Week of Prayer for Christian Unity  Day 7

Then opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh”(Mt 2:11)

St. Francis de Sales, bishop & doctor   

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10

All the tribes of Israel came to

David at Hebron and said, “We are your bone and flesh. In he past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel. And Yahweh said to you, ‘You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel and you shall be commander over Israel.’”

Before Yahweh, king David made an agreement with the elders of Israel who came to him at Hebron, and they anointed him king of Israel.

David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for forty years: he reigned over Judah, from Hebron, seven and a half years; and over Israel and Judah, from Jerusalem, for thirty-three years.

The king and his men set out for Jerusalem to fight the Jebusites who lived there. They said to David,”If you try to break in here, the blind and the lame will drive you away,” which meant that David could not get in. Yet David captured the fortress of Zion that became the “city of David.”

And David grew more powerful, for Yahweh, the God of Hosts, was with him.

 

Ps 89:20, 21-22, 25-26

My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Mark 3:22-30

 Meanwhile, the teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is in the power of Beelzebul: the chief of the demons helps him to drive out demons.”

 Jesus called them to him and began teaching them by means of stories or parables, “How can Satan drive out Sa­tan?   If a nation is divided by civil war, that nation cannot stand.  

If a family divides itself into groups, that family will not survive.  In the same way, if Satan has risen against himself and is divided, he will not stand; he is finished.   No one can break into the house of the Strong one in order to plunder his goods, unless he first ties up the Strong one. Then indeed, he can plunder his house.

 Truly, I say to you, every sin will be forgiven humankind, even insults to God, how­­ever numerous.   But who­ever slanders the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven: he carries the guilt of his sin forever.”  This was their sin when they said, “He has an evil spirit in him.”

 

Satan Casts off Satan

The truth is, Satan can cast off Satan. This has been the way of the world, from the beginning. Don’t we cast out Satan with Satan when we use violence to heal violence?

Think of why we have wars, terrorism, capital punishment, expulsions of members from families, and even the run-of–the mill cursing while at traffic. And we are convinced of the efficacy of such methods!

As Rene Girard argues, human society is built upon such sacrificial mechanism and the world only knows peace brought by violence. The irony is, such satanic wisdom, instead of breaking down his kingdom, ensures that he is indispensable!

However, it is to such a world that Christ brings the “finger of God,”the Holy Spirit, who operates with a different kingdom logic, with its dynamics of inclusive love. And to equate such interventions to satanic acts is blind blasphemous, and denial of God.

 

"Have patience with all things, but,first of all with yourself."

                        ~~~ ST. FRANCIS DE SALES ~~~