Let’s listen to what God wants to tell us

First, let's read the texts for today:

2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17
Ps 32:1-2, 5, 6, 7
Mk 6:1-6

You can get them on line:
@ :
http://www.catholic.org/bible/daily_reading/?select_date=2012-02-01

Now read them again in the light of today's Password:
Let’s listen to what God wants to tell us.


And if you have a mo,
email me with what you "heard"...

gshattingh@hotmail.com

G

[pic: I took of a friend, Roberto Teodosio,
a few years before he was killed in a motor car accident.]
[ Let’s listen to what God wants to tell us.
Essere in ascolto di ciò che Dio vuole dirci
Escutar o que Deus quer nos dizer
Être à l’écoute de ce Dieu veut nous dire
Estar a la escucha de lo que Dios nos quiere decir
Hören auf das, was Gott uns sagen möchte
Steeds luisteren naar wat God ons wil zeggen ]

In living the Word we give glory to God

I recall that as a teenager I encountered Edvard Munch's The Cry
with a sense of "I know that cry..."
At that time it was a mixture of street protests over Sharpville,
the horrors of alcohol addiction I witnessed in others,
and events of "desperation" around me.

King David senses the same in today's First Reading
(extracts 2 Sam 18).
Absolom is murdered. "Oh, my son, my son..." is David's cry.
And we all know of fathers who have cried over their sons.

But, for the Christian, all is never lost.
The Responsorial Psalm (86) takes us beyond the cry:
"Fill your servant's heart with joy, Lord,
for to you I raise up my heart.
Lord, you are kind and forgiving,
rich in faithful love for all who call upon you."

It is in and through that "cry" that we turn to God
and God's Love becomes manifest,
because every "cry" is a reflection of Jesus on the Cross,
and that Jesus, Forsaken and crucified,
is the pinacle of God's Love for us in Christ.
In His Cry we were loved into salvation,
hugged into redemption,
lifted above the disaster,
and the water of tears is turned into drops of wine
to celebrate that Love, so that
In living the Word we give glory to God.

The Gospel (Mk 5:21-43) confirms this!
"A woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years ...
came up through the crowd and touched Jesus' cloak from behind,
thinking, 'If I can just touch his clothes, I shall be saved.' "
She was! Her faith moved her beyond the cry, beyond the wound.
So can we: accept the Word, Live it, and you will discover
that, like this woman,
In living the Word we give glory to God.
It is because when we live the Word,
God works in and through us, to take us beyond the cry...

Jesus goes further: Jairus' daughter is raised from the dead.
The cries of the mourners are stifled.
so can ours be stifled.

The "Davids" of our world need not weep for their sons.
A new beginning awaits us when we realise that
In living the Word we (can) give glory to God.

I believe we know which Words need to be lived intensely,
now, today...
Why make of life a "cry"
when we are freed to give glory to our God,
not lament?

Depends on my conviction:
like the Gospel's
"woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years" or
"the president of the synagogue ... named Jairus."
Am I prepared to risk proving the Password, that
In living the Word we (can) give glory to God ?

Stay blessed.

G

[pic: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/
Edvard Munch: Norwegian painter and printmaker whose intense, evocative treatment of psychological and emotional themes was a major influence on the development of German Expressionism in the early 20th century. His painting The Cry (1893) is regarded as an icon of existential anguish... typical in its anguished expression of isolation and fear." ]
[ In living the Word we give glory to God.
Vivendo la Parola diamo gloria a Dio
Vivendo a palavra, damos glória a Deus
En vivant la Parole, nous rendons gloire à Dieu
Viviendo la Palabra damos gloria a Dios
Wir verherrlichen Gott, indem wir sein Wort leben
Door het Woord te beleven geven we glorie aan God ]

Let’s have our life shine forth the Word

The First Reading provides a further insight into a "holiness"
of King David (2 Sam 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13).
The king flees from a possible attack by his son, Absalom.
David flees Jerusalem, and making his way up the Mount of Olives,
he weeps, head covered and bare feet.

Then "as David was reaching Bahurim,
out came a man of the same clan as Saul's family.
His name was Shimei son of Gera and, as he came,
he uttered curse after curse:
'Off with you, off with you, man of blood, scoundrel!
Yahweh has paid you back
for all the spilt blood of the House of Saul
whose sovereignty you have usurped ...
Now your wickedness has overtaken you,
man of blood that you are.' "

While David's bodyguards are ready to kill the curser,
David is open to a divine retribution contained in his curses:
"If Yahweh has said to him, 'Curse David!'
what right has anyone to say, 'Why have you done so?' ...
Let him curse on, if Yahweh has told him to!"

If someone "curses" you for something you have done in the past,
when someone refuses to forgive you even though you have made
reparation, or when circumstances are beyond your control,
then the Word from the mouth of David gives courage, insight and
challenge, such that it has the potential to launch you
into a new "holiness" :
"If Yahweh has said to him, 'Curse David!'
what right has anyone to say, 'Why have you done so?' ...
Let him curse on, if Yahweh has told him to!"

David will not return violence for violence.
David has learned to be open to the Will of God,
even in the most "impossible" of situations.
He is living today's Password:
Let’s have our life shine forth the Word.

His hope?
"Perhaps Yahweh will look on my wretchedness
and will repay me with good for his curses today."
Let’s have our life shine forth the Word.

I identify this with many who seek justice,
with those who have wronged in the past and seek forgiveness,
and those who have been wronged and cannot forgive.
David tells us that no matter how many "tears"
it is never the end of the road.

We can climb the Mount of Olives,
because Jesus did, centuries after this event,
and became "tearful unto death" for us.

We can because of the power of Jesus
expelling a "Legion of demons" which possessed a man in
"the territory of the Gerasenes" (Mk 5:1-20).

Enough of darkness!
Enough of betrayal!
Enough of revenge!
Enough of reluctance to live the Word!
Instead,
Let’s have our life shine forth the Word.

Stay free
and blessed.

G

[pic: I took of a pensioner and her walker in a forest, outside a retirement home, Holland]
[ Let’s have our life shine forth the Word.
Facciamo risplendere con la nostra vita la Parola
Façamos resplandecer com a nossa vida a Palavra
Par notre vie, faisons resplendir la Parole
Hagamos resplandecer la Palabra con nuestra vida
Lassen wir durch unser Leben das Wort Gottes aufstrahlen
Door ons leven het Woord laten schitteren ]

Let’s welcome the Word without any reservations

The Dutch "welcomed" the fact that they were below sea level,
reclaimed land (below sea level),
constructed canals (below sea level),
and built cities (below sea level),
like this street scene in Leiden.
They welcomed their challenge, without reservations.

Now it's today's Password:
Let’s welcome the Word without any reservations.
Life's experiences need not "flood" your life:
reclaim land, build canals around you,
construct your little "City of God" -
these are all metaphors for living the Word
and becoming what God wants you to become!

God sends Nathan to help David become what God wants of David.
(2 Sam 12) - the metaphor is a story about two men,
“one rich, the other poor”,
the one with “flocks and herds in great abundance”,
and the other “with nothing but an ewe lamb…”

David lives today's Password:
Let’s welcome the Word without any reservations.
He admits his guilt and pleads with the Lord ...
His repentance is complete.

Scripture is filled with those who knew how to repent:
acknowledging their sin,
and making reparation.

No matter how small, or how large, our sin,
there is always a time for repentance:
for acknowledging our sin, and for making reparation.

Sometimes those offended by what we have done
are oblivious to our reparation.
When I apply today's Password to the Gospel (Mk 4:35-41),
Let’s welcome the Word without any reservations,
then Jesus "rebukes the wind and the sea"
and reduces "a gale and huge waves" to calmness.

Let Jesus enter your boat with the words,
“Quiet now! Be calm!”

Through your prayers for others who need rescue,
others who need your forgiveness,
let Jesus enter with the words,
“Quiet now! Be calm!”
Through your acts of love to every neighbour
which translate God’s Love wherever you are
in each present moment and show that you
welcome the Word without any reservations
you will allow each "storm" to be rebuked
in God’s time.

And if you are the victim who stills question those
who have wronged you in the past,
count your “flocks and herds” ,
and do not wait to pounce on “the ewe lamb.”
God waits for your love for hundreds of others -
a love which will bring God's healing into your own life
and "calm the gale and gigantic waves" around you.

Your faith is the guarantee Jesus is in your boat.
Don’t sink with “little faith”!
Let's intensify our faith.
Let's deepen that faith by loving others…
Let's welcome the Word without any reservations

Stay blessed.

[pic: I took in Leiden two weeks' ago]
[ Let’s welcome the Word without any reservations.
Accogliamo la Parola senza riserve
Acolhamos a Palavra sem reservas
Accueillons sans réserves la Parole
Tomemos la Palabra sin reservas
Nehmen wir das Wort Gottes vorbehaltlos in uns auf
Het Woord zonder voorbehoud aannemen ]

Let’s allow ourselves to be guided by the Word of God

King David commits adultery, and murder (2 Sam 11)...
It's smacks of a movie, albeit 1951.

Yet, the seriousness is that the Messiah will have the title
"Son of David."
Is this possible?

Get back to the text!
King David laments his sins (Ps 51)
and asks forgiveness from God.
And that is the key.
He was able to apply the Power of God's Forgiveness,
as repeatedly told in the Old Testament:
to live it, to be guided by it,
to know it is never "the end."
Let’s allow ourselves to be guided by the Word of God.

No sin is too big or too small that it is outside of God's forgiveness.
Why remain in guilt when Jesus has taken your sin away?
Why remain in your sin?
Why keep others in their sins of the past?
Expect to reap the fruit of God's kingdom of forgiveness (Mk 4:26-34)
with a full ear of grown seed
when you live in God's Kingdom!
You "live in God's kingdom" through today's Password:
Let’s allow ourselves to be guided by the Word of God.

Let the "birds of the air" nest in your wisdom, your love,
your being able to rise above your guilt
in God's forgiveness for you,
so as to help others in their guilt.
They are "the birds" needing your friendship,
your unconditional love, your forgiveness
because God has forgiven them.
Why perpetuate their guilt
because of your reluctance to forgive them?
Let them nest in your tolerance, your understanding,
your incarnating Christ's love in your love.
Let’s allow ourselves to be guided by the Word of God.

Live out David's plea,
"God, create in me a clean heart,
renew within me a resolute spirit,
do not thrust me away from your presence,
do not take away from me your spirit of holiness."

God did so for David,
and the Gospel reminds us repeatedly that
God has done so for you, and the one you cannot forgive.
Now we live it:
Let’s allow ourselves to be guided by the Word of God.

Stay blessed!

G

[pic: http://www.allposters.com/-sp/David-and-Bathsheba-Gregory-Peck-Susan-Hayward-1951-Posters_i5133270_.htm ]
[ Let’s allow ourselves to be guided by the Word of God.
Lasciamoci guidare dalla Parola di Dio
Deixemo-nos guiar pela Palavra de Deus
Laissons-nous guider par la Parole Dieu
Dejémonos guiar por la Palabra de Dios
Lassen wir uns vom Wort Gottes leiten
Onszelf laten leiden door het Woord van God ]

It is God who speaks to us in his Word

Two hands appear in today's Readings:
a hand of young David,
with a sling and one of five stones, (1 Sam 17),

and the withered hand of a man in the synagogue,
to whom Jesus says, "Stretch out your hand"
and it is restored and healed (Mk 3:1-6).

There are times in life
when the only way to overcome temptation
is to believe in God's Love and Power in your life.
No Goliath is too big for God to handle.
By living God's Word we get courage to say "no"
to each temptation that must come our way.
So live this word with a sling in your hand, for
we know that to live the Gospel is to accept that
It is God who speaks to us in his Word.

There are time in my life when weaknesses are
more evident than my strengths, and all I have to
offer Jesus is a "withered hand."
Don't keep that hand to yourself-
offer it to Jesus, in his Word, in the Eucharist,
and be strengthened to continue living the Word, for
It is God who speaks to us in his Word.

Which hand do I offer to my neighbour right now?

Stay blessed.

G

[pic: David & Goliath -
http://www.biblebios.com/big/goliath.htm ]
[ It is God who speaks to us in his Word.
E’ Dio che ci parla nella sua Parola
É Deus que nos fala na sua Palavra
C’est Dieu qui nous parle dans sa Parole
Es Dios quien nos habla en su Palabra
Es ist Gott, der in seinem Wort zu uns spricht
Het is God die in zijn Woord spreekt ]

When we are weak, then we are strong

David is chosen amongst the sons of Jesse
to be king of Israel...
the youngest, the "weakest," the mere shepherd is chosen.
Samuel anoints him and the Spirit of God fills him
with God's Presence... for
When we are weak, then we are strong
(1 Sam 16:1-13).

Jesus walks through the cornfields with his disciples
and plucks corn, nibbling along the way-
a sign of "weakness" to those who reduce the Sabbath to rules.
Jesus seizes the opportunity to proclaim who he really is:
the anticipated "Son of Man," and the "Lord of the Sabbath" for
When we are weak, then we are strong
(Mk 2:23-28).

In Alcoholics Anonymous, you eventually have to abandon yourself
in your weakness, to the Higher Power, so that
When we are weak, then we are strong.

What addiction needs my abandonment?
So many are addicted to themselves, their opinion,
their way of doing and seeing things...
Allow the Word to bring a strength out of that!
And when you encounter the weaknesses of others,
make them strong, like Samuel anointing young David,
and "anoint" them with words that come from the Gospel.
Don't remain in your weakness of prejudice and hate!
Reach out in God's Love to become God's rescue for
When we are weak, then we are strong.

Stay blessed!

G

[pic: http://www.isu.edu/anthro/ ]

When we are weak, then we are strong.
Quando siamo deboli, siamo forti
Quando somos fracos, é que somos fortes
Lorsque nous sommes faibles, nous sommes forts
Cuando somos débiles, somos fuertes
Wenn ich schwach bin, bin ich stark
Wanneer we zwak zijn, zijn we sterk ]