The Word Among Us: A Catholic Devotional based on the Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Friday, January 15, 2016
Meditation: 1 Samuel 8:4 All the leaders of Isra’el gathered themselves together, approached Sh’mu’el in Ramah 5 and said to him, “Look, you have grown old, and your sons are not following your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 Sh’mu’el was not pleased to hear them say, “Give us a king to judge us”; so he prayed to Adonai. 7 Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, “Listen to the people, to everything they say to you; for it is not you they are rejecting; they are rejecting me; they don’t want me to be king over them.
10 Sh’mu’el reported everything Adonai had said to the people asking him for a king. 11 He said, “Here is the kind of rulings your king will make: he will draft your sons and assign them to take care of his chariots, be his horsemen and be bodyguards running ahead of his chariots. 12 He will appoint them to serve him as officers in charge of a thousand or of fifty, plowing his fields, gathering his harvest, and making his weapons and the equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters and have them be perfume-makers, cooks and bakers. 14 He will expropriate your fields, vineyards and olive groves — the very best of them! — and hand them over to his servants. 15 He will take the ten-percent tax of your crops and vineyards and give it to his officers and servants. 16 He will take your male and female servants, your best young men and your donkeys, and make them work for him. 17 He will take the ten-percent tax of your flocks, and you will become his servants. 18 When that happens, you will cry out on account of your king, whom you yourselves chose. But when that happens, Adonai will not answer you!”
19 However, the people refused to listen to what Sh’mu’el told them, and they said, “No! We want a king over us, 20 so that we can be like all the nations, with our king to judge us, lead us and fight our battles.” 21 Sh’mu’el heard everything the people said and repeated them for Adonai to hear. 22 Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, “Do what they ask, and set up a king for them.” So Sh’mu’el told the men of Isra’el, “Each of you, return to his city.”
1st Week in Ordinary time
Samuel … prayed to the Lord.(1 Samuel 8:6)
For forty days last winter, more than 75,000 pro-life advocates in 20 countries braved the elements to stand outside of abortion clinics, interceding and witnessing to the sacredness of life. According to one report, nearly 650 babies were saved, and thousands of mothers and fathers received counsel during that time. While some advocates were disappointed with the results, many were thrilled to see their prayers answered. Even if one life was saved, it was worth the effort, they said.
Intercessory prayer, or praying with the real hope and intent that God will hear and respond, is not a new phenomenon. Abraham prayed and bargained with God over the fate of Sodom. Moses sought the favor of the Lord after the Israelites had made the golden calf. And today we read how Samuel sought the Lord for his people who wanted a king to rule them like other nations. Even Jesus, before he died, prayed to the Father for his disciples: “I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).
God has not changed. He is the same today as he was in the days of Abraham and Moses. He still loves when his people pray—especially when we pray for someone else. We may not always like the answer we receive, but we can be sure that our Father hears and responds according to what is best for us.
Each of us can choose faith over worry, doubt, and fear. Why? Because faith is a gift from God. It’s not something that we have to conjure up ourselves. It’s a powerful grace that helps us hold our ground when the difficulties of life—sickness, loss of job, family problems—come at us. So bring your prayers of intercession to the Lord with complete trust in him. Ask him to increase your faith. And never give up praying. Persist, just as Moses and Abraham and those pro-life advocates did, and see what the Lord does. He may give you an even greater gift—a whole new perspective on life or a healing far deeper than you could ever imagine.
“Father I am so grateful that you fulfill your promises. Teach me to pray with trust in your mercy and love.” Amen!
Psalm 89:16 (15) How happy are the people who know the joyful shout!
They walk in the light of your presence, Adonai.
17 (16) They rejoice in your name all day
and are lifted up by your righteousness,
18 (17) for you yourself are the strength in which they glory.
Our power grows by pleasing you,
19 (18) for our shield comes from Adonai —
our king is from the Holy One of Isra’el.
Mark 2:1 After a while, Yeshua returned to K’far-Nachum. The word spread that he was back, 2 and so many people gathered around the house that there was no longer any room, not even in front of the door. While he was preaching the message to them, 3 four men came to him carrying a paralyzed man. 4 They could not get near Yeshua because of the crowd, so they stripped the roof over the place where he was, made an opening, and lowered the stretcher with the paralytic lying on it. 5 Seeing their trust, Yeshua said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Some Torah-teachers sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “How can this fellow say such a thing? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God?” 8 But immediately Yeshua, perceiving in his spirit what they were thinking, said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier to say to the paralyzed man? ‘Your sins are forgiven’? or ‘Get up, pick up your stretcher and walk’? 10 But look! I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you: get up, pick up your stretcher and go home!” 12 In front of everyone the man got up, picked up his stretcher at once and left. They were all utterly amazed and praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”---------------------
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