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Sept 23 2007 Bible Readings 25th Sunday Ordinary Time
About the sources used.
The readings on this site are not official for the Mass of Roman Catholic Church, 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.
Official Readings of the Liturgy at – dead link removed – Go here for NAB translation
Amos 8:4-7
from Douay-Rheims at SacredBible.org
4 Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of the land to fail, 5 Saying: When will the month be over, and we shall sell our wares: and the sabbath, and we shall open the corn: that we may lessen the measure, and increase the sicle (shekel*), and may convey in deceitful balances, 6 That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn?
7 The Lord hath sworn against the pride of Jacob: surely I will never forget all their works.
Haydock Commentary Amos 8:4-7
- Ver. 5. Month: the first day was observed as a festival. Num. x. 10. H.—At the expiration of the month usurers demanded their money. Hor. i. sat. 3. Aristoph. Nub. ii. 1.—Corn,to sell after the sabbatical year, when it was dearest. Sabbath also denotes all “festivals.” These misers think that there are too many.—Sicle. Having a large measure to buy, and a small one to sell again. Deut. xxv. 13. Prov. xx. 10.
- Ver. 6. Shoes, for almost nothing. Thus they forced the poor to serve, or to sell their effects.
- Ver. 7. Jacob, because the rich despise the poor. It may also mean, that he swore by heaven or the temple, (Lev. xxvi. 19.) or that he would destroy the high places. C.
1 Timothy 2:1-8 Haydock NT
Chap. II
Prayers are to be said for all men: because God wills the salvation of all.
Women are not to teach*
I DESIRE, therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings, be made for all men: 2 For kings, and for all who are in high station, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all piety and chastity. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Saviour, 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: 6 Who gave himself a redemption for all, a testimony in due times: 7 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, (I say the truth, I lie not) a doctor of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 I will, therefore, that men pray in every place, lifting up pure hands without anger and strife.
*Reference to section 1 Tim 2:9-15.
Haydock Commentary 1 Timothy 2:1-8
· Ver. 1. Intercessions, as in the Prot. Translation. If men’s intercessions to God in favour of others, are no injury to Christ, as our mediator, how can it be any injury to Christ for the Angels and saints in heaven to pray or intercede to God for us? Wi.—S. Austin writes thus on this verse: By supplications are meant what are said before the consecration. By prayers, what are said in and after the consecration and communion, at mass, including the Pater Noster; which S. Jerome also says, our Lord taught his apostles to recite at the daily sacrifice of his body. l. iii. cont. Pelag. C. 5. By intercessions, what are said after the communion: and by thanksgivings, what both priest and people give to God for so great a mystery then offered and received. ep. 50. ad. Paulin. See S. Chrys. in hunc locum.
· Ver. 2. For kings, who were then heathens, this being in Nero’s time. Wi.—Upon the happiness of the king generally depends that of his subjects. We pray for the emperors, says Tertullian, that God would grant them a long life, a secure throne, and a safe family, brave armies, a faithful council, and a just people. In fine, that he would grant them peace, and whatever else they could wish, either for themselves or their empire. Apologet. Cap. 30.
· Ver. 4. All men to be saved. They contradict this, and other places of the Scripture, as well as the tradition and doctrine of the Catholic Church, who teach that God willeth only the salvation of the predestinated, of the elect, and as they say, of the first-begotten only: and that he died only for them, and not for all mankind. But if it is the will of God that all and every one be saved, and no one resists, or can frustrate the will of the Almighty, whence comes it that every one is not saved? To understand and reconcile divers places in the holy Scriptures, we must needs distinguish in God a will that is absolute and effectual, accompanied with the special graces and assistances, and with the gift of final perseverance, by which, through his pure mercy, he decreed to save the elect, without any prejudice to their free will and liberty; and a will, which by the order of Providence, is conditional, and this not a metaphorical and improper will only, but a true and proper will, by which he hath prepared and offered graces and means to all men, whereby they may work their salvation; and if they are not saved, it is by their own fault, by their not corresponding with the graces offered, it is because they resist the Holy Ghost. Acts vii. 51. If in this we meet with difficulties, which we cannot comprehend, the words of S. Paul, (Rom. ix. 20.) O man, who are thou, who repliest against God? May be sufficient to make us work our salvation with fear and trembling. Wi.
· Ver. 5-6. One mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: who gave himself a redemption for all. Take these words together, and we may easily understand in what sense the apostle calls our Saviour Christ, the one or only mediator; that is, he is the only mediator, who at the same time is our Redeemer; the only mediator who could mediate betwixt God, the person offended by sin, and men the offenders; the only mediator who reconciled God to mankind by his incarnation and death, by the infinite price of his blood, by his own merits, independently of the merits of any other. All Catholics allow that the dignity and office of mediator in this sense belongs only to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, made man to save us. The sense then of this place is, that as there is but one God, who created all, so there is but one mediator, who redeemed all. But yet the name of mediator is not so appropriated to Christ, but that in an inferior and different sense the Angels and saints in heaven, and even men on earth, who pray to God for the salvation of others, may be called mediators, intercessors, or advocates; and we may apply ourselves to them to pray, interceded , and mediate for us, without any injury to Christ, since we acknowledge that all their intercession and mediation is always grounded on the merits of Christ, our Redeemer. The same word for mediator, in the Greek as well as in the Latin, is given to Moses, God’s servant. Gal. iii. 19. See also Deut. v. 5. The words of our Saviour himself, (Mat. xxiii.) taken according to the letter, contain an express prohibition of being called masters, or fathers; and this reason is given, because all men have one Father in heaven, and because Christians have one master, Christ. Yet no one can justly pretend from thence, that in a different sense, a man may not be called father or master, without any injury to God, or to Christ. Wi.—Christ is the one and only mediator of redemption; who gave himself, as the apostle writes, a redemption for all. He is also the only mediator, who stands in need of no other to recommend his petitions to the Father. But this is not against our seeking the prayers and intercessions, as well of the faithful upon earth, as of the saints and Angels in heave, for obtaining mercy, grace, and salvation, through Jesus Christ. As S. Paul himself often desired the help of the prayers of the faithful, without any injury to the mediatorship of Jesus Christ. Ch.—If there be other mediators among the Angels and saints, they are only so in subordination to the first, who by themselves have no right to mediation or favours, and who cannot demand them but through the merits of him who is our only essential mediator. Estius, Menoch. &c. Consult. Judg. iii. 9. 2 Esdras. ix 17. Acts vii. 35.—A redemption for all. Not only for the predestinate, not only for the just, not only for the faithful, but for all Gentiles and infidels: and therefore he says again, (c. iv. 10.) that Christ is the Saviour of all men, and especially of the faithful. See S. Aug. and S. Chrysostom. Wi.
· Ver. 8. How beautifully does S. Paul teach that modesty and chastity are the greatest ornaments of the female sex, not only in the sight of God and of Angels, but also of men, who although by their own neglect they have not always grace and courage sufficient to be virtuous themselves, cannot help admiring virtue wherever they see it in others. Even the pagan fully acknowledges the native attractions of virtue. Virtus per se placet: Virtue pleases with unborrowed charms.
Luke 16:1-13 Haydock NT
CHAP. XVI
The parable of the unjust steward: of the rich man and Lazarus.
AND he said also to his disciples:
There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods. 2 And he called him, and said to him:
‘How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship: for now thou canst be steward no longer.’
3 And the steward said within himself: ‘What shall I do, for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able: To beg I am ashamed. 4 I know what I will do, that when I shall be put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’
5 Therefore, calling together every one of his lord’s debtors, he said to the first: ‘How much dost thou owe my lord?’
6 But he said: ‘A hundred barrels of oil.’
And he said to him: ‘Take thy bill: and sit down quickly, and write fifty.’
7 Then he said to another: ‘And how much dost thou owe?’
Who said: ‘A hundred quarters of wheat.’
He said to him: ‘Take thy bill and write eighty.’
8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely: for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.
9 And I say to you: Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings. 10 He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: And he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust in that which is greater. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unjust mammon, who will trust you with that which is the true? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s: who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters: for either you he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other: you cannot serve God and mammon.
Haydock Commentary Luke 16:1-13
· Ver. 1. There was a certain rich man,&c. By this parable, our Saviour advises his disciples to accompany their penitential works with deeds of mercy to the poor. Ven. Bede.—There is a certain erroneous opinion, that obtains pretty generally amongst mankind, and which tends to increase crimes, and to lessen good works: and this is, the foolish persuasion that men are not accountable to anyone, and that we can dispose as we please of the things in our possession. S. Chrys.—Whereas we are here informed, that we are only the dispensers of another’s property, viz. God’s. S. Amb.—When, therefore, we employ it not according to the will of our Master, but fritter and squander it away in pleasure, and in the gratification of our passions, we are, beyond all doubt, unjust stewards. Theophylactus.—And a strict account will be required of what we have thus dissipated, by our common Lord and Master. If then we are only stewards of that which we possess, let us cast from our minds that mean superciliousness and pride which the outward splendour of riches is so apt to inspire; and let us put on the humility, the modesty of stewards, knowing well that to whom much is given, much will be required. Abundance of riches makes not a man great, but the dispensing them according to the will and intention of his man great, but the dispensing them according to the will and intention of his employer. A.—The intention of this parable, is to shew what use each one ought to make of the goods which God has committed to his charge. In the three former parables, addressed to the murmuring Scribes and Pharisees, our Saviour shews with what goodness he seeks the salvation and conversion of a sinner; in this, he teaches how the sinner, when converted, ought to correspond to his vocation, and preserve with great care the inestimable blessing of innocence. Calmet.—A steward, &c. The parable puts us in mind, that let men be ever so rich or powerful in this world, God is still their master; they are his servants, and must be accountable to him how they have managed his gifts and favours; that is, all things they have had in this world. Wi.
· Ver. 2. And he called him, &c. Such are the words which our Lord daily addresses to us. We daily see persons equally healthy, and likely to live as ourselves, suddenly summoned by death, to give an account of their stewardship. Happy summons to the faithful servant, who has reason to hope in his faithful administration. Not so to the unfaithful steward, whose pursuits are earthly: death to him is terrible indeed, and his exit is filled with sorrow. All thunderstricken at these words, “now thou canst be steward no long,” he says within himself, what shall I do! Ex. D. Thoma.
· Ver. 8. And the lord commended, &c. By this we are given to understand, that if the lord of this unjust steward could commend him for his worldly prudence, though it were an overt act of injustice; how much more will the Almighty be pleased with those who, obedient to his command, seek to redeem their sins by alms-deeds? Ex. D. Thoma.—“Give alms out of thy substance,” says holy Toby to his son, “and turn not thy face from any poor person: for so it shall come to pass, that the face of the Lord shall not be turned from thee. According to thy abilities be merciful. If thou hast much, give abundantly; if thou hast little, take care, even of that little, to bestow willingly a little. For thus thou storest up to thyself a good reward, for the day of necessity. For alms deliver from sin, and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness.” Tob. iv. 7, 8, &c. Ibidem.—Children of this world, &c. are more prudent and circumspect as to what regards their temporal concerns, than they who profess themselves servants of God, are about the concerns of eternity.—Commended the unjust steward. Lit. the steward of iniquity: not for his cheating and injustice, but for his contrivances in favour of himself.—In their generation; i.e. in their concerns of this life. They apply themselves with greater care and pains, in their temporal affairs, than the children of light, whom God has favoured with the light of faith, do to gain heaven. Wi.
· Ver. 9. Make to yourselves friends, &c. Not that we are authorized to wrong our neighbor, to give to the poor: evil is never to be done, that good may come from it. D. Thomas.—But we are exhorted to make the poor our friends before God, by relieving them with the riches which justly indeed belong to us, but are called the mammon of iniquity, because only the iniquitous man esteems them as riches, on which he sets his affections; whilst the riches of the virtuous are wholly celestial and spiritual. S. Aug. de quaest. Evang.—Of the mammon of iniquity. Mammon is a Syriac word for riches; and so it might be translated, of the riches of iniquity. Riches are called unjust, and riches of iniquity, not of themselves, but because they are many times the occasion of unjust dealings, and of all kind of vices. Wi.—Mammon signifies riches. They are here called the mammon of iniquity, because oftentimes ill-gotten, ill-bestowed, or an occasion of evil; and at the best are but worldly and false: and not the true riches of a Christian.—They may receive. By this we see, that the poor servants of God, whom we have relieved by our alms, may hereafter, by their intercession, bring our souls to heaven. Ch.—They may receive you into their eternal tabernacles. What a beautiful thought this! What a consolation to the rich man, when the term of his mortal existence is approaching, to think he shall have as many advocates to plead for his admittance into the eternal mansions of rest, as he has made friends among the poor by relieving their temporal wants. The rich give to the poor earthly treasures, the latter return in recompense eternal and infinite happiness. Hence we must infer, that the advantage is all on the side of the giver; according to the saying of our Lord, happier is the condition of him who gives, than of him who receives. A.
· Ver. 10. He that is faithful in that which is least. This seems to have been a common saying, and that men judged of the honesty of their servants by their fidelity in lesser matters. For example, a master that sees his servant will not steal a little thing, judges that he will not steal a greater, &c.—And he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater. The interpreters take notice, that here temporal goods are called little, and spiritual goods are called greater; so that the sense is, that such men as do not make a right use of their temporal goods, in the service of God, will not make a good use of spiritual graces as they ought to do. See Maldonatus. Wi.
· Ver. 11. If then you have not been faithful in the unjust mammon; i.e. in fading and false riches, which are the occasion of unjust and wicked proceedings.—Who will trust you with that which is the true? i.e. God will not intrust you with the true and spiritual riches of his grace. Wi.
· Ver. 12. And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s: so again is called false worldly wealth, which passeth from one to another; so that it cannot be called a man’s own, who will give you that which is your own? i.e. how can you hope that God will bestow upon you, or commit to your care, spiritual riches or gifts, which, when rightly managed, would be your own for all eternity? See S. Aug. l. ii. qq. Evang. q. 35. p. 263. Wi.—That which is another’s. Temporal riches may be said to belong to another, because they are the Lord’s; and we have only the dispensing of them: so that when we give alms, we are liberal of another’s goods. But if we are not liberal in giving what is another’s, how shall we be so in giving our own? Nothing one would have thought so properly belonged to the Jews, as the kingdom of heaven, the preaching of the gospel, and the knowledge of heavenly things. But they were deprived of all for their infidelity in the observance of the law, which was first intrusted to them. Calmet.
· Ver. 13. No servant can serve two masters, &c. This is added to shew us, that to dispose of our riches according to the will of the Almighty, it is necessary to keep our minds free from all attachment to them. Theophylactus.—Let the avaricious man here learn, that to be a lover of riches, is to be an enemy of Christ. Ven. Bede.
