Athirst is My Soul for the Living God

by Beth De Cristofaro

So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. (2 Kgs 5:14)

As the hind longs for the running waters, so my soul longs for you, O God. (Ps 42:2)

“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. (Lk 4:25)

Piety

Jesus, Brother and Lord, I present myself to you and ask for healing. Let me trust you enough to do your will knowing that your immense love for me will be manifest in everything required of me. I seek to become clean as a child and to recognize your face wherever I encounter it in your world. I long to drink my fill of your loving will.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/031207.shtml

Childlike faith is both illustrated and rejected in today’s readings. A slave girl, full of the mercy of the God she worships, suggests a life-saving solution to the unbelieving general. Her humble faith saw a man in desperate need no matter that he was her master, an enemy of her people. How simply she sees this dilemma: “If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria,” she said to her mistress, “he would cure him of his leprosy.” If only he would present himself and his petition before the Lord…

It is then Namaan’s servants who encourage him when he is disgusted with the lack of magic in Elisha’s remedy. “If the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it?" (2 Kings 5:13). Meanwhile the king of Israel is ripping his clothes in mourning – a political response to the seemingly outrageous request of a dangerous enemy.

The psalmist knows that at our very human core we “thirst.” We cannot live without God.

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has just read from and spoken about scripture in the temple. Those who heard him spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. (Lk 4:22) Yet they could not see him with the eyes of faith. They looked with human-oriented eyes as did the king of Israel, not the God-filled eyes of the slave girl. They responded with human suspicion and did not make the leap of faith and hope that Namaan did.

In contrast, later in this same chapter of Luke Jesus is accepted by gentiles: The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. (Lk4:42)

Action

Pope Benedict, in a March 4 address from the Vatican said of Jesus: "In his intimate dialogue with his Father, (Jesus) does not leave history, he does not flee from the mission for which he came into the world, though he knows that to attain glory he will have to go through the cross … Christ enters this mission more profoundly, adhering with all his being to the will of the Father, and he shows us that true prayer consists precisely in uniting our will to the Father's.

"Therefore, for a Christian to pray is not to evade reality and the responsibilities it entails, but to assume them to the end, trusting in the faithful and inexhaustible love of the Lord." www.zenit.org

Try a different form of prayer from your usual. For example:

Sing today’s psalm.

Imagine yourself to be a Nazrene, neighbor of Joseph and Mary, listening to Jesus teach in the humble village temple.

Listen to the daily Mass readings on podcast from http://www.usccb.org/nab/

Attend a very early daily Mass to begin the day with the Eucharist.

Is your thirst for God quenched in a new way?