St. Frances of Rome

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Monday, 9 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the message of today’s Scripture readings is very clear. That we all have to listen and obey the Lord’s will and follow Him in all of our ways, sinning no more and deviating no more from His path. And then we also have to open our hearts to Him and allow Him to speak into our hearts, and we will then be saved. And also it is highlighted yet again, how God desires the salvation of all mankind, which He desires greatly, and all men are equal before Him, equally loved and equally deserving for His mercy.

In the first reading we heard about the healing of Naaman, the Syrian general. Syria or Aram was the great rival of Israel at the time and the two countries often came to war. Naaman was a great and mighty general, who won many wars, but he was down and afflicted with leprosy, a terrible and infectious disease which at the time would make him shunned and shamed by the entire society.

Thus he sought help and healing in the land of Israel, when at that time the prophet Elisha, the successor of Elijah, was ministering to the people of God. Yet at that time, the king of Israel and most of the people were wayward in their ways and they refused to listen to Elisha and to all of his warnings. And thus, they received no grace and blessing from God, and the one to receive His blessing was in fact a foreigner, who did not belong to the community of the people of God.

And in the Gospel we heard how Jesus was rejected by His own people, by His own townsfellow, the people of Nazareth where He stayed since His youth. This paralleled the rejection of the Lord and His prophets by His own sinful people. This goes on to show that the Lord sees all the people, all mankind equally and love them all equally. No difference or distinction between any depending on either race, wealth, fame, prestige or any other worldly distinctions.

What matters would be the attitude and the actions which we are doing in life. Do we show that we are truly disciples and children of our Lord? Or do we instead show that we are the children of this world? We cannot be a hypocrite, in living our faith we show that our faith is not just mere proclamation or mere words, but is as real as it can be. This is the kind of faith that we need, that is to follow what our Lord had taught us.

What Naaman did before he was healed should be a good lesson for all of us, in that when he was defiant and reluctant to follow what Elisha had said to him, he represented what all of us are often doing in our own lives. How often is it that we defy the will of God and refuse to follow what He had asked us to do, and instead trust in our own judgments and follow our own human desires? It has been too often indeed for most of us.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Frances of Rome, whose life hopefully will be able to inspire us to see and know what is meant by being a servant and follower of our God. St. Frances of Rome was born to a rich, influential and aristocratic family in Rome, who was married off to another aristocrat at a young age, and who was a usual and common mother for many years.

St. Frances encountered many difficult moments in her life, losing her children, being involved in family disputes and difficulties of life at the time, with conflict and challenges, but all these did not prevent her from committing herself to good cause, by her ample charitable acts and works to help many of the destitute and the poor, opening her house to welcome many of those who were less fortunate.

Although she was born to privilege and wealth, but she did not regard them as making her special above the rest. Instead, she used what she had to help all those who are in need, and she also dedicated herself to a life of prayer close to God. She left many things in the world in order to pursue her true desire, that is the Lord and to be close to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, many of us are like Naaman who in his pride initially refused to follow the will of God and stood defiant. However, we all have to take note that he eventually obeyed the commands, and for that, he was healed from his leprosy. We too are sick from leprosy, brothers and sisters, but not leprosy of the body, rather that of the soul.

Sin is the leprosy, the sickness that is eating upon our soul, corrupting it and making it unworthy for the Lord. It is therefore what we should fight against and resist during this season of Lent. May this season by a time for us to reflect on our actions and find a way on how to become closer to our God and to walk faithfully and act justly according to His will. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 9 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 4 : 24-30

At that time, Jesus said to the people of Nazareth, “No prophet is honoured in his own country. Truly, I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens withheld rain for three years and six months and a great famine came over the whole land.”

“Yet, Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in the country of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet, and no one was healed except Naaman, the Syrian.”

On hearing these words, the whole assembly became indignant. They rose up and brought Him out of the town, to the edge of the hill on which Nazareth is built, intending to throw Him down the cliff. But He passed through their midst and went His way.

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Monday, 9 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 41 : 2, 3 and Psalm 42 : 3, 4

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, o God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I go and see the face of God?

Send forth Your light and Your truth; let them be my guide, let them take me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You reside.

Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my gladness and delight. I will praise You with the lyre and harp, o God, my God.

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Monday, 9 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

2 Kings 5 : 1-15a

Naaman was the army commander of the king of Aram. This man was highly regarded and enjoyed the king’s favour, for YHVH had helped him lead the army of the Arameans to victory. But this valiant man was sick with leprosy.

One day some Aramean soldiers raided the land of Israel and took a young girl captive who became a servant to the wife of Naaman. She said to her mistress, “If my master would only present himself to the prophet in Samaria, he would surely cure him of his leprosy.”

Naaman went to tell the king what the young Israelite maidservant had said. The king of Aram said to him, “Go to the prophet, and I shall also send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman went and took with him ten gold bars, six thousand pieces of silver and ten festal garments. On his arrival, he delivered the letter to the king of Israel. It said, “I present my servant Naaman to you that you may heal him of his leprosy.”

When the king had read the letter, he tore his clothes to show his indignation, “I am not God to give life or death. And the king of Aram sends me this man to be healed! You see he is just looking for an excuse for war.”

Elisha, the man of God, came to know that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, so he sent this message to him : “Why have you torn your clothes? Let the man come to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stopped before the house of Elisha.

Elisha then sent a messenger to tell him, “Go to the river Jordan and wash seven times, and your flesh shall be as it was before, and you shall be cleansed.”

Naaman was angry, so he went away. He thought, “On my arrival, he should have personally come out, and then paused and called on the Name of YHVH, his God. And he should have touched with his hand the infected part, and I would have been healed. Are the rivers of Damascus, Abana and Pharpar not better than all the rivers of the land of Israel? Could I not wash there to be healed?”

His servants approached him and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had ordered you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? But how much easier when he said : ‘Take a bath and you will be cleansed.'”

So Naaman went down to the Jordan where he washed himself seven times as Elisha had ordered. His skin became soft like that of a child and he was cleansed. Then Naaman returned to the man of God with all his men.

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Saturday, 9 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, Religious (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear once again, God’s call to us to return to Him in full sincerity. Not to depend on things that are temporary, and not to depend on vanity and self-preservation, and pride, like what the Pharisee did in glorifying himself before God, and did not humble himself, like the sinful tax collector did. Yes, the tax collector is sinful, but at the same time he is also humble, and not only humble, but also sincere in his repentance for his sins, and in his desire to return to God and to love Him back just as God loves him.

The path to God is not easy, and it is not through constant prayers the way that the Pharisee did, but rather, when we pray, we should humble ourselves before God, because first, we are sinners and unworthy of God, and yet He had sent His only Son to die on the cross for our salvation. He had been rejected, but yet return in glory so that all who believes in Him has the hope of reconciliation with God, and eternal life through Him.

We have often rebelled against the Lord in various ways, in many moments in our life in this world, just as our forefathers did, and like what the people of Israel had done, in the time when they still were as kingdoms in Judah and Israel, that they turned a deaf ear on God’s prophets, abandoned God for false gods, and massacred His prophets.

Of course, we did not do such things as killing God’s prophets and abandoning Him for idols that are false gods, but in our modern world today, we too have our own ‘false gods’ that had detracted us from God and His path. Worldly temptations, money, and allures of worldly pleasures, consumerism, and excessive capitalism, are just a few examples of the world’s new false gods that can detract us from our path towards the Lord, and turn our hearts towards Him.

Many people in our world today lack the love and faith they once had in the Lord, because that space in their heart that should have been reserved for the Lord, had been taken over by vices and corruption, by things that are not of the love and not of God. Many have also lost their ways, in their seeking of alternatives besides God.

Let us, brothers and sisters in Christ, first, not to fall in the same way as they are, and let us help one another that all of us will remain strong in our faith and our love for God, and not only that, let us help those who have already lost their way and have already turned their heart away from God, that they too may once again listen to the words of God, and be healed from their afflictions.

Today, we commemorate the feast of St. Frances of Rome, also known as Francesca of Rome, who was a pious wife of a wealthy commander of the Pope’s troops in the early 15th century, and she had considerable wealth and therefore, expected to be able to lead a happy life, without having to worry at all. Yet, she inspired many others, especially women at her time, to do plenty of works of charity, to help the poor and the marginalised, through her own works of charity, and she also founded a confraternity of pious women like herself, called the Olivetan Oblates of Mary, and thus helping to spread further the works of God and the love of God in her society, through prayer, and through service.

Let us imitate St. Frances of Rome, to do as what she had done, and in our life, not to be detracted by wealth and other temptations as St. Frances successfully did, and rather than letting ourselves getting enamoured by them, let us use them for good use in our works and services for the poor and the less fortunate around us.

St. Frances of Rome, pray for us.

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Saturday, 9 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Luke 18 : 9-14

Jesus told another parable to some people, fully convinced of their own righteousness, who looked down others : “Two men went up to the Temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself, and said, ‘I thank You, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and give the tenth of all my income to the Temple.'”

“In the meantime, the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ I tell you, when this man went back to his house, he had been reconciled with God, but not the other. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised up.”

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Saturday, 9 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, Religious (Psalm)

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

You take no pleasure in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, You would not delight in it. O God, my sacrifice is a broken spirit; a contrite heart You will not despise.

Shower Zion with Your favour : rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will delight in fitting sacrifices, burnt offerings and bulls.

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Saturday, 9 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, Religious (First Reading)

Hosea 6 : 1-6

Come, let us return to YHVH. He who shattered us to pieces, will heal us as well; He has struck us down, but He will bind up our wounds. Two days later He will bring us back to life; on the third day, He will raise us up, and we shall live in His presence.

Let us strive to know YHVH. His coming is as certain as the dawn; His judgment will burst forth like the light; He will come to us as showers come, like spring rain that waters the earth.

O Ephraim, what shall I do with you? O Judah, how shall I deal with you? This love of yours is like morning mist, like morning dew that quickly disappears. This is why I smote you through the prophets, and have slain you by the words of My mouth.

For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice; it is knowledge of God, not burnt offerings.