Daily Bible Readings Tuesday January 6 2009 Christmas Weekday

January 6 2009 Tuesday Christmas Weekday
Saint of the Day – Blessed André Bessette

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/090106.shtml

1 John 4:7-10
Haydock New Testament

Dearly beloved, let us love one another: for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity. By this hath appeared the charity of God in us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live by him. In this is charity: not as if we had loved God, but because he first loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins.

Responsorial Psalm 71:1-4, 7-8 (Ps 72 NAB)
DR 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.
Let the mountains receive peace for the people:
and the hills justice.
He shall judge the poor of the people,
and he shall save the children of the poor:
and he shall humble the oppressor.
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 Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 6:34-44
Haydock New Testament

And Jesus going out, saw a great multitude: and he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came to him, saying:

This is a desert place, and the hour is now past: Send them away, that going into the next villages and towns, they may buy themselves meat to eat.

But he answering, said to them:

Give you them to eat.

And they said to him:

Let us go and buy bread for two hundred pence, and we will give them to eat.

And he saith to them:

How many loaves have you? Go and see.

And when they knew, they say:

Five, and two fishes.

And he commanded them to make them all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves, and the two fishes; looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave to his disciples to set before them: and the two fishes he divided among them all. And they all did eat, and had their fill. And they took up the leavings, twelve baskets full of fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat, were five thousand men.

Haydock Commentary 1 John 4:7-10
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 7. Let us love one another. This is the repeated admonition of S. John, the evangelist, both in this epistle and to the end of his life, as S. Jerom relates in his Epist. ad Galat. cap. vi. tom. 4, part 1, p. 414) that the apostle being very old, and when carried to Church meetings of the Christians, being desired to give them some exhortation, he scarce said any thing, but “love one another;” and it being tedious to his disciples to hear always the same thing, they desired some other instruction, to whom (says S. Jerom) he gave this answer, worthy of S. John: that this was the precept of our Lord, and that if complied with, it was sufficient. — Charity is of God, is love, is the fountain and source of all goodness and mercy, infinitely good in himself, and in his love and mercy towards mankind. This love and charity of God hath appeared by his sending his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. See Jo. i. 14. — Thus God having first loved us, (v. 10) when we were sinners, and his enemies, let us not be so ungrateful as not to love him, and to love one another after his example. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Mark 6:34-44

• Ver. 37. For two hundred pence. See Matt. xviii. 28. The apostles seem to speak these words ironically, to signify that they had not so much money as could procure a mouthful for each of them. Wi.

Catena Aurea Mark 6:34-44
From Catechetics Online

• Theophylact: So do thou not wait for Christ till He Himself call you, but outrun Him, and come before Him. There follows: “And Jesus when He came out saw many people, and was moved with compassion towards them, because they were as sheep having no shepherd.” The Pharisees being ravening wolves did not feed the sheep, but devoured them; for which reason they gather themselves to Christ, the true Shepherd, who gave them spiritual food, that is, the word of God. Wherefore it goes on: “And He began to teach them many things.” For seeing that those who followed Him on account of His miracles were tired from the length of the way, He pitied them, and wished to satisfy their wish by teaching them.
• Bede, in Marc., 2, 26: Matthew says that He healed their sick, for the real way of pitying the poor is to open to them the way of truth by teaching them, and to take away their bodily pains.
• Pseudo-Jerome: Mystically, however, the Lord took apart those whom He chose, that though living amongst evil men, they might not apply their minds to evil things, as Lot in Sodom, Job in the land of Uz, and Obadiah in the house of Ahab.
• Bede, in Marc., 2, 25: Leaving also Judaea, the holy preachers, in the desert of the Church, overwhelmed by the burden of their tribulations amongst the Jews, obtained rest by the imparting of the grace of faith to the Gentiles.
• Pseudo-Jerome: Little indeed is the rest of the saints here on earth, long is their labour, but afterwards, they are bidden to rest from their labours. But as in the ark of Noah, the animals that were within were sent forth, and they that were without rushed in, so is it in the Church, Judas went, the thief came to Christ. But as long as men go back from the faith, the Church can have no refuge from grief; for Rachel weeping for her children would not be comforted. Moreover, this world is not the banquet, in which the new wine is drank, when the new song will be sung by men made anew, when this mortal shall have put on immortality.
• Bede, in Marc., 2, 26: But when Christ goes to the deserts of the Gentiles, many bands of the faithful leaving the walls of their cities, that is their old manner of living, follow Him.
• Theophylact: The Lord, placing before them, first, what is most profitable, that is, the food of the word of God, afterwards also gave the multitude food for their bodies; in beginning to relate which, the Evangelist say, “And when the day was now far spent, His disciples came unto Him, and said, This is a desert place.
• Bede: The time being far spent, points out that it was evening. Wherefore Luke says, “But the day had begun to decline.”
• Theophylact: See now, how those who are disciples of Christ grow in love to man, for they pity the multitudes, and come to Christ to intercede for them. But the Lord tried them, to see whether they would know that His power was great enough to feed them. Wherefore it goes on: “He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat.”
• Bede: By these words He calls on His Apostles, to break bread for the people, that they might be able to testify that they had no bread, and thus the greatness of the miracle might become more known.
• Theophylact: But the disciples thought that He did not know what was necessary for the feeding of so large a multitude, for their answer shews that they were troubled. For it goes on, “And they said unto Him, Let us go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat.”
• Augustine, de Con. Evan., 2, 46: This in the Gospel of John is the answer to Philip, but Mark gives it as the answer of the disciples, wishing it to be understood that Philip made this answer as a mouthpiece of the others; although he might put the plural number for the singular, as is usual. It goes on: “And He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see.” The other Evangelists pass over this being done by the Lord. It goes on: “And when they knew, they say, “Five, and two fishes.” This, which was suggested by Andrew, as we learn from John, the other Evangelists, using the plural for the singular, have put into the mouth of the disciples. It goes on, “And He commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass, and they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties.” But we need not be perplexed, though Luke says that they were ordered to sit down by fifties, and Mark by hundreds and fifties, for one has mentioned a part, the other the whole. Mark, who mentions the hundreds, fills up what the other has left out.
• Theophylact: We are given to understand that they lay down in parties, separate from one another, for what is translated by companies, is repeated twice over in the Greek, as though it were by companies and companies. It goes on, “And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them: and the two fishes divided He among them all.”
• Chrys., Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc., see Hom. in Matt., 49: Now it was with fitness that He looked up to heaven, for the Jews, when receiving manna in the desert, presumed to say of God, “Can he give bread?” [Psa_78:20] To prevent this, therefore, before He performed the miracle, He referred to His Father when He was about to do.
• Theophylact: He also looks up to heaven, that He may teach us to seek our food from God, and not from the devil, as they do who unjustly feed on other men’s labours. By this also He intimated to the crowd, that He could not be opposed to God, since He called upon God. And He gives the bread to His disciples to set before the multitude, that by handling the bread, they might see that it was an undoubted miracle. It goes on: “And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments.” Twelve baskets of fragments remained over and above, that each of the Apostles, carrying a basket on his shoulder, might recognise the unspeakable wonder of the miracle. For it was a proof of overflowing power not only to feed so many men, but also to leave such a superabundance of fragments. Even though Moses gave manna, yet what was given to each was measured by his necessity, and what was over and above was overrun with worms. Elias also fed the woman, but gave her just what was enough for her; but Jesus, being the Lord, makes His gifts with superabundant profusion.
• Bede: Again, in a mystical sense, the Saviour refreshes the hungry crowds at the day’s decline, because, either now that the end of the world approaches, or now that the Son of justice has set in death for us, we are saved from wasting away in spiritual hunger. He calls the Apostles to Him at the breaking of bread, intimating that daily by them our hungry souls are fed, that is, by their letters and examples. By the five loaves are figured the Five Books of Moses, by the two fishes, the Psalms and Prophets.
• Theophylact: Or the two fishes are the discourses of fishermen, that is, their Epistles and Gospel.
• Bede: [ed. note: The same application to the five senses is found in Origen in Matt. 14, 17, and St. Ambrose in Luc., 6, 80. The latter, probably, was the source from which Bede borrowed it, as in both it forms a portion of a comparison between this miracle and that of the four thousand being fed with seven loaves, in which the latter are said to be a type of the Christian, who has given up external things. Origen, Hom. 3 in Leviticus lays it down as a principle, that the number five is almost always taken for the five sense in Scripture.] There are five senses in the outward man which shews that by the five thousand men are meant those who, living in the world, know how to make a good use of external things.
• Greg., Mor. 16, 55: The different ranks in which those who ate lie down, mark out the divers churches which make up the one Catholic. [ed. note: The number fifty is connected with rest from sin, or remission, with an allusion to the Jubilee and to Pentecost by Origen in Matt. Tom. xi. 3, and by St. Ambrose Ap. David 8. On number a hundred, as the recognized symbol of perfection, see Benedictine Note] But the Jubilee rest is contained in the mystery of the number fifty, and fifty must be doubled before it reaches up to a hundred. As then the first step is to rest from doing evil, that afterwards the soul may rest more fully from evil thoughts, some lie down in parties of fifty, others of a hundred.
• Bede: Again, those men lie down on grass and are fed by the food of the Lord, who have trodden under foot their concupiscences by continence, and apply themselves diligently to hear and fulfil the words of God. [ed. note: see Aurea Catena in Matthew, p. 537] The Saviour, however, does not create a new sort of food; for when He came in the flesh He preached no other things than were predicted, but shewed how pregnant with mysteries of grace were the writings of the Law and the Prophets. He looks up to heaven, that He may teach us that there we must look for grace. He breaks and distributes to the disciples that they may place the bread before the multitudes, because He has opened the mysteries of prophecy to holy doctors, who are to preach them to the whole world. What is left by the crowd is taken up by the disciples, because the more sacred mysteries, which cannot be received by the foolish, are not to be passed by with negligence, but to be inquired into by the perfect. For by the twelve baskets, the Apostles and the following Doctors are typified, externally indeed despised by men, but inwardly full of healthful food. For all know that carrying baskets is a part of the work of slaves.
• Pseudo-Jerome: Or, in the gathering of the twelve baskets full of fragments, is signified the time, when they shall sit on thrones, judging all who are left of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the twelve tribes of Israel, when the remnant of Israel shall be saved.