Tuesday ...

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Today is Tuesday, February 4, 2014.

Good Morning.

A thought for the day”
For out of this tribulation there comes a peace, deep in the soul and surer than any dream.


The Church’s 1st reading for today:
2 Samuel chapter 18 verses 9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30- 19:3

Absalom unexpectedly came up against David’s servants.
He was mounted on a mule,
and, as the mule passed under the branches of a large terebinth,
his hair caught fast in the tree.
He hung between heaven and earth
while the mule he had been riding ran off.
Someone saw this and reported to Joab
that he had seen Absalom hanging from a terebinth.
And taking three pikes in hand,
he thrust for the heart of Absalom,
still hanging from the tree alive.

Now David was sitting between the two gates,
and a lookout went up to the roof of the gate above the city wall,
where he looked about and saw a man running all alone.
The lookout shouted to inform the king, who said,
“If he is alone, he has good news to report.”
The king said, “Step aside and remain in attendance here.”
So he stepped aside and remained there.
When the Cushite messenger came in, he said,
“Let my lord the king receive the good news
that this day the LORD has taken your part,
freeing you from the grasp of all who rebelled against you.”
But the king asked the Cushite, “Is young Absalom safe?”
The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king
and all who rebel against you with evil intent
be as that young man!”

The king was shaken,
and went up to the room over the city gate to weep.
He said as he wept,
“My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom!
If only I had died instead of you,
Absalom, my son, my son!”

Joab was told that the king was weeping and mourning for Absalom;
and that day’s victory was turned into mourning for the whole army
when they heard that the king was grieving for his son.

* * *

In this moving narrative we have several very effective character studies: King David, torn between losing a battle and losing his son; Absalom, the ambitious young man, caught by the "chances" of life; and a certain man a soldier of Joab's, caught between loyalty to his King and loyalty to his commander.

As parents, as leaders, as citizens of our country, we can all identify with the age-old dilemmas played out so powerfully in this account. When we look at the human situations described in this narrative, and then look into our own hearts, we can truly see human nature revisited. The mysteries of human nature are the same as they were 3,000 years ago (and probably will be 3,000 and more years from now).

On the eve of a crucial battle, David was a wreck. He wanted to be in the battle but he also knew that if he was killed, the mantle of leadership would flounder. So he let his commanders talk him into staying back. But he was afraid for his son. While Absalom had cast away every shred of loyalty to his father and was prepared to bring about his father's death in order to expand his own ambitious ends, David thought only of his son, to the exclusion of his own - and his country's - interests.

Hasn't every parent been torn between helping their children and letting matters take their course?

God Bless,
Father Pat