Sorry Again

Monday, November 14th, 2011 at 5:15 am  
Comments (1)

Hi. Once again I have to apologize for not keeping up with this. Two months ago I was asked to teach CCD at my parish, but everything was a little disorganized. I was asked at more or less the last minute, and had to prepare in very short time, be fingerprinted for a background check and go over the course. Our DRE asked just a couple of days before she was taking the DRE job at a new parish. It was very sudden for her as well, and she didn’t seem eager to leave. So there was some confusion. One, I have never taught a class before and this is an entirely new experience. Two, I still don’t know what I’m doing. Three, our new DRE is very experienced and kind and she’s helping to smooth out the rough spots.

Fortunately, I do know the subject matter. It’s the Old Testament, so I’m in my comfort zone as far as that goes, but learning how to keep a classroom from falling into chaos is a challenge. The students are great, but they’re also 11 years old and some are ADHD. I used to think ADHD was nonsense until now. The kids who suffer from it really do have trouble concentrating and even staying in their seats. The medication helps when they’re on it.

There have been other things that have come up as well. Things I’d rather not talk or write about here. Fortunately some of those issues have been settled, at least for now.

In the midst of this, along with other parish responsibilities, and my job (which is not parish related), I just plain forgot about updating the blog. It probably won’t be updated for a while.

Daily Bible Readings Thursday September 1 2011 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

Thursday, September 1st, 2011 at 3:46 am  
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Thursday 22nd Week in Ordinary Time Cycle I
Official Readings available at http://www.usccb.org/bible/

Colossians 1:9-14
Haydock New Testament

Therefore we also, from the day that we heard it, cease not to pray for you, and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom,[1] and spiritual understanding: That you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing:[2] being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God: Strengthened with all might, according to the power of his glory, in all patience and long-suffering with joy. Giving thanks to God, the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins:[3]

Psalm 97:2-6 (Ps 98 NAB)
DR Challoner

The Lord hath made known his salvation:
he hath revealed his justice in the sight of the Gentiles.
He hath remembered his mercy
and his truth toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Sing joyfully to God, all the earth;
make melody, rejoice and sing.
Sing praise to the Lord on the harp,
on the harp, and with the voice of a psalm:
With long trumpets, and sound of cornet.
Make a joyful noise before the Lord our king:

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Luke 5:1-11
Haydock New Testament

[4]And it came to pass, that when the multitudes pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Genesareth, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.[5] And going into one of the ships that was Simon’s, he desired him to thrust out a little from the land.  And sitting down, he taught the multitudes out of the ship.[6] Now when he had ceased to speak, he said to Simon:

Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.[7]

And Simon answering, said to him:

Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing: but at thy word I will let down the net.[8]

And when they had done this, they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes, and their net was breaking.[9] And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them.  And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they were almost sinking.[10] Which when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying:

Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.[11]

For he was wholly astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so were also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners.  And Jesus saith to Simon:

Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt taking men.[12]

And when they had brought their ships to land, leaving all things, they followed him.[13]

Haydock Commentary Colossians 1:9-14
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

 

Footnotes    (↵ returns to text)
  1. In all wisdom.  He begins by an admonition against false teachers, who it is likely, says S. Chrys. with their philosophical notions mixed errors and fables.  Wi.↵
  2. Worthy of God: αξιως του κυριου.  So S. Ambrose and the Greek doctors; or thus, worthily, pleasing God, and this not by faith only, but fruitful in every good work.  Ibid. — God, in[1] all things pleasing him.  This is the construction of the Latin by the Greek.  Wi.↵
  3. It is through the blood of Christ, and not by the law of Moses, that we are freed from the power of death.  If the law could have saved us, the coming of Christ would have been useless.  See then, he says, if it be proper to engage under a law which is so inefficacious.  Calmet. — From this verse and from v. 12, et alibi passim, we are taught that we are not only by imputation made partakers of Christ’s benefits, but are by his grace made worthy thereof, and deserve our salvation condignly, ex condigno.  B.↵
  4. What S. Luke here gives till v. 10, is mentioned purposely to shew on what occasion, and by what miracle, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, were called.  Maldon.↵
  5. Washing their nets.  See S. Matt. iv. 18. and S. Mark i. 16, where it is said, that Christ saw them when they were casting their nets; i.e. some of them were casting, others washing, or mending, their nets.  Wi.↵
  6. Why is it mentioned that there were two ships; that one of them was Simon Peter’s, that Christ went into that one, and sat down in it, and sitting he taught out of that ship?  No doubt, answer many of the ancient commentators, to shew that the Church was figured by the bark of Peter, and that in it is the chair of Christ, a permanent authority, prefigured by Christ’s sitting down, and the true word of God.↵
  7. Επαναγαγε εις το βαθος. Put back from whence you have just now returned.  Where you failed without Christ, with Christ you will prove successful.  Now is the proper time, when you act in my presence, and according to my orders; before it was not, when you followed your own, and not my will.  Maldon. — S. Austin interprets the text, Launch out into the deep, as spoken of distant nations, to whom the gospel was afterwards delivered: tolle signum in gentes, ad eas, quæ propè, et ad eas quæ longè.  Isai. v. 26. and xi. 12.↵
  8. Though these words of S. Peter seem to express his little hope of success, as he had been toiling (κοπιασαντες) the whole night, the most favourable time for fishing, yet they were intended by S. Peter to shew his great confidence, that notwithstanding his bad success, he was willing to obey; he relied on his words, and let go his net in the same place where before he had been disappointed; and the event proved that the obedience and confidence of Peter were not in vain.  Maldon. &c.↵
  9. When Christ commanded Peter to let go the net, as great a quantity of fishes were taken as this Lord of the land and sea wished.  For the voice of the Lord is the voice of power, at the command of which, in the beginning of the world, light and every created thing sprang into existence.  This it was that so much astonished Peter.  S. Greg. Naz. c. xxxi. — The net is broken, but the fishes are not lost, because the Lord preserves his servants among the scandals (schisms and heresies) of his enemies.  Ven. Bede.↵
  10. The other ship was probably at such a distance from them, that they could not be heard, had they called out to them; and this also is another proof of the greatness of the miracle, that though the other ship was fishing in the same place, though a little removed, they could catch nothing.  Maldonatus. — This also shews that Peter was to call in other co-labourers, and that all were to come into Peter’s ship.  S. Ambrose in Luc.↵
  11. Such was the excess of S. Peter’s humility, that he judged himself unworthy the presence of Christ, and by this rendered himself more worthy.  So the centurion, for a similar act of self-abasement, merited to hear from Truth itself, that he was preferred to all Israel.  Euthymius is however of opinion, that S. Peter desired Christ to leave him through fear, lest some evil should befall him, because he was not worthy of his presence.  In the same manner as the widow of Sarepta thought her son had died, because she was not worthy of the presence of Elias.  3 Kings xvii. 18.  Maldonatus.↵
  12. Jesus Christ answers the thought of S. Peter, that instead of any loss or evil coming to him, he should, on the contrary, receive a great reward, by being appointed a fisher of men; and, as he had taken so many fishes by the divine assistance, so he should take in his net innumerable souls, not so much by his own industry, as by the divine grace and assistance.  Maldonatus.↵
  13. We may suppose that these four apostles, like Andrew, followed Jesus Christ at the first call, but without attaching themselves to him; and that now they attached themselves to him, never to leave him more.↵

Daily Scripture Readings Monday August 29 2011 Memorial of the Martyrdom of St John the Baptist

Monday, August 29th, 2011 at 1:24 am  
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Monday August 29 2011
Memorial of the Martyrdom of St John the Baptist
Official Readings available at http://www.usccb.org/bible/

1 Thessalonians 4:12-17 (13-18 NAB)
Haydock New Testament

And we will not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them who have slept through Jesus, God will bring with him. For this we say unto you in the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them, who have slept.

For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment,[1] and with the voice of an Archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead, who are in Christ,[2] shall rise first.[3] Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds, to meet Christ, in the air, and so shall we be always with the Lord. Wherefore comfort ye one another with these words.

Psalm 95:1, 3-5, 11-13 (Ps 96 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle:
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Declare his glory among the Gentiles:
his wonders among all people.
For the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised:
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils:
but the Lord made the heavens.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad,
let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof:
The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful.
Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice
before the face of the Lord, because he cometh:
because he cometh to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with justice,
and the people with his truth.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 6:17-29
Haydock New Testament

For Herod himself had sent and apprehended John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, the wife of Philip, his brother, because he had married her. For John said to Herod:

It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.

The Daughter of Herodias Dancing

Now Herodias laid snares for him: and was desirous to put him to death, and could not. For Herod feared John,[4] knowing him to be a just and holy man: and kept him, and when he heard him, did many things: and he heard him willingly. And when a convenient day was come, Herod made a supper for his birthday, for the princes, and tribunes, and chief men of Galilee. And when the daughter of the same Herodias had come in, and had danced, and pleased Herod, and them that were at table with him, the king said to the damsel:

Ask of me what thou wilt, and I will give it thee.

And he swore to her:

Whatsoever thou shalt ask I will give thee, though it be the half of my kingdom.

Who when she was gone out, said to her mother:

What shall I ask?

But she said:

The head of John the Baptist.

And when she was come in immediately with haste to the king, she asked, saying:

The Head of Saint John the Baptist on a Charger

I will that forthwith thou give me in a dish the head of John the Baptist.

And the king was struck sad: yet because of his oath, and because of them that were with him at table, he would not displease her:[5] But sending an executioner, he commanded that his head should be brought in a dish.  And he beheaded him in the prison, And brought his head in a dish; and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.

Which his disciples hearing, came, and took his body: and laid it in a tomb.[6]

Footnotes    (↵ returns to text)
  1. With commandment.[3]  God’s command will in a moment raise and bring all to judgment.↵
  2. And the dead, who are in Christ, in the grace of Christ, shall rise first, not as to time, but in dignity.  Wi.↵
  3. Shall rise first.  Not in order of time, for all shall rise in the twinkling of an eye, but first in order of dignity.  S. Chrysostom, however, thinks that the elect rise before the reprobate, to go before the Lord; whereas the latter shall come behind him, only to appear before the tribunal of justice.  S. Chrys.↵
  4. Herod,[2] &c. The sense both of the Latin and Greek text seems to be, that Herod entertained and shewed a particular respect and value for John the Baptist: yet some expound it, that he had a watchful eye over him, and sought only for an occasion to take him off.  Wi.↵
  5. It is customary, in Scripture, to give the generally prevailing sentiment at the time; thus Joseph is called by the blessed Virgin , the father of Jesus; so now Herod is said to be stricken with sadness, because he appeared to be so to the company at table, though within his own breast, he secretly rejoiced that he had an opportunity of destroying an importuning monitor, with an exterior shew of piety and honour.  Ven. Bede.↵
  6. Church history informs us, that the Christians were accustomed to frequent this tomb with great piety and respect, till the reign of Julian the apostate, at which time the pagans, through hatred for Christianity, broke open his tomb, and dispersed his bones; but immediately after, thinking it better to burn them, they endeavoured to collect them again.  But some religious of a neighbouring convent, joining themselves to the pagans, under pretence of collecting the bones to burn, secreted the greater part of them, and sent them to Philip, at Jerusalem, who sent them to Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria; and in the reign of Theodosius, the temple of Serapis was converted into a Christian church, and dedicated to the honour of S. John the Baptist, where his relics were deposited.  Gloss. Ordina.↵

Daily Bible Readings Friday August 26 2011 21st Week in Ordinary Time Cycle I

Friday, August 26th, 2011 at 1:00 pm  
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Friday 21st Week in Ordinary Time Cycle I
Official Readings available at http://www.usccb.org/bible/

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Haydock New Testament

For the rest therefore, brethren, we pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us, how you ought to walk, and to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more.[1] For you know what commandments I have given to you by the Lord Jesus.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel[2] in sanctification and honour: Not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles, who know not God: And that no man overreach, nor deceive his brother in business:[3] because the Lord is the avenger of all these things, as we have told you before, and have testified.

For God hath not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. He, therefore, that despiseth these things, despiseth not man, but God: who also hath given his holy spirit in us.

Psalm 96:1-2b, 5-6, 10-12 (Ps 97 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

The Lord hath reigned, let the earth rejoice:
let many islands be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him:
justice and judgment are the establishment of his throne.
The mountains melted like wax, at the presence of the Lord:
at the presence of the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens declared his justice: and all people saw his glory.
You that love the Lord, hate evil:
the Lord preserveth the souls of his saints,
he will deliver them out of the hand of the sinner.
Light is risen to the just, and joy to the right of heart.
Rejoice, ye just, in the Lord:
and give praise to the remembrance of his holiness.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 25:1-13
Haydock New Testament

Jesus delivered this parable to his disciples:

 

The Wise Virgins

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like to ten virgins,[4] who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. Now five of them were foolish, and five were wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, took no oil with them:[5] But the wise took oil in their vessels, with the lamps.[6] And while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.[7] And at midnight there was a cry made:[8]

Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him.

Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise:

Give us of your oil: for our lamps are gone out.[9]

The wise answered, saying:

The Foolish Virgins

Lest there be not enough for us and for you, go you rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.[10]

Now while they went to buy, the bridegroom came: and they who were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.[11] But at last came also the other virgins, saying:

Lord, Lord, open to us.

But he answering said:

Amen, I say to you, I know you not.

Watch ye, therefore, because ye know not the day nor the hour.[12]

Footnotes    (↵ returns to text)
  1. In this chapter the apostle begins to remind them of their obligation of always striving to increase in virtue.  Though he praises them through the whole epistle, he still thinks it necessary to warn them not to be surprised in uncleanness.  He repeats what he had taught them before; first, that there is vengeance awaiting the workers of evil; and secondly, that the favour of God is the reward of those who deal with the brethren in simplicity, and preserve themselves from the defilements of the Gentiles.  S. Ambrose, Comment. hic.↵
  2. His vessel.  That is, his own body.  See 1 K. xxi. 5.  Wi.↵
  3. That no man overreach, nor deceive his brother in business.[1]  The Prot. and Mr. N. even in their translations, add, in any matter, because some expound it of frauds and circumventions in any kind of business.  But this addition of any, should be left out, seeing the best interpreters expound it of a prohibition of adultery, and the injury thereby done to another, and of sins of that kind only, which is confirmed by what follows and what goes before.  See S. Jerom in c. iv. ad Ephes. tom. 4. p. 369.  S. Chrys. serm. 3 on this place.  Here, says he, he speaks of adultery, as before of fornication, &c.  See Theodoret, Theophylact. Estius, Menochius, A. Lapide, &c.  Wi.↵
  4. Ten virgins.  By these are signified all mankind.  By the bridegroom, Christ; by the bride, the Church; by oil, grace and charity.  Wi. — The kingdom of heaven is not unfrequently compared to the Church militant; which, as it is composed of both just and wicked, reprobate and elect, is deservedly compared to five wise and five foolish virgins: the wise constantly aspiring after their blessed country; the foolish, with all their fasts and austerities, wishing to procure nothing more than the empty esteem of men.  S. Gregory. — Went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride; in the Greek, it is simply, before the bridegroom.  The custom among the Jews was, that the bridegroom should go to fetch his spouse, and conduct her with solemnity to his house.  V. — This was the conclusive ceremony, and done in the night-time.  The young women of the vicinity, in order to do her honour, went to meet her with lighted lamps.  Modern travellers inform us, that this custom still obtains with the eastern nations, particularly the Persians.  Hence the Latin phrase, ducere uxorem, to marry.↵
  5. The foolish virgins had a little oil in their lamps at first, sufficient to shine before men, by some little external shew of piety, or certain works done through fear, profit, or human respects; but had made no provision of oil in their vessels, i.e. in their hearts and conscience, no provision of solid piety and charity, by means of which they might, like the prudent virgins, produce good works to salvation.  Jans.↵
  6. But the wise took oil.  Under this parable, we have the state of all Christians in their mortal pilgrimage justly delineated.  The wise took oil in their lamps, the necessary qualifications of grace and charity, joined with divine faith, and an additional supply of oil in their vessels; i.e. they laid up in store for themselves a solid foundation of good works.  S. Gregory teaches, that by the lamps, faith is meant; and by the light, good works.  Hence he concludes that the bad, although they have lamps, i.e. faith, no less than the good, shall be excluded; because their lamps are out, i.e. their faith is dead, without charity and good works to enlighten them.  hom. xii. — S. Augustine also declares, that these lighted lamps are good works, viz. works of mercy and good conversation, which shine forth before men.  ep. 120. c. xxxiii. — And, that this oil is a right inward intention, directing all our works to the greater glory of God, and not to the praise of ourselves in the sight of men.  Idem. ibid.↵
  7. And while the bridegroom (Jesus Christ) tarried, i.e. delayed his coming, and thus protracted the time of repentance, they all slumbered and slept; viz. they all died.  Hence S. Paul, nolo vos ignorare de dormientibus.  But the reason why Jesus Christ says they slumbered is, because they were to rise again: and by the expression, whilst the bridegroom tarried, Christ wishes to shew us that a very short time will elapse between his first and second coming.  S. Jerom.↵
  8. There was a cry.  So shall we all have to rise again at the sound of the last trumpet, to meet our judge, either like the wise virgins, who having their oil ready, and their lamps trimmed and burning, soon prepare themselves to give in their accounts to their Lord; or, like the foolish, who having made no provision of the oil of good works, are compelled to seek it at the time they are to be judged.  S. Augustine. — It is said he will come at midnight; i.e. when least expected.↵
  9. For our lamps are gone out.  Thus too many trusting to their faith alone, and leading a tepid indifference life, are negligent in preparing themselves by good works for the coming of the bridegroom.  But when they perceived themselves called away from this life, to go and meet their judge, they then begin to find their lamps extinguished, and to think of procuring for themselves the oil of good works, by bequeathing their effects to the poor.  Though we ought not to despair of the salvation of these, still there is great room to fear; for, a death-bed repentance is seldom sincere, more seldom, or never perfect, and always uncertain.  Jansenius.↵
  10. Go ye rather to them that sell.  The wise virgins do not there advise the foolish to go and buy, but upbraid them for the poor store of good works they have laid up.  They had before only sought the praises of men in their good actions, and therefore are answered by the wise: “go now to those to whom you have given all your actions; go and see what their praises will avail, what peace of conscience they can give you: and, if they have praised you, and made you esteemed in the eyes of men, see if they can do the same before God.”  S. Aug.↵
  11. And the door was shut.  After the final day of judgment, there will be no room for prayers and good works.  S. Jerom. — For, after having received those within its walls, who have put on in some degree the nature of the angels, the gate to the city of bliss is closed for ever.  S. Aug.↵
  12. Watch ye.  S. Austin asks, how can we be always watching, it being necessary for each one to give himself sufficient time to sleep and rest from his many labours?  He answers the question in these words: We may always keep watching to our hearts by faith, hope, charity, and all other good works.  But when we awake, like the five wise virgins, we must arise and trim our lamps, by supplying them with the oil of good works.  Then they will not go out, nor will the soothing oil of a good conscience be wanting to us.  Then will the bridegroom come and introduce us to his house, where we shall never need sleep or rest; nor will our lamps ever be in danger of going out.  Whilst we are in this life, we labour; and our lamps, blown about by the winds of innumerable temptations, are always in danger of being extinguished; but soon their flame shall become more brilliant, and the temptations we have suffered here shall not diminish, but increase its lustre.  S. Aug. serm. xxiv.↵

Sunday Bible Readings August 28 2011 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Thursday, August 25th, 2011 at 4:53 am  
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22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Official Readings available at http://www.usccb.org/bible/

Jeremiah 20:7-9
DR Challoner

Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived: thou hast been stronger than I, and thou hast prevailed.[1] I am become a laughingstock all the day, all scoff at me. For I am speaking now this long time, crying out against iniquity, and I often proclaim devastation: and the word of the Lord is made a reproach to me, and a derision all the day.[2] Then I said: I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name: and there came in my heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I was wearied, not being able to bear it.[3]

Responsorial Psalm 62:2-6, 8-9 (Ps 63 NAB/Hebrew)
DR Challoner Text Only

O God, my God, to thee do I watch at break of day.
For thee my soul hath thirsted;
for thee my flesh, O how many ways!
In a desert land, and where there is no way, and no water:
so in the sanctuary have I come before thee,
to see thy power and thy glory.
For thy mercy is better than lives:
thee my lips will praise.
Thus will I bless thee all my life long:
and in thy name I will lift up my hands.
Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness:
and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips.
If I have remembered thee upon my bed,
I will meditate on thee in the morning:
Because thou hast been my helper.
And I will rejoice under the cover of thy wings:
My soul hath stuck close to thee:
thy right hand hath received me.

The Epistle of St. Paul, The Apostle, to the Romans 12:1-2
Haydock New Testament

I BESEECH[4] you, therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,[5] holy, pleasing to God, your reasonable service.[6] And be not conformed to this world: but be reformed in the newness of your mind: that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God.[7]

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 16:21-27
Haydock New Testament

Get Thee Behind Me, Satan

From that time forth Jesus began to shew to his disciples, that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and the Scribes, and the chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again.[8] And Peter taking him, began to rebuke him, saying:

Lord, be it far from thee; this shall not be unto thee.[9]

But he turning, said to Peter:

Go after me, Satan,[10] thou art a scandal unto me: because thou dost not relish the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.[11]

Then Jesus said to his disciples:

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.[12] For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it.[13] For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?[14] Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels:[15] and then will he render to ever man according to his works.

 

 

Footnotes    (↵ returns to text)
  1. Thou hast deceived, &c.  The meaning of the prophet is not to charge God with any untruth; but what he calls deceiving, was only the concealing from him, when he accepted of the prophetical commission, the greatness of the evils which the execution of that commission was to bring upon him.  Ch. — Heb. “thou hast enticed me,” when I declined the office.  T. — God never promised that he should suffer no persecution.  H. — Jeremias might also have supposed that he was to be sent to the Gentiles.  C. i. 5.  S. Jer. in C. xxv. 18. — The oriental languages are much more lofty than ours, and express common things in the strongest manner.  C. — We may perceive the different emotions of fear and joy (D.) with which the prophet was actuated, like S. Paul, and our Saviour himself.  The saints evince the weakness of man and the power of divine grace.  C. — Heb. “If thou, Lord, hast deceived me, I am,” &c.  Tournemine.↵
  2. Day.  They keep asking where are these enemies from the north, the plagues? &c.  C. — He is sorry to see the word of God despised, (Theod.) and is guilty of a venial pusillanimity, concluding that his words had no good effect.  M.↵
  3. And there, or “for,” &c.  I was grieved continually.  Sanctius. — I could not however refrain from speaking.  Acts xvii. 16. and 1 Cor. ix. 16.  Job xxxii. 18.↵
  4. With this chapter S. Paul begins his second part, in which he gives us most excellent lessons of morality, after which every Christian should aim to form his life, and thus resemble Jesus Christ and his saints.  A.↵
  5. That you present your bodies a living sacrifice.  And how must this be done? says S. Chrys. hom. xx.  Let the eye abstain from sinful looks and glances, and it is a sacrifice; the tongue from speaking ill, and it is a sacrifice, &c.↵
  6. Your reasonable service, or worship,[1] from you; nothing being more reasonable, than for men to serve God with their souls and bodies, &c.  Wi.↵
  7. Take care, lest you imitate the practices of worldlings.  Let your heart, your ambition, carry you to heaven: ever despise those things which the world admires, that every one may see by your actions that you are not of the society of worldlings, and have neither regard nor friendship for them.  Calmet. — Transform yourselves into new men, by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern on all occasions, what is most perfect, most pleasing and acceptable to God.  V.↵
  8. From that time, &c.  Now when the apostles firmly believed that Jesus was the Messias, and the true Son of God, he saw it necessary to let them know he was to die an infamous death on the cross, that they might be disposed to believe that mystery; (Wi.) and that they might not be too much exalted with the power given to them, and manifestation made to them.  A.↵
  9. Peter taking him, &c. out of a tender love, respect and zeal for his honour, began to expostulate with him, and as it were to reprehend him,[3] saying, Lord, far be it from thee, God forbid, &c.  Wi.↵
  10. Go after me, Satan.[4]  The words may signify, begone from me; but out of respect due to the expositions of the ancient fathers, who would have these words to signify come after me, or follow me, I have put, with the Rheims translation, go after me.  Satan is the same as an adversary: (Wi.) and is here applied to Peter, however, unknowingly or innocently, raised an opposition against the will of God, against the glory of Jesus, against the redemption of mankind, and against the destruction of the devil’s kingdom.  He did not understand that there was nothing more glorious than to make of one’s life a sacrifice to God.  V.↵
  11. Thou dost not, i.e. thy judgment in this particular is not conformable with that of God.  Hence our separated brethren conclude that Christ did not, in calling him the rock in the preceding verses, appoint him the solid and permanent foundation of his Church.  This conclusion, however, is not true, because, as S. Augustine and theologians affirm Peter could fall into error in points regarding morals and facts, though not in defining or deciding on points of faith.  Moreover, S. Peter was not, as S. Jerom says, appointed the pillar of the Church till after Christ’s resurrection.  T. — And it was not till the night before Christ suffered that he said to Peter: Behold, Satan hath desired to have thee; but I have prayed for thee, that “thy faith fail not,” and thou being once converted confirm thy brethren.  Luke xxii. 31.  A.↵
  12. If any man will come.  S. Chry. Euthymius, and Theophylactus, shew that free will is confirmed by these words.  Do not expect, O Peter, that since you have confessed me to be the Son of God, you are immediately to be crowned, as if this were sufficient for salvation, and that the rest of your days may be spent in idleness and pleasure.  For, although by my power, as Son of God, I would free you from every danger and trouble, yet this I will not do for your sake, that you may yourself contribute to your glory, and become the more illustrious.  S. Chry. hom. lvi.↵
  13. Whosoever will save his life.  Lit. his soul.  In the style of the Scriptures, the word soul is sometimes put for the life of the body, sometimes for the whole man.  Wi. — Whosoever acts against duty and conscience to save the life of his body, shall lose eternal life; and whoever makes the sacrifice of his life, or the comforts and conveniences of life for conscience sake, shall be rewarded with life eternal.↵
  14. And lose his own soul.  Christ seems in these words to pass from the life of the body to that of the soul.  Wi.↵
  15. Shall come in the glory.  Jesus Christ wishing to shew his disciples the greatness of his glory at his future coming, reveals to them in this life as much as it was possible for them to comprehend, purposely to strengthen them against the scandal of his ignominious death.  S. Chry.↵
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