So let's talk about today's readings 1/23/10

[cheeto1]

January 23, 2010
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Reading I
2 Sm 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27
David returned from his defeat of the Amalekites
and spent two days in Ziklag.
On the third day a man came from Saul’s camp,
with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.
Going to David, he fell to the ground in homage.
David asked him, “Where do you come from?”
He replied, “I have escaped from the camp of the children of Israel.”
“Tell me what happened,” David bade him.
He answered that many of the soldiers had fled the battle
and that many of them had fallen and were dead,
among them Saul and his son Jonathan.
David seized his garments and rent them,
and all the men who were with him did likewise.
They mourned and wept and fasted until evening
for Saul and his son Jonathan,
and for the soldiers of the LORD of the clans of Israel,
because they had fallen by the sword.
“Alas! the glory of Israel, Saul,
slain upon your heights;
how can the warriors have fallen!
“Saul and Jonathan, beloved and cherished,
separated neither in life nor in death,
swifter than eagles, stronger than lions!
Women of Israel, weep over Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet and in finery,
who decked your attire with ornaments of gold.
“How can the warriors have fallen–
in the thick of the battle,
slain upon your heights!
“I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother!
most dear have you been to me;
more precious have I held love for you than love for women.
“How can the warriors have fallen,
the weapons of war have perished!”

Responsorial Psalm
80:2-3, 5-7
R. (4b) Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken,
O guide of the flock of Joseph!
From your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth
before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Rouse your power,
and come to save us.
R. Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
O LORD of hosts, how long will you burn with anger
while your people pray?
You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in ample measure.
You have left us to be fought over by our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us.
R. Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.

Gospel
Mk 3:20-21
Jesus came with his disciples into the house.
Again the crowd gathered,
making it impossible for them even to eat.
When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him,

for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

 

[cheeto1]

“They mourned and wept and fasted until evening
for Saul and his son Jonathan”
– And then what, had a party? The men of David were so kind to mourn for
Saul. They daily had to spend their time risking their lives to defend David
from the wrath of Saul. In yesterday’s readings, Saul was delivered into the
power of David, but he refused to kill him! David probably wrote some of his
psalms in deep anguish in flight from his pursuer Saul. Now if David was in
such anguish over the attacks of Saul, imagine how his men must have felt!
At the death of Saul, a great burden was lifted from them, and yet they
decided to mourn over it, for love of David. To me, they are heroic.

“You have fed them with the bread of tears
Rouse your power, and come to save us”
– God does not need to “rouse” His power, He is Lord of all. He is not the one to
bring the suffering, He is the one to deliver from suffering. The only problem is,
He mostly uses us to do it, and we don’t always come through for Him.
Why does He still have faith in us?

"When His relatives heard of this they set out to seize Him,
for they said, “He is out of His mind.” "
– Well this is one of the shorest gospels ever. Wonder why they thought He
was out of His mind? Because crowds liked being healed? Did they think a
person was out of their mind because of having the power to heal?

So what struck you about today’s readings? :bible1::twocents: