Reading I
2 Kgs
5:14-17
Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of Elisha, the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child,
and he was clean of his leprosy.
Naaman returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
On his arrival he stood before Elisha and said,
"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in
Please accept a gift from your servant."
Elisha replied, "As the LORD lives whom I serve, I will not take it;"
and despite Naaman's urging, he still refused.
Naaman said: "If you will not accept,
please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth,
for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice
to any other god except to the LORD."
Responsorial
Psalm
Ps 98:1, 2-3,
3-4
R. (cf. 2b) The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands:
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
Reading II
2 Tm
2:8-13
Beloved:
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David:
such is my gospel, for which I am suffering,
even to the point of chains, like a criminal.
But the word of God is not chained.
Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen,
so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus,
together with eternal glory.
This saying is trustworthy:
If we have died with him
we shall also live with him;
if we persevere
we shall also reign with him.
But if we deny him
he will deny us.
If we are unfaithful
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.
Gospel
Lk 17:11-19
As Jesus continued his journey to
he traveled through
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you."
Today’s First
Reading contains the story of the cure of Naaman who was the commander of
the army of the king of
The Second Reading, although addressed to Timothy, is an invitation for all Christians. Those who suffer with and for Christ, and those who persevere to the end and die for Christ will also live and reign with Christ. Fidelity to Christ means victory with Christ, and this is a major theme repeated throughout this letter. However, the reading contains a problem in the final verses. Verse 12 tells the reader that those who deny Jesus will be met with denial by Jesus (a common Gospel warning found in Matthew), but verse 13 says that even if we were to be faithful, Jesus would remain faithful.
In today’s Gospel,
Jesus is met by a group of lepers that is composed of both Jews (those from
As Director of Religious Education at my parish I often have to look twice to make sure that the sign on my door does not say Office of Requests & Complaints. Everyone comes in to voice a complaint or ask for a favor: parents complaining about requirements and asking for a way out; teachers complaining about students and their parents and wanting help in dealing with them; members of the community, complaining about the “mobs” of children “roaming” the parish during class changes and requesting that religion class be done at another time of day. Some have even complained that there are too many people at Sunday Mass and they find it hard to find a seat. Instead of praising God for having children that want to learn about their faith and instead of glorifying God because the Church building was “bursting at the seams” they only complained. Can you imagine?
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus not only imagined this situation but lived it and expressed his dissatisfaction with this type of attitude. Jesus makes very clear that he expected all the lepers that were cured to return to give thanks after their request had been heard: “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?” To make matters worse, the only one that returned to glorify God was a Samaritan – an outsider: “Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” I believe that Jesus’ reaction to this type of situation tells us quite a bit about our human condition. There is no doubt that we are selfish beings. We go through life constantly concerned about our wellbeing and acting in ways that allow us to satisfy our needs. This is especially true of our American Society where there is a reward for just about anything. If Jesus teaches us anything at all it is that to save ourselves we must first loose ourselves; we must be the last and not the first; we must be the least and the servant of all. Christ is these things and much more and we must follow in his footsteps; and if Christ gives thanks and glorifies the Father in everything he does then so must we.
New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Ishida, T. (ed.), “Studies in the Period of David and Solomon”; Jones, G. H., “1 and 2 Kings”; Barrett, C. K. “The Pastoral Epistles”; Hanson, A. T. “The Pastoral Epistles”; Fitzmyer, J. A., “TheGospel According to Luke”; LaVerdiere, E., “Luke”; Maddox, R., “The Purpose of Luke-Acts”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary".
Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa