The message for today's readings seems to be for us to learn, to appreciate our faith and to see the power of God through the holy people that surround us in our daily lives. The readings also reminded me of the thought that God works in mysterious ways.

At first I admired Aram and Naaman for their faith, belief and action based on the insight from the young girl captured from Israel who told them about the prophet in Israel.  Unfortunately their request to the king of Israel must have frightened or angered the king who did nothing in his power to help Naaman.  How complicated Naaman's healing became, and yet God, for some mysterious reason, allowed all the events to occur so that we, today, in the year 2004 could see how important it is to have faith, trust, and to follow what the Lord has told us, even when we question life's events.

When Naaman is given the directions "the way" from the prophet Elisha, he disregards the instructions. I found Naaman to be a lot like many of us who say, "Okay God this is what I want and this is the way I want you to give me my request."   We are always looking for those 'stand out' events in life - a lightening bolt experience - when in reality, it seems to me that we find God in those ordinary life experiences, in those 'ordinary' people.

Luke shares the message from Jesus, "No Prophet is accepted in his own native place" is food for thought.  We often think we need to look outside of our own communities for spiritual leadership and guidance when in fact that leadership and guidance may very well be found in our next-door neighbor, a co-worker, a parent or a friend.  We need to look for those Holy people in our ordinary lives and see the mystery of life, unfolding through them, in our own lives.