SAINT BLAISE, BISHOP AND MARTYR (OPTIONAL MEMORIAL)

Keep the mandate of the Lord, your God, following his ways. 

We know that King David lived a far from perfect life. In addition to his most famous sin—his taking of another man’s wife, Bathsheba, and the murder of her husband, Uriah, to cover up his sin—there were other ways that he failed to follow the Lord (see 2 Samuel 13:14-20; 24:2-15). Given these past sins, how could David tell his son Solomon to follow the ways of the Lord? Was he being a hypocrite?

No! Solomon was probably already well aware of the sins in his father’s life. And yet he learned important lessons about following the Lord from David’s transgressions as well as from his successes.

Today’s reading has something important to teach us as well. No matter what your past mistakes or even your current struggles, you are a credible witness who can point people to the Lord. In your successes and high points, you can give credit to God for the grace he gave you to follow him and obey his commandments. And in your failures and low points, you can speak about what might have gone wrong in your life because you departed from God’s ways.

Perhaps even more important, you can recount how you experienced the Lord’s mercy when you repented of your sins. Such stories demonstrate that God is faithful, even when we are not, and that he will never leave us, even when we stray from him.

So how has God revealed his love and mercy to you through your successes and failures? Or how is he demonstrating his love to you even now, in your everyday life? Take some time to reflect and pray about this. Wherever you’re at, whether it’s a high point or a low point, you can testify to the presence and power and goodness of God.

Like David, we are all “earthen vessels,” but God’s power is often more evident in our weaknesses than in our strengths (2 Corinthians 4:7; 12:9). Your testimony can stir up the faith of those around you and help them to realize that they too are qualified to witness to the goodness of the Lord.

“Lord, be glorified in my weaknesses as well as in my strengths.”

(Psalm) 1 Chronicles 29:10-12
Mark 6:7-13
1 Kings 2:1-4, 10-12