Daily Bible Readings Saturday May 17 2008 6th Week of Ordinary Time

May 17 2008 Saturday 6^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/051708.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

The Catholic Epistles of Saint James 3:1-10
Haydock New Testament

BE not many masters, my brethren, knowing that you receive the greater judgment. For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word; the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body. For is we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the force of the governor willeth. Even so the tongue is indeed a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how a small fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body, and inflameth the wheel of our nature, being set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beasts and of birds, and of serpents, and of the rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind: But the tongue no man can tame: a restless evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father; and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

Responsorial Psalm 11:2-5, 7-8 (Ps 12 NAB/Hebrew)
DR Challoner Text Only

Save me, O Lord,
for there is now no saint:
truths are decayed
from among the children of men.
They have spoken vain things,
every one to his neighbour:
with deceitful lips,
and with a double heart have they spoken.
May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips,
and the tongue that speaketh proud things.
Who have said:
We will magnify our tongue:
our lips are our own:
who is Lord over us?
The words of the Lord are pure words:
as silver tried by the fire,
purged from the earth,
refined seven times.
Thou, O Lord, wilt preserve us:
and keep us from this generation for ever.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 9:1-12
(9:2-13 in most Bibles not derived from the Latin Vulgate)
The Transfiguration
Haydock NT

AND after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John: and leadeth them up to a high mountain apart by themselves, and was transfigured before them. And his garments became shining, and exceedingly white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can make white. And there appeared to them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answering, said to Jesus:

Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

For he knew not what he said: for they were struck with fear. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, saying:

This is my most beloved Son: hear ye him.

And immediately looking about, they saw no man any more, but Jesus only with them. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them not to tell any man what things they had seen, till the Son of man shall be risen again from the dead. And they kept the word to themselves: questioning together what that should mean: When he shall be risen from the dead. And they asked him, saying:

Why then do the Pharisees and Scribes say, that Elias must come first?

He answering, said to them:

Elias, when he shall come first, shall restore all things: and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be despised. But I say to you, that Elias also is come, (and they have done to him whatsoever they would) as it is written of him.

Haydock Commentary James 3:1-10
Notes copied from Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. But not many masters, teachers, and preachers. An admonition to al those who are not called, or not qualified to undertake this high ministry, let they incur a greater condemnation. Wi.
• Ver. 2. For in many things we all offend,[1] fall into many, at least failings. — If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He that in all occurrences can govern his tongue, has attained to a great degree of perfection. — He is able also with a bridle to lead about he whole body. He alludes to the comparison in the following verse; and the sense is, that when he has once perfectly subdued this unruly adversary, it may be presumed he can govern himself as to other passions, and the whole body of his actions. Wi.
• Ver. 3. If we put bits, &c. By the help of a bridle, a skillful rider can turn and guide horses never so headstrong and unruly. An experienced pilot sitting at the helm, steers the course of the vessel in a storm, turns and guides the ship what way he thinks most proper; so must a man learn, and use his utmost endeavours to bridle and govern his tongue. Wi.
• Ver. 5-6. The tongue is indeed a little member, yet doth great things:[2] causeth great evils and mischiefs, when it is not carefully governed; as a little fire,[3] it kindleth and consumeth a great wood. It is a world of iniquity, the cause of infinite evils, dissensions, quarrels, seditions, wars, &c. It defileth the whole body, even the body politic of kingdoms. This fire, kindled by hell, sets all in a flame during the course of our lives, (lit. the wheel of our nativity) from our cradle to our grave. Wi.
• Ver. 7. Is tamed, &c. The wildest beasts may be tamed, lions and tigers, and the rest,[4] and so managed as to do no harm. Wi.
• Ver. 8. But the tongue no man can tame, without the special assistance of God. Wi. — Wherefore we are to understand, says S. Austin, that as no one is able of himself to govern his tongue, we must fly to the Lord for his assistance. S. Aug. ser. 4. de verb. Mat. vi. — It is an unquiet evil,[5] which cannot be stopt. It is full of deadly poison, which brings oftentimes death both to men’s bodies and souls. Wi.
• Ver. 9-10. By it we bless God, &c. Such different effects from the same cause, as of blessing God, and cursing men, created to the likeness of God, seem contrary to the ordinary course of nature.

Haydock Commentary Mark 9:1-12

• Ver. 4. The law and the prophets were signified by Moses and Elias; both bear testimony to the divinity of Jesus Christ’s mission, which was effectually to close the old, and open the new dispensation. By the apparitions of these two illustrious personages, we learn also that sometimes, though not often, there is, by the permission of heaven, a certain intercourse between the living and the dead. B.
• Ver. 5. Peter had forgotten that the glorious kingdom of Christ was not of this world, but in heaven only; that himself and the other apostles, clothed as they were with their mortality, could not participate in immortal joys; and that the mansions in the house of the Father are not raised with human hands. He again shewed that he knew not what he said, by wishing to make three tabernacles, one for the law, one for the prophets, and one for the gospel, since these three cannot be separated from each other. Ven. Bede.
• Ver. 9. Risen from the dead. The disciples believed the resurrection of the dead, but they knew not what Christ meant by by his rising from the dead. Their thoughts were filled with the idea of a glorious kingdom in this world, in which they should enjoy great dignities and offices under the Messias. Wi.
• Ver. 10. The Jews here confound the two comings of Jesus Christ. The Baptist, in the spirit of Elias, will precede the first, and Elias in person, the second coming of Christ.