2nd book of Samuel 7,4-17.
But that night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said: "Go, tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day on which I led the Israelites out of Egypt to the present, but I have been going about in a tent under cloth. In all my wanderings everywhere among the Israelites, did I ever utter a word to any one of the judges whom I charged to tend my people Israel, to ask: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?' "Now then, speak thus to my servant David, 'The LORD of hosts has this to say: It was I who took you from the pasture and from the care of the flock to be commander of my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth. I will fix a place for my people Israel; I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place without further disturbance. Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old, since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you. And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. And if he does wrong, I will correct him with the rod of men and with human chastisements; but I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from your predecessor Saul, whom I removed from my presence. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.'" Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.
Psalms 89(88),4-5.27-28.29-30.
I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:
I will make your dynasty stand forever and establish your throne through all ages." Selah
He shall cry to me,'You are my father, my God, the Rock that brings me victory!'
I myself make him firstborn, Most High over the kings of the earth.
Forever I will maintain my love for him; my covenant with him stands firm.
I will establish his dynasty forever, his throne as the days of the heavens.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4,1-20.
On another occasion he began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them, Hear this! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." He added, "Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear." And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him about the parables. He answered them, "The mystery of the kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that 'they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.'" Jesus said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy. But they have no root; they last only for a time. Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Those sown among thorns are another sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold."
CHOKE-HOLD
"They have listened to the word, but anxieties over life's demands, and the desire for wealth, and cravings of other sorts come to choke it off; it bears no yield." –Mark 4:18-19
Jehoiakim took the scroll containing Jeremiah's prophecies, cut it up, and burnt it (Jer 36:23). The consequence to Jehoiakim's desecration of the word was: "No descendant of his shall succeed to David's throne; his corpse shall be cast out, exposed to the heat of the day, to the cold night. I will punish him and his descendants and his ministers for their wickedness" (Jer 36:30-31). Like Jehoiakim, the Seleucids also tore up and burnt "any scrolls of the law which they found" (1 Mc 1:56). They were defeated and their leader died of extreme depression (1 Mc 6:8-11).
We choke God's word by our sinfulness. We should not do violence against the word but yield to it. "Let the word of Christ, rich as it is, dwell in you" (Col 3:16). "Humbly welcome the word that has taken root in you" (Jas 1:21). At Mass, we have the custom of kissing the Bible after the reading of the Gospel. However, we must respect God's word not only by reverencing the Book but also by living and obeying the message of the Scriptures. Whether we choke God's word through worldly cares or physically desecrating the Scriptures, we still "choke it off" so that His word "bears no yield" (Mk 4:19).
Let's not do violence against God's word. The Lord says: "This is the one whom I approve; the lowly and afflicted man who trembles at My word" (Is 66:2).
Prayer: Father, may I kiss the Scriptures not out of habit but out of love.
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