Daily Reflection: Friday, January 14
Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
There must be a king over us. We too must be like other nations…. (1Sam 8:19-20)
Israel was restless, not happy to rely on God and God’s prophets. They wanted to be the same as other nations. The same. But being different from others is part of what it is to be God’s chosen. Not to be like everyone else.
On the feast of the Epiphany we heard how the Magi did not return to King Herod, but when home by a different route. This was a rejection of Herod’s jealousy, violence, and fear. But at the time of Samuel, the people wanted a king to lead them in battle, the same as everyone else. And God gave them Saul.
How hard it is to be different because we belong to God.
John Frambes, ofm