Daily Retreat 01/13/06

2006 Jan 13 Fri: Ordinary Weekday/ Hilary, bp, dr

1 Sm 8: 4-7. 10-22a/ Ps 88(89): 16-17. 18-19/ Mk 2: 1-12

From today’s readings: "It is not you they reject, they are rejecting Me as their king.... For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord..... But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth....."

Rejecting God as King

A careful study of the books of Samuel reveals an ambivalence toward the monarchy: on the one hand, the kingship of David is certainly celebrated, but, texts such as today's also point out the downside of royalty.

The elders of Israel who insisted that Samuel anoint a king, did so with the hope of being like other nations. So instead of inspiring other nations to imitate the exulted example that God wanted them to give (viz., a holy nation living in God's law), the Israelites chose to adapt the non-divinely directed customs of the pagan peoples around them.

Do you and I conform to God's exulted plan for us, or do we content ourselves with accomodating to the prevailing world spirit? This is the choice we have to make in all our decisions, and so we do well to remember that whenever we reject God as our King and the rule of His law, we inevitably invite the disastrous and miserable consequences that are sure to follow.