21 March 2022
Monday of the Third Week of Lent
When Jesus looks into our hearts and lays them bare before us, how do we respond? In his encounter with the people of Nazareth in today’s Gospel, Jesus references the stories of the widow in Zarephath and the cleansing of Naaman the Syrian. Both were outsiders and foreigners whom the prophets aided during a time when Israel was falling away from the Lord. Implicitly, Jesus links the people of his own town to the people of Israel and Samaria at that time. It is not a favorable comparison, and the people’s reaction shows just how little they like it: they drive Jesus out of the town and attempt to hurl him off the hill upon which the town stands.
At times, the grace of mercy and conversion that God offers us comes in difficult forms. In my experience, at least, it is never pleasant to come face-to-face with one’s own failings and sins, even if in the end it is salutary. When we are confronted with those difficult graces, we have a choice: will we react with defensiveness and anger, as the Nazareans in today’s Gospel, or will we accept the challenging yet life-saving offer of the Lord? Today, let us pray for the ability to be receptive to the Lord’s offer of grace, even when it comes in forms that are hard to accept.