Daily Reflection for Monday March 08, 2021
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners,
We encourage you to reflect on Monday’s readings at this link:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/030821.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-15ab
Responsorial: Psalm 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
Gospel: Luke 4:24-30
Our reflection on Monday’s readings:.
“But Naaman went away angry, saying, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand there to call on the name of the Lord his God, and would move his hand over the place, and thus cure the leprous spot.” 2 Kings 5:11
Things don’t often happen like we imagine they should. I always longed for a Dad like my friends and cousins had. Someone they could count on, who provided a safe place when bad things would happen. Someone who supported, encouraged, and helped them become the best they could be. I did not get the Dad of my dreams. My parents divorced when I was twelve. With time I made peace with the situation and accepted the Dad I was given. I stayed in touch with him over the years. We spoke a couple times a year by phone and I sent pictures of my family so he would have “grandpa” photos to show friends. Dad passed away just before Christmas of Covid-19. No one could be with him to say good-bye. The best I could do was pray and solicit prayers that he would pass peacefully. He did. We are both at peace even though our parent–child situation did not turn out as we thought it should.
In today’s first reading, Naaman also had a mindset problem. Elisha’s miracle instructions for Naaman did not fit with the image in Naaman’s mind of how the miracle should happen. Naaman’s mind was not open to other scenarios. Clinging to his vision alone would have cost Naaman the miracle of healing.
How many miracles do we miss in our lives because we think events and situations should unfold in our imagined way?
In the Gospel reading, the people of the synagogue were filled with fury to hear Jesus say there were many lepers in Israel during Elisha’s time, however the only leper healed was Naaman, the Syrian. They could not reconcile their perceived image of Israel and its status as favored by God with the truth.
Jesus also told them that during the years of famine, God did not send Elijah to save the widows. Rather than accepting the truth, which was uncomfortable and did not fit their image of Israel, they chose to drive Jesus out to a cliff and tried to hurl him down.
Where do we not see truth because we are clinging to our own vision of what we want to see?
Blessings to you,
Ruth Mytty