Daily Bible Readings - January 16, 2012

1st READING

Today we learn about the importance of obedience to God’s will. It is not for us to question the will of God or to alter it according to our own tastes or preferences. We simply do whatever He asks us to do. I realize that what Saul was asked to do here seems to be immoral – we have to remember that warfare 3,000 years ago was conducted differently from the way we understand it today according to the Geneva Convention. This is not a reflection on right and wrong but a reflection on the fact that morality is something that has developed in human consciousness over the centuries. Today, we do not stone women caught in adultery, as was the practice then as well.

1 Samuel 15:16-23
16 Samuel said to Saul: “Stop! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” Saul replied, “Speak!” 17 Samuel then said: “Though little in your own esteem, are you not leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king of Israel 18 and sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction. Fight against them until you have exterminated them.’ 19 Why then have you disobeyed the Lord? You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the Lord.” 20 Saul answered Samuel: “I did indeed obey the Lord and fulfill the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban. 21 But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen, the best of what had been banned, to sacrifice to the Lord their God in Gilgal.” 22 But Samuel said: “Does the Lord so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the Lord? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams. 23 For a sin like divination is rebellion, and presumption is the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he, too, has rejected you as ruler.”

P S A L M

Psalm 50:8-9, 16-17, 21, 23
R: To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you, for your burnt offerings are before me always. 9 I take from your house no bullock, no goats out of your fold.” (R) 16 “Why do you recite my statutes, and profess my covenant with your mouth, 17 Though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you? (R) 21 “When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it? Or do you think that I am like yourself? I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes. 23 He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me; and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.” (R)

GOSPEL

Fasting is governed by its social context, not an absolute law of necessity. Fasting has been, is and always will be an element of discipline in the spiritual life as it helps to heighten one’s awareness, spiritually speaking, through avoiding the contented apathy and lethargy of a full stomach. We should seek to develop a pattern or regular discipline of fasting to help us deepen in prayer. We can fast from food, television, the Internet, Facebook, etc. Fasting is a means of giving extra time and attention to our relationship with God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.

Mark 2:18-22
18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. 22 Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”

LIST
think: It is not for us to question the will of God and to alter it according to our own tastes or preferences. We simply do whatever He asks us to do.
1st READING 2nd READING
GOSPEL PSALM
TODAY’S
T O D A Y ’ S BLESSING LIST
Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________

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God’s special verse/thought for me today________________
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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Luke 7-9