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Sunday, January 26, 2014

January 27, 2014

Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 317

Reading 12 SM 5:1-7, 10

All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said:
“Here we are, your bone and your flesh.
In days past, when Saul was our king, 
it was you who led the children of Israel out and brought them back.
And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel 
and shall be commander of Israel.’”
When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron, 
King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD, 
and they anointed him king of Israel.
David was thirty years old when he became king, 
and he reigned for forty years: 
seven years and six months in Hebron over Judah, 
and thirty-three years in Jerusalem
over all Israel and Judah.

Then the king and his men set out for Jerusalem 
against the Jebusites who inhabited the region.
David was told, “You cannot enter here: 
the blind and the lame will drive you away!” 
which was their way of saying, “David cannot enter here.”
But David did take the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David. 

David grew steadily more powerful,
for the LORD of hosts was with him.
After Saul was defeated and killed, David took over the throne of Israel and took his place in Jerusalem.  Jerusalem then became known as the City of David.  God was with David and he ruled a long time.

Responsorial Psalm PS 89:20, 21-22, 25-26

R. (25a) My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
Once you spoke in a vision,
and to your faithful ones you said:
“On a champion I have placed a crown;
over the people I have set a youth.”

R. 
My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
“I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
That my hand may be always with him,
and that my arm may make him strong.”

R. 
My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,
and through my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his hand upon the sea,
his right hand upon the rivers.”
R. My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
This verse is directly about King David but indirectly, in a figure, about Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.  It is to Jesus Christ that God the Father gave the eternal Kingship over His Domain.
Hebrews 1
King James Version (KJV)
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
 

Gospel MK 3:22-30

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, 
“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and
“By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”
The Scribes, an elite group of Jews which might be likened to lawyers in our society, accused Jesus of being a demon.
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, 
Jesus heard of this and called them over to confront them on this issue.
“How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
He said, that doesn't make sense.  Any kingdom which is divided will fall.
And if a house is divided against itself, 
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, 
he cannot stand; 
that is the end of him.
Therefore, if I am a demon fighting against demons and doing what demons never do, then Satan is divided and will fall.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property 
unless he first ties up the strong man.
But no one can defeat Satan without first going into His house (i.e. prince of this world; John 12:31) and tying him up (Rev 20:2).
Then he can plunder his house. 
And then Jesus Christ will set the captives free (Luke 4:18).
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies 
that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit 
will never have forgiveness, 
but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
This is hard to explain.  But it illustrates what Pope Francis has been trying to explain.  The essence of our faith is the Spirit of Love.  It doesn't matter what people have done or what they look like.  If they are acting in a Spirit of love and repent of their sins, they can be saved, by God.
But those who deny the Spirit of God, will be condemned. 

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