Day 116: David and Abigail

1 Samuel 25:43 Polygamy was still tolerated at this phase in Israel’s history as God adopted an INCREMENTAL approach in forming his people to embrace his ORIGINAL plan for monogamous marriage. The Mosaic Law had modified God’s original plan by permitting a man to have multiple wives and likewise allowing for divorce; Christ taught that marriage was originally established by God as a lifelong, fruitful, and exclusive covenant of love between one man and one woman. (CCC 1610-1611, 1664, 2387, 2400)


Psalm 63 The desire for water to relieve thirst serves as an analogy of the soul’s longing for God, who quenches our spiritual thirst and leads us to true happiness. When we thirst, we suffer because we lack something that is essential to life; when we receive water, we receive life itself and are refreshed. Only in God can our thirst be completely quenched. The Hebrew nefesh can mean “throat,” “soul,” or the entire human person, thus suggesting a solid connection between the image of thirst and the yearning of the human heart. The image of hunger hints at an animal sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem.


As Christians, our hunger and thirst are satisfied in Christ, who not only nourishes with his Word but also with his Body and Blood in the Eucharist. (Cf. St. John Paul II, General Audience, April 25, 2001)


The psalmist looked to the Temple as the place especially to perceive the presence of God. We encounter God in an intimate way in the Mass, especially in Holy Communion and in the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle. We are called to enjoy the fullness of his presence when we see God face-to-face in Heaven. (CCC 1088, 1621)

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)



Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and we give you honor. We thank you for all your ways. We thank you for the ways in which you send people to us, either to encourage us to holiness or to keep us from evil. We thank you for all those people, Lord, that have ever prayed for us, ever stood up for us, that ever stood up TO us so that we can be called to greatness and be deterred from folly, deterred from evil. Lord God, we thank you for all the people that you have brought into our lives who encourage us to get close to you, and all those you have brought into our lives who encourage us to stay far, far away from what is wrong. Lord God thank you for all the Abigails that you have brought into our lives and may you be praised and may they be blessed forever and ever. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”