In the first reading, King David commits 2 mortal sins -- adultery and murder. He has sexual relations with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and causes Uriah to die in battle. How strange that one of the heroes in the Old Testament, the writer of most of the Book of Psalms, should commit such grievous sins. Yet that is what happened. David would later repent of his sins and suffer their consequences.
What does this reading tell us? That we are all sinners, even the best of us, and in front of the holiness of God, we have nothing to boast of. St. Catherine of Siena once said, “I am nothing plus sin.” Let no man claim to be holy and righteous without first acknowledging his sinfulness. In this way we will stay humble and remember our place before God. If only the most wealthy, the most powerful, the most beautiful and most capable among us would have this attitude, then the world would be a much better place to live in.