Even if you can’t get to daily Mass, I highly recommend using the readings of the day in your daily prayers. It is a way to unite your prayers with Catholics throughout the world, to live liturgically, and to become familiar with the great stories and wisdom of Sacred Scripture. Today’s first reading is the familiar story of the fall of David with Bathsheba. We know the story well; lust fills David upon seeing Bathsheba bathing on her roof. They commit adultery, and she conceives their child. After his attempts to hide his sin fail, he resorts to arranging for Uriah’s death in battle. The great king, the Lord’s anointed, the just ruler, has fallen mightily. David is an adulterer and a murderer.
This pivotal moment in David’s life has inspired countless writings, conjectures, and reflections. Why was he lingering at home instead of being out on the battlefield? What role did Bathsheba play? How would history have turned out differently if Uriah would have “cooperated” with David’s scheming and gone home to his wife?
I can’t help but wonder what I would think of David today. The prophet Nathan comes to him with a parable of a rich man stealing a poor man’s lamb, which angers David. Nathan’s dramatic revelation, You are the man!, prompts David to great contrition and repentance. David perhaps never tires of reflecting on the Lord’s mercy, the fruit of that reflection we can see in Psalm 51.
Would I be as merciful as God was towards David?
