Daily Bible Readings Saturday December 6 2008 First Week of Advent

December 6 Saturday First Week of Advent
Saint of the Day – St. Nicholas

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/120608.shtml

Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26
Douay-Rheims Challoner

For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem: weeping thou shalt not weep, he will surely have pity on thee: at the voice of thy cry, as soon as he shall hear, he will answer thee. And the Lord will give you spare bread, and short water: and will not cause thy teacher to flee away from thee any more, and thy eyes shall see thy teacher. And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back: This is the way, walk ye in it: and go not aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left. And thou shalt defile the plates of thy graven things of silver, and the garment of thy molten things of gold, and shalt cast them away as the uncleanness of a menstruous woman. Thou shalt say to it: Get thee hence. And rain shall be given to thy seed, wheresoever thou shalt sow in the land: and the bread of the corn of the land shall be most plentiful, and fat. The lamb in that day shall feed at large in thy possession: And thy oxen, and the ass colts that till the ground, shall eat mingled provender as it was winnowed in the floor. And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill rivers of running waters in the day of the slaughter of many, when the tower shall fall. And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: in the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people, and shall heal the stroke of their wound.

Responsorial Psalm 146:1-6 (Ps 147 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Alleluia. Praise ye the Lord, because psalm is good:
to our God be joyful and comely praise.
The Lord buildeth up Jerusalem:
he will gather together the dispersed of Israel.
Who healeth the broken of heart,
and bindeth up their bruises.
Who telleth the number of the stars:
and calleth them all by their names.
Great is our Lord, and great is his power:
and of his wisdom there is no number.
The Lord lifteth up the meek,
and bringeth the wicked down even to the ground.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8
Haydock New Testament

And Jesus went about all the cities, and towns, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease, and every infirmity. And seeing the multitudes, he had compassion on them: because they were distressed, and lying as sheep having no shepherd. Then he saith to his disciples:

The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest.

AND , having called his twelve disciples together, he gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of diseases, and all manner of infirmities. These twelve Jesus sent; and commanded them, saying:

Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into the cities of the Samaritans enter not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And going, preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand.Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: gratis you have received, gratis give.

Haydock Commentary Isaiah 30:19-26
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 19. Weep. The citizens expected certain death, (H.) or slavery. C.
• Ver. 20. Water. The land will be reduced to a miserable condition by the ravages of Sennacherib. H. — The following was a sabbatical year. v. 23. C. xxxvii. 30. — Teacher. It seems that Isaias, &c. had been silent. He spoke after Ezechias had sent for him, and God promises that the people shall not be left without guides. C. — Christ will not abandon his Church. M.
• Ver. 22. Garment. Heb. “ephod,” belonging to the idol, or its priest. Ezechias had prohibited idolatry at first. After his deliverance he was still more zealous, and even those who had formerly retained an affection for idols, saw their vanity, and became sincere.
• Ver. 24. Floor. They shall not have straw only, but wheat, &c. to denote abundance.
• Ver. 25. Towers, or chief officers of Sennacherib. All shall be luxuriant.
• Ver. 26. Sevenfold. Exceedingly great, equal to the light of 49 days. C. — The fame of Ezechias spread widely. His kingdom was a figure of that of Christ, when this was more perfectly realized, the preaching of the gospel having dispelled the darkness of error. C. — He alludes to the day of judgment. S. Jer. M.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5-8

• Ver. 36. He had compassion on them. The bowels of his compassion yearned to see multitudes cast down and oppressed, like sheep that are without a shepherd. The Pharisees indeed were their shepherds; but they acted the part of ravenous wolves, not only neglecting to lead the people to virtue, but even hindering, as much as they could, their advancement in good; for when the admiring multitude cried out, “Never did the like appear in Israel,” they immediately decried it, saying, “By the prince of devils he casteth out devils.” S. Chrysos. hom. xxxiii.
• CHAP. X.
• Ver. 1. Before this time the 12 were called disciples, and not apostles. But now he selects these from the disciples, and makes them, as it were, masters and interpreters of the ways of God to man. He sent afterwards 72 other disciples, (Luke x. 1,) but these 12 only to the whole world. A. — His twelve, &c. Christ chose 12 apostles, that they might correspond to the number of the Jewish patriarchs, by whom they may be said to have been prefigured; and that as the whole Jewish people were descended according to the flesh from the 12 patriarchs, so the whole Christian people might be descended according to the spirit from the 12 apostles. M. — Others say he chose 12, neither more nor less, to correspond with the 12 prophets of the old law, with the 12 fountains in Elim; and the 12 stones selected from the river Jordan, and preserved in the ark of the testament. Others compare the 12 apostles to the 12 months of the year, and the four evangelists to the four seasons: thus Sedulius, l. i. carm.
• Quatuar hi proceres una te voce canentes,
• Tempora ceu totidem latum sparguntur in orbem.
• Sic et apostolici semper duodenus honoris
• Fulget apex numero menses imitatus, et horas,
• Omnibus ut rebus semper tibi militet annus.
• Ver. 5. Go not into the way of the Gentiles, or among the Gentiles. In this first mission, the apostles were ordered to preach to the Jews only, or to the children of the kingdom. Matt. vii. 12. See also Matt. xv. 24. and Acts xii. 46. Wi. — These twelve Jesus sent. In this mission of the apostles we may observe three things: first, whither Jesus sent them; secondly, what he ordered them to teach; and thirdly, what they were to do. As to the first, he tells them not to go in the way of the Gentiles, nor enter in the city of the Samaritans; but to go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. We must here take notice that this commandment, given by Christ to the apostles, of confining their preaching to the house of Israel, does not contradict one related in Matthew, (c xxviii.) Go teach all nations, &c. We observe that these two commandments were given at two very different times; the first indeed, (the subject of our present annotation) the apostles received before the resurrection of Christ; the other after. It was necessary first to warn the Jews of the arrival of the Messias amongst them; otherwise they might have excused themselves for having rejected him, by saying, “He had sent his apostles to preach, no to them but to the Gentiles and Samaritans.” S. Jerom. — S. Chrysostom assigns another reason why the apostles were sent first to preach in Judea, viz. that having withstood the opposition of one nation, they might be more prepared to hold out against the attacks, which they would no doubt have afterwards to sustain, in their endeavours to convert the whole world. S. Chrysos. — He forbids them to preach to the Gentiles, because it was proper that the word of God should first be announced to the Jews, children of the kingdom. Vide Acts c. xiii, v. 42. M.
• Ver. 7. And going, &c. What the apostles were to preach, is the second thing to be taken notice of in their mission. We here learn what it is, viz. that The kingdom of heaven is at hand. We here behold the great dignity to which the apostles were raised, when sent to preach. For, says S. Chrysostom, they are not sent to announce sensible things, like Moses and the prophets, but something wholly new, and before unheard of. They are not like the prophets, to confine themselves to the preaching of temporal things, their doctrine is wholly heavenly; they are sent to announce the good things of eternity. S. Thos. Aquin.
• Ver. 8. Heal the sick, &c. This verse contains the third observation respecting the mission of the apostles: Christ not only gave them power to preach, but also to work miracles, in order, says S. Gregory, that works might give force and efficacy to their words, that as their doctrine was new, so their works might be new, and such as were before unheard of. S. Jerom also says, men would never have given any credit to the apostles, unlearned and illiterate as they were, had they not been able to work miracles in proof of the great promises they made to them of heaven. It was necessary that the greatness of their work should confirm the greatness of their promises. S. Jerom. — Gratis you have received. Here our Saviour admonishes his apostles not to work for the sake of lucre; but having themselves received gratuitously the light of faith, they should in the same manner communicate it to others. S. Jerom. — S. Thos. also observes on this passage, that our Saviour probably wished to repress the avarice of Judas, who as he kept the common purse, might be tempted to increase their stock, by receiving pecuniary rewards for their labours. S. Thos. Aquin. — S. Chrysos. says, that the apostles were warned by this admonition of our Saviour against two vices, to which they might be tempted on account of the great favours and graces they had received from heaven, viz. pride and avarice: 1st. Against pride, gratis you have received; i.e. whatever you have received is the gift of God, without any merit of yours: 2ndly. Against avarice, gratis give; that is, since every thing you have received has been given you gratuitously; so if you make use of the same gifts for the good of others, act also gratuitously, without expecting any temporal reward from them. S. Chrys. hom. xxxiii.

Catena Aurea Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5-8

• Chrys.: The Lord would refute by actions the charge of the Pharisees, who said, “He casteth out daemons by the “Prince of the daemons;” for a daemon having suffered rebuke, does not return good but evil to those who have not shewn him honour. But the Lord on the other hand, when He had suffered blasphemy and contumely, not only does not punish, but does not utter a hard speech, yea He shews kindness to them that did it, as it here follows, “And Jesus went about all their towns and villages.” Herein He teaches us not to return accusations to them that accuse us, but kindness. For he that ceases to do good because of accusation, shews that his good has been done because of men. But if for God’s sake you do good to your fellow-servants, you will not cease from doing good whatever they do, that your reward may be greater.
• Jerome: Observe how equally in villages, cities, and towns, that is to great as well as small, He preaches the Gospel, not respecting the might of the noble, but the salvation of those that believe. It follows, “Teaching in their synagogues;” this was His meat, going about to do the will of His Father, and saving by His teaching such as yet believed not.
• Gloss., non occ.: He taught in their synagogues the Gospel of the Kingdom, as it follows, “Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom.”
• Remig.: Understand, ‘of God;’ for though temporal blessings are also proclaimed, yet they are not called The Gospel. Hence the Law was not called a Gospel, because to such as kept it, it held out not heavenly, but earthly, goods.
• Jerome: He first preached and taught, and then proceeded to heal sicknesses, that the works might convince those who would not believe the words. Hence it follows, “Healing every sickness and every disease,” for to Him alone nothing is impossible.
• Gloss., ap. Anselm: By “disease” we may understand complaints of long standing, by “sickness” any lesser infirmity.
• Remig.: It should be known that those whom He healed outwardly in their bodies, He also healed inwardly in their souls. Others cannot do this of their own power, but can by God’s grace.
• Chrys.: Nor does Christ’s goodness rest here, but He manifests His care for them, opening the bowels of His mercy towards them; whence it follows, “And seeing the multitudes, he had compassion upon them.”
• Remig.: Herein Christ shews in Himself the disposition of the good shepherd and not that of the hireling. Why He pitied them is added, “because there were troubled, and sick as sheep that have no shepherd — troubled either by daemons, or by divers sicknesses and infirmities.
• Gloss., ap. Anselm: Or, “troubled,” by daemons, and “sick,” that is, benumbed and unable to rise; as though they had shepherds, yet they were as though they had them not.
• Chrys.: This is an accusation against the rulers of the Jews, that being shepherds they appeared like wolves; not only not improving the multitude, but hindering their progress. For when the multitude marvelled and said, “It was never so seen in Israel,” these opposed themselves, saying, “He casteth out daemons by the prince of daemons.”
• Remig.: But when the Son of God looked down from heaven upon the earth, to hear the groans of the captives [Psa_102:19], straight a great harvest began to ripen; for the multitude of the human race would never have come near to the faith, had not the Author of human salvation looked down from heaven. And it follows, “Then said he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few.”
• Gloss., ap. Anselm: The harvest are those men who can be reaped by the preachers, and separated from the number of the damned, as grain is beaten out from the chaff that it may be laid up in granaries.
• Jerome: The great harvest denotes the multitude of the people; the few labourers, the want of instructors.
• Remig.: For the number of the Apostles was small in comparison of so great crops to be reaped. The Lord exhorts His preachers, that is, the Apostles and their followers, that they should daily desire an increase of their number; “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”
• Chrys.: He privately insinuates Himself to be the Lord; for it is He Himself who is Lord of the harvest. For if He sent the Apostles to reap what they had not sown, it is manifest that He sent them not to reap the things of others, but what He had sown by the Prophets. But since the twelve Apostles are the labourers, He said, “Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would send labourers into his harvest;” and notwithstanding He added none to their number, but rather He multiplied those twelve many times, not by increasing their numbers, but by giving them more abundant grace.
• Remig.: Or, He then increased their number when He chose the seventy and two, and then when many preachers were made what time the Holy Spirit descended upon the believers.
• Chrys.: He shews us that it is a great gift that one should have the power of rightly preaching, in that He tells them that they ought to pray for it. Also we are here reminded of the words of John concerning the threshing-floor, and the fan, the chaff, and the wheat.
• Hilary: Figuratively; When salvation was given to the Gentiles, then all cities and towns were enlightened by the power and entrance of Christ, and escaped every former sickness and infirmity. The Lord pities the people troubled with the violence of the unclean Spirit, and sick under the burden of the Law, and having no shepherd at hand to bestow on them the guardianship of the Holy Spirit. But of that gift there was a most abundant fruit, whose plenty far exceeded the multitude of those that drank thereof; how many soever take of it, yet an inexhaustible supply remains; and because it is profitable that there should be many to minister it, He bids us ask the Lord of the harvest, that God would provide a supply of reapers for the ministration of that gift of the Holy Spirit which was made ready; for by prayer this gift is poured out upon us from God.
• Gloss. ord.: From the healing of Peter’s wife’s mother to this place there has been a continued succession of miracles; and they were done before the Sermon upon the Mount, as we know for certain from Matthew’s call, which is placed among them; for he was one of the twelve chosen to the Apostleship upon the mount. He here returns to the order of events, taking it up again at the healing of the centurion’s servant; saying, “And calling to him his twelve disciples.”
• Remig.: The Evangelist had related above that the Lord exhorted His disciples to pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into His vineyard; and He now seems to be fulfilling what He had exhorted them to. For the number twelve is a perfect number, being made up of the number six, which has perfection because it is formed of its own parts, one, two, three, multiplied into one another; and the number six when doubled amounts to twelve.
• Gloss., see Greg. Hom. in Ev., xvii, 1: And this doubling seems to have some reference to the two precepts of charity, or to the two Testaments.
• Bede: For the number twelve, which is made up of three into four, denotes that through the four quarters of the world they were to preach the faith of the holy Trinity.
• Rabanus, and cf. Tertullian, cont. Marc. iv, 13: This number is typified by many things in the Old Testament; by the twelve sons of Jacob, by the twelve princes of the children of Israel, by the twelve running springs in Helim, by the twelve stones in Aaron’s breastplate, by the twelve loaves of the shew-bread, by the twelve spies sent by Moses, by the twelve stones of which the altar was made, by the twelve stones taken out of Jordan, by the twelve oxen which bare the brazen sea. Also in the New Testament, by the twelve stars in the bride’s crown, by the twelve foundations of Jerusalem which John saw, and her twelve gates.
• Chrys.: He makes them confident not only by calling their ministry a sending forth to the harvest, but by giving them strength for the ministry; whence it follows, “He gave them power over all unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal every sickness and every disease.”
• Remig.: Wherein is openly shewed that the multitude were troubled not with one single kind of affliction, but with many, and this was His pity for the multitude, to give His disciples power to heal and cleanse them.
• Jerome: A kind and merciful Lord and Master does not envy His servants and disciples a share in His powers. As Himself had cured every sickness and disease, He imparted the same power to His Apostles. But there is a wide difference between having and imparting, between giving and receiving. Whatever He does He does with the power of a master, whatever they do it is with confession of their own weakness, as they speak, “In the name of Jesus rise and walk.” [Act_3:6]
• Gloss., non occ.: Because the manifestation of the Spirit, as the Apostle speaks, is given for the profit of the Church, after bestowing His power on the Apostles, He sends them that they may exercise this power for the good of others; “These twelve Jesus sent forth.”
• Chrys.: Observe the propriety of the time in which they are sent. After they had seen the dead raised, the sea rebuked, and other like wonders, and had both in word and deed sufficient proof of His excellent power, then He sends them.
• Gloss., non occ.: When He sends them, He teaches them whither they should go, what they should preach, and what they should do. And first, whither they should go; “Giving them commandment, and saying, Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go ye rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
• Jerome: This passage does not contradict the command which He gave afterwards, “Go and teach all nations;” for this was before His resurrection, that was after. And it behoved the coming of Christ to be preached to the Jews first, that they might not have any just plea, or say that they were rejected of the Lord, who sent the Apostles to the Gentiles and Samaritans.
• Chrys.: Also they were sent to the Jews first, in order that being trained in Judaea, as in a palaestra, they might enter on the arena of the world to contend; thus He taught them like weak nestlings to fly.
• Greg., Hom. in Ev., iv. 1: Or He would be first preached to Judaea and afterwards to the Gentiles, in order that the preaching of the Redeemer should seem to seek out foreign lands only because it had been rejected in His own. There were also at that time some among the Jews who should be called, and among the Gentiles some who were not to be called, as being unworthy of being renewed to life, and yet not deserving of the aggravated punishment which would ensue upon their rejection of the Apostles’ preaching.
• Hilary: The promulgation of the Law deserved also the first preaching of the Gospel; and Israel was to have less excuse for its crime, as it had experienced more care in being warned.
• Chrys.: Also that they should not suppose that they were hated of Christ because they had reviled Him, and branded Him as daemoniac, He sought first their cure, and withholding His disciples from all other nations, He sent this people physicians and teachers; and not only forbid them to preach to any others before the Jews, but would not that they should so much as approach the way that led to the Gentiles; “Go not into the way of the Gentiles.” And because the Samaritans, though more readily disposed to be converted to the faith, were yet at enmity with the Jews, He would not suffer the Samaritans to be preached to before the Jews.
• Gloss., ap. Anselm: The Samaritans were Gentiles who had been settled in the land of Israel by the king of Assyria after the captivity which he made. They had been driven by many terrors to turn to Judaism, and had received circumcision and the five books of Moses, but renouncing everything else; hence there was no communication between the Jews and the Samaritans.
• Chrys.: From these then He diverts his disciples, and sends them to the children of Israel, whom He calls “perishing” sheep, not straying; in every way contriving an apology for them, and drawing them to Himself.
• Hilary: Though they are here called sheep, yet they raged against Christ with the tongues and throats of wolves and vipers.
• Jerome: Figuratively, herein we who bear the name of Christ are commanded not to walk in the way of the Gentiles, or the error of the heretics, but as we are separate in religion, that we be also separate in our life.
• Gloss., non occ.: Having told them to whom they should go, He now introduces what they should preach; “Go and preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
• Rabanus: The kingdom of heaven is here said to draw nigh by the faith in the unseen Creator which is bestowed upon us, not by any movement of the visible elements. The saints are rightly denoted by the heavens, because they contain God by faith, and love Him with affection.
• Chrys.: Behold the greatness of their ministry, behold the dignity of the Apostles. They are not to preach of any thing that can be an object of sense, as Moses and the Prophets did; but things new and unlooked for; those preached earthly goods, but these the kingdom of heaven and all the goods that are there.
• Greg.: Miracles also were granted to the holy preachers, that the power they should shew might be a pledge of the truth of their words, and they who preached new things should also do new things; wherefore it follows, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out daemons.”
• Jerome: Lest peasants untaught and illiterate, without the graces of speech, should obtain credit with none when they announced the kingdom of heaven, He gives them power to do the things above mentioned, that the greatness of the miracles might approve the greatness of their promises.
• Hilary: The exercise of the Lord’s power is wholly entrusted to the Apostles, that they who were formed in the image of Adam, and the likeness of God, should now obtain the perfect image of Christ; and whatever evil Satan had introduced into the body of Adam, this they should now repair by communion with the Lord’s power.
• Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxix, 4: These signs were necessary in the beginning of the Church; the faith of the believers must be fed with miracles, that it might grow.
• Chrys.: But afterwards they ceased when a reverence for the faith was universally established. Or, if they were continued at all, they were few and seldom; for it is usual with God to do such things when evil is increased, then He shews forth His power.
• Greg.: The Holy Church daily doth spiritually, what it then did materially by the Apostles; yea, things far greater, inasmuch as she raises and cures souls and not bodies.
• Remig.: “The sick” are the slothful who have not strength to live well; “the lepers” are the unclean in sin and carnal delights; the daemoniacs are they that are given up under the power of the Devil.
• Jerome: And because spiritual gifts are more lightly esteemed, when money is made the means of obtaining them, He adds a condemnation of avarice; “Freely ye have received, freely give;” I your Master and Lord have imparted these to you without price, do you therefore give them to others in like manner, that the free grace of the Gospel be not corrupted.
• Gloss., non occ.: This He says, that Judas who had the bag might not use the above power for getting money; a plain condemnation of the abomination of the simoniacal heresy.
• Greg., Hom. in Ev., iv, 4: For He knew before that there would be some that would turn the gift of the Spirit which they had received into merchandize, and pervert the power of miracles into an instrument of their covetousness.
• Chrys.: Observe how He is as careful that they should be upright in moral virtue, as that they should have the miraculous powers, shewing that miracles without these are nought. “Freely ye have received,” seems a check upon their pride; “freely give,” a command to keep themselves pure from filthy lucre. Or, that what they should do might not be thought to be their own benevolence, He says, “Freely ye have received;” as much as to say; Ye bestow nothing of your own on these ye relieve; for ye have not received these things for money, nor for wages of labour; as ye have received them, so give to others; for indeed it is not possible to receive a price equal to their value.