Additional information about St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr[1]
Readings for Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time[2]
Reading from the Jerusalem Bible (for the Feast of St. Agnes)
Commentary:
On the Readings for Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 1 Samuel 15:16-23
Saul had been sent by God through Samuel to destroy utterly the Amalekites. However, Saul did not do so, rather his forces did not wish to destroy the wealth and slaves they might take and so despoiled the Amalekites and spared the life of King Agag. In doing this Saul committed the sin of “divination” (predicting the will of God without authority).
As a consequence of this disobedience (and in spite of Saul’s apparent repentance) God decrees that he is to be rejected as ruler and king of Israel. This opens the way for the appointment of King David and the messianic dynasty.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
Psalm 50 is didactic in explaining that God does not want sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice or praise that is just lip service. Rather he wants genuine obedience and sincere praise. He rebukes the hypocritical worshiper. Placed behind the reading from 1 Samuel, we can see this as a pronouncement against Saul’s rationalization about the will of God.
Gospel Mark 2:18-22
Jesus is confronted by “some of the people” about why his disciples do not fast as the disciples of St. John and the Pharisees do. Ritual fasting is done as a sign of mourning or repentance which is why Jesus makes the remarks he does – the time for mourning has not yet come.
Jesus announces, with the parables that follow, that he brings a new understanding and with it new traditions. One does not patch an old cloth with new material, they are incompatible. The same is true with new wine on old wineskins.
Reflection:
Scripture today carries a double edged message. The first important point is emphasized in the reading from 1 Samuel and punctuated by the Psalm. God expects us to follow his commandments out of authentic devotion to him. We can see in the story of Saul that he was weak in this regard. Samuel had brought him instructions that he was to utterly destroy another kingdom. Instead, Saul’s soldiers objected to destroying that which they thought was good and those things by which they could profit. Saul saw their point and as a consequence he rationalized that destroying all this good “stuff” would not make God happy (it certainly did not make him happy). Because he was presumptuous and falsely interpreted God’s clear instructions, God sent Samuel to tell him that he was going to be removed as King of the Israelites.
We now move forward to St. Mark’s Gospel and the conflict arising out of Jesus disciples not fasting in accordance with Pharisaic Law like St. John the Baptist’s disciples did. This leads us back to that clarification the Psalm places on the First Samuel story – God wants authentic praise and worship. Praise and worship because we truly love God and want what we do to be pleasing to him. Saul certainly did not. He presumed that God’s will was a suggestion and he could interpret it to his own profit. Not so says the psalmist “Why do you recite my statutes, and profess my covenant with your mouth, though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?”
Jesus, in his classic symbolic language, tells those who criticize his disciples that the rules set up by the Pharisees for fasting do so out of mourning. They seek atonement for sins through their penitence. Jesus’ disciples have the bridegroom, God’s own Son and the time for mourning will come only after he has left them. He then uses two parables, the old and new cloth and the new wine in old skins, to dramatize the fact that he brings something new and they cannot attach the old traditions to what he brings.
For us this scripture brings and exhortation and a caution. The exhortation is to rejoice that the bridegroom has brought us a new hope and in it we see the gates of salvation flung open. We are also cautioned not to become complacent in our worship of the one who offers us this great gift. Our worship and praise must come from the heart not just from memory. And this is our prayer today; that all we do is for God’s greater glory and our worship may reflect genuine love for the one who loves us.
Pax
[1] The picture used today is “St. Agnes” by Domenichino, c. 1620
[2] After Links to Readings Expire
Readings for Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time[2]
Reading from the Jerusalem Bible (for the Feast of St. Agnes)
Commentary:
On the Readings for Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 1 Samuel 15:16-23
Saul had been sent by God through Samuel to destroy utterly the Amalekites. However, Saul did not do so, rather his forces did not wish to destroy the wealth and slaves they might take and so despoiled the Amalekites and spared the life of King Agag. In doing this Saul committed the sin of “divination” (predicting the will of God without authority).
As a consequence of this disobedience (and in spite of Saul’s apparent repentance) God decrees that he is to be rejected as ruler and king of Israel. This opens the way for the appointment of King David and the messianic dynasty.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
Psalm 50 is didactic in explaining that God does not want sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice or praise that is just lip service. Rather he wants genuine obedience and sincere praise. He rebukes the hypocritical worshiper. Placed behind the reading from 1 Samuel, we can see this as a pronouncement against Saul’s rationalization about the will of God.
Gospel Mark 2:18-22
Jesus is confronted by “some of the people” about why his disciples do not fast as the disciples of St. John and the Pharisees do. Ritual fasting is done as a sign of mourning or repentance which is why Jesus makes the remarks he does – the time for mourning has not yet come.
Jesus announces, with the parables that follow, that he brings a new understanding and with it new traditions. One does not patch an old cloth with new material, they are incompatible. The same is true with new wine on old wineskins.
Reflection:
Scripture today carries a double edged message. The first important point is emphasized in the reading from 1 Samuel and punctuated by the Psalm. God expects us to follow his commandments out of authentic devotion to him. We can see in the story of Saul that he was weak in this regard. Samuel had brought him instructions that he was to utterly destroy another kingdom. Instead, Saul’s soldiers objected to destroying that which they thought was good and those things by which they could profit. Saul saw their point and as a consequence he rationalized that destroying all this good “stuff” would not make God happy (it certainly did not make him happy). Because he was presumptuous and falsely interpreted God’s clear instructions, God sent Samuel to tell him that he was going to be removed as King of the Israelites.
We now move forward to St. Mark’s Gospel and the conflict arising out of Jesus disciples not fasting in accordance with Pharisaic Law like St. John the Baptist’s disciples did. This leads us back to that clarification the Psalm places on the First Samuel story – God wants authentic praise and worship. Praise and worship because we truly love God and want what we do to be pleasing to him. Saul certainly did not. He presumed that God’s will was a suggestion and he could interpret it to his own profit. Not so says the psalmist “Why do you recite my statutes, and profess my covenant with your mouth, though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?”
Jesus, in his classic symbolic language, tells those who criticize his disciples that the rules set up by the Pharisees for fasting do so out of mourning. They seek atonement for sins through their penitence. Jesus’ disciples have the bridegroom, God’s own Son and the time for mourning will come only after he has left them. He then uses two parables, the old and new cloth and the new wine in old skins, to dramatize the fact that he brings something new and they cannot attach the old traditions to what he brings.
For us this scripture brings and exhortation and a caution. The exhortation is to rejoice that the bridegroom has brought us a new hope and in it we see the gates of salvation flung open. We are also cautioned not to become complacent in our worship of the one who offers us this great gift. Our worship and praise must come from the heart not just from memory. And this is our prayer today; that all we do is for God’s greater glory and our worship may reflect genuine love for the one who loves us.
Pax
[1] The picture used today is “St. Agnes” by Domenichino, c. 1620
[2] After Links to Readings Expire
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