Caught up

I caught up with the readings this evening. Everything is returning to normal and I had the time.

Saturday and Monday are now backdated to the right days. I really want to start including the Psalms, but they add substantially to the time. Once they’re done they’re done, however.

Sunday Bible Readings 30th Sunday Ordinary Time October 28 2007 with Traditional Catholic Commentary

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October 28 2007 Bible Readings 30th 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 – http://www.usccb.org/nab/102807.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

******Note: I messed up with today’s reading. The verses were different numbers according to the Douay-Rheims and I just caught it. If you’re one of the 235 people who read it when it was wrong, I’m very sorry about that. It’s fixed now.

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 35:12-18(NAB) (DR text is verses 15-22)
DR-Challoner OT from SacredBible.org

15 And look not upon an unjust sacrifice, for the Lord is judge, and there is not with him respect of person.
16 The Lord will not accept any person against a poor man, and he will hear the prayer of him that is wronged.
17 He will not despise the prayers of the fatherless: nor the widow, when she poureth out her complaint.
18 Do not the widow’s tears run down the cheek, and her cry against him that causeth them to fall?
19 For from the cheek they go up even to heaven, and the Lord that heareth will not be delighted with them.
20 He that adoreth God with joy, shall be accepted, and his prayer shall approach even to the clouds.
21 The prayer of him that humbleth himself, shall pierce the clouds: and till it come nigh he will not be comforted: and he will not depart till the most High behold.
22 And the Lord will not be slack, but will judge for the just, and will do judgment: and the Almighty will not have patience with them, that he may crush their back:

Psalm 33 LXX or 34 Hebrew
DR-Challoner OT from SacredBible.org
No commentary yet

1 For David, when he changed his countenance before Achimelech, who dismissed him, and he went his way.
2 I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth.
3 In the Lord shall my soul be praised: let the meek hear and rejoice.
4 O magnify the Lord with me; and let us extol his name together.
5 I sought the Lord, and he heard me; and he delivered me from all my troubles.
6 Come ye to him and be enlightened: and your faces shall not be confounded.
7 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him: and saved him out of all his troubles.
8 The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him: and shall deliver them.
9 O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man that hopeth in him.
10 Fear the Lord, all ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
11 The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good.
12 Come, children, hearken to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
13 Who is the man that desireth life: who liveth to see good days?
14 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
15 Turn away from evil and do good: seek after peace and pursue it.
16 The eyes of the Lord are upon the just: and his ears unto their prayers.
17 But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil things: to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
18 The just cried, and the Lord heard them: and delivered them out of all their troubles.
19 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit.
20 Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver them.
21 The Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them shall be broken.
22 The death of the wicked is very evil: and they that hate the just shall be guilty.
23 The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall offend.

2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18
Haydock NT

6 For I am even now ready to be sacrificed: and the time of my dissolution is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. 8 For the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me on that day: and not to me only, but to them also who love his coming. Make haste to come to me quickly.

16 At my first defence no man stood with me, but all forsook me: may it not be laid to their charge. 17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching may be accomplished, and that all the Gentiles may hear: and I was delivered from the mouth of the lion. 18 The Lord hath delivered me from every evil work: and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The Gospel According to Luke 18:9-14
Haydock NT

9 He spoke also this parable to some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others.

10 Two men went up into the temple, to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican: 11 The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, nor such as this publican: 12 I fast twice in the week: I give tithes of all that I possess.

13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift his eyes towards heaven: but struck his breast, saying; O God, be merciful to me a sinner.

14 I say to you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; because every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Haydock Commentary Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 35:12-18(NAB) or (15-22 Douay-Rheims/Vulgate)

• Ver. 19. For, &c. is not in Greek. God will protect the defenceless. H.
• Ver. 21. He, or “it.” C.—Prayer is personified , and presents itself before God.
• Ver. 22. Them, the Gentiles, &c. v. 23. Gr. “will not delay to punish them, till he crush the loins of the unmerciful. And,” &c. H. (note: Gentiles is used in ver. 23. but that’s not in today’s reading.)

Haydock Commentary 2 Tim 4:6-8, 16-18

• Ver. 6. I am even now ready to be sacrificed. Lit. to be immolated. See Philip. ii. 17.—The time of my dissolution (lit. resolution) is at hand. This makes many judge that this letter was written during his last imprisonment; but the sense perhaps may be, that being old worn out with labours, he could not live long. Wi.
• Ver. 7. I have fought a good fight, or strived a good strife. The Latin and Greek may signify any kind of striving for a prize.—I have kept the faith, not only the Christian faith, but been faithful in my office. Wi.
• Ver. 8. A crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me. These words confirm the Catholics doctrine, that good works performed with the assistance of God’s grace, deserve and are meritorious of reward in heaven: it is what is signified, 1. by a crown of justice, 2. from a just judge, 3. which he will render or give as a reward. Yet we own with S. Aug. that we have no merit, but what is also a gift of God from his grace and mercy, and grounded on his promises. Wi.—“A crown of justice,” which the Protestants translate, of righteousness; but let us see how the learned S. Austin, 1400 years ago, expounds the apostle’s meaning: “How should he repay as a just judge, unless he had first given as a merciful Father?” De grat. et lib. arb. c. vi. See Heb. vi. 10. God is not unjust, that he should forget your works; this the Protestants change into, God is not unrighteous.
• Ver. 16. At my first defence, or trial, when I appeared before Nero and my judges, no man stood with me; all, or almost all, abandoned me in that danger: may it not be laid to their charge. Wi.
• Ver. 17. The Lord stood, &c. All agree that Neto is here meant by the lion. S. Chrys. thinks that S. Paul was set at liberty after this first justification of his conduct, but that having afterwards converted the cupbearer of Nero, he was by him beheaded. S. Chrys. hom. x. p. 611.—But the Lord assisted and fortified me on this occasion by a vision, in which he assured me that he would prolong my life for the more perfect preaching of the gospel. V.—The times predicted by the apostle in this epistle, (v. 3 and 4.) are now arrived; and the warnings he gives to Timothy and to all preachers of the word, should be sedulously attended to: preach the word: be instant in season and out of season; reprove, entreat, rebuke with all patience and doctrine. There will arrive a time when men will not bear sound doctrine; eager in the extreme to hear what flatters, they will have recourse to a variety of teachers not lawfully sent or ordained, calculated to tickler their ears: Assentatores populi, multitudinis levitatem voluptate quasi titillantes. Cic. In the same sense Plutarch says: unintelligible Greek. It is yours, adds S. Paul, as a valiant soldier of Jesus Christ, to oppose yourself as a wall to all these evils, to attend to every branch of your ministerial duty, not to yield to either opponents or dangers, and to see that the gospel is both preached and practiced in all its purity. Thus may the Church find in you, and in her other minsters, what she is soon to lose in me, knowing as I do that my course is nearly run.—That by me the preaching may be accomplished, (or fulfilled) and that all the Gentiles may hear it. This is an argument that he wrote this letter in his first imprisonment.—And I was delivered from the mouth of the lion; that is, according to the common exposition, from Nero. Wi.
• Ver. 18. The cloak which I left at Troas. It is expounded a cloak by S. Chrys. S. Jerome. &c. Others think he may mean some coffer, or trunk, in which were his books and some things that he valued. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Luke 18:9-14

• Ver. 9. In this chapter we have three examples of prayer: one of the persevering widow; another of the poor publican, who solicits the divine mercy by the acknowledgment of his crimes; and the third of the proud Pharisee, who only goes to the temple to pronounce his own panegyric, and enter upon an accusation of his humble neighbour, whose heart is unknown to him. Calmet.
• Ver. 11. The Pharisee standing. The Greek is, standing by himself; i.e. separated from the rest. Some understand this term, standing, as if in opposition to kneeling or prostrating, which they suppose to be the general posture in which the Jews offered up their prayers, and that of the humble publican. The Christians borrowed this practice from them. We see the apostles and disciples praying on their knees: Acts vii. 59, ix. 40, xx. 36. In the Old Testament, we see the same observed. Solomon, (3 K. viii. 54.) Daniel, (vi. 10) and Micheas, (vi. 6.) prayed in that posture. Others however, think that the people generally prayed standing, as there were neither benches nor chairs in the temple. Calmet.—There are four ways by which men are guilty of pride: 1^st By thinking they have any good from themselves; 2^nd, by thinking that though they have received it from above, it was given them as due their own merits; 3^rd, by boasting of the good they do not possess; and fourthly, by desiring to be thought the only persons that possess the good qualities of which they thus pride themselves. The pride of the Pharisee seems to have consisted in attributing to himself alone the qualities of which he boasted. S. Greg. mor. l. xxiii, c. 4.—He who is guilty of publicly speaking against his neighbour, is likewise the cause of much damage to himself and others. 1^st, He injures the hearer; because itf he be a sinner, he rejoices to find an accomplice; if he be just, he is tempted to vanity, seeing himself exempt from the crimes with which others are charged. 2^nd, He injures the Church, by exposing it to be insulted for the defects of its members. 3^rd, He causes the name of God to be blasphemed; for, as God is himself guilty, by disclosing that which it was his duty not to have mentioned. S. Chrys. Serm. de Phar. et Pub.
• Ver. 12. See how the Pharisee here, by pride, lays open to the enemy his heart, which he had in vain shut against him by fasting and prayer. It is in vain to defend a city, if you leave the enemy a single passage, by which he may enter in. S. Greg. mor. 1. xix. c. 12.
• Ver. 14. If any one should ask why the Pharisee is here condemned for speaking some few words in his own commendation, and why the like sentence was not passed on Job, who praised himself much more; the difference is evident: the former praised himself without any necessity, merely with an intention of indulging his vanity, and extolling himself over the poor publican; the latter, being overwhelmed with misery, and upbraided by his friends, as if, forsaken of God, he suffered his present distress in punishment of his crimes, justifies himself by recounting his virtues for the greater glory of God, and to preserve himself and others in the steady practice of virtue, under similar temptations. Theophylactus.

Daily Bible Readings With Traditional Catholic Commentary October 23 2007 Tuesday 29th Week Ordinary Time

October 23 2007 Tuesday 29^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/102307.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Romans 5:12-21
Haydock New Testament

12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death, and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned. 13 For until the law, sin was in the world: but sin was not imputed, when the law was not. 14 But death reigned from Adam unto Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of the transgression of Adam, who is a figure of him that was to come. 15 But not as the offence, so also is the gift: for if by the offence of one, many have died: much more the grace of God, and the gift in the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was by one sin, so also is the gift: for the judgment indeed was by one unto condemnation: but the grace is of many offences, unto justification. 17 For if by one man’s offence, death reigned through one: much more they who receive abundance of grace, and of the gift, and of justice, shall reign in life, through one, Jesus Christ.

18 Therefore, as by the offence of one, unto all men to condemnation: so also by the justice of one, unto all men unto justification of life. 19 For as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners: so also by the obedience of one, many shall be made just.

20 Now the law entered in, that sin might abound. But where sin abounded, grace hath abounded more. 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, so also grace might reign by justice, unto everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Luke 12:35-38
Haydock NT

35 Let your loins be girded, and lamps burning in your hands, 36 And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding: that when he cometh, and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. 37 Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen, I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing, will minister to them. 38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or if he shall come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

Haydock Commentary Romans 5:12-21

• Ver. 12. As by one man… in whom all have sinned. That is, in which man all sinned, (not in which death all sinned) as it must be the construction by the Greek text: so that these words are a clear proof of original sin against the Pelagian heretics, as S. Aug. often brings them. Nor does S. Chrys. deny original sin, though in this place he expounds it that all by Adam’s sin were made guilty of death and punishments. But how could they deserve these, had they not sinned in Adam? Wi.
• Ver. 13-14. Until the law, sin was in the world. That is, from Adam’s fall, both original sin and actual sins truly infected all mankind. Wi.—Not imputed. That is, men knew not, or made no account of sin; neither was it imputed to them, in the manner it was afterwards, when they transgressed the known written law of God. Ch.—All were conceived and born in sin, in what we call original sin, and liable to death, even infants, who were not come to the use of reason, and consequently could not sin after the similitude of the transgression of Adam, or by imitating his sin, but were born in sin: and besides this, all manner of actual sins, which men committed by their own perverse will, reigned every where in the world. But before the law these sins were not imputed, that is, were not declared sins, that deserved such punishments as were ordained by the law.—Adam, who is a figure of him that was to come.  That is, Christ, whom the apostle calls the last Adam, 1 Cor. 15:45. But he was a figure by contraries. By the first Adam, sin and death entered into the world; by Christ, justice and life. Wi.
• Ver. 15. &c.  But not as the offences, so also is the gift, or the benefits which mankind receive by their Redeemer, Jesus Christ. For S. Paul here shews that the graces which Christ came to bestow upon men, and offers to all, are much greater than the evils which the sin of one man, Adam, caused. 1 Because, if by the offence of that one man, Adam, many, i.e. all died by original sin that descended from Adam, (the blessed Virgin mother by a special privilege being always excepted) much more the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many, the comparison does not imply that more in number receive the grace of Christ, than were infected with sin; but that they who receive the graces which are offered to all, receive greater benefits than were the damages caused by the sin of Adam. For the judgment indeed was by one unto condemnation, or so as to make all guilty of one sin, that is, of original sin; and for other actual sins, men committed them by their own proper will; whereas the graces of Christ justifies men from many sins; that is, also from all sins which they have committed by their own malice. 2. Because by it, that is, by the offence of one man, death reigned in the world, and made all men liable to damnation; yet now by the incarnation of Christ, (which would not have been, had not Adam sinned) all they who are justified by the grace of their Redeemer, have Christ God and man for their head: he is become the head of that same mystical body which is his Church:  they are exalted to the dignity of being the brothers of Christ, the Son of God; they are made joint heirs with him of the kingdom of heaven, and so by the grace of Christ have a greater dignity in this world, and shall be exalted to a greater and more eminent degree of glory in the kingdom of his glory for all eternity; which hath given occasion to the Church, in her liturgy, to cry out, as it were with a transport of joy, O happy fault, which hath procured us such and so great a Redeemer! See S. Chrys. hom. x. Wi.
• Ver. 20-21. Now the law entered in. Not that the law was designed for that end; but the word that, as in many other places, so here expresseth only the consequence that followed, when sinners occasionally became more guilty by the knowledge of the law, and the precepts given. S. Chrys. takes notice that it is not said the law was given, but only that it entered in, as it were by the by, and only for a certain time, till our happy redemption, reconciliation, and justification by Jesus Christ. Wi.—That sin might abound. Not as if the law were given purposely for sin to abound; but that it so happened, through man’s perversity, taking occasion of sinning more, from the prohibition of sin. Ch.—Where sin abounded. Grace abounded in the elect; for the apostle does not say that grace abounded in every place where iniquity had abounded; but he says indefinitely where, that is, in many places where sin abounded, grace hath abounded also. Estius.—The Jews and Gentiles having become sensible of their weakness and misery, the Almighty, in his mercy, sent his only Son to enrich both the one and the other with his graces. The Gentiles were in the more deplorable case, and received the greatest abundance of grace; as may be seen from the great number of conversions wrought amongst them in so short a time in every part of the world. Calmet.—In the Greek it is entered in by stealth, as it were, and for a time, till the preaching of the gospel. Menochius. 

Haydock Commentary Luke 12:35-38

• Ver. 35. Let your loins be girded; i.e. be prepared to walk in the way of virtue; a comparison taken from the custom of the eastern people, who girded up their long garments, when they went about any business. Wi.—After our divine Saviour had given his disciples such excellent instructions, he wishes to lead them still farther in the path of perfection, by telling them to keep their loins girt, and to be prepared to obey the orders of their divine Master. By lamps burning in their hands he wished to insinuate, that they were not to pass their lives in obscurity, but to let their lights shine before me. Theophy.
• Ver. 38. In the first watch is childhood, the beginning of our existence, and by the second is understood manhood, and by the third is meant old age. He, therefore, who does not comply with our divine Master’s injunctions in the first or second watch, let him be careful not to lose his soul, by neglecting to be converted to God in his old age. S. Greg. in S. Tho. Aquin.