Daily Bible Readings Saturday May 31 2008 The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

May 31 2008 Saturday
Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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 personal study. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/053108.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Zephaniah 3:14-18a
DR Challoner

Give praise, O daughter of Sion: shout, O Israel: be glad, and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgment, he hath turned away thy enemies: the king of Israel, the Lord, is in the midst of thee, thou shalt fear evil no more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not: to Sion: Let not thy hands be weakened. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, he will save: he will rejoice over thee with gladness, he will be silent in his love, he will be joyful over thee in praise. The triflers that were departed from the law, I will gather together, because they were of thee: that thou mayest no more suffer reproach for them.

or

Romans 12:9-16
Haydock New Testament

Love without dissimulation. Hating that which is evil, adhering to that which is good: Loving one another with brotherly love; in honour preventing one another: In solicitude not slothful: in spirit fervent: serving the Lord: Rejoicing in hope: patient in tribulation: instant in prayer: Communicating to the necessities of the saints: pursuing hospitality.

Bless them that persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep: Being of one mind towards one another: not high-minded: but condescending to the humble. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Responsorial Psalm Isaiah 12:2-6
DR Challoner Text Only

Behold, God is my saviour,
I will deal confidently, and will not fear:
because the Lord is my strength, and my praise,
and he is become my salvation.
Thou shall draw waters with joy
out of the saviour’s fountains:
Praise ye the Lord, and call upon his name:
make his works known among the people:
remember that his name is high.
Sing ye to the Lord,
for he hath done great things:
shew this forth in all the earth.
Rejoice, and praise, O thou habitation of Sion:
for great is he that is in the midst of thee,
the Holy One of Israel.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Luke 1:39-56
Haydock NT

And Mary rising up in those days, went into the mountainous country with haste, into a city of Juda: And she entered into the house of Zachary (Zechariah), and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb: and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she cried out with a loud voice, and said:

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.

And Mary said:

My soul doth magnify the Lord: And my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Saviour. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done great things to me: and holy is his name. And his mercy is from generation to generations, to them that fear him.

He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.

He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent away empty.

He hath received Israel, his servant, being mindful of his mercy. As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed, for ever.

And Mary abode with her about three months: and she returned to her own house.

Haydock Commentary Zephaniah 3:14-18a (Sophonias)
Notes copied from Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 15. Judgment, or “condemnation.” Sept. “iniquities,” (C.) nailing to the cross the handwriting that was against thee. H. — God does not treat thee with rigour. He will be thy king. The Jews had no king for a long time. But the true Israel, of whom the prophet speaks, is continually ruled and fed by Jesus Christ, who imparts his graces abundantly. C.
• Ver. 17. Silent; constant. M. — He will accuse thee no more. Can this be understood of the Jews, who have been cast off till the fulness of the Gentiles enter the Church? To the latter all this must be applied. Few prophets inveighed against the crimes of the captives after their return. C. — But this must be deemed a punishment, unless the crimes were also removed. H.
• Ver. 18. Triflers. Lit. “trifles;” nugas. Heb. nugi, (H.) which is almost Latin. S. Jer. — These vain nothings, (C.) men who were of light dispositions, scoffers at Christ, shall be converted and honour him. W. — Sept. 17. “he will renew thee in his love, and will exult over thee in joy, as on a festival day: (18 ) and I will bring back thy bruised ones. Wo to him that has reproached her.” Aquila likewise renders by woe, or eju, oh, oi, usingit as an exclamation, though not of sorrow. Yet the term signifies, they were. S. Jer. H. — Heb. lit. “I have gathered those who were in grief for a time. They were of thee. Shame was upon them like a heavy load;” or, “they were grieved on account of the festivals disused. They were like an offering rejected,” with disgrace. C. — They lamented that they could no longer observe the solemn festivals, and this was to the pious a most intolerable burden, while libertines seem to feel as great a misery in the observance.

Haydock Commentary Romans 12:9-16

• Ver. 9. The apostle does not here prohibit that defence, by which a person, either by word or action, preserves himself from injury. This he could not condemn, since he had so often recourse to it himself, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: and in the second to Timothy, he writes: “In my first defence no one was with me.” Be he only forbids that revenge which a person takes of his neighbour, by private means, without having recourse to legal authority. Estius.
• Ver. 13. Communicating[2] to the necessities of the saints. Making them partakers of what you have, by relieving them. Wi.
• Ver. 16. Condescending to the humble, in the spirit of charity and sweetness. See Luke ii. 48. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Luke 1: 39-56

• Ver. 39. This city is generally supposed to be Hebron, a sacerdotal town, (Jos. xxi. 11.) situated in the mountains, to the south of Juda, and about 120 miles from Nazareth. V.
• Ver. 41. The infant leaped in her womb.[7] According to the general opinion of the interpreters, this motion of the child at the time was not natural: and some think that God gave to S. John, even in his mother’s womb, a passing knowledge of the presence of his Redeemer. See S. Aug. in the above cited letter to Dardanus. Wi.
• Ver. 42. In the same words she is pronounced blessed by Elizabeth, and by the angel Gabriel, both inspired by the Holy Ghost, and this not only to the praise of Jesus, but for his sake, to the praise of Mary, calling her blessed, and her fruit blessed; and thus, as Ven. Bede asserts, holding her up to the veneration of both men and angels.
• Ver. 43. The mother of my Lord. A proof that Christ was truly God, and the blessed Virgin Mary truly the mother of God. Wi. — Elizabeth was a just and blessed woman; yet the excellency of the mother of God does so far surpass that of Elizabeth, and of every other woman, as the great luminary outshines the smaller stars. S. Jerom præf. in Sophon.
• Ver. 47. In God my Saviour, as appears by the Greek text,[8] though literally in Latin, in God my salvation. Wi.
• Ver. 48. The humility of his handmaid,[9] i.e. the humble, low, and abject condition; as perhaps might be translated both in this and in v. 52. For the blessed Virgin does not here commend and praise her own virtue of humility; as divers interpreters observe. See S. Francis de Sales, in his introduction to a devout life, part 3, c. vi. Wi. — As death entered into the world by the pride of our first parents, so was it proper that the path to life should be opened by the humility of Mary. Ven. Bede. — Not Elizabeth only, but all nations of believers are to call her blessed. Theophy.
• Ver. 51. The wise men of the Gentiles, the Pharisees and Scribes, were powerful; but these the Almighty cast down, and exalted those, who humbled themselves under his powerful hand. 1 Peter v. The Jews were proud in their strength, but their incredulity brought on them their humiliation; whilst the low and mean among the Gentiles, have by faith ascended to the summit of perfection. S. Cyril Alex. in S. Thom. catenâ aureâ. Wi.
• Ver. 53. The Jews were rich in the possession of the law, and the doctrines of the prophets; but, as they would not humbly unite themselves to the incarnate word, they were sent away empty, without faith, without knowledge, deprived of all hopes of temporal goods, excluded from the terrestrial Jerusalem, and also from that which is in heaven. But the Gentiles, oppressed with hunger and thirst, by adhering to their Lord, were filled with all spiritual gifts. S. Basil in Ps. xxxiii.
• If you would like more commentary on this passage you can CLICK HERE for the Catena Aurea for Luke 1. It’s at Catechetics Online. The second link is to their front page where you will find many resources.

Daily Bible Readings Friday May 30 2008 The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

May 30 2008 Friday
Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

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 personal study. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/053008.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Deuteronomy 7:6-11
DR Challoner Text

Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be his peculiar people of all peoples that are upon the earth. Not because you surpass all nations in number, is the Lord joined unto you, and hath chosen you, for you are the fewest of any people: But because the Lord hath loved you, and hath kept his oath, which he swore to your fathers: and hath brought you out with a strong hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, out of the hand of Pharao the king of Egypt. And thou shalt know that the Lord thy God, he is a strong and faithful God, keeping his covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments, unto a thousand generations: And repaying forthwith them that hate him, so as to destroy them, without further delay immediately rendering to them what they deserve. Keep therefore the precepts and ceremonies and judgments, which I command thee this day to do.

Responsorial Psalm 102:1-4, 6-8, 10
DR Challoner Text Only

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and never forget all he hath done for thee.
Who forgiveth all thy iniquities:
who healeth all thy diseases.
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction:
who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion.
The Lord doth mercies,
and judgment for all that suffer wrong.
He hath made his ways known to Moses:
his wills to the children of Israel.
The Lord is compassionate and merciful:
longsuffering and plenteous in mercy.
He hath not dealt with us according to our sins:
nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

1 John 4:7-16
Haydock New Testament

Dearly beloved, let us love one another: for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity. By this hath appeared the charity of God in us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live by him. In this is charity: not as if we had loved God, but because he first loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins.

Dearly beloved, if God hath so loved us, we ought to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and his charity is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him, and he in us: because he hath given us of his Spirit: And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father hath sent his Son, the Saviour of the world.

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God. And we have known, and have believed the charity, which God hath to us. God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 11:25-30
Haydock NT

At that time Jesus answered, and said:

I give thanks to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father; for so hath it seemed good in thy sight.

All things are delivered to me by my Father. And no one knoweth the Son, but the Father: neither doth any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal him.

Come to me, all you that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is sweet and my burden light.

Haydock Commentary Deuteronomy 7:6-11
Notes copied from Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 6. Peculiar. Heb. sogula, laid up like something most precious and desirable. M. — God seemed to have abandoned other nations to the corruption of their own heart. “This was, by a particular mystery, a prophetical nation.” S. Aug. ep. cii. Ex. xix. 5. C. — Therefore must they destroy every idol in their land, to set a pattern to all other less favoured nations how they ought also to treat them.
• Ver. 7. Joined. Heb. “has set his love upon you.” God is the most disinterested lover. H.
• Ver. 9. Strong. Heb. el, means also God. He requires us to imitate his perfections as much as we are able. Being faithful, he will comply with his covenant exactly, and will punish those who neglect it. C.
• Ver. 10. Deserve. Heb. “he will repay to his face,” or “he will punish immediately the person who hateth him to his face.” God does not always defer the correction of the wicked till their death. C. — But this seems to be spoken principally of those who have engaged in the covenant, 2 Mac. vi. 12. D. — Thus he immediately chastised those who adored the calf, Core, Mary, &c. (M.) and he does not dissemble the faults even of his chosen servants. T. — The Chaldee and some Rabbins give another interpretation. “The Lord rewards his enemies for the good works which they perform in this life, reserving their judgment till the life to come. He does not delay to reward was good they do, but he will punish them (for their crimes) in another world.” C.

Haydock Commentary 1 John 4:7-16

• Ver. 7. Let us love one another. This is the repeated admonition of S. John, the evangelist, both in this epistle and to the end of his life, as S. Jerom relates in his Epist. ad Galat. cap. vi. tom. 4, part 1, p. 414) that the apostle being very old, and when carried to Church meetings of the Christians, being desired to give them some exhortation, he scarce said any thing, but “love one another;” and it being tedious to his disciples to hear always the same thing, they desired some other instruction, to whom (says S. Jerom) he gave this answer, worthy of S. John: that this was the precept of our Lord, and that if complied with, it was sufficient. — Charity is of God, is love, is the fountain and source of all goodness and mercy, infinitely good in himself, and in his love and mercy towards mankind. This love and charity of God hath appeared by his sending his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. See Jo. i. 14. — Thus God having first loved us, (v. 10) when we were sinners, and his enemies, let us not be so ungrateful as not to love him, and to love one another after his example. Wi.
• Ver. 12. No man hath seen God at any time. No mortal man hath seen God and the perfections of his divine Majesty in such a manner as the blessed in heaven, but we have powerful motives to love and serve him, and to love our neighbour for his sake. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 11:25-30

• Ver. 25. Jesus answered, &c. lit. Jesus answering, said: where we may take notice, that answering, in the style of the Scripture, is often put when it is no answer to any thing that was said before. Wi. — Because thou hast hid, &c. Jesus gives thanks to his heavenly Father, because he had revealed the secrets of his coming to his disciples, who, according to the false opinion of men, are called children and fools, and had hid it from the Scribes and Pharisees, whom he in ridicule calls the wise and prudent. By this prayer, he also begs that his heavenly Father would complete what he had begun in his apostles. S. Jerom. — Christ does not rejoice that it was not revealed to the wise and prudent, but because it was revealed to his little ones. S. Thos. Aquin.
• Ver. 26. Yea, Father, &c. S. Chrysostom interprets this passage as if Christ would say, Go on, Father, as you have begun; or the sense may be, I give thee thanks, O Father, that it has pleased thee to act thus, that since the wise men of this world have rejected the gospel, thou hast deigned to manifest it to little ones. M.
• Ver. 28. All you that, &c. That is, you who are wearied with the heavy load of your sins, and the grievous yoke of the old law. M.
• Ver. 29. Take up my yoke, &c. Fear not the yoke of Christ, for it is a yoke of the greatest sweetness. Be not disheartened when he mentions a burden, because it is a burden exceeding light. If then our Saviour says, that the way of virtue is exceeding narrow, and replete with difficulties and dangers, we must call to mind that it is so to the slothful only. Perform therefore with alacrity what is required, and then will all things be easy; the burden will be light, and the yoke sweet. S. Chrysos. hom. xxxix.
• Ver. 30. For my yoke is sweet, &c. For though, in regard of our weak nature, it be a very heavy yoke, yet the grace of God renders it easy and light, because our Lord himself helps us to bear it, according to that of the prophet Osee, (C. xi, v. 4) I will be unto them as he that takes the yoke from off their head. S. Bernard says, that our Saviour sweetens by the spiritual unction of his grace, all the crosses, penances, and mortifications of religious souls. S. Austin owns that before he knew the power of grace, he could never comprehend what charity was, nor believe that any one was able to practice it; but the grace of God renders all things easy. Rodriguez. On Mortification. C. xix.

Eucharistic Adoration

Douay-Rheims – Mat 26:40 And he cometh to his disciples and findeth them asleep. And he saith to Peter: What? Could you not watch one hour with me?

New Jerusalem Bible – Mat 26:40 He came back to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, ‘So you had not the strength to stay awake with me for one hour?

New American Bible – Mat 26:40 When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?

You don’t have to stay for an hour, but if there is one thing I could recommend in addition to becoming Catholic and attending Mass regularly it is Eucharistic Adoration. Spending time in the physical Presence of Christ Jesus. Take the Rosary with you, just don’t jingle it too much. Enjoy the peace. If you don’t know what to do or read or say, just remember the Psalm

Psa 45:11 Be still and see that I am God

http://www.savior.org/

Daily Bible Readings Thursday May 29 2008 8th Week of Ordinary Time

May 29 2008 Thursday 8^th Week of Ordinary Time

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 personal study. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/052908.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

The First Epistle of Saint Peter the Apostle and First Pope 2:2-5, 9-12
Haydock New Testament
I’m leaving in the snipped parts for your benefit.

As new-born infants, desire the rational milk without guile: that thereby you may grow unto salvation: If yet you have tasted that the Lord is sweet. To whom approaching the living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen and honoured of God: Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Wherefore it is contained in the Scripture: Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious: And he that shall believe in him, shall not be confounded. To you, therefore, that believe honour: but to them that believe not, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner: And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of scandal to them, who stumble at the word, neither do believe whereunto also they are set. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people, that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his admirable light. Who in time past were not a people: but are now the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, to refrain yourselves from carnal desires, which war against the soul, Having your conversation good among the Gentiles: that whereas they speak against you as evil doers, considering you by your good works, they may glorify God in the day of visitation.

Responsorial Psalm 99:2- 5 (Ps 100 NAB/Hebrew)
DR Challoner Text Only

Sing joyfully to God, all the earth:
serve ye the Lord with gladness.
Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy.
Know ye that the Lord he is God:
he made us, and not we ourselves.
We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Go ye into his gates with praise, into his courts with hymns:
and give glory to him. Praise ye his name:
For the Lord is sweet, his mercy endureth for ever,
and his truth to generation and generation.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 10:46-52
Haydock NT

And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho, with his disciples and a very great multitude, Bartimæus, the blind man, the son of Timæus, sat by the way side, begging. And when he had hear that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and to say:

Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.

And many rebuked him, that he might hold his peace. But he cried a great deal the more:

Son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus standing still, commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying to him:

Be of better comfort: arise, he calleth thee.

He casting off his garment, leaped up, and came to him.

And Jesus answering, said to him:

What wilt thou that I should do to thee?

And the blind man said to him:

Rabboni, that I may see.

And Jesus saith to him:

Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.

And immediately he saw, and followed him in the way.

Haydock Commentary 1 Peter 2:2-12

• Ver. 2. Desire the rational[1] milk without guile, or deceit. Without guile, in construction, does not agree with new-born children, but with milk, as appears by the text. The sense is, follow the pure doctrine of the gospel, without mixture of errors. Wi.
• Ver. 3. Whoever has a relish for Jesus Christ, has also for his word; and such as have a relish for neither, are truly deplorable. Let us pray then that God would feed us with his word, and with the holy Eucharist, that contains his body and blood, his soul and his divinity, that we may thereby grow up to salvation.
• Ver. 4. The living stone, rejected, &c. Christ is the chief foundation of his Church, the corner-stone of the building, whom the Jews, and other obstinate unbelievers, reject to their own condemnation and destruction. See Isai. xxviii. 16. Mat. xxi. 42. Acts iv. 11. Rom. ix. 32. Wi.
• Ver. 5. You also . . . a holy[2] priesthood; and, as he saith again, (v. 9.) a royal priesthood. 1. Because they had ministers of God, who were truly and properly priests, of whom Christ is the chief. 2. Every good Christian in a less proper sense may be called a priest, inasmuch as he offers to God what in a less proper and metaphorical sense may be called sacrifices and oblations; that is, the sacrifice of an humble and contrite heart, (Ps. l.) the sacrifice of self-denials and mortifications, or prayer, almsdeeds, &c. And it is called a royal priesthood, as Christians may be called metaphorically kings, by governing their passions, or because they are invited to reign with Christ in his kingdom, to sit on his throne, &c. See Apoc. iii. 21. &c. Wi.
• Ver. 8. Whereunto also they are[3] set, or placed, i.e. by God’s permission; not that God is the cause of their sins or damnation, (whose will is that every one be saved) but his justice has appointed and decreed punishments against those who, by their own wilful malice, refuse to believe and to follow his doctrine: their stumbling against this stone is wilful and obstinate. Wi.
• Ver. 9. You are . . . a purchased people, whom Christ purchased, bought and redeemed with the price of his precious blood. — That you may declare his[4] virtues; i.e. the excellencies and perfections of God, who hath called you, and now made you his people, which you were not, at least in this matter before, neither you that were Jews, nor especially you that were Gentiles. Wi.
• Ver. 11. I beseech you . . . to refrain, &c. from all unlawful and disorderly passions, that the Gentiles not yet converted may have nothing to blame in your lives and conversation, but may be edified and induced to praise God. Wi.
• Ver. 12. In the day of visitation. God is said to visit his people, sometimes by afflictions and punishments, and sometimes by graces and favours. Some think S. Peter here, by the day of visitation, means the approaching destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and that the sense is, that the heathen Romans seeing your peaceable dispositions and pious conversations, may have a favourable opinion of the Christian religion, and be converted. Others, that you and they to whom the gospel is preached, may glorify God when he visits them with graces and favours, whether exterior or interior. Wi. — Be careful not to give occasion to scandal. Detraction is the life of the world, and piety is most exposed to its shafts, because it most condemns the maxims of its followers.

Haydock Commentary Mark 10:46-52

• Ver. 46. Bartimæus is a Syriac word, and signifies, son of Timæus.
• Ver. 51. Let us endeavour sedulously to imitate the good example of this blind man, who did not ask for honours, riches, or other worldly advantages, but only that he might receive his sight; that he might behold the light with the blessed angels, to which faith alone can conduct us. Ven. Bede. — In this worse than Cimmerian darkness, how few are found, who pray as they ought for this all-necessary light of faith!!!
• Once again. CLICK HERE to go to the Catena Aurea of this at Catechetics Online for beautiful, traditional commentary.

Daily Bible Readings Wednesday May 28 2008 8th Week of Ordinary Time

May 28 2008 Wednesday 8^th Week of Ordinary Time

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 personal study. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/052808.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

The First Epistle of Saint Peter the Apostle 1:18-25
Haydock New Testament
note: The word “conversation” in the following passage has a different today than was intended by the translators. It means “conduct” as it appears below.

Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, gold or silver, from your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers: But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled: Foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but manifested in the last times for you, Who through him are faithful in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God: Purifying your souls in the obedience of charity, with a brotherly love, from a sincere heart love one another earnestly: Being born again not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the word of God, who liveth and remaineth for ever.

For all flesh is as grass: and all the glory thereof as the flower of the grass: the grass is withered, and the flower thereof is fallen away. But the word of the Lord endureth for every: and this is the word which hath been preached unto you.

Responsorial Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20
DR Challoner Text Only

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem:
praise thy God, O Sion.
Because he hath strengthened the bolts of thy gates,
he hath blessed thy children within thee.
Who hath placed peace in thy borders:
and filleth thee with the fat of corn.
Who sendeth forth his speech to the earth:
his word runneth swiftly.
Who declareth his word to Jacob:
his justices and his judgments to Israel.
He hath not done in like manner to every nation:
and his judgments he hath not made manifest to them.
Alleluia.

The Holy Gospel Of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 10:32-45
Haydock NT

And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem: and Jesus went before them, and they were astonished: and following, were afraid. And taking again the twelve, he began to tell them the things that should befall him. Saying:

Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests, and to the Scribes and ancients, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles. And they shall mock him, and spit on him, and scourge him, and kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.

And James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him, saying:

Master, we desire that whatsoever we shall ask, thou wouldst do it for us.

But he said to them:

What would you that I should do for you?

And they said:

Grant to us, that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.

And Jesus said to them:

You know now what you ask. Can you drink of the chalice that I drink of: or be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized?

But they said to him:

We can.

And Jesus saith to them:

You shall indeed drink of the chalice that I drink of: and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, you shall be baptized: But to sit on my right hand, or on my left, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared.

And the ten hearing it, began to be much displeased at James and John. But Jesus calling them, saith to them:

You know that they who seem to rule over the Gentiles, lord it over them: and their princes have power over them. But it is not so among you: but whosoever will be greater, shall be your minister. And whosoever will be first among you, shall be the servant of all. For the Son of man also is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many.

Haydock Commentary 1 Peter 1:18-25
Notes copied from Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 18. From your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers. S. Peter teacheth what S. Paul repeats in many places, that it was in vain for them to hope to be saved by the ceremonies and precepts of the former law, to which their forefathers had added many unnecessary and groundless traditions. They could only hope for salvation by believing in Christ, by the price of whose precious blood they were redeemed from their sins, as they had heard by the word of the gospel preached to them. His doctrine is the same with that of S. Paul, of S. James, of S. John, and of the other apostles, that to be saved it is not enough to have faith or hope in Christ, but it must be a faith joined and working by charity, obeying the law of Christ in the spirit of charity with a sincere and brotherly love of every one, without setting our hearts upon the vanities and corruptible things of this world, remembering that all flesh is as grass, or the flowers of the field, which wither and pass away in a very short time. Thus presently vanish all riches, honours, pleasures, and all the glory of this life, but the word of God and his promises will bring us to happiness which will last for ever. Wi.
• Ver. 23. Thus this new birth, common to you all, should form between you an union much more stable and solid than that formed in you by the ties of blood. V.

Haydock Commentary Mark 10:32-45

• Ver. 32. Christ goes before, to shew his eagerness to suffer the ignominies and torments of his approaching passion, for our salvation. Theophy. — But the disciples being already forewarned of what their Master was to suffer from the high priest and Scribes, went along the road to Jerusalem, with silent fear and trepidation, either lest they should be put to death with him, or lest he, whose life and doctrines they enjoyed, should fall into the hands of his enemies. But our kind Redeemer, foreseeing that the minds of his disciples were disturbed, comforts them with the assurance of his resurrection. Ven. Bede.
• Ver. 35. S. Matt. (xx. 20.) says it was their mother, Salome, but probably at their solicitation, or at least with their connivance and consent.
• Ver. 42. Who seem to rule over the Gentiles, &c. See Matt. xx. 25, and Luke xxii. 25. Wi.
• Ver. 43. In vain then do men either seek for immoderate power, or sigh after human greatness; for, not power, but humility, is the sure and only path to the summit of perfection. He then proves to them by his own example, that if they would not believe his words, they might at least learn by his example. Ven. Bede.