March 21
Monday of the Third Week of Lent
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
7:45 AM – Margaret Robinson & Kathy Quinn / Elaine Lostumbo
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
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.”
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Verse before the Gospel
See Psalms 130:5, 7
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!
I hope in the LORD, I trust in his word;
with him there is kindness and plenteous redemption.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!
Gospel
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.
“Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?”
Reflection
Do you feel that nobody ever listens to you? Jesus knows exactly how you feel. In today’s gospel from Luke Jesus states, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.” How true. Most of us have had this experience of trying to pass our faith on to those around us, even to family members, only to have them refuse to hear what we have to say. It is not that those people fail to value us, and may even value our opinions, but they may not be prepared to value faith in God or make room for God in their life.
Faith is a gift, a gift that some people just seem to be missing. I remember, as a child, when I would receive a gift that I did not want, my mother would tell me to smile and thank the person anyway. Most likely, the gift itself would find its way to a shelf in the closet, only to emerge again years down the road, where it would either then be appreciated, or permanently discarded.
I believe that is what people do with the gift of faith when we offer it to them and they are not ready to receive it. It is like a seed falling on un-tilled ground. It will sit on the ground and wait for a fertile time. If that time does not come, the wind will eventually blow it away.
Before we try to give the gift of faith to a loved one, let us take time to prepare their heart for that gift. We can then gently plant the seed of faith, always being prepared to help nurture it once it has taken root. Lent is the perfect time to begin to till the hearts of those around us!
God Bless,
Fr. John
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