Seek the good of all, not personal advantage

   On Monday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to reflect on a scripture passage from the second book of Samuel (15:7-14,24-30,16:5-13) entitled "The rebellion of Absalom and David's flight". Our treasure, which follows, is from a letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement, pope.   Saint Clement of Rome is primarily known for being the fourth Pope and one of the Apostolic Fathers, a group of early Church leaders who personally knew the apostles. He is also famous for writing a letter to the Church in Corinth, known as "1 Clement". This letter is one of the oldest surviving Christian writings outside the New Testament and is a valuable piece of early Christian literature. It addressed a dispute within the Corinthian community and emphasized the importance of unity and obedience to church leadership.   St. Clement is considered one of the earliest Christian leaders who had a direct connection to the apostles, particularly St. Peter. He served as the fourth Pope, succeeding St. Peter, St. Linus, and St. Cletus. Tradition holds that St. Clement was martyred during the reign of Emperor Trajan in the year 100 by being thrown into the sea with an anchor tied around his neck.    Saint Clement's letter to the Corinthians is one of the earliest documents of Christianity that we have, after the Epistles and the Acts, to show us how the Church was developing. It was written shortly after Apostolic times, the scholars put it at between 80 and 100 AD. Its main subject - Clement's answer to a problem that the church of Corinth had raised with him - shows the relationship of the local churches to each other. The church of Corinth had obviously written to the bishop of Rome for advice, and the latter answered admonishing them, using references to the letter of Paul to those same Corinthians, written some decades earlier and obviously still familiar to them, as well as other passages from various writings of the Apostles that are now part of the New Testament (which was not compiled yet.) The letter shows us two things: (1) the local churches were in unity with each other, and the Bishop of Rome had enough authority to be asked for advice by the community in Corinth (Greece) and for his advice to be followed. (2) that various writings of the Apostles - later to be "canonized" in the New Testament - were already circulating among the churches and known by all of them. The books of Samuel describe the rise and development of kingship in Israel. Samuel is a pivotal figure. He bridges the gap between the period of the Judges and the monarchy, and guides Israel's transition to kingship. Each section of these books focuses on a major figure in the development of the monarchy: Samuel, the reluctant king maker; Saul, the king whom the Lord rejects; David, the king after the Lord's own heart. A common theme unites these narratives: Israel's God acts justly, prospering those who remain faithful and destroying those who reject his ways. Along with the rest of the Deuteronomistic History, the Books of Samuel become an object lesson for biblical Israel as it tries to re-establish its religious identity after the destruction of Jerusalem and the loss of its homeland (587/586 B.C.).