#FatherDavidKnight

top of page

Search

Father David's Reflection for Tuesday of Week Two (Ordinary Time)

Father David M. Knight

Jan 21, 2020

Father David's Reflection for Tuesday of Week Two (Ordinary Time)

I have found David my servant. (Responsorial: Psalm 89) 1 Samuel 16: 1-13 tells how God chose David to replace Saul, to whom Samuel said that, had he obeyed, “The LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.” But God called David “a man after his own heart,” and never rejected him. Why? David raped the wife of a faithful officer, and ordered him murdered in a shameful way to cover up his crime. Was Saul’s sin worse than that? 1 David broke God’s law in a wa

Father David's Reflection for Monday of Week Two (Ordinary Time)

Father David M. Knight

Jan 20, 2020

Father David's Reflection for Monday of Week Two (Ordinary Time)

To the upright I will show the saving power of God. (Responsorial: Psalm 50) 1 Samuel 15: 16-23 makes it forcefully clear that the first and essential way to glorify God or “hallow” his Name is to do what he commands. The failure to do this is what gives religion a bad name. When Saul attacked the Amalekites, God told him through Samuel to “utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep.” But: Saul and the p

Father David's Reflection for Sunday of Week Two (Ordinary Time)

Father David M. Knight

Jan 19, 2020

Father David's Reflection for Sunday of Week Two (Ordinary Time)

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF THE YEAR A “A Light to the Nations” Seeing and Being the Light of Peace Inventory To what do you look for peace, both in your heart and in your world? Or have you concluded that there is no use looking at all? Input The Entrance Antiphon invites us and “all the earth” to “break into song.” Inspired by what? The answer is “your name, O God, Most High.” What puts music on our lips is the desire to give God “worship and praise.” The Opening Prayer tells us

Father David's Reflection for Saturday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

Father David M. Knight

Jan 18, 2020

Father David's Reflection for Saturday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

Lord, your strength gives joy to the king. (Responsorial: Psalm 21) 1Samuel 9:1 to 10:1 God tells Samuel he has chosen Saul to be Israel’s king: “You shall anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen the suffering of my people.” When Samuel told Saul this, Saul had a hard time believing it. He answered: “My family is the humblest of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. Why then have you spoken

Father David's Reflection for Friday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

Father David M. Knight

Jan 17, 2020

Father David's Reflection for Friday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord. (Responsorial: Psalm 89) Too few people are aware that the bishops at Vatican II called on every Catholic to “undertake with vigor the task of renewal and reform” in response to abuses in the Church: For although the Catholic Church has been endowed with all divinely revealed truth and with all means of grace, her members fail to live by them with all the fervor they should. As a result, the radiance of the Church’s face shines l

Father David's Reflection for Thursday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

Father David M. Knight

Jan 16, 2020

Father David's Reflection for Thursday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord. (Responsorial: Psalm 89) Too few people are aware that the bishops at Vatican II called on every Catholic to “undertake with vigor the task of renewal and reform” in response to abuses in the Church: For although the Catholic Church has been endowed with all divinely revealed truth and with all means of grace, her members fail to live by them with all the fervor they should. As a result, the radiance of the Church’s face shines l

Father David's Reflection for Wednesday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

Father David M. Knight

Jan 15, 2020

Father David's Reflection for Wednesday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

Here am I, Lord, I come to do your will! (Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40) 1 Samuel 3:1-20 tells us how Samuel came to recognize the voice of the Lord and to know when God was speaking to him. This is what made him a prophet. The reading begins: “It was rare for the Lord to speak in those days; visions were uncommon.” Many think this is true in our time. And we may identify with the description: “Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been reveal

Father David's Reflection for Tuesday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

Father David M. Knight

Jan 14, 2020

Father David's Reflection for Tuesday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

My heart rejoices in the Lord, my Savior! (Responsorial Psalm: 1 Samuel 2:1-8) In 1 Samuel 1:9-20 when Hannah asked the Lord for a child, “she conceived and gave birth to a son, and called him Samuel ‘since,’ she said, ‘I asked the Lord for him.’” (Samuel in Hebrew means “the name of God is…” but also sounds like the word for “ask”). For Hannah, giving life through childbirth was fulfillment. And she begged God for it with such emotion, “pouring out her soul before the Lord,

Father David's Reflection for Monday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

Father David M. Knight

Jan 13, 2020

Father David's Reflection for Monday of Week One (Ordinary Time)

To you Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise! (Responsorial: Psalm 116) The Old Testament readings for the first weeks of Ordinary Time will take us through the stories of Samuel, Saul, David and Solomon: all great “names” in sacred history, men chosen explicitly by God for the role they were to play. As we see their lives develop and the meaning of their names unfold, we are conscious that we are all “writing our names” by the choices we make in life. What we choose dete

Father David's Reflection for the Baptism of the Lord

Father David M. Knight

Jan 12, 2020

Father David's Reflection for the Baptism of the Lord

FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD “Daughters and sons in the Son” —filii in Filio Appreciating Christ’s Baptism as Revelation, ours as Transformation. Inventory How would you answer now the basic question of life: “Who is Jesus Christ for you?” How would you answer the second question: “Who are you?” Does the answer to the first question give you the answer to the second? Input The Entrance Antiphon shows God the Father introducing Jesus to the world: “This is my Son, the Belo

Father David's Reflection for the Saturday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

Father David M. Knight

Jan 11, 2020

Father David's Reflection for the Saturday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

The Responsorial Psalm assures us, “The Lord takes delight in his people” (Psalm 149). That includes us. 1 John 5: 14-21 keeps insisting that “we know” God takes delight in us because “we are… in his Son Jesus Christ.” Because we are “in Christ,” sharing in his divine life, God is able to “see and love in us what he sees and loves in Christ” (Sunday Preface VII). God’s own truth and love are in us, and they are our own reality. That is a fact more basic than our lapses in liv

Father David's Reflection for the Friday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

Father David M. Knight

Jan 10, 2020

Father David's Reflection for the Friday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

The Responsorial Psalm sings, “Praise the Lord, Jerusalem” (Psalm 147). 1 John 5: 5-13 tells us why: it is because we have the life of God in us, and we can know it. “And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.” How do we know we really are in life-giving union with Jesus Christ? “There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the b

Father David's Reflection for the Thursday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

Father David M. Knight

Jan 9, 2020

Father David's Reflection for the Thursday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

The Responsorial Psalm persists with the Epiphany theme, “Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.” 1 John 4:19 to 5:4 concludes from this that we have to love the people of “every nation on earth.” John argues, “Everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him.” This includes Jesus and all who have become “children of God” through belief in him. Therefore “those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also,” all who are God’s children by grace. I

Father David's Reflection for the Wednesday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

Father David M. Knight

Jan 8, 2020

Father David's Reflection for the Wednesday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

The Responsorial Psalm tells us, “Lord, every nation on earth will adore you” (Psalm 72). This is a promise that supports hope and motivates us to love. 1John 4: 11-18 tells us that if we show love to one another, we will grow in love, and God’s love will be “brought to perfection in us.” But what is the sign that tells us this is actually happening? If we think like Christ and love like Christ, we must be alive by the Spirit of Christ. This is what tells us we are truly in u

Father David's Reflection for the Tuesday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

Father David M. Knight

Jan 7, 2020

Father David's Reflection for the Tuesday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

The Responsorial Psalm foretells, “Lord, every nation on earth will adore you” (Psalm 72). Picture it. Adoration is a total, all-unifying response to the overwhelming truth and beauty of God. Before the infinite Being of God, in whom all truth, all goodness are One, we ourselves are reduced to one act. There is nothing to say, nothing to do, nothing to add. All is before us. We simply condense ourselves into one silent, wordless word of affirmation. In our silence we become a

Father David's Reflection for the Monday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

Father David M. Knight

Jan 6, 2020

Father David's Reflection for the Monday between Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord

The Responsorial Psalm promises the Messiah: “I will give you all nations for an inheritance” (Psalm 2). The truth of Christ can enlighten and shine through every culture on earth. Christ’s love can transform and bring to perfection every human endeavor. All of creation has been redeemed by Jesus, and all of creation can be the medium through which his glory shines. Jesus and the Church say with the Roman poet: Nihil humanum mihi alienum puto: “I see nothing human as foreign

Father David's Reflection for the Feast of the Epiphany

Father David M. Knight

Jan 5, 2020

Father David's Reflection for the Feast of the Epiphany

The Feast of the Epiphany Jesus is the Guiding Star Appreciating and Accepting Jesus as Light leading the world into his glory Inventory Do you feel guided in your life? By what? What do you use from day to day to keep you on course toward your life’s goals? •Do you have more than one goal in life? If so, what unifies or harmonizes them? Input The Epiphany is all about Jesus leading us by his Light to his Light. The theme is light and motion — guided by a vision of glory. Li

Father David's Reflection for the Eleventh Day of Christmas

Father David M. Knight

Jan 4, 2020

Father David's Reflection for the Eleventh Day of Christmas

The Responsorial Psalm assures us, “All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God” (Psalm 98). 1 John 3: 7-10 tells us “Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil…. Those who have been born of God do not sin.” How should we understand this? John makes the distinction later (5: 16-18) between sin that is “deadly” or “mortal” and “sin that is not deadly.” For a sin to be “mortal,” what is done must be so evil in itself that it is absolutely incompatible with

Father David's Reflection for the Tenth Day of Christmas

Father David M. Knight

Jan 3, 2020

Father David's Reflection for the Tenth Day of Christmas

The Responsorial Psalm calls us to recognize the mystery of our identity: “All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God” (Psalm 98). 1 John 2:29 to 3:6 tells us that the “world,” meaning those in whom faith is not enlightening, “does not recognize us.” As what? The answer is “children of God.” But John insists, “Yet that is what we are.” Do we recognize this ourselves? We all accept the words and profess them as our faith. But do we really see ourselves, accept

Father David's Reflection for the Ninth Day of Christmas

Father David M. Knight

Jan 2, 2020

Father David's Reflection for the Ninth Day of Christmas

The Responsorial Psalm is proclamation of the Incarnation of God in Jesus: “All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God” (Psalm 98). 1 John 2: 22-28 exhorts us not to deny the grace we have received or the truth revealed to us. That truth is that Jesus Christ is God himself made flesh. “Whoever has seen [Jesus] has seen the Father” (John 14:9,12:45). And vice-versa, “Anyone who denies the Son has no claim on the Father.” We can only claim God as our Father if

bottom of page