Daily Bible Readings Commentary October 11 Thursday 27th Week Ordinary Time Catholic Church

October 11 2007 Thursday 27^th Week 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 – http://www.usccb.org/nab/101107.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Malachi 3:13-20b (NAB) or 3:13-18 & 4:1-6
Douay-Challoner Text from SacredBible.org

Text not a perfect match. Numbering variations & additional text.

13 Your words have been unsufferable to me, saith the Lord.
14 And you have said: What have we spoken against thee? You have said: He laboureth in vain that serveth God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked sorrowful before the Lord of hosts?
15 Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up, and they have tempted God and are preserved.
16 Then they that feared the Lord, spoke every one with his neighbour: and the Lord gave ear, and heard it: and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that fear the Lord, and think on his name.
17 And they shall be my special possession, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I do judgment: and I will spare them, as a man spareth his son that serveth him.
18 And you shall return, and shall see the difference between the just and the wicked: and between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.
4:1 For behold the day shall come kindled as a furnace: and all the proud, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall set them on fire, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not leave them root, nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise, and health in his wings: and you shall go forth, and shall leap like calves of the herd.
3 And you shall tread down the wicked when they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, the precepts, and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers: lest I come, and strike the earth with anathema.

Haydock Commentary Malachi 3:13-20b (Here 3:13-18 & 4:1-2+3-6)

• Ver. 14. Vain. Murmuring against God is blasphemous and unsufferable. When the Jews were punished by famine, for neglecting to pay tithes, they laid the blame on God, as if he took more care of other nations which had abundance. W.—Sorrowful: “humbled.” Chal. “in mourning.” Jun.—But it seems to denote downcast countenances, which our Saviour orders his disciples not to affect. Mat. vi. 16.  C.
• Ver. 15. Proua. Sept. “strange.”  H.—Z has been taken for a v.—Built up: have a numerous family, (C.) and abundance.—Tempted. Sept. “resisted.”
• Ver. 16. Then. Grabe changes ταυτα(?), these things, into τοτε, then. The Sept. make the pious express the former sentiments. H.—David, Jeremias, &c. had experienced such anxiety. Ps. lxxii. 2.  C.—According to the Heb. &c. the just hearing such blasphemies, doubt not but God will mark them in the book (H.) of his justice, and punish them.
• Ver. 17. Possession; (peculium) the property of a slave. C.—Such look upon the smallest things with eagerness. Heb. segula, (H.) means some precious thing C.—Spare. Sept. “chose,” &c.  H.
• Ver. 1. Ch. 4. Furnace. At the day of judgment, the difference between the just and the wicked will plainly appear.  W.—This sense is most generally given, as well as to those words where our Saviour speaks fo the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the end of the world together. Mat. xxiv. 3. Lu. xxi. 5. Yet the prophet may also allude to the punishment of the Jews by the Romans, when all were assembled at the Passover, (C.) a scourge which the Christians escaped by returing to Pella. Eus. Hist. iii. 5.—Proud. Sept. “strangers.” C.—Branch. No hope shall remain. M.
• Ver. 2. Wings. The sun is represented with wings, to imply celerity. The appearance of the Lord will be most acceptable to the virtuous. C.—Look up, for your redemption is at hand. Lu. xxi. 28.—Herd. Prot. “stall.” Heb. marbek, (H.) “fattened;” though some explain it of oxen treading out corn: they would not however leap, nor fatten so much. C.
• Ver. 3. Ashes, burnt in Jerusalem.  H.—Christians rejoiced in the execution of divine justice. The Jews were not allowed to approach the new city, Elia. S. Jerome.
• Ver. 4. Law.  This must be your guide and comfort. No more prophets shall appear before the Baptist. C.
• Ver. 5. Elias. Sept. add, “the Thesbite;” and S. Jerome (in Mat. xvii.) says, that Elias shall indeed come and restore all things.—Dreadful. Christ’s first coming was in all meekness; but he will judge in terror. Hence the prophet’ meaning is not that S. John, but that Elias shall come before the great day of the Lord. W.—Yet we may understand it of Christ coming into the world to preach, and again to judge. His first coming proved terrible to the perfidious Jews, whose ruin presently ensued. The destruction of Jerusalem was a figure of that which the world shall experience. C.—This shall be preceded by the preaching of Elias. N. Alex. Diss. vi.—This interpretation seems very striking and natural, though the prophet may have had the first coming of Christ and the ruin of the city chiefly in view. Our Saviour testifies that the Elias whom the Jews expected was already come. Mat. xi. 14. and xvii. 11. Lu. ix. 8. C.
• Ver. 6. Heart, &c. By bringing over the Jews to the faith of Christ, he shall reconcile them to their fathers, viz. the patriarchs and prophets, whose hearts for many ages have been turned away from them, because of their refusing to believe in Christ. Ch.—The antipathy of Jews and Gentiles shall cease. Both shall enter the Church of Christ. Is. xi. 13. The Baptist strove to ameliorate the manners of the people, and to bring all to Christ, who reconciles all seeming contradictions in the Scriptures. He came to put an end to all dissensions. C.—Yet the wicked will still have war. Mat. x. 35. H.—Christ will convert those Jews at last, (Rom. xi. 26. C.) who have not yet opened their eyes. Their fathers, the apostles and first converts, have long ago shewn them the example. H.—Anathema. In the Heb. cherem, that is, with utter destruction. Ch.—Sept. “entirely,” (C.) or “suddenly;” S. Jerome. Deut. vii. 26.—This passage intimates that the ruin of Jerusalem is threatened. If people should be converted, would that stop the general conflagration? C.—Some of our crafty adversaries have inferred from the above explanation of anathema, that the Church means heretics to be destroyed: but her kingdom is not of this world: she speaks only of the soul, and exercises a spiritual power. H.

 

The Gospel According to Luke 11:5-13
Haydock New Testament

5 And he said to them:

Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him: ‘Friend, lend me three loaves? 6 For a friend of mine is come off his journey to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 And he from within, should answer and say: ‘Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed: I cannot rise and give thee.’ 8Yet if he shall continue knocking: I say to you, although he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend: yet because of his importunity he will rise, and give him as many as he needeth.

9 And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. 10 For everyone that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

11 And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will give him a stone? Or a fish, will he, for a fish, give him a serpent? 12 Or, if he shall ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion?

13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?

Haydock Commentary Luke 11:5-13

• Ver. 5. This parable is not found in any one of the evangelists, except S. Luke. Our Saviour having taught his disciples the aforesaid form of prayer, now shews them the utility and efficacy of prayer in general. He wishes to inculcate the necessity of perseverance in prayer. A friend comes to borrow of another firend at an unseasonable hour; his request is refused; he insists, and obtains, by his perseverance, what he could not have gained without it. Thus also the Almighty wishes to be importuned; he wishes us to pray with zeal and perseverance. This is the model we ought to follow. Calmet.—God would not exhort us so earnestly to pray, unless he was ready to grant our petitions. Let us blush at our sloth: he is more ready to give than we are to receive. S. Austin.
• Ver. 8. After our Saviour had given his apostles this form of prayer, knowing that men would recited it with remissness and negligence, and then on account of not being heard, would desist, he teaches here to avoid this pusillanimity in prayer; perseverance in our petitions being the most advantageous. S. Cyril, ex. Divo. Thoma.
• Ver. 9. Our petitions are frequently not immediately granted, that our earnestness and assiduity may be increased; that we may learn to esteem the gifts of God, and preserve them with care; for whatever we procure with labour, we preserve with care, lest by losing it we lose our labour also. S. Basil in Con. Mon.
• Ver. 10. How comes it to pass then, that many pray, and receive not? To this we answer, that if they approach in a proper manner, and observe the necessary conditions of the petition, they will undoubtedly receive what they ask for; but if, on the contrary, they deviate from this rule, and ask not, as they ought, they will not receive; because as S. James says, you ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss. Chap. i. By asking for things that are prejudical to your wellbeing; or, if for spiritual blessings, you do not receive them, on account of your evil motives. Origen ex. S. Thoma.