In the house of Jesse the Bethlemite, a solemn family liturgy is going on, a hidden preamble of a history which will be disclosed later (1 Sam 16, 1.13). Samuel, overcoming some resistance, goes  to Bethlehem  to anoint the new king. The candidates pass one after the other before Samuel who tries to understand: is it this, is it this? Who is the one God wants to consecrate?

Stand up and anoint him, it is he! David is the youngest one, he is tawny, with beautiful eyes, of gentle look …. which of all these things has God chosen him for?

God himself answers to Samuel who remains perplexed before God's criteria of choosing: Man looks at the appearance, the Lord looks at the heart.

God has not looked what the world looks at, but at something else. Then, what has he seen in the heart of David?

"I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will perform my entire will". In spite of all David's weaknesses, which the Scripture does not conceal, God likes him: he is after his own heart.

What has He liked? His littleness, his availability to let himself be guided, the enthusiasm of his love, his seeking God before everything else? What has He liked in David?

Consecrated as a young boy, David will always be a friend of God, in a relationship full of confidence and simplicity. Even in his limits and sin, narrated with very much clearness, the love of God remains in him a dominating push, the deep reason of his choices, the motive of each decision.

David is often unforeseeable. He surprises those around him with his choices. He seems to be educated by God in His logic, in a concealed way. While others disapprove or criticise or simply do not understand, we have the intuition that God likes this originality that derives from a deeper comprehension  of God's tastes which already savour of Gospel.

David shows a singular freedom which impresses and attracts: he loves, obeys and donates with a great freedom.

Isn't chastity the freedom to love, obedience the freedom tolet things go, poverty the freedom to give?

Chastity is the freedom to love

The armour. - "Saul dressed David in his own armour; he put a bronze helmet on his head, dressed him in breastplate and buckled his own sword over David's armour. David tried to walk but, not being used to them, said to Saul, 'I cannot walk in these; I am not used to them'. So they took them off again (1 Sam 17, 38-39).

These two verses are extremely expressive, at the very start of David's story and of his long friendship with God: they say that the strength of David is his trust in God and that he doesn't want any other defence but that. Those close to him are worried and want to provide him with protection and guarantee. David tries, with docility he allows himself to be dressed, but soon he understands that it cannot work. he doesn't deliver long sermons. He just takes off his armour and says with simplicity: I am not used to them. He cannot walk with that armour, it deprives him of the freedom to proceed, it makes it difficult to step forward.

The armour defends, but blocks; it gives security, but makes the person rigid; it offers protection, but at the cost of freedom.

The armour  may avoid wounds: one cannot be touched by what hurts. But it equally does not allow the good to reach the heart.

The armour conceals the weakness: with  the armour of Saul the young David probably looked like a strong and adult soldier. But he just "looked like". The truth of David, his young weakness, remained hidden. He who wears the armour wants to look strong, secure, superior. He tries "to look like".

Love, instead, prefers to be as it is, accepts to be vulnerable, knows how to be weak. Therefore, he who loves knows how to suffer.

We too, like David rigid in his armour, could ask ourselves: Can I walk like this? What is my armour, the armour I keep to protect myself from the threatening others can be to me, that I keep to look strong and superior  to everything but which I should take off to love everybody with freedom?

Michal at the window

"David went, and amid great rejoicing, brought the ark of God up from Obed-Edom's house to the city of David (…) David danced whirling round before Yahweh with all his might, wearing a linen loincloth. Thus with war cries and blasts on the horn, David and the entire House of Israel brought up the ark of Yahweh. Now as the ark of Yahweh entered the city of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, was watching from the window and when she saw king David leaping and whirling round before Yahweh, the sight of him filled her with contempt (…).  As David was coming back to bless his household,  Michal, daughter of Saul, came out to meet him 'Much honour the king of Israel has won today', she said, 'making an exhibition of himself under the eyes of his servant-maid, making an exhibition of himself like a buffoon!'  David replied to Michal ' I was dancing for Yahweh who chose me, not for them. I shall dance for Yahweh" (2 Sam 6, 12.23).

David dances and jumps with all his might before the ark. He expresses freely his joy and in this joy there is his love for God whom he feels so close, in the ark that returns to Jerusalem. But Michal does not understand. She despises a behaviour which is not appropriate to the role. It is a behaviour that unveils the interior life, the heart, the poverty. Before God David does not feign , he does not put on a mask, but rather exposes himself as he is, naked. This is what Michal accuses: "Naked", just like any man. It si the same image of the previous passage: David is once again "naked": first he put off the armour and now the solemn garments of his role.

David does not mind the judgements of others, of the expectations of others who want him rigidly starched. I don't mind, David says, to appear in the role that does not leave me free to express my love, He reacts strongly affirming his priority: I have danced for God. He does for God whatever he does, before him and not for others,  in front of others.

Michal who looks at him, and criticises him at the window, is a symbol of our fear of others' judgement; it is the feared sight of others that weighs upon the freedom of love.

Do we feel to be under the sight of God or always under the critical sight of others? How much does this fear, the worry of ourselves and our image condition our love? Do we also have a Michal at the window, who constantly controls and is ready to despise, to say "you a person good for nothing? Is this the reason why we dress ourselves: not to appear as nothing in the eyes of others, to be more appreciated? Is Michal truly there or it suffices our fear that she might be there, that "she could be there"?

The prophet

"Nathan then said to David, 'You are the man! (…) You put Uriah  the Hittite  to the sword, you took his wife to be your wife, causing his death by the sword of the Ammonites" (…) David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against Yahweh" (2 Sam 12, 7-14).

"Word was brought to Joab, 'The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom!" (…). "Joab went inside to the king and said, 'Today you have made all your servants feel ashamed, today when they have saved your life (…) because you love those who hate you and hate those who love you (…).  I can see that you would be content if we were all dead, provided that Absalom was alive. Now get up, come up and re-assure your soldiers!" The king got up …" (2 San 19, 6-9).

"But afterwards David's heart was sad for having taken a census of the people. David then said to Yahweh, 'I have committed a grave sin by doing this, but now, Yahweh, I beg you to forgive your servant for this fault, for I have acted very foolishly' " (2 Sam, 24,10).

These passages from the story of David convince us that his "I dance for God", which challenges the sight of the one at the window, is not presumption, nor the certainty of never making a mistake, nor a rejection of criticism as if it were a priori non founded.

We need the dialogue between David and Nathan the day after the sin with Betsabea, the dialogue without words with Joab the day after the death of Absalom , the interior dialogue with God after the census, to integrate the freedom from judgements and from criticisms with the freedom of being able to welcome judgement and criticisms.

David sins, and his is not an insignificant sin, not an imperfections But he reveals himself free to acknowledge his mistake. I have sinned, he tells Natham, after the adultery and the homicide. He silently changes his behaviour after the scolding of Joab, after the death of Absalom. It is my fault, he tells God, after the mistake of the census.

David reveals himself free from the need of being qualified at any cost, of finding fault with others, of atoning for his wrongdoings. He could have justified himself saying that he had been with Betsabea in a moment of weakness, that the consequences had compelled him to protect his own image as king, or that he wanted to avoid a scandal for the common good. He could have said that he did not intent to kill Uriah, that he had been forced to do it, that he would have not done it if Uriah had been so reasonable  as to go to him without wanting to be a hero at any cost and sleep with his wife, a thing that he had never wanted to do neither when he was sober, nor when he was drunkard. David does not justify himself: he accepts the correction and soon disposes himself to behave in a different way.

The son Absalom

"Oh my son Absalom, my son, my son! If only I had died instead of you! Oh, Absalom, my son, my son!" (2San 19, 1-5).

In spite of the deeds of Absalom, in spite of the evil that the son commits against his father who had always been good with him, even too good,  David continues to love him like before, just as if nothing bad had been done against him, so much so as others do not understand. "You love those who hate you and hate those who love you". In a filigree,  the scandal of the workers in the vineyard, " Why the same wage to those who have not worked as much as we have?", and the answer of the owner, "Can't I dispose of my things as I like?""; in a filigree, the older son, "Nothing to me, all to him who has misbehaved", and the words of the father, "All I have is yours, you were here, he was lost".

David loves with a gratuitous love, though not corresponded, in spite of the ingratitude, indifference, hostility of others. He shows an unjust love.

This freedom of David, who keeps on loving,  provokes us. We feel the scandal and the fascination of this unjust love, of this courage to go on loving till the end, more than ourselves, more than our rights.

Obedience is the freedom of letting things go.

It's not my business. "David and Abishai made their way towards the force, where they found Saul lying asleep inside the camp, his spears stuck in the ground beside his head (…).Abisai then said to David,  'Today God has put your enemy in your power; so now let me pin him to the ground with his own spear. Just one stroke! I shall not need to strike him twice'. David said to Abisai, 'Do not kill him, for who could raise his hand against Yahweh's anointed and go unpunished? 'As Yahweh lives', David said, 'Yahweh himself will strike him down: either the day will come for him to die, or he will go into battle and perish then' " (1 Sam, 26, 7-11).

"Zadok was there too, and all the Levites with him, carrying the ark of God (…) The king then said to Zadok, 'Take the ark of God back into the city! Should I win Yahweh's favour, he will bring me back and allow me to see it and its tent once more. But should he say, 'You displease me', here I am: let him treat me as he sees fit' " (2 Sam, 24-26).

"Shimei … uttered curse after curse and threw stones at David… and said, 'Off with you, off with you, man of blood, scoundrel! (…). Abishai said to the king, ''Why should this dead dog curse my Lord, the king? Let me go over and cut his head off'. But the king replied, " (…) 'Let him curse! If Yahweh has said to him, "Curse David", what right has any one to say, 'Why have you done so?' Let him curse on if Yahweh has told him to. …. Perhaps Yahweh will look at my wretchedness  and will repay me with good for his curses today' " (2 Sam, 16, 5-13).

David never thinks that the Lord has abandoned him, not even when things are bad.  He trusts: he believes that the Lord knows what happens to him and why. This means that it is not up to him to take revenge, he must always remain faithful. God is there to make justice. "I will not do it. God will do it", this is his reaction when other, as usual unaware of his deep faith, advise him to manage the happenings.

Because of his trust, he does not kill Saul, the enemy who wants his death.

Because of this faith, he leaves the ark in Jerusalem, preferring to risk, rather than entrusting himself.

In this trust David allows Simei to curse him. "If God has told him to do it ….".

The others do not understand and claim justice.

David, however, is not interested in affirming his rights and his innocence. God is there to defend him, to change evil into good. Whatever happens is for him an invitation to obey: it happens because the Lord wants it and the Lord is able to intervene when he wills it: it is not up to him to take the place of God, his duty is to follow. He doesn't try to convince God to do  what he likes and can accept the insecurity of the future.

At times we find it difficult to leave in God's hands the guidance of our life, and give way to the desire of explaining to God what he is expected to do for us, to the least details. At times we are afraid of being used, fear that others may do of us what they want, and this fear becomes a resistance to obey.

The freedom of obedience, instead, is to remain faithful in the certainty that it is God to lead our history.

Poverty is the freedom of giving

The harp. "Now the spirit of Yahweh had withdrawn from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh afflicted him with terrors.  Saul's servants said to him, 'An evil spirit from God is undoubtedly the cause of your terrors (---). Your servants who wait on you will look for a skilled harpist; when the evil spirit from God comes over you, he will play and it will do you good" (…). David went to Saul and entered his service (…), and whenever the spirit from God came over Saul,  David would take a harp and play; Saul would then be soothed; it would do him good, and the evil spirit would leave him" (1 San 16, 14-23).

David is called to the court of Saul because he can play the harp well: this talent seems secondary if compared to military, intellectual and government ability. Yet, it is just this little thing that brings soothing to anguished and troubled Saul. With simplicity David makes his gift available to comfort, to soothe, to fortify, to serve with the exclusive motive of making the other serene: a sign of great freedom from success, efficiency, calculation.

Poverty is not just making economy: It is also offering one's gifts for the joy of giving, and that's all. The sound of the harp awakes the attraction for what is gratuitous, simply beautiful, almost useless.

Each of us has a harp that consoles and makes others rejoice: it's just a matter of discovering it and playing it, without any other reward but that of seeing others happy.

The cedar palace

"Once the king had settled into his palace and Yahweh had granted him rest from all his enemies surrounding him, the king said to the prophet Natham, "Look, I am living in a cedar wood palace, while the ark of God is under awnings" (2 Sam 7, 1-3).

David becomes aware that God is poorer than he and wants to do something. He wants to build a temple for God, wishing to do something for Him.

Is reasoning is: if I possess, I must also donate. David does not hold his richness tight. He is a simple shepherd with very little things: persecuted by Saul, a fugitive up the mountains, without any possession. Now he possesses, therefore he wants to give.

"I live in a cedar wood palace!".  Gratitude is born when we become aware of what we have received which turns into the will of donation.

It is interesting to see how, when David sins, God speaks of his sin in terms of lack of gratitude. He doesn't accuse him of having transgressed the commandments, of not observing the law. He just says to him, "I anointed you king of Israel, I saved you from Saul's clutches, I gave you your master's household and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and the house of Judah , and if this is still too little, I shall give you other things as well. Why did you show contempt for Yahweh, by doing what displeases him?" (2 Sam 12, 7-10).

The sin of David is interpreted by God as ingratitude. God is displeased with the lack of gratitude which has led David to sin. "Had I not given you enough?", he says through the mouth of Nathan, "Why, then, have you not asked if something was missing to you?"

Lack of gratitude spurs to ask for more, to confront ourselves with others, to feel sad or bitter only because it seems that we have not received enough.

While, consecrated poverty does not worry for what is missing, but of giving what it has.

I live in a cedar wood palace! The acknowledgement of what he has received becomes for David desire of sharing. Poverty is not only not to have or to have too little. It is the freedom of sharing the little or much we have: time, money, talents, cedar palace, namely a space for God.

If poverty is also a sharing of room, the mission then becomes the greatest expression of consecrated poverty: to work so that in each one a room for God may grow, the room which has opened through grace in our own life. Every apostolic work of ours is to be aware that we live in a palace and to decide to build another one to make room for God in the heart of the people we meet on our way.

The cost

"Gad went to David that day and said, 'Go up and raise an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah  the Jebusite'. So at Gad's bidding, David went up as Yahweh had ordered. When Araunah  looked up and saw the king and his retinue advancing towards him - Aranauh was threshing the wheat - Aranauh came forward and prostrated himself on the ground at the king's feet. 'Why has my Lord the king come to his servant?' Aranauh asked. David replied, 'To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to Yahweh so that the plague may be lifted from the people'. Aranauh said to David, 'Let my Lord the king take it and make what offerings he thinks fit! Here are the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing-sleds  and the oxen's yokes for the wood. My lord the king's servant will give the king everything (---).No, said the king to Aranauh, I shall give a price for it;  I will not offer Yahweh my God burnt offerings which have cost me nothing!" (2 Sam 24, 18-25).

David receives from the prophet the indication of building an altar in a given locality to obtain that plague which had hit the people might stop. Thus, he goes to buy that land and the owner is ready to give it to the king free of cost. But David wants to pay. This is a very beautiful confession of the desire to give, "I will not offer Yahweh my God burnt offerings which have cost me nothing".

David wants his offering to cost him something, he wants really to give. His poverty is not that of looking for cheap things, going round from one supermarket to another to find what costs less: it is a spending for the Lord.  What if we interpreted with these words our consecrated life, our difficulties and trials, every suffering and limits? "I will not offer Yahweh my God burnt offerings which have cost me nothing". We, too, like David shall be glad if the offering we have made with our consecration is sometimes expensive.

When faithfulness is difficult, we can think that we are going to buy some land to build an altar for the Lord, rather than remaining blocked.

Consecrated life, an initiative wholly of the Father (CL17), the depth of an eternal and infinite love which touches the roots of the human being (CL 18), is a free gift of God without any other reason but that which is pleasing unto him.

Yes, Father, for that is what it has pleased you to do (Lk 10,21). It was God's own pleasure to save believers through the folly of the Gospel (1Co 1,21). What right has anyone to say 'Why have you done so?' (2 Sam 16,10).

When we are able to feel the unmotivated gratuity of his love that chooses and loves our littleness, the desire of pleasing Him grows in us,  of being persons after his heart, in this our littleness which He has loved.

* Missionary of the Immaculate - PIME