We in our day can ‘touch’ Jesus in many ways.

They approach him with one desire – to touch him and be healed. Loving energy flows out from Jesus.

As I spend this time with Jesus, I let him quell any spirits in me that are not for my good.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7

When they arrived after

David had slain the Philistine, the women came out from the cities of Israel to meet king Saul singing and dancing with timbrels and musical instruments. They were merrily singing this song: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David, his tens of thousands."

Saul was very displeased with this song and said, "They have given tens of thousands to David but to me only thousands! By now he has everything but the kingdom!" From then on, Saul became very distrustful of David.

 

Saul told his son Jonathan and his servants of his intention to kill David. But Jonathan, who liked David very much, said to David, "My father Saul wants to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning and hide yourself in a secret place. I will go out and keep my father company in the countryside where you are and I will speak to him about you. If I find out something, I will let you know."

 

Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said, "Let not the king sin against his servant David for he has not sinned against you. On the contrary, what he has done has benefited you. He risked his life in killing the Philistine and Yahweh brought about a great victory for Israel. You yourself saw this and greatly rejoiced. Why then sin against innocent blood and kill David without cause?" Saul heeded Jonathan's plea and swore, "As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death." So Jonathan called David and told him all these things. He then brought him to Saul and David was back in Saul's service as before.

 

Ps 56:2-3, 9-10a, 10b-11, 12-13 In God I trust; I shall not fear.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Mark 3:7-12

Jesus and his disciples withdrew to the lakeside, and a large crowd from Galilee followed him. A great number people also came from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, Transjordan, and from the region of Tyre and Sidon, for they had heard of all that he was doing.

 

Because of the crowd, Jesus told his disciples to have a boat ready for him, to prevent the people from crushing him. He healed so many that all who had diseases kept pressing toward him to touch him. Even the people who had evil spirits, whenever they saw him, they would fall down before him and cry out, "You are the Son of God." But he warned them sternly not to tell anyone who he was.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"Channels of God's grace."

In many ways God uses us to become channels of his grace. We are called to become channels of grace to as many people as possible so that we can fully actualize our Christian mission. Nevertheless, there will always be limitations as we try to actualize our mission. It is in the face of such limitations when we are challenged to be creative. In today's Gospel, Jesus was followed by a large crowd from different places.

 

Jesus asked his disciples to prepare the boat. Jesus with his disciples would, at times, withdraw from the people to prevent the people from crushing them. Jesus had always been consumed by his mission but he never ran out of creativity when the situation would call for it. Carrying out our mission in life would also require certain creativity, strategizing the steps we need to undertake to ensure that our mission will be accomplished. A good sense of time management is an example of such creativity and good strategy. Managing our time may appear simple but when we know how to manage our time well we can do many good things for which we are called, becoming true channels of God's grace.