During the battle, the presence of the Ark of the Covenant with the troops of Israel assured them of God's help;#PsalmsJPII pic.twitter.com/tnxxcUdCT1— CatholicHeartandMind (@disciple96) July 7, 2017
The defeat of the Israelites at the hands of the Philistines as described in the First Book of Samuel may highlight the folly of putting our agenda to God for His Action.
* [4:10] To their own tents: the defeat is so catastrophic that the soldiers abandon the army for home; cf. 2 Sm 18:17.In the Gospel from Mark the humiliation experienced by the leper as an outcast is overcome in his humble statement of faith in the healing power of the Divine Authority displayed by Jesus.
* [1:40] A leper: for the various forms of skin disease, see Lv 13:1–50 and the note on Lv 13:2–4. There are only two instances in the Old Testament in which God is shown to have cured a leper (Nm 12:10–15; 2 Kgs 5:1–14). The law of Moses provided for the ritual purification of a leper. In curing the leper, Jesus assumes that the priests will reinstate the cured man into the religious community. See also note on Lk 5:14.Tom Purcell explores our choice of power or surrender and asks if our faith is like that of the Hebrews, or of the leper?
Is your faith like that of the Hebrews, or of the leper? Do you believe that you will be redeemed by trusting in manifestations of God’s power, or do you believe that you will be redeemed by surrendering yourself, your will, your entire being to the will of God? My prayer for today is that I can fully, unconditionally, and generously surrender myself to God.Don Schwager explores the teaching of Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD) on our need for cleanliness and our reception of the unclean.
"And why did [Jesus] touch him, since the law forbade the touching of a leper? He touched him to show that 'all things are clean to the clean' (Titus 1:15). Because the filth that is in one person does not adhere to others, nor does external uncleanness defile the clean of heart. So he touches him in his untouchability, that he might instruct us in humility; that he might teach us that we should despise no one, or abhor them, or regard them as pitiable, because of some wound of their body or some blemish for which they might be called to render an account... So, stretching forth his hand to touch, the leprosy immediately departs. The hand of the Lord is found to have touched not a leper, but a body made clean! Let us consider here, beloved, if there be anyone here that has the taint of leprosy in his soul, or the contamination of guilt in his heart? If he has, instantly adoring God, let him say: 'Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.'" (excerpt from FRAGMENTS ON MATTHEW 2.2–3)Humility, humiliation, and quiet surrender are the subject of the blog post by Mary DeTurris Poust that quotes Pope Francis on the importance of humiliation.
“Humility can only get into the heart via humiliation,” Pope Francis says. “There is no humility without humiliation, and if you are not able to put up with some humiliations in your life, you are not humble.”Friar Jude Winkler presents the research revealing that the Philistines were probably Greek refugees. The article by John Noble Wilford indicates that Philistines were cultured after all.
Archeologists are uncovering increasing evidence that the Philistines, arch foes of the Israelites in biblical times whose name became synonymous with barbarity and boorishness, were actually the creators of fine pottery and grand architecture, clever urban planners and cosmopolitan devotees of the grape. If anything, the Israelites, at the time mostly shepherds and farmers in the hills, were the less-sophisticated and -cultured folk.The Israelites lacked the surrender to the will of God and they calculated that they can't lose with the Ark. Friar Jude notes that this is manipulating God and using God as a totem. The spread of the story of the cure of the leper made it necessary for Jesus to seek the desert areas.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, quotes Thomas Merton and Symeon the New Theologian as he explores the metaphor of God as a mirror within our being.
We are much more prepared to understand this in a post-Einstein world—where energy, movement, or life itself is the one constant, and not an isolated substance. We don’t manufacture our core identity by good behavior, sacraments, or reading the Bible. We merely awaken it by letting loving people rub off on us, eating the Eucharist, enjoying an entirely sacramental universe, and fully recognizing God’s image in all creatures, without exception.Death to self and surrender to the Will of God is an act of humility that is consistent with our attempt to live as people who are reflections of the Divine.
References
(n.d.). CHAPTER 4 Defeat of the Israelites. 1At that time, the Philistines .... Retrieved January 11, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/1samuel/1samuel4.htm
(n.d.). Mark, chapter 1 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved January 11, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/1
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved January 11, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 11, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
(2016, July 8). Humility, humiliation, and quiet surrender - Not Strictly Spiritual | Not .... Retrieved January 11, 2018, from http://www.notstrictlyspiritual.com/2016/07/humility-humiliation-quiet-surrender/
(1992, September 29). Philistines Were Cultured After All, Say Archeologists - NYTimes.com. Retrieved January 11, 2018, from http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/29/science/philistines-were-cultured-after-all-say-archeologists.html?pagewanted=all
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved January 11, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/
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