Friday ...

Today is Friday, January 17, 2014.
Today is also the feast of St. Anthony

Good Morning.

A thought for the day:
We should never give up on God … but many of us do.


The Church’s 1st reading for today: 1 Samuel chapter 8 verses4-7, 10-22a


All the elders of Israel came in a body to Samuel at Ramah
and said to him, “Now that you are old,
and your sons do not follow your example,
appoint a king over us, as other nations have, to judge us.”

Samuel was displeased when they asked for a king to judge them.
He prayed to the LORD, however, who said in answer:
“Grant the people’s every request.
It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king.”

Samuel delivered the message of the LORD in full
to those who were asking him for a king.
He told them:
“The rights of the king who will rule you will be as follows:
He will take your sons and assign them to his chariots and horses,
and they will run before his chariot.
He will also appoint from among them his commanders of groups
of a thousand and of a hundred soldiers.
He will set them to do his plowing and his harvesting,
and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.
He will use your daughters as ointment makers, as cooks, and as bakers.
He will take the best of your fields, vineyards, and olive groves,
and give them to his officials.
He will tithe your crops and your vineyards,
and give the revenue to his eunuchs and his slaves.
He will take your male and female servants,
as well as your best oxen and your asses,
and use them to do his work.
He will tithe your flocks and you yourselves will become his slaves.
When this takes place,
you will complain against the king whom you have chosen,
but on that day the LORD will not answer you.”

The people, however, refused to listen to Samuel’s warning and said,
“Not so! There must be a king over us.
We too must be like other nations,
with a king to rule us and to lead us in warfare
and fight our battles.”
When Samuel had listened to all the people had to say,
he repeated it to the LORD, who then said to him,
“Grant their request and appoint a king to rule them.”

* * *
Have you noticed that no matter how much of a mess we make of our lives, God never gives up on us? We try to do the right thing, but fail over and over again. Even St. Paul (you remember?) talks openly about the fact that he knows the right thing to do, but just keeps doing the wrong thing. He can't seem to help himself. I guess it all started with the first person who got to work early one morning and parked on the line between two parking places so that everyone who came after him has parked on the line ever since. What a mess we humans keep making of things. Theologians call it sin and it touches us all.
What a mess we sometimes make of our lives. Some of the mess we try to cover up, some we just try to live with. Some gnaw at us for years, even decades later because we can't let them go. The good news is God is always there patiently waiting to help us pick up the pieces. Why? Because God never gives up on us. That's exactly what happened in this story of Samuel and the people's persistent complaining about the need for a king.
God disagrees with the way the people try to solve their problems by wanting a king. Notice carefully now what God does at this crucial moment in biblical history. God could have easily intervened and put a stop to it all. God could have rescued his faithful servant Samuel and saved him a lot of undue stress. What does God do instead? God simply let things take their own course by allowing Samuel and his people to sort it all out by themselves.
God pats Samuel on the hand to calm him down and says, "Relax, Samuel. This is not about you, it's about me.

God bless,
Father Pat


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