Like the choice fat of the sacred offerings, so was David in Israel. He made sport of lions as though they were kids, and of bears, like lambs of the flock. As a youth he slew the giant and wiped out the people's disgrace, When his hand let fly the slingstone that crushed the pride of Goliath. Since he called upon the Most High God, who gave strength to his right arm To defeat the skilled warrior and raise up the might of his people, Therefore the women sang his praises and ascribed to him tens of thousands. When he assumed the royal crown, he battled and subdued the enemy on every side. He destroyed the hostile Philistines and shattered their power till our own day. With his every deed he offered thanks to God Most High, in words of praise. With his whole being he loved his Maker and daily had his praises sung; He added beauty to the feasts and solemnized the seasons of each year With string music before the altar, providing sweet melody for the psalms So that when the Holy Name was praised, before daybreak the sanctuary would resound. The Lord forgave him his sins and exalted his strength forever; He conferred on him the rights of royalty and established his throne in Israel.

God's way is unerring; the LORD'S promise is tried and true; he is a shield for all who trust in him. The LORD lives! And blessed be my rock! Extolled be God my savior. Thus I will proclaim you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name. You who gave great victories to your king And showed kindness to your anointed; to David and his posterity forever.

King Herod heard about Jesus, for his fame had become widespread, and people were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead; That is why mighty powers are at work in him." Others were saying, "He is Elijah"; still others, "He is a prophet like any of the prophets." But when Herod learned of it, he said, "It is John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up." Herod was the one who had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him. She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias's own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you." He even swore (many things) to her, "I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of my kingdom." She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" She replied, "The head of John the Baptist." The girl hurried back to the king's presence and made her request, "I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

It is without question that Saint John the Baptist underwent imprisonment for our Redeemer's sake, whom he preceded with his witness, and that it was for him he gave his life. For even if his persecutor did not ask him to deny the Christ but to keep the truth quiet, still it was for Christ's sake that he died. Indeed, Christ himself said: “I am the truth” (Jn 14,6). Since, then, it was for the truth that he shed his blood, it was for Christ. By being born John witnessed that Christ would be born; by preaching he witnessed that Christ would preach; by baptizing that he would baptize. By his being the first to suffer his Passion he showed that Christ, too, would have to suffer... Thus this greatest of men came to the end of his life, after a long and painful imprisonment, with the shedding of his blood and he who had proclaimed the good news of the freedom of a higher peace was thrown into prison by the ungodly. He who came to bear witness to the light was shut in the darkness of a dungeon... He who had been granted to baptize the Redeemer of the world, to hear the Father's voice speaking to Christ and to see the Holy Spirit's grace descend upon him, was baptized in his own blood. How well the apostle Paul spoke: “To you has been granted, for the sake of Christ, not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him” (Phil 1,29). And if he said that suffering for Christ is his gift to his chosen ones that is because, as he says elsewhere: “The sufferings of the present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us” (Rom 8,18).

When the time of David's death drew near, he gave these instructions to his son Solomon: "I am going the way of all flesh. Take courage and be a man. Keep the mandate of the LORD, your God, following his ways and observing his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, wherever you turn, and the LORD may fulfill the promise he made on my behalf when he said, 'If your sons so conduct themselves that they remain faithful to me with their whole heart and with their whole soul, you shall always have someone of your line on the throne of Israel.' David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. The length of David's reign over Israel was forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. When Solomon was seated on the throne of his father David, with his sovereignty firmly established,

“Blessed may you be, O LORD, God of Israel our father, from eternity to eternity.” “Yours, O LORD, are grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and glory. “LORD, you are exalted over all. Yours, O LORD, is the sovereignty; you are exalted as head over all. Riches and honor are from you.” "You have dominion over all, In your hand are power and might; it is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.”

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick--no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them." So they went off and preached repentance. They drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

To live the apostolic life you need to have truly great self-denial… What is needed is to possess one’s soul in peace, in cheerfulness, in the midst of continual and powerfully felt privations, not just bodily privations which are easy enough to bear, but spiritual or moral privations. These latter are far more painful and sadden, disturb and discourage a weak and self-interested soul. To a strong soul they give a courage, a serenity and wholly new energy by firm self-denial and perfect attachment to God alone… If you only knew what value patience holds among the apostolic virtues you would employ all the strength of your soul to acquire it. If you know now how to wait then you are sure of success and a firm and stable success… Plants that grow up quickly do not develop far and promptly perish. Trees whose growth is slow become tall and strong and last for centuries. If you should ever happen to have quick and easy success in a mission, tremble for that mission; but when, to the contrary, it takes time and creates difficulties, anticipate good things from it if you feel within yourselves the strength and perseverance of a holy patience… If you have patience then you are sure to gain prudence and godly wisdom in your conduct and undertakings.

King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him, "Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the people, that I may know their number." Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered: in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service; in Judah, five hundred thousand. Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people, and said to the LORD: "I have sinned grievously in what I have done. But now, LORD, forgive the guilt of your servant, for I have been very foolish." When David rose in the morning, the LORD had spoken to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying: "Go and say to David, 'This is what the LORD says: I offer you three alternatives; choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you.'" Gad then went to David to inform him. He asked: "Do you want a three years' famine to come upon your land, or to flee from your enemy three months while he pursues you, or to have a three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must reply to him who sent me." David answered Gad: "I am in very serious difficulty. Let us fall by the hand of God, for he is most merciful; but let me not fall by the hand of man." Thus David chose the pestilence. Now it was the time of the wheat harvest when the plague broke out among the people. (The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel from morning until the time appointed, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.) But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD regretted the calamity and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people, "Enough now! Stay your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he said to the LORD: "It is I who have sinned; it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these are sheep; what have they done? Punish me and my kindred."

Blessed is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered. Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile. Then I acknowledged my sin to you, my guilt I covered not. I said, “I confess my faults to the LORD,” and you took away the guilt of my sin. For this shall every faithful man pray to you in time of stress. Though deep waters overflow, they shall not reach him. You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me; with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.

Jesus departed from there and came to his native place,  accompanied by his disciples. When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house." So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.

The Word, God's eternal Utterance, “gave help to the descendants of Abraham; therefore he had to become like his brothers in every way” (Heb 2,16-17) and assume a body like our own. That is why Mary was truly needed for him to assume this body in her and offer it as his own on our behalf... Gabriel had announced this to her in carefully chosen words. He didn't say in the ordinary fashion: “He who will be born in you”... but said: “He who will be born of you”... All these things came to pass so that the Word, in taking on our nature and offering it in sacrifice, would make it wholly his own. Afterwards, he wanted to reclothe us in his own, divine nature, allowing Saint Paul to say: “That which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality” (1Cor 15.53). Nor, as certain heretics imagined, was this carried out in simulated fashion – not a bit of it! Our Savior became true man and mankind's whole salvation came from that... Our salvation is not in appearance only, it is not for the body only, but it is for the whole person, soul and body, and this salvation came from the Word himself. So that which came from Mary was human in nature, according to Scripture, and the Lord's body was a true body: yes, a true body since it was in every respect like our own. For Mary is our sister since we all descend from Adam.