Daily Bible Readings Monday December 29 2008 5th Day of Christmas

December 29 2008 Monday
5^th Day in the Christmas Octave
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About the sources used. The readings on this site are from the Haydock Bible according to the daily Lectionary readings for the American Roman Catholic Church. The Haydock Bible contains traditional Catholic commentary and is free from copyright. Due to verse numbering differences and pastoral deletions in the actual Lectionary, these readings may at times vary from the actual readings.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/122908.shtml

1 John 2:3-11
Haydock New Testament

And in this we know that we have known him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith he knoweth him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But he that keepeth his word, in him the charity of God is truly perfect: and by this we know that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk even as he walked.

Dearly beloved, I write not a new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have from the beginning: The old commandment is the word which you have heard. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true both in him, and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother, abideth in the light, and there is no scandal in him. But he that hateth his brother, is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth: because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.

Psalm 95:1-6 (Ps 96 Hebrew)
Douay-Rheims Challoner Text

Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing ye to the Lord and bless his name: shew forth his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the Gentiles: his wonders among all people.
For the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.
Praise and beauty are before him: holiness and majesty in his sanctuary.

The Gospel According to Saint Luke 2:22-35
Haydock NT

And after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord, As it is written in the law of the Lord: that every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons.

And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was in him. And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And he came by the spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law; He also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said:

Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace: Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people: A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people, Israel.

And his father and mother were wondering at these things which were spoken concerning him. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother:

Behold, this child is set for the ruin, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed.

Haydock Commentary 1 John 2:3-11

• Ver. 3. We have known him, if we keep his commandments. He speaks of that practical knowledge by love and affection, which can be only proved by our keeping his commandments; and without which we cannot be said to know God, as we should. Ch.
• Ver. 4. He that says he knoweth him, &c. To know, in this and many other places, is not taken for a speculative knowledge alone, but is joined with a love of God, and an earnest desire of serving him and keeping his commandments. Wi.
• Ver. 5. The charity of God is truly perfect. Notwithstanding his lesser failings, he retains the habit of charity and grace, by which he remains united to God.—And bythis we know that we are in him; i.e. we are morally, though not absolutely, certain that we are in the state of grace. Wi.
• Ver. 7-8. An old commandment…. And again, a new commandment. He means the commandment of charity, or of the love of God and the love of our neighbour. This he calls both an old and a new precept. It may be called old, not only as being a precept of the law of nature, and always obligatory, but because S. John and the apostles had delivered it to them long ago, i.e. when these persons were first converted. It may also be called a new precept, S. John recommending it anew to them in this epistle, and declareing it to be enjoined in a particular manner by our Saviour Christ, after it had been misconstrued and neglected, especially as it regards our neighbour, that is, ever one without exception; so that if any one hate another, it is in vain that he pretends to walk in the light of the gospel. Wi.—A new commandment; viz. the commandment of love, which was given in the old law, but was renewed and extended by Christ. See John xiii 33. Ch.

Haydock Commentary Luke 2:22-35

• Ver. 22. Of her purification. The blessed Virgin mother stood not in need of this ceremony, to which she submitted herself, as her Son did to that of circumcision. Wi.—Whence S. Laur. Justin. In his sermon on the purification, very well observes: grace raise the Virgin above the law; humility subjected her to it. Jesus Christ, in subjecting himself to the law of Moses, has left an example to princes and magistrates, to obey their own laws; for then they may expect them to be observed by others, when themselves shew respect to them. Barradius.
• Ver. 23. Every male opening the womb. This translation is more conformable to the doctrine of the Fathers, that Christ was born without opening the womb; which Bede calls the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Wi.—See Exod. xiii. 2. and Num. 8:16
• Ver. 24. This was the offering of the poor classes.
• Ver. 25. A man… named Simeon, whom some conjecture to have been one of the Jewish priests.—Waiting for the consolation of Israel, for the happy coming of the Messiah.—And the Holy Ghost was in him, by the spirit of grace and of prophecy. Wi.—The consolation here expected by Holy Simeon, was the coming of the Messiah, and the consequent redemption of mankind from sin and the devil; not a redemption only, as some carnal Jews thought, from the power of temporal enemies. These supposed the Messiah was to come in order to raise them in power above all nations, to whom before his coming they had been subject. S. Greg. of Nyssa in Diony.—Many have pretended that Simeon was a priest, the best and oldest interpreters say he was a laic. V.
• Ver. 26. And he had received an answer, … that he should not see death; i.e. die. Wi.
• Ver. 27. And he came by the spirit, or moved by the holy Spirit. Wi.
• Ver. 30. Thy salvation; i.e. the Saviour, whom thou hast sent. Wi.
• Ver. 31. Before the face of all people; not of Israel only, but also as a light to be revealed to the Gentiles, the spiritual children of Abraham: to whom also the promises were made. Wi.
• Ver. 33. In the Greek, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. V.
• Ver. 34. Is set for the ruin. Christ came for the redemption and salvation of all men: but Simeon prophesies what would happen in consequences of the willful blindness and obstinacy of many. Wi.—Not that God sent his Son for the fall of any man; but that many, by their own perverseness, in wilfully refusing to receive and obey him, would take occasion of falling. Ch.—And for a sign which shall be contradicted, to signify that Christ, and his doctrine, should be as it were a mark, or butt, against whom the Jews should discharge the arrows and darts of their malice. Wi.—Hence S. Paul, (2. Cor. ii. 16.) We are to one the odour of death unto death, but to the other the odour of life unto life.
• Ver. 35. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce. These words, which figuratively express the grief of the blessed Virgin mother, when present at the death of her Son, are to be taken by way of a parenthesis.—That out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed, and these are to be joined with what went before; to wit, that child shall be a sign of contradiction, set unto the fall and resurrection of many, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed and disclosed; when some shall believe, and others remain in their obstinacy. Wi.—Bede, and most others, understand this of the sharp sorrow, which wounded the soul of the blessed Virgin Mary, at the time of Christ’s passion. Barradius.—Carthusianus and Jansenius explain this passage as follows: Behold, this child is placed for a sign that shall be contradicted, which as a sword of most poignant grief will pierce thy soul, O Virgin! But Christ shall be contradicted, that the thoughts of the Jews may be revealed from many hearts, and it may appear who among them are good, and who are wicked and hypocrites. Barradius.