tadeo
- Eligia Fernando
- Sophia Gonzalez
- Ester Marcelo
… for the personal intentions of: Vijayakumar
… for the safety of Johnson Cuiting
... for the healing of the Dapo family
… for the eternal repose of the souls of
- Fr. Tom Green, S.J.
- Sister Teresa Mabasa, DC
Eternal rest grant unto them and may perpetual light shine upon them.
May they and all the dearly departed rest in peace.
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Rhea R. Reyes
- Birthday: Betty Calixto
- Wedding Anniversary: Wilson & Rosie Gosingco
… for the healing and peace of all families

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers
and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To subscribe email: dailyhomily@gmail.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to:
daily_homily-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

© 2009 Daily-Homily
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---