A reading from the First Book of Samuel
1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7
When David and Saul approached
(on David’s return after slaying the Philistine),
women came out from each of the cities of Israel to meet King Saul,
singing and dancing, with tambourines, joyful songs, and sistrums.
The women played and sang:
“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands.”
Saul was very angry and resentful of the song, for he thought:
“They give David ten thousands, but only thousands to me.
All that remains for him is the kingship.”
And from that day on, Saul was jealous of David.
Saul discussed his intention of killing David
with his son Jonathan and with all his servants.
But Saul’s son Jonathan, who was very fond of David, told him:
“My father Saul is trying to kill you.
Therefore, please be on your guard tomorrow morning;
get out of sight and remain in hiding.
I, however, will go out and stand beside my father
in the countryside where you are, and will speak to him about you.
If I learn anything, I will let you know.”
Jonathan then spoke well of David to his father Saul, saying to him:
“Let not your majesty sin against his servant David,
for he has committed no offense against you,
but has helped you very much by his deeds.
When he took his life in his hands and slew the Philistine,
and the LORD brought about a great victory
for all Israel through him,
you were glad to see it.
Why, then, should you become guilty of shedding innocent blood
by killing David without cause?”
Saul heeded Jonathan’s plea and swore,
“As the LORD lives, he shall not be killed.”
So Jonathan summoned David and repeated the whole conversation to him.
Jonathan then brought David to Saul, and David served him as before.
From the Gospel according to Mark
3:7-12
Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.
A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea.
Hearing what he was doing,
a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem,
from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan,
and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd,
so that they would not crush him.
He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases
were pressing upon him to touch him.
And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him
and shout, “You are the Son of God.”
He warned them sternly not to make him known.
Jesus, who goes towards wounded humanity, shows us the face of the Father. It may be that within us there is still the idea of a distant, cold God, who is indifferent to our fate. (…) On the contrary, he is a Father filled with love who makes himself close to us, who visits our homes, who wants to save and liberate, heal from every ill of the body and spirit. God is always close to us. God’s attitude can be expressed in three words: closeness, compassion and tenderness. God makes himself close to accompany us tenderly, and to forgive us. Do not forget this: closeness, compassion and tenderness. This is God’s attitude. (…) Let us look, then, at Jesus’ journeying and remind ourselves that our first spiritual task is this: to abandon the God we think we know, and to convert every day to the God Jesus presents to us in the Gospel, who is the Father of love and the Father of compassion. The Father who is close, compassionate and tender. And when we discover the true face of the Father, our faith matures: we no longer remain “sacristy Christians”, or “parlour Christians”, but rather we feel called to become bearers of God’s hope and healing. (Francis – Angelus, 4 February 2024)
Read More
_Scottsdale.jpg)
![The challenge of the Gospel #Catholic - Though she has been spreading the gospel for more than a decade, Meg Hunter-Kilmer’s love for Jesus grew even more when she immersed herself in commentaries that explained the cultural context of His words and actions. As she expresses in her recent book “Eyes Fixed on Jesus, Volume 1,” Meg came to believe that the ways in which Jesus affirmed people’s dignity was just as important as His physical healings.
Take Jesus’ healing of the woman who was bleeding for 12 years as an example. Not only was her ailment cured, but Jesus called her, “Daughter,” conveying that she was a beloved child of God who should be embraced, not ostracized, by society. Why is that affirmation so important?
“This is the big question of what it is to be human,” Meg observed during a “Christopher Closeup” interview. “Am I as good as you are by my very existence? This is something that we’re still wrestling with today. Does people’s immigration documentation status make them less valuable as human beings? Does people’s race or ethnicity make them less valuable? Does people’s status as being born or unborn make them less valuable?…Jesus makes it clear again and again, there’s nothing [that makes anyone less valuable]. He comes to women, to the unclean. He’s going to Samaritans and to Gentiles, to Roman oppressors. He’s actually doing good deeds for the people who are trying to destroy the people of God. And Jesus is making it clear to us that every person is equal in dignity.”
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
While this concept should be familiar to us today, it wasn’t in Jesus’ era, when a human being’s value was based on status. Then along comes Jesus with His Sermon on the Mount, declaring, “Blessed are the poor.” This contradicted people’s beliefs that the poor were cursed; that’s why they were poor. Again, Jesus affirmed that everyone was equal in dignity. Meg explained, “Enslaved pagan women are just as valuable as the high priest. That’s a radical and revolutionary thing and something that continues to be a challenge for us today…Jesus came in with an incredibly demanding message, particularly for those who were good Jews.”
In essence, Jesus made it clear that outward religious practices were not enough to please God. The same holds true today. Meg noted, “These are the people who are doing all the right things, who are religious in all of the right ways. This is Jesus coming to us who listen to Catholic radio and saying, ‘Yes, very good! But do you actually love your sister-in-law? Do you actually live a sacrificial life so that the poor can live a meaningful life? Do you actually follow the gospel?’… If the gospel doesn’t challenge you, man, you’re just not reading it.”
As devoted as Meg remains to Jesus and spreading His message, she encounters times of darkness in life, like we all do. How does she respond?
“For me, everything is about sitting with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament,” Meg concluded. “When I am an absolute wreck, the thing that I need more than anything is just to get in front of a tabernacle and pour my mess out on Him. And there’s a light that comes. I mean, that sanctuary lamp really begins to glow brighter. And even if nothing is resolved at the end of that time, I have put everything back in His hands, and I have continued to make the deliberate choice to let Him be my God.”
Tony Rossi is director of communications for The Christophers. For free copies of the Christopher News Note “Turn Your Brokenness Into Holiness,” write: The Christophers, 264 West 40th Street, Room 603, New York, N.Y. 10018; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/the-challenge-of-the-gospel-catholic-though-she-has-been-spreading-the-gospel-for-more-than-a-decade-meg-hunter-kilmers-love-for-jesus-grew-even-more-when-she-immersed-herself-in-commenta.jpg)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/TAL-how-to-get-there-and-around-DELRAYFL0126-5b10e31b780148ec96cb333aa9b194f3.jpg)