The Same Man

by David Lins  |  09/15/2019  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

Growing up, I loved hearing my name during the First Reading of various Masses throughout the year. As a little boy, that story about Goliath was rocket fuel for the imagination!

A few years later, I was even happier to hear my namesake was not only in the Bible, but wrote some of it!

As I entered my teenage years, I found out God referred to David as “a man after his own heart” and I loved my first name all the more.

Then, I read more about the life of David. Adultery? Check. Murder? Check.

WHAT?

How could this be? Surely he was being confused with another David.

I checked. It was the same man.

So how could someone who committed two of the worst sins in the worst way still be so highly revered?

He came back to God just as spectacularly as he left him. The Psalm this weekend is Psalm 51. In it David writes, “Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me.”

It goes on, but you see the humility.

David is a foretaste of the Prodigal Son we hear about in the Gospel. The boy who wants his riches, his feasts, and his party. He takes his early inheritance and squanders it. It is only when he humbly returns home that he receives all he ever wanted as his father gives him the best robe, ring and sandals. He orders the fatter calf be slaughtered for a feast and the celebration commences.

My prayer for all of us is that we don’t listen to the lie that the sins of our past have the power to determine our future. They do not if we return to the Father with all the humility we can muster and beg Him to wash us of our guilt and cleanse us of our sin.

Questions? Comments? Email David at dlins@oloj.org.