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| “St. Michael and Fallen Angels” by Luca Giordano, 1690’s |
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1:
2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10
All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said:
“Here we are, your bone and your flesh.
In days past, when Saul was our king,
it was you who led the children of Israel out and brought them
back.
And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel
and shall be commander of Israel.’”
When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron,
King David made an agreement with them there before the Lord,
and they anointed him king of Israel.
David was thirty years old when he became king,
and he reigned for forty years:
seven years and six months in Hebron over Judah,
and thirty-three years in Jerusalem
over all Israel and Judah.
Then the king and his men set out for Jerusalem
against the Jebusites who inhabited the region.
David was told, “You cannot enter here:
the blind and the lame will drive you away!”
which was their way of saying, “David cannot enter here.”
But David did take the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of
David.
David grew steadily more powerful,
for the Lord of hosts was with him.
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Commentary
on 2 Sm 5:1-7, 10
David is anointed King, this time by the people of Judea (following the collapse of Saul’s line). He immediately launches a campaign against
the Jebusites who hold Israel, specifically Jerusalem. In spite of their resistance David was
victorious and God continued to bless his efforts to lead the people of Judea
and Israel
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Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 89:20, 21-22, 25-26
R. (25a) My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with
him.
Once you spoke in a vision,
and to your faithful ones you said:
“On a champion I have placed a crown;
over the people I have set a youth.”
R. My
faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
“I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
That my hand may be always with him,
and that my arm may make him strong.”
R. My
faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,
and through my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his hand upon the sea,
his right hand upon the rivers.”
R. My
faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him.
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Commentary
on Ps 89:20, 21-22, 25-26
Psalm 89 is a song of thanksgiving. In these verses it celebrates the call of
King David and recalls his anointing at Hebron (see 2 Samuel 5:1-4).
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Gospel:
Mark 3:22-30
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and
“By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
“How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,
he cannot stand;
that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder his house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies
that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
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Commentary
on Mk 3:22-30
This passage takes up the story
from Mark 3:20-21 when
Jesus had taken his disciples to Matthew’s house for a meal but could not eat
because of the crowd. The Lord’s mother and family came to get him and the word
passed it was that they thought he had lost his mind.
The conflict between Jesus and
the Scribes reveals itself completely. They are now openly calling him “prince
of the demons”. The Lord summons them and demonstrates with parables the
foolishness of their claim. He first asks the ironic question that could be
paraphrased “If I, who destroy unclean spirits, am from the originator of
those spirits; and if I were in league with him, he has destroyed himself.”
He continues an analogy about the strong man protecting his house. In
this case he, Jesus would represent the defender of the house (of Israel) and those
attacking him, attempting to tie him up.
The story concludes with an
important theological understanding. The Son of God came into the world so that
sins might be forgiven (“…all sins and all blasphemies that people utter
will be forgiven them.”) He then defines the Holy Spirit and Himself as one
in the same (essence) by saying that whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
(as the scribes had just done in calling Jesus an emissary of Satan) would be
guilty of an everlasting sin (- their sin would never be forgiven).
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Reflection:
The
Holy Trinity is implicitly defined in today’s Gospel. For those of us who have wondered where it is
written in Sacred Scripture that God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy
Spirit are of the same essence, this is one of the most direct passages.
This
selection also flies in the face of a more prevalent idea called in some
circles “Universalism”. That term is defined as saying that: when
Jesus came all sins were forgiven and there could be no lasting stain on
anyone. It does not matter what
translation is studied, verses 28 and 29 say clearly that anyone who blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit has committed and unforgivable act. In this specific case, Jesus is called evil
and an instrument of Satan. This act, un-repented, earns the perpetrator a
place of eternal damnation.
This
same sentiment is presented in the Gospel of St. Matthew (see Matthew 12:30ff). The Catechism of the Catholic Church says of
this action (interestingly it is presented in the discussion of the fallen
angles):
“393 It is the irrevocable character
of their choice” (Fallen Angels)”, and not a defect in the infinite divine
mercy, that makes the angels' sin unforgivable. "There is no repentance
for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after
death."[4]
In
our modern age, we sometimes fall into this kind of Universalism trap, thinking that it does not matter what we do; Divine
Mercy so characteristic of God, will keep us from that eternal anguish. Here we see Satan’s trap revealed. For, if we are weak and lash out at God in
our pain, we risk taking a “dirt nap” with Satan himself.
Just
as the Lord provides us a path to salvation that is sometimes very difficult to
walk, Satan, eternally fallen, makes it very easy to fall into his
kingdom. We have seen it often
enough. It usually begins with an
injured person becoming angry with God (usually for a choice either made by
themselves or by the person they are mourning).
They say, “How could God have let this happen?” It is an easy next step to say that God
himself is evil because he did not create man incapable of sin; or renounce their
belief in His Only Begotten Son because he did not intervene.
We
pray for those souls today who through their ignorance or through their fallen
nature have committed this sin against God.
We also pray for those who have been misguided and all those who are
still being perfected in Purgatory.
Pax
[1]
ALTRE
[2]
The picture is “St. Michael and Fallen Angels” by Luca Giordano, 1690’s
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
[4]
St. John Damascene, De Fide orth. 2,4: PG 94,877.
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