Daily Bible Readings With Traditional Catholic Commentary January 7 2008 Monday

January 7 2008 Monday Octave of Epiphany

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/010708.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

1 John 3:22–4:6
Haydock New Testament

22 And whatsoever we shall ask, we shall receive of him: because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 And this is his commandment: that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ: and love one another, as he hath given commandment unto us. 24 And he that keepeth his commandments, abideth in him, and he in him: and in this we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

1 Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 By this is the spirit of God known: every spirit which confesseth Jesus Christ to have come in the flesh, is of God: 3 And every spirit, that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God, and this is antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now already in the world. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome him, because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us: He that is not of God, heareth us not: by this we know the Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25
Haydock NT

12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was delivered up, he retired into Galilee: 13 And leaving the city of Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capharnaum, on the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14 That what was said by Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled:

15 “The land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:

16 The people that sat in darkness, saw great light: and to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is sprung up.”

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say:

Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom: and healing all diseases, and infirmities among the people. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all sick people, that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and such as were possessed by devils and lunatics, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them: 25 And great multitudes followed him from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Haydock Commentary 1 John 3:22-4:6

• Ver. 24. We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. These words may be either referred to the body of the Church in general or to the apostles, or to every one in particular. It is certain that God gave his Spirit to his Church and to the apostles, by the coming of the Holy Ghost in a visible manner, and by the miraculous gifts bestowed upon the apostles; but every one in particular has only a moral certainty that he has the Spirit of God, and his sanctifying grace in his soul. Wi.
• Ver.  1. Try the spirits; i.e. every doctrine that you hear: for now are many false teachers, false doctors, and false prophets. Wi.—Try, &c. viz. by examining whether their teaching be agreeable to the rule of the Catholic faith and the doctrine of the Church. For, as he says, (v. 6) “He that knoweth God, heareth us: (the pastors of the Church) … by this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” Ch.—The Church only, not every private man, hath to prove and discern spirits.
• Ver. 2. By this is the Spirit of God known. He gives the new converts first this general mark, by which they might have good grounds to think that the teachers they met with in those days had a good spirit, and were of God, if they confessed and acknowledged Jesus Christ to have come from heaven and to have been made flesh, or made man; i.e. to be truly God and truly man. But if (v. 3) they met with teachers of such a spirit as dissolveth Jesus, by denying him either to be the Messiah or to be truly God, or to be a true man, they might conclude for certain that such men had not a true spirit, but were heretics, antichrists, and forerunners of the great antichrist. Such, even in S. John’s time, was Simon the magician, who, according to S. Epiphan. (haer. xxi. p. 55. Ed. Petav.) pretended among his countrymen, the Samaritans, that he himself was God the Father, and among the Jews that he was God the Son, and that Jesus suffered death in appearance only. His disciple also, Menander, said he was sent from heaven for the salvation of men. See S. Epiphan. Haer. xxii. p. 61. 3. Cerinthus, as also Carpocras, held that Jesus was a mere man, born of Joseph and Mary, and also different from Christ. See S. Epihphan. Haer. xxxvii. and haer. xxx. p. 142. These heretics and divers of their followers divided Jesus, and destroyed the faith and mystery of the incarnation. Wi.—Every spirit which confesseth, &c. Not that the confession of this point of faith alone, is at all times and in all cases sufficient; but that with relation to that time, and for that part of the Christian doctrine, which was then particularly to be confessed, taught, and maintained against the heretics of those days, this was the most proper token by which the true teachers might be distinguished from the false. Ch.
• Ver. 3. That dissolveth Jesus, viz either by denying his humanity or his divinity. Ch.—This is antichrist; i.e. such is the spirit of antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, or is to come in the latter times.—And he is now already in the world, not the chief and great antichrist, but his precursors, in whom he may be said to come. Wi.—Ibid. Not in his person, but in his spirit, and in his precursors. Ch.
• Ver. 4. You … little children, born anew in Christ by baptism, have overcome him, (i.e. every such antichrist) not by your own strength, but by the grace of Christ, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world; i.e. the Spirit of God in you is above all your enemies. Wi.
• Ver. 5. We (Christians) are of God, have received the Spirit; we, the apostles of Christ, were lawfully sent by him.—He that knoweth God, heareth us, &c. That is, they who love and serve God, and comply with the doctrine of his Son, Jesus Christ, hear and follow the doctrine which we were commissioned by him to teach.—He that is not of God, heareth us not. They are not of God, who refuse to hear and obey the voice of the Church and those whom Christ appointed to govern his Church, as hath been observed elsewhere.—By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Here S. John gives them the second general mark and rule, to preserve them and all Christians from errors and heresies to the end of the world. He that knoweth God, heareth us Apostles, whom he sent, and heath our successors, invested with the same mission and authority, whom Christ sent, as his heavenly Father sent him, whom he appointed to govern his Church, and with whom he promised to remain to the end of the world. Wi.

 

Haydock Commentary Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

• Ver. 12. Jesus then left the wilderness, and passed a few days on the banks of the Jordan, affording his holy precursor an opportunity of bearing repeated testimony of him and of his divine mission, as we read in the first chap. of S. John, and then retired into Upper Galilee to avoid the fury of the Jews. There were two Galilees, that of the Jews and that of the Gentiles; this latter was given by the king of Tyre to king Solomon. S. Jerome. This conduct of Jesus Christ, shews that on some occasions it is not only lawful, but advisable, to flee from persecution. S. Chrys.—Jesus Christ enters more publicly on his mission, and about to occupy the place of his precursor, the Baptist, he chooses Galilee for the first theatre of his ministry, the place assigned by the ancient prophets. The Pharisees had prevailed upon Herod to arrest the Baptist, now could their hatred be less to Jesus Christ, who drew a still greater concourse of disciples after him.
• Ver. 13. Nazareth was situated in Lower Galilee; and Capharnaum, a maritime town, in Higher Galilee. According to the historian, Josephus, it did not belong to Herod, the tetrarch, who sent the Baptist to confinement, but to Philip, the tetrarch, his brother. C.—He leaves Nazareth for good and all, and retires to Capharnaum, a very flourishing and much frequented emporium, both for the Jews and Gentiles. Here he makes his chief residence, a place well calculated for his preaching, being on the limits of both Galilees, although he made frequent excursions through Galilee to disseminate his doctrines. Syn. crit.
• Ver. 15. S. Matthew has omitted in this place part of the prophecy, (Isaiah 9) because it was not to his purpose. He has likewise given us the mystical, though still true, interpretation of the prophecy, which was written in the first instance to foretell the deliverance of Jerusalem from Senacherib, in the time of Hezekiah. 1 Kings 19.(or 1 Samuel) Jan
• Ver. 16. And a light is risen, &c. This light, foretold by the prophet Isaiah, (c. ix, v. 1,) was our Saviour Christ, the light of the world, who now enlightened them by his instructions, and by his grace. Wi.—This when the morning star has gone by and disappeared, the sun rises and diffuses its light to mortals, who rejoice that the darkness of night is removed form the earth. Jan.
• Ver. 17. Jesus began not to preach till S. John had announced his coming to the world, that the dignity of his sacred person might thus be manifested, and the incredulous Jews be without excuse. If after the preaching of S. John, and his express testimony of the divinity of our Redeemer, they could still say: thou givest testimony of thyself; thy testimony is not true: what would they not have said, if, without any precursor, he had, all on a sudden, appeared amongst them. He did not begin to preach till S. John was cast into prison, that the people might not be divided. On this account also S. John wrought no miracle, that the people might be struck with the miracles of our Saviour, and yield their assent to him. S. Chrys. hom. 14.—It may here be remarked, how different were the motives of the prophets from those which the baptist and Christ made use of to exhort to repentance. The former menaced evil, and held out a promise of good, but the good or evil was temporal. S. John beings his exhortations with the threat of eternal punishments.—But Christ sweetens the hardships of penance by reminding us of the reward. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jan.
• Ver. 23. The synagogues were religious assemblies with the Jews, wherein they met on the Sabbath and festival days, to pray, to read and hear expounded the word of God, and to exercise the other practices of their law. C.
• Ver. 24. Many came to Christ to beg to be cured of their corporal infirmities; nor do we read of a single one here, who came to be delivered from spiritual sickness. Our blessed Saviour nevertheless, bearing with their imperfection, condescends to heal them, that he might thence take occasion of exciting their faith, and preparing them for their spiritual cure. Jan.—It is much to be regretted, that the conduct of Christians at the present day, is not more reasonable than that of the Jews here mentioned. If the Almighty, says the eloquent Masillon, had not the power or will of dispensing goods and evils, how small would be the number of those who would ever retire to the temple to present their petition to Him. A.—Our Saviour asks not, if they believed, as he did on other occasions; they had given him sufficient proof, by bringing their sick from distant parts. Chry. hom. xiv.