Daily Bible Readings Thursday February 14 2008 1st Week of Lent

February 14 2008 Thursday 1^st Week of Lent

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 for your own study. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/021408.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Esther 14:1-5, 13-14 (NAB C:12, 14-16, 23-25)
Douay-Rheims Challoner Text
Numbering varies wildly as the text has been rearranged in modern Bibles.
I did my best to match the verses from the USCCB site, except for verse 2, which I included because it adds greatly to the reading. This is Lent. We could learn a thing or two from that one verse.

1 Queen Esther also, fearing the danger that was at hand, had recourse to the Lord.
2 And when she had laid away her royal apparel, she put on garments suitable for weeping and mourning: instead of divers precious ointments, she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she humbled her body with fasts: and all the places in which before she was accustomed to rejoice, she filled with her torn hair.
3 And she prayed to the Lord the God of Israel, saying: O my Lord, who alone art our king, help me a desolate woman, and who have no other helper but thee.
4 My danger is in my hands.
5 I have heard of my father that thou, O Lord, didst take Israel from among all nations, and our fathers from all their predecessors, to possess them as an everlasting inheritance, and thou hast done to them as thou hast promised.
13 Give me a well ordered speech in my mouth in the presence of the lion, and turn his heart to the hatred of our enemy, that both he himself may perish, and the rest that consent to him.
14 But deliver us by thy hand, and help me, who have no other helper, but thee, O Lord, who hast the knowledge of all things.

Responsorial Psalm 137 (Heb Ps 138)
CPDV Text Only

O Lord, I will confess to you with my whole heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth.
I will sing psalms to you in the sight of the angels.
I will adore according to your holy temple,
and I will confess your name:
it is above your mercy and your truth.
For you have magnified your holy name above all.
On whatever day that I will call upon you: hear me.
You will multiply virtue in my soul.
May all the kings of the earth confess to you, O Lord.
For they have heard all the words of your mouth.
And let them sing in accordance with the ways of the Lord.
For great is the glory of the Lord.
For the Lord is exalted, and he looks upon the humble.
But the lofty he knows from a distance.
If I wander into the midst of tribulation, you will revive me.
And you extended your hand against the wrath of my enemies.
And your right hand has accomplished my salvation.
The Lord will provide retribution on my behalf.
O Lord, your mercy is forever.
Do not disdain the works of your hands.

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew 7:7-12
Haydock NT

7 Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. 8 For everyone that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

9 Or what man is there among you, of whom if his son shall ask bread, will he reach him a stone? 10 Or if he shall ask a fish, will he reach him a serpent? 11 If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?

12 All things, therefore, whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them. For this is the law and the prophets.

Haydock Commentary Esther 8:1-5, 13-14

• Ver. 1. Fearing. Gr. “caught in the agony of death.” The old Vulgate has many variations in this chapter. C.—this prayer should be placed after that of Mordechai, at the end of C. iv. M.
• Ver. 2. Ointments. Gr. “instead of the proud sweets, she filled her head with ashes and dust.” Such as might be soon cleansed again. H.—Torn. Gr “curled hair,” some of which she cut off. See Lev. xix. 27 and xxi. 5. Houbig.
• Ver. 4. Hands; very imminent. I am ready to expose my life. Ps. cxviii. 109. C.
• Ver. 5. Heard. Old Vulg. often repeats, “from the books of my fathers;” adducing the various instances of protection which God had shewn to his people, Noah, Abraham, Jonah, the three children, Daniel, Hezekiah, and Anna: which intimates that Esther made the sacred books the subject of her frequent meditations, as good people ought to do. H.
• Ver. 13. Lion. This expression seems not sufficiently respectful. Capellus.—But why might not Esther use it with regard to one, who was raging against her people more than any lion, as S. Paul applies it to Nero, probably after her example? Houbigant. 2 Tim. iv. 17.—David also thus styles Saul and his persecutors in general. Ps. vii. 3. &c. C.

 

Haydock Commentary Matthew 7:7-12

• Ver. 7. After having preached these great and wonderful truths, after having commanded his apostles to keep themselves free from the vices of mankind, and make themselves like not to the angels or archangels only, but to the Lord of all things; and not only to observe justice themselves, but likewise to labour for the correction of others, lest they should be disheartened at these almost insurmountable difficulties: our Redeemer subjoins, Ask, and you shall receive, &c. When we offer our petitions to the Almighty, we must imitate the example of Solomon, who immediately obtained what he asked of the Lord, because he asked what he ought. Two things, therefore, are necessary to every prayer, that it be offered up with perseverance and fervour, and that it contain a lawful prayer. Chry. hom. xxiv.—The reasons why so many do not obtain the effects of their prayers, are—1^st. Because they ask for what is evil; and he that makes such a request, offers the Almighty an intolerable injury by wishing to make him, as it were, the author of evil: 2^nd. Although what they ask be not evil, they seek it for an evil end. S. James iv.: 3^rd Because they who pray, are themselves wicked; (S. John ix.) for God doth not hear sinners: 4^th Because they ask with no faith, or with faith weak and wavering: (S. James i.) 5^th. Because although what we ask be good in itself, yet the Almighty refuses it, in order to grant us a greater good: 6^th Because God wishes us to persevere, as he declares in the parable of the friend asking bread, Luke, ch. ii; and that we may esteem his gifts the more: 7^th. We do not always receive what we beg because, according to S. Augustine, (lib ii, de Serm. Dom. et epis. 34, ad Paulinum) God often does not grant us what we petition for, that he may grant us something more useful and profitable. Maldonatus.
• Ver. 8. Whatever we ask necessary to salvation with humility, fervour, perseverance, and other due circumstances, we may be assured God will grant when it is best for us. If we do not obtain what we pray for, we must suppose it is not conducive to our salvation, in comparison of which all else is of little moment. A.
• Ver. 9. Lest any one considering the great inequality between God and man, should despair of obtaining favours of God, and therefore should not dare to offer up his petitions, he immediately introduces this similitude of the Father; so that if we were on the point of despairing on account of our sins, from his fatherly tenderness we might still have hopes. S. Thos. Aquinas.
• Ver. 12. For this is the law and the prophets; that is, all precepts that regard out neighbour are directed by this golden rule, do as you would be done by. Wi.—The whole law and all the duties between man and man, inculcated by the prophets, have this principle for foundation. The Roman emperor Alexander Severus, is related to have said, that he esteemed the Christians for their acting on this principle. A.—This is the sum of the law and of the prophets, the whole law of the Jews. M