Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Saturday, 15 February 2014 - Catholic Meditations
Meditation: 1 Kings 12:26 And Jerobo′am said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David; 27 if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehobo′am king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehobo′am king of Judah.” 28 So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods,[a] O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin, for the people went to the one at Bethel and to the other as far as Dan.[b] 31 He also made houses on high places, and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. 32 And Jerobo′am appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices upon the altar; so he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.
Footnotes:
a. 12.28 Behold your gods: Jeroboam seems to have had no intention of introducing false gods. These were to be images of Yahweh. But in doing this he debased the whole idea of true worship and made it more like pagan religion, to which it was bound to lead in the end; cf. 16.31. Judah, with all its advantages of temple and dynasty, was no better at this time, but reforms were instituted at intervals.
b. 1 Kings 12:30 Gk: Heb went to the one as far as Dan
13:33 After this thing Jerobo′am did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people; any who would, he consecrated to be priests of the high places. 34 And this thing became sin to the house of Jerobo′am, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.
Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Jeroboam thought to himself: “The kingdom will return to David’s house … and they will kill me.” (1 Kings 12:26, 27)
We know that God can do amazing things. Yet often, when God promises something and we see it coming about, we begin to doubt, or we grow anxious. Like Peter walking on water, we forget to keep our eyes on Jesus and focus on the wind and the waves instead.
Jeroboam finds himself in a situation like this in today’s first reading. At the end of the previous chapter, God had promised to make Jeroboam like David, establishing a dynasty for him over the nation of Israel. What a shock for this official of King Solomon: God had chosen him to succeed his master! After he flees to Egypt and Solomon dies, Jeroboam does in fact find himself back in Israel and established as king, just as God had promised.
But here is where the trouble begins. With the Temple in Jerusalem and Jerusalem controlled by Rehoboam, Jeroboam begins to fear that the people’s connection to the Temple will cause him to lose his kingdom. This is of course irrational, since it was God that gave Jeroboam the kingdom in the first place. Nevertheless, he decides that he needs to take matters into his own hands instead of waiting on God to fulfill his promises. And the results are disastrous.
Consider the promises that you have received from the Lord—certainly the promise of forgiveness, the promise of heaven, the promise of new life in him. You may also be trusting him for help with your marriage or family relationships or a job situation. In all of these situations, God has a long-term plan for your good, but it requires you to wait on him. Waiting brings doubt and can be scary, and it brings with it the temptation to try to get things to happen your way.
Jeroboam didn’t go back to God with his fears and doubts. Don’t make the same mistake! God stands ready to reassure you of his faithfulness so that you can continue trusting him to bring his promises to their glorious fulfillment. Go to him, and let him renew you in your journey of trust and hope.
“Lord, give me the faith and courage to wait on you for all the wonderful things you have promised.” Amen!
Psalm 106:6 Both we and our fathers have sinned;
we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
did not consider thy wonderful works;
they did not remember the abundance of thy steadfast love,
but rebelled against the Most High[a]
at the Red Sea.
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 106:7 Cn Compare 78.17, 56: Heb at the sea
19 They made a calf in Horeb
and worshiped a molten image.
20 They exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God, their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and terrible things by the Red Sea.
Mark 8: Feeding the Four Thousand
1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him, and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; 3 and if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come a long way.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these men with bread here in the desert?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven.” 6 And he commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish; and having blessed them, he commanded that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate, and were satisfied; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. 10 And he sent them away; and immediately he got into the boat with his disciples, and went to the district of Dalmanu′tha.[a]
Footnotes:
a. Mark 8:10 Other ancient authorities read Magadan or Magdala
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