(Optional Memorial for Saint Angela Merici, Virgin)
(Optional Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
On Saturdays in Ordinary Time when there is no obligatory memorial, an optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary is allowed.[1] Mass texts may be taken from the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from a Votive Mass, or from the special collection of Masses for the Blessed Virgin Mary, suggested for this date: The Blessed Virgin Mary, Pillar of Faith #35
Note: I have started offering reflections for the Mass setting for the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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“David”
by Pedro Berruguete, c. 1500
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Reading 1: 2 Samuel 12:1-7a, 10-17
Commentary on 2 Sm 12:1-7a, 10-17
Following King David’s sins of adultery and murder, the Prophet Nathan is sent to him. Nathan uses a hypothetical story of injustice which provokes David to pronounce sentence upon the wealthy landowner who had stolen and killed the lamb from the poor man. Nathan’s use of the tenderness and affection the poor man had for the lamb that was slain can be seen as analogous to the Lamb of God, who likewise was taken and slain. However, in this case, for David it would be to show the love God had for Uriah, and the sacred nature of the relationship between Uriah and Bathsheba. David, who is a just king, pronounces a harsh sentence immediately, only to learn that the story was an analogy of his own behavior.
Because David is instantly contrite, God does not take his life. Rather the punishment meted out first was David’s public humiliation for the acts he committed (“You have done this deed in secret, but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel, and with the sun looking down”). In addition to the destruction of his house and reputation, the child of David and Bathsheba will also be stricken to demonstrate the injustice of the union between them.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
R. (12a) Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Commentary on Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
Psalm 51, a personal lament, is the fourth and most famous of the penitential psalms. In these verses the psalmist sings that only God can reverse the awful effects of sin. Through this action, taken by the Holy Spirit, God’s salvation is made manifest in the repentant and their contrite hearts. We are also reminded of Baptism and the purifying effect of that bath.
CCC: Ps 51:12 298, 431
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Gospel: Mark 4:35-41
Commentary on Mk 4:35-41
In this passage, Jesus embarks in what is probably a fishing boat with his disciples. A storm comes up and the disciples are afraid. Jesus, with a word (“Quiet! Be still!"), silences the storm and waters, demonstrating the authority of the Messiah over the elements of the created world. The implication of his next statement ("Do you not yet have faith?”) is that, if the disciples had a mature faith, they could have done the same. The disciples are awed by his power but do not yet have faith to understand its source. This incident gives insight into the gift of Christ's peace to those who have faith in the face of adversity.
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Reflection:
The effects of unreconciled sin impact King David in the first reading. Following the actions that led directly to the death of Uriah (the lawful husband of the woman David coveted – Bathsheba), God sends Nathan the prophet to accuse David of the crime against God’s commandments and to inform David of his temporal punishment. While David is contrite, the effects of the sin he has committed impact everyone associated with it, including the child born of that union. The blood of Uriah stained everything.
We of the modern age see the punishment of the innocent child of David and Bathsheba as an instance where the Old Testament authors misunderstood events. They presumed that the illness visited upon the child was the result of a just and vengeful God punishing the couple, most directly David, the father. They could not understand a God of mercy, who would not answer sin with sin. Rather, the sin that was witnessed by those who authored this account in the Second Book of Samuel needed punishment, and they saw the illness of the child as appropriate, given the magnitude of the sin. It is the same understanding of God we see Jesus encountering during his healing ministry in Galilee: those who were blind, lame, or otherwise physically afflicted (lepers) were seen as being punished by God for unknown sins.
The reality of unreconciled sin is actually much worse. Where there is no contrition for sins committed, guilt becomes like a cancer that festers. Indeed, intense guilt will manifest itself outwardly and even physically. It can cause a person to sink into deep depression, neglecting work, family, and self. Guilt may cause other defensive responses in the personality of one so afflicted. That person may become amoral, suppressing any understanding of sinful acts and completely embracing sin; rejecting the one who has the power to take all of that pain away.
When King David had relations with Bathsheba, when he had Uriah sent to a place where he would surely be killed, when he took the dead man’s wife, God was not stepping away from David; David was stepping away from God. Likewise when we sin, who has moved? Fortunately for us, in spite of the outward signs of sin, we have an all-powerful Savior who came into the world so that we could understand a loving and merciful God who would not punish a child for the sins of its parents.
Today we are given one more example of why Christ had to come into the world. He came with power over all things to become the sacrifice that makes us whole. It was Christ who became the bridge to heaven over which we must travel if we are to find our heavenly home. Today we pray that we find the strength to place our sins before Christ, asking for his mercy. In so doing, we reconcile with the Lord and thereby mitigate the effects of sin in our lives.
Pax
[1] General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar Miscellaneous Notes no. 5
[2] The picture is “David” by Pedro Berruguete, c. 1500
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