Daily Bible Readings January 5 2008 Christmas with Traditional Catholic Commentary

January 5 2008 Saturday 12th Day of Christmas
Memorial of Saint John Neumann

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/010508.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

1 John 3:11-21
Haydock NT

11 For this is the declaration, which you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. 12 Not as Cain, who was the wicked one, and killed his brother. And for what cause did he kill him? Because his own works were evil: and his brother’s just. 13 Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death: 15 Whosoever hateth his brother, is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. 16 In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

17 He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word, nor in his sight we shall persuade our hearts. 20 For if our heart reprehend us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21 Dearly beloved, if our heart do not reprehend us, we have confidence towards God:

The Gospel According to Saint John 1:43-51
Haydock NT

43 On the following day he would go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip. And Jesus saith to him:

Follow me.

44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and said to him:

We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus, the son of Joseph, of Nazareth.

46 And Nathanael said to him:

Can any thing of good come from Nazareth?

Philip saith to him:

Come and see.

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him: and he saith to him;

Behold and Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.

48 Nathanael said to him:

Whence Knowest thou me?

Jesus answered, and said to him:

Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee.

49 Nathanael answered him, and said:

Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel.

50 Jesus answered, and said to him:

Because I said to thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, thou believest: greater things than these shalt thou see.

51 And he saith to him:

Amen, Amen, I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Haydock Commentary 1 John 3:11-21

• Ver. 14-15. We know that we have passed from death to life; i.e. from the death of sin to the life of grace: we know it by a moral certainty, when we experience in our heart a love of our neighbour.—He that loveth not God and his neighbour, abideth in death. He that hateth his brother with a mortal hatred, or to a considerable degree, is a murderer. Wi.
• Ver. 16. The charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us. Jesus Christ, therefore, who laid down his life for us, was God. It is true at present the words of God are wanting in most Greek MSS: yet the Prot. translation has them. Wi.
• Ver. 19-20. And in his sight we shall persuade our hearts. That is, if we love God and our neighbour in deed, as he said before, we may rest satisfied in conscience that we follow the ways of truth, and may have a well-grounded confidence in God.—But if our hearts reprehend us, for not complying with this duty and precept of charity, God is still greater than our heart; i.e. he sees and knows the interior dispositions of our heart, even better than we know ourselves, and therefore we have more reason to fear him, especially when even our heart and conscience reprehend us. Wi.

 

Haydock Commentary John 1:43-51

• Ver. 46. Can anything of good come from Nazareth? Nathanael did not think it consistent with the predictions of the prophets, that the Messiah, who was to be the Son of David, and to be born at Bethlehem, should be of the town of Nazareth; which he did not imagine could be the place of Jesus’ birth. But when he came to Jesus, and found that he knew the truth of things done in private, and in his absence, he professed his belief in Jesus in these words: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel. We may here take notice, with Dr. Pearson, on the second article of the Creed, that the Jews, before the coming of Christ, were convinced that he was to be the Son of God; (though they have denied it since that time) for they interpreted, as foretold of their Messiah, these words: (Ps. 2:7) The Lord said to me, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee: and this is what Nathanael here confessed. The same is confirmed by the famous confession of S. Peter, (Mt 16:16) Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God; by the words of Martha, (Jo. 11:27) I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who art come into the world: In fine, by the question which the Jewish priest put to our Saviour, (Mt 26:63) I adjure thee by the Living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God. See also Jo. 6:70, and Jo. 22:31. Wi.
• Ver. 50. Greater things than these. Greater miracles and proofs that I am the Messiah, and the true Son of God. Wi.
• Ver. 51. You shall see the heaven open, &c. It is not certain when this was to be fulfilled: S. Chrysostom thinks at Christ’s ascension; others refer it to the day of judgment. Wi.