Word of the day

A reading from the First Book of Samuel
1 Sm 18:6-9; 19:1-7

When David and Saul approached
(on David’s return after slaying the Philistine),
women came out from each of the cities of Israel to meet King Saul,
singing and dancing, with tambourines, joyful songs, and sistrums.
The women played and sang:

“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands.”

Saul was very angry and resentful of the song, for he thought:
“They give David ten thousands, but only thousands to me.
All that remains for him is the kingship.”
And from that day on, Saul was jealous of David.

Saul discussed his intention of killing David
with his son Jonathan and with all his servants.
But Saul’s son Jonathan, who was very fond of David, told him:
“My father Saul is trying to kill you.
Therefore, please be on your guard tomorrow morning;
get out of sight and remain in hiding.
I, however, will go out and stand beside my father
in the countryside where you are, and will speak to him about you.
If I learn anything, I will let you know.”

Jonathan then spoke well of David to his father Saul, saying to him:
“Let not your majesty sin against his servant David,
for he has committed no offense against you,
but has helped you very much by his deeds.
When he took his life in his hands and slew the Philistine,
and the LORD brought about a great victory
for all Israel through him,
you were glad to see it.
Why, then, should you become guilty of shedding innocent blood
by killing David without cause?”
Saul heeded Jonathan’s plea and swore,
“As the LORD lives, he shall not be killed.”
So Jonathan summoned David and repeated the whole conversation to him.
Jonathan then brought David to Saul, and David served him as before.

From the Gospel according to Mark
Mk 3:7-12

Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.
A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea.
Hearing what he was doing,
a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem,
from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan,
and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd,
so that they would not crush him.
He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases
were pressing upon him to touch him.
And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him
and shout, “You are the Son of God.”
He warned them sternly not to make him known.

This crowd was drawn by the Father: it was the Father that drew the crowd to Jesus. And Christ was not indifferent, like a stagnant teacher who spoke his words and then washed his hands. No! This crowd touched Jesus’ heart. (…) The Father, through the Holy Spirit, draws people to Jesus. It is useless to look for all the reasoning. Every reason can be “necessary” but “is not enough to make one finger move. You cannot move” or take “a step with only apologetic reasoning”. What is truly necessary and decisive, however, is “that the Father draws you to Jesus”. This, is precisely “the truth; this is the reality that every one of us feels when we approach Jesus” and what “the impure spirits try to impede; they wage war on us”. A Christian life without temptations is not Christian: it is ideological, it is gnostic, but it is not Christian. In fact it happens that “when the Father draws people to Jesus, there is another who draws in the opposite way and wages war within you!”. Therefore, all Christians must make this examination of conscience and ask themselves: “Do I feel this struggle in my heart?”. This conflict “between comfort or service to others, between having a little fun or praying and adoring the Father, between one thing and the other?”. Do I feel “the will to do good” or is there “something that stops me, turns me into an ascetic?”. And also, “do I believe that my life moves Jesus’ heart? If I don’t believe this, I must pray a lot to believe it, so that he may grant me this grace”.  We ask the Lord to make us Christians who know how to discern what is going on in our hearts, and choose well the path, which the Father draws us to Jesus. (Santa Marta, 19 January 2017)