Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we heard from our passages of the Sacred Scriptures the power of God’s healing and mercy, as He has shown to us all, in healing us from our physical sickness and maladies, and even more importantly, in healing us from the sickness of our souls, that is our sins. Through God’s most generous love and mercy, all of us have received from Him the wonderful gift of grace and mercy, forgiveness and healing from all the things that have held us back from embracing Him and His most generous love, His kindness and all that He has patiently given to us through His Son, manifesting His perfect love in the flesh, and extending to us all the powerful healing that can make us all whole again and be worthy of Him.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Kings of Israel and Judah, of the story of the healing of Naaman, a powerful and renowned general of the army of the Aramaeans, the sworn enemies of the Israelites, who had been locked in bitter conflicts against the Aramaeans for many years and generations. Naaman was greatly respected and feared, but he faced a great predicament which was him contracting leprosy that disfigured him and made it very difficult for him. For the context, what the Scriptures referred here as leprosy might not necessarily be the same as what we now know as leprosy. Leprosy at that time referred to a rather diverse group of skin diseases, which was nonetheless contagious and hideous, making it difficult for the sufferer to carry on their usual daily life.

Amidst all that therefore, Naaman and the Aramaean king was desperate to find cure for the former, as leprosy was rather difficult to cure, and that was why Naaman went to the land of Israel seeking the help of the famous prophet Elisha, who was at that time ministering to the people of Israel and was well-known for his many miracles and wonders. Naaman eventually managed to find Elisha after some efforts and searching, and the prophet told him to do a simple task of immersing himself seven times in the River Jordan, and reassuring him that if he were to do that, then he would be made whole and well again.

But as we heard, Naaman was proud and became angry at the prophet’s suggestion, thinking of why he had to do such menial tasks in immersing himself in the River Jordan when he could have done that in the river of his own home country. He likely had this expectation that after all the efforts that he made to look for the prophet, that Elisha would perform the miracle healing through signs and wonders directly to him. However, his servant begged him to reconsider and to think that it was indeed a very easy task for him to perform, and as we heard, Naaman eventually relented and did as he was asked, and he was indeed cured from his condition. From this passage, we can see that it was Naaman’s pride that became his stumbling block earlier on.

That is therefore the reminder for all of us that we ourselves must not allow our pride, ego and all those things from preventing us as our stumbling blocks in attaining the grace and mercy of God. Too many times, many people fail to repent from their sins and wickedness, and persist on in their mistakes and problems because they were too proud to admit that they were facing problems and have fallen in their ways and paths. What the Lord asked of us is for us to listen to Him and to allow Him to make us whole again, and to trust Him in whatever He told us and guided us to do in each and every moments of our lives. And unlike the maladies and sickness of this world, which can be cured and healed, none can heal us from the afflictions of our sins, save that by the Lord’s compassionate mercy and forgiveness. That is why we should seek Him to be forgiven from our many sins and to be reconciled with Him.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the account of what happened at the time when the Lord Jesus came to His hometown of Nazareth to proclaim the Good News of God, and ended up facing rather cold and apathetic treatment and reception from those of His own hometown, as many among those people even doubted and refusing to accept the fact that one of their own could have received such great gift from God, and calling to be a great Teacher of the Faith, and less still what the Lord Himself had claimed, from their perspective, of being the One sent by God, the Messiah or Saviour promised by the Lord through His prophets.

And the Lord therefore lamented the lack of faith which was prevalent among those in His own hometown, which was partly due to their own prejudices and biases, as they all saw Him grew up and knowing and thinking that He was merely just the Son of the town carpenter, St. Joseph, the Lord’s foster-father, as no one but those within the Holy Family and perhaps very few others knew that the Lord was truly Incarnate in the flesh in Jesus, and He was not the biological son of St. Joseph. Hence, compounded with the fact that carpenter’s job was considered to be an honest and yet lowly job, this made the townspeople of Nazareth to look down on the Lord and hardened their hearts and minds against Him.

That was why the Lord mentioned the story of Naaman’s healing and the miracle that happened to him, and highlighted the irony of how it was an Aramaean who was not one of the twelve tribes of Israel who actually believed in God and put his faith in Him, while the Israelites themselves were unwilling to listen to the prophet Elisha and believing in God’s words that he bore towards them. It was then the same at the time of the Lord’s ministry among the people, where many among the Jewish people and their elders and elites of their community in particular, refused to listen to Him and believe in Him, and in fact they made it difficult for Him to carry out His mission. On the other hand, as highlighted in some parts of the Gospels, it was the Gentiles, the non-Jewish people who eagerly sought the Lord and had faith in Him.

Today perhaps we should then also look upon the good examples set by our holy predecessor, St. Frances of Rome, a holy woman and servant of God, who had dedicated her life to follow and serve the Lord. St. Frances of Rome was a wife and mother who was known in her role of caring for the poor and the sick in her community. St. Frances spent a lot of time and effort in reaching out to the less fortunate all around her, and when she became a widow, she even made part of her own family’s country estate into a hospital for the poor and the sick. She experienced a lot of hardships, challenges and difficulties throughout her life and ministry, but all those things did not discourage her from continuing to carry out her work and mission, and inspiring many others to follow her examples and doing what they could to care for the good of the people of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore as we continue to progress through this time and season of Lent let us all reflect on our attitudes in life, in whether we have allowed our pride, ego and other obstacles in our path towards God to prevent us from truly being able to be reconciled with Him. We should reexamine our way of living our lives and do our very best so that we can truly find the Lord amidst all the hustle and bustle of the world around us. Let us all be humbler and realise that each and every one of us are imperfect, broken beings, who are in need of God’s love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness. May the Lord our God forgive us all our sins and bring us all into His most loving embrace, and help us to show the same love to our brethren around us, especially to those who are dearest and most beloved to us. Amen.