Mercy Archives

Daily Scripture Readings Tuesday August 23 2011 21st Week in Ordinary Time

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 at 2:00 am 
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Tuesday 21st Week in Ordinary Time Cycle I
Official Readings available at http://www.usccb.org/bible/

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Haydock New Testament

For yourselves, brethren,  know our entrance unto you, that it was not in vain:[1] But having suffered before, and being contumeliously treated (as you know) at Philippi, we had confidence in our God, to speak to you the gospel of God in much solicitude. For our exhortation was not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in deceit.[2] But as we were approved of God, that the gospel should be committed to us: even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who proveth our hearts.[3]

For neither have we used at any time, the speech of flattery, as you know: nor taken an occasion of covetousness:[4] God is witness: Nor sought we glory of men, neither of you, nor of others. Whereas we might have been burdensome to you, as the apostles of Christ: but we became little ones in the midst of you, as if a nurse should cherish her children.[5]

So desirous of you, we would gladly have imparted to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own souls: because you were become most dear unto us.[6]

Psalm 138 1-6 (Ps 139 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me:
Thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up.
Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off:
my path and my line thou hast searched out.
And thou hast foreseen all my ways:
for there is no speech in my tongue.
Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things,
the last and those of old:
thou hast formed me,
and hast laid thy hand upon me.
Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me:
it is high, and I cannot reach to it.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 23:23-26
Haydock New Testament

Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; who tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. [7] These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.

Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you make clean the outside of the cup, and of the dish, but within you are full of extortion and uncleanness.[8] Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup, and of the dish, that the outside may become clean.[9]

 

Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees

 

Footnotes    (↵ returns to text)
  1. Vain.  Our entrance among you was not in vain fables, or lies; our preaching was not in trifles: (Œcumenius) or rather was not without fruit.  Others have spoken of it every where; but why refer you to others when yourselves know that it was every where followed by abundance of good works, faith, patience? &c.  Estius.↵
  2.  Our exhortation was not proceeding from error.[1]  That is, was not by promoting errors, or uncleanness.  Wi.↵
  3. As we were approved of and chosen by God to announce his gospel, we have tried to correspond with his designs; and we speak in a spirit of disinterestedness, not to please men, but God.  Being chosen by God, it is to him we must render an account.  Have we spoken to you in words of flattery?  Have we disguised the gospel truth, or concealed its austerity?  Have we made piety a cloak for avarice? &c.  Calmet.↵
  4. Nor taken an occasion of covetousness.  Not so as to make the gospel a cloak for gain-sake.  Wi.↵
  5. But we became little,[2] by our carriage, and by our humility and kindness.  In the Greek, made ourselves gentle, good natured, &c.  Wi.↵
  6. Because you were become most dear to us.  Lit. desiring you.[3]  S. Chrys. admires the tender expressions of love in S. Paul.  Wi.↵
  7. You . . who pay tithe, &c.  The tithes of these small things are not found in the law.  Nor yet doth Christ blame them so much for this, as for neglecting more weighty matters; and tells them by a proverb, that they strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.  Wi. — The Pharisees pretended the greatest exactitude even in the smallest commands of the law, when the observance of them could impress the people with a favourable idea of their sanctity; whereas they omitted the more essential precepts of the law, when it did not procure them the praise of men.  Nic. de Lyra. — S. Jerom interprets this passage of receiving tithes; the Vulgate has decimare.  S. Jer. — The Pharisees are blamed by our Lord for their avarice, in scrupulously exacting tithes of the most trifling things, whilst they lived in a constant neglect of their duty, both to God and their neighbour.  Idem.↵
  8. Wo to you.  Jesus Christ here condemns, in forcible language, the principal vices of the Pharisees, viz. their hypocrisy, false devotion, boundless ambition, insatiable avarice, false zeal, and ignorance in deciding upon cases of conscience.  S. Luke represents our Saviour as saying this to the Pharisees at dinner; (C. xi.) so that Christ must either have repeated these things at different times; or, S. Mat. according to custom, must have added them to other words of our Saviour, which, though spoken on another occasion, had some connection with the same subject.  In vain do you, Pharisees, boast of your external sanctity.  Do not imagine, that fornication, adultery, and other actions, are the only sins to be attended to; and that pride, avarice, anger, and other spiritual sins, are of no moment.  He who made the body, made also the soul; and it is of equal consequence that both be kept clean and free from sin.  Nic. de Lyra. — By the similitude of the cup, and of whited sepulchres, as also that of building the sepulchres of the prophets, he shews that they did all their actions purposely to be seen by men, and that this was their only motive in all they did.  Idem. — Like Ezekiel’s bitter roll, we have here a dreadful list of woes, like as many thunderbolts, levelled against hypocrisy, avarice, ambition, and all bitter zeal.  We should be careful not to suffer such rank weeds to grow up in our soil, to the ruin of all good.↵
  9. Thou blind Pharisee.  The vices of the Scribes and Pharisees are not unfrequently to be found in Christians.  The genuine characters of the pharisaical and hypocritical spirit, are: 1. to be punctiliously exact in trifles; 2. to be fond of distinction and esteem; 3. to be content with external piety; 4. to entertain a high opinion of ourselves, and to be impatient of reproof; 5. to be harsh to others, and ready to impose on them what we do not observe ourselves.  Sins abundantly sufficient to rob us of every good, and to leave our house quite desolate! not less so than the temple and city of Jerusalem!↵

Daily Bible Readings Monday August 22 2011 21st Week in Ordinary Time – Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Monday, August 22nd, 2011 at 2:10 am 
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Gentile da Fabriano - Coronation of Mary

Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Monday 21st Week in Ordinary Time Cycle I
Official Readings available at
http://www.usccb.org/bible/

1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8b-10
Haydock New Testament

Paul, and Sylvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ.[1] Grace be to you and peace.  We give thanks to God always for you all: making a remembrance of you in our prayers without ceasing.

Being mindful of the work of your faith, and labour, and charity, and of the enduring of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before God and our Father:[2] Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election: For our gospel hath not been to you in word only, but in power also, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much fulness, as you know what manner of men we have been among you for your sakes.[3]

For from you was spread abroad the word of the Lord,[4] not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but also in every place, your faith which is towards God, is gone forth, so that we need not to speak any thing. For they themselves relate of us, what manner of entrance we had unto you: and how you were converted to God from idols, to serve the living and true God. And to wait for his Son from heaven, (whom he raised up from the dead) Jesus, who hath delivered us from the wrath to come.

Psalm 149:1-6a, 9b
DR Challoner Text Only

Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle:
let his praise be in the church of the saints.
Let Israel rejoice in him that made him:
and let the children of Sion be joyful in their king.
Let them praise his name in choir:
let them sing to him with the timbrel and the psaltery.
For the Lord is well pleased with his people:
and he will exalt the meek unto salvation.
The saints shall rejoice in glory:
they shall be joyful in their beds.
The high praises of God shall be in their mouth
This glory is to all his saints. Alleluia.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 23:13-22
Haydock New Testament

Jesus spoke to the people:

But wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for you go not in yourselves: and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter.[5]

Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you devour the houses of widows, making long prayers: therefore you shall receive the greater judgment.[6]

Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you go round about the sea and land to make one proselyte: and when he is made, you make him the child of hell two-fold more than yourselves.[7]

Wo to you blind guides,[8] who say: Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing: but he that shall swear by the gold of the temple, is a debtor.[9]

Ye foolish and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing: but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is a debtor. Ye blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?[10] Whosoever therefore sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it: And whosoever shall swear by temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth in it:[11] And he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

 

 

Footnotes    (↵ returns to text)
  1. Paul.  It is observed that S. Paul never calls himself an apostle in either of the epistles to the Thessalonians.  The reason why he deviates from his ordinary custom on this occasion, probably is, that joining his name with the other two, he did not like to assume a title, though his due, which the others did not possess.  Estius. — Such condescension to your neighbours’ feelings, even in trifles, is highly delicate and praiseworthy.  A.↵
  2. The apostle praises the Thessalonians for the progress they had made in the theological virtues, and enumerates the profit they had derived from each.  Their faith had produced works; their charity rendered their labour light and easy, and their patience was the fruit of their future hopes, in confidence of which they bore what they had to suffer from their unconverted countrymen.  Estius.↵
  3. In power.  The sense is, I have preached the gospel to you, not only in words of persuasion, but have proved it by the power of miracles, in much fulness, or in great abundance.  I have also taught you the gospel not by my words only, but by my actions; for you know what kind of a life I led among you.  I had no interest but in gaining your souls.  And I rejoice to hear you have received it in much power, by the Holy Ghost working within you.  A. — And in much fulness.[1]  Some would have the Greek word to signify in a full assurance; but in the style of the New Testament, it may as well signify a fulness, or plenitude.  Wi.↵
  4. From you was spread abroad the word.[2]  The Greek, was sounded about. — In every place.  In very many places.  Wi.↵
  5. You shut the kingdom of heaven.  This is here taken for eternal happiness, which can be obtained only by faith in Christ, since he calls himself the gate.  S. John c. x. — Now the Pharisees, by refusing to believe in him, and conspiring against him, deterred those, who would otherwise have believed in Christ, from professing his name and following his doctrines, and thus shut the gate of heaven against them.  Nic. de Lyra. — In all these reprehensions, it is to be noted, for the honour of the priesthood, Jesus Christ never reprehendeth priests by that name.  S. Cyp. ep. lxv.↵
  6. You devour the houses of widows.  Here our blessed Saviour severely reprehends the hypocrisy and other vices of the Scribes and Pharisees, a little before his death, to make them enter into themselves, and to hinder them from seducing others.  Wi. —The Pharisees, by every means in their power, endeavoured to persuade the widows of the poor to make vows or offerings for the temple, by which they themselves became rich, and thus they devoured the houses of widows.  Nic. de Lyra. — Whoever is a perpetrator of evil, deserves heavy chastisements; but the man who commits wickedness under the cloak of religion, is deserving of still more severe punishment.  Origen. — The same is said of fasting, alms, prayers.  Mat. vi. — As above our Lord had inculcated eight beatitudes, so here he denounces eight woes or threats of impending judgment, to the Scribes and Pharisees, for their vile hypocrisy.  Jans.↵
  7. Because whilst a Gentile he sinned without a perfect knowledge of the evil, and was not then a two-fold child of hell; but after his conversion, seeing the vices of his masters, and perceiving that they acted in direct opposition to the doctrines they taught, he returns to the vomit, and renders himself a prevaricator, by adoring the idols he formerly left, and sells his soul doubly to the devil.  S. Chrys. — They that teach that it is sufficient to have faith only, do make such Christians as blindly follow them, as these Jews did their proselytes, children of hell far more than before.  S. Aug. l. de fide et oper. c. xxvi.↵
  8. Wo to you blind guides.  Avarice seems to have been the chief motive of the Pharisees in teaching this doctrine, since they taught that those who swore by the temple were guilty of no sin, nor under any obligation at all; whereas they who swore by the gold of the temple, were bound to pay a certain sum of money to the priests, by which they themselves were enriched.  Nic. de Lyra.↵
  9. Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing, &c.  To understand this obscure place, we may take notice, that a good part of what was offered on the altar, and given to the treasury of the temple, fell to the share of the Jewish priests; and therefore it was not their interest to have such promises or oaths dispensed with.  This made them teach the people, that if any one had made a promissory oath or vow to give their money or goods to the temple, or to the altar itself, as it is said v. 18, such oaths or promises were not obligatory, or might easily be dispensed with.  But if any one had sworn or vowed to give any thing to the treasury of the temple, or join it to the offerings to be made on the altar, then such oaths and promises which turned to their profit were by all means to be kept.  S. Jerom expounds it of oaths in common discourse; as if they taught the people, that when any one swore by the temple, or the altar, it was not so considerable as to swear by the gold in the temple, or by the offerings there made: for in the latter cases, they were to make satisfaction according to the judgment of the Jewish priests.  And to correct their covetous proceedings, Christ tells them that the temple and the altar were greater than the gold and the offerings.  Wi.↵
  10. Sanctifieth.  The altar is sanctified by our Lord’s body thereon.  Theophylactus, the close follower of S. Chrysostom, writeth thus upon this text: “In the old law, Christ will not allow the gift to be greater than the altar; but with us the altar is sanctified by the gift: for the bread, by the divine grace is converted into our Lord’s body, and therefore the altar is sanctified by it.”↵
  11. By him that dwelleth in it.  Here we see that swearing by creatures, as by the gospel and by the saints, is all referred to the honour of God, whose gospel it is, whose saints they are.  B.↵

Daily Scripture Readings Wednesday August 17 2011 20th Week in Ordinary Time Cycle I

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011 at 12:01 am 
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Wednesday 20th Week in Ordinary Time Cycle I
Official Readings available at http://www.usccb.org/bible/

Let me know if you like or dislike the new style of the footnotes. They’re still the Haydock notes, but they are noted within the text to match the notes more accurately according to the text, and so that you can hover over them to see the notes as you are reading the Scripture readings. I’m not sure if I can keep doing them that way since it takes quite a bit of time, but I tried to make it easier to study the text with the notes.

Judges 9:6-15
Douay-Rheims Challoner

And all the men of Sichem were gathered together, and all the families of the city of Mello:[1] and they went and made Abimelech king,[2] by the oak[3] that stood in Sichem. This being told to Joatham, he went, and stood on[4] the top of Mount Garizim:[5] and lifting up his voice, he cried, and said:

Hear me, ye men of Sichem, so may God hear you.

The trees went to anoint a king over them: and they said to the olive tree:

Reign thou over us.[6]

And it answered:

Can I leave[7] my fatness, which both gods and men make use of,[8] to come to be promoted[9] among the trees?

And the trees said to the fig tree:

Come thou and reign over us.

And it answered them:

Can I leave my sweetness[10], and my delicious fruits, and go to be promoted among the other trees?

And the trees said to the vine:

Come thou and reign over us.

And it answered them:

Can I forsake my wine, that cheereth God and men,[11] and be promoted among the other trees?

And all the trees said to the bramble:[12]

Come thou and reign over us.

And it answered them:

If, indeed, you mean to make me king, come ye, and rest under my shadow:[13] but if you mean it not, let fire[14] come out from the bramble, and devour the cedars of Libanus.

Psalm 20:2-7 (Ps 21 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

In thy strength, O Lord, the king shall joy;
and in thy salvation he shall rejoice exceedingly.
Thou hast given him his heart’s desire:
and hast not withholden from him the will of his lips.
For thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness:
thou hast set on his head a crown of precious stones.
He asked life of thee: and thou hast given him
length of days for ever and ever.
His glory is great in thy salvation:
glory and great beauty shalt thou lay upon him.
For thou shalt give him to be a blessing for ever and ever:
thou shalt make him joyful in gladness with thy countenance.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 20:1-16
Haydock New Testament

Jesus said to his disciples:

The kingdom[15] of heaven is like to a master of a family, who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.[16] And having agreed with the labourers for a penny a day,[17] he sent them into his vineyard. And going about the third hour,[18] he saw others standing idle in the market-place,[19] And he said to them,  

Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just.[20]

 

Jesus Sits by the Seashore and Preaches

And they went their way.  And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them:

Why stand you here all the day idle?

They say to him:

Because no man hath hired us.[21]

He saith to them:

Go you also into my vineyard.

And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his steward:

Call the labourers and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first.

When therefore they came, who had come about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first also came, they thought that they should have receive more: and they likewise received every man a penny. And receiving it,[22] they murmured against the master of the house, Saying:

These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats.

But he answering one of them, said,

Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is thine, and go thy way: I will also give[23] to this last even as to thee. Or is it not lawful for me to do what I will? is thy eye evil, because I am good?

So shall the last be first, and the first last.  For many are called, but few chosen.[24]

 

 

Footnotes    (↵ returns to text)
  1. Mello.  We know of no such city in the vicinity of Sichem.  Heb. “all the house of Millo:” which some take to be the town-house of Sichem, full of the chief citizens, as Mello signifies “filled up;” (Vatable) or it might designate some part of the city which had been levelled, like the deep valley at Jerusalem, (3 K. ix. 15.  H.) and where some powerful family, probably the father of Abimelech’s mother, might dwell.  C.↵
  2. This family would interest itself the most in the advancement of the tyrant, v. 3.  H.↵
  3. Oak.  Heb. “the plain, or oak of the statue,” (alluding to the monument which was left here by Josue, v. 37.  Josue xxiv. 26) or Sept. “of the station,” as those of Sichem might assemble here to deliberate on public affairs, (C.) in memory of the solemn covenant between God and the people.  H.↵
  4. Stood on.  As Abimelech was a figure of Antichrist, who will reign for a time, so Joatham denotes the pastors of the church, who shall stand up for the truth.  W.↵
  5. Garizim.  At the foot of this mountain Sichem was built.  Joatham addressed the people of the city, probably during the absence of Abimelech, (C.) when, Josephus (v. 9.) says, a great festival was celebrated.↵
  6. Us.  By this parable, Joatham expostulates with the men of Sichem, who had so basely requited the labours of Gedeon, and had given the preference to the son of a servant, who was of the most savage temper.  H. — In a spiritual sense, which the Fathers chiefly regard, heretics and schismatics act in this manner, and choose rather to be governed by those who will allow them to follow their passions, than by such governors as God has appointed, though the latter be endued with the grace of the Holy Ghost, and with all virtues, signified by the olive and other fruit trees.  They prefer the bramble, or the worst dispositions, like Nemrod, Mahomet, Antichrist, &c. who, after persecuting the virtuous, and Catholics for a time, 2 Thess. ii.) will, in the end, prove their ruin, though they themselves be involved in the common destruction.  “Fire shall rise (says V. Bede, q. 6.) against this bramble, Antichrist, and shall devour him, and all his together.”  W. — The use of parables has been very general.  M. — Agrippa brought the Roman plebeians, who had retired to the sacred mount, to a sense of their duty, and to a love of mutual harmony with the nobles, by observing that the members once refused to supply the wants  of the belly, because it did not labour like the rest.  Livy ii. — In the application of these parables, Maimonides justly remarks, that we must consider their general scope, and not pretend to explain every circumstance; (More. Neboc.) a remark which Origen had already made.  Many things are only added for the sake of ornament.  H. — Thus we need not imagine that the people of Sichem offered the sovereign authority to many, who refused to accept of it, and at last only prevailed upon Abimelech.  Gedeon had, indeed, rejected a similar offer, (C. viii. 22.) and his other sons not endeavouring to retain the authority of their father, the Sichemites acceded to the petition of Abimelech, to anoint him king.  This expression does not always imply a material unction, though such was used among the Jews.  It signifies the granting of all the power of a king; in which sense it is applied to foreign princes, (Isa. lxv. 1.) and to Jesus Christ, (Dan. ix. 24.) who received the reality of that sovereign dominion, of which this unction was only a figure.  C.↵
  7. Leave.  But, would this advancement prove any disadvantage?  The king is bound to give himself up wholly for the good of the public, so that he must frequently be full of anxiety and care. C.↵
  8. Use of.  The olive-tree is introduced, speaking in this manner, because oil was used, both in the worship of the true God, and in that of the false gods, whom the Sichemites served.  Ch. — The pagans burnt lamps in honour of their idols, and anointed their statues: unguentoque lares humescere nigro.  Prud. c. Sym. 1. — They also anointed their military standards at Rome.  Plin. xiii. 3. — The same author observes, that “two sorts of liquor are very delightful to the bodies of men: wine to drink and oil for the outside: intus vini, foris olei.  B. xiv. 22. — Men use oil to strengthen and foment their bodies, as well as to give them light.  C. — It spiritually denotes the grace of God, which establishes the peace of the soul, as the fig-tree signifies the sweetness of God’s law, producing good works, and the vine shews forth those noble actions, which are performed without the affection of outward show; and which are therefore, most agreeable both to God and to men.  W.↵
  9. Promoted.  Some translate the Heb. “to put myself in motion for.”  Syr. &c.  We might also render, “which honoureth the gods, (or the judges) and men to come to be promoted among (or disquieted on account of) the trees.”↵
  10. Sweetness.  The fig is the sweetest of fruits, and is regarded as the symbol of sweetness.  Aristop.  Bonfrere.↵
  11. Cheereth God and men.  Wine is here represented as agreeable to God, because he had appointed it to be offered up with his sacrifices.  But we are not obliged to take these words, spoken by the trees in Joatham’s parable, according to the strict rigour of divinity; but only in a sense accommodated to the design of the parable expressed in the conclusion of it.  Ch. — The same word, Elohim, which is translated God may also signify any powerful man, as in v. 9.  H. — Yet wine may be said to cheer God, in the same figurative sense, as the odour of victims is sweet and delightful to him.  C. — He is pleased with the devotion of men, and requires these things as a testimony of their love and fidelity.  H. — Joatham might speak according to the notions of the idolaters, who thought that their gods really fed on ambrosia and nectar, and were pleased with the smell of victims and of perfumes.  That wine cheereth the heart of man needs no proof.  Ps. ciii. 15. — Tunc veniunt risus, tunc pauper cornua sumit.—Tunc dolor et curæ rugaque frontis abit.  Ovid.↵
  12. Bramble.  Sept. rhamnos, “the white, or hawthorn.”  Some suppose that atad means “a wild rose, (Vatab.) thistle,” &c.  C. — It is here put for any base and ambitious man.  W.↵
  13. Shadow or protection, Ps. xvi. 8.  Baruc. i. 12.  C. — Joatham hints at the insolence of Abimelech, (H.) and foretels that he and his foolish subjects will soon be at variance, and destroy each other.↵
  14. Fire is often put for war.  The people of Sichem began soon to despise their new king, and he made war upon them, and destroyed their city; though the people afterwards took ample revenge, v. 20.  C. — Tyrants promise much, but their rage soon falls upon the more wealthy and powerful citizens, (H.) here signified by the cedars.  M.↵
  15. For the kingdom.  The participle for, is found in the Greek, and connects the present parable with the last verse of the preceding chapter: indeed it is a comment on that text, and describes to us the gospel dispensation.  Thus the conduct of God in the choice he makes of members for his spiritual kingdom, the Church, and of his elect for the kingdom of heaven, is not unlike that of the father of a family, who hires workmen to labour in his vineyard.  There are various opinions respecting who are meant by the first, and by the last, in this parable.  Many of the fathers suppose that the saints of different states and degrees are here designed, whose reward will suffer no diminution from the circumstances of their having come to the service of Christ at a late age of the world, according to SS. Hilary, Gregory, and Theophylactus; or, at a late age of life, according to SS. Basil, Jerom, and Fulgentius.  In the latter case, however, we must understand that their greater fervour in co-operating with divine grace, in the latter part of their life, has supplied and compensated for the defect of their preceding negligence; hence it may sometimes happen that the reward of such as enter late in life on the service of God, will exceed that of the less fervent who have entered at an earlier period.  But as Christ rather seems to speak here of his militant than his triumphant Church, many commentators explain the parable of the Jews and Gentiles.  For the Jews, after bearing the yoke of the Mosaic law for so many ages, received nothing more than what was promised to the observance of that law; whilst Christians receive a more plentiful reward for their more easy labour under the sweet yoke of the gospel.  In which sense Christ says to the Jews, Luke xiii. 29: Publicans and harlots shall go before you into the kingdom of heaven.  “And, strangers shall come from the east, and from the west, and the north, and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.  And behold they are last that shall be first, and they are first that shall be last.”  Ibid. 30. — Hence the Jews may be supposed to murmur, that they who are first in their vocation to be the people of God, and first in the observance of his law, should not be preferred to others, who in these respects have been far posterior to them.  T.↵
  16. By the vineyard, says S. Chrysostom, we here understand, the commandments of God.  The time for labour is the present life.  In the first, third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours, i.e. in infancy, youth, manhood, declining years, and extreme decrepitude of age, many individuals, yielding to the effective call of God, labour in the exact performance of the divine commandments.  Hom. lxv.↵
  17. The Roman penny, or denarius, was the 8th part of an ounce; which, at the rate of 5s. per ounce, is 7½d. It is put here for the usual hire of a day-labourer.↵
  18. About the third hour.  As the Jews divided their nights into four watches, each watch comprehending three hours, so they divided their days into four greater hours, from sunrise to sunset, and each of these great hours contained three lesser hours; so that the whole day from sunrise to sunset, consisted of 12 hours, as also did the night.  The first of the great hours, comprehending the three first lesser hours, contained half of the space betwixt the rising of the sun and mid-day; and the end of this time was called the third hour.  The next great hour was from that time till mid-day, called the sixth hour.  The following great hour contained half of the time betwixt noon and the setting of the sun, the end of which was called the ninth hour.  The fourth great hour comprehended the last three lesser hours remaining till sunset, so that at the end of the eleventh hour, mentioned here, v. 6, began the last lesser hour of the twelve hours of the day; of which our Saviour said, (Jo. xi. 9,) are there not twelve hours in the day? — As to the moral sense of the parable, by the day is commonly expounded all the time from the creation to the end of the world, and so the third hour is reckoned from Adam to Noe; the sixth from Noe to Abraham; the ninth from Abraham to Moses; and from the ninth to the eleventh, was from Moses till Christ’s coming; and the time from Christ to the end of the world, is the 12th hour.  Other interpreters, by the day understand human life; and by the different hours, infancy, youth, the age of manhood, old age, and the last hour man’s decrepit age.  God is master and disposer of all, who by his grace calls some sooner, some later.↵
  19. The market-place, in which men are so often found idle, as to the great concern of their eternal salvation, is the world.  The design of this parable was to shew that the Gentiles, though called later than the Jews, should be made partakers of the promises made to the Jews; this is also the meaning of verse 16, where it is said: the last shall be first, and the first last.  Wi.↵
  20. I will give you what shall be just.  The prospect of a reward is therefore a good motive, authorized here by Christ himself.↵
  21. No man hath hired us.  S. Chrys. again puts us in mind, that in parables all the parts are not significant, but some things are to be taken as mere ornaments of parabolical discourses, as here murmurings, which cannot be found in heaven: nor can men pretend they are not hired into God’s service; God hath given lights, called, hired, and promised heaven to all.  The rewards in heaven are also different.  And they who are last called, if they labour with greater fervour, may deserve a greater reward than others called before them.  Wi. — The Greek text finishes with, you shall receive what is reasonable. — We must observe here, says S. Chrys. on the words, because no man hath hired us, that this is the voice of the labourers only, in excuse for their not having entered upon their work before this late hour; for the master of the vineyard had shewn his willingness to hire them all, by going out early for that purpose.  Though the fault was their own, he does not upbraid them, but abstains from all harshness and severity, that he may the more easily engage them.  Hom. lxv.↵
  22. And when they received it.  By those who laboured all the day in the vineyard, we are to understand such as have spent their whole lives in the service of God; but we are not thence to infer, that in the kingdom of heaven, where all receive their just reward, there is envy, discontent, or any complaint.  By these words, Christ wishes to convey to our minds an idea of the immense honours that will be heaped upon all such as return with sincerity, though at the decline or even verge of life, to the Almighty.  So exceeding great will be their reward, that it would excite envy, were it possible, even in the elect.  S. Chrys. hom. lxv.↵
  23. I will also give.  Some are called to the service of their God, and to a life of virtue, from their infancy, whilst others, by a powerful call from above, are converted late in life, that the former may have no occasion to glory in themselves, or to despise those who, even in the 11th hour, enter upon the path of rectitude; and that all might learn that there is time sufficient, however short, left them to repair by their diligence and fervour their past losses.  S. Chry. hom. lxv. — Jesus Christ does not count so much the number of years, as the fervour and diligence we employ in his service.  Calvin is rather unhappy in his choice of this parable to prove his favourite tenet, that salvation is not the reward of good works, but of faith alone, or predestination, since Jesus Christ represents heaven as given wholly as a just reward of meritorious labour in the vineyard, though some labour a shorter, and others a longer time, and God of his great goodness may give more to some than to others, while to all He gives at least their due.  And a truly humble Christian will be ever satisfied with his lot, without envying that of others.  A. — As star differeth from star in glory in the firmament, (1 Cor. xv. 41,) so will there be different degrees of glory in heaven.  S. Aug. de virgin. c. xxvi.↵
  24. Few chosen: only such as have not despised their caller, but followed and believed him; for men believed not, but of their own free will.  S. Aug. l. i, ad Simplic. q. ii.  B. — Hence the rejection of the Jews and of negligent Christians, and the conversion of strangers, who come and take their place, by a conversion both of faith and morals.  On the part of God all are called.  Mat. xi. 28.  Come to me all, &c.  In effect, many after their call, have attained to faith and justification; but few in comparison are elected to eternal glory, because the far greater part do not obey the call, but refuse to come, whilst many of those who come fall away again; and thus very few, in comparison with those that perish, will at the last day be selected for eternal glory.  T.↵

Tuesday August 16 2011 20th Week in Ordinary Time – Cycle I

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011 at 12:01 am 
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Tuesday 20th Week in Ordinary Time
Official Readings available at http://www.usccb.org/bible/

Judges 6:11-24a
Douay-Rheims Challoner

And an angel of the Lord came, and sat under an oak that was in Ephra, and belonged to Joas, the father of the family of Ezri. And when Gedeon, his son, was threshing and cleansing wheat by the winepress, to flee from Madian, The angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said:

The Lord is with thee, O most valiant of men.

And Gedeon said to him:

I beseech thee, my lord, if the Lord be with us, why have these evils fallen upon us? Where are his miracles, which our fathers have told us of, saying: The Lord brought us out of Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hand of Madian.

And the Lord looked upon him, and said:

Go, in this thy strength, and thou shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of Madian: know that I have sent thee.

He answered, and said:

I beseech thee, my lord wherewith shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the meanest in Manasses, and I am the least in my father’s house.

And the Lord said to him:

I will be with thee: and thou shalt cut off Madian as one man.

And he said:

If I have found grace before thee, give me a sign that it is thou that speakest to me: And depart not hence, till I return to thee, and bring a sacrifice, and offer it to thee. And he answered: I will wait thy coming.

So Gedeon went in, and boiled a kid, and made unleavened loaves of a measure of flour: and putting the flesh in a basket, and the broth of the flesh into a pot, he carried all under the oak, and presented to him. And the angel of the Lord said to him:

Take the flesh and the unleavened loaves, and lay them upon that rock, and pour out the broth thereon. And when he had done so,

The angel of the Lord put forth the tip of the rod, which he held in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened loaves: and there arose a fire from the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened loaves: and the angel of the Lord vanished out of his sight. And Gedeon seeing that it was the angel of the Lord, said:

Alas, my Lord God: for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.

And the Lord said to him:

Peace be with thee: fear not, thou shalt not die.

And Gedeon built there an altar to the Lord, and called it the Lord’s peace, until this present day.

Psalm 84:9, 11-14 (Ps 85 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me:
for he will speak peace unto his people: And unto his saints:
and unto them that are converted to the heart.
Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed.
Truth is sprung out of the earth: and justice hath looked down from heaven.
For the Lord will give goodness: and our earth shall yield her fruit.
Justice shall walk before him: and he shall set his steps in the way.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 19:23-30
Haydock New Testament

Then Jesus said to his disciples:

The First Shall Be Last

And when the disciples had heard this, they wondered very much, saying:

Who then can be saved?

And Jesus beholding, said to them:

With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible.

Then Peter answering, said to him:

Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee: what therefore shall we have?

And Jesus said to them:

Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundred-fold, and shall possess life everlasting. But many that are first, shall be last: and the last shall be first.

Haydock Commentary Judges 6:11-24a
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

  • Ver. 11.  Angel; Michael.  M. — Some think it was the prophet who had addressed the people, or Phinees, according to the Rabbins.  See S. Aug. q. 31.  Others believe it was the Son of God, who takes the name of Jehovah.  Broughton and other Protest. — But the most natural opinion is, that a real angel was sent, in the name of God, like that which appeared to Moses, and assumed the incommunicable name, as the ambassador of God.  Gedeon took him for a man, and presented him a noble feast, without designing to offer sacrifice to him.  Maimonides and Grotius seem to suppose that all this passed in a dream; but the sequal refutes this opinion. — Ephra, a city of the half tribe of Manasses, on the west side of the Jordan, of which Joas was the richest citizen.  He was of the family of Ezri, and a descendant of Abiezer.  1 Par. viii. 18.  Heb. might be rendered, “Joas, the Abiezerite.”  C. viii. 32. and xiii. 2. — Madian.  Not having the convenience of cleansing the wheat in the open field, Gedeon was doing it privately, with a design to carry it off, at the approach of the enemy, and to support himself and family in some cavern.  Heb. takes no notice of cleaning: “Gedeon threshed wheat, by the wine press, to hide it, or to flee,” &c.  He probably used a flail, or some smaller sticks, such as were employed to beat out olives.  Isai. xxviii. 27.  Ruth ii. 17.  C. — The wheat harvest was about Pentecost, that of barley was at Easter.  It seems the Madianites had been later than usual this year, in making their incursions, v. 33.  H.
  • Ver. 12.  Is.  We should naturally translate, be with thee, if the answer of Gedeon did not shew (C.) that it is to be taken as an assertion, that the Lord was already reconciled to Israel, and had made choice of this valiant man to rescue his people from slavery, though he was not of the first nobility, v. 15.
  • Ver. 13.   My lord.  This he says out of respect, supposing that he was addressing a prophet, (H.) or some virtuous person, of whom he desires to know what reasons could be given for the assurance of divine favour, which he held out.  He speaks not out of distrust.  M.
  • Ver. 14.  Lord, Jehova.  H. — The Chal. and Sept. have, “the angel of the Lord,” as the best interpreters understand it.  C. — Upon him, with benevolence and an air of authority, that he might know that he was speaking to some one more than man.  H. — Strength, with which I have endued thee.  M. — Though Gedeon was naturally brave, he was no more disposed to attack the Madianites than the rest of his dispirited countrymen; and, even after he was strengthened from above, he was so conscious of his own inability to effect so great a deliverance, that he stood in need of the most convincing miracles, to make him act as the judge of Israel.  H.
  • Ver. 15.  The meanest in Manasses, &c.  Mark how the Lord chooses the humble (who are mean and little in their own eyes) for the greatest enterprises.  Ch. — Heb. and Sept. lit. “My millenary is poor, or lowly,” &c.  This term means a great family, from which many others spring, or a city inhabited by such.  Bethlehem was of this description in Juda.  Mic. v. 2.  Ephra and the family of Abiezer were not the first in Manasses.  Grotius observes, that Gedeon and Cincinnatus were called to the highest offices, when they least expected it.
  • Ver. 17.  Thou, the Lord, or his angel, capable of fulfilling these great promises; or be pleased, by some sign, to manifest thyself to me.  C. — He began to perceive that he was talking with some person of authority: (H.) yet still he did not suspect that it was a spirit, otherwise he would not have offered food, nor would he have been so such surprised and afraid, only when the angel disappeared so suddenly, v. 22.
  • Ver. 18.  A sacrifice, or some provisions to present unto thee.  Heb. mincha, is taken for a present, particularly of flour and wine.  It is used to denote those presents which were made by Jacob to Esau, and Joseph, and by Aod to the king of Moab.  C. iii. 15.  Gen. xliii. 14.  C. — To sacrifice, often means to kill things for a feast, Mat. xxii. 4.  What Gedeon brought, was afterwards turned into a sacrifice by the angel, v. 21.  M. — Gedeon was not a priest, nor was there any altar prepared for a sacrifice.  If Gedeon had intended to offer one, he would not have boiled nor baked the food, which he presented before his guest.  C.
  • Ver. 19.  Measure.  Heb. “epha,” containing ten gomors, each of which was sufficient for the daily maintenance of a man; so that Gedeon brought as much as would have sufficed for ten men.  Abraham presented no more before the three angels, Gen. xviiii. 6.  The magnificence of the ancients consisted rather in producing great abundance, than in multiplying dishes. — Broth.  Syr. and Arab. translate, “a good (old) wine.”
  • Ver. 20.  Thereon.  Thus he would shew Gedeon that he had no need of food.  He would exercise his obedience, and manifest a greater miracle, as the flesh and bread would be less apt to take fire, when the angel touched them, even though some might imagine that he caused a spark to come from the rock.  For the like purpose, Elias ordered thrice four buckets of water to be poured on the bullock, which fire from heaven would miraculously consume.  3 K. xviii. 34.  H. — This broth might serve to anoint the altar, (Ex. xl. 10.  M.) or answer instead of the usual libations.  A. Montan.
  • Ver. 22.  Alas.  He makes this exclamation, concluding that he should soon die.  Ex. xxxiii. 20.  Callimachus says that “it was a law of Saturn, that the man who saw an immortal, unless the god himself chose to shew him that favour, should pay dearly for it.”  Grot. — This opinion was groundless; and it is wonderful that it should prevail among the Israelites, (H.) since so many had seen angels without receiving any harm.  M.
  • Ver. 23.   Said to him, as he was ascending into heaven, (M.) or the following night.  C. — It seems that Gedeon heard the angel’s proclamation of peace, and shewed his gratitude by forming the rock, or stone, into a kind of rough altar, which he entitled Yehova shalom, “God’s peace,” (H.) for doing which he received an order, v. 26.  M. — Others erect altars, in various places; but they must be authorized by God.  C. — Ezri.  Prot. “unto this day it is yet in Ophra, of the Abiezrites.”  Sept. is ambiguous.  “He, or it, being yet in Ephra,” &c.  H.

 

Haydock Commentary Matthew Matthew 19:23-30

  • Ver. 24.  It is easier for a camel,[5] &c.  This might be a common saying, to signify any thing impossible, or very hard.  Some by a camel, would have to be meant a cable, or ship-rope, but that is differently writ in Greek, and here is commonly understood a true camel.  Wi. — But nothing is impossible to God.
  • Ver. 25.  They wondered very much.  The apostles wondered how any person could be saved, not because all were rich, but because the poor were also included, who had their hearts and affections fixed on riches.  S. Aug. and Nicholas de Lyra.
  • Ver. 27.  Behold we have left all!  What confidence this in Peter!  He had been but a fisherman, always poor, living by his industry, and gaining his bread by the sweat of his brow; yet with great confidence he says, we have left all.  S. Jer. — For, we are not to consider what he left, but the will with which he left his all.  He leaves a great deal, who reserves nothing for himself.  It is a great matter to quit all, though the things we leave be very inconsiderable in themselves.  Do we not observe with how great affection we love what we already have, and how earnestly we search after what we have not?  It is on this account that S. Peter, and his brother, S. Andrew, left much, because they denied themselves even the desire and inclination of possessing any thing.  S. Gregory on S. Mat. hom. v. — Though I have not been rich, I shall not, on that account, receive a less reward; for, the apostles, who have done the same thing with me, were no richer than myself.  He therefore leaves all the world, who leaves all he has, and the desire of ever having more.  S. Aug. ep. lxxxix. ad. Hilar.
  • Ver. 28.  In the regeneration.  Jesus Christ here calls the general resurrection the regeneration, because there will then be a renovation of the human body, and of the whole world.  The promise which is here made to the apostles of sitting on thrones at the general judgment, and passing sentence on the 12 tribes of Israel, must not be understood as limited to the apostles, or to the Jews.  For S. Paul says, (1 Cor. vi. 2. and 3,) that not only he, but also many of the Corinthians to whom he was writing, would judge not merely the 12 tribes, but the whole world, and moreover angels themselves.  It is the opinion of many of the Fathers, S. Jerom, S. Austin, S. Gregory, and others, that all apostolical men, i.e. such as, renouncing the goods of this life, adhere to Christ in mind and affection, and by every possible means promote his reign and the propagation of his gospel, will be so far honoured as to sit in judgment with him at the general resurrection.  T. — You also shall sit on twelve seats, or thrones, meaning at the general resurrection, when Christ will appear on the throne of his majesty, with his heavenly court, and with his elect, shall condemn the wicked world.  Wi.
  • Ver. 29.  Shall receive a hundred-fold.  In S. Mark we read a hundred-fold now in this time, and in the world to come life everlasting.  Which hundred-fold is to be understood of the blessings in this life, of interior consolations, of the peace of a good conscience, and in general of spiritual gifts and graces, which are much more valuable than all temporal goods.  And besides these spiritual graces in this world, he shall have everlasting glory in the world to come.  Wi. — Our Saviour does not here lay down a precept of separating from wives; but, as when he before said, he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it, he did not counsel, much less command us to lay violent hands upon ourselves; so here he teaches us to prefer the duties of piety to every other consideration.  S. Chrys. hom. lxv. — The reward will be a hundred-fold, by the accumulation of spiritual gifts and graces in this life, infinitely superior to all we have left, and the inheritance of life eternal in the next.  V.

 

Monday Bible Readings August 15 2011 Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Mass During the Day

Monday, August 15th, 2011 at 1:55 am 
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August 15 2011 Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Vigil
Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/bible/

Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab (Apocalypse)
Haydock New Testament

The_Assumption_of_the_Virgin Francesco_BotticiniAnd the temple of God was opened in heaven: And the ark of his testament was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake, and great hail. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: and being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered.

And there appeared another wonder in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadems, and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman, who was ready to be delivered, that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son.

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne: and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ.

Responsorial Psalm 44:10-12, 16 (Ps 45 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

The daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory.
The queen stood on thy right hand,
in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.
Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear:
and forget thy people and thy father’s house.
And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty;
for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore.
They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing:
they shall be brought into the temple of the king.

1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Haydock NT

But now Christ is risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them that sleep. For by a man came death, and by a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.

But every one in his own order: the first-fruits, Christ; then they that are of Christ, who have believed in his coming: Afterwards the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father, when he shall have abolished all principality, and authority, and power. For he must reign, until he hath put all enemies under his feet.

And the enemy, death, shall be destroyed last: For he hath put all things under his feet. And whereas he saith, All things are put under him; undoubtedly, he is excepted, who put all things under him.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Luke 1:39-56
Haydock New Testament

And Mary rising up in those days, went into the mountainous country with haste, into a city of Juda: And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb: and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she cried out with a loud voice, and said:

Bless art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And when is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to the by the Lord.

Sandro_Botticelli_MadonnaoftheMagnificatAnd Mary said:

My soul doth magnify the Lord:
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Saviour.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid:
For behold, from henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath done great things to me:
And Holy is his name.
And his mercy is from generation to generations, To them that fear him.
He hath shewed might in his arm:
He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat,
And hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things:
And the rich he hath sent away empty.
He hath received Israel, his servant,
Being mindful of his mercy.
As he spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham, and to his seed, for ever.

And Mary abode with her about three months: and she returned to her own house.

Haydock Commentary Apocalypse 11:19; 12:1-6a, 10ab
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

  • Ver. 19. The temple of God was opened . . . the ark of his testament was seen; which P. Alleman applies to the cross that appeared in the air to Constantine. Such applications may be probable, but cannot be called certain. Wi. – Many have applied this to the appearance of the Blessed Virgin into heaven as the Ark of the New Covenant, hence our celebration of this passage on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven. –Bob. For more on that I recommend Scott Hahn’s book – Hail Holy Queen, in which Dr Hahn provides excellent insight into this entire passage.
  • CHAPTER XII.
  • Ver. 1. A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. By this woman, interpreters commonly understand the Church of Christ, shining with the light of faith, under the protection of the sun of justice, Jesus Christ. The moon, the Church, hath all changeable things of this world under her feet, the affections of the faithful being raised above them all. — A woman: the Church of God. It may also, by allusion, be applied to our blessed Lady. The Church is clothed with the sun, that is, with Christ: she hath the moon, that is, the changeable things of the world, under her feet; and the twelve stars with which she is crowned, are the twelve apostles: she is in labour and pain, whilst she brings forth her children, and Christ in them, in the midst of afflictions and persecutions. Ch. — Under the figure of a woman and of a dragon, are represented the various attempts of Satan to undermine the Church. — On her head . . . twelve stars, her doctrine being delivered by the twelve apostles and their successors. Wi.
  • Ver. 2. With child, &c., to signify that the Church, even in the time of persecutions, brought forth children to Christ. Wi. — It likewise signifies the difficulties which obstructed the first propagation of Christianity. Past.
  • Ver. 3. Another wonder in heaven; that is, in the Church of Christ, though revealed to S. John, in the visions, as if they were seen in heaven. — A great red dragon; a fiery dragon, with seven heads and ten horns; i.e. many heads and many horns. By the dragon is generally understood the devil, (see v. 7 and 9) and by the heads and horns, kings and princes, who act under him, persecuting the servants of God. Wi. — Dragon, &c. the devil; and by the seven heads and ten horns, are meant those princes and governors who persecute the Church of Christ. Calmet.
  • Ver. 4. His tail drew the third part of the stars: a great part of mankind. This is spoken with an allusion to the fall of Lucifer from heaven, with the rebellious angels, driven from thence by S. Michael. Wi. — According to Pastorini, the passage refers to the angels whom Lucifer drew after him by sin to the earth. Menochius interprets it of those bishops and eminent persons who fell under the weight of persecution, and apostatized. — And the dragon stood before the woman, &c. The devil is always ready, as far as God permits him, to make war against the Church and the faithful servants of God. The woman, the Church, brought a man child, or rather many men children, stout and valiant in the profession of the true faith, able to resist and triumph over the attempts of the persecutors in all nations, not of themselves, but by the grace and power of Jesus Christ, their protector, whi is able to rule all nations as it were with a rod of iron, to frustrate all their attempts, and turn their hearts as he pleaseth. Wi.
  • Ver. 5. A man child; that is, a masculine race of Christians, willing to confess the name of the Lord, and to fight his battles; who, through the merits of Jesus Christ, should triumph over all the attempts of the world. Calmet. — Her son (or children) was taken up to heaven, guarded by the special favour of God. They always overcome the devil, and all their adversaries, by reason of the blood of the Lamb, by the merits of Christ. And they loved not the life of the body, so as to preserve it, by incurring the death of the soul. Wi.
  • Ver. 6. The woman fled into the wilderness. The Church, in the times of persecutions, must be content to serve God in a private manner; but by the divine Providence, such persecutions never lasted with violence only for a short time, signified by 1260 days, or as the same is expressed here, (v. 14) for a time, and times, and half a time, i.e. for a year, and two years, and half a year. Wi. — The Christians were accustomed to fly during the times of persecution into the deserts, to avoid the fury of the pagans. This was done by the greatest saints; and S. Jerom remarks, that it was this which gave rise to the eremitical state of life.

Haydock Commentary 1 Corinthians 15:20-27

  • Ver. 13-23. Note from Bob – These notes are for a larger chunk of text not included in the readings, but the quality of the notes is adequate that they need not rely entirely on the text of St Paul’s Epistle. He brings many reasons to convince them of the resurrection. 1. If there be no resurrection for others, Christ is not risen again: but his resurrection (as he tells them ver. 4) was foretold in the Scriptures. 2. And if Christ be not risen again, . . your faith is also in vain, this being one of the chief articles of your belief. 3. We should be found guilty of lies and impostures; and yet we have confirmed this doctrine by many miracles. 4. It would follow that you are not freed from your sins; i.e. unless Christ, by his resurrection, has triumphed over sin and death. 5. Without a resurrection we Christians, who live under self-denials and persecutions, would be the most miserable of all men, neither happy in this world nor in the next, for the happiness of the soul requires also a happy resurrection of the body. 6. Christ is the first-fruits, and the first begotten of the dead, of those who have slept: and by his being the first-fruits, it must be supposed that others also will rise after him. 7. As death came by the first man, (Adam) so the second man (Christ) came to repair the death of men, both as to body and soul; and without Christ’s resurrection, both the souls of men have remained dead in their original sins, and their bodies shall not rise again. Wi.
  • Ver. 24. &c. Afterwards the end; i.e. after the general resurrection of all, will be the end of the world. Then Christ shall deliver up his kingdom, as to this world, over all men, over the devil and his apostate angels, signified by principalities and powers; not but that Christ, both as God and man, shall reign for all eternity, not only over his elect but over all creatures, having triumphed by his resurrection over the enemy of mankind, the devil, over sin, and over death, which is as it were the last enemy of his elect. At the general resurrection, Christ will present these elect to his heavenly Father, as the fruits of his victory over sin and death; and though as man he came to suffer and die, and was also made subject to his eternal Father, yet being God as well as man, he is Lord of all, and will make his faithful servants partakers of his glory in his heavenly kingdom. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Luke 1:39-56

  • Ver. 36. We find that Aaron, who was of the tribe of Levi, took a wife of the tribe of Juda, viz. Elizabeth, the sister of Naasson. In the successors of David we find that Joiada, the chief priest, took a wife of the family of David, viz. the daughter of Joram; from which it appears that both the royal and sacerdotal tribes were united, and that Mary and Elizabeth were relatives. It was certainly proper that Christ should be born of both these tribes, because he was in himself both king and priest. Ven. Bede.
  • Ver. 38. Behold the handmaid. With all modesty and humility of heart and mind, the blessed Virgin consented to the divine will: and from that moment in her was conceived the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. Wi. — Thus ought the virgin, who brought forth meekness and humility itself, to shew forth an example of the most profound humility. S. Amb.
  • Ver. 39. This city is generally supposed to be Hebron, a sacerdotal town, (Jos. xxi. 11.) situated in the mountains, to the south of Juda, and about 120 miles from Nazareth. V.
  • Ver. 41. The infant leaped in her womb.[7] According to the general opinion of the interpreters, this motion of the child at the time was not natural: and some think that God gave to S. John, even in his mother’s womb, a passing knowledge of the presence of his Redeemer. See S. Aug. in the above cited letter to Dardanus. Wi.
  • Ver. 42. In the same words she is pronounced blessed by Elizabeth, and by the angel Gabriel, both inspired by the Holy Ghost, and this not only to the praise of Jesus, but for his sake, to the praise of Mary, calling her blessed, and her fruit blessed; and thus, as Ven. Bede asserts, holding her up to the veneration of both men and angels.
  • Ver. 43. The mother of my Lord. A proof that Christ was truly God, and the blessed Virgin Mary truly the mother of God. Wi. — Elizabeth was a just and blessed woman; yet the excellency of the mother of God does so far surpass that of Elizabeth, and of every other woman, as the great luminary outshines the smaller stars. S. Jerom præf. in Sophon.
  • Ver. 47. In God my Saviour, as appears by the Greek text,[8] though literally in Latin, in God my salvation. Wi.
  • Ver. 48. The humility of his handmaid,[9] i.e. the humble, low, and abject condition; as perhaps might be translated both in this and in v. 52. For the blessed Virgin does not here commend and praise her own virtue of humility; as divers interpreters observe. See S. Francis de Sales, in his introduction to a devout life, part 3, c. vi. Wi. — As death entered into the world by the pride of our first parents, so was it proper that the path to life should be opened by the humility of Mary. Ven. Bede. — Not Elizabeth only, but all nations of believers are to call her blessed. Theophy.
  • Ver. 51. The wise men of the Gentiles, the Pharisees and Scribes, were powerful; but these the Almighty cast down, and exalted those, who humbled themselves under his powerful hand. 1 Peter v. The Jews were proud in their strength, but their incredulity brought on them their humiliation; whilst the low and mean among the Gentiles, have by faith ascended to the summit of perfection. S. Cyril Alex. in S. Thom. catenâ aureâ. Wi.
  • Ver. 53. The Jews were rich in the possession of the law, and the doctrines of the prophets; but, as they would not humbly unite themselves to the incarnate word, they were sent away empty, without faith, without knowledge, deprived of all hopes of temporal goods, excluded from the terrestrial Jerusalem, and also from that which is in heaven. But the Gentiles, oppressed with hunger and thirst, by adhering to their Lord, were filled with all spiritual gifts. S. Basil in Ps. xxxiii.

 

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