MONDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT
2 Kgs 5: 1-15 Ps 42: 2-3; 43: 3-4 Lk 4: 24-30
HEALING BEGINS WHEN PRIDE ENDS
The first reading speaks of the sickness and healing of Naaman. Namaan was the commander of the Syrian Army. He was a great, successful, and respected man; yet his story reminds us that illness does not spare the rich, the influential, or the powerful. It can equally touch and disrupt any life be it of a sincere human person, or a crooked one. Naaman stands as a clear example of this truth. Leprosy was a common disease in ancient times, Those afflicted with this deadly disease lived a miserable and isolated life in the Israelite society. The book of Leviticus read thus in 13:45 “…the person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry, ‘unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. And shall live outside the camp.” The leper had to tie a bell around his neck, as a warning for the people to move away from him. And the lepers were banished from the society, they were rejected by the people, and more so by their own families; they were compelled to live in isolation. They were given a warning not to appear in the public places, if at all they were found in the public places, people used to throw stones at them to keep them away from the public. The Rabbis would not even eat an egg brought from the street where a leper had passed by, because they would consider it unclean. Such was the cruel and inhumane treatment inflicted on lepers.
Now Naaman the man who was in power, position, who was highly respected in the kingdom had to embrace the miserable life of a leper. But in his helpless situation the servant girl, who had no status, no power, the one who was ignored by everyone became the ray of hope for his life. The pride of Naaman did not allow him to take bath in the river Jordan, but the humility of his servants made Naaman to humble himself before God, when Naaman humbled himself, God healed him.
Response: My soul is thirsting for God, the living God.
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