Fifth Sunday after
Easter
2
Samuel, Chapter 12, Verse
26-28
26 Absalom then said, “If not you,
then please let my brother Amnon come with us.” The king asked him, “Why should
he go with you?” 27 But at Absalom’s urging, the king
sent Amnon and with him all his other sons. Absalom prepared a banquet fit for
a king. 28 But
Absalom had instructed his attendants: “Now watch! When Amnon is merry with
wine and I say to you, ‘Kill Amnon,’ put him to death. Do not be afraid, for it is I who order you to do
it. Be strong and act like warriors.”
David’s family life after the murder of Uriah reads
like a mafia tale with David being the Don and all his son’s vying for
power.
Amnon
was the heir-apparent to David's throne; Amnon though is best remembered for
the rape of his half-sister Tamar, daughter of David with Maachah. Despite the
biblical prohibition on sexual relations between half-brothers and sisters,
Amnon had an overwhelming desire for her. He acted on advice from his cousin, Jonadab
the son of Shimeah, David's brother, to lure Tamar into his quarters by
pretending to be sick and desiring her to cook a special meal for him. While in
his quarters, and ignoring her protests, he raped her, and then expelled her
from his house. King David was angry about the incident, but could not bring
himself to punish his eldest son, while Absalom,
Amnon's half-brother and Tamar's full brother, nursed a bitter grudge against
Amnon for the rape of his sister. Two years later, to avenge Tamar, Absalom
invited all of David's sons to a feast, and then had his servants kill Amnon
after he had become drunk with wine.[1]
David’s sin had found him out. After he killed Uriah
it was like killing his own self and now, he was not holding his children
accountable. They became monsters. David’s youthful heart of gratitude and love
for God was sorely wounded. David never regained the law of the Sacrifice. Yet,
from David’s line comes Jesus Christ; His sacrifice saves us all and you can,
“Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” (Lk.
21:28)
Are there any Absalom's in our current world order? Pray for our Nation!
The liberty of the
New Covenant and its perfection in prayer and the Spirit.[3]
THE Introit of the Mass is again a joyful thanksgiving
for our redemption. “Declare the voice of joy, and let it be heard, alleluia;
declare it even to the ends of the earth; the Lord hath delivered His people,
alleluia, alleluia” (Isaias xlviii.20). “Shout with joy to God, all the earth,
sing ye a psalm to His name, give glory to His praise.”
Prayer. O God, from Whom
all good things proceed, grant to Thy suppliants that by Thy inspiration we may
think those things that are right, and by Thy direction perform them.
EPISTLE. James i.
23-27.
Dearly Beloved: Be ye doers of the word, and not
hearers only: deceiving your own selves. But if a man be a hearer of the word,
and not a doer: he shall be compared to a man be holding his own countenance in
a glass: for he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what
manner of man he was. But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty,
and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the
work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. And if any man think himself to be
religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s
religion is vain. Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this:
to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one’s self
unspotted from this world.
GOSPEL. John xvi.
23-30.
At
that time Jesus said to His disciples: Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the
Father anything in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto you have not asked
anything in My name: ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.
These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh when I will no
more speak to you in proverbs, but will show you plainly of the Father : in
that day you shall ask in My name : and I say not to you, that I will ask the
Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you, because you have loved Me,
and have be lieved that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and
am come into the world: again, I leave the world and I go to the Father. His
disciples say to Him: Behold now Thou speakest plainly, and speakest no proverb;
now we know that Thou knowest all things, and Thou needest not that any man
should ask Thee. By this we believe that Thou comest forth from God.
Why does God wish
us to pray to Him?
To remind us:
1.
That
all good things come from Him, and that without Him we have nothing.
2.
That
we may confide in Him and try to make ourselves worthy of His divine grace, by
thoughts pleasing to Him, and valuing more, and using better, the graces we
receive.
Why is our prayer
often not heard?
Because we often ask for something that would be more hurtful than profitable
to us.
When ought we to
pray?
At all times, but especially at,
1.
morning,
noon, and night;
2.
in
time of great temptation;
3.
when
receiving the sacraments;
4.
when
about to undertake anything important;
5.
at
the hour of death.
Which is the best
of all prayers?
The Lord’s Prayer; but though we say it a hundred times, it will fail to
produce its beneficial effects if we repeat it thoughtlessly, without thinking
of its meaning or purpose.
SHORT EXPLANATION
OF THE LORD’S PRAYER.
Why does this
prayer commence with Our Father? To encourage us thereby to a child-like
confidence in God. as our Father, Who loves all men, and is ever ready to help
them.
Why do we say, Who
art in heaven, since God is every where? To admonish us to lift up our
hearts to heaven, our true home, where God has set up the throne of His
kingdom.
What do we ask of
God in this prayer?
In the first petition, hallowed be Thy name, we pray that God may be
known and loved by all men, and that His name may be glorified by a Christian
life.
In the second petition, Thy kingdom come, we
pray God to enter and rule in our hearts by His grace, to spread His Church
throughout the whole world, and after our death to award us eternal happiness.
In the third petition, Thy will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven, we offer ourselves entirely to God, and declare our
selves ready to be subject to the dispositions of His holy will, as are the
angels in heaven, and pray to Him for grace to do this.
In the fourth petition, give us this day our daily
bread, we ask for all things which we need; for the body, as food and
clothing, and for the soul, as grace and the divine word.
In the fifth petition, forgive us our trespasses,
as we for give those that trespass against us, we pray to God for forgiveness,
but only so far as we forgive those that injure us. We must therefore remember
that we shall not obtain forgiveness from God so long as we have in our heart’s
hatred against anyone
In the sixth petition, and lead us not into
temptation, we acknowledge our frailty, and ask God to remove temptations
from us, or, if He permit us to fall into those which the world, the flesh, and
the devil prepare for us, to give us grace not to consent to them, but, by
combating and overcoming them, to Gain the merit and the crown of justice.
In the seventh petition, but deliver us from evil,
we pray to God to preserve us from sin, and the occasions of sin; an evil death
and hell; also, from all temporal evils, so far as may be for the salvation of
our souls.
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnon
[2]
Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[3]
http://www.holytrinitygerman.org/paschaltideschema.htm
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