December 31 2008 Wednesday
7th Day in the Christmas Octave
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/123108.shtml
1 John 2:18-21
Haydock New Testament
Little children, it is the last hour: and as you have heard that antichrist cometh, and now there are many antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have certainly remained with us: but that they may be manifest, that they are not all of us. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you as to those who know not the truth, but as to those who know it: and that no lie is of the truth.
Responsorial Psalm 95:1-2, 11-13 (Ps 96 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only
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.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad,
let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof:
The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful.
Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice
before the face of the Lord, because he cometh:
because he cometh to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with justice,
and the people with his truth.
The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint John 1:1-18
Haydock New Testament
IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
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. That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, he gave to them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name. Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us: and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John beareth witness of him: and crieth out, saying:
This was he of whom I spoke, He that shall come after me, is preferred before me, because he was before me.
And of his fullness we all have received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Haydock Commentary 1 John 2:18-21
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site
Ver. 18. It is the last hour. That is, according to the common interpretation, the last age of the world, from the coming of Christ to the day of judgment, and the end of the world, which S. Paul calls the end and consummation of ages. Heb. ix. 26. — And as you have heard that antichrist (the great antichrist) cometh, or is to come in this last age: now there are already many antichrists; i.e. as the word signifies, many adversaries to Christ, who are forerunners of the great and last antichrist. Wi. — Many antichrists; that is, many heretics, enemies of Christ and his Church, and forerunners of the great antichrist. Ch. — S. Cyprian says all are called antichrists that have divided themselves from the charity and unity of the Catholic Church. Ep. lxxvii. ad Magnum. — Whereby we know that it is the last hour, it being foretold that many false prophets should rise in the last days. Mat. xxiv. 11. &c. Wi.
Ver. 19. They were not of us, true and profitable members; though it can scarce be doubted but that some of them, at least for some time, truly believed: and by their going off, God was pleased to make it manifest that they were not of his faithful members. Such were Simon Magus, Cerinthus, Ebion, Nicolas of Antioch, &c. Wi. — They, &c. That is, they were not solid, steadfast, genuine Christians, otherwise they would have remained in the Church. Ch. — The true note or mark of heresy, is the going out of or leaving the Catholic Church. God permitteth some to go out, that the true and tried faithful may be known.
Ver. 20. You have an unction from the holy one. You are sufficiently instructed by the grace and spirit of God against such false teachers. Wi. — An unction, &c. That is, grace and wisdom from the Holy Ghost. Ch. — And you know all things, as to what you ought to believe and practise, and therefore I have not written to you as to ignorant persons. Wi. — The true children of God’s Church, remaining in unity, under the guidance of their lawful pastors, partake of the grace of the Holy Ghost, promised to the Church and her pastors; and have in the Catholic Church all necessary knowledge and instruction, so as to have no need to seek it elsewhere, since it can be only found in that society of which they are members. Ch.
Haydock Commentary John 1:1-18
Ver. 1. In the beginning was the word:[1] or rather, the word was in the beginning. The eternal word, the increated wisdom, the second Person of the blessed Trinity, the only begotten Son of the Father, as he is here called (v. 14.) of the same nature and substance, and the same God, with the Father and Holy Ghost. This word was always; so that it was never true to say, he was not, as the Arians blasphemed. This word was in the beginning. Some, by the beginning, expound the Father himself, in whom he was always. Others give this plain and obvious sense, that the word, or the Son of God, was, when all other things began to have a being; he never began, but was from all eternity. — And the word was with God; i.e. was with the Father; and as it is said, (v. 18) in the bosom of the Father; which implies, that he is indeed a distinct person, but the same in nature and substance with the Father and the Holy Ghost. This is repeated again in the second verse, as repetitions are very frequent in S. John. — And the word was God. This without question is the construction; where, according to the letter we read, and God was the word. Wi. — The Greek for the word is LogoV, which signifies not only the exterior word, but also the interior word, or thought; and in this latter sense it is taken here. V. — Philo Judæus, in the apostolic age, uses the word LogoV, p. 823, to personify the wisdom and the power of God. LogoV estin eikwn Qeou di ou sumpaV o KosmoV edhmiourgeito. By a similar metonymy, Jesus Christ is called the way, the truth, the life, the resurrection. — And the word was God. Here the eternity and the divinity of the second Person are incontrovertibly established; or, we must say that language has no longer a fixed meaning, and that it is impossible to establish any point whatever from the words of Scripture. A.
Ver. 2. The same was in the beginning with God. In the text is only, “this was in the beginning;” but the sense and construction certainly is, this word was in the beginning. Wi.
Ver. 3. All things were made by him,[2] and without him was made nothing that was made. These words teach us, that all created being, visible or invisible on earth, every thing that ever was made, or began to be, were made, produced, and created by this eternal word, or by the Son of God. The same is truly said of the Holy Ghost; all creatures being equally produced, created, and preserved by the three divine Persons as, by their proper, principal, and efficient cause, in the same manner, and by the same action: not by the Son, in any manner inferior to the Father; nor as if the Son produced things only ministerially, and acted only as the minister, and instrument of the Father, as the Arians pretended. In this sublime mystery of one God and three distinct Persons, if we consider the eternal processions, and personal proprieties, the Father is the first Person, but not by any priority of time, or of dignity; all the three divine Persons being eternal, or co-eternal, equal in all perfections, being one in nature, in substance, in power, in majesty: in a word, one and the same God. The Father in no other sense is called the first Person, but because he proceeds from none, or from no other person: and the eternal Son is the second Person begotten, and proceeding from him, the Father, from all eternity, proceeds now, and shall proceed from him for all eternity; as we believe that the third divine Person, the Holy Ghost, always proceeded without any beginning, doth now proceed, and shall proceed for ever, both from the Father and the Son. But when we consider and speak of any creatures, of any thing that was made, or had a beginning, all things were equally created in time, and are equally preserved, no less by the Son, and by the Holy Ghost, than by the Father. For this reason S. John tells us again in this chapter, (v. 10.) that the world was made by the word. And our Saviour himself (Jo. v. 19.) tells us, that whatsoever the Father doth, these things also in like manner, or in the same manner, the Son doth. Again the apostle, (Heb. i. v. 2.) speaking of the Son, says, the world was made by him: and in the same chapter, (v. 10.) he applies to the Son these words, (Psalm ci. 26.) And thou, O Lord, in the beginning didst found the earth: and the heavens are the works of thy hands, &c. To omit other places, S. Paul again, writing to the Colossians, (C. i. v. 16, 17.) and speaking of God’s beloved Son, as may be seen in that chapter, says, that in him all things were created, visible and invisible—all things were created in him, and by him, or, as it is in the Greek, unto him, and for him; to shew that the Son was not only the efficient cause, the Maker and Creator of all things, but also the last end of all. Which is also confirmed by the following words: And he is before all, and all things subsist in him, or consist in him; as in the Rheims and Protestant translations. I have, therefore, in this third verse, translated, all things were made by him, with all English translations and paraphrases, whether made by Catholics or Protestants; and not all things were made through him, lest through should seem to carry with it a different and a diminishing signification; or as if, in the creation of the world, the eternal word, or the Son of God, produced things only ministerially, and, in a manner, inferior to the Father, as the Arians and Eunomians pretended; against whom, on this account, wrote S. Basil, lib. de spiritu Sto. S. Chrysostom, and S. Cyril, on this very verse; where they expressly undertake to shew that the Greek text in this verse no ways favours these heretics. The Arians, and now the Socinians, who deny the Son to be true God, or that the word God applies as properly to him as to the Father, but would have him called God, that is, a nominal god, in an inferior and improper sense; as when Moses called the goa of Pharao; (Exod. vii. 1.) or as men in authority are called gods; (Psalm lxxxi. 6.) pretend, after Origen, to find another difference in the Greek text; as if, when mention is made of the Father, he is styled the God; but that the Son is only called God, or a God. This objection S. Chrysostom, S. Cyril, and others, have shewn to be groundless: that pretended significant Greek article being several times omitted, when the word God is applied to God the Father; and being found in other places, when the Son of God is called God. See this objection fully and clearly answered by the author of a short book, published in the year 1729, against Dr. Clark and Mr. Whiston, p. 64, and seq. Wi. — Were made, &c. Mauduit here represents the word: —“1. As a cause, or principle, acting extraneously from himself upon the void space, in order to give a being to all creatures:” whereas there was no void space before the creation. Ante omnia Deus erat solus, ipse sibe et mundus et locus, et omnia. Tertullian, l. cont. Prax. c. v. And S. Aug. in Ps. cxxii. says: antequam faceret Deus Sanctos, ubi habitabat? In se habitabat, apud se habitabat. — The creation of all things, visible and invisible, was the work of the whole blessed Trinity; but the Scriptures generally attribute it to the word; because wisdom, reason, and intelligence, which are the attributes of the Son, are displayed most in it. Calmet. — What wonderful tergiversations the Arians used to avoid the evidence of this text, we see in S. Austin, l. iii. de doct. Christ. c. 2; even such as modern dissenters do, to avoid the evidence of This is my Body, concerning the blessed Eucharist. B.
Ver. 4. In him: i.e. in this word, or Son of God, was life; because he give life to every creature. Or, as Maldonatus expounds it, because he is the author of grace, which is the spiritual life of our souls. — And the life was the light of men, whether we expound it of a rational soul and understanding, which he gives to all men; or of the spiritual life, and those lights of graces, which he gives to Christians. Wi.
Ver. 5. And the light shineth, or did shine, in darkness. Many understand this, that the light of reason, which God gave to every one, might have brought them to the knowledge of God by the visible effects of his Providence in this world: but the darkness did not comprehend it, because men, blinded by their passions, would not attend to the light of reason. Or we may again understand it, with Maldonatus, of the lights of grace, against which obstinate sinners wilfully shut their eyes. Wi.
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. 10. He was in the world, &c. Many of the ancient interpreters understand this verse of Christ as God, who was in the world from its first creation, producing and governing all things: but the blind sinful world did not know and worship him. Others apply these words to the Son of God made man; whom even God’s own chosen people, the Jews, at his coming, refused to receive and believe in him. Wi.
Ver. 11. His own. This regards principally the Jews. Jesus came to them as into his own family, but they did not receive him. It may likewise be extended to the Gentiles, who had groaned so long a time in darkness, and only seemed to wait for the rising sun of justice to run to its light. They likewise did not receive him. These words, though apparently general, must be understood with restriction; as there were some, though comparatively few, of both Jews and Gentiles, who embraced the faith. Calmet.
Ver. 12. He gave to them power to be made the adoptive sons of God, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. They are made the children of God by believing and by a new spiritual birth in the sacrament of baptism, not of blood; (literally, no of bloods) not by the will, and desires of the flesh, not by the will of men, nor by human generation, as children are first born of their natural parents, but of God, by faith and divine grace. W.
Ver. 14. And the word was made flesh. This word, or Son of God, who was in the beginning, from all eternity, at the time appointed by the divine decrees, was made flesh, i.e. became man, by a true and physical union of his divine person, (from which the divine nature was inseparable) to our human nature, to a human soul, and a human body, in the womb, and of the substance, of his virgin Mother. From the moment of Christ’s incarnation, as all Christians are taught to believe, he that was God from eternity, became also true man. In Jesus Christ, our blessed Redeemer, we believe one divine Person with two natures, and two wills; the one divine, the other human: by which substantial union, one and the same Person became truly both God and man; not two persons, or two sons, as Nestorius, the heretic, pretended. By this union, and a mutual communication of the proprieties of each nature, it is true to say, that the Son of God, remaining unchangeably God, was made man; and therefore that God was truly conceived and born of the virgin Mary, who, on this account, was truly the Mother of God: that God was born, suffered, and died on the cross, to redeem and save us. The word, in this manner made man, dwelt in us, or among us, by this substantial union with our human nature, not morally only, nor after such a manner, as God is said to dwell in a temple; nor as he is in his faithful servants, by a spiritual union, that the same person is truly both God and man. — And we saw his glory, manifested to the world by many signs and miracles; we in particular, who were present at his transfiguration. Matt. xvii. — Full of grace and truth. These words, in the construction, are to be joined in this manner: the word dwelt in us, full of grace and truth; and we have seen his glory, &c. This fulness of grace in Christ Jesus, infinitely surpassed the limited fulness, which the Scripture attributes to S. Stephen, (Acts vi. 8.) or to the blessed virgin Mother: (Luke i. 28.) they are said to be full of grace, only because of an extraordinary communication and greater share of graces than was given to other saints. But Christ, even as man, his grace and sanctity were infinite, as was his person. — As of the only begotten of the Father.[3] If we consider Christ in himself, and not only as he was made known to men by outward signs and miracles, S. Chrysostom and others take notice that the word as, no ways diminisheth the signification; and that the sense is, we have seen the glory of him, who is truly from all eternity the only begotten Son of the Father: who, as the Scriptures assure us, is his true, his proper Son, his only begotten, who was sent into the world, who descended from heaven, and came from the Father, and leaving the world, returned where he was before, returned to his Father. We shall meet with many such Scripture texts, to shew him to be the eternal Son of his eternal Father; or to shew that the Father was always his Father, and the Son always his Son: as it was the constant doctrine of the Catholic Church, and as such declared in the general council of Nice, that this, his only Son, was born or begotten of the Father before all ages . . . God from God, the true God from the true God. It was by denying this truth, “that the Son was the Son always, and the Father always, and from all eternity, the Father;” that the blaspheming Arius began his heresy in his letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia, against his bishop of Alexandria, S. Alexander. See the letter copied by S. Epiphan. Hær. 69. p. 731. Ed. Petavii. Wi. — Dwelt among us. In a material body, like ours, clothed with our nature. He is become mortal, and like us in every thing, but sin and concupiscence. The Greek literally translated, is, he has pitched his tent amongst us, like a stranger and passenger, who makes no long stay in one place. The body in Scripture, is sometimes called a tent or tabernacle, in which the soul dwells, as 2 Pet. i. 14. Calmet.
Ver. 15. Is preferred before me.[4] Lit. is made before me. The sense, says S. Chrys. is, that he is greater in dignity, deserves greater honour, &c. though born after me, he was from eternity. Wi.
Ver. 16. And of his fulness we all have received; not only Jews, but also all nations. — And grace for grace.[5] It may perhaps be translated grace upon grace, as Mr. Blackwall observes, and brings a parallel example in Greek out of Theognis, p. 164. It implies abundance of graces, and greater graces under the new law of Christ than in the time of the law of Moses; which exposition is confirmed by the following verse. Wi. — Before the coming of the Messias all men had the light of reason. The Greeks had their philosophy, the Jews the law and prophets. All this was a grace and favour bestowed by God, the author of all good. But since the word was made flesh, and caused the gospel of salvation to be announced to all men; he has invited all nations to the faith and knowledge of the truth. Thus he has given us one grace for another; but the second is infinitely greater, more excellent, and more abundant than the first. The following verse seems to insinuate, that the evangelist means the law by the first grace, and the gospel by the second. Compare likewise Rom. i. 17. The Jews were conducted by faith to faith; by faith in God and the law of Moses, to the faith of the gospel, announced by Christ. Calmet.
Ver. 18. No man hath seen God. No mortal in this life by a perfect union and enjoyment of him. Nor can any creature perfectly comprehend his infinite greatness: none but his only begotten divine Son, who is in the bosom of his Father, not only by an union of grace, but by an union and unity of substance and nature; of which Christ said, (Jo. xiv. 11.) I am in the Father, and the Father in me. Wi.
Daily Bible Readings January 1 2009 Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
Posted by Bob on December 31, 2008
January 1 2009 Thursday Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
8th Day in the Christmas Octave
Happy New Year
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/readings/090101.shtml
Numbers 6:22-27
Douay-Rheims Challoner
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
Say to Aaron and his sons:
Thus shall you bless the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord shew his face to thee, and have mercy on thee. The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee peace. And they shall invoke my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
Responsorial Psalm 66:2-3, 5-6, 8 (Ps 67 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only
May God have mercy on us, and bless us:
may he cause the light of his countenance to shine upon us,
and may he have mercy on us.
That we may know thy way upon earth:
thy salvation in all nations.
Let the nations be glad and rejoice:
for thou judgest the people with justice,
and directest the nations upon earth.
Let the people, O God, confess to thee:
let all the people give praise to thee:
May God bless us: and all the ends of the earth fear him.
Galatians 4:4-7
Haydock New Testament
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law: That he might redeem those who were under the law: that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying:
Abba, Father.
Therefore, now he is no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, an heir also through God.
The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Luke 2:16-21
Haydock New Testament
And they came with haste: and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in a manger. And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this child. And all they that heard wondered: and at those things that were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, for all the things they have heard, and seen, as it was told unto them. And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised: his name was called Jesus, which was called by the Angel, before he was conceived in the womb.
Haydock Commentary Numbers 6:22-27
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site
Haydock Commentary Galatians 4:4-7
Haydock Commentary Luke 2:16-21
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