Homily for Tuesday
Week 2 of Ordinary Time
Jan.
20, 2026
1 Sam 16: 1-13
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence,
N.R.
Samuel anoints David
(Church at Dura Europos)
“Not as
man sees does God see …” (1 Sam 16: 7).
One of
the themes of the set of OT historical books we’re reading is quite simply that
God’s in charge.
When the
people demand that Samuel—whom they recognize as a spokesman for God—appoint a
king for them, he does so reluctantly and only when God give him the OK, telling
him, “It’s not you they reject; they’re rejecting me as their king” (8:7).
So long
as Saul does what pleases the Lord, he and Israel do well. When Saul disobeys, as we heard yesterday
(15:16-23), he’s finished. In the wider
context of the books of Samuel, we may suppose that if Saul had repented
immediately, as David did later when Nathan confronted him, instead of
justifying himself, God would have welcomed his admission of guilt, as he did
David’s.
But
lacking that, God moves on to Plan C.
Rule by judges was Plan A, and Saul was B. Now God chooses David. It’s more than evident that God’s calling the
signals from the moment he sends Samuel to Bethlehem, an insignificant town,
and there chooses the least likely man, a mere shepherd boy, to anoint decisively
with “the Spirit of the Lord” (16:13).
It
remains true that individuals, the Church, and nations fare well when they let
the Spirit of the Lord guide them. Pope
Leo recently reminded the diplomatic corps of that. Yesterday 3 cardinals reminded the President
of that, citing Leo as well as traditional moral teaching.
Today,
here, we’re praying for and, in a sense, honoring a longtime friend[1]
of Bro. Charles[2]
who—so far as we can judge—sought always to follow faithfully the Holy Spirit’s
lead. External evidence is that Walter’s
heart belonged to Christ. May it be so
for eternity.
And may
our Lord Jesus always be pleased when he sees our hearts.
No comments:
Post a Comment