Daily Bible Readings Wednesday July 23 2008 16th Week Ordinary Time

July 23 2008 Wednesday 16^th Week of Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day – St. Bridget
For more on Saint Birgitta CLICK HERE

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/072308.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Jeremiah (Jeremias) 1:1, 4-10
DR Challoner Text

The words of Jeremiah the son of Helcias, of the priests that were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations.

And I said:

Ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child.

And the Lord said to me:

Say not: I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee: and whatsoever I shall command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid at their presence: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.

And the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth: and the Lord said to me:

Behold I have given my words in thy mouth: Lo, I have set thee this day over the nations, and over kingdoms, to root up, and to pull down, and to waste, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant.

Responsorial Psalm 70:1-4a, 5-6ab, 15 and 17 (Ps 71 NAB/Hebrew)
DR Challoner Text ONLY

In thee, O Lord, I have hoped,
let me never be put to confusion:
Deliver me in thy justice, and rescue me.
Incline thy ear unto me, and save me.
Be thou unto me a God, a protector,
and a place of strength: that thou mayst make me safe.
For thou art my firmament and my refuge.
Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner
For thou art my patience, O Lord:
my hope, O Lord, from my youth.
By thee have I been confirmed from the womb:
from my mother’s womb thou art my protector.
My mouth shall shew forth thy justice;
thy salvation all the day long.
Because I have not known learning,
Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth:
and till now I will declare thy wonderful works.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 13:1-9
Haydock New Testament

THE same day Jesus going out of the house, sat by the sea-side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a boat and sat: and all the multitudes stood on the shore. And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying:

Behold the sower went forth the sow; And whilst he soweth, some fell by the wayside, and the birds of the air came and ate them up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where they had not much earth: and they sprung up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched and because they had not root, they withered away. And others fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up and choaked them. And others fell upon good ground: and they brought forth fruit, some a hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, and some thirty-fold.

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Haydock Commentary Jeremias 1:1, 4-10
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. Helcias, the high priest who discovered the book of the law, (Clem. Strom. i. &c.) though this be uncertain. — Anathoth, a village to the north of Jerusalem, to which many priests had retired, though it did not belong to them. C.
• Ver. 5. Knew, with affection, and designed thee for this office for eternity. Many think (C.) that Jeremias was purified from original sin before his birth. S. Aug. — He had this privilege, and was also a priest, prophet, virgin, and martyr. W. — Yet to sanctify, often means only to set aside. Ex. xiii. 2. Eccli. xlix. 9. — Nations, whose overthrow he points out. C. xxv. 27. 44. &c. C.
• Ver. 6. Ah. Heb. ahah. Sept. “thou Being.” Prot. “Then said I: Ah, Lord God.” H. — He does not imitate a child. He might be above 30 years old, though some say (C.) only 14, (T.) or less; yet he finds himself devoid of eloquence, like Moses. Ex. xiv. 10. C.
• Ver. 9. Mouth; perhaps H. with a coal, by means of an angel, (Is. vi. 5.) in a sort of dream. He found himself changed into a new man.
• Ver. 10. Root up, to announce the fall and restoration of many nations. Ezec. iv. 2. C. — Jeremias spoke of the Gentiles, as well as of the Jews. W.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 13:1-9

• Ver. 1. On the same day Jesus left the house, in which he had performed the miracle, and delivered the preceding discourse, and sat himself down on the shore of the sea of Galilee, were multitudes crowded unto him.
• Ver. 3. To them he spoke many things, from a ship, in parables; probably many more than are here recorded. By familiar and well-known objects, Jesus Christ would thus convey more pleasingly his divine instructions, and teach them to spiritualize their daily labours, and by natural things, which meet the senses, lead them to knowledge of things divine, which we cannot naturally comprehend. A. — Several reasons may be assigned why our Lord made use of parables: 1st. The lively imagination of the Orientals made them relish these figurative expressions, which awaken the attention, and exercise the understanding. 2d. The indisposition of his hearers made him frequently veil his instructions under similitudes or parables; but in private, he expounded the meaning to his disciples, who were better disposed, and was ever ready to give every necessary and satisfactory explanation to as many as sincerely wished for it. — A third motive, given by S. Matthew, was the accomplishment of the prophecies; for one of the characteristics of the Messias was, that he would express himself in this parabolical manner; and Jesus Christ was pleased that the most minute circumstances should be fulfilled in his person, in order that the resemblance between him and the ancient prophets, in the mode of instructing, might induce the Jews to consider him as the great prophet, foretold by Moses. There are few Christians that do not dwell with delight and improvement on our Lord’s parables. Their imagination, warmed with the singular beauty of the imagery, more easily retains them; and the greatest geniuses have ever esteemed them as very superior and striking lessons of morality and religion. — In his sermon on the mount, Jesus Christ does not make use of parables to convey his instructions to the Jews, for then his auditors were composed of a mixed multitude, and the major part of them illiterate people; but here, on the contrary, they are the Scribes and Pharisees, the doctors of the law. Chrys. — Jesus Christ speaks sometimes in plain, and sometimes in obscure terms, that, by what they understand, they may be led to the search of what they do not understand. S. Jerom.
• Ver. 4. And whilst he soweth. S. Matthew and S. Mark subjoin the following parables to what goes before, but S. Luke places the parable of the sower immediately after the second journey through Galilee, which he anticipates. Jesus Christ successively proposed four parables to the people, and then dismissed them; and being now retired with his disciples, he unfolded to them the meaning of the parables when in the house. v. 36. S. Matthew, however, interrupts the course of the parables, and after the first, anticipates the request of the disciples to have it explained; but from S. Mark, we learn that this did not take place till Christ was alone in the house. Of the eight parables, all spoken by Jesus on the same day, the first five were addressed to the people assembled on the sea-shore, the other three were added by him when alone with the apostles in the house, and are in some measure explanations of the former. In the first, we see the different success of the word of God from the different dispositions of the hearers. And as we find that only one-fourth part of the seed produced fruit, we may thence infer how many and great are the obstacles in the way of salvation, and how few will be the number of the elect. A.
• Ver. 5. Had no deepness of earth; and therefore the seed, not able to shoot downwards, shot upwards, and for want of necessary moisture and nutriment, was burned by the scorching heat of the sun.
• Ver. 8. Some a hundred-fold. This difference of fruits is the difference of merit here, and of the rewards hereafter, according to the diversity of states, &c. S. Augustine, in his work, (de Virginitate, c. xliv, and seq.) saith, that the hundred-fold agreeth with professed virgins; the sixty-fold with religious widows; the thirty-fold with married persons. This old heretic, Jovinian, and many of modern date, deny, affirming that there is no difference of merits or rewards. S. Jer. l. ii. adv. Jovin. Amb. ep. lxxxii. Augustinus ep. lxxxii. B.
• Ver. 9. He that hath ears to hear. By these words, we are exhorted to examine the meaning of the parables. S. Jer. See C. xi. 15. — We are also taught that not all, but only such as have had the sense of the Scriptures opened to their understanding from above, can properly understand them. The apostles themselves were in ignorance till Jesus Christ gave them the true meaning: aperuit illis sensum, ut intelligerent Scripturas: “he opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.” S. Luke xxiv. 45. It is God who speaketh in the Scripture, and it is God who giveth us to understand what is therein delivered. His truths he conceals from the proud, while he reveals them to the little and humble. How can any persons pretend that the most mysterious, as well as the most sacred book in the world, is open to every understanding? S. Paul (Acts xiii. 26.) tells the Jews, that although the Scriptures were read to them every sabbath-day, their very rulers did not understand them; and S. Peter, in his 2d Ep. (iii. 17.) assures us, that there are many passages hard to be understood. — all comes from God. It is He who openeth our ears to hear, our heart to believe, and our mind to understand. Agar was near a well, and yet she wept, because she had no water to give her son to drink, God opened her eyes, and she saw the well that was close to her. Thus, says Origen, we may read the Scripture, and find no nourishment for the soul, unless God opens our mind, to see therein on what we are to nourish it. It contains salutary waters, but only those can be benefited by them, who see how to drink of the heavenly source. It is the Holy Ghost alone who can effectually open our eyes, to see these waters that spring up to life eternal; and this special grace we are to obtain by humble and fervent prayer. Knock, and it shall be opened to you.