Daily Bible Readings With Traditional Catholic Commentary December 11 2007 Tuesday 2nd Week of Advent

December 11 2007 Tuesday 2nd Week of Advent

About the sources used. The readings on this site are not official for the Mass of the Roman Rite of the 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/121107.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Isaiah 40:1-11
Douay-Rheims Challoner

1 Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God.
2 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.
3 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.
4 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.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.
6 The voice of one, saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field.
7 The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass:
8 The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of our Lord endureth for ever.
9 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:
10 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.
11 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.

Psalm 96 Hebrew (95 LXX/Latin/Douay-Rheims) Verses 1-3, 10-13
Douay-Rheims Challoner. Click for Complete Psalm with Commentary
A canticle for David himself, when the house was built after the captivity.

Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle:
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing ye to the Lord and bless his name:
shew forth his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the Gentiles: his wonders among all people.
Say ye among the Gentiles, the Lord hath reigned.
For he hath corrected the world, which shall not be moved:
he will judge the people with justice.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad,
let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof:
The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful.
Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice before the face of the Lord,
because he cometh: because he cometh to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with his truth.

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew 18:12-14
Haydock New Testament

And Jesus said:

12 What think you? If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray; doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go to seek that which is gone astray? 13 And if it be so that he find it, amen, I say to you, he rejoiceth more for that than for the ninety-nine that went not astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father, who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

Haydock Commentary Isaiah 40:1-11

• 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 Messiah, 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, (Matt. 3:3 C.) who is evidently foretold. W.
• Ver. 4. Plain. For the captives, or trhe conversion of the world. Baruch 5:6
• Ver. 5. Glory. God will rescue his people. Christ will redeem mankind.
• Ver. 6. Field. On the downfall of the empire of Babylon, the Jews were liberated.
• Ver. 9. Thou, female. How beautiful are the feet of those who announce good tidings! Rom. x. 15. H.—Thus a fem. 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. 31:16. Lk 2:34.
• Ver. 11. Young, or have lately had young lambs, fœtas. Jesus is the good shepherd. Jn 10:14.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 18:12-14

• Ver. 12. If a man have a hundred sheep. This is to shew the goodness and mercy of God towards sinners. By the one sheep, some understand all mankind, and by the ninety-nine, the angels in heavens. Wi.—Jesus Christ manifests his tender regard and solicitude for us poor weak creatures, by becoming himself the Son of man, thus abandoning in some measure the angels who are in heaven. He is come down upon earth to save by his death what was lost, imitating thus, with regard to men, the conduct themselves observe with regard to their sheep. V.—In the Greek, it is dubious whether the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine in the mountains, or, whether he himself goeth into the mountains in quest of the lost sheep.
• Ver. 14. Even so it is not. Here some may perhaps object, that since the Almighty does not wish any of his little ones to perish, he must consequently wish all to be saved, and therefore sometimes frustrated in its effects, which is contrary to Scripture. To this objection, S. John Damascene replies, that in God we must distinguish two distinct wills; the one antecedent, the other consequent. A person wills a thing antecedently, when he wills it merely as considered in itself. For instance, a prince wishes his subjects to live, in as much as they are all his subjects. But a person wills a thing consequently, when he wills a thing in consideration of some particular circumstance. Thus, though the king wishes all his subjects to live, he nevertheless wills that some should die, if they turn traitors, or disorganize the peace of society. In the same manner, the Almighty wishes none of his little ones to perish, in as much as they are all his creatures, made to his own image, and destined for the kingdom of glory; though it is equally certain that he wills the eternal punishment of many who have turned away from his service, and followed iniquity. If we observe this distinction, it is easy to see what our Saviour meant, when he said that it was not the will of his Father that any of these little ones should perish. S. John Dam.

Psalm 96 Hebrew or 95 LXX/Latin Vulgate/Douay-Rheims/Haydock

Psalm 96 (95 DR-Challoner)
CANTATE DOMINO.
An exhortation to praise God for the coming of Christ and his kingdom.

1 A canticle for David himself, when the house was built after the captivity.
Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing ye to the Lord and bless his name: shew forth his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the Gentiles: his wonders among all people.
4 For the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Praise and beauty are before him: holiness and majesty in his sanctuary.
7 Bring ye to the Lord, O ye kindreds of the Gentiles, bring ye to the Lord glory and honour:
8 Bring to the Lord glory unto his name. Bring up sacrifices, and come into his courts:
9 Adore ye the Lord in his holy court. Let all the earth be moved at his presence.
10 Say ye among the Gentiles, the Lord hath reigned. For he hath corrected the world, which shall not be moved: he will judge the people with justice.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof:
12 The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful. Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice
13 before the face of the Lord, because he cometh: because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with his truth.

Haydock Commentary

• Ver. 1. When the house was built, &c. Alluding to that time, and then ordered to be sung; but principally relating to the building of the Church of Christ, after our redemption from the captivity of satan. Cd.—Captivity. The greater canticle of David, (1 Par. Xvi.) was probably divided, on that occasion, (C.) into three. This forms the second part, from v. 23; as the psalm civ. To v. 16, does the first. The three last verses of David’s canticle, (v. 34) occur Ps. Cv. 1. 47. But in reality, there are so many variations, that it seems most probable, (H.) that he revised that work, and left us the three psalms in their present form. This perhaps relates to the establishment of the Church, though it might be also sung at the return from Babylon. Bert.—Modern Jews understand it of tehri future re-union under the Messias. Kimchi. C.—The rebuilding of the temple is foretold, as a figure of man’s redemption. W.—New canticle. As the blessed do, (Apoc. V. 9. and xv. 4) and those who receive the Messias. Is. Xlii. 10. Bert.—Love sings the new canticle. S. Aug.—Earth. And not Judea alone, V. 7. Bert.
• Ver. 2. Lord… his name. As v. 7. and 8. The plural and singular denote the Trinity. W.—Shew forth. Sept. “evangelize,” bene nuntiate. S. Aug.—“Tell the glad tidings” of salvation incessantly. This preaching shall continue for ever. H.
• Ver. 5. Devils. Heb. elilim, “diminutive gods, (H.)nothings, (C.) vain things.” Mont. 1 Par.—We have idols, as Prot. Read here. These were in fact, etiher devils, or vain imaginations of men. S. Paul says, we know that an idol is nothing in the world. 1 Cor. Viii. 4. They cannot claim self-existence, and if the true God were not to support those creatures, the sun, &c. which have been the objects of adoration, they would presently cease to be. H.—This most plausible species of idolatry is therefore refuted, since the Lord made the heavens. C.—The Creator alone can be considered as God; the devils promt the people to adore other things. W.—It would appear but a small praise for the Lord to be feared above all gods, (H.) if they were “nothing.” Hence the Sept. have used the word devils, to signify, that these potent, but maleficent beings, which the pagans adored, were infinitely beneath God, and worse than nothing. Bert.
• Ver. 6. Before him. At his disposal; whereas the idols can bestow nothing. C.—Sanctuary, or “sanctification.” W. 1 Par. In his place. H.
• Ver. 7. Kindreds; Patrice, or families, as it is expressed. 1 Par. Xvi. H.
• Ver. 8. Sacrifices. Heb. Mincha, “the obation” of flour, &c. (H.) which denotes the Blessed Eucharist, and the spiritual sacrifices of prayer, &c. M.—Victims shall cease, but the pure oblation shall continue among the Gentiles. Mal. i. 11. Bert.—Courts. This shews that their conversion is predicted, since they could not otherwise come thither. C.
• Ver. 9. Moved. Heb. “in labour,” (Is. Xxvi. 17. Theod. C.) or “fear ye before him all the earth.” Houbig.—In Par. The sentences are in a different order. H.
• Ver. 10. Reigned. S. Bernard says, “the kingdom of Jesus is in the wood.” D.—S. Justin (dial.) accuses the Jews of retrenching (?Greek), “from the wood,” which all the Latin Fathers, except S. Jerome, acknowledge in their copies. That ancient author, being born among the Samaritans, could hardly be so ignorant of the Hebrew text, and his antagonist does not attempt to refute the charge; so that it seems probable, that they were in the original, (Bert.) and since erased by the Jews, from the Sept. who added them, *W.) by the spirit of prophecy. Tournemine.—But how came Christians to permit this to be done in their Heb. Greek and Latin copies? The words in question may have been, therefore, a marginal gloss, which had crept into the text. Faber, Justiniani, &c.—They do not occur in the parallel passage, (1 Par.) nor in the Vulg. Though they be retained in the Roman breviary. C.—Lindan objects this perfidy of the Jews to the Reformers, not reflecting, that he thus condemns the Vulg. Genebrard is of opinion, that “the Sept. were inspired to add these words, which some half-learned critics have though proper to expunge with an impiety which is now buy too common.” The Popes have not, however, though that the cross stood in need of this support. Amama.—The Chaldee and Syriac, as well as all the copies of the Sept. extant, and the Arab. And Ethiop. Versions taken from it, and all the Greek interpreters and Fathers, (except S. Justin) with S. Jerome., but in his versions from the Heb. and Sept. omit these words, which are found in the Rom. Gothic and other psalters. Origen’s Hexapla seem to have most enabled the Greeks to discern the interpolation, which the Latins retained longer, not having such easy access to that work, Whatever may be the decision on this important matter, it is certain that the reign of Christ was propagated from the wood, in a wonderful manner, as he there began to draw all to himself, and the prophet seems evidently to allude to the times when Christ proclaimed, the kingdom of God is at hand, and when the conversion of the Gentiles, and the institution of the blessed Eucharist (v. 8.) would fill all the world with rapture. H.—The positive testimony of S. Justin, and the Italic version used by the Latin Fathers, *Bert.) Tertullian, S. Aug. &c. (W.) seems of more weight to prove the authenticity of the words, than the simple omission in the copies of Origen, and S. Jerome, &c. to evince the contrary. Bert.—Corrected. Evil morals and idolatry, (M.) rather than the physical order of the globe. Ps. Xcii. 1. Bert.—Heb. “he hath balanced,” (Houbig) or established. H.—The Christian faith shall not be abolished, or corrected. H.—“Faith is not to be reformed.” Tert.—Justice. Ancient psalters add, “and the Gentiles in his wrath.” V. 13. Ps. Xcviii. 8.
• Ver. 11. Fulness. Its raging billows, (C.)fishes, (M.) those who live upon the water. H.—Let all testify to their joy. Every thing is animated by the psalmist. C.
• Ver. 13. Judge. Or “rule,” as he invites all to rejoice. C.—But this will be done by all nature, when God shall punish the wicked. H.—He now judges by his ministers, and will pass sentence at the last day. W.—This ver. Is added instead of the three last in 1 Par. Xvi. Which occur in Ps. cv. H..