The great lesson we can learn this Sunday is that we are called to have the heart of David. The photo above is Michelangelo’s David. A towering fourteen feet high, this masterpiece depicts the moment David will slay Goliath.

Michelangelo carved David out of one solid marble in three years from 1501-1504. It is housed in the Opera del Duomo Museum in Florence, Italy. The Italian Renaissance Painter, Giorgio Vasari, commented on Michelangelo’s David and said:

When all was finished, it cannot be denied that this work has carried off the palm from all other statues, modern or ancient, Greek or Latin; no other artwork is equal to it in any respect, with such just proportion, beauty and excellence did Michelagnolo finish it.

In the First Reading, David spared the life of his enemy Saul. He did not kill Saul because he knew he was God’s anointed. David spared Saul’s life, fully knowing he was out to take his. David had the grace to know that God is the only one who can take life. David knew he would inherit the kingdom and it would not be through violence.

This disposition of David is uttered by the psalmist, “The Lord is kind and merciful.” Jesus is the new David who modulates this act of mercy and extends from enemy to all humanity.

We have to give our lives over to God, like one solid piece of marble. God, like Michelangelo, can carve out the strong David inside us. To be a David is to be merciful. Jesus paves the way for this mercy in one short phrase at the opening of today’s Gospel. He says:

love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Friends, loving our enemies and showing mercy is hard. It is difficult to be so gracious. We are hurt and our wounds take extensive time to heal before forgiveness is even possible.

It is impossible to be agents of mercy on our own. We need another heart that is rich with love for enemies. We need the heart of Jesus! We should offer our frail and broken hearts to Jesus. Only he can reshape them into his own.

Even as he was abandon by his closest friends and his enemies mistreated him “none of these things was able to arouse in him the slightest sentiment of hatred or indignation. I present myself anew to this heart free of anger, free of bitterness, filled instead with genuine compassion towards its enemies” (St. Claude La Colombière SJ).

Today in our meditation of Delexit nos, Pope Francis introduces us to Charles de Foucauld. He also introduces us to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. They both can teach us something about caritas and mercy.

Charles de Foucauld teaches that when we live for Jesus, we hide in his love. He made a promise to Jesus

to let the heart of Jesus live in me, so that it is no longer I who live, but the heart of Jesus that lives in me, as he lived in Nazareth.

Charles made his heart Nazareth for Jesus. In the Sacred Heart he saw the limitless and rich love of Jesus.

Therese, on the other hand, saw the heart of Christ so united to hers that there was only one heartbeat. She was seen by Jesus intimately and belonged to him entirely that she said:

You know that I myself do not see the Sacred Heart as everyone else. I think that the Heart of my Spouse is mine alone, just as mine is his alone, and I speak to him then in the solitude of this delightful heart to heart, while waiting to contemplate him one day face to face.

To win Heaven is not a matter of merit or doing more for Jesus. Winning heaven is about receiving everything from God as gift.

Be David. Be merciful and lead others to Christ by making your heart Nazareth. Let your heart be deeply united to the Lord’s that there is one heartbeat between Jesus and you.