Sunday Bible Readings December 14 2008 The Third Sunday of Advent

December 14 2008 Third Sunday of Advent

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/121408.shtml

Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11
Douay-Rheims Challoner

The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation: and with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth her seed to shoot forth: so shall the Lord God make justice to spring forth, and praise before all the nations.

Responsorial Psalm Luke 1:46-50, 53-54.
Haydock New Testament

And Mary said:
My soul doth magnify the Lord:
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Saviour.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid:
for behold, from henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath done great things to me:
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is from generation to generations,
to them that fear him.
He hath filled the hungry with good things:
and the rich he hath sent away empty.
He hath received Israel, his servant,
being mindful of his mercy.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Haydock New Testament

Always rejoice. Pray without ceasing. In all things give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all. Extinguish not the Spirit. Despise not prophecies. But prove all things: hold that which is good. From all appearance of evil refrain yourselves. And may the God of peace himself sanctify you in all things; that your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is faithful who hath called you: who will also perform.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint John 1:6-8, 19-28
Haydock New Testament

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the light, but was to bear witness of the light. And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to him, to ask him:

Who art thou?

And he confessed, and did not deny: and he confessed:

I am not the Christ.

And they asked him:

What then? Art thou Elias?

And he said:

I am not.

Art thou the prophet?

And he answered:

No.

They said therefore to him:

Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself?

He said:

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet, Isaias, said.

And they that were sent, were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said to him:

Why then dost thou baptized, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet?

John answered them, saying:

I baptize with water: but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not. The same is he that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.

These things were done in Bethania beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Haydock Commentary Isaias 61:1-2a, 10-11
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. Lord. Heb. adds, “God.” Adonai seems to have been inserted to prevent the pronunciation of Jehovah, (Kennicott) which alone occurs in the Sept. Arab. and in S. Luke, iv. 18. H. — Thus Elohim may have been substituted for Jehovah, Gen. xxii. 8. as v. 14, “Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah jireh, because he had said that day on the mount: Jehovah will provide” a victim, even Jesus Christ in the same place. Perhaps no part of the Bible is “so absurdly translated” as this, (Ken.) by Protestants. H. — S. Luke follows the Sept. in his quotation, only instead of to preach a, &c. he has an explanation, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Isaias may here speak of himself, (Chal.) yet only as a figure of Christ. The Jews admit that the Messias is meant. Christ had received the Holy Spirit at the Jordan. John i. 32. He performed these works, (Lu. vii. 22.) particularly addressing his discourse to the meek and poor. Soph. iii. 12. Zac. xi. 7. and 1 Cor. i. 26. C. — He was not anointed with oil, like Aaron, but with the Holy Ghost; so that of his fullness others must receive. Acts x. 39. &c. W.
• Ver. 2. Year of Jubilee, (Jer. xxv. 11.) when the Jews should be delivered, as a figure of Christ’s redemption. — Vengeance, when the Chaldees, &c. should perish, (C.) and all obstinate sinners, at the day of judgment. H.
• Ver. 10. Jewels. Apoc. xxi. 2. Jerusalem, or rather the Church, praises God.
• Ver. 11. Nations, whose conversion is implicitly foretold. All behold the justice which God has treated both his people and their oppressors. C.

Haydock Commentary 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

• Ver. 16. Always rejoice. It is usual for S. Paul to recommend joy to the faithful. Cheerfulness is indeed the characteristic of true virtue, which by no means consists in, nor encourages, sourness or moroseness, as some mistaken people imagine. God loves a cheerful giver. Sorrow, which is of this world, killeth. A.
• Ver. 19. Do not oppose either the interior gifts of the holy Spirit, which are his graces, nor his exterior gifts of prophecy, &c. Take the regular precautions of prudence, that you be not deceived by those who pretend to be inspired; but when satisfied that the inspiration comes from heaven, do not despise it. Be like good bankers, take the good coin, and reject the counterfeit. S. Cyril Alex.
• Ver. 21. Prove all things. That is, examine prophecies whether they be true, and the doctrine which you hear from new preachers, and refrain yourselves not only from evil, but from every thing that hat the appearance of evil, and which may disedify and scandalize others. Wi. — Hold that which his good. This we can best learn from the doctrine of the apostles, and the spirit of the Catholic Church. Men can deceive and be deceived, but the Spirit of God, speaking to us by his Church, can neither deceive us nor be deceived.
• Ver. 23. Spirit, and soul. The former marks the understanding, the latter the will: hence these two terms give the two principal faculties of the soul. V.

Haydock Commentary John 1:6-8, 19-28

• Ver. 7. That all men might believe through him; i.e. by John the Baptist’s preaching, who was God’s instrument to induce them to believe in Jesus the Christ, or the Messias, their only Redeemer. Wi.
• Ver. 8-9. He; that is John the Baptist, was not the true light: but the word was the true light. In the translation, it is necessary to express that the word was the true light, lest any one should think that John the Baptist was this light. Wi.
• Ver. 19. The Jews sent, &c. These men, who were priests and Levites, seem to have been sent and deputed by the sanhedrim, or great council at Jerusalem, to ask of John the Baptist, who was then in great esteem and veneration, whether he was not their Messias; who, as they knew by the predictions of the prophets, was to come about that time. John declared to them he was not. To their next question, if he was not Elias? He answered: he was not: because in person he was not; though our Saviour (Matt. xi. 14.) says he was Elias: to wit, in spirit and office only. Their third question was, if he was a prophet? He answered, no. Yet Christ (Matt. xi.) tells us, he was a prophet, and more than a prophet. In the ordinary acceptation only, they were called prophets who foretold things to come: John then, with truth, as well as humility, could say he was not a prophet; not being sent to foretell the coming of the Messias, but to point him out as already come, and present with the Jews. Wi.
• Ver. 23. The voice of one crying in the wilderness. See Matt. iii. 3. Mark i. 3. Luke iii. 4. and Isa. xl. 3. by all which John was his immediate precursor. Wi.
• Ver. 26. Hath stood. S. John, by these words, which he spoke to the priests and Levites, sent to him by the Pharisees, did not mean to tell them, that Jesus was either at the present time standing amongst them, or that he had ever been in the presence of the self same people; but they may be understood two different ways, either with regard to his divinity; an din that sense, Jesus was always by his divine presence amongst them; or in regard to his humanity; either that he lived in the same country, and among their countrymen, or, that he stood actually amongst them, because Jesus was accustomed yearly to go up to Jerusalem on the festival of the Pasch. D. Dionysius. Car.