Monday of the Third Week of Lent

Naaman the leper is healed through simple obedience to Elisha's command to wash in the Jordan; Jesus warns Nazareth that God's grace goes where it is received, not where it is expected.

Naaman, the powerful commander of Aram's army, is a leper. Directed by a slave girl to seek the prophet Elisha, he arrives with wealth and royal credentials expecting a dramatic cure. Elisha sends a servant with instructions: wash seven times in the Jordan. Naaman is furious at the simplicity, but his servants convince him to obey. He washes and is healed - his flesh becomes like that of a little child. The psalm cries: athirst is my soul for the living God. In the Gospel, Jesus tells the people of Nazareth that no prophet is accepted in his own native place, citing Elijah's ministry to a Sidonian widow and Elisha's healing of Naaman the Syrian - both outsiders. The people are filled with fury and try to throw him off a cliff, but he passes through their midst.

DEACON/PRIEST: Lord Jesus, you offer healing through simple means - water, bread, wine, a word of absolution - and call us to receive with trust. PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.

DEACON/PRIEST: Christ Jesus, you bring grace to the outsider and the unexpected, challenging those who presume upon their familiarity with you. PEOPLE: Christ, have mercy.

DEACON/PRIEST: Lord Jesus, you pass through the midst of those who reject you and continue your mission of mercy. PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.

PRIEST: Naaman was healed when he trusted the simple word of God. With that same trust, let us bring our prayers before the Lord.

DEACON/LECTOR:

1. For our Holy Father, Pope Leo, and all who lead the Church: that they would trust God's simple means of grace and never substitute spectacle for sacrament, we pray to the Lord.

2. For those who govern nations: that they would have the humility Naaman's servants taught him - to listen to the small voice and obey the simple instruction, we pray to the Lord.

3. For those who have been overlooked or underestimated: that their wisdom would be heard and their faithfulness honored, we pray to the Lord.

4. For families and parishes where familiarity has bred spiritual blindness - where we have stopped seeing God in the ordinary: that this Lent would open our eyes, we pray to the Lord.

5. For the sick, especially those who have been waiting for healing that hasn't come in the form they expected: that they would trust God's timing and God's means, we pray to the Lord.

6. For the faithful departed: that the God who heals with simple water would bring them to the living waters of eternal life, we pray to the Lord.

PRIEST: Lord God, you healed Naaman through the waters of the Jordan and your Son through the waters of Baptism makes all things new. Hear our prayers and give us the humility to trust your simple means of grace, through Christ our Lord. Amen.