Introduction to 1 Samuel[1]
Welcome to 1 Samuel, the original Game of Thrones (cue awesome theme
here). Oh, yes, that's right. As much as you've probably heard that the story
of 1 Samuel is about the little guy (David) fighting the big guy (Goliath),
that's actually not the whole point of the book. We are here to tell you that
the plot of 1 Samuel is really about control of the throne of Israel.
·
Written at about 1000 B.C. by the Deuteronomists,
the book starts off with a man named Eli serving as God's priest. But God
decides that a young man named Samuel should be in charge, so when Eli
eventually dies, Samuel takes over as priest and prophet. Everything's coming
up Samuel. Hence the title.
·
The people of Israel decide they need a king, so God
makes Samuel appoint a man named Saul, who's kind of the worst. To make a long
story short, Saul is a terrible king, so Samuel has to go find someone else.
·
After a long search, Samuel ends up in Bethlehem
(way before Jesus was born there), where he meets an adorable young shepherd named
David, he anoints David on the spot.
·
Fast-forward a good long while, and the Israelite
army is ready to fight the Philistines. Every Israelite soldier is too scared
to fight Goliath, the Philistine champion, so David steps forward like a champ.
Overly confident, Goliath is defeated by a stone being flung through his skull
by David. Boom. Now everyone loves David. Even Saul... sort of. Well, maybe not
so much Saul.
·
Now that David has gone from zero to hero, everyone
has the David fever except for Saul. He tries to kill David several times out
of jealousy for his newfound fame and power. And the Game of Thrones has begun.
What follows until the end of 1 Samuel is a series of plot twists, battles,
more plot twists, and more battles until (spoiler alert) Saul is killed on the
battlefield. 1 Samuel ends on a cliffhanger, but don't worry, as with all good
action adventures, there's a sequel.
Political intrigue? Check. Power plays? Check. Epic battles? Check.
Seriously, 1 Samuel has all the makings of every awesome R-rated movie or rated
Mature TV show to grace the HBO airwaves. And our man David's the star.
So here is the real question: if the book is really about David, why is
the book titled Samuel?
Any guesses?
Fine, we'll just tell you. Although the book has got David fever along
with the rest of the Israelites, as Prophet-in-Residence, Samuel's there every
step of the way. In fact, it's because of Samuel that most of the events
transpire. He's the Gandalf to David's Bilbo. The Dumbledore to his Harry.
Without the old gray wizard to guide, there is no unexpected journey and
adventure. Without Samuel, there is no Game of Thrones for Israel.
Why Should I Care?
Because you loved The Mighty Ducks, Rudy, and Star Wars. Because no
one—and we mean no one—has ever said no to a good underdog story, and 1 Samuel
is a classic.
Some of our greatest tales are based on the old
little-dude-defeats-big-dude plot, and this one is no exception. From his very
humble beginnings as a shepherd boy, David has to contend with all kinds of Big
Bads every step of the way. See, 1 Samuel is one of the original underdog
stories and it's not just about one big foe. David is constantly struggling to
be the bigger man, whether it is against Goliath, Saul, or even himself at
times.
Think of 1 Samuel as a precursor to all those people-pleasing blockbuster
franchises making the big bucks in theaters these days. It's got all the
awesome elements that pack people in those seats: violence, romance, power
struggles, dashing heroes, and even a soundtrack (David's got a bit of a
musical knack).
And yes—it even has a sequel.
MAY 9 Sixth Sunday after Easter
MOTHERS
DAY
1 Samuel, Chapter 4, Verse 20
The
Ark of the Covenant was the glory of Israel who had by this time had become no
better than their neighbors and they worshiped the gods of their neighbors. Additionally,
as they descended, they warred with each other rather than the nations opposed
to them. The Ark was now considered a powerful talisman in war and when the
Israelites bring it into battle with the Philistines it is captured, and the glory
of Israel departs. The cause was the corruption of the priestly family of Eli
who forgot the way of God. God would call another Priest: Samuel and the house
of Eli was brought down.
Humpty
Dumpty Had a Great Fall[2]
·
The
Israelites lose a battle against the Philistine army. The Philistines are a sea
people and a superior fighting force. The Israelites rarely stand a chance
against them (1-2).
·
The
Israelites decide to bring the Ark of the Covenant into the camp with them so
they might win the battle the next day. Everyone gets so excited when the Ark
makes its way into camp, the echoes of joy reach all the way to the Philistine
camp and they become afraid.
·
The
next day, the Philistines fight even harder, and they steal the Ark for
themselves. So much for that plan, Israelites. Oh, and Hophni and Phinehas die
just as prophesied (3-11).
·
A
messenger comes to deliver the news of Israel's defeat. Eli, sitting in his
place of power on the outer wall, receives the news of the defeat, the loss of
the Ark, and the death of his sons.
·
He
promptly falls backwards from his seat, breaks his neck, and dies. Little known
fact: Humpty Dumpty is based on Eli. Little known fact: that was a lie (14-18).
·
Phinehas'
pregnant wife, upon hearing of his demise, goes into labor and gives birth to a
son. She is so sad, she names the child Ichabod, which means the glory has
departed from Israel. Sorry kid, you're stuck with it (19-22).
ON KEEPING THE LORDS DAY HOLY[3]
CHAPTER II
DIES CHRISTI
The Day of the Risen Lord
and of the Gift of the Holy Spirit
The day of Christ-Light
27. This Christocentric vision sheds
light upon another symbolism which Christian reflection and pastoral practice
ascribed to the Lord's Day. Wise pastoral intuition suggested to the Church the
Christianization of the notion of Sunday as "the day of the sun",
which was the Roman name for the day and which is retained in some modern
languages. This was in order to draw the faithful away from the seduction of
cults which worshipped the sun, and to direct the celebration of the day to
Christ, humanity's true "sun". Writing to the pagans, Saint Justin
uses the language of the time to note that Christians gather together "on
the day named after the sun", but for believers the expression had already
assumed a new meaning which was unmistakably rooted in the Gospel. Christ is
the light of the world, and, in the weekly reckoning of time, the day
commemorating his Resurrection is the enduring reflection of the epiphany of
his glory. The theme of Sunday as the day illuminated by the triumph of the
Risen Christ is also found in the Liturgy of the Hours and is given special
emphasis in the Pannichida, the vigil which in the Eastern liturgies
prepares for Sunday. From generation to generation as she gathers on this day,
the Church makes her own the wonderment of Zechariah as he looked upon Christ,
seeing in him the dawn which gives "light to those who sit in darkness and
in the shadow of death", and she echoes the joy of Simeon when he takes in
his arms the divine Child who has come as the "light to enlighten the
Gentiles" (Lk 2:32).
Sixth
Sunday after Easter[4]
THIS
Sunday is a preparation for the feast of Pentecost. At the Introit of the Mass,
the Church sings: “Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to Thee,
alleluia. My heart hath said to Thee, I have sought Thy face; Thy face, Lord,
will I seek; turn not away Thy face from me, alleluia, alleluia. The Lord is my
light and my salvation, whom shall, I fear?
Prayer. O almighty and everlasting God
grant us ever to entertain a devout affection towards Thee, and to serve Thy
majesty with a sincere heart.
EPISTLE, i. Peter iv. 7-11.
Dearly
Beloved: Be prudent, and watch in prayers. But before all things have a
constant mutual charity among yourselves; for charity covereth a multitude of
sins. Using hospitality one towards another without murmuring. As every man
hath received grace, ministering the same to one another, as good stewards of
the manifold grace of God. If any man speaks, let him speak as the words of
God. If any man minister, let him do it as of the power which God
administereth: that in all things God may be honored through Jesus Christ our
Lord.
Practice. The virtues here recommended are
excellent preparatives for receiving the Holy Ghost, for nothing makes us more
worthy of His grace than temperance, prayer, charity, unity, and hospitality towards
our neighbors. Endeavor, therefore, to exercise these virtues, and every day
during the following week pray fervently to the Holy Ghost for help in your
endeavors.
GOSPEL. John xv. 26, 27; xvi. 1-4.
At that time Jesus said to His disciples: When the Paraclete cometh Whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, Who proceedeth from the Father, He shall give testimony of Me: and you shall give testimony, because you are with Me from the beginning. These things have I spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized. They will put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth a service to God. And these things will they do to you, because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told you.
What kind of sin is scandal?
It is a frightful sin. By it countless sins are
occasioned, thousands of souls are carried to perdition, while the loving
design of God for the salvation of men is frustrated.
How, in general, is scandal given?
By saying, doing, neglecting to do something which becomes
the occasion of sin to another.
When do parents give scandal?
When they set a bad example to their children. When
they do not correct them for doing wrong, or neglect to keep them from what is
bad and to teach them that which is good.
How do employers give scandal?
In much the same way that parents give scandal to
their children: when, by bad example or by command, they keep their servants or
other employees from divine service, or neglect to make them attend it. When
they themselves use, or give to others, flesh-meat on days of abstinence. When
they order the commission of sin.
Rogation
Sunday
It is only a few weeks since Good
Friday when we commemorated the agonizing death of Christ on Mount Calvary.
This was an excruciating, shameful death even for hardened criminals who
deserved it.
But for our loving Savior, the
innocent lamb of God, one who had never offended God or neighbor, it was
something of which the whole human race should be ashamed forever. What caused
Christ that torment and death on the cross was our sins, the sins of all
mankind and not the spite and hatred of his Jewish opponents, who were only
instruments in the tragedy. Atonement had to be made to God for the sins of the
world, so that men could reach the eternal inheritance which the incarnation
made available to them.
However, not all the acts of the
entire human race could make a sufficient atonement to God. A sacrifice, an expiation
of infinite value was needed. The death of the Son of God in his human nature
was alone capable of making such an expiation. That Christ willingly accepted
crucifixion for our sakes, that he gave the greatest proof of love which the
world has ever known, by laying down his life for his friends, did not make his
sufferings any less, did not ease any of the pains of Calvary. His agony in the
Garden before his arrest shows this: he foresaw all the tortures and pains
which he was to undergo and sweated blood at the thought of what awaited him.
But he was to keep his Father's commandment "not my will but thine be
done." We Christians must have hearts of stone, hearts devoid of all sense
of gratitude, when we forget what Christ has done for us and deliberately
offend him! Alas, this is what all of us do sometimes, and many of us do all
the time. Christ died to bring us to heaven, but we tell him, by our sins, that
he was wasting his time. We do not want to go to heaven, we are making our
happiness here! How far can human ingratitude and thanklessness go?
Christ told us, through the disciples
on Holy Thursday night, that he had made us his friends, his intimates. We are
no longer servants in the household, who merely earn their daily wage and have
no intimacy with the family and no hope of ever sharing in the family
possessions.
Instead, we have been adopted into the
family by Christ becoming man, we have been guaranteed all the rights of
children intimacy with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the future sharing
in the eternal happiness of that divine household. Christ's incarnation made us
God's children, Christ's death on the cross removed sin. Sin is the one
obstacle that could prevent us reaching our eternal inheritance. Because God
gave us a free will we can in a moment of folly, a moment of madness really,
deprive ourselves of the privileges and possessions which Christ has made
available to us. We can choose to exchange an eternity of happiness for a few
fleeting years of self-indulgence on earth. We can fling Christ's gift of love
back in his face and tell him we don't want it. God forbid that we should ever
act like this, that we should ever forget God's purpose in creating us. It is a
marvelous thing to be alive, if we have hope in a future life. If nothing
awaited us but the grave, then to live on this earth, which is a valley of
sorrow and tears for the vast majority, would be the cruelest of jests. But of
this we need have no fear. Life on earth is but a short prelude to our real
existence. If we use this brief period as Christ has told us how to use it,
death for us will be the passage into the eternal mansions. Be grateful to God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit; love the Blessed Trinity; prove your love by
loving your fellowmen. By doing this you are fulfilling the whole law and the
prophets; and you are assuring yourself of the place in heaven which Christ has
won for you.
Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin
O'Sullivan, O.F.M.
Mother’s Day
In honor of Mother’s Day, here are
a few quotes from John Paul II’s apostolic letter On the Dignity of Women (Mulieris Dignitatem) about the
unique vocation of motherhood.[5]
John Paul II: “Motherhood involves a special
communion with the mystery of life, as it develops in the mother’s womb. The
mother is filled with wonder at this mystery of life, and ‘understands’ with unique
intuition what is happening inside her. In the light of the ‘beginning’, the
mother accepts and loves as a person the child she is carrying in her womb.
This unique contact with the new human being developing within her gives rise
to an attitude towards human beings – not only towards her own child, but every
human being – which profoundly marks the woman’s personality.”
“Motherhood
implies from the beginning a special openness to the new person: and this is precisely the woman’s
‘part’. In this openness, in conceiving and giving birth to a child, the woman
‘discovers herself through a sincere gift of self’.”
“Human parenthood is something
shared by both the man and the woman. Even if the woman, out of love for her
husband, says: ‘I have given you a child’, her words also mean: ‘This is our
child’. Although both of them together are parents of their child, the woman’s motherhood constitutes a special
‘part’ in this shared parenthood, and the most demanding part.
Parenthood – even though it belongs to both – is realized much more fully in
the woman, especially in the prenatal period. It is the woman who ‘pays’
directly for this shared generation, which literally absorbs the energies of
her body and soul. It is therefore necessary that the man be fully
aware that in their shared program of parenthood he owes a special debt to
the woman.”
John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem (1988), no. 18
Mother's
Day Top Events and Things to Do[6]
·
Take
mom out to brunch or dinner. Be sure to book in advance as Mother's Day
brunches are always very busy.
·
Clean
the house for your mother or grandmother.
·
Send
mom and grandma flowers. You can either pick them up or deliver them yourself
if you are nearby or use one of many online services that ship directly to her
door.
·
Give
mom a gift she will really appreciate - a day at the spa or a weekend off.
·
A
simple phone call to mom will suffice. Let her know that you love her and think
about her.
Memorial Day Build Up
Every day from now to Memorial Day I
ask your prayers for each service and all of our defenders to include police
and fire on Memorial Day.
US Army[7]
As priest-chaplains of the Archdiocese for the Military Services we invite you to join with us in prayer. In times of joy and difficulty, in times of fear and doubt, in moments of distress and in times of peace, a simple prayer that comes from the heart becomes the place of your encounter with God’s love, mercy and protection.
Prayer for Troops[8]
Let us pray for our
brothers and sisters as they go forth with courage and determination to face
the forces of violence, weapons of destruction and hearts filled with
hate.
RESPONSE: THROUGH THE DARKNESS BRING US TO
THE LIGHT.
For our President
and Commander-In-Chief, and our political and military leaders that they may
tirelessly seek peaceful settlements to international disputes; we pray to the
Lord:
Through the Darkness Bring Us to
the Light.
That the Lord may preserve
the members of our Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Air Force from all
harm; we pray to the Lord:
Through the Darkness Bring Us to
the Light.
That even in war, we may
keep clearly before us the defense of all human rights, especially the right to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; we pray to the Lord:
Through the Darkness Bring Us to
the Light.
That the families,
relatives and friends of our military members may be strengthened in this time
of concern and anxiety; we pray to the Lord:
Through the Darkness Bring Us to
the Light.
That the Lord may help
families with men and women in the armed forces to cope with daily challenges
in the absence of their loved ones; we pray to the Lord:
Through the Darkness Bring Us to
the Light.
That our homeland will be
preserved from violence and terrorism; we pray to the Lord:
Through the Darkness Bring Us to
the Light.
That the nations of the
world will seek to work together in harmony and peace; we pray to the Lord:
Through the Darkness Bring Us to
the Light.
That the hearts of all men
and women will be moved to pursue true peace and justice; we pray to the Lord:
Through the Darkness Bring Us to
the Light.
That violence may be
overcome by peace; that weapons of destruction be transformed into tools of
justice, and hate give way to true charity; we pray to the Lord:
Through the Darkness Bring Us to
the Light.
That we may be grateful
for and inspired by those veterans who have given their lives for our country
and that we may bravely face the challenges ahead; we pray to the Lord:
Lord God, Almighty Father, creator of mankind and author of peace, as
we are ever mindful of the cost paid for the liberty we possess, we ask you to
bless the members of our armed forces. Give them courage, hope and strength.
May they ever experience your firm support, gentle love and compassionate
healing. Be their power and protector, leading them from darkness to light. To
you be all glory, honor and praise, now and forever. Amen.
Real
Men ask God what they should do[9]
The special need for more
frequent Communion is on the part of the men and the older boys. No man can
afford to "keep his religion in his wife's name." The man is by
nature the head of the family, and the family usually ends up where he leads.
He can't expect his family to continue to live a very vital Catholic life
unless he sets the example. As an Army captain can't hole-up in some rear line
trench and cry out, "Onward, Christian soldiers!” neither can the husband
and father expect his wife and children to do much in the Church Militant if he
is a non-combatant, "too proud to fight."
An interesting evidence of
the power of example of the adult male in encouraging devout religious practice
was had in England during World War II. In a certain Catholic orphanage, the
larger boys were refusing to obey the Sisters' directives to approach the
Communion rail with folded hands. In the neighborhood of the orphanage was a GI
camp whose soldiers soon became heroes to the orphan lads. One day a crowd of
the GI's came to Mass in the orphanage and went to Communion, of course with
hands devoutly folded as is done in our country. When the orphan boys saw Tex
and Bill and Tom properly approaching the Communion rail, the troubles of the
Sisters with the boys were over. "Example is the school of mankind, and
they will learn in no other way."
Daily Devotions
·
Today in honor of the
Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving your day to God. To honor God REST: no
shopping after 6 pm Saturday till Monday. Don’t forget the internet.
·
Manhood of
the Master-week 12 day 5
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Rosary
No comments:
Post a Comment