Lenten reflection, day 17

Scripture readings: 2 Kings 5:1-15; Psalm 42; Luke 4:24-30

“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place,” Jesus says in today’s Gospel. We all have our own visions of how things ought to be: out-of-town doctors have certain mysterious wisdom, big-city consultants surely know more than someone local, and professors with foreign accents certainly have insights that our own scholars lack.

Jesus, who was the very wisdom and power of God, was not accepted in His home territory simply because that was home. Surely all the great prophets must have credentials, one of which was to be from a more prestigious town than Nazareth.

Our challenge is to find truth in the whisper of God’s prophetic messages; to find goodness in the people we live with every day; to see God present in the ordinary events of our daily lives.

Do we also prefer fireworks and stunts as proof of divine presence? Or can we embrace a God who inspires and heals in the everyday? Are we open to hear and see God’s truth in the ordinary events and words of our lives?

Rev. Charles Hergenroeder, C.Ss.R.
Baltimore

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