Sunday Scripture Readings January 10 2010 The Baptism of the Lord

January 10 2010 Sunday The Baptism of the Lord

About the sources used. The readings on this site are not official for the Mass of Roman Rite of the Catholic Church in the USA, but are from sources free from copyright. They are here to present the comparable readings alongside traditional Catholic commentary as published in the Haydock Bible for your own personal study. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/ – All possible readings from the USCCB website included.

Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Douay-Rheims Challoner

Behold my servant, I will uphold him: my elect, my soul delighteth in him: I have given my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor have respect to person, neither shall his voice be heard abroad. The bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench, he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not be sad, nor troublesome, till he set judgment in the earth, and the islands shall wait for his law. I the Lord have called thee in justice, and taken thee by the hand, and preserved thee. And I have given thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles: That thou mightest open the eyes of the blind, and bring forth the prisoner out of prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Or

Isaiah  40:1-5, 9-11
Douay-Rheims Challoner

Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.

The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.

Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God:

Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.

Responsorial Psalm 28:1-4, 3, 9-10 (Ps 29 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only (rearranged in Lectionary readings)

Bring to the Lord, O ye children of God:
bring to the Lord the offspring of rams.
Bring to the Lord glory and honour:
bring to the Lord glory to his name:
adore ye the Lord in his holy court.
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;
The Lord is upon many waters.
The voice of the Lord is in power;
the voice of the Lord in magnificence.
the God of majesty hath thundered,
and in his temple all shall speak his glory.
The Lord maketh the flood to dwell:
and the Lord shall sit king for ever.

Readings II – Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38
Haydock New Testament

Then Peter, opening his mouth, said:

In truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh justice, is acceptable to him. God sent the word to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all). You know the word which hath been published through all Judea: for it began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached, Jesus, of Nazareth: how God anointed him with the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil: for God was with him.

Or

Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7
Haydock New Testament

For the grace of God, our Savior, hath appeared to all men, Instructing us, that denying impiety, and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and piously in this world, Waiting for the blessed hope, and coming of the glory of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ: Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people acceptable, pursuing good works.

But when the goodness and kindness of our Savior, God, appeared: Not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost, Whom he hath poured forth upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ, our Savior: That, being justified by his grace, we may be heirs according to hope of life everlasting.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
Haydock New Testament

And as the people were of opinion, and all were thinking in their hearts of John, that perhaps he might be the Christ: John answered, saying to them all:

I indeed baptize you with water: but there shall come one mightier that I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, heaven was opened: And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, as a dove upon him: and a voice came from heaven:

Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.

Haydock Commentary Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. My servant. Christ, who, according to his humanity, is the servant of God, (Ch.) and Redeemer of others; none else being able to satisfy for themselves.  W.  Phil. ii. 7.  C. — This passage clearly refers to the Messias, (Chal.  Kimchi) who was prefigured by Cyrus.  v. 6.  C.  Hugo. — It is quoted by S. Mat. (xii. 18.) who has some variations both from the Heb. and the Sept. (C.) particularly the first part of v. 4. which the Sept. renders, “He shall shine, and shall not be broken.”
• Ver. 4. Islands. Sept. and S. Mat. “the Gentiles shall hope in his name.”  H.
• Ver. 6. Gentiles. This was literally verified in Christ.  Cyrus is also styled the just, (C. xli. 26.) and gave liberty to many nations.
• Ver. 7. House. The Jews out of captivity, prefigured the redemption of mankind.  These miracles proved that Jesus was the Messias.  Lu. vii. 22.

Haydock Commentary Isaiah  40:1-5, 9-11

• Ver. 1. Be. Sept. “comfort my people.”  Let them not be dejected.  H. — The end of the captivity, and still more the coming of the Messias, afford consolation, (C.) and to this the prophet chiefly alludes.  W.
• Ver. 2. Evil. Heb. and some Latin copies have, “warfare.” — Double. A rigorous chastisement.  Apoc. xviii. 6.  C.
• Ver. 3. God, that he may conduct his people from Babylon.  Sanchez. — Yet the prophet speaks chiefly of the baptist, (Mat. iii. 3.  C.) who is evidently foretold.  W.
• Ver. 4. Plain. For the captives, or the conversion of the world.  Bar. v. 6.
• Ver. 5. Glory. God will rescue his people.  Christ will redeem mankind.
• Ver. 9. Thou, female.  How beautiful are the feet of those who announce good tidings!  Rom. x. 15.  H. — Thus a feminine noun is applied to Solomon.  Eccle. i.  Prophets make known to all the coming of the Saviour.  C. — Christ preaches from the mountain, and his apostles over the world.  W.
• Ver. 10. Him. Christ will reward and punish.  Jer. xxxi. 16.  Lu. ii. 34.
• Ver. 11. Young, or have lately had young lambs, fœtas. Jesus is the good shepherd.  Jo. x. 14.

Haydock Commentary Acts 10:34-38

• Ver. 35. In every nation, &c.  That is to say, not only Jews, but Gentiles also, of what nation soever, are acceptable to God, if they fear him, and work justice.  But then true faith is always to be presupposed, without which, (saith S. Paul, Heb. xi. 6.) it is impossible to please God. Beware then of the error of those, who would infer from this passage, that men of all religions may be pleasing to God.  For since none but the true religion can be from God, all other religions must be from the father of lies; and therefore  highly displeasing to the God of truth.  Ch. — He that feareth him, and worketh justice. So he call the prayers, alms-deeds, and charitable works of this Gentile Cornelius.  Wi.
• Ver. 36. God sent the word.[3]  By this word, some understand the eternal Word, the Son of God; but by the next verse, we may rather expound it of the word of the gospel preached.  Jesus Christ . . . he is Lord of all things. A proof of Christ’s divinity.  Wi.
• Ver. 37. For it began, or its beginning was, &c.

Haydock Commentary Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7

• Ver. 11. For the grace of God, our Saviour, hath appeared to all men. In the Greek: For the saving grace of God, &c.  Wi.
• Ver. 12. We should live soberly,[4] and justly, and piously. S. Jerom puts (as in other places for the same Greek word) chastely, justly, and piously. The words comprehend man’s duty to himself, to his neighbour, and towards God.  Wi.
• Ver. 13. Waiting for the blessed hope; for the happiness of the blessed in heaven, promised and hoped for. — And coming of the glory of the great God,[5] and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The title of great God, says Dr. Wells, is here referred to our Saviour Jesus Christ, by Clem. of Alex. in protreptico, c. vi.  He might have added, and by the general consent of the Greek and Latin Fathers.  S. Chrys. here cries out: “where are now they who say that the Son is less than the Father?”  S. Jerom in like manner: “where is the serpent Arius? where is the snake Eunomius?”  And that this title of great God is here given to Jesus Christ, may be shewn from the text itself, especially in the Greek; for the glorious coming, and appearance, in other places of S. Paul, is always used to signify Christ’s coming to judge the world.  Secondly, inasmuch as one and the same Greek article falls upon the great God, and our Saviour Christ; so that even M. Simon, in a note on these words, says the construction is, and the coming of Jesus Christ, the great God, our Saviour, and blames Erasmus and Grotius for pretending that this place is not a confutation of the Arians.  Wi.
• Ver. 14. A people, particularly acceptable.[6]  S. Jerom translates an egregious or eminent people.  He says in the Sept. it corresponds to segula, which signifies a man’s proper possessions, which he has purchased or chosen for himself.  Budeus says it signifies what is rare and uncommon; and it is well translated by the Protestants, a particular people. Wi.
• TITUS 3
• CHAPTER III.
• Ver. 4. The goodness and kindness. Lit. humanity of our Saviour. By humanity[1] some expound Christ’s appearing in his human nature, but by the Greek is meant the love of God towards mankind.  Wi.
• Ver. 5. Not by the works, &c.  S. Paul in this verse alludes to the sacrament of baptism.  This text is brought by divines to prove that baptism, like every other sacrament, produces its effect by its own power, (or, as it is termed in the schools, ex opere operato) independently of any disposition on the part of the receiver.  We are saved, says the apostle, not by the works of justice, or any good works we have performed, but our salvation must be attributed solely to the mercy of our Saviour, God, manifested to us by the washing itself of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost. — By the laver of regeneration, &c.[2]  That is, baptism, by which we are born anew the adoptive children of God, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, whom he hath poured, &c.  Wi.
• Ver. 6. All presumption of human merits, which have not the grace of Jesus Christ for their principle, is here completely confounded; and the whole glory of our salvation is justly attributed to the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ. A new birth, new creature, new spirit.  The effusion of the water upon the body in baptism, is a figure of the salutary effusion of the holy Spirit in the soul to renew it, and to make it a child of God.
• Ver. 7. This admirable, and I may say divine adoption, is the sole foundation of a Christian’s hope, as the eternal life of the blessed is the sole end of this adoption.

Haydock Commentary Luke 3:15-16; 21-22

• Ver. 15. Many reasons might have induced the people to think that John was the Christ: 1. The wonders that took place at his birth and conception, his mother being very old, and without any prospect of offspring: 2. the excellence of his preaching, his mortified life, and the novelty of his baptism; and thirdly, the report which then generally prevailed among the Jews, that the Messias was already come; on account of the coming of the magi, and the murder of the infants by Herod: both which circumstances were probably fresh in their memory; and several perhaps, who witnessed them, were still living.  Dion. Carth.
• Ver. 16. See Matt. iii. 11.  That baptism cannot be valid, in which the name of the Holy Ghost only is invoked.  For, the tradition concerning life-giving grace, must be preserved entire.  To add or to omit any thing, may exclude from life everlasting.  For, as we believe, so also are we baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  S. Basil, l. de Spirit. Sanc. c. xxii. — Fire. This is a metaphor, to signify the Holy Ghost and his gifts, particularly the fire of divine love to the expiation of sins, and is very common in Scripture.  Sometimes also he is represented by water, as in S. John iv. 10, et dein. and vii. 38.-9. Isai. xliv. &c. &c.  Hence, in the hymn to the Holy Ghost, the Church uses both figures.
  • Thou who art call’d the Paraclete,
    Best gift of God above,
    The living Spring, the living Fire,
    Sweet unction and love.
• Ver. 21. The motive of his baptism, as he himself informs us, was, that he himself might fulfil all justice.  What is here meant by justice, but that obligation of doing first ourselves what we wish others to do? — Let no one then refuse the laver of grace, since Christ did not refuse the laver of penance.  S. Amb. — Although all our sins are forgiven in baptism, still the frailty of the flesh is not yet perfectly strengthened.  For, after passing this red sea, we rejoice at the destruction of the Egyptians, but still we must fight with assurance of the grace of Christ, against the enemies we shall undoubtedly meet with in the desert of this world, till at length we arrive at our true country.  Ven. Bede. — It is said the heavens were opened, because they had been hitherto shut.  The sheepfolds of heaven and earth are now united under the one Shepherd of the sheep: heaven is opened, and man, though formed of the earth, is admitted to the company of angels.  S. Chrys.
• Ver. 22. The reason why the Holy Ghost shewed himself in the shape of a dove, was because he could not be seen in the substance of his divinity.  But why a dove?  To express that simplicity acquired in the sacrament of baptism.  Be ye simple as doves; to signify that peace bestowed by baptism, and prefigured by the olive branch which the dove carried back to the ark, a true figure of the Church, and which was the only security from the destructive deluge.  S. Amb. — You will object: Christ, though he was God, would not be baptized till the age of 30, and do you order baptism to be received sooner?  When you say, though he was God, you solve the difficulty.  For, he stood not in need of being purified at all; of course, there could be no danger in deferring his baptism.  But you will have much to answer for, if, being born in corruption, you pass out of this world without the garment of incorruption.  S. Greg. Nazian. orat. 40.

Catena Aurea Luke 3:15-16; 21-22
From Catechetics Online

• ORIGEN; It was meet that more deference should be paid to John than to other men, for he lived such as no other man. Wherefore indeed most rightly did they regard him with affection, only they kept not within due bounds; hence it is said, But while the people were expecting whether he were the Christ.
• AMBROSE; Now what could be more absurd than that he who was fancied to be in another should not be believed in his own person? He whom they thought to have come by a woman, is not believed to have come by a virgin; while in fact the sign of the Divine coming was placed in tile childbearing of a virgin, not of a woman
• ORIGEN; But love is dangerous when it is uncontrolled. For he who loves any one ought to consider the nature and causes of loving, and not to love more than the object deserves. For if he pass the due measure and bounds of love, both he who loves, and he who is loved, will be in sin.
• GREEK EX. And hence, John gloried not in the estimation in which all held him, nor in any way seemed to desire the deference of others, but embraced the lowest humility. Hence it follows, John answered.
• THEOPHYL; But how could he answer them who in secret thought that he was Christ, except it was that they not only thought, but also (as another Evangelist declares) sending Priests and Levites to him asked him whether he was the Christ or not?
• AMBROSE; Or: John saw into the secrets of the heart; but let us remember by whose grace, for it is of the gift of God to reveal things to man, not of the virtue of man, which is assisted by the Divine blessing, rather than capable of perceiving by any natural power of its own. But quickly answering them, he proved that he was not the Christ, for his works were by visible operations. For as man is compounded of two natures, i.e. soul and body, the visible mystery is made holy by the visible, the invisible by the invisible; for by water the body is washed, by the Spirit the soul is cleansed of its stains. It is permitted to us also in the very water to have the sanctifying influence of the Deity breathed upon us. And therefore there was one baptism of repentance, another of grace. The latter was by both water and Spirit, the former by one only; the work of man is to bring forth repentance for his sin, it is the gift of God to pour in the grace of His mystery. Devoid therefore of all envy of Christ’s greatness, he declared not by word but by work that he was not the Christ. Hence it follows, There comes after me one mightier than I. In those words, mightier than I, he makes no comparison, for there can be none between the Son of God and man, but because there are many mighty, no one is mightier but Christ. So far indeed was as he from making comparison, that he adds, Whose shoes latched I am not worthy to unloose.
• AUG. Matthew says, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. If therefore it is worth while to understand any difference in these expressions, we can only suppose that John said one at one time, another at another, or both together, To bear his shoes, and to loose the latchet of his shoes, so that though one Evangelist may have related this, the others that, yet all have related the truth. But if John intended no more when he spoke of the shoes of our Lord but His excellence and his own humility, whether he said loosing the latchet of the shoes, or bearing them, they have still kept the same sense who by the mention of shoes have in their own words expressed the same signification of humility.
• AMBROSE; By the words, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, he shows that the grace of preaching the Gospel was conferred upon the Apostles, who were shod for the Gospel. He seems however to say it, because John frequently represented the Jewish people.
• GREG. But John denounces himself as unworthy to loose the latchet of Christ’s shoes: as if he openly said, I am not able to disclose the footsteps of my Redeemer, who do not presume unworthily to take unto myself the name of bridegroom, for it was an ancient custom that when a man refused to take to wife her whom he ought, whoever should come to her betrothed by right of kin, was to loose his shoe. Or because shoes are made from the skins of dead animals, our Lord being made flesh appeared as it were with shoes, as taking upon Himself the carcass of our corruption. The latchet of the shoe is the connection of the mystery. John therefore can not loose the latchet of the shoe, because neither is he able to fathom the mystery of the Incarnation, though he acknowledged it by the Spirit of prophecy.
• CHRYS. And having said that his own baptism was only with water, he next shows the excellence of that baptism which was brought by Christ, adding, He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and fire, signifying by the very metaphor which he uses the abundance of grace. For he says not, ” He shall give you the Holy Spirit,” but He shall baptize you. And again, by the addition of fire, he shows the power of grace. And as Christ calls the grace of the Spirit, water, meaning by water the purity resulting from it, and the abundant consolation which is brought to minds which are capable of receiving Him; so also John, by the word fire, expresses the fervor and uprightness of grace, as well as the consuming of sins.
• THEOPHYL; The Holy Spirit also may be understood by the word fire, for He kindles with love and enlightens with wisdom the hearts which He fills. Hence also the Apostles received the baptism of the Spirit in the appearance of fire. There are some who explain it, that now we are baptized with the Spirit, hereafter we shall be with fire, that as in truth we are now born again to the remission of our sins by water and the Spirit, so then we shall be cleansed from certain lighter sins by the baptism of purifying fire.
• ORIGEN; And as John was waiting by the river Jordan for those who came to his baptism, and some he drove away, saying, Generation of vipers, but those who confessed their sins he received, so shall the Lord Jesus stand in the fiery stream with the flaming sword, that whoever after the close of this life desires to pass over to Paradise and needs purification, He may baptize him with this laver, and pass him over to paradise, but whoso has not the seal of the former baptisms, him He shall not baptize with the laver of fire.
• BASIL; But because he says, He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, let no one admit that baptism to be valid in which the name of His Spirit only has been invoked, for we must ever keep undiminished that tradition which has’ been sealed to us in quickening grace. To add or take away ought thereof excludes from eternal life.
• Ver 21-22
• AMBROSE; In a matter which has been related by others Luke has rightly given us only a summary, and has left more to be understood than expressed in the fact, that our Lord was baptized by John. As it is said, Now when all were baptized, it came to pass. Our Lord was baptized not that He might be cleansed by the waters but to cleanse them, that being purified by the flesh of Christ who knew no sin, they might possess the power of baptism.
• GREG. NAZ. Christ comes also to baptism perhaps to sanctify baptism, but doubtless to bury the old Adam in water.
• AMBROSE; But the cause of our Lord’s baptism He Himself declares when He says, Thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. But what is righteousness, except that what you would have another do to you, you should first begin yourself, and so by your example encourage others? Let none then avoid the laver of grace, since Christ avoided not the laver of repentance.
• CHRYS. Now there was a Jewish baptism which removed the pollutions of the flesh, not the guilt of the conscience; but our baptism parts us from sin, washes the soul, and gives us largely the outpouring of the Spirit. But John’s baptism was more excellent than the Jewish; for it did not bring men to the observance of bodily purifications, but taught them to turn from sin to virtue. But it was inferior to our baptism, in that it conveyed not the Holy Spirit, nor showed forth the remission which is by grace, for there was a certain end as it were of each baptism. But neither by the Jewish nor our own baptism was Christ baptized, for He needed not the pardon of sins, nor was that flesh destitute of the Holy Spirit which from the very beginning was conceived by the Holy Spirit; He was baptized by the baptism of John, that from the very nature of the baptism, you might know that He was not baptized because He needed the gift of the Spirit. But he says, fitting baptized and praying, that you might consider how fitting to one who has received baptism is constant prayer.
• THEOPHYL; Because though all sins are forgiven in baptism, not as yet is the weakness of this fleshly substance made strong. For we rejoice at the overwhelming of the Egyptians having now crossed the Red sea, but in the wilderness of worldly living there meet us other foes, who, the grace of Christ directing us, may by our exertions be subdued until we come to our own country.
• CHRYS. But he says, The heavens opened, as if till then they had been shut. But now the higher and the lower sheep-fold being brought into one, and there being one Shepherd of the sheep, the heavens opened, and man was incorporated a fellow citizen with the Angels.
• THEOPHYL; For not then were the heavens opened to Him whose eyes scanned the innermost parts of the heaven, but therein is shown the virtue of baptism, that when a man comes forth from it the gates of the heavenly kingdom are opened to him, and while his flesh is bathed unharmed in the cold waters, which formerly dreaded their hurtful touch, the flaming sword is extinguished.
• CHRYS. The Holy Spirit descended also upon Christ as upon the Founder of our race, that He might be in Christ first of all who received Him not for Himself, but rather for us. Hence it follows: And the Holy Spirit descended. Let not any one imagine that He received Him because He had Him not. For He as God sent Him from above, and as man received Him below. Therefore from Him the Spirit fled down to Him, i.e. from His deity to His humanity.
• AUG. But it is most strange that He should receive the Spirit when he was thirty years old. But as without sin He came to baptism, so not without the Holy Spirit. For if it was written of John, He shall be filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb, what must we believe of the man Christ, the very conception of whose flesh was not carnal but spiritual. Therefore He condescended now to prefigure His body, i.e. the Church, in which the baptized especially receive the Holy Spirit.
• CHRYS. That baptism savored partly of antiquity, partly of novelty. For that he should receive baptism from a Prophet showed antiquity, but the Spirit’s descent denoted something new.
• AMBROSE; Now the Spirit rightly showed Himself in the form of a dove, for He is not seen in His divine substance. Let us consider the mystery why like a dove? Because the grace of baptism requires innocence, that we should be innocent as doves. The grace of baptism requires peace, which under the emblem of an olive branch the dove once brought to that ark which alone escaped the deluge.
• CHRYS. Or to show the meekness of the Lord, the Spirit now appears in the form of a dove, but at Pentecost like fire, to signify punishment. For when He was about to pardon offenses, gentleness was necessary; but having obtained grace, there remains for us the time of trial and judgment.
• CYPRIAN; Now the dove is a harmless and pleasant creature, with no bitterness of gall, no fierceness of bite, no violence of rending talons; they love the abodes of men, consort within one home, when they have young nurturing them together, when they fly abroad, hanging side by side upon the wing, leading their life in mutual intercourse, giving with their bills a sign of their peaceful harmony, and fulfilling a law of unanimity in every way.
• CHRYS. Christ indeed had already manifested Himself at His birth by many oracles, but because men would not consult them, He who had in the mean time remained secret, again more clearly revealed Himself in a second birth. For formerly a star in the heavens, now the Father at the waves of Jordan declared Him, and as the Spirit descended upon Him, pouring forth that voice over the head of Him who was baptized, as it follows, And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son.
• AMBROSE; We have seen the Spirit, but in a bodily shape, and the Father whom we cannot see we may hear. He is invisible because He is the Father, the Son also is invisible in His divinity, but He wished to manifest Himself in the body. And because the Father did not take the body, He wished therefore to prove to us that He was present in the Son, by saying, You are my Son.
• ATHAN. The holy Scriptures by the name of Son set forth two meanings; one similar to that spoken of in the Gospel, He gave to them power that they should become the sons of God; another according to which Isaac is the son of Abraham. Christ is not then simply called a Son of God, but the article is prefixed, that we should understand that He alone is really and by nature the Son; and hence He is said to be the Only begotten. For if according to the madness of Arius He is called Son, as they are called who obtain the name through grace, He will seem in no way to differ from us. It remains therefore that in another respect we must confess Christ to be the Son of God, even as Isaac is acknowledged to be the son of Abraham. For that which is naturally begotten of another, and takes not its origin from any thing besides nature, accounts a son. But it is said, Was then the birth of the Son with suffering as of a man? By no means. God since He cannot be divided is without suffering the Father of the Son. Hence He is called the Word of the Father, because neither is the word of man even produced with suffering and since God is by nature one, He is the Father of one only Son, and therefore it is added, Beloved. For when a man has only one son, he loves him very much, but if he becomes father of many, his affection is divided by being distributed.
• ATHAN. But as the prophet had before announced the promise of God, saying, I will send Christ my son, that promise being now as it were accomplished at Jordan, He rightly adds, In you I am well pleased.
• THEOPHYL; As if He said, In You have I appointed My good pleasure, i.e. to carry on by You what seems good to Me.
• GREG. Or else, Every one who by repentance corrects any of his actions, by that very repentance shows that he has displeased himself, seeing he amends what he has done. And since the Omnipotent Father spoke of sinners after the manner of men, saying, It repents me that I have made man, He (so to speak) displeased Himself in the sinners whom He had created. But in Christ alone He pleased Himself, for in Him alone He found no fault that He should blame Himself, as it were, by repentance.
• AUG. But the words of Matthew, This is my beloved Son, and those of Luke, You are my beloved, Son, convey the same meaning; for the heavenly voice spoke one of these. But Matthew wished to show that by the words, This is my beloved Son, it was meant rather to declare to the hearers, that He was the Son of God. For that was not revealed to Christ which He knew, but they heard it who were present, and for whom the voice came.

Daily Scripture Readings Wednesday January 6 2010 Christmas Weekday

January 6 2010 Wednesday Christmas Weekday
Saint of the Day – Blessed André Bessette

About the sources used. The readings on this site are not official for the Mass of Roman Rite of the Catholic Church in the USA, but are from sources free from copyright. They are here to present the comparable readings alongside traditional Catholic commentary as published in the Haydock Bible for your own personal study. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/

1 John 4:11-18
Haydock New Testament

Dearly beloved, if God hath so loved us, we ought to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and his charity is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him, and he in us: because he hath given us of his Spirit: And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father hath sent his Son, the Saviour of the world.

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God. In this is the charity of God perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment: because as he is, we also are in this world. Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear; because fear hath pain: and he that feareth is not perfect in charity.

Responsorial Psalm 71:1-2, 10, 12-13 (Ps 72 NAB)
DR Challoner

Give to the king thy judgment, O God,
and to the king’s son thy justice:
To judge thy people with justice,
and thy poor with judgment.
The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents:
the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts:
For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty:
and the needy that had no helper.
He shall spare the poor and needy:
and he shall save the souls of the poor.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 6:45-52
Haydock New Testament

The Lake of Gennesaret near the Site of Bethsaida

And immediately he obliged his disciples to go up into the ship, that they might go before him over the water to Bethsaida: whilst he dismissed the people. And when he had dismissed them, he went up to the mountain to pray. And when it was late, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone in the land. And seeing them laboring in rowing, (for the wind was against them) and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh to them, walking upon the sea; and he would have passed by them. But they seeing him walking upon the sea, thought it was an apparition, and they cried out. For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he spoke with them, and said to them:

Have a good heart, it is I; fear ye not.

And he went up to them into the ship, and the wind ceased. And they were far more astonished within themselves. For they understood not concerning the loaves: for their heart was blinded.

Haydock Commentary 1 John 4:11-18
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 12. No man hath seen God at any time. No mortal man hath seen God and the perfections of his divine Majesty in such a manner as the blessed in heaven, but we have powerful motives to love and serve him, and to love our neighbour for his sake.  Wi.
• Ver. 17. The charity of God (which may either signify the love by which we love God, or by which God loves us) perfected with us, or in us, and so possesseth our souls, as to give us an humble confidence of our salvation, when we shall appear before his tribunal at the day of judgment: because as he is, we also are in this world. These words are differently expounded.  They may signify, that as this world by his grace are always loving him and our neighbour, and increasing in this love, which gives us a confidence of our salvation.  Or they may bear this sense, that as Jesus Christ was suffering in this world for us, so we are suffering for his sake.  Wi.
• Ver. 18. Fear is not in charity, &c.  By the fear, which a perfect charity and love of God excludes, we may understand a fear of temporal losses in this world, of the loss of goods, of banishment, of torments, of death itself, which the love of God made so many glorious martyrs contemn; or an anxious servile fear of punishment in the next world, for the more perfect charity and the love of God is, so much the more doth it banish this imperfect and servile fear; but as perfect charity does not exclude a love, and constant desire of loving God as our last end, for whose enjoyment we were created, so it does not exclude a fear of displeasing, offending, and losing him by sin.  Wi. — Perfect charity, or love, banisheth human fear, that is, the fear of men; as also all perplexing fear, which makes men mistrust or despair of God’s mercy; and that kind of servile fear, which makes them fear the punishment of sin more than the offence offered to God.  But it no way excludes the wholesome fear of God’s judgments, so often recommended in holy writ, nor that fear and trembling with which we are told to work out our salvation.  Phil. ii. 12.  Ch.

Haydock Commentary Mark 6:45-52

• Ver. 45. The apostles were in a desert place belonging to Bethsaida, which probably was divided from it by some bay or creek, that ran into the land; and Christ only ordered them to pass over this to the city, where he might afterwards have joined them, when he had sent away the people.  But in their passage a great storm arose, and they were driven by an adverse wind to the open sea, towards Capharnaum; or, probably, when they found the wind so violent, afraid of shipwreck if they neared the shore, they rowed out to sea.  This reconciles the seeming discrepance of S. Mark and S. John, when notwithstanding the directions Christ had given his disciples to go before him to Bethsaida, we find them going to Capharnaum.  Rutter.
• Ver. 48. Thus the divine mercy often seems to desert the faithful in the height of tribulation, but God only acts thus, that he may try their patience, and reward them more abundantly.  Nic. de Lyra.
• Ver. 52. They understood not concerning the loaves;[3] i.e. they did not reflect how great a miracle that was which Christ had lately wrought, otherwise they would not have been so much surprised at his walking upon the sea.  Wi.

Daily Scripture Readings Tuesday January 5 2010 Memorial of St John Neumann

January 5 2010 Tuesday Memorial of Saint John Neumann, bishop
Saint of the Day – St. John Neumann

About the sources used. The readings on this site are not official for the Mass of Roman Rite of the Catholic Church in the USA, but are from sources free from copyright. They are here to present the comparable readings alongside traditional Catholic commentary as published in the Haydock Bible for your own personal study. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/

1 John 4:7-10
Haydock New Testament

Dearly beloved, let us love one another: for charity is of God.  And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity. By this hath appeared the charity of God in us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live by him. In this is charity: not as if we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 71:1-2, 3-4, 7-8 (Ps 72 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Give to the king thy judgment, O God,
and to the king’s son thy justice:
To judge thy people with justice,
and thy poor with judgment.
Let the mountains receive peace for the people:
and the hills justice.
He shall judge the poor of the people,
and he shall save the children of the poor:
and he shall humble the oppressor.
In his days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace,
till the moon be taken away.
And he shall rule from sea to sea,
and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 6:34-44
Haydock New Testament

And Jesus going out, saw a great multitude: and he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came to him, saying:

This is a desert place, and the hour is now past: Send them away, that going into the next villages and towns, they may buy themselves meat to eat.

But he answering said to them:

Give you them to eat.

And they said to him:

Let us go and buy bread for two hundred pence, and we will give them to eat.

And he saith to them:

How many loaves have you? go and see.

And when they knew, they say:

Five, and two fishes.

And he commanded them to make them all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves, and the two fishes; looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave to his disciples to set before them: and the two fishes he divided among them all. And they all did eat, and had their fill. And they took up the leavings, twelve full baskets of fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat, were five thousand men.

Haydock Commentary 1 John 4:7-10
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 7. Let us love one another. This is the repeated admonition of S. John, the evangelist, both in this epistle and to the end of his life, as S. Jerom relates in his Epist. ad Galat.  cap. vi. tom. 4, part 1, p. 414) that the apostle being very old, and when carried to Church meetings of the Christians, being desired to give them some exhortation, he scarce said any thing, but “love one another;” and it being tedious to his disciples to hear always the same thing, they desired some other instruction, to whom (says S. Jerom) he gave this answer, worthy of S. John: that this was the precept of our Lord, and that if complied with, it was sufficient. — Charity is of God, is love, is the fountain and source of all goodness and mercy, infinitely good in himself, and in his love and mercy towards mankind.  This love and charity of God hath appeared by his sending his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  See Jo. i. 14. — Thus God having first loved us, (v. 10) when we were sinners, and his enemies, let us not be so ungrateful as not to love him, and to love one another after his example.  Wi.

Haydock Commentary Mark 6:34-44

• Ver. 37. For two hundred pence. See Matt. xviii. 28.  The apostles seem to speak these words ironically, to signify that they had not so much money as could procure a mouthful for each of them.  Wi.

Daily Scripture Readings Monday January 4 2008 Memorial of St Elizabeth Ann Seton

January 4 2010 Monday Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, religious
Saint of the Day – St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

About the sources used. The readings on this site are not official for the Mass of Roman Rite of the Catholic Church in the USA, but are from sources free from copyright. They are here to present the comparable readings alongside traditional Catholic commentary as published in the Haydock Bible for your own personal study. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/

1 John 3:22–4:6
Haydock New Testament

And whatsoever we shall ask, we shall receive of him: because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment: that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ: and love one another, as he hath given commandment unto us. And he that keepeth his commandments, abideth in him, and he in him: and in this we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. By this is the spirit of God known: every spirit which confesseth Jesus Christ to have come in the flesh, is of God: And every spirit, that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God, and this is antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome him, because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them. We are of God.  He that knoweth God, heareth us: He that is not of God, heareth us not: by this we know the Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 2:7bc-8, 10-12a
DR Challoner Text Only

The Lord hath said to me:
Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance,
and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.
And now, O ye kings, understand:
receive instruction, you that judge the earth.
Serve ye the Lord with fear:
and rejoice unto him with trembling.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25
Haydock New Testament

Now when Jesus had heard that John was delivered up, he retired into Galilee: And leaving the city Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capharnaum, on the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: That what was said by Isaias, the prophet, might be fulfilled:

The land of Zabulon and land of Nephthalim, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people that sat in darkness, saw great light: and to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is sprung up.

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say:

Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom: and healing all diseases, and infirmities among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all sick people, that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and such as were possessed by devils and lunatics, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them: And great multitudes followed him from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Haydock Commentary 1 John 3:22–4:6
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 24. We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. These words may be either referred to the body of the Church in general or to the apostles, or to every one in particular.  It is certain that God gave his Spirit to his Church and to the apostles, by the coming of the Holy Ghost in a visible manner, and by the miraculous gifts bestowed upon the apostles; but every one in particular has only a moral certainty that he has the Spirit of God, and his sanctifying grace in his soul.  Wi.
• Ver. 1. Try the spirits; i.e. every doctrine that you hear: for now are many false teachers, false doctors, and false prophets.  Wi. — Try, &c. viz. by examining whether their teaching be agreeable to the rule of the Catholic faith and the doctrine of the Church.  For, as he says, (v. 6) “He that knoweth God, heareth us: (the pastors of the Church) . . . by this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”  Ch. — The Church only, not every private man, hath to prove and discern spirits.
• Ver. 2. By this is the Spirit of God known. He gives the new converts first this general mark, by which they might have good grounds to think that the teachers they met with in those days had a good spirit, were of God, if they confessed and acknowledged Jesus Christ to have come from heaven and to have been made flesh, or made man; i.e. to be truly God and truly man.  But if (v. 3) they met with teachers of such a spirit as dissolveth Jesus,[1] by denying him either to be the Messias or to be truly God, or to be a true man, they might conclude for certain that such men had not a true spirit, but were heretics, antichrists, and forerunners of the great antichrist.  Such, even in S. John’s time, was Simon the magician, who, according to S. Epiphan. (hær. xxi. p. 55. Ed Petav.) pretended among his countrymen, the Samaritans, that he himself was God the Father, and among the Jews that he was God the Son, and that Jesus suffered death in appearance only.  His disciple also, Menander, said he was sent from heaven for the salvation of men.  See S. Epiphan. hær. xxii. p. 61. 3.  Cerinthus, as also Carpocras, held that Jesus was a mere man, born of Joseph and Mary, and also different from Christ.  See S. Epiphan. hær. xxxvii. and xxix. p. 102. and 110. 4.  Ebion held much the same.  See the same S. Epiphan. hær. xxx. p. 142.  These heretics and divers of their followers divided Jesus, and destroyed the faith and mystery of the incarnation.  Wi. — Every spirit which confesseth, &c.  Not that the confession of this point of faith alone, is at all times and in all cases sufficient; but that with relation to that time, and for that part of the Christian doctrine, which was then particularly to be confessed, taught, and maintained against the heretics of those days, this was the most proper token by which the true teachers might be distinguished from the false.  Ch.
• Ver. 3. That dissolveth Jesus, viz. either by denying his humanity or his divinity.  Ch. — This is antichrist;[2] i.e. such is the spirit of antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, or is to come in the latter times. — And he is now already in the world, not the chief and great antichrist, but his precursors, in whom he may be said to come.  Wi. — Ibid. Not in his person, but in his spirit and in his precursors.  Ch.
• Ver. 4. You . . . little children, born anew in Christ by baptism, have overcome him, (i.e. every such antichrist) not by your own strength, but by the grace of Christ, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world; i.e. the Spirit of God in you is above all your enemies.  Wi.
• Ver. 5. They are of the world. Such antichrists and heretics are guided by a worldly spirit, teaching men to follow the corrupt customs and inclinations of the world and the flesh, therefore the world heareth them, and men are more easily seduced by them.  Wi.
• Ver. 6. We (Christians) are of God, have received the Spirit; we, the apostles of Christ, were lawfully sent by him. — He that knoweth God, heareth us, &c.  That is, they who love and serve God, and comply with the doctrine of his Son, Jesus Christ, hear and follow the doctrine which we were commissioned by him to teach. — He that is not of God, heareth us not. They are not of God, who refuse to hear and obey the voice of the Church and those whom Christ appointed to govern his Church, as hath been observed elsewhere. — By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Here S. John gives them the second general mark and rule, to preserve them and all Christians from errors and heresies to the end of the world.  He that knoweth God, heareth us Apostles, whom he sent, and heareth our successors, invested with the same mission and authority, whom Christ sent, as his heavenly Father sent him, whom he appointed to govern his Church, and with whom he promised to remain to the end of the world.  Wi.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

• Ver. 12. Jesus then left the wilderness, and passed a few day on the banks of the Jordan, affording his holy precursor an opportunity of bearing repeated testimony of him and of his divine mission, as we read in the first chap. of S. John, and then retired into Upper Galilee to avoid the fury of the Jews.  There were two Galilees, that of the Jews and that of the Gentiles; this latter was given by the king of Tyre to king Solomon.  S. Jer.  This conduct of Jesus Christ, shews that on some occasions it is not only lawful, but advisable, to flee from persecution.  S. Chry. — Jesus Christ enters more publicly on his mission, and about to occupy the place of his precursor, the baptist, he chooses Galilee for the first theatre of his ministry, the place assigned by the ancient prophets.  The Pharisees had prevailed upon Herod to arrest the baptist, nor could their hatred be less to Jesus Christ, who drew a still greater concourse of disciples after him.
• Ver. 13. Nazareth was situated in Lower Galilee; and Capharnaum, a maritime town, in Higher Galilee.  According to the historian, Josephus, it did not belong to Herod, the tetrarch, who sent the baptist to confinement, but to Philip, the tetrarch, his brother.  C. — He leaves Nazareth for good and all, and retires to Capharnaum, a very flourishing and much frequented emporium, both for the Jews and Gentiles.  Here he makes his chief residence, a place well calculated for his preaching, being on the limits of both Galilees, although he made frequent excursions through Galilee to disseminate his doctrines.  Syn. crit.
• Ver. 15. S. Mat. has omitted in this place part of the prophecy, (Isaiah ix.) because it was not to his purpose.  He has likewise given us the mystical, though still true, interpretation of the prophecy, which was written in the first instance to foretell the deliverance of Jerusalem from Senacherib, in the time of Ezechias.  1 Kings, xix.  Jan.
• Ver. 16. And a light is risen, &c.  This light, foretold by the prophet Isaias, (c. ix, v. 1,) was our Saviour Christ, the light of the world, who now enlightened them by his instructions, and by his grace.  Wi. — Thus when the morning star has gone by and disappeared, the sun rises and diffuses its light to mortals, who rejoice that the darkness of night is removed from the earth.  Jan.
• Ver. 17. Jesus began not to preach till S. John had announced his coming to the world, that the dignity of his sacred person might thus be manifested, and the incredulous Jews be without excuse.  If after the preaching of S. John, and his express testimony of the divinity of our Redeemer, they could still say: thou givest testimony of thyself; thy testimony is not true: what would they not have said, if, without any precursor, he had, all on a sudden, appeared amongst them.  He did not begin to preach till S. John was cast into prison, that the people might not be divided.  On this account also S. John wrought no miracle, that the people might be struck with the miracles of our Saviour, and yield their assent to him.  S. Chry. hom. 14. — It may here be remarked, how different were the motives of the prophets from those which the baptist and Christ made use of to exhort to repentance.  The former menaced evil, and held out a promise of good, but the good or evil was temporal.  S. John begins his exhortations with the threat of eternal punishments—but Christ sweetens the hardships of penance by reminding us of the reward.  “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Jan.
• Ver. 23. The synagogues were religious assemblies with the Jews, wherein they met on the sabbath and festival days, to pray, to read and hear expounded the word of God, and to exercise the other practices of their law.  C.
• Ver. 24. Many came to Christ to beg to be cured of their corporal infirmities; nor do we read of a single one here, who came to be delivered from spiritual sickness.  Our blessed Savior nevertheless, bearing with their imperfection, condescends to heal them, that he might thence take occasion of exciting their faith, and preparing them for their spiritual cure.  Jan. — It is much to be regretted, that the conduct of Christians at the present day, is not more reasonable than that of the Jews here mentioned.  If the Almighty, says the eloquent Masillon, had not the power or will of dispensing goods and evils, how small would be the number of those who would ever retire to the temple to present their petition to Him.  A. — Our Saviour asks not, if they believed, as he did on other occasions; they had given him sufficient proof, by bringing their sick from distant parts.  Chry. hom. xiv.

Sunday Scripture Readings January 3 2010 The Epiphany of the Lord

January 3 2010 Sunday The Epiphany of the Lord

About the sources used. The readings on this site are not official for the Mass of Roman Rite of the Catholic Church in the USA, but are from sources free from copyright. They are here to present the comparable readings alongside traditional Catholic commentary as published in the Haydock Bible for your own personal study. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/ – These links expire, so from now on it will be a link to the main calendar of readings from which you can find the proper calendar day.

Isaiah 60:1-6
Douay-Rheims Challoner

Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.

Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha: all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense: and shewing forth praise to the Lord.

Psalm 71:1-2, 7-8, 10-13 (Ps 72 Heb)
Douay-Rheims Challoner Text Only

Give to the king thy judgment, O God,
and to the king’s son thy justice:
To judge thy people with justice,
and thy poor with judgment.
In his days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace,
till the moon be taken away.
And he shall rule from sea to sea,
and from the river unto the ends of the earth.
The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents:
the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts:
And all kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall serve him.
For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty:
and the needy that had no helper.
He shall spare the poor and needy:
and he shall save the souls of the poor.

Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Haydock NT

If yet you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me towards you: How that, according to the revelation, Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles, and prophets, in the Spirit. That the Gentiles should be coheirs, and of the same body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus, by the Gospel.

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew 2:1-12
Haydock NT

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Saying:

Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and we are come to adore him.

And Herod the king hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And assembling together all the chief priests, and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born. But they said to him:

In Bethlehem of Juda: For so it is written by the prophet: And thou Bethlehem, the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come forth the ruler, who shall rule my people Israel.

Then Herod privately calling the wise men, inquired of them diligently the time of the star’s appearing to them: And sending them into Bethlehem, said:

Go, and search diligently after the child; and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him.

And when they had heard the king, they went their way: and behold the star which they had seen in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was. And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him: and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having received an answer in sleep, that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their own country.

Haydock Commentary Isaiah 60:1-6

• Ver. 1. O Jerusalem, is not in Heb. or S. Jer. but in the Sept. Some few things may refer to the terrestrial Jerusalme, though the prophet speaks chiefly of the celestial and of the Church.—Lord, very great. Christ came to save us. C.—God prevents by his grace, but man must co-operate to be justified. W.
• Ver. 2. People. Babylon shall suffer, while thou art relieved. C.—The Gentiles continue in darkness till they embrace the faith. v. 3. H.—Only those who are in the Church receive the light of truth. W.
• Ver. 3. Rising. The three wise men were the first.
• Ver. 4. Rise up. S. Jerome “suck,” as the Hebrew may imply. C.—Septuagint “shall be carried on the shoulders.” H.—This may refer to the captives and to the Church.
• Ver. 5. Wonder. Heb. and Sept. in S. Jerome “fear.” This senstaiton is often mixed with joy. Mat. 28:8.—Thee. No such nations joined the Jews as they did the Church.
• Ver. 6. Epha. Abraham’s grandson, who dwelt near his father, Madian, in Arabia, which was famous for camels. C.—Saba. India mittit ebur, molles sua thura Sabæi? Geor. i.—The Arabians embraced the gospel, but never broughrt their treasure to Jerusalem. C.—The three kings came on swift beasts to adore Christ, and fulfilled his prophecy. Mat. 2. W.

Haydock Commentary Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6

• Ver. 2. If yet you have heard. If yet doth not imply a doubt, but is the same as, for you have heard the dispensation. This word, dispensation, is divers times taken by S. Paul to signify the manner by which a thing is done, or put in execution; the sense therefore here is, for you have heard how by the grace of God I have been made your apostle. Wi.
• Ver. 3. What’s here deals with something no included in this so I will save it for later to prevent confusion. They separated verses in a proper manner according to the section they needed, but it’s nonsensical to include the actual explanation. This only applies for the readings for 1/6/2008. If you see this at another date please say so.
• Ver. 5. As it is now revealed. S. Paul, as both S. Jerome and S. Chrysostom take notice, does not absolutely say that this mystery was not known, but only not known as it was afterwards to the apostles. For whether by this mystery we understand the incarnation of Christ, o rhte uniting of the Jews and Gentiles into one Church, we cannot dobut but both were revealed to Abraham, to David, to many prophets and just men in the time of the law; but now it was revealed and made known to all. Wi.
• Ver. 6. That the Gentiles should be coheirs, &c. This is the mystery which was heretorefore unknown, and now revealed. This is what the greatest part of the Jews could never be brought to believe, that the Gentiles should be equally sharers with them of God’s promises and blessings. They were strangely scandalized that S. Peter should receive Cornelius, an uncircumcised man, into the same communion. On the like account they persecuted S. Paul. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 2:1-12

• Ver. 1. King Herod the Great, surnamed Ascalonite, was a foreigner, but a proselyte to the Jewish religion. S. Jerome.—This city is called Bethlehem of Juda, to distinguish it from another Bethlehem, which was situated in the division of the tribe of Zabulon. A.—Wise men. Both the Latin and Greek text may signify wise philosophers and astronomers, which is the common exposition. The same word is also many times taken for a magician or soothsayer, as it is applied to Simon, (Acts viii. 9,) and to Elymas, Acts xiii, v. 6. and 8. Some ancient interpreters think these very men might have been magicians before their conversion. See a Lapide, &c.—From the east. Some say from Arabia, others from Chaldea, others from Persia. Divers interpreters speak of them as if they had been kings, princes, or lords of some small territories. See Baron. an. i. sect. 29. Tillemont, note 12. on Jesus Christ. The number of these wise men is uncertain. S. Leo, in his sermons on the Epiphany, speaks of them as if they had been three, perhaps on account of their three-fold offerings. What is mentioned in later writers as to their names, is still of less authority, as Bollandus observed. There are also very different opinions as to the time that the star appeared to these wise men, whether before Christ’s birth, or about the very time he was born, which seems more probable. The interpreters are again divided as to the year, and day of the year, when they arrived at Bethlehem, and adored the Saviour of the world. Some think not till two years after Christ’s birth. See S. Epiphan. haer. xxx. num. 29. p. 134. And S. Jerome puts the massacre of the Holy Innocents about that time in his chronicle. But taking it for granted that the wise men came to Jerusalem and to Bethlehem the same year that Christ was born, it is not certain on what day of the year they adored him at Bethlehem. It is true the Latin Church, ever since the 4^th or 5^th age, has kept the feast of the Epiphany on the 6^th day of January. But when it is said in that day’s office, This day a star led the wise men to the manger, it may bear this sense only, this day we keep the remembrance of it; especially since we read in a sermon of S. Maximus (appointed to be read in the Roman Breviary on the 5^th day within the octave of the Epiphany) these words: What happened on this day, he knows that wrought it; whatever it was, we cannot doubt but it was done in favour of us. The wise men, by the 11^th verse, found Jesus at Bethlehem, where his blessed mother was to remain forty days, till the time of her purification was expired. And it seems most probable that the wise men came to Bethlehem about that time, rather than within the thirteen days after Christ’s birth: for had they come so soon after Christ was born, and been directed to go, and make a diligent inquiry at Bethlehem, which was not above five miles from Jerusalem, it can scarcely be imagined that so suspicious and jealous a prince as Herod was, would have waited almost a month for their return without searching for the new-born king. But it is likely, being again alarmed by what happened when Jesus was presented in the temple at his mother’s purification, he thereupon gave those cruel and barbarous orders for the massacre of those innocent infants. Wi.
• Ver. 2. We have seen his star. They knew it to be his star, either by some prophecy among them, or by divine revelation. This star was some lightsome body in the air, which at last seemed to point to them the every place where the world’s Redeemer lay. We know not whether it guided them during the whole course of their journey from the East to Jerusalem. We read nothing more in the gospel, but that it appear to them in the East, and that they saw it again, upon their leaving Jerusalem to go to Bethlehem. Wi.—The wise men, in the Syrian tongue maguscha, are supposed to have come from Stony Arabia, near the Euphrates. They might have preserved in this country the remembrance of the prophecy of Balaam, which had announced the coming of the Messias by the emblem of a star, (Num. xxiv. 17.) which was to arise from Jacob. The star which appeared then, was the symbol of the star which Balaam had predicted. A.
• Ver. 3. Through fear of losing his kingdom, he being a foreigner, and had obtained the sovereignty by violence. But why was all Jerusalem to be alarmed at the news of a king so long and so ardently expected? 1. Because the people, well acquainted with the cruelty of Herod, feared a more galling slavery. 2. Through apprehension of riots, and of a revolution, which could not be effected without bloodshed, as the Romans had such strong hold. They had also been so worn down with perpetual wars, that the most miserable servitude, with peace, was to the Jews an object rather of envy than deprecation. A.
• Ver. 6. And thou Bethlehem, &c. This was a clear prophecy concerning the Messias, foretold by Micheas; (c. v. 2,) yet the words which we read in the evangelist are not quite the same as we find in the prophet, either according to the Hebrew or to the Greek text of the Sept. The chief difference is, that in the prophet we read: And thou Bethlehem art little; but in the evangelist, thou art not the least. Some answer that the words of the prophet are to be expounded by way of an interrogation, art thou little? It is certain the following words, both in the prophet and in the gospel, out of thee shall come forth a leader or a captain, &c. shew that the meaning is, thou art not little. S. Jerome’s observation seems to clear this point: he tells us, that the Jewish priests, who were consulted, gave Herod the sense, and not the very words of the prophet; and the evangelist, as an historian, relates to us the words of these priests to Herod, not the very words of the prophet. Wi.—The testimony of the chief priests proves that this text of Micheas was even then generally applied to the Messias, and that to Him alone it must be referred according to the letter. V.
• Ver. 11. And going into the house. Several of the Fathers in their homilies, represent the wise men adoring Jesus in the stable, and in the manger. Yet others, with S. Chrys. take notice, that before their arrival, Jesus might be removed into some little house in Bethlehem.—Prostrating themselves, or falling down, they adored him, not with a civil worship only, but enlightened by divine inspiration, they worshipped and adored him as their Saviour and their God.—Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Divers of the ancient Fathers take notice of the mystical signification of these offerings; that by gold was signified the tribute they paid to him, as to their king; by incense, that he was God; and by myrrh, (with which dead bodies used to be embalmed) that now he was also become a mortal man. See Amb. 1. 2. in Luc. c. ii. S. Greg. &c. Wi.—The Church sings, “hodie stella Magos duxit ad praesepium,” but it is not probable that the blessed Virgin should remain so long in the open stable, and the less so, because the multitude, who hindered Joseph from finding accommodations either among his relatives or in the public caravansaries, had returned to their own homes. E.—They adored Him. Therefore, in the Eucharist also, Christ is to be adored. For it is of no consequence under what appearance he is pleased to give himself to us, whether that of a perfect man, a speechless child as here, or under the appearance of bread and wine, provided it is evident that he is there; for in whatever manner or place he appears, he is true God, and for that alone he is to be adored. Frivolous is the objection of certain sectarists, that Christ does not give himself to us in the blessed Eucharist to be adored, but to be eaten. For Christ was not in Bethlehem, nor did he descend from heaven to be adored: He tells us in the 20^th chap of Matthew, v. 28, that the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister; yet he was adored on earth, even while he was in his mortal state, by the magi, by his disciples, by the blind man that was cured of his blindness, &c. &c. “Let us imitate the magi. Thou seest him not now in the crib, but on the altar; not a woman holding him, but the priest present, and the Holy Ghost poured out abundantly upon the sacrifice.” S. Chrys. hom. xxiv. 1 Cor. Hom. vii. de Sancto Philog.