Daily Bible Readings With Traditional Catholic Commentary December 13 2007 Thursday 2nd Week of Advent

December 13 2007 Thursday 2nd Week of Advent
Memorial of St. Lucy. Virgin and Martyr

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/121307.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Isaiah 41:13-20
Douay-Rheims Challoner Text

13 For I am the Lord thy God, who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: Fear not, I have helped thee.
14 Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, you that are dead of Israel: I have helped thee, saith the Lord: and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel.
15 I have made thee as a new thrashing wain, with teeth like a saw: thou shalt thrash the mountains, and break them in pieces: and shalt make the hills as chaff.
16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, in the Holy One of Israel thou shalt be joyful.
17 The needy and the poor seek for waters, and there are none: their tongue hath been dry with thirst. I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the plains: I will turn the desert into pools of waters, and the impassable land into streams of waters.
19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the thorn, and the myrtle, and the olive tree: I will set in the desert the fir tree, the elm, and the box tree together:
20 That they may see and know, and consider, and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

Psalm 145:1 and 9, 10-11, 12-13ab (Psalm 144 Douay/LXX/Latin)
Douay-Rheims Challoner. Text only.

I will extol thee, O God my king:
and I will bless thy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever.
The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
Let all thy works, O lord, praise thee: and let thy saints bless thee.
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom: and shall tell of thy power:
To make thy might known to the sons of men:
and the glory of the magnificence of thy kingdom.
Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages:
and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew 11:11-15
Haydock New Testament

And Jesus spoke about John the Baptist:

11 Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John: 14 And if you will receive it, he is Elijah (Elias) that is to come.

15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Haydock Commentary Isaiah 41:13-20

• Ver. 14. Dead. Though you were in the grave, I could protect you. Captivity is often represented under this idea. C.—You who are despised, fear not, since Christ will protect and reward you. W.
• Ver. 15. Chaff. Cambyses perished on the mountains of Judea, (H.) and the Maccabees gained many victories over the Syrians. Mic. iv. 13. Exec. Xxxix. C.—They are here meant, as their exploits resembled those of Cyrus. Houbigant.
• Ver. 18. Waters. The captives shall be refreshed in the deserts. C. xxxv. 6. and xliii. 20. C.
• Ver. 19. The thorn. In Hebrew, the shitta or setim, a tree resembling the whitethorn. Ch. S. Jerome.—A fragrant shade shall speedily rise up. Baruch v. 6. C.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 11:11-15

• Ver. 11. He that is the lesser, &c. Many understand this of Christ, who is less in as much as he is more humble, younger in age, and according to the erroneous opinion of men, of less sanctity than John. Maldonatus and Tolletus suppose the meaning to be, that he who is the least in sanctity in the Church of Christ is greater than John; not that John did not excel in sanctity many, nay even most of the children of the Church of Christ, but that those who belong to the Church, on account of this circumstance of their being under the new law, which is the law of children, are greater than those under the old law, which was the law of bondsmen, as the least among the children is greater than the greatest among the bondsmen. Now John in this respect did not belong to the Church of Christ, as he was slain before Christ’s death, before which time the gospel was not fully established. M.—There hath not risen … a greater, &c. This comparison, by what we find, Luke 7:28, is only betwixt John and the ancient prophets, to signify that John was greater than any of the prophets, at least by his office of being the immediate precursor of the Messiah. The comparison cannot be extended to Christ himself, who was both God and man, nor to his blessed Virgin Mother; nor need we understand it of his apostles. Wi.
• Ver. 12. Suffereth violence, &c. It is not to be obtained but by main force, by using violence upon ourselves, by mortification and penance, and resisting our perverse inclinations. Ch.—Certainly it is great violence for a man to look for a seat in heaven, and to obtain that by his virtue which was refused him by his nature. S. Jerome in S. Thomas Aquinas.—The Kingdom of Heaven, &c. That is, the kingdom of heaven is to be obtained by mortification, penance, poverty, and those practices of austerity which John, both by word and example, pointed out. According to this interpretation, the kingdom of heaven means eternal life. Or the meaning may be, the kingdom of heaven is taken by the violent, because it is not now confined, as in the old law, to one people, but open to all, that whoever will may enter in and take possession of it. The kingdom of heaven, in this interpretation, is taken for the Church of Christ, for the gospel, and also for eternal life. M.
• Ver. 13. All the prophets and the law prophesied until John: as if he had said, all they who prophesied before, foretold the coming of the Messiah; but now John points him out present with you, so that now all the types and figures of the ancient law will be fulfilled, and are at an end. Wi.
• Ver. 14. He is Elias, &c. Not in person, but in spirit. Luke 1:17. Ch.—John is here styled Elijah, not in the same manner as those who taught the transmigration of souls; but the meaning is, that the precursor came in the spirit and virtue of Elijah, and had the same fulness of the Holy Ghost. The Baptist is not undeservedly styled Elijah, both for the austerity of his life, and for his sufferings. Elijah upbraided Achab and Jezebel for their impieties, and was obliged to flee. John blamed the unlawful marriage of Herod and Herodias, and died for his virtue. S. Jerome, in S. Thos. Aquin.