Daily Bible Readings Monday December 1 2008 First Week of Advent

December 1 Monday First Week in Advent
Saint of the Day – Blessed John of Vercelli

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/120108.shtml

Isaiah 2:1-5
DR Challoner

The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw, concerning Juda and Jerusalem. And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go, and say: Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people: and they shall turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm 121:1-9 (Ps 122 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

I rejoiced at the things that were said to me:
We shall go into the house of the Lord.
Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, which is built as a city,
which is compact together.
For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord:
the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.
Because their seats have sat in judgment,
seats upon the house of David.
Pray ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem:
and abundance for them that love thee.
Let peace be in thy strength:
and abundance in thy towers.
For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbours,
I spoke peace of thee.
Because of the house of the Lord our God,
I have sought good things for thee.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 8:5-11
Haydock New Testament

And when he had entered into Capharnaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying:

Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and is grievously tormented.

And Jesus saith to him:

I will come, and heal him.

And the centurion making answer, said:

I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof: but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth: and to another, Come, and he cometh: and to my servant, Do this, and he doth it.

And Jesus hearing this, marveled, and said to them that followed him:

Amen, I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel. And I say unto you, that many shall come from the East, and the West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:

Haydock Commentary Isaiah 2:1-5
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. Jerusalem. Many particular prophecies are blended with the general one, which regards Christ. C.
• Ver. 2. Days. The whole time of the new law, from the coming of Christ till the end of the world, is called in the Scripture the last days; because no other age, or time shall come after it, but only eternity. Ch. — It is therefore styled the last hour. 1 Jo. ii. W. — Mountains. This shews the perpetual visibility of the Church of Christ: for a mountain upon the top of mountains cannot be hid. Ch. — This evidently regards the Church. Mat. v. W. — The Jews can never shew the fulfillment of this prophecy in any material temple. Micheas (iv. 1.) copies this text.
• Ver. 3. Jerusalem. Our Saviour preached there, and in some sense the religion established by him, may be esteemed a reform, or accomplishment of the old law.
• Ver. 4. War. Ezechias enjoyed peace after the defeat of Sennacherib, as the whole world did at the birth of Christ. C. — Claudentur belli portæ. Æn. i.
• Ver. 5. Lord. Ezechias, or rather Christ and his Church, invite all to embrace the true faith. C.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 8:5-11

• Ver. 5. A centurion. The same who (Luke vii. 3,) is said to have sent messengers to our Saviour. But there is no contradiction: for what a man does by his servants, or friends, he is many times said to do himself. He came not in person out of humanity, but by his message shewed an extraordinary faith. Wi. — The centurion shews a much stronger faith in the power of Christ, than those who let down the sick man through the roof, because he thought the word of Christ alone sufficient to raise the deceased. And our Saviour, to reward his confidence, not only grants his petition, as he does on other occasions, but promises to go with him to his house to heal his servant. Chry. hom. xxvii. The centurion was a Gentile, an officer in the Roman army. According to S. Luke he did not come to him in person, but sent messengers to him, who desired him come: “Lord, I am not worthy,” &c. These difficulties may be easily removed. A person is said to appear before the judge, when his council appears for him; so he may be that he first sent his messengers, and afterwards went himself. As to the second difficulty, it may be said the messengers added that of their own accord, as appears from the text of S. Luke. M. — S. Augustin is of opinion that he did not go himself in person, for he thought himself unworthy, but that he sent first the ancients of the Jews, and then his friends, which last were to address Jesus in his name and with his words. l. ii de cons. Evang. c. xx. Thus we see that the request of the two sons of Zebedee was made by themselves to Jesus Christ, according to S. Mark; (x. 35,) and by the mouth of their mother, according to S. Matthew, xx. 20.
• Ver. 7. On this occasion our Saviour does what he never did before: every where indeed he meets the will of his supplicants, but here he runs before his request, saying: “I will come;” and this he does to teach us to imitate the virtue of the centurion.
• Ver. 8. Origen says, when thou eatest and drinkest the body and blood of our Lord, he entereth under thy roof. Thou also, therefore, humbling thyself, say: Domine, non sum dignus; Lord, I am not worth, &c. So said S. Chrysostom in his mass, Litturg. Græc. sub finem; and so doth the Catholic Church say at this day in every mass. See S. Augustin. Ep. cxviii. ad Janu. B. — See Luke vii. 6.
• Ver. 10. Christ here compares the faith of the centurion with that of the people in general, and not with that of his blessed mother and the apostles, whose faith was beyond a doubt much greater. M. — The Greek says, “neither in Israel.” — Jesus hearing this, marvelled. That is, by his outward carriage, says S. Aug. seemed to admire: but knowing all things, he could not properly admire any thing. — I have not found so great faith in Israel. This need not be understood of every one, but of those whom he had cured. Wi.
• Ver. 11. In consequence of the faith of this Gentile, Jesus Christ takes occasion to declare that many Gentiles would be called to sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, which is frequently represented under the figure of a feast. See chap. xxii. 2. Luke xii. 29. xvi. 16. Apoc. xix. 9. In ancient times, the guests were reclined on beds when they took their means. V.