Year: 2024

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2 Kings 5: 1-15

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.”

The Word of the Lord.

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In our first reading, Israel is being attacked by the Syrian army, led by one of its most respected commanders, Namaan. Though victorious in battle, Namaan has contracted leprosy – not only a threat to his status, but also to his life.

Desperate for a cure, he’s told by a captured Jewish girl that her God is the one true God and that the prophet, Elisha, can cure him.

Somewhat surprisingly, Namaan listens.

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So, he gathers a cadre of horses and chariots, six thousand pieces of gold, and elaborately weaved garments as gifts.

When he arrives at Elisha’s tent, however, the prophet will not let him in; Elisha doesn’t want all of Namaan’s “stuff.” He simply instructs him to wash seven times in the Jordan.

At first, Namaan struggles to accept such a simple task; he believes that he has to do something extraordinary to “earn” his cure. 

But all God is asking for is faith.

Humbled, Namaan bathes seven times in the Jordan and is healed. “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel,” he says.

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What might this story say to us?

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Sometimes when we want something from the Lord like Namaan, we complicate our ask with all kinds of “stuff,” as if we can earn God’s favor.

Maybe we make a laundry list of promises, recite a bundle of prayers, or fast until we feel a twinge in our stomach.

While the Lord might appreciate the effort, all God asks for is: faith.

As it’s written in the Book of Proverbs: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, be mindful of him, and he will make straight your path.”

Turn to God with childlike faith, then he will listen.

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Image credits: (1) Word For Life Says (2) JW.org (3) Redbubble

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Gospel: John 2: 13-25

Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, 
as well as the money changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, 
and spilled the coins of the money changers
and overturned their tables, 
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here, 
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, 
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
“What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Jesus answered and said to them, 
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews said, 
“This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, 
and you will raise it up in three days?”
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, 
his disciples remembered that he had said this, 
and they came to believe the Scripture 
and the word Jesus had spoken.

While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, 
many began to believe in his name 
when they saw the signs he was doing.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, 
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.
He himself understood it well.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Nearly five years ago to the day, the impossible happened.

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The Cathedral of Notre Dame, located in the very heart of Paris, was engulfed in flames. In less than an hour, 800 years’ worth of culture, history, and religious art was reduced to ash and rubble; the interior of the cathedral nearly destroyed.

No one ever thought this architectural masterpiece, this fruit of Catholic devotion, would ever resemble a tomb – dark, dusty, emptied of its precious contents.

But there it was.

Images of the charred Cathedral went viral as passion for reconstruction consumed the city.

In fact, donors from around the world have contributed to the church’s restoration project, which the government says will be completed by Christmas.

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But as beautiful as Notre Dame was – and will be – the Church is not Notre Dame; the Church is not a physical building. Saint Paul reminds us, “We are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.”

We, the baptized, are Christ’s presence – his Body – on earth because his Spirit dwells within us.

Yet the condition of that French cathedral may be an appropriate metaphor for the state of the universal Church today; we have the opportunity to rebuild, even here.

It seems something has happened over the last several decades whereby younger generations aren’t coming to faith as quickly or as easily as they used to, which sparks the question:

How do we evangelize – how do we pass on our Catholic faith – to the next generation?

It isn’t a matter of stacking stones or replacing roofs.

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Zeal for Christ must consume us.

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus causes quite the stir. 

Imagine tables being overturned; coins bouncing across the floor; turtledoves flapping their wings, rattling their cages; nervous bystanders staring with their jaws dropped; tempers flaring; and Jesus in the center of it all, chasing moneychangers out with a whip!

As the prophets foretold, “Zeal for your house will consume me!”

Jesus knew his actions would provoke a response. Seeds for plotting his death were planted.

The religious leaders angrily question his authority as he proclaims the house of God will be destroyed and rebuilt in three days. A brazen, impossible promise in their eyes.

But the disciples will later understand that Jesus isn’t speaking about a physical structure; rather, the temple of his body. 

After the resurrection, God’s presence will no longer be confined to the Holy of Holies, that innermost room within the Temple; his Spirit will fill the heart of every baptized person, stretching his reign across the earth. 

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John places the cleansing of the Temple at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, reminding us that this is one of the very first things a “zealous” disciple should do: 

Clean house; turn tables; remove things that prevent us from worshiping God with all of our heart, mind, and soul until we can say with Saint Paul:

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me.”

Is there a table or two – an attitude, a habit, a sin – that needs to be overturned within me?

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The more room we make within ourselves for Christ, the more effective we will become in sharing our faith with others.

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It was this type of zealous faith that drove generations of architects, sculptors, artists, and artisans to build the masterpiece of Notre Dame. 

Amazingly, many people dedicated their entire lives to working on a project whose completion they’d never see. But they understood they were part of something much bigger than themselves. 

When they could no longer lift another stone or brush, they handed on their work to the next generation – as we all must do – trusting that they would labor just as hard with the very same passion.

They also understood, that which is truly irreplaceable is not some architectural masterpiece.

But the faith that built it.

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May that same zeal for Christ consume our parish, for we are the living stones – the Church, the Body of Christ on earth.

Not only now, but also in every generation to come.

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Image credits: (1) Andrey Mironov, Jesus in the Temple (2) Notre Dame, Archeology Magazine (3) The Skit Guys

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Gospel: Matthew 21: 33-46

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: 
“Hear another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near,
he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
but they treated them in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son to them,
thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”
They answered him,
“He will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will give him the produce at the proper times.”
Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?

Therefore, I say to you,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,
they knew that he was speaking about them.
And although they were attempting to arrest him,
they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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In his book, The Disappearance of God, Richard Freidman notes that the greatest temptation human beings face is pride. 

Deep down, he argues, every human being desires to be equal with God. We want to set our own destiny; be in control; make our own decisions.

Although God tries intervening in our world – coming to our aid! – we fight back.

Strangely enough, this is the logic we find unfolding in the Old Testament leading up to the Gospels and the death of Jesus, as the Lord predicts in today.

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In the beginning, when Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden, they converse freely with God. After their disobedience, they are expelled from the garden, costing them the intimacy that once was.

As a result of their rebellion, God becomes increasingly veiled in his communication with humanity.

Instead of speaking face-to-face, God hides under the guise of creation – speaking with Moses through a burning bush, or guiding Israel through the desert for 40 years under the veil of a cloud.

But like Adam and Eve, Israel disobeys, causing God to become increasingly distant. 

No longer speaking directly himself, God uses the prophets to proclaim a message of repentance. But Israel kills these anointed messengers.

Finally, God goes “all in”, sending his Son in the flesh… and we nail him to a tree.

“Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit,” Jesus says. 

A people that will listen and heed his commands.

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Christians interpret Christ’s words today to mean that God now speaks through his Church – Tradition, the Gospels, the Catechism, Saintly writings, ministers, prayer, etc.

In what ways do I hear the voice of God speaking through my parish? Or through the Church?

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“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 4:11).

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Image credits: (1) Subsplash (2) Guideposts (3) The Wesleyan Church