Sunday Bible Readings 3rd Sunday of Advent December 16 2007 with Traditional Catholic Commentary

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December 16 2007 Bible Readings 3rd Sunday 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/121607.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10
Douay-Rheims Challoner

1 The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, and the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily.
2 It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty of Carmel, and Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God.
3 Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak knees.
4 Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and will save you.
5 Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free:

Psalm 146:6-10 Hebrew 145:6-10 Latin/Greek
Douay-Rheims Challoner

6 Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.
7 Who keepeth truth for ever: who executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong: who giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth them that are fettered:
8 The Lord enlighteneth the blind. The Lord lifteth up them that are cast down: the Lord loveth the just.
9 The Lord keepeth the strangers, he will support the fatherless and the widow: and the ways of sinners he will destroy.
10 The Lord shall reign for ever: thy God, O Sion, unto generation and generation.

Catholic Epistle of Saint James The Apostle 5:7-10
Haydock New Testament

7 Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, patiently bearing till he receive the early and the latter rain. 8 Be you, therefore, also patient, and strengthen your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth near. 9 Murmur not, brethren, one against another, that you may not be judged. Behold the judge standeth before the door. 10 Take, brethren, for an example of suffering evil, of labour and patience, the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord.

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew 11:2-11
Haydock NT

2 Now when John had heard, in prison, the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to him:

3 Art thou he that is to come, or do we look for another?

4 And Jesus making answer, said to them:

Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. 5 The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me.

7 And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitude, concerning John:

What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken in with the wind? 8 But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings.

9 But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he of whom it is written: “Behold I will send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.”

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.

Haydock Commentary Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10

• Ver. 1. Lily. Judea flourishes under Hezekiah (Ezechias): but the Church does more so after the coming of Christ, to whom these expressions conduct us. C.—The Gentiles shall be converted and flourish, as this text shews. W.
• Ver. 2. Joy. The primitive Christians rejoiced in a good conscience, and in suffering for the truth.
• Ver. 3. Knees. Ye prophets, comfort the people with these promises. C.—The apostles taught the Gentiles to do good. M.
• Ver. 4. Recompense. Christ will satisfy the justice of his Father. H.—He will redeem the world, and refute the false interpretations of the Bible. C.—He will bring the devil into subjection. M.
• Ver. 6. Free. Our Saviour healed both soul and body, (C.) shewing by his works. (Jo. x. W.) that he had fulfilled this prediction. Lk 7:22. Mt 11:5.—Waters. Baptism has sanctified the most wicked.
• Ver. 10. Sion. Before the defeat of Sennacherib, the roads were unsafe. C. 38:8 C.

Haydock Commentary Psalm 145:6-10 (Latin/Greek numbering)

• Ver. 7. Truth. Houbigant “his truth,” and promises. H.—The disposition of Cyrus towards the Jews had changed, in consequence of some false insinuations of their enemies.—Wrong. The Babylonians have been, and the Samaritans will be, punished.—Fettered. We may hope to be freed from the dominion of the Persians. C.
• Ver. 8. Enlighteneth. Heb. “openeth the eyes.” Sept. “gives wisdom to the blind.” Many of these favours seem to be understood in a spiritual sense, and allude to the times of Christ, when these miracles were performed. Bert. Is. 35. 5. Matt. 11:5 C.
• Ver. 9. Strangers. He charges his people to be compassionate towards such. Ex. 22:21, James 1:27. Bert.—We have been captives. Ps. 62:9.—Sinners, who have calumniated us, v. 7. C.
• Ver. 10. Sion. Figure of the true Church. God is now no more attached to Sion than to any other place. Bert.—He lives for ever, and therefore alone deserves our confidence. C.—Generation. Heb. adds, “Alleluia,” which we have in the next title, as the psalm also begins with the same word. H.

Haydock Commentary James 5:7-10

• Ver. 7-11. (11 is missing from Liturgical calendar readings, but notes will remain.) Be patient, &c. He now in these five following verses turns his discourse from the rich to the poor, exhorting them to patience till the coming of the Lord to judgment, which draweth near; his coming to judge every one is at his death. Imitate the patience of the husbandman, waiting for the fruit after that the earth hath received the timely and early rain soon after the corn is sown, and again more rain, that comes later to fill the grain before it comes to be ripe. This seems to be the sense by the Greek: others expound it, till he receive the early and latter fruits. Wi.—Behold the judge standeth before the door. This expression is synonymous with that in the foregoing verse. “The coming of the Lord is at hand.” This way of speaking is not uncommon in Scripture. Thus God said to Cain: “If thou hast done evil, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?” S. James is here speaking of the approaching ruin of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans. C.—Call to mind for your encouragement the trials and constancy of the prophets: the patience of Job, after which God rewarded him with great blessings and property, and you have seen the end of the Lord; that is, what end the Lord was pleased to give to Job’s sufferings. But S. Aug. Ven. Bede, &c. would have these words, the end of the Lord, to be understood of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, for which God exalted him, &c. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 11:2-11

• Ver. 2. The order of time is not here observed by the evangelist. S. John’s deputation to Jesus Christ took place some time before; and the text of the 7^th Chap. of S. Luke, gives it soon after the cure of the centurion’s servant; hence all that follows, in chap. 11 of S. Matthew, is placed by persons who have drawn up evangelical harmonies, immediately after the first 17 verses of Chap. 8. A.
• Ver. 3. Art thou he that is to come? (Greek, who cometh? ) i.e. the Messiah. John the Baptist had already, on several occasions, declared that Jesus was the Messiah. Jo. i. He could not then doubt of it himself, but sent his disciples to take away their doubt. Wi.—S. John the Baptist sent his disciples not to satisfy his own doubts, but for the sake of his disciples, who, blinded by the love they bore their Master, and by some emulation, would not acknowledge Christ to be the Messiah. S. Chrysostom in Baradius.—This expression of S. John is much taken notive of, as conveying with it a very particular question. “Tell me, says S. John, now that I am departing out of this world, whether thou art coming to redeem the patriarchs and holy fathers; or wilt thou send another?” S. Thomas Aquinas.—And S. Chrysostom also explains it thus, Art thou he that art to come to limbo? But the Baptist omitting this last word, sufficiently indicated to our Saviour what was the purport of this question. S. Jerome and S. Gregory say, that by his death, he was going to preach to the holy fathers that Christ, the Messiah, was come. John does not here propose this question as ignorant of the real case, but in the same manner as Christ asked where Lazarus was laid. So John sends his disciples to Jesus, that seeing the signs and miracles he performed, they might believe in him. As long, therefore, as John remained with his disciples, he constantly exhorted them to follow Jesus; but now that he is going to leave them, he is more earnest for their belief in him. S. Thomas Aquinas.
• Ver. 4. Go, and relate, &c. S. Luke here relates that Christ wrought more miracles when the disciples of S. John Came than usual, by which he proved in a much stronger manner than he could have done by words, that he was the Messiah. For the prophets only wrought miracles by invoking the name of God, whereas he did it by his own authority. S. Cyril.—The reason why our Saviour did not return a plain answer in words to S. John’s disciples is, because as the Jews expected the Messiah to be a great and powerful king, had he acknowledged himself to be the Messiah in the presence of the multitude, he might have given umbrage to the secular power, or afforded a pretext to the Scribes and Pharisees of calumniating him, and putting him to death before the time preordained for his passion. Baradius.
• Ver. 5. The blind see, &c. Christ shews them who he was by the miracles, which were foretold concerning the Messiah.—The poor have the gospel preached to them. This is the sense held forth by the prophet Isaiah. C. lxi. v. 1. Wi.—That is, they are declared to have the kingdom of heaven, and are styled blessed. Here also he fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah, (C. lxi.) which in the Septuagint version is rendered, He sent me to preach the gospel to the poor. Nicolaus de Lyra.
• Ver. 6. Scandalized in me. That is, who shall not take occasion of scandal or offence from my humility, and the disgraceful death of the cross which I shall endure: (Ch.) or on my account, that is, at the doctrine of the cross; or when I shall die on an infamous cross. Wi.—Blessed is he, &c. That is, who shall not be offended by my doctrine and manners; for Christ was a stumbling block to may, but this was entirely their own fault. He seems indeed directly to mark the disciples of S. John, and at the same time to shew that he knew their hearts. M
• Ver. 8. Clothed in soft, &c. That the Baptist was not like the reeds, changeable by nature, the respect that the whole Jewish people paid him sufficiently evinced. Our Redeemer, therefore, proceeds to shew that S. John was not changeable by his manner of life. Delicacies and effeminacy (the ordinary sources of fickleness of behaviour,) being found in the houses of kings, and the great ones of this earth, were far from being desired by the precursor. This he shewed to the world by his garments of camels’ hair, his habitation in the wilderness, his slender and insipid food of wild honey and locusts, and the prisons to which his constancy brought him. S. Chrys. hom. xxxviii.
• Ver. 9. More than a prophet. John was a prophet, because he foretold the coming of Christ; and he was more than a prophet, because he saw him, which was a privilege that none of the ancient prophets enjoyed; and not only did he see him, but pointed him out, before he was acknowledged in that character. Again, he was more than a prophet, in as much as he was the precursor of the Messiah, who even deigned to receive baptism at his hands. M.
• 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.

Daily Bible Readings With Traditional Catholic Commentary December 24 2007 Monday 4th Week of Advent

Please look here. Many people are coming via search engine. Google is sending people to last year’s readings. Please check the date. If you are on the wrong year please CLICK HERE and then check the calendar to the left. Sunday readings are usually posted on the previous Wednesday and then again on the proper Sunday. Thank you, and I apologize for the inconvenience.

December 24 2007 Monday 4th Week of Advent
Christmas Eve Day – Mass in Morning.
This is a standard daily Mass, but important because it contains the readings of prophecy for Christmas Day.
The readings fit together very well for this day.
I will make a post just for all of the Christmas readings. There is also a reading for the Christmas Eve Vigil, Midnight Mass, Christmas Dawn, and Christmas Day. Then there’s the Twelve days, etc. A link will replace this babble.
ALL CHRISTMAS READINGS ON THIS SITE INDEXED CLICK HERE

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/122407.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

2 Samuel (4th Kings) 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16
Douay-Rheims Challoner Text

1 And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies,
2 He said to Nathan the prophet: Dost thou see that I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God is lodged within skins?
3 And Nathan said to the king: Go, do all that is in they heart: because the Lord is with thee.
4 But it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:
5 Go, and say to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord: Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in?
8b I took thee out of the pastures from following the sheep to be ruler over my people Israel:
9 And I have been with thee wheresoever thou hast walked, and have slain all thy enemies from before thy face: and I have made thee a great man, like unto the name of the great ones that are on the earth.
10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, and they shall dwell therein, and shall be disturbed no more: neither shall the children of iniquity afflict them any more as they did before,
11 From the day that I appointed judges over my people Israel: and I will give thee rest from all thy enemies. And the Lord foretelleth to thee, that the Lord will make thee a house.
12 And when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of the bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
14a I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son:
16 And thy house shall be faithful, and thy kingdom for ever before thy face, and thy throne shall be firm for ever.

Psalm 88(Latin/DR):2-5, 27, 29 (Psam 89 Hebrew/NAB/NIV/KJV)
Douay-Rheims Challoner text only for now.

The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever.
I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.
For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens:
thy truth shall be prepared in them.
I have made a covenant with my elect:
I have sworn to David my servant:
Thy seed will I settle for ever.
And I will build up thy throne unto generation and generation.
He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God,
and the support of my salvation.
I will keep my mercy for him for ever:
and my covenant faithful to him.

The Gospel According to Saint Luke 1:67-79
Haydock New Testament
The Benedictus or the Song or Canticle of Zechariah.

67 And Zachary, his father, was filled with the Holy Ghost: and he prophesied, saying: (verse numbers removed because this is a prayer, too)

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people:
And hath raised up a horn of salvation to us,
in the house of David, his servant
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets,
Who are from the beginning:
Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all that hate us:
To shew mercy to our fathers:
And to remember his holy covenant.
The oath which he swore to Abraham, our father,
That he would grant to us:
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
We may serve him without fear,
In holiness and justice before him, all our days.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the most High:
For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord,
To prepare his way.
To give knowledge of salvation to his people,
Unto the remission of their sins.
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God:
In which the Orient, from on high, hath visited us.
To enlighten them that sit in darkness
And in the shadow of death:
To direct our feet into the way of peace.

Haydock Commentary 2 Samuel (4th Kings) 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16

• Ver. 1. Enemies, before he had made war upon the surrounding nations. 1 Par. xviii. 1.
• Ver. 2. Nathan. An admirable courtier, (Grot.) and a great saint. Eccli. xlvii. He was neither too rough, nor too complacent.–Cedar. This was the most esteemed species of wood. The palace of the Persian kings, at Ecbatana, was chiefly built of it, and of cypress wood. Polyb. x.—Houses were not there built in such a solid manner, as they are in colder climates. They consisted mostly of wood.–Skins. The outer veils of the tabernacle were made of skins, as others generally were. C.—Heb. and Chal. “of curtains.”
• Ver. 3. Thee. David did not, perhaps, consult him as a prophet; and Nathan thought that the proposal was so just, that it might be safely carried into effect. The prophets are not inspired in all their actions. Joseph was of a different opinion from his father. Gen. xlviii. 19. Samuel supposed that Eliab should have been king; (1 K xvi. 6.) and Elisha confesses, that God had concealed from hm the affliction of the woman with whom he lodged. 4 K. 4:27. C.—God afterwards sent the same Nathan to rectify his former decision, that he might not pass sentence, in future, without consulting him. M.
• Ver. 10. Before, provided they be faithful. These promises are conditional.
• Ver. 11. House, or give thee children, who shall hold the scepter. M.
• Ver. 12. I will establish his kingdom. This prophecy partly relates to Solomon; but much more to Christ, who is called the Son of David in Scripture, and the builder of the true temple, which is the Church, his everlasting kingdom, which shall never fail, nor be cast off for any iniquity of her children. Ch.—God passes over all the children whom David had already, 3 K. ii. 15. The temporal kingdom was enjoyed by David’s posterity for a long time, sufficient to verify the expression for ever, as it is often used in Scripture. C.—But the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah will last till the end of time, and be perfected in eternity. H.—In these predictions we must always distinguish the type from the reality. C.
• Ver. 14. Men, who are not to be entirely destroyed, like the Canaanites. C.—This is not unlike the human temptation of which S. Paul speaks. 1 Cor. 10:13. See Ps. 72:5, and 88:33 (Latin numbering) (Rest refers to unincluded verses.)
• Ver. 16. Faithful; or continue a long time. M. 3 K. 11:38.—Where is now the house of David? Or how is this accomplished, except in the Church?—Thy face. Sept. “before me,” which is conformable to Ps. 88:38. David saw Solomon on the throne, and beheld the Messiah in spirit. C.—Souls departed still see what regards them, (Sa.) if they be happy. H.

Haydock Commentary Luke 1:67-79

• Ver. 69. As Christ was born of the race of David, he is here called the horn of salvation in the house of David. As Isaiah says, a vineyard is planted in the horn, c. v.—A powerful salvation. || According to the letter both of the Latin and Greek text, a horn of salvation. But as it is generally agreed, that by horn, in the phraseology of the Scriptures, is understood strength and power, and that horn sounds awkwardly in English, and other languages, I hope it may be literally enough translated, a powerful salvation. Wi.
• Ver. 71. That he would save us, &c. Lit. salvation from our enemies. The construction and sense is, that God, as he had declared by his prophets, would grant us salvation, or would save us. Wi.—This is not to be understood of temporal, but of spiritual enemies. For the Lord Jesus, strong in battle, came to destroy all our enemies, and thus to deliver us from their snares and temptations. Origen, hom. xvi.—He is that King of Glory, the Lord strong and powerful, the Lord powerful in battle. Ps. 23 (Ps. 24 Heb/KJV/NAB/NIV)
• Ver. 72. To remember his holy covenant, i.e. of his promise, or of the covenant made with Abraham, that he would bless all nations in his seed. Wi.—At the coming of Christ, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were made partakers of his mercy. For, we cannot suppose that they who saw his day, and were glad, should not participate in the fruit of his coming; since S. Paul says: he maketh peace through the blood of the cross, both to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven. Col. 1:20. Origen, hom. x.
• Ver. 73-4. According to the oath which he swore. The words according to, are no addition to the letter of the text: they only barely express what is here signified; to wit, that God swore to Abraham, that he would grant us, or make it come to pass, that being delivered from our enemies, sin and the devil, we should be in a condition to serve him without fear, in holiness, &c. Wi.
• Ver. 75. It is possible, we here see, to have true justice, not only in the sight of man, or by the imputation of God, but in his sight; and the coming of Christ was to give men such justice.
• Ver. 77. Jesus is our salvation, and S. John was sent to give to the people the knowledge of this salvation: he bore testimony of Christ; (Theophylactus) by whom alone remission of sins can be obtained.
• Ver. 78. The rising light, or the rising sun, hath visited us from on high. The Rheims translation hath the Orient, the Prot. the day-spring. Both seem more obscure than they need by. The Latin, as well as the Greek, hath a noun substantive, by which Christ himself is signified. Yet the same word, in both languages, is sometimes take for a rising light, and sometimes for a bud, or branch; in which latter sense it is expounded by S. Jerome. Comments in Zachar. P. 1737, tom. 3., Ed. Ben. But in this place it is rather taken for a light that riseth, by the following words, to enlighten them that sit in darkness, &c. Wi. The Orient. It is one of the titles of the Messiah, the true light of the world, and the sun of justice. Ch.—By this he shews that God has forgiven us our sins, not through our merits, but through his own most tender mercy; (Theophyl.) and that we are to solicit this forgiveness through the bowels of his most tender mercy.
• Ver. 79. The Gentiles were in darkness, and given to the adoration of idols, till the light arose and dispelled the darkness, spreading on all sides to the splendour of truth. S. Basil on Isaiah.—With reason it is said in this place, who sit in darkness; for we did not walk in darkness, but sat down, as if destitute of all hopes of being delivered. S. Chrys. hom. xiv. on S. Matt. … Then our steps are directed in the paths of peace, when in our every action we act conformably to the grace of the Almighty. S. Greg. hom. xxxii.