Daily Bible Readings Monday January 5 2008 Memorial of Saint John Neumann

January 5 2009 Monday Memorial of Saint John Neumann, bishop
Saint of the Day – St John Neumann

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/090105.shtml

1 John 3:22–4:6
Haydock New Testament

And whatsoever we shall ask, we shall receive of him: because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment: that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ: and love one another, as he hath given commandment unto us. And he that keepeth his commandments, abideth in him, and he in him: and in this we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

DEARLY beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. By this is the spirit of God known: every spirit which confesseth Jesus Christ to have come in the flesh, is of God: And every spirit, that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God, and this is antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome him, because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us: He that is not of God, heareth us not: by this we know the Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Responsorial Psalm 2:7bc-8, 10-12a
DR Challoner Text Only

The Lord hath said to me:
Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance,
and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.
And now, O ye kings, understand:
receive instruction, you that judge the earth.
Serve ye the Lord with fear:
and rejoice unto him with trembling.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25
Haydock New Testament

Now when Jesus had heard that John was delivered up, he retired into Galilee: And leaving the city of Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capharnaum, on the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: That what was said by Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled:

The land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people that sat in darkness, saw great light: and to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is spring up.

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say:

Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom: and healing all diseases, and infirmities among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all sick people, that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and such as were possessed by devils and lunatics, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them: And great multitudes followed him from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Haydock Commentary 1 John 3:22–4:6
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 24. We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. These words may be either referred to the body of the Church in general or to the apostles, or to every one in particular. It is certain that God gave his Spirit to his Church and to the apostles, by the coming of the Holy Ghost in a visible manner, and by the miraculous gifts bestowed upon the apostles; but every one in particular has only a moral certainty that he has the Spirit of God, and his sanctifying grace in his soul. Wi.
• Ver. 1. Try the spirits; i.e. every doctrine that you hear: for now are many false teachers, false doctors, and false prophets. Wi. — Try, &c. viz. by examining whether their teaching be agreeable to the rule of the Catholic faith and the doctrine of the Church. For, as he says, (v. 6) “He that knoweth God, heareth us: (the pastors of the Church) . . . by this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” Ch. — The Church only, not every private man, hath to prove and discern spirits.
• Ver. 2. By this is the Spirit of God known. He gives the new converts first general mark, by which they might have good grounds to think that the teachers they met with in those days had a good spirit, were of God, if they confessed and acknowledged Jesus Christ to have come from heaven and to have been made flesh, or made man; i.e. to be truly God and truly man. But if (v. 3) they met with teachers of such a spirit as dissolveth Jesus,[1] by denying him either to be the Messias or to be truly God, or to be a true man, they might conclude for certain that such men had not a true spirit, but were heretics, antichrists, and forerunners of the great antichrist. Such, even in S. John’s time, was Simon the magician, who, according to S. Epiphan. (hær. xxi. p. 55. Ed Petav.) pretended among his countrymen, the Samaritans, that he himself was God the Father, and among the Jews that he was God the Son, and that Jesus suffered death in appearance only. His disciple also, Meander, said he was sent from heaven for the salvation of men. See S. Epiphan. hær xxii. p. 61. 3. Cerinthus, as also Carpocras, held that Jesus was a mere man, born of Joseph and Mary, and also different from Christ. See S. Epiphan. hær. xxxvii. and xxix. p. 102. and 110. 4. Ebion held much the same. See the same S. Epiphan. hær. xxx. p. 142. These heretics and divers of their followers divided Jesus, and destroyed the faith and mystery of the incarnation. Wi. — Every spirit which confesseth, &c. Not that the confession of this point of faith alone, is at all times and in all cases sufficient; but that with relation to that time, and for that part of the Christian doctrine, which was then particularly to be confessed, taught, and maintained against the heretics of those days, this was the most proper token by which the true teachers might be distinguished from the false. Ch.
• Ver. 3. That dissolveth Jesus, viz. either by denying his humanity or his divinity. Ch. — This is antichrist;[2] i.e. such is the spirit of antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, or is to come in the latter times. — And he is now already in the world, not the chief and great antichrist, but his precursors, in whom he may be said to come. Wi. — Ibid. Not in his person, but in his spirit and in his precursors. Ch.
• Ver. 4. You . . . little children, born anew in Christ by baptism, have overcome him, (i.e. every such antichrist) not by your own strength, but by the grace of Christ, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world; i.e. the Spirit of God in you is above all your enemies. Wi.
• Ver. 5. They are of the world. Such antichrists and heretics are guided by a worldly spirit, teaching men to follow the corrupt customs and inclinations of the world and the flesh, therefore the world heareth them, and men are more easily seduced by them. Wi.
• Ver. 6. We (Christians) are of God, have received the Spirit; we, the apostles of Christ, were lawfully sent by him. — He that knoweth God, heareth us, &c. That is, they who love and serve God, and comply with the doctrine of his Son, Jesus Christ, hear and follow the doctrine which we were commissioned by him to teach. — He that is not of God, heareth us not. The are not of God, who refuse to hear and obey the voice of the Church and those whom Christ appointed to govern his Church, as hath been observed elsewhere. — By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Here S. John gives them the second general mark and rule, to preserve them and all Christians from errors and heresies to the end of the world. He that knoweth God, heareth us Apostles, whom he sent, and heareth our successors, invested with the same mission and authority, whom Christ sent, as his heavenly Father sent him, whom he appointed to govern his Church, and with whom he promised to remain to the end of the world. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

• Ver. 12. Jesus then left the wilderness, and passed a few day on the banks of the Jordan, affording his holy precursor an opportunity of bearing repeated testimony of him and of his divine mission, as we read in the first chap. of S. John, and then retired into Upper Galilee to avoid the fury of the Jews. There were two Galilees, that of the Jews and that of the Gentiles; this latter was given by the king of Tyre to king Solomon. S. Jer. This conduct of Jesus Christ, shews that on some occasions it is not only lawful, but advisable, to flee from persecution. S. Chry. — Jesus Christ enters more publicly on his mission, and about to occupy the place of his precursor, the baptist, he chooses Galilee for the first theatre of his ministry, the place assigned by the ancient prophets. The Pharisees had prevailed upon Herod to arrest the baptist, nor could their hatred be less to Jesus Christ, who drew a still greater concourse of disciples after him.
• Ver. 13. Nazareth was situated in Lower Galilee; and Capharnaum, a maritime town, in Higher Galilee. According to the historian, Josephus, it did not belong to Herod, the tetrarch, who sent the baptist to confinement, but to Philip, the tetrarch, his brother. C. — He leaves Nazareth for good and all, and retires to Capharnaum, a very flourishing and much frequented emporium, both for the Jews and Gentiles. Here he makes his chief residence, a place well calculated for his preaching, being on the limits of both Galilee, although he made frequent excursions through Galilee to disseminate his doctrines. Syn. crit.
• Ver. 15. S. Mat. has omitted in this place part of the prophecy, (Isaiah ix.) because it was not to his purpose. He has likewise given us the mystical, though still true, interpretation of the prophecy, which was written in the first instance to foretell the deliverance of Jerusalem from Senacherib, in the time of Ezechias. 1 Kings, xix. Jan.
• Ver. 16. And a light is risen, &c. This light, foretold by the prophet Isaias, (c. ix, v. 1,) was our Saviour Jesus Christ, the light of the world, who now enlightened them by his instructions, and by his grace. Wi. — Thus when the morning star has gone by and disappeared, the sun rises and diffuses its light to mortals, who rejoice that the darkness of night is removed from the earth. Jan.
• Ver. 17. Jesus began not to preach till S. John had announced his coming to the world, that the dignity of his sacred person might thus be manifested, and the incredulous Jews be without excuse. If after the preaching of S. John, and his express testimony of the divinity of our Redeemer, they could still say: thou givest testimony of thyself; thy testimony is not true: what would they not have said, if, without any precursor, he had, all on a sudden, appeared amongst them. He did not begin to preach till S. John was cast into prison, that the people might not be divided. On this account also S. John wrought no miracle, that the people might be struck with the miracles of our Saviour, and yield their assent to him. S. Chry. hom. 14. — It may here be remarked, how different were the motives of the prophets from those which the baptist and Christ made use of to exhort to repentance. The former menaced evil, and held out a promise of good, but the good or evil was temporal. S. John begins his exhortations with the threat of eternal punishment—but Christ sweetens the hardships of penance by reminding us of the reward. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jan.
• Ver. 23. The synagogues were religious assemblies with the Jews, wherein they met on the sabbath and festival days, to pray, to read and hear expounded the word of God, and to exercise the other practices of their law. C.
• Ver. 24. Many came to Christ to beg to be cured of their corporal infirmities; nor do we read o fa single one here, who came to be delivered from spiritual sickness. Our blessed Savior nevertheless, bearing with their imperfection, condescends to heal them, that he might thence take occasion of exciting their faith, and preparing them for their spiritual cure. Jan. — It is much to be regretted, that the conduct of Christians at the present day, is not more reasonable than that of the Jews here mentioned. If the Almighty, says the eloquent Masillon, had not the power or will of dispensing goods and evils, how small would be the number of those who would ever retire to the temple to present their petition to Him. A. — Our Saviour asks not, if they believed, as he did on other occasions; they had given him sufficient proof, by bringing their sick from distant parts. Chry. hom. xiv.

Sunday Bible Readings January 4 2008 The Epiphany of the Lord

January 4 2009 Sunday
The Epiphany of the Lord

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. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/090104.shtml – Note. The Official Liturgical readings may not match the current NAB you may have.

Isaiah 60:1-6
Douay-Rheims Challoner

Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.
Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side.
Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee.
The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha: all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense: and shewing forth praise to the Lord.

Psalm 71:1-2, 7-8, 10-13 (Ps 72 Heb)
Douay-Rheims Challoner Text Only

Give to the king thy judgment, O God,
and to the king’s son thy justice:
To judge thy people with justice,
and thy poor with judgment.
In his days shall justice spring up,
and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away.
And he shall rule from sea to sea,
and from the river unto the ends of the earth.
The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents:
the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts:
And all kings of the earth shall adore him:
all nations shall serve him.
For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty:
and the needy that had no helper.
He shall spare the poor and needy:
and he shall save the souls of the poor.

Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Haydock NT

If yet you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me towards you: How that, according to the revelation, Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles, and prophets, in the Spirit. That the Gentiles should be coheirs, and of the same body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus, by the Gospel.

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew 2:1-12
Haydock NT

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Saying:

Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and we are come to adore him.

And Herod the king hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And assembling together all the chief priests, and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born. But they said to him:

In Bethlehem of Juda: For so it is written by the prophet: “And thou Bethlehem, the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come forth the ruler, who shall rule my people Israel.”

Then Herod privately calling the wise men, inquired of them diligently the time of the star’s appearing to them: And sending them into Bethlehem, said:

Go, and search diligently after the child; and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him.

And when they had heard the king, they went their way: and behold the star which they had seen in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was. And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him: and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having received an answer in sleep, that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their own country.

Haydock Commentary Isaiah 60:1-6

• Ver. 1. O Jerusalem, is not in Heb. or S. Jer. but in the Sept. Some few things may refer to the terrestrial Jerusalme, though the prophet speaks chiefly of the celestial and of the Church.—Lord, very great. Christ came to save us. C.—God prevents by his grace, but man must co-operate to be justified. W.
• Ver. 2. People. Babylon shall suffer, while thou art relieved. C.—The Gentiles continue in darkness till they embrace the faith. v. 3. H.—Only those who are in the Church receive the light of truth. W.
• Ver. 3. Rising. The three wise men were the first.
• Ver. 4. Rise up. S. Jerome “suck,” as the Hebrew may imply. C.—Septuagint “shall be carried on the shoulders.” H.—This may refer to the captives and to the Church.
• Ver. 5. Wonder. Heb. and Sept. in S. Jerome “fear.” This senstaiton is often mixed with joy. Mat. 28:8.—Thee. No such nations joined the Jews as they did the Church.
• Ver. 6. Epha. Abraham’s grandson, who dwelt near his father, Madian, in Arabia, which was famous for camels. C.—Saba. India mittit ebur, molles sua thura Sabæi? Geor. i.—The Arabians embraced the gospel, but never broughrt their treasure to Jerusalem. C.—The three kings came on swift beasts to adore Christ, and fulfilled his prophecy. Mat. 2. W.

Haydock Commentary Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6

• Ver. 2. If yet you have heard. If yet doth not imply a doubt, but is the same as, for you have heard the dispensation. This word, dispensation, is divers times taken by S. Paul to signify the manner by which a thing is done, or put in execution; the sense therefore here is, for you have heard how by the grace of God I have been made your apostle. Wi.
• Ver. 3. What’s here deals with something no included in this so I will save it for later to prevent confusion. They separated verses in a proper manner according to the section they needed, but it’s nonsensical to include the actual explanation. This only applies for the readings for 1/6/2008. If you see this at another date please say so.
• Ver. 5. As it is now revealed. S. Paul, as both S. Jerome and S. Chrysostom take notice, does not absolutely say that this mystery was not known, but only not known as it was afterwards to the apostles. For whether by this mystery we understand the incarnation of Christ, o rhte uniting of the Jews and Gentiles into one Church, we cannot dobut but both were revealed to Abraham, to David, to many prophets and just men in the time of the law; but now it was revealed and made known to all. Wi.
• Ver. 6. That the Gentiles should be coheirs, &c. This is the mystery which was heretorefore unknown, and now revealed. This is what the greatest part of the Jews could never be brought to believe, that the Gentiles should be equally sharers with them of God’s promises and blessings. They were strangely scandalized that S. Peter should receive Cornelius, an uncircumcised man, into the same communion. On the like account they persecuted S. Paul. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 2:1-12

• Ver. 1. King Herod the Great, surnamed Ascalonite, was a foreigner, but a proselyte to the Jewish religion. S. Jerome.—This city is called Bethlehem of Juda, to distinguish it from another Bethlehem, which was situated in the division of the tribe of Zabulon. A.—Wise men. Both the Latin and Greek text may signify wise philosophers and astronomers, which is the common exposition. The same word is also many times taken for a magician or soothsayer, as it is applied to Simon, (Acts viii. 9,) and to Elymas, Acts xiii, v. 6. and 8. Some ancient interpreters think these very men might have been magicians before their conversion. See a Lapide, &c.—From the east. Some say from Arabia, others from Chaldea, others from Persia. Divers interpreters speak of them as if they had been kings, princes, or lords of some small territories. See Baron. an. i. sect. 29. Tillemont, note 12. on Jesus Christ. The number of these wise men is uncertain. S. Leo, in his sermons on the Epiphany, speaks of them as if they had been three, perhaps on account of their three-fold offerings. What is mentioned in later writers as to their names, is still of less authority, as Bollandus observed. There are also very different opinions as to the time that the star appeared to these wise men, whether before Christ’s birth, or about the very time he was born, which seems more probable. The interpreters are again divided as to the year, and day of the year, when they arrived at Bethlehem, and adored the Saviour of the world. Some think not till two years after Christ’s birth. See S. Epiphan. haer. xxx. num. 29. p. 134. And S. Jerome puts the massacre of the Holy Innocents about that time in his chronicle. But taking it for granted that the wise men came to Jerusalem and to Bethlehem the same year that Christ was born, it is not certain on what day of the year they adored him at Bethlehem. It is true the Latin Church, ever since the 4^th or 5^th age, has kept the feast of the Epiphany on the 6^th day of January. But when it is said in that day’s office, This day a star led the wise men to the manger, it may bear this sense only, this day we keep the remembrance of it; especially since we read in a sermon of S. Maximus (appointed to be read in the Roman Breviary on the 5^th day within the octave of the Epiphany) these words: What happened on this day, he knows that wrought it; whatever it was, we cannot doubt but it was done in favour of us. The wise men, by the 11^th verse, found Jesus at Bethlehem, where his blessed mother was to remain forty days, till the time of her purification was expired. And it seems most probable that the wise men came to Bethlehem about that time, rather than within the thirteen days after Christ’s birth: for had they come so soon after Christ was born, and been directed to go, and make a diligent inquiry at Bethlehem, which was not above five miles from Jerusalem, it can scarcely be imagined that so suspicious and jealous a prince as Herod was, would have waited almost a month for their return without searching for the new-born king. But it is likely, being again alarmed by what happened when Jesus was presented in the temple at his mother’s purification, he thereupon gave those cruel and barbarous orders for the massacre of those innocent infants. Wi.
• Ver. 2. We have seen his star. They knew it to be his star, either by some prophecy among them, or by divine revelation. This star was some lightsome body in the air, which at last seemed to point to them the every place where the world’s Redeemer lay. We know not whether it guided them during the whole course of their journey from the East to Jerusalem. We read nothing more in the gospel, but that it appear to them in the East, and that they saw it again, upon their leaving Jerusalem to go to Bethlehem. Wi.—The wise men, in the Syrian tongue maguscha, are supposed to have come from Stony Arabia, near the Euphrates. They might have preserved in this country the remembrance of the prophecy of Balaam, which had announced the coming of the Messias by the emblem of a star, (Num. xxiv. 17.) which was to arise from Jacob. The star which appeared then, was the symbol of the star which Balaam had predicted. A.
• Ver. 3. Through fear of losing his kingdom, he being a foreigner, and had obtained the sovereignty by violence. But why was all Jerusalem to be alarmed at the news of a king so long and so ardently expected? 1. Because the people, well acquainted with the cruelty of Herod, feared a more galling slavery. 2. Through apprehension of riots, and of a revolution, which could not be effected without bloodshed, as the Romans had such strong hold. They had also been so worn down with perpetual wars, that the most miserable servitude, with peace, was to the Jews an object rather of envy than deprecation. A.
• Ver. 6. And thou Bethlehem, &c. This was a clear prophecy concerning the Messias, foretold by Micheas; (c. v. 2,) yet the words which we read in the evangelist are not quite the same as we find in the prophet, either according to the Hebrew or to the Greek text of the Sept. The chief difference is, that in the prophet we read: And thou Bethlehem art little; but in the evangelist, thou art not the least. Some answer that the words of the prophet are to be expounded by way of an interrogation, art thou little? It is certain the following words, both in the prophet and in the gospel, out of thee shall come forth a leader or a captain, &c. shew that the meaning is, thou art not little. S. Jerome’s observation seems to clear this point: he tells us, that the Jewish priests, who were consulted, gave Herod the sense, and not the very words of the prophet; and the evangelist, as an historian, relates to us the words of these priests to Herod, not the very words of the prophet. Wi.—The testimony of the chief priests proves that this text of Micheas was even then generally applied to the Messias, and that to Him alone it must be referred according to the letter. V.
• Ver. 11. And going into the house. Several of the Fathers in their homilies, represent the wise men adoring Jesus in the stable, and in the manger. Yet others, with S. Chrys. take notice, that before their arrival, Jesus might be removed into some little house in Bethlehem.—Prostrating themselves, or falling down, they adored him, not with a civil worship only, but enlightened by divine inspiration, they worshipped and adored him as their Saviour and their God.—Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Divers of the ancient Fathers take notice of the mystical signification of these offerings; that by gold was signified the tribute they paid to him, as to their king; by incense, that he was God; and by myrrh, (with which dead bodies used to be embalmed) that now he was also become a mortal man. See Amb. 1. 2. in Luc. c. ii. S. Greg. &c. Wi.—The Church sings, “hodie stella Magos duxit ad praesepium,” but it is not probable that the blessed Virgin should remain so long in the open stable, and the less so, because the multitude, who hindered Joseph from finding accommodations either among his relatives or in the public caravansaries, had returned to their own homes. E.—They adored Him. Therefore, in the Eucharist also, Christ is to be adored. For it is of no consequence under what appearance he is pleased to give himself to us, whether that of a perfect man, a speechless child as here, or under the appearance of bread and wine, provided it is evident that he is there; for in whatever manner or place he appears, he is true God, and for that alone he is to be adored. Frivolous is the objection of certain sectarists, that Christ does not give himself to us in the blessed Eucharist to be adored, but to be eaten. For Christ was not in Bethlehem, nor did he descend from heaven to be adored: He tells us in the 20^th chap of Matthew, v. 28, that the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister; yet he was adored on earth, even while he was in his mortal state, by the magi, by his disciples, by the blind man that was cured of his blindness, &c. &c. “Let us imitate the magi. Thou seest him not now in the crib, but on the altar; not a woman holding him, but the priest present, and the Holy Ghost poured out abundantly upon the sacrifice.” S. Chrys. hom. xxiv. 1 Cor. Hom. vii. de Sancto Philog.