Blessings on the battlefield

Good News Reflection
Monday of the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
February 1, 2010

Today's Saint: Brigid of Ireland
Pray for babies:
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/BrigidIreland.htm

Today's Readings:
2 Sam 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13
Ps 3:2-7 (with 8a)
Mark 5:1-20
http://www.usccb.org/nab/020110.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_02_01.mp3

Blessings on the battlefield

In today's first reading, King David is publicly cursed out by an angry enemy, Shimei, but he handles it humbly and with trust for God. David could have had him executed for his attack against his authority, but David wonders, "What if the Lord's trying to teach me something?" He recognizes the stinging truth in the angry man's words.

Even though Shimei's accusation against him was false – he had not murdered Saul's family to take over the throne – David's conscience reminds him that he was nonetheless guilty of murder. He had had an affair with the wife of one of his officers and then killed him so that he could have her to himself.

David chooses to approach the problem with a non-defensive posture. He reasons that if the Lord could use Shimei's evil tirade to keep him humble and repentant, then he would benefit from the curse.

How do we react when someone gets angry at us? (I'm not talking about verbal or physical abusiveness; that's a different matter and it requires escape and justice.) Do we pause and ask the Lord whether there's any truth to the accusations? Or do we defend ourselves to protect our image and retaliate with our own angry words?

David accepted the "affliction" of being ridiculed and bad-mouthed rather than inflict harm upon his enemy. In this, he foreshadowed the Messiah. Did you also notice another foreshadowing as he wept over Israel on the Mount of Olives?

When people accuse us or curse us, we too can reflect Jesus. And, rather than feel hurt by their attacks against us, we can find ways to benefit. What are we learning from the experience? How are we growing stronger in our faith? How's it helping our humility?

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus rescues a man from an army of demons. When we're under attack and we choose self-defensiveness and retaliation, we expose ourselves to the weapons of Satan's battlefield. We live in the curse. We continually have to deal with an army of stressful ugliness and demonic schemes and worrying about how the problem might escalate and how to plot ways to protect ourselves. But when we repent of this and look for the lessons that God's trying to teach us, we immediately begin to benefit. Curses become blessings, despite our enemy's worst intentions.

Taking this humble approach requires effort. Our first reaction is to fight the enemy, but our soul yearns for Jesus to deliver us from the battle. The only way we can put ourselves into his protection is to handle the attacks his way.

May our all-powerful Lord help us to be humble in our daily battles ~ amen!

© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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