January 31, 2014

Memorial of Saint John Bosco, Priest

Reading 1 2 Sm 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17

At the turn of the year, when kings go out on campaign,
David sent out Joab along with his officers
and the army of Israel,
and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.
David, however, remained in Jerusalem.
One evening David rose from his siesta
and strolled about on the roof of the palace.
From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful.
David had inquiries made about the woman and was told,
“She is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam,
and wife of Joab’s armor bearer Uriah the Hittite.”
Then David sent messengers and took her.
When she came to him, he had relations with her.
She then returned to her house.
But the woman had conceived,
and sent the information to David, “I am with child.”

David therefore sent a message to Joab,
“Send me Uriah the Hittite.”
So Joab sent Uriah to David.
When he came, David questioned him about Joab, the soldiers,
and how the war was going, and Uriah answered that all was well.
David then said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.”
Uriah left the palace,
and a portion was sent out after him from the king’s table.
But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace
with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down
to his own house.
David was told that Uriah had not gone home.
On the day following, David summoned him,
and he ate and drank with David, who made him drunk.
But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his bed
among his lord’s servants, and did not go down to his home.
The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab
which he sent by Uriah.
In it he directed:
“Place Uriah up front, where the fighting is fierce.
Then pull back and leave him to be struck down dead.”
So while Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah
to a place where he knew the defenders were strong.
When the men of the city made a sortie against Joab,
some officers of David’s army fell,
and among them Uriah the Hittite died.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 51:3-4, 5-6a, 6bcd-7, 10-11

R. (see 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.”
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
I have done such evil in your sight
that you are just in your sentence,
blameless when you condemn.
True, I was born guilty,
a sinner, even as my mother conceived me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Let me hear the sounds of joy and gladness;
the bones you have crushed shall rejoice.
Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my guilt.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Gospel Mk 4:26-34

Jesus said to the crowds:
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”

He said,
“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

From: 2 Samuel 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17

David’s Sin

[1] In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, David sent
Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they ravaged the Ammonites,
and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

[2] It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was
walking upon the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman
bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. [3] And David sent and inquired about
the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife
of Uriah the Hittite?” [4a] So David sent messengers, and took her; and she came
to him, and he lay with her. Then she returned to her house. [5] And the woman
conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am with child.”

[6] So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah
to David. [7] When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how
the people fared, and how the war prospered. [8] Then David said to Uriah, “Go
down to your house, and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house,
and there followed him a present from the king. [9] But Uriah slept at the door of
the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.
[10a] (When) they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house.” [13] And Da-
vid invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk;
and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord,
but he did not go down to his house.

[14] In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
[15] In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and
then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” [16] And as Jo-
ab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there
were valiant men. [17] And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab;
and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite was
slain also.

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Commentary:

11-12:25. The birth of Solomon, chosen by God to be the first and greatest of Da-
vid’s successors (12:20-25), is preceded by the drama that results from the gra-
vest sins committed by David. The book of Chronicles, perhaps in a desire not to
tarnish the image of David, makes no mention of David’s adultery. But the book
of Samuel reports it in detail; by so doing it shows that salvation history is not the
result of the merits and virtues of its protagonists, but of the mercy of God who for-
gives sins and always keeps his project of salvation on track. Here we see David,
like Adam, and despite all God has given him, yielding to temptation and commit-
ting the two most grievous sins, the only sins punishable by death both in Israel
and among its neighbors—murder and adultery. And yet as also happened in the
case of Adam, the mercy of God prevails and David finds his way again. Once he
has repented and been pardoned he will have another son by Bathsheba, “by the
wife of Uriah” (Mt 1:6), but this time within marriage, thereby fulfilling the prophecy
of Nathan. This son, Solomon called by Nathan “Jedidiah” that is, “beloved of the
Lord” (12:25), will be the first link in the “sons of David” and will mark the start of
hope in a future Messiah.

11:1-27. David’s grave sin involves three actions—adultery (vv. 1-5), the scheme to
cover up evidence of that sin and avoid the penalty attaching to it (vv. 6-13), and
his decision to get rid of Uriah (vv. 14-24).

The adultery is reported very plainly, just enough to identify David as the father of
the child. The text also shows in a veiled way (by referring to Bathsheba’s impru-
dence in bathing within sight of the king) that she herself is not an innocent party.
Thus there is a marked analogy between this sin and that of Adam and Eve. The
woman who will play an important part in the life of Solomon also had an active
role from the very start of her relationship with David. The image of the idle king,
exposed to the onslaught of passion, is used in Christian tradition as a warning
about the need to keep one’s senses under control in order to avoid falling into
other sins. “The appetites are inflamed by the sensuality of the gaze, and our
eyes, used to looking lustfully at our neighbor because we are so idle, spark im-
pure desires” (Clement of Alexandria, “Paedagogus”, 3, 77, 1). And St. J. Escri-
vá writes: “The eyes! Through them many iniquities enter the soul. So many ex-
periences like David’s !—If you guard your sight you will have assured the guard
of your heart” (”The Way”, 183).

The account goes into more detail when describing the malice of the king as he
makes every effort to ensure that his good name is not sullied: he twice tries to
get Uriah to go down to his house (”wash your feet”: v. 8 is a euphemism for ma-
rital relations) and, when he sees that he cannot make Uriah responsible for Bath-
sheba’s pregnancy, he decides to arrange for him to die in battle. It is the worst
sort of cynicism a king could be guilty of. The death of Uriah (vv. 16-17), one of
the best and most loyal soldiers in the army, marks the climax of David’s sin: the
murderer has planned a perfect crime which hides his own part in that crime and
will also cover up his earlier adultery. His accomplice in this sordid business is
Joab, his cold and unscrupulous lieutenant who is interested only in his personal
advantage (vv. 19-21) and who has nothing to lose.

Everything seemed to go smoothly once Bathsheba was installed in the palace
as the king’s wife and gave birth to her son. But David, as Adam was in the first
days, is unmasked by the Lord: just when the cover-up seems to have worked,
a severe divine sentence is pronounced: “the thing that David had done
displeased the Lord” (v. 27).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Mark 4:26-34

Parables of the Seed and of the Mustard Seed

[26] And He (Jesus) said, “The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter
seed upon the ground, [27] and should sleep and rise night and day, and the
seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. [28] The earth produces of it-
self, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. [29] But when the
grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest is come.”

[30] And He said, “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God, or what para-
ble shall we use for it? [31] It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown
upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; [32] yet when it is sown
it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The End of the Parables Discourse

[33] With many such parables He spoke the word to them, as they were able to
hear it; [34] He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to His own
disciples He explained everything.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

26-29. Farmers spare no effort to prepare the ground for the sowing; but once the
grain is sown there is nothing more they can do until the harvest; the grain deve-
lops by itself. Our Lord uses this comparison to describe the inner strength that
causes the Kingdom of God on earth to grow up to the day of harvest (cf. Joel 3:
13 and Revelation 14:15), that is, the day of the Last Judgment.

Jesus is telling His disciples about the Church: the preaching of the Gospel, the
generously sown seed, will unfailingly yield its fruit, independently of who sows or
who reaps: it is God who gives the growth (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9). It will all hap-
pen “he knows not how”, without men being fully aware of it.

The Kingdom of God also refers to the action of grace in each soul: God silently
works a transformation in us, whether we sleep or watch, causing resolutions to
take shape in our soul—resolutions to be faithful, to surrender ourselves, to res-
pond to grace—until we reach “mature manhood” (cf. Ephesians 4:13). Even
though it is necessary for man to make this effort, the real initiative lies with God,
“because it is the Holy Spirit who, with His inspirations, gives a supernatural tone
to our thoughts, desires and actions. It is He who leads us to receive Christ’s tea-
ching and to assimilate it in a profound way. It is He who gives us the light by
which we perceive our personal calling and the strength to carry out all that God
expects of us. If we are docile to the Holy Spirit, the image of Christ will be found
more and more fully in us, and we will be brought closer every day to God the
Father. ‘For whoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God’
(Romans 8:14)” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 135).

30-32. The main meaning of this parable has to do with the contrast between the
great and the small. The seed of the Kingdom of God on earth is something very
tiny to begin with (Luke 12:32; Acts 1:15); but it will grow to be a big tree. Thus
we see how the small initial group of disciples grows in the early years of the
Church (cf Acts 2:47; 6:7; 12:24), and spreads down the centuries and becomes
a great multitude “which no man could number” (Revelation 7:9). This mysterious
growth which our Lord refers to also occurs in each soul: “the Kingdom of God is
in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21); we can see a prediction of this in the words of
Psalm 92:12: “The righteous grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” To allow the mercy
of God to exalt us, to make us grow, we must make ourselves small, humble
(Ezekiel 17:22-24; Luke 18:9-14).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

2 Samuel 11:1-4,5-10,13-17 ©

At the turn of the year, the time when kings go campaigning, David sent Joab and with him his own guards and the whole of Israel. They massacred the Ammonites and laid siege to Rabbah. David, however, remained in Jerusalem.

It happened towards evening when David had risen from his couch and was strolling on the palace roof, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David made inquiries about this.woman and was told, ‘Why, that is Bathsheba, Eliam’s daughter, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’ Then David sent messengers and had her brought. She came to him, and he slept with her. She then went home again. The woman conceived and sent word to David; ‘I am with child.’

Then David sent Joab a message, ‘Send me Uriah the Hittite’, whereupon Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came into his presence, David asked after Joab and the army and how the war was going. David then said to Uriah, ‘Go down to your house and enjoy yourself. Uriah left the palace, and was followed by a present from the king’s table. Uriah however slept by the palace door with his master’s bodyguard and did not go down to his house.

This was reported to David; ‘Uriah’ they said ‘did not go down to his house.’ The next day David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk. In the evening Uriah went out and lay on his couch with his master’s bodyguard, but he did not go down to his house.

Next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. In the letter he wrote, ‘Station Uriah in the thick of the fight and then fall back behind him so that he may be struck down and die.’ Joab, then besieging the town, posted Uriah in a place where he knew there were fierce fighters. The men of the town sallied out and engaged Joab; the army suffered casualties, including some of David’s bodyguard; and Uriah the Hittite was killed too.

Psalm

Psalm 50:3-7,10-11 ©