In today's first reading, 1 Kings 21-1-16, we read about Ahab, king of Samaria, and his wife Jezebel. Ahab wanted Naboth, his neighbor, to give him his vineyard to use as a garden, as it was next to the king's palace. Ahab, in turn, would give him another vineyard or simply pay him cash for the vineyard. Naboth refused, as his vineyard was his own children's inheritance. Angry, Ahab refused to eat. His wife Jezebel engaged in actions of deceit, conniving to have Naboth murdered in order that her husband could take possession of the desired vineyard. She succeeded in her evil maneuverings!
Sound familiar? Deceitful, wicked plotting to get what one desires goes on to this very day and many times such connivance leads to the loss of life--physical death, death of the spirit of an individual or mental demise! And though we may not be the actual person doing the evil, we may be an accomplice in the evil that is being planned, as were Ahab and Jezebel!
We are reminded in today's responsorial psalm that God does not delight in wickedness and that no evil person will stand in God's sight (Cf. Ps.5). "God hates all evildoers," the psalmist reminds us, and destroys "all who speak falsehood; the bloodthirsty and the deceitful the Lord abhors."
All of us face choices every day of our lives! In what kinds of choices am I engaged: choices that enhance life for others or those which destroy or diminish life for others?
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