Judgment, Christ and the Cross

1 Sm 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1 - Ps 21:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 - Mk 2:13-17

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I am presently working on some video montages and power point slides for the formation sessions at my parish this weekend. The point of the exercise is to show the impact of the media on our lives and as one would expect almost the whole presentation is geared towards how bad things are. Neglecting of course any of the positive effect of the media and treating it as some vile brood of evil men who seek to corrupt and destroy the world.

I think the Gospel message today should absolutely be read and heeded. Christ came for the sinners... He came for the oversexed, overdosed, confused masses who seek to fill the ever expanding void they feel as part of the human condition with the love and light of God. It is interesting to note that the high and mighty righteous who held those scantily clad adulterers, money obsessed businessmen and people possessed by demons of their own making in such contempt are the ones who feared Christ most and so led by their fear instead of by love put Him on the cross. It was the weak, weary, destitute, and bankrupt in the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical that embraced Christ. They washed his feet with their tears and died them with their hair while the righteous of the age stood on and mocked.

Saul being chosen today keeps well along this theme. God chose Saul directly because that's what the elders wanted. He chose Saul because the elders wanted a king like Saul. While Saul did some good, he eventually falls pray to the same corruptions and weaknesses that drove the elders to entreat God for a king in the first place. They wanted a warrior king anointed by God to lead them to earthly glory and they got what they asked for. Christ was the king God chose for us and when He fought daily and bodily for love, peace and the will of the Father the elders because fearful and killed him.

Now go and watch TV, surf the Net, listen to the radio and see if it is your fear that leads you to contempt and disdain to your fellow sinners or love that leads to to compassion and understanding of your brother's and sister's confusion and pain.

For every bad decision made, behind it is a wounded heart.