When the troops retired to the camp, the elders of Israel said “Why has the LORD permitted us to be defeated today by the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the Lord from Shiloh that it may go into battle among us and save us from the grasp of our enemies.” (1 Sam 4:1-11)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011322.cfm
The Ark Narrative (1 Samuel 4:1-7:1) can read a lot like a script for Indiana Jones. Perhaps it might be best to see religious objects not as talismans, but rather as reminders of our commitment to the Lord. As today’s reading reminds us, the Ark did not save Israel. The battle was lost, and the Ark along with it.
These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Thursday, Week I, Ordinary Time
