Monday 8th March
I. 2Kgs 5: 1-15
II. Lk 4: 24-30
Theme: Salvation is for All
Today’s readings reveal that God makes his offer of
salvation to all men including Jew and Gentile. God’s ways of intervening in
our life may seem strange but they are always surprise in nature. In the first
reading we hear that how the God’s prophet heals a pagan soldier named Naaman,
who was a leper. Naaman thought it was simply futile to dip himself seven times
in the River Jorden, as instructed by the Prophet Elisha. Yet, when he did it,
there was a miraculous effect in his life, his flesh became firm and healthy,
like that of a child. In the gospel reading we hear that people rejected Jesus
in his own town because they thought that his ways were ridiculous. But
everything he did was creative and life giving in nature, bringing the dead to
life, cleansing the lepers, forgiving sins etc. Jesus refers to this cure of
Naaman, as well as to God’s favor for a poor widow from another pagan land. God
blessed their lives as symbol of salvation even though they were not members of
the chosen Jewish people. The story of Naaman reminds us about Ester sacrament
of baptism. Today’s liturgy discovers in the waters of the Jordan River that
cleanse Naaman’s body of his leprosy a symbol of the baptismal waters that
unites us to our Lord’s risen body.
Bro. Prakash Horo
II BTh