While preaching about David’s illicit affair with Bathsheba last week, Friday, I mentioned that King David reflects who many of us truly are: holy, devoted, and trustworthy, yet also frail, sinful, and weak. Today’s first reading (Sirach 47:2–11) beautifully clarifies this reality, reminding us that, despite his wrongdoings, David was “like the choice fat of sacred offerings in Israel.” He was fully human, carrying both strengths and weaknesses, and we must hold these descriptions in our hearts and allow them to shape our self-reflection and our understanding of others moving forward.
The point is, brothers and sisters, you are not Archangel Michael, nor Gabriel, nor Raphael. Your wife, husband, children, or those colleagues of yours are none of these either. We are all humans who stumble and make mistakes. Interestingly, the most fascinating part of our story before God is that it is not our failures that define us, but our willingness to rise again and keep walking. That perseverance gives us our true identity. Those were part of what defined David and made him a choice sacred offering in Israel. The same simplicity marked out St. Paul Miki and his companions in the Japan of their time, and it is the reason the Church recommends we celebrate them today.
