2nd Week in Ordinary Time
16th January 2024 (Tuesday)
Psalter: Week 2
Reading of the Day
First Reading: 1 Samuel 16:1-13
In those days: The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
Psalm 89:20, 21-22, 27-28 (R. 21a)
R/. I have found my servant David
Alleluia
V/. Alleluia R/. Alleluia
V/. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we may know what is the hope to which he has called us.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Mark 2:23-28
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the cornfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck ears of corn. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Highlight: Good is beyond laws!
Guidlines: Lack of depth and interiority often blur our perspective and vision; consequently we are deceived and misled by mere external factors and appearances
1. Human thinking and reasoning are good and needed, but cannot supersede divine wisdom and will. Often despite the heights of intelligence and capacities, people go wrong in their perception, decisions, and actions.
2. The reason is they do not get into the deep of their heart and the matter; they do not interiorize. They do not listen and adhere to the promptings of the Spirit. They remain stuck only to the external layers and fail to go beneath and beyond them.
3. They think that they are using their reason and are reasonable. In fact, their reason is “clouded’. They are actually “prejudiced”. Consequently, they fail to see the reality in its depth. This is why many even though well-educated and highly placed, are easily carried away by external and peripheral factors like caste, region, religion, language, culture, et cetera.
4. This is what differentiates God from humans. God states this clearly to Samuel, “the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart”. The context is Samuel choosing a king for Israel from the sons of Jesse.
5. God cautions him not to be carried away by the externals like height and weight. Therein, God provides this corrective about His nature. God looks at the heart and so is not conditioned by the impressing external appearance of other sons of Jesse. Rather He looks at the heart of David.
6. In the gospel too, this contrast is seen between Jesus’ perspective and that of the Pharisees regarding his disciples. Jesus looks at the simple hearts and the hunger of his disciples beyond their apparent breach of the Sabbath.
7. But the Pharisees look at the disciples with a negative eye because of their spiritless practice of law. Jesus makes it clear that all the rules are under God’s reign and control, and no rule is above him. Besides, all the rules are to be benevolent, that is, for the good of humans.
Practice: The simplest test of the good quality of any law and practice is whether it is in submission to God’s authority and whether it leads to the good of others
