Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
11TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle C)
Readings:
2 Samuel 12:7-10
Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 7, 11
Galatians 2:16, 19-21
Luke 7:36-8:3 or 7:36-50
Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English),
or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God's divine plan for mankind is revealed in the two Testaments and that is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: Repentance and Forgiveness.
In the First Reading, God sent His prophet Nathan to confront King David with his sins.
David was God's anointed who was chosen to drive the last of Israel's enemies out of the
land and to unite the twelve tribes into one holy nation. David's experience with the prophet Nathan
reminds us that nothing is hidden from God, and no one is above God's moral law.
When confronted with his sins, David does not make excuses. He repents and humbly submits himself to God's divine judgment.
He accepts his painful but just punishment, and in return for his repentance, David receives God's gracious forgiveness.
The Second Reading is a summary of St. Paul's teaching on faith versus the Law of Moses. Christians who have died to Christ in the Sacrament of Baptism are like Christ dead to Mosaic Law because they are now obedient to a higher Law—the Law of grace that generates faith in Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Baptism.
The sins of a king in the First Reading prepare us for the Gospel Reading and the story of the sins of an ordinary woman. Both readings remind us of what St. Paul wrote in Romans 3:23, "...for all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God." Both King David and the woman were in need of repentance and restoration of fellowship with God. Their stories present a powerful lesson that illustrates the relationship between repentance, forgiveness and love.
Combined with the reading of the Penitential Psalm, the First Reading and the Gospel present a pattern for us to follow when submitting ourselves to God in the Sacrament of Confession. We must openly confess our sins to the Lord in the presence of His priestly representative—hiding nothing because nothing can be hidden from God. It is when we have been cleansed of our sins that we can, with gratitude and joy, receive God's forgiveness and the restoration of fellowship.
The readings for this Sunday should also remind us that conversion is an ongoing process and not a one-time event. God is constantly calling us to turn away from sin, to repent, and to return Him for forgiveness and restoration of communion with the Most Holy Trinity. The entrance antiphon from Psalm 27:7 and 9 should be our daily cry and a prelude to our confession and repentance: "Lord, hear my voice when I call to you. You are my help; do not cast me off, do not desert me, my Savior God."
The First Reading 2 Samuel 12:7b-10 ~ The Prophet Nathan
calls David to Confession and Repentance
7 Nathan said to
David: "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'I anointed you king of Israel. I rescued
you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your lord's house and your lord's wives
for your own. 8 I gave you the
house of Israel and Judah. And if this were not enough, I could count up for
you still more. 9 Why have you
spurned the LORD [YHWH] and done evil in his sight? You have cut down Uriah
the Hittite with the sword; you took his wife as your own, and him you killed
with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now,
therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have
despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.'"
It was the time of the spring equinox in c. 1000 BC (2 Sam 11:1). David's army was in the field fighting Israel's enemies, but David was not leading his men. It must have been hard for David after all those years of leading his troops into battle to stay behind to fulfill other duties. When we are the most vulnerable is often when Satan sets out to tempt us to sin. In David's case the temptation was a beautiful woman. David saw her bathing on the rooftop of her house that was across from his private residence in the Jerusalem palace. It was common to use rooftops as additional living space; however, it was not common to bathe in so public a viewing place. She was bathing at the completion of her monthly purification ritual according to the Law. It was fifteen days after her last menstrual cycle began, and the woman was at the most fertile time of her monthly cycle (1 Sam 12:4; Lev 15:19, 28-30). She was Bathsheba, whose name means "seventh daughter" or "daughter of the oath," or possibly "daughter of nobility" (she is called Bathshua in 1 Chr 3:5b). She was the granddaughter of Ahithophel who will later become one of David's chief counselors (2 Sam 16:23), the daughter of Eliam, one of David's commanders (2 Sam 11:3; called Ammiel in 1 Chr 3:5), and the wife of the Gentile armor-bearer of David's commanding general Joab (2 Sam 11:3), a Hittite named Uriah. Instead of resisting the temptation, David sinned by committing adultery with the wife of Uriah who was on duty with the army.
When Bathsheba told him she was pregnant, he feared she would be stoned if it was discovered that she was not pregnant by her husband (Ex 20:14; 20:10). Actually the Law declared that both the man and the woman guilty of adultery were to forfeit their lives, but David was probably not fearful that the Law would be applied to him. David arranged for her husband to come back from the battlefield to be with his wife. Unfortunately, Uriah refused the comfort of his own home when his fellow soldiers were denied their comforts. Uriah was a contentious man-continence in war was also seen as a religious obligation (see 2 Sam 21:6). The plan failed, therefore, David ordered his general to withdraw from Uriah in the thick of battle so he would be killed by the Ammonites. After Uriah's death, David married his widow (2 Sam 11:1-27).
The plan appeared to have been successful until the prophet Nathan came to David and asked him to pass judgment on the case of a rich man who stole and killed a poor man's little ewe lamb, which the poor man cherished like a child, to feed his guest: David became angry and told Nathan "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this merits death! He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold because he had done this and has had no pity." Then Nathan said to David: "You are the man!" (2 Sam 12:1-7a). Imagine that dramatic moment. In rendering the verdict, David passed judgment on himself. Our reading begins just after Nathan's startling declaration. In our reading God accuses David of forgetfulness and ingratitude concerning the blessings God has given him. Then Nathan gives David God's temporal judgment against his sin. David immediately repents his sin. God accepts David's repentance and forgives him; however David had to accept the temporal judgment of strife within his family (12:10) and was told that the child Bathsheba bore him would die (2 Sam 12:10-14). David immediately began to petition God to intervene to spare the life of the child; he prayed continually, fasted and wore sackcloth and ashes. But when the child died, he fully accepted God's judgment (2 Sam 12:15-25).
This story demonstrates two points:
But the story also demonstrates that God is not only a God of mercy but a God of justice. David was forgiven his sin against God and spared the penalty of eternal death (2 Sam 12:13); however, David owed a penalty for his sin against Uriah. Forgiveness and accountability for sin are two sides of the same coin. God would not be a just God if He forgave a sinner a mortal without holding him accountable for his sin against an innocent victim who deserves justice. The loss of the child created in sin was devastating for David and Bathsheba, but remember that for God calling an innocent child home to be with Him is not terrible from God's point of view. David's additional temporal judgment was to face strife within his family with the rape of his daughter (Tamar) by a half-brother and the murder of the offending brother by the girl's full brother (2 Sam 13:1-38). David could not bring himself to punish his sons-not the son who committed the violation of his sister and not the son he dearly loved even though he was guilty of murder (2 Sam 13:39; 14:21). It was that much loved son, Absalom, who later broke his father's heart when he led a rebellion against David in an attempt to usurp David's throne and died in the attempt (2 Sam 13-19:1). Good fathers hold their children accountable for their wrongs-God was a better Father to David than David was to Absalom. We should keep in mind these passages:
Bathsheba is one of the four women named in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus (not counting Mary of Nazareth who is named at the end of the genealogy). The women are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba who is not identified by name but as the "wife of Uriah." Tamar, Rahab and Ruth were all Gentiles (Tamar and Rahab were Canaanites and Ruth was a Moabitess). It is likely that Bathsheba was also a Gentile. Her family was a powerful political family and it is possible that David's view of the beautiful and exposed Bathsheba was her family's plot to tempt the king and to gain more influence with David. After marrying Bathsheba, her grandfather became one of David's chief counselors, but he betrayed David in the revolt led by David's son Absalom (2 Sam 15:31; 17:1-2), and when the rebellion was put down, he committed suicide (2 Sam 17:23). That God never rebukes Bathsheba and only rebukes David may suggest that she was a pawn of her family (even if she was a Gentile she would be subject to the Law living in the Holy Land of Israel). God will choose David and Bathsheba's son Solomon to succeed David as king of Israel and promises to love him like a son (2 Sam 7:12-16; 12:24-25).
Responsorial Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 7, 11 ~ The Joy of the
Lord's Forgiveness
1 Blessed is the one
whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed the man to whom the LORD [YHWH] imputes
not guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile... 5 I acknowledged my sins to you, my guilt I covered not. I said,
"I confess my faults to the LORD [YHWH]," and you took away the guilt of my
sin... 7 You are my shelter; from
distress you will preserve me; with glad cries of freedom you will ring me
round... 11 Be glad in the LORD
[YHWH] and rejoice, you just; exult, all you upright of heart.
This is the second of the seven Penitential Psalms (see Pss
6; 32; 38;51; 102; 130 and 143). In the opening declaration the psalms, gratitude
is expressed to the Lord who forgives our sins. The psalmist acknowledges that
those who are forgiven are those who honestly confess their sins. Sin is not
only the personal act of rebellion against the Lord but also the consequences
of the act of sinning. In the last line the psalmist encourages others to live
in the joy of a right relationship with the Lord.
The Second Reading Galatians 2:16, 19-21 ~ Justification
by Faith
We who know that a person is not justified by works of
the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ
Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law,
because by works of the law no one will be justified... 19 For through the Law I died to the Law, that I
might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20 yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in
me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who
has loved me and given himself up for me. 21
I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through
the Law, then Christ died for nothing.
This passage is a summary of St. Paul's teaching on faith
versus the Law of Moses. It was the belief of the Jews that obedience to the
Law resulted in justification-being made "right" with God. Paul acknowledged
that the Law set the Old Covenant people on the path to life, but he also
taught that human endeavor alone cannot justify any sinner with God. It is
one's total dedication to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that leads
to faith in God's gracious gift of salvation which is ours because of the merit
Jesus has won for us by his sacrificial death and Resurrection (see CCC 1962-64).
19 For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20 yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me ... It was the purpose of the Law to reveal sin (Rom 7:7-9) not to free man from sin. When we pass through the waters of Christian baptism, we die with Christ to sin and are also resurrected with Him to new live in which Christ lives in us. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the Law, then Christ died for nothing. Paul's argument is if the Law could save us then there was no need for a Savior-Messiah. See CCC 1987, 1989, 1990-2.
The Gospel Reading Luke 7:36-8:3 or 7:36-50 ~ Jesus
Forgives a Sinful Woman
36 A Pharisee
invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee's house and
reclined at table. 37 Now there
was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of
the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 she stood behind him at his feet weeping and
began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair,
kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw
this he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who and
what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner." 40 Jesus said to him in reply, "Simon, I have
something to say to you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. 41 "Two people were in debt to a certain
creditor; one owed five hundred days' wages and the other owed fifty. 42 Since they were unable to repay the debt, he
forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?" 43 Simon said in reply, "The one, I suppose,
whose larger debt was forgiven." He said to him, "You have judged rightly." 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to
Simon, "Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me
water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with
her hair. 45 You did not give me a
kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil. But she
anointed my feet with ointment. 47 So
I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love.
But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." 48 He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." 49 The others at table said to themselves, "Who
is this who even forgives sins?" 50 But
he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
8:1 Afterward
he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming
the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve 2 and some women who had been cured of evil
spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had
gone out, 3 Joanna, the wife of
Herod's steward Cuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of
their resources.
Notice the contrast between the first reading and the Gospel. St. Paul wrote in Romans 3:23 that "...all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God." In these two readings we see the truth of his statement in the sins of a king and a common woman, both of whom are in need of repentance and restoration to fellowship with God. The story of the sinful woman is a powerful lesson that illustrates the relationship between forgiveness and love. A Pharisee has invited Jesus, the controversial local Rabbi, to a banquet at this house as the honored guest. All the guests are reclining at the meal. It was a Hellenistic custom that was observed for a formal banquet (also see Mt 26:7, 20; Mk 14:3; 18). It was also the custom to greet each guest with a kiss, to offer a basin for the guests to wash their feet, and, especially in the case of an honored guest, to anoint his head and/or feet with ointment. A woman who is filled with the desire to repent her sins takes this opportunity to approach Jesus and express her sorrow and repentance in an act of humility.
The host thinks to himself that if Jesus was a true prophet he would know that he is coming into contact with an "unclean" person who will transmit her ritual uncleanness to him. However, Jesus, being the supreme prophet, reads the mind of His host and uses the occasion to teach His host and those invited to the meal by telling a parable that makes a comparison between the Pharisee Simon and the sinful woman. Admittedly the woman is the greater sinner, but she is also the most repentant and has shown Jesus the greater love. Her tears and attention to Jesus is a demonstration of love and is the consequence of her forgiveness. On the other hand, the self-righteous Simon didn't even show Jesus the common courtesies of a host.
The result of the woman's actions as opposed to Simon's lack of action is that Jesus forgives the woman's sins. Her faith in Jesus (verse 50) expressed by her loving action has saved her, but the implication can be made that perhaps Simon's self-righteousness and lack of faith will condemn him.
Luke 7:49 The
others at table said to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
This question is similar to the question of the scribes and
Pharisees who confronted Jesus in Luke 5:21 when they asked "Who but God
alone can forgive sins?" Luke is building the tension in his story of Jesus'
ministry and is inviting his audience (including those of us reading the
passage) to respond in faith to answer the question for themselves. Of course,
only God can forgive sins, as Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees when he
said: "What are you thinking in your heart? Which is easier, to say, 'Your
sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? But that you may know that the
Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"-he said to them man who was
paralyzed, "I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home" (Lk 5:22-24).
Jesus is not only a prophet. He is the One promised by the 6th
century BC prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Jeremiah prophesied: The days are
coming says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
... All, from the least to the greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will
forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more (Jer 31:31-34). And
God told the prophet Ezekiel: I myself am coming ...I myself will look after
and tend my sheep ... I will appoint one shepherd over them to pasture them, my
servant David; he shall pasture them and be their shepherd ... I will make a
covenant of peace with them (Ez 34). Jesus is God Himself who has come to gather
His lost sheep and to forgive their sins. He is also the Davidic heir who is
destined to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
Luke 7:50 But he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved
you; go in peace."
Faith is the path to forgiveness and salvation. The peace
He gives her is the restoration of peace and fellowship with God. The sinful
woman has manifested to God greater gratitude in her love than the
self-righteous Pharisee. Her repentance for the sins of her life has made her
more open to God's mercy than the Pharisee who withholds the customary
courtesies a host owes toward his guest. The woman's tears, kisses and humble
anointing of Jesus' feet reveal her openness to God in her faith that brings
her salvation. Please note that there is absolutely no evidence in Scripture
that Mary Magdalene was the sinful woman in this story. Scripture describes
Mary as having been cured of seven demons (Mk 16:9;
Lk 8:2), and she is never
called a prostitute or an adulteress.
This is the first of three anointings Jesus will receive in the Gospels. All of the anointings were by women (see Lk 7:36-38; Jn 12:1-3; Mt 26:6-7; Mk 14:3 and CCC 436).
*the ancients counted without the concept of a zero place-value. This is why it is written that Jesus was in the tomb three days from Friday to Sunday instead of two days as we would count the days today and why it is written that a child is in his mother's womb for ten months (Wis 7:1-2).
The servants of God who received a special anointing for service were prophets, priests and kings. Jesus the Messiah has come to fulfill all three divinely called offices: He is the "new Moses" and God's supreme prophet (promised in Dt 18:19); He will become the High Priest of the New Covenant order (Ps 110:4; Heb 9:11-12), and He is the promised Davadic Messiah who has come to redeem His people and secure David's throne forever (2 Sam 7:16; Ez 34:23-24; CCC 783).
8:1 Afterward he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve 2 and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Cuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.
In Jesus' time a woman's rights were very limited religiously and civilly. A woman could not go further into the Temple than into the Court of the Gentile and the Court of the Women (Antiquities of the Jews, 15.418 f; Wars of the Jews 5.199); they could only enter the Court of the Priests to offer a sacrifice (Tosephta Arakhin , II,1m 544). Where Jewish families strictly observed the Law, the women of their households took no part in public life. When it was necessary for a woman to go out in public, her hair and face was covered by a veil during the era of Roman occupation. Only in her wedding procession was a woman to be seen with an uncovered head and then only if she were a virgin (Mishnah: Ketuim, 2.1). It was forbidden for a man to speak to a woman in public who was not of his family (Mishnah: Kiddushin, 70a-b; Jn 4:27); it was also forbidden for a man to be alone with a woman who was not his wife or daughter (Mishnah: Kiddushim, 4.12, 81a (Babylonian Talmud), or to even look at a married woman or even give her a greeting (Mishnah: Kiddushim, 70a-b.) A woman had no private wealth; her material wealth was in the possession of her husband (Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, page 360). It was therefore unprecedented according to the customs of the times that Jesus allowed the women disciples to accompany Him.
St. John the Baptist was already breaking with convention by publically baptizing women (Mt 21:32). Jesus placed restrictions on the men disciples that made it possible for women to safely travel with them (see Mt 5:28; 21:31-32 and Lk 7:36-37, 50). He demanded from His disciples an attitude of complete chastity. This high degree of righteous behavior in the company of women included respect for a woman even in a man's internal thoughts: But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:28).
He also placed women on an equal plane with men before God since He proclaimed Himself the Savior of all (Gal 3:28). Because of this tradition set by Jesus, the Apostles allowed wives to accompany them (1 Cor 9:5), and women disciples were allowed to carry out important missions, as in the case of Phoebe who carried St. Paul's Letter to the Romans to its destination (Rom 16:1). Many of the woman disciples who funded Jesus ministry (Lk 8:3) must have been widows who controlled their own wealth, but at least two of the women disciples were married-Joanna the wife of Herod Antipas' steward and Salome Zebedee, the mother of James and John. They could only have supported Jesus' ministry financially with the approval of their husbands.
| Name | Description | Scripture reference |
| Mary Magdalene | A woman from the town of Magdala in the Galilee. Jesus cured her by casting out 7 demons. She was present at Jesus crucifixion and burial. She watched over His tomb and in the morning brought spices. She was the first disciple to witness the Resurrected Christ. |
Mt 27:56, 61; 28:1 Mk 15:40, 47; 16:9 Lk 8:2; 24:10 Jn 19:25; 20:1, 11, 16, 18 |
| Joanna | Wife of Cuza the chief steward of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of the Galilee and Perea. She went to the tomb with the other women and received the news of Jesus' Resurrection from the angel. She went with the other women to tell the Apostles. | Lk 8:3; 24:10 |
| Susanna | A woman of the Galilee. | Luke 8:3 |
| Salome | Wife of Zebedee and mother of the Apostles James and John. She was present at Jesus' crucifixion, His burial, and at His tomb the next morning when she heard the announcement of His Resurrection. |
Mt 20:20; 27:56 Mk 15:40; 16:1 |
| Mary (wife or daughter) of Cleophas/Cleopas/Clopas* | Mother of James the younger and Jose (Joseph). She was present at Jesus' crucifixion and burial; with Mary Magdalene she kept watch over His tomb. She went to the tomb the morning of the Resurrection. |
Mt 27:56, 61; 28:1 Mk 15:40, 47; 16:1 Lk 24:10 Jn 19:25 |
| The Virgin Mary's* kinswoman/sister | She was probably a sister-in-law from Joseph's family. | Jn 19:25 |
| Mary of Bethany | Sister of Martha and Lazarus from the village of Bethany. She witnessed her brother's resurrection from death and anointed Jesus the last week of His life. |
Lk 10:39, 42 Jn 11:1, 2, 19, 20, 28, 31, 32, 45; 12:3 |
| Martha of Bethany | Sister of Mary and Lazarus from the village of Bethany. She witnessed her brother's resurrection from death. Jesus was guest in her home on at least two occasions. |
Lk 10:38, 40, 41 Jn 11:1, 5, 19, 20, 21, 24, 30, 39; 12:2 |
| Mary of Jerusalem | The mother of John-Mark, writer of the Gospel of Mark. Her home was the regular meeting place for the Apostles in Jerusalem. | Acts 12:12 |
| Mary of Nazareth | Jesus' mother was His first disciple. She was part of His mission from His conception to His Ascension, to the birth of the New Covenant Church at Pentecost. |
Mt 1:16, 18, 20, 2:11; 13:55 Mk 3:31; 6:3 Lk 1:27, 30, 34, 38, 39, 41, 43, 46, 56; 2:5, 16, 19, 34; 2:16, 19, 34, 48, 51; 8:19 Jn 2:1, 3, 4, 5, 12; 6:42; 19:25-26 (twice) Acts 1:14 |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2013 | ||
* It is possible that Mary of Cleophas and the Virgin Mary's sister/kinswoman is the same woman (see Jn 19:25 and note that the original Greek text is written without any grammatical helps like commas, etc.). It was common for kinsmen, kinswomen and covenant members to be referred to as "brother" or "sister": see Rom 16:11; 1 Cor 9:5 (literally "sister" referring to a Christian wife); Jam 2:16 and 2 Jn 13. "Mary of Celophas/Cleopas" is never called the "wife" of this man as Salome is called the wife of Zebedee or Joanna is called the wife of Cusa, so she may be the daughter of Cleophas. James the less and Jose were the sons of the other Mary (Mk 15:40; 16:1). These family relationships are uncertain. It is possible that Mary was the daughter of the disciple Cleophas who Jesus met on the road to Emmaus after the Resurrection (see Lk 24:13, 18).
Catechism references:
Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 7, 11 (CCC 304)
Galatians 2:16, 19-21 (CCC 478, 616, 1380, 2666)
Luke 7:36-8:3 or 7:36-50 (CCC 375, 588, 2616, 1441)
Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2013