why are we always right? 2nd week monday

Today in our first reading God rejects Saul, the first king of Israel.   Two things. 

First, we are hardwired to act only if what we are about to do is reasonable. We cannot do something unreasonable from our point of view.  Notice for example how we justify sin.  We justify our anger, we justify our conflicts and notice nga kita lang pirme ang sakto, we justify our unkindness to others, well we even justify our eating disorders.  Even if we know deep down that it is not justifiable we justify it, we make it reasonable because we cannot do something unreasonable.  This happens with Saul too.  He disobeyed the express command of God to destroy everything and yet he preserved the best bulls, because he said, he wanted to offer it as a sacrifice for God.  He made his sin of obedience look virtuous.  Be careful.  Many times the gravest of sins are committed because of good intentions.

Second, obedience is the most perfect form of divine worship.  We can offer all the masses we could but if we are not obedient to God’s commands, those masses amount to nothing.  Disobedience is idolatry for it is a rebellion against God.  Through Samuel we have with us in our first reading today the so-called Canticle in Praise of obedience:

Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission than the fat of rams.
For a sin like divination is rebellion,
and arrogance is the crime of idolatry.