Friday, January 19, 2024

Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 24:3-21; Mark 3:13-19)

King David looms large in the Old Testament.  The ancient writers see him as the model king of Israel.  Strong himself, he trusted in God and conquered other nations.  Assuredly he is not portrayed as perfect, but he is always remorseful.  In today’s first reading he refuses to harm King Saul out of respect for God.

The four evangelists see Jesus as David’s descendant.  Like his predecessor, Jesus will conquer Israel’s enemies.  However, the enemies will not be armored men on horses but the spiritual forces of sin and death.  Jesus will prove to be greater than David.  He never sins; yet he prays for mercy on his brothers and sisters who fail to fulfill God’s will.

We should try to emulate David piety, especially before he became king.  When faced with enormous challenges, we want to trust in God.  When we have done something beneficial, we ‘want to thank God openly and fervently.  And when mortal enemies are in our grasp, we want to remember that they too are God’s children.

Friday, January 22, 2022

 Memorial of Saint Agnes, virgin and martyr

(I Samuel 24:3-21; Mark 3:13-19)

In today’s first reading David refuses to take advantage of the opportunity to kill his deadly rival, Saul.  He recognizes that Saul is God’s anointed with a charge to protect the people.  Saul is to be supported not undermined.

We too have been anointed.  At Baptism the minister rubbed chrism, that is perfumed and blessed oil, on our heads.  We share in Christ’s ministry of priest, prophet, and king.  We too are mandated to protect God’s people.

The charge covers all people – born and unborn.  Tomorrow hundreds of thousands of people – mostly baptized Christians -- will converge on Washington to fulfill this duty.  They will ask America’s leaders to reconsider the lock on anti-abortion legislation.  Their determination goes to the extent of making considerable personal sacrifices.  They know that abortion is no less than annihilation of the most vulnerable of human beings.

Friday, January 24, 220

Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church

(I Samuel 24:3-21; Mark 3:13-19)

Tomorrow, the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, ends the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  For the last six days the Church has asked Catholics to pray that all Christians will be united again.  Some Protestant denominations have their members doing likewise.  Jesus initiated the prayer at the Last Supper in John’s gospel.  He prayed that “they (his disciples) may be one.”

Today we honor one of the great saints of the Reformation, Francis de Sales.  He became the bishop of Geneva, the center of the Protestant Reformed movement.  Francis brought to the ongoing debate between Catholics and Calvinists a firm grasp of theology.  Today’s dialogue between Catholic and Protestant leaders requires such understanding.  If agreements between the churches are to have meaning, they must be based on truthful premises.

But they also require humility in approaching one another.  We can look to today’s first reading for an example.  David humbly refuses to take advantage of Saul, the king of Israel.  He would join the king in the war against Israel’s enemies.  Catholics and Protestants should likewise join forces against enemies like homelessness and anti-religious bigotry.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 24:3-21; Mark 3:13-19)

The bishops of the United States have designated today as a day of penance for violations to human dignity. Of course, they have in mind the infamous decision of the Supreme Court, made on this date in 1973, to effectively disallow all laws banning abortion. The bishops also permit the Scriptures from the Mass “for Peace and Justice” to be read, but today’s first reading provides a fitting context for appreciating the somberness of this memorial.

A jealous King Saul has been pursuing David with the intention of killing him. For a moment, however, David is given the upper hand. As Saul enters alone the cave where he is hiding, David could murder him and assume leadership over Israel. But loyalty to the king deters David from regicide. At the end of the day Saul comes to realize David’s innocence and blesses him for it. However, in short time Saul will once again pursue his deadly intention.

We may see the Supreme Court’s abortion decision as being like Saul’s pursuit of David. Its sweeping scope has meant the deaths of tens of millions of fetuses in the United States. Every once and a while, however, the nation recognizes its folly. Like Saul acknowledging David’s innocence in today’s reading, the people make the insight that a fetus is not extraneous tissue, which might be eliminated at will, but a real human being whose right-to-life is inalienable. Yet consumed by the desire to somehow upend the inequality women have suffered at the hands of men, the state keeps in place the comprehensive ban on laws protecting the fetus. In time, we hope, our society will come fully to its senses. It will admit that injustice may not be undone BY further injustice, ban abortions, and address the inequality of women in suitable ways.