Daily Bible Readings January 2 2008 Christmas with Traditional Catholic Commentary

January 2 2008 Wednesday 9th Day of Christmas
Memorial of Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory
Nazianzen, bishops and doctors of the Church

About the sources used. The readings on this site are not official for the Mass of Roman Rite of the Catholic Church in the USA, 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. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/010208.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

1 John 2:22-28
Haydock New Testament

22 Who is a liar, but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, who denieth the Father, and the Son. 23 Every one that denieth the Son, hath not the Father either. He that confesseth the Son, hath the Father also. 24 Let that which you have heard from the beginning, abide in you, you also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise which he hath promised us, eternal life. 26 These things have I written to you concerning them that seduce you. 27 And let the unction, which you have received from him, abide in you. And you have no need that any one should teach you; but as his unction teacheth you concerning all things, and it is true, and is not a lie. And as it hath taught you: abide in him. 28 And now, little children, abide in him: that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be confounded by him at his coming. 29 If you know that he is just, know ye that every one also who doth justice is born of him.

Psalm 97:1-4 LXX/Latin or 98 Hebrew
Douay-Rheims Challoner
A psalm for David himself.

Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle:
because he hath done wonderful things.
His right hand hath wrought for him salvation,
and his arm is holy.
The Lord hath made known his salvation:
he hath revealed his justice in the sight of the Gentiles.
He hath remembered his mercy
and his truth toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Sing joyfully to God, all the earth;
make melody, rejoice and sing.

The Gospel According to Saint John 1:19-28
Haydock NT

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to him, to ask him:

Who art thou?

20 And he confessed, and did not deny: and he confessed:

I am not the Christ.

21 And they asked him:

What then? Art thou Elias? (Elijah)

And he said:

I am not.

They said:

Art thou the prophet?

And he answered:

No.

22 They said therefore to him:

Who are thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself?

23 He said:

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” and the prophet, Isaiah, said.

24 And they that were sent, were of the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, and said to him:

Why then dost thou baptize, if thou be not Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?

26 John answered them, saying:

I baptize with water: but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not. 27 The same is he that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.

28 These things were done in Bethania beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Haydock Commentary 1 John 2:22-28

• Ver. 22-23. He who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is the antichrist: is in a special manner an adversary to Christ and the Christian religion, when he denies Jesus to be the Messiah, or to have been from eternity the true Son of God.—He who denieth him to be the Son, neither hath he the Father. He who denies either of these truths denieth both. He who denies the Son of God to be the eternal Son, denies the Father to be the eternal Father. Wi.
• Ver. 24. Let that (faith) which you have heard from the beginning, abide in you: when you received the Christian faith, and were baptized in the name of the three divine Persons. The promise which was then made to you, was life everlasting. Wi.
• Ver. 27. You have no need, &c. You want not to be taught by any of these men, who, under pretence of imparting more knowledge to you, seek to seduce you, (v. 26) since you are sufficiently taught already, and have all knowledge and grace in the Church, with the unction of the Holy Ghost, which tehse new teachers have no share in. Ch.—His unction teacheth you concerning all things. Unction here signifies the doctrine which they received together with the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God; in which he exhorts them to remain, as being sufficient for their instruction, and to make them avoid the new teachers of false doctrine. Wi.

 

Haydock Commentary John 1:19-28

• Ver. 19. The Jews sent, &c. These men, who were priests and Levites, seem to have been sent and deputed by the sanhedrin, or great council at Jerusalem, to ask of John the Baptist, who was then in great esteem and veneration, whether he was not their Messiah; who, as they knew by the predictions of the prophets, was to come about that time. John declared to them he was not. To their next question, if he was not Elijah? He answered: he was not: because in person he was not; though our Saviour (Matt. xi. 14) says he was Elijah: to wit, in spirit and office only. Their third question was, if he was a prophet? He answered, no. Yet Christ (Matt. xi.) tells us, he was a prophet, and more than a prophet. In the ordinary acceptation only, they were called prophets who foretold things to come: John then, with truth, as well as humility, could say he was not a prophet; not being sent to foretell the coming of the Messiah, but to point him out as already come, and present with the Jews. Wi.
• Ver. 23. The voice of one crying in the wilderness. See Matt. 3:3, Mark 1:3, Lk 3:4 and Isaiah 40:3 by all which John was his immediate precursor. Wi.
• Ver. 26. Hath stood. S. John, by these words, which he spoke to the priests and Levites, sent to him by the Pharisees, did not mean to tell them, that Jesus was either at the present time standing amongst them, or that he had ever been in the presence of the self same people; but they may be understood two different ways, either with regard to his divinity; and in that sense, Jesus was always by his divine presence amongst them; or in regard to his humanity; either that he lived in the same country, and among their countrymen, or that he had stood actually amongst them, because Jesus was accustomed yearly to go up to Jerusalem on the festival of the Pasch. D. Dionysius. Carth.