Daily Catholic Lectio. Mon, 15 Jan 2024. This is better than that!

Daily Catholic Lectio

Mon, 15 January 2024

Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

1 Samuel 15:16-23. Mark 2:18-22

This is better than that!

It is important that we discern between the lower and the higher; we must eliminate the lower and embrace the higher.

In the first reading, Saul, the first king of Israel, is caught up in a catch-22 (crisis or difficulty) situation. Saul leads the army to fight against the Amalekites. The Lord God had instructed that no enemy and nothing of the enemy must be left over. But Saul reserves something for God. This becomes evil in the sight of the Lord.

Though the purpose or end of Saul’s action – to offer the cattle to the Lord as sacrifice – was noble, the means were not. Saul’s action has three negative elements:

(a) Saul forgets that his greatness came from the Lord, not the other way. He wants to take the place of God. God alone can glorify us, never the other way.

(b) Saul’s greedy heart makes his eyes turn towards the booty. He compromised with the command of the Lord to kill everything that belonged to the Amalekites.

(c) Saul passes the responsibility for his actions to the soldiers. As the king, he was responsible for the act.

Overall, Saul refuses to obey the Lord. He forgets that obedience is greater than offering sacrifices. Obedience pertains to the heart, while offering sacrifices pertains to the body. For when we offer sacrifice, we bend our bodies; when we obey, we bend our will. A disobedient person rebels in his heart.

In the gospel reading, a question concerning fasting is raised before Jesus. The Pharisees of Jesus’ time considered fasting to be the highest form of worship. Jesus instructs them that celebrating the presence of the bridegroom is greater than fasting. He uses the metaphor of new cloth and new wine.

The readings of the day invite us to discern in our spiritual realm. Offering sacrifices and fasting are good. But they are not universally good. Obedience and celebrating the presence of the bridegroom with joy are better at times.

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In the synodal church, discernment – choosing between this and that – plays an important role (Jubilee A.D. 2025, bite 8).

Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi

Archdiocese of Madurai

Missionary of Mercy