Temptation of Christ
12 c.
Monreale, Sicily
Posted on 01/26/2020 9:23:23 PM PST by Salvation
All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said:
“Here we are, your bone and your flesh.
In days past, when Saul was our king,
it was you who led the children of Israel out and brought them back.
And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel
and shall be commander of Israel.’”
When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron,
King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD,
and they anointed him king of Israel.
David was thirty years old when he became king,
and he reigned for forty years:
seven years and six months in Hebron over Judah,
and thirty-three years in Jerusalem
over all Israel and Judah.
Then the king and his men set out for Jerusalem
against the Jebusites who inhabited the region.
David was told, “You cannot enter here:
the blind and the lame will drive you away!”
which was their way of saying, “David cannot enter here.”
But David did take the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David.
David grew steadily more powerful,
for the LORD of hosts was with him.
R. (25a) My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
Once you spoke in a vision,
and to your faithful ones you said:
“On a champion I have placed a crown;
over the people I have set a youth.”
R. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
“I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
That my hand may be always with him,
and that my arm may make him strong.”
R. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,
and through my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his hand upon the sea,
his right hand upon the rivers.”
R. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and
“By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
“How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,
he cannot stand;
that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder his house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies
that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
For the readings of the Optional Memorial of Saint Angela Merici, please go here.
KEYWORDS: catholic; mk3; ordinarytime; prayer; saints;
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From: 2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10
David is Anointed King of Israel at Hebron
Capture of Jerusalem
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Commentary:
5:1-5. David’s consecration as king of Israel is told quite simply but the account emphasizes details of primary importance in salvation history: the tribes of the North and the South are all brothers: “we are your flesh and bone” (v. 1); the images of the shepherd (v. 2), David’s original profession, conveys the notion of a ruler and king who governs not for his own advantage but for the welfare of his subjects; David’s covenant with the leaders (v. 3) is in line with the general doctrine of covenant which is the basis of God’s relations with his people, and of those between Israelite and Israelite; the figures given for David’s reigns (seven as king of Judah, forty as king of Judah and Israel) are symbols of plenitude. Even in the New Testament the numbers seven and forty have the same connotation (cf. Mt 4:2; 18:22; Rev 1:11; Acts 4:22; etc.). Hebron, the place where David was also anointed king of Judah, was the main city of the South; within it was the cave of Mach-pelah (cf. Gen 25:9) and close to it was the sacred oak of Mamre. However, it was replaced by Jerusalem perhaps to show that a new kingdom warranted a new royal base.
David is a figure of Jesus Christ on many counts, but they all derive from the fact that he is king: Jesus Christ, too will be acclaimed King of Israel. “But what did it mean for the Lord to be acclaimed the King of Israel? What did it mean to the King of all ages to be recognized as the king of men? Christ did not become the King of Israel in order to demand tributes or to raise armies and make war against the enemies [of Israel]; he became the King of Israel to reign over souls, to give counsel that leads to eternal life, to bring those who were filled with faith, hope and Love to the Kingdom of heaven” (St Augustine, “In loannis Evangelium”, 51, 4).
The liturgy of the Church uses this passage from the hook of Samuel for the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, together with the passage about the crucifixion (Lk 23:35-43). Jesus won his kingdom through his obedience, which has its climax in death on the cross, bringing about the definitive salvation of all mankind.
5:6-8:18. After being consecrated and acknowledged as king of all the tribes of Israel, David devotes himself to building up a true kingdom with institutions, capital and frontiers. In these chapters we are told first of how he won Jerusalem and chose it to be the political capital (5:6-12). The account goes on to deal with the setting-up of the ark in Jerusalem (which makes it the religious capital: 6:1-23), theinstitution of dynastic succession, to ensure the permanence of the monarchy (7:1-29), and, finally, the pushing out of frontiers thanks to territory taken from the Philistines, thereby bolstering the country’s security (8:1-18).
In addition to dealing with social and political matters, this section is imbued with religious teaching: Jerusalem, now established as the capital, becomes the sign of divine protection (chap. 6); Nathan’s prophecy guarantees that dynastic succession is part of God’s salvific plan (chap. 7); and victory over the Philistines means that God will ensure that peace reigns within the new frontiers.
5:6-12. Jerusalem was to be the capital, the center of national life, and also the religious and doctrinal center up to New Testament times. In that city the Church will be born, and from there its message will radiate.
As regards contemporary extra-biblical sources, the city is mentioned in Egyptian texts of the nineteenth to eighteenth century BC as being a place hostile to Egypt and letters from the fourteenth century BC found in El-Aniama, in northern Egypt, mention it along with Gezer, Ashkelon and Lachish all Canannite cities but of no great importance.
The Jebusites considered the fortress: unassailable (cf. Josh 10:1-15; 15:63; Judg 1:21) so much so that they thought it could be defended even by the blind and the lame (vv. 6 and 8). But David somehow managed to take it (see the RSVCE note). He developed it (vv. 9-10), built his palace there, and declared it the city of David, that is, the capital of the kingdom.
Its geographical position on the border between the north and south meant that Jerusalem was strategically well situated, and it showed David was lord of all the land, as God willed. To take Jerusalem he had first to overcome the Philistines (vv. 17-25), but the sacred writer, by bringing forward his account of the conquest of Zion and putting it in here, is using literary licence to emphasize that David’s main militaryachievement was the taking of Jerusalem and the establishment there of his court.
From: Mark 3:22-30
Allegations of the Scribes
Sins Against the Holy Spirit
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Commentary:
22-23. Even Jesus’ miracles were misunderstood by these scribes, who accuse Him of being a tool of the prince of devils, Beelzebul. This name may be connected with Beelzebub (which spelling is given in some codexes), the name of a god of the Philistine city of Eqron (Accaron), which means “god of the flies.” But it is more likely that the prince of devils is called Beelzebul, which means “god of excrement”: “excrement” is the word Jews used to describe pagan sacrifices. Whether Beelzebub or Beelzebul, in the last analysis it refers to him to whom these sacrifices were offered, the devil (1 Corinthians 10:20). He is the same mysterious but real person whom Jesus calls Satan, which means “the enemy”, whose dominion over the world Christ has come to wrest from him (1 Corinthians 15:24-28; Colossians 1:13f) in an unceasing struggle (Matthew 4:1-10; John 16:11). These names show us that the devil really exists: he is a real person who has at his beck and call others of his kind (Mark 5:9).
24-27. Our Lord invites the Pharisees, who are blind and obstinate, to think along these lines: if someone expels the devil this means he is stronger than the devil: once more we are exhorted to recognize in Jesus the God of strength, the God who uses His power to free man from enslavement to the devil. Satan’s dominion has come to an end: the prince of this world is about to be cast out. Jesus’ victory over the power of darkness, which is completed by His death and resurrection, shows that the light has already entered the world, as our Lord Himself told us: “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” (John 12:31-32).
28-30. Jesus has just worked a miracle but the scribes refuse to recognize it “for they had said `He has an unclean spirit’” (verse 30). They do not want to admit that God is the author of the miracle. In this attitude lies the special gravity of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—attributing to the prince of evil, to Satan, the good works performed by God Himself. Anyone acting in this way will become like the sick person who has so lost confidence in the doctor that he rejects him as if an enemy and regards as poison the medicine that can save his life. That is why our Lord says that he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not forgiven: not because God cannot forgive all sins, but because that person, in his blindness towards God, rejects Jesus Christ, His teaching and His miracles, and despises the graces of the Holy Spirit as if they were designed to trap him (cf. “St. Pius V Catechism”, II, 5, 19; St. Thomas Aquinas, “Summa theologiae”, II-II, q. 14, a. 3).
| First reading |
|---|
| 2 Samuel 5:1-7,10 © |
| Responsorial Psalm |
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| Psalm 88(89):20-22,25-26 © |
| Gospel Acclamation | Ps24:4,5 |
|---|
| Or: | cf.2Tim1:10 |
|---|
| Gospel | Mark 3:22-30 © |
|---|
| Mark | |||
| English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
| Mark 3 |
|||
| 22. | And the scribes who were come down from Jerusalem, said: He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of devils he casteth out devils. | Et scribæ, qui ab Jerosolymis descenderant, dicebant : Quoniam Beelzebub habet, et quia in principe dæmoniorum ejicit dæmonia. | και οι γραμματεις οι απο ιεροσολυμων καταβαντες ελεγον οτι βεελζεβουλ εχει και οτι εν τω αρχοντι των δαιμονιων εκβαλλει τα δαιμονια |
| 23. | And after he had called them together, he said to them in parables: How can Satan cast out Satan? | Et convocatis eis in parabolis dicebat illis : Quomodo potest Satanas Satanam ejicere ? | και προσκαλεσαμενος αυτους εν παραβολαις ελεγεν αυτοις πως δυναται σατανας σαταναν εκβαλλειν |
| 24. | And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. | Et si regnum in se dividatur, non potest regnum illud stare. | και εαν βασιλεια εφ εαυτην μερισθη ου δυναται σταθηναι η βασιλεια εκεινη |
| 25. | And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. | Et si domus super semetipsam dispertiatur, non potest domus illa stare. | και εαν οικια εφ εαυτην μερισθη ου δυναται σταθηναι η οικια εκεινη |
| 26. | And if Satan be risen up against himself, he is divided, and cannot stand, but hath an end. | Et si Satanas consurrexerit in semetipsum, dispertitus est, et non poterit stare, sed finem habet. | και ει ο σατανας ανεστη εφ εαυτον και μεμερισται ου δυναται σταθηναι αλλα τελος εχει |
| 27. | No man can enter into the house of a strong man and rob him of his goods, unless he first bind the strong man, and then shall he plunder his house. | Nemo potest vasa fortis ingressus in domum diripere, nisi prius fortem alliget, et tunc domum ejus diripiet. | ουδεις δυναται τα σκευη του ισχυρου εισελθων εις την οικιαν αυτου διαρπασαι εαν μη πρωτον τον ισχυρον δηση και τοτε την οικιαν αυτου διαρπαση |
| 28. | Amen I say to you, that all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and the blasphemies wherewith they shall blaspheme: | Amen dico vobis, quoniam omnia dimittentur filiis hominum peccata, et blasphemiæ quibus blasphemaverint : | αμην λεγω υμιν οτι παντα αφεθησεται τα αμαρτηματα τοις υιοις των ανθρωπων και βλασφημιαι οσας αν βλασφημησωσιν |
| 29. | But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, shall never have forgiveness, but shall be guilty of an everlasting sin. | qui autem blasphemaverit in Spiritum Sanctum, non habebit remissionem in æternum, sed reus erit æterni delicti. | ος δ αν βλασφημηση εις το πνευμα το αγιον ουκ εχει αφεσιν εις τον αιωνα αλλ ενοχος εστιν αιωνιου κρισεως |
| 30. | Because they said: He hath an unclean spirit. | Quoniam dicebant : Spiritum immundum habet. | οτι ελεγον πνευμα ακαθαρτον εχει |
Angela has the double distinction of founding the first teaching congregation of women in the Church and what is now called a “secular institute” of religious women.
As a young woman, she became a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis, and lived a life of great austerity, wishing, like Saint Francis, to own nothing, not even a bed. Early in life she was appalled at the ignorance among poorer children, whose parents could not or would not teach them the elements of religion. Angela’s charming manner and good looks complemented her natural qualities of leadership. Others joined her in giving regular instruction to the little girls of their neighborhood.
She was invited to live with a family in Brescia (where, she had been told in a vision, she would one day found a religious community). Her work continued and became well known. She became the center of a group of people with similar ideals.
She eagerly took the opportunity for a trip to the Holy Land. When they had gotten as far as Crete, she was struck with blindness. Her friends wanted to return home, but she insisted on going through with the pilgrimage, and visited the sacred shrines with as much devotion and enthusiasm as if she had her sight. On the way back, while praying before a crucifix, her sight was restored at the same place where it had been lost.
At 57, she organized a group of 12 girls to help her in catechetical work. Four years later the group had increased to 28. She formed them into the Company of Saint Ursula (patroness of medieval universities and venerated as a leader of women) for the purpose of re-Christianizing family life through solid Christian education of future wives and mothers. The members continued to live at home, had no special habit and took no formal vows, though the early Rule prescribed the practice of virginity, poverty, and obedience. The idea of a teaching congregation of women was new and took time to develop. The community thus existed as a “secular institute” until some years after Angela’s death.
As with so many saints, history is mostly concerned with their activities. But we must always presume deep Christian faith and love in one whose courage lasts a lifetime, and who can take bold new steps when human need demands.
when looking intently at it you may
occasionally glimpse a new facet
one never before imagined.
How much more beautiful is the Catholic faith?
THEOPHYL. The meaning of the example is this: The devil is the strong man; his goods are the men into whom he is received; unless therefore a man first conquers the devil, how can he deprive him of his goods, that is, of the men whom he has possessed? So also I who spoil his goods, that is, free men from suffering by his possession, first spoil the devils and vanquish them, and am their enemy. How then can you say that I have Beelzebub, and that being the friend of the devils, I cast them out?7
Pray for Pope Francis.
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We thank you, God our Father, for those who have responded to your call to priestly ministry.
Accept this prayer we offer on their behalf: Fill your priests with the sure knowledge of your love.
Open their hearts to the power and consolation of the Holy Spirit.
Lead them to new depths of union with your Son.
Increase in them profound faith in the Sacraments they celebrate as they nourish, strengthen and heal us.
Lord Jesus Christ, grant that these, your priests, may inspire us to strive for holiness by the power of their example, as men of prayer who ponder your word and follow your will.
O Mary, Mother of Christ and our mother, guard with your maternal care these chosen ones, so dear to the Heart of your Son.
Intercede for our priests, that offering the Sacrifice of your Son, they may be conformed more each day to the image of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Saint John Vianney, universal patron of priests, pray for us and our priests
This icon shows Jesus Christ, our eternal high priest.
The gold pelican over His heart represents self-sacrifice.
The border contains an altar and grapevines, representing the Mass, and icons of Melchizedek and St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney.
Melchizedek: king of righteousness (left icon) was priest and king of Jerusalem. He blessed Abraham and has been considered an ideal priest-king.
St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney is the patron saint of parish priests.
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