Sunday Bible Readings July 20 2008 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 20 2008 16^th Sunday 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/072008.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
DR Challoner Text

For there is no other God but thou, who hast care of all, that thou shouldst shew that thou dost not give judgment unjustly.

For thy power is the beginning of justice: and because thou art Lord of all, thou makest thyself gracious to all. For thou shewest thy power, when men will not believe thee to be absolute in power, and thou convincest the boldness of them that know thee not. But thou being master of power, judgest with tranquillity, and with great favour disposest of us: for thy power is at hand when thou wilt. But thou hast taught thy people by such works, that they must be just and humane, and hast made thy children to be of a good hope: because in judging, thou givest place for repentance for sins.

Responsorial Psalm 85:5-6, 9-10, 15-16 (Ps 86 NAB/Hebrew)
DR Challoner Text Only

For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild:
and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer:
and attend to the voice of my petition.
All the nations thou hast made shall come
and adore before thee, O Lord:
and they shall glorify thy name.
For thou art great and dost wonderful things:
thou art God alone.
And thou, O Lord, art a God of compassion,
and merciful, patient, and of much mercy, and true.
O look upon me, and have mercy on me:
give thy command to thy servant,
and save the son of thy handmaid.

Romans 8:26-27
Haydock New Testament

Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit himself asketh for us with unspeakable groaning. And he that searcheth the hearts, knoweth what the Spirit desireth: because he asketh for the saint according to God.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 13:24-43
Haydock New Testament

Another parable he proposed to them, saying:

The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat, and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle.

Then the servants of the master of the house came and said to him: Master, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it cockle?

And he said to them: An enemy hath done this. And the servants said to him: Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?

And he said: No, lest perhaps while ye gather up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it.

Let both grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but gather the wheat into my barn.

Another parable he proposed to them, saying:

The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown up, it is greater than any herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come, and dwell in the branches thereof.

Another parable he spoke to them:

The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.

All these things Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes: and without parables he did not speak to them. That the word might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.

Then having sent away the multitudes, he came into the house, and his disciples came to him, saying:

Explain to us the parable of the cockle in the field.

He made answer, and said to them:

He that soweth the good seed, is the Son of man. And the field is the world. And the good seed are the children of the kingdom. And the cockle are the children of the wicked one. And the enemy that sowed them, is the devil. But the harvest is the end of the world. And the reapers are the angels.

Even as cockle therefore is gathered up, and burnt with fire, so shall it be at the end of the world. The Son of man shall send his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals, and them that work iniquity. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then shall the just shine as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Haydock Commentary Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 19. Hope. Under a God of such clemency, none should despair.

Haydock Commentary Romans 8:26-27

• Nothing….. sorry. I promise the Gospel reading will have something. Wait! Don’t Leave! Come back! I found something hidden in the notes for Verse 24. Apparently it continues to here.
• Ver. 26. And the spirit also helpeth our infirmity . . . asketh for us with unspeakable groanings.[4] If we understand this according to the common exposition, of the divine spirit of the Holy Ghost, the sense is, says S. Aug. that the Holy Ghost maketh us ask: but we may understand the spirit of God and his grace, diffused in our souls, and in particular that gift of the Holy Ghost, called the spirit of prayer, given to the new Christians, which taught them what to ask, and how to pray. See S. Chrys. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 13:24-43

• Ver. 24. Another parable he proposed. As in the preceding parable our Lord spoke of those who did not receive the word, so in this he speaks of those who receive the corrupted word; for it is a diabolical machination to confound error with truth. S. Chrys. ex D. Tho. — There are three things worthy of observation in this parable. 1st. That the Church of God on earth consists of both good and bad; the 2d. that God is not the author of evil; the 3d. that God does not always punish the wicked on the spot, but patiently bears with them. M.
• Ver. 25. Were asleep. When the superiors or pastors of the Church were lulled asleep or negligent, or, when the apostles were dead, as S. Augustine expounds it, the devil spread the tares or error and sin amongst a great number of Christians. These falling from the state of grace, or becoming heretics, are yet mingled with the rest of the faithful in the same outward profession of Christianity, not unlike the good corn and cockle in the same field.
• Ver. 27. Then the servants. S. Chrysostom observes, there are many circumstances in the parables that have no connexion with the instruction designed to be conveyed in the parables, and which are merely added to connect the different parts together.
• Ver. 29. No, lest, &c. The prayers of repenting sinners are never despised. We are taught also by this example not to cut off too hastily a fallen brother; for, whatever he may be to-day, to-morrow perhaps he may see his error and embrace the truth. S. Jerom. — Jesus Christ exhorts us to bear with infidels and heretics, not on our own account only, as wicked men are frequently of use to the virtuous, but also on their account; for sometimes the persons who have been corrupted and perverted, will return to the paths of virtue and truth. Let, therefore, both grow until the harvest, i.e. to the day of judgment, when the power of rectifying another’s error shall be no more. S. Aug. ex D. Tho. — When many are implicated in one misfortune, what remains but to bewail their condition. Let us then be willing to correct our brethren to the utmost of our power, but let it be always with mercy, charity and compassion; what we cannot correct, let us bear with patience, permitting what God permits, and interceding with him to move and convert their hearts. But when an opportunity offers, let us publicly advocate the truth, and condemn error. S. Jer. — S. Augustine affirms, that no one should be compelled by force to an unity of religious tenets: such as dissent for us must be persuaded by words, overcome by argumentation, and convinced by reason. S. Thos. Aquin.
• Ver. 32. The least of all seeds. That is, it is one of the least seeds; but in hot countries it is observed to grow to a considerable height, and to become a bush or a little tree. Wi. — The gospel of Christ, compared in this verse to the grain of mustard seed, has indeed little show of grandeur and human greatness. S. Paul calls it a scandal to the Jew, and a stumbling block to the Gentile. But Jesus Christ here assures us, that when it has been spread and promulgated by his ambassadors, viz. the apostles, it shall surpass every other mode of instruction both in fame and extent. S. Amb. S. Jer. S. Aug.
• Ver. 33. In three measures. Sata, the word here used, was a particular Hebrew measure, which corresponds not to any particular measure that we make use of, and therefore I have put measures, as it is in other English translations. See Walton de Ponderibus & mensuris, before his first tome. p. 42. Wi. — It was the Seah of the Jews, the third part of the Epha, and contained about ten pints, and appears to be the ordinary quantity they baked at a time. V. — By the woman here mentioned, S. Jerom understands the Church gathered from all nations; or the power and wisdom of God, according to S. Augustine.
• Ver. 35. By the prophet. It is taken from Psalm lxxvii. 2. S. Jerom remarks that many copies have, Isaias, the prophet, but supposes that the evangelist wrote, Asaph, the prophet, to whom the title of this psalm seems to attribute it; but it was probably chanted by Asaph, and composed by David, who is simply characterized under the name of prophet, because he prophesied in composing his canticles. V.