Day 139: Reparation to the Gibeonites

2 Samuel 21:1-14 A famine resulted from a sin committed by Saul that is not recorded in Scripture elsewhere: The killing of the Gibeonites. David sought reconciliation with the offended nation, and his act severed the genealogical line of Saul except for his grandson Mephibosheth.


Psalm 40 (My personal favorite 😉) I waited patiently...my cry: The Holy Spirit inspires us to pray with the firm hope that our patient prayer will lead us to the true joy of knowing Christ. The hope of the Jewish people was for a messiah who would liberate them from the oppression of their enemies; Jesus the Messiah has already won our salvation, and now we joyfully await his Second Coming. This expectation is a central hope expressed in the Mass:

“We proclaim your Death, O Lord,

And profess your Resurrection

Until you come again.”


Blessed is the man...false gods: Faith involves the free assent of the will to the truth of all that God has revealed. We cannot believe in God and at the same time doubt his Word. To believe means something far superior than the faith we have in another person; God is perfection and truth, who can neither deceive or be deceived, whereas people are prone to falsehood and are never completely reliable in all that they say.


I delight to do your will: The Epistle to the Hebrews puts these words on Christ’s lips as a sign of his complete submission to his Father’s will (cf. Heb 10:5-7). By uniting his human will with his divine will, Christ fulfilled the will of the Father to perfection. (CCC 150, 462, 2657, 2824)

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



Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we thank you and we give you praise. And it is true that sacrifice and offering, you do not desire. You have given an open ear and an open heart. What you desire is obedience. What you desire is for us to have a heart like yours. What you desire is mercy, not sacrifice; obedience, not sacrifice in so many ways. That when we do offer you sacrifice, it is only out of obedience. It is always simply a gift to you and done in response to your invitation. Lord God, we ask that you please always, always make us obedient to you. Help us to always say yes to you and to never ever stop saying yes. And even in the moments of disaster, even moments where we have said no to you, even moments of great sin in our lives, help us in that moment to take the very next good step and that next good step being to simply say yes once again. Help us to say yes to you and to never stop saying yes. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”