LET THEM TALK

"David, girt with a linen apron, came dancing before the Lord with abandon." –2 Samuel 6:14

A characteristic of David's life is that he gave himself to "the Lord with abandon" (2 Sm 6:14). David didn't hold back on giving to God, no matter what others said about him.

David was upset that Goliath was insulting God (1 Sm 17:26) and was determined to defend God's honor by fighting the giant. David's brothers "grew angry with David," insulting and belittling him (1 Sm 17:28). ...

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"David was told, 'You cannot enter here.' " –2 Samuel 5:6

Yesterday was the 39th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision legalizing abortion. This precipitated the development in the USA of what Pope John Paul II called the "culture of death." We are so entrenched in this culture of death, violence, and the degradation of the human person that it seems impossible to change the situation. We have been told we cannot stop Planned Parenthood, cannot change the "politicall...

ARE YOU PRO-CHOICE?

David said: "I decided, 'I will not raise a hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.' " –1 Samuel 24:11

David spared Saul's life when he had a perfect chance to kill his tormentor. David was a seasoned warrior who had killed many opponents (e.g. see 1 Sm 23:5; 30:17ff). The only reason he held back his hand was because Saul carried the anointing of leadership from God. Saul had been chosen by God (1 Sm 10:1).

Jesus "summoned the men He Himself had decided...

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TRUE HUMILITY IS GLADNESS

"Saul was very angry and resentful of the song, for he thought: 'They give David ten thousands, but only thousands to me.' " –1 Samuel 18:8

King Saul won a great victory in battle through the catalyst of young David's courageous defeat of the fierce Goliath. When the cheerleaders greeted the victors with the fight song, Saul was given opening honors and credit for thousands (1 Sm 18:7). Because of his pride, however, all Saul could focus on was that David receive...

"THE SWORD IN THE STONE"

"Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, Who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war." –Psalm 144:1

David killed the giant Goliath with a stone and a sword (1 Sm 17:49, 51). Jesus is "the Stone Which the builders rejected" and "the Keystone of the structure" (Mt 21:42; Ps 118:22). The Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God and prayer (Eph 6:17-18), is the Sword. We will be victorious over giants – such as Planned Parenthood, secular humanism, materialism, rac...

"A LIVING SACRIFICE" (Rm 12:1)

"I have come to sacrifice to the Lord." –1 Samuel 16:5

Sacrifice is defined as "a giving up of something for the sake of something or someone else." We Catholics are used to making sacrifices, but do we make our whole life "a living sacrifice," as Jesus would have us do? (Rm 12:1) We can do so by:

• participating frequently in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, fully aware that we are sacrificially giving our all to Jesus,
• attending Mass to give back to the...

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RUNNING A RED LIGHT

"Samuel said to Saul: 'Stop!' " –1 Samuel 15:16

As we begin a new year, the Lord may be saying to us what He said to Saul. He may be saying: "Stop!" The Lord told Saul to stop disobeying Him, stop deceiving himself, and stop hating himself (1 Sm 15:17ff). However, Saul went right through the stop sign. He attempted murder, became involved in the occult, and finally crashed by committing suicide.

Will we go through a stop sign as Saul did? Will we run a red light tell...

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THE SLEEPING GIANT

"Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was." –1 Samuel 3:3

When Samuel was a child, God's people were spiritually asleep. Their leaders were weak, fat (1 Sm 4:18), lustful (1 Sm 2:22), greedy (1 Sm 2:14ff), and almost blind (1 Sm 3:2). "A revelation of the Lord was uncommon and vision infrequent" (1 Sm 3:1). When God would move and someone occasionally woke up, they were told to go back to sleep (1 Sm 3:6).

The Church, God's people in our ...

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ONE MORE WAY TO REJECT GOD

"He prayed to the Lord, however, Who said in answer: 'Grant the people's every request. It is not you they reject, they are rejecting Me as their King.' " –1 Samuel 8:6-7

The Lord is very concerned about the structures in which we live. He made us to live in certain interconnected ways. So, if we make any unauthorized changes, the whole system gets messed up. For example, the chosen people were called to be a loose federation of tribes with God as their King. Ho...

THE AGONY OF DEFEAT

"It was a disastrous defeat." –1 Samuel 4:10

I've been gazing at a statue of the Pieta. Mary has just suffered a disastrous loss. Before her very eyes, her Son Jesus was brutally tortured and crucified. She stood near His cross (Jn 19:25), pierced with a sword of sorrow (Lk 2:35) far more painful than any spear. Now she is holding the body of her Son, looking heavenward in a gaze of docility tinged with unspeakable suffering. Though Mary suffered a disastrous loss, she...

P.U.I.

"In her bitterness she prayed to the Lord, weeping copiously." –1 Samuel 1:10

Hannah was having a bad day. In fact, she was having several bad years. She wept in her bitterness and misery (1 Sm 1:10-11). Even Hannah's prayer became a problem. Eli the priest misunderstood her condition and accused her of Praying "while Under the Influence" of alcohol (see 1 Sm 1:14). Everything seemed to be going wrong for Hannah, but the Lord changed her barrenness into fruitfulness, her weeping in...

We obey Yahweh not only by obeying the letter of the law but also by expressing awe, reverence, and fear before the Lord. David showed this in 1 Samuel when he spared his bitter enemy, Saul, because Saul was the Lord's anointed (12:1 ff; 26:1 ff). Out of respect for the Lord, David executed the man who assisted Saul in suicide (1:14-16), commended the men of Jabesh-gilead for burying Saul (2:4-5), mourned over Abner, Saul's general (3:31), executed the murderers of Saul's son, Ishba...

This book, as do all the Deuteronomic writings, illustrates the absolute necessity of obedience. If we truly believe in the Lord, we will obey Him. If we truly love Him, we will obey Him (Jn 15:10). Obedience is better than sacrifice (15:22). Through perfect obedience, the one Man, Jesus, saved the whole world and made atonement for all the sins that ever have or will be committed (Rm 5:19). The Christian life is simply "a life of obedience to Jesus Christ" (1 Pt 1:2). Because of di...