January 19.  David ran, put his hand in his bag, took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead The catechists discussed the story of little David knocking out the large and fearsome Philistine with his sling and a small stone and then killing him and cutting off his head. Janine shared that when she was young she used to think that was great but she had come to feel much more negative about glorifying violence.  “In any case,” she added, “Right after that when the people were celebrating and singing what a great warrior he was, Saul the king became jealous and wanted to kill David.” ”Doesn’t violence beget violence?” Paul said.  “We see it all the time on TV and in movies and almost without thinking we begin to glorify violence and make killers our heroes.  Can we possibly begin to change that? We’ve got to start in our families to “preach peace.” And practice what we preach!”  Becoming an eco-friendly family:   Take some action against trafficking of wild life.

David said to the Philistine “you come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the God of the armies of Israel whom you defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you down and cut off your head.” David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. It sunk in and he fell on his face. Then David stood over him, took his sword, killed him and cut off his head. 1 Sam 17:30-51.    Pope Francis: We can no longer think of war as a solution because its risks will probably always be greater than its supposed benefits.  It is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of a just war.  Never again war!”  FT258