Today’s first reading focuses on David’s anguish over the death of his son, Absalom. His anguish has been called one of the most heartrending passages in Scripture. “My son, my son Absalom! Would I had died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!”

The Scripture comments, “the day’s victory was turned to mourning for all the troops, because they learned that the king was grieving for his son.” Unfortunately, it was David who had created the situation that led to his son’s death. Go back to yesterday’s reflection; consider the evil that flowed from David’s excessive love for his other son, Amnon. Had David given justice to Tamar and Absalom, these evils never would have occurred. The final evil was of course the death of Absalom.

David’s love for his family was very intense and worthy of imitation. The difficulty is that devotion to family can be misplaced; the family can be given absolute value and this can cause many evils both for the family and even for those outside the family.

In any country in which family ties are very strong, as they are in the Philippines, there is danger that defense of family members will cross over the boundary into injustice. The family member accused may be acquitted, but only at cost to the victims and to society in general.