+The Catholic Calendar for Friday, January 16, 1998 +
First Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:

1 Samuel 8:4-7,10-22
Psalm 89:2,16-19
Mark 2:1-12

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A reflection on today's Scripture:

"...to the Lord belongs our shield and to the Holy One of Israel,
our king."
(Psalm 89:19)

How readily we follow secular "authority" yet so easily reject the One who rules with perfect justice, One impelled not by greed for power as some earthly kings, but love for the creatures He created from the very abundance of His Being.

Samuel, in his advanced years, was pressured by the people to appoint a king over them. Despite Samuel's warnings that worldly authorities often exploited subjects to enrich themselves, gain power over other nations, the Israelites opposed him, insisted they needed a king to gain national status. Having neglected proper worship and obedience to the One true God, they had embraced worldly ways.

The situation had changed little in Jesus' time. Though some, as the paralytic and his friends, recognized His power to be of divine origin, religious authorities rejected Him as the Messiah sent to deliver them from sin and restore them to the bosom of their Father. They sought instead a Savior to free them from foreign rule, One who would elevate their nation to a world power, not One who would make them God's instrument to bring salvation to the entire world.

God desires to rule over human hearts, to give us the peace for which we inwardly yearn. Evil gains power over us only when our selfish pride yields to the spirit of this world rather than to our Divine King.


- Marie L. Bocko OCDS

Lord God,
You rescued us from the pit through Your Son.
May the world see its folly
and accept Christ's Divine Kingship. Amen



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