Daily Catholic Lectio
Thu, 11 January 2024
Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
1 Samuel 4:1-11. Mark 1:40-45
No automatic victory!
External rituals, symbols, and objects cannot save us automatically or bring us victory automatically. God’s will and our change of attitude bring forth salvation and victory.
The context of the first reading is the war between the people of Israel and the Philistines. When four thousand people were killed in the war, the elders of the people discerned the cause of their defeat. They identified that, because of the absence of the ark of the covenant amidst them, they faced defeat. They sent for the ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant was brought from Shiloh. In the next war, thirty thousand people died, i.e., the defeat was ten times worse.
Why did the people of Israel fail in the war despite the presence of the ark with them? We can mention three reasons:
(a) Belief in external rituals, symbols, and objects. The people of Israel transgressed covenantal fidelity but thought that keeping the ark with them was sufficient.
(b) The carriers were unworthy. The text says that the ark of the covenant was being carried by Hophni and Phinehas. Earlier, we read that these sons of Eli were involved in cultic or administrative abuse and sexual abuse. They presumed that nothing could go wrong with them; they were overconfident about their vocation and ministry. Their hardheartedness made them unworthy leaders.
(c) The lack of leadership. There was no leader to lead the people of Israel in war. It is the leader who decides the journey of the followers. The people of Israel later asked for a king.
The Lord God teaches the people of Israel that automatic victory is not possible. What he expects is their change of heart.
In the gospel reading, Jesus heals a leprosy-afflicted person. Jesus transcends the boundaries of his time. When it was customary to hate lepers, Jesus had compassion for him; when society kept itself aloof, Jesus touched the leper and healed him. As a consequence, Jesus could not enter the village.
The leper surrenders to Jesus, saying, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” God’s will and our change of attitude bring forth victory.
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‘Synodality is not an action but an attitude. This attitude makes us move towards others for greater communion,’ says Pope Francis. (Jubilee A.D. 2025, bite 6).
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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