Lord, open my lips. – And my mouth will proclaim your praise. God, come to my assistance. – Lord, make haste to help me. From the first book of Samuel 25:14-24, 28-39 David and Abigail Nabal’s wife Abigail was informed of this by one of the servants, who said: “David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he flew at them screaming. Yet these men were very good to us. We were done no injury, neither did we miss anything all the while we were living among them during our stay in the open country. For us they were like a rampart night and day the whole time we were pasturing the sheep near them. Now, see what you can do, for you must realize that otherwise evil is in store for our master and for his whole family. He is so mean that no one can talk to him.” Abigail quickly got together two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of pressed raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on asses. She then said to her servants, “Go on ahead; I will follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. As she came down through a mountain defile riding on an ass, David and his men were also coming down from the opposite direction. When she met them, David had just been saying: “Indeed, it was in vain that I guarded all this man’s possessions in the desert, so that he missed nothing. He has repaid good with evil. May God do thus and so to David, if by morning I leave a single male alive among all those who belong to him.” As soon as Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the ass and, falling prostrate on the ground before David, did him homage. As she fell at his feet she said: “My lord, let the blame be mine. Please let your handmaid speak to you, and listen to the words of your handmaid. “Please forgive the transgression of your handmaid, for the Lord shall certainly establish a lasting dynasty for my lord, because your lordship is fighting the battles of the Lord, and there is no evil to be found in you your whole life long. If anyone rises to pursue you and to seek your life, may the life of my Lord be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God; but may he hurl out the lives of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling. And when the Lord carries out for my Lord the promise of success he has made concerning you, and appoints you as commander over Israel, you shall not have this as a qualm or burden on your conscience, my lord, for having shed innocent blood or for having avenged yourself personally. When the Lord confers this benefit on your lordship, remember your handmaid.” David said to Abigail: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today. Blessed be your good judgment and blessed be you yourself, who this day have prevented me from shedding blood and from avenging myself personally. Otherwise, as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come so promptly to meet me, by dawn Nabal would not have had a single man or boy left alive.” David then took from her what she had brought him and said to her: “Go up to your home in peace! See, I have granted your request as a personal favor.” When Abigail came to Nabal, there was a drinking party in his house like that of a king, and Nabal was merry because he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all before daybreak the next morning. But then, when Nabal had become sober, his wife told him what had happened. At this his courage died within him, and he became like a stone. About ten days later the Lord struck him and he died. On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said: “Blessed be the Lord, who has requited the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and who restrained his servant from doing evil, but has punished Nabal for his own evil deeds.” RESPONSORY 1 Samuel 25:32, 33; Matthew 5:7 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you to me today. – You have held me back today from shedding blood and from taking revenge into my own hands. Blessed are the merciful; they shall obtain mercy. – You have held me back today from shedding blood and from taking revenge into my own hands. From the treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, bishop Life in man is the glory of God; the life of man is the vision of God The glory of God gives life; those who see God receive life. For this reason God, who cannot be grasped, comprehended or seen, allows himself to be seen, comprehended and grasped by men, that he may give life to those who see and receive him. It is impossible to live without life, and the actualization of life comes from participation in God, while participation in God is to see God and enjoy his goodness. Men will therefore see God if they are to live; through the vision of God they will become immortal and attain to God himself. As I have said, this was shown in symbols by the prophets: God will be seen by men who bear his Spirit and are always waiting for his coming. As Moses said in the Book of Deuteronomy: On that day we shall see, for God will speak to man, and man will live. God is the source of all activity throughout creation. He cannot be seen or described in his own nature and in all his greatness by any of his creatures. Yet he is certainly not unknown. Through his Word the whole creation learns that there is one God the Father, who holds all things together and gives them their being. As it is written in the Gospel: No man has ever seen God, except the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father; he has revealed him. From the beginning the Son is the one who teaches us about the Father; he is with the Father from the beginning. He was to reveal to the human race visions of prophecy, the diversity of spiritual gifts, his own ways of ministry, the glorification of the Father, all in due order and harmony, at the appointed time and for our instruction. Where there is order, there is also harmony; where there is harmony, there is also correct timing; where there is correct timing, there is also advantage. The Word became the steward of the Father’s grace for the advantage of men, for whose benefit he made such wonderful arrangements. He revealed God to men and presented men to God. He safeguarded the invisibility of the Father to prevent man from treating God with contempt and to set before him a constant goal toward which to make progress. On the other hand, he revealed God to men and made him visible in many ways to prevent man from being totally separated from God and so cease to be. Life in man is the glory of God; the life of man is the vision of God. If the revelation of God through creation gives life to all who live upon the earth, much more does the manifestation of the Father through the Word give life to those who see God. RESPONSORY Malachi 2:6; Psalm 89:22 True teaching was in his mouth; no evil was ever found on his lips. – He walked with me in goodness and in peace. My hand will be a steady help to him; my arm will give him strength. – He walked with me in goodness and in peace. CONCLUDING PRAYER O God, who called the Bishop Saint Irenaeus to confirm true doctrine and the peace of the Church, grant, we pray, through his intercession, that, being renewed in faith and charity, we may always be intent on fostering unity and concord. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. – Amen. Let us praise the Lord. – And give him thanks.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 09:32:37 +0000
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