Daily Bible Readings With Traditional Catholic Commentary December 14 2007 Friday 2nd Week of Advent

December 14 2007 Friday 2nd Week of Advent
Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church

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/121407.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Isaiah 48:17-19
Douay-Rheims Challoner Text

17 Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God that teach thee profitable things, that govern thee in the way that thou walkest.
18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea,
19 And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor have been destroyed from before my face.

Responsorial Psalm I
Douay-Rheims Challoner – CLICK HERE FOR COMMENTARY

Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence:
But his will is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he shall meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters,
which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season.
And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.
Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust,
which the wind driveth from the face of the earth.
Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment:
nor sinners in the council of the just.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the just:
and the way of the wicked shall perish.

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew 11:16-19
Haydock New Testament

And Jesus said:

16 But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like to children sitting in the market-place, who crying out to their companions, 17 Say:

We have piped to you, and you have not danced: we have lamented, and you have not mourned.

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking; and they say:

He hath a devil.

19 The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say:

Behold a man that is a glutton and a wine-drinker, a friend of publicans and sinners.

And wisdom is justified by her children.

Haydock Commentary Isaiah 48:17-19

• Ver. 19. Name. The Jews were not forgotten, till they had rejected the Messiah.

 

Haydock Commentary Matthew 11:16-19

• Ver. 16. Is like to children, &c. This similitude signifies that there was nothing necessary for their salvation, which God had not abundantly provided for; but they had pertinaciously continued in their incredulity. To explain this, he uses a similitude taken from morose children, whom nothing can please; he appears to refer to some custom of that time with which we are little acquainted. M.
• Ver. 17. We have piped. Christ, says S. Jerome on this place, was represented by the children that piped, or played on pipes {note from Bob – Flute?}, and S. John by those that mourned; because Christ refused not upon occasions, to eat and converse with sinners. Wi.—Jesus shews the Jews by this simile, that he had endeavoured to induce them, by the common life he led, to an imitation of his virtues; and they had not complied with his desire.—We have lamented. This part is to be understood of S. John, who led a most austere life, and notwithstanding was despised by the Jews. S. Jerome, in S. Thomas Aquinas—Similar to this is the complaint of the Almighty, by the mouth of the prophet Isaias: What is there that I should have done to my vineyard, and have not done? Our Redeemer and the Baptist imitated skillful huntsmen, who made use of various and opposite stratagems, that if the nimble animal escape one, he may fall into another. As men are commonly more engaged by fasting and austerities, therefore did the Baptist practice them in the highest degree, and they thus might be prevailed upon to believe his words. Christ, condescending more to their weakness, did not embrace this rigid manner of life, though at the same time he sanctified and approved it by his fast of forty days, and extreme poverty, not having where to recline his head. It was better that our Saviour’s doctrine should be approved of by one who practiced austerity, than that he himself should fast and live rigidly. If the Jews admired fasting and penance, whose words should have led them to the Son of God? If fasting appeared sorrowful and forbidding why did they not join themselves to Jesus, who came eating and drinking, and compassionating their infirmities? Which way soever they chose they might have arrived at salvation? S. Chrys. hom. xxxviii.
• Ver. 18. He hath a devil. Those possessed by devils, were often accustomed to pass their time in the open air, to use unusual food, and sometimes to refrain a considerable time from meat and drink. M.
• Ver. 19. Come eating and drinking. Whereas John came living in the wilderness on locusts, wild honey, &c. Yet most pat of the Jews neither regarded Christ nor S. John: nay the Pharisees here (v. 18) say of John, that he is possessed with a devil.—Wisdom is justified by her children. That is, by such as are truly wise; and the sense seems to be, that the divine wisdom and Providence hath been justified, i.e. approved, owned, and declared just and equitable by those that being truly wise, have made good use of the favours and graces offered them at this time of their redemption, when others have remained obstinate in their blindness, and refused to believe in Christ. Wi.—That is, the multitude of believers by their faith justify the providence and justice of God, against the calumnies of the wicked; for as these believed, what hindered others also from believing? Where it appears that Divine Providence omitted nothing of those things, which were necessary to procure and promote the salvation of men. M.