Daily Bible Readings Wednesday January 28 2009 Memorial of St Thomas Aquinas Priest and Doctor of the Church

January 28 2009 Wednesday Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Priest and doctor of the Church
Saint of the Day – St. Thomas Aquinas
St Thomas Assembled the Catena Aurea
Used in the study notes for today’s reading below.

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/012809.shtml

Hebrew 10:11-18
Haydock New Testament

And every priest indeed standeth daily ministering, and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But he offering one sacrifice for sins, for ever sitteth on the right hand of God, From henceforth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. For by one oblation he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

And the Holy Ghost also doth testify to us. For after he said: And this is the testament which I will make unto them after those days, saith the Lord, I will give my laws in their hearts, and in their minds I will write them: And their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no more an offering for sin.

Responsorial Psalm 109:1-4 (Ps 110 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand:
Until I make thy enemies thy footstool.
The Lord will send forth the sceptre of thy power out of Sion:
rule thou in the midst of thy enemies.
With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength:
in the brightness of the saints:
from the womb before the day star I begot thee.
The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent:
Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 4:1-20
Haydock New Testament

AND he began again to teach by the sea side: and a great multitude was gathered together unto him, so that he went up into a ship, and sat in the sea, and all the multitude was upon the land, by the sea side: And he taught them many things in parables, and said to them in his teaching:

Hear ye: Behold a sower went out to sow. And whilst he is sowing, some fell by the way side: and the birds of the air came, and eat it up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where is had not much earth: and it shot up immediately, because it had no depth of earth: And when the sun was risen, it was scorched: and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among the thorns: and the thorns grew up, and choaked it, and it yielded no fruit. And some fell upon good ground: and brought forth fruit that grew up, and increased, and yielded, one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred.

And he said:

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

And when he was alone, the twelve that were with him, asked him the parable. And he said to them:

To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but to them that are without, all things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand: lest at any time they should be converted, and their shins should be forgiven them.

And he saith to them:

Know you not this parable? How then shall you know all parables? He that soweth, soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; and as soon as they have heard, immediately satan cometh and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these likewise are they that are sown on the stony ground: who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but are only for a time: and then when tribulation and persecution arise on account of the word, they are presently scandalized. And others there are that are sown among thorns: these are they that hear the word, And the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in, choak the word, and it is made fruitless. And these are they who are sown upon the good ground, who hear the word, and receive it, and yield fruit, the one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred.

Haydock Commentary Hebrews 10:11-18
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 14. By one oblation[5] he hath perfected or consummated for ever them that are sanctified, or justified, because this one oblation was sufficient to sanctify all men. He repeats this, to shew them the excellency of Christ’s sacrifice above those of the former law. Wi.
• Ver. 15-18. The Holy Ghost also doth testify to us, and assures us of this, by the prophet Jeremias, (C. xxxi. 33.) in the words above cited, (C. viii, v. 8.) when he promises to give a new testament, and that he will remember no more their sins. — Now where there is remission of these, there is no more an oblation for sin. That is, there is no need of any other oblation to redeem us from sin, after the price of our redemption from sin is paid. There is no need of any other different oblation; all that is wanting, is the application of the merits and satisfactions of Christ. No need of those sacrifices, which were ordered in the law of Moses. To convince them of this, is the main design of S. Paul in this place. The pretended reformers, from several expressions of S. Paul in this chapter, think they have clear proofs that no sacrifice at all ought to be offered after Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross; and that so many sacrifices and oblations of masses, are both needless and against the doctrine of the apostle, who says, that Christ by one oblation hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. v. 14. And again, that where there is a remission of sins, now there is no more an oblation for sin. This objection, which is obvious enough, was not first invented by the Calvinists against them they nickname Papists: the same is found in the ancient Fathers; and by their answers, and what they have witnessed concerning the daily sacrifice of the mass, they may find their doctrine of a religion without a continued sacrifice evidently against the doctrine and practice of the Catholic Church from the first ages of the Christian religion, till they came to be reformers, not of manners, but of the Catholic belief. Hear S. Chrys. (hom. xvii.) in his commentary on this very chapter: “What then, saith he, do not we offer up (or make an oblation) every day? We offer up indeed, but with a remembrance of his death. And this oblation is one, and not many. How is it one, and not many? . . . because, as he that is offered many times, and in many places, is the same body, not many and different bodies, so is it one sacrifice. He (Christ) is our high priest, who offered this sacrifice, by which we are cleansed: we now offer up the same . . . He said: Do this in remembrance of me. We do not offer a different sacrifice, but the very same, as then our high priest.” S. Chrys. here says, and repeats it over and over again, that we offer up a sacrifice. 2. That we offer it up every day. 3. That the sacrifice which we daily offer is one and the same oblation, one and the same sacrifice, which our high priest, Christ, offered. 4. That in offering this sacrifice, which in all places, and at all times, is the same body of Christ, and the same sacrifice, we do, and offer it, as he commanded us at his last supper, with a remembrance of him. Is this the practice, and is this the doctrine of our dear countrymen, the English Protestants? But at least it is the constant doctrine, as well as practice, of the whole Catholic Church. The council of Trent, as we have already cited the words, (c. vii.) teacheth the very same as S. Chrys. who never says, as some one of late hath pretended, that what we offer is a remembrance only, but is his body and blood, so the sacrifice is to be performed with a remembrance of his benefits and sufferings, by his priests and ministers, but at the same time is a true and propitiatory sacrifice, the priests daily sacrifice, and offer up the same sacrifice, the manner only being different. The sacrifice and mass offered by Peter, is not different in the notion of a sacrifice or oblation from that of Paul, though the priests and their particular actions be different: the same sacrifice, according to the prophecy of Malachias, (c. i, v. 11.) shall be offered in all nations to the end of the world. This doctrine and practice is not only witnessed by S. Chrys. but generally by the ancient Fathers and interpreters, as we have taken notice in short in the annotations on S. Matt. See S. Ignatius, in his epistle to the people of Smyrna; S. Justin, in his dialogue with Tryphon; S. Iren. l. 4. c. xxxii. and xxxiv.; Tertull. l. de Velandis Virg. Euseb. l. 1. de demonst. Evang. c. ult. S. Jerom ep. ad Evangelum; S. Amb. in Ps. xxxviii. and on 1 chap. of S. Luke; S. Aug. l. 16. de civ. Dei. c. xxii. l. cont. Advers. legis c. 22. and lib. ix. Confess. c. xii.; S. Chrys. hom. lx ad Pop. Antiochenum et hom. lxxii. in Matt.; The first gen. coun. of Nice. — But from this one oblation on the cross and remission of sins, obtained by our Saviour Christ, will our adversaries pretend insisting on the bare letter, that Christ has done all for us, and that we need do nothing, unless perhaps endeavour to catch hold of the justifying cloak of Christ’s justice by faith only? At this rate the love of God and of our neighbour, a life of self-denials, such as Christ preached to every one in the gospel, the practices of prayer, fastings, almsdeeds, and all good works, the sacraments instituted by our Saviour Christ may be all safely laid aside; and we may conclude from hence, that all men’s sins are remitted before they are committed. Into what extravagances do men run, when their private spirit pretends to follow the letter of the Holy Scriptures, and when they make their private judgment the supreme guide in matter of divine faith? It is very true, that Christ hath paid the ransom of all our sins, and his satisfactions are infinite; but to partake of the benefit of this general redemption, the merits and satisfaction of Christ are to be applied to our souls, and this by the order of Providence is to be done not only by faith but by other virtues, by good works, by the sacraments, and by repeating the oblation and the same sacrifice, the manner only being different, according to the doctrine and practice of the Catholic Church from the apostle’s time. Wi. — Where there is a full remission of sins, as in baptism, there is no more occasion for a sin-offering to be made for such sins already remitted; and as for sins committed afterwards, they can only be remitted in virtue of the one oblation of Christ’s death. Ch.

Haydock Commentary Mark 4:1-20

• Ver. 1. If we examine S. Matthew on this point, we shall discover that this discourse was made on the same day as the preceding discourse; for S. Matthew informs us, that having finished this exhortation, he the same day went and taught by the sea. Ven. Bede.
• Ver. 10. When he was alone: in Greek Ote egeneto KatamonaV; i.e. when he was retired and alone, either in the house, out of the city, or at a distance from the multitude. T.
• Ver. 11. Such as are out of the Church, though they both hear and read, they cannot understand. Ven. Bede, in C. iv, Mark.
• Ver. 12. That seeing they may see, &c. In punishment of their wilfully shutting their eyes, (Matt. xiii. 15.) God justly withdrew those lights and graces which otherwise he would have given them, for their effectual conversion. Ch. — these speeches here and elsewhere, we are not to understand as if the spoke in parables to this end that the hearers might not understand, lest they should be converted; but we must learn the true sense from the corresponding texts in Matthew xiii, and Acts xxviii, where our Saviour and S. Paul render it thus: with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut. lest, perhaps, they may see, and understand, and be converted, and I heal them. Whereby it is evident, that the speaking in parables was not the cause, (for many besides the apostles heard and understood) but themselves, who would not hear and understand, and be converted: and thus they were the real cause of they own wilful and obstinate infidelity. And therefore also he spoke in parables, because they were not worthy to understand, as the others were to whom he expounded them. B.

Catena Aurea Mark 4:1-20
From Catechetics Online

• THEOPHYL. Although the Lord appears in the transactions mentioned above to neglect His mother, nevertheless He honors her; since on her account He goes forth about the borders of the sea: wherefore it is said, And Jesus began to teach again by the sea-side, &c.
• BEDE; For if we look into the Gospel of Matthew, it appears that this same teaching of the Lord at the sea, was delivered on the same day as the former. For after the conclusion of the first sermon, Matthew immediately subjoins, saying, The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea-side.
• PSEUDO-JEROME; But He began to teach at the sea, that the place of His teaching might point out the bitter feelings and instability of His hearers.
• BEDE; After leaving the house also, He began to teach at the sea, because, quitting the synagogue, He came to gather together the multitude of the Gentile people by the Apostles. Wherefore it continues: And there was gathered to him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea.
• CHRYS. Which we must understand was not done without a purpose, but that He might not leave anyone behind Him, but have all His hearers before His face.
• BEDE; Now this ship showed in a figure the Church, to be built in the midst of the nations, in which the Lord consecrates fir Himself a beloved dwelling-place. It goes on: And he taught them many things by parables.
• PSEUDO-JEROME; A parable is a comparison made between things discordant by nature, under some similitude. For parable is the Greek for a similitude, when we point out by some comparisons what we would have understood. In this way we say an iron man, when we desire that he should be understood to be hardy and strong; when to be swift, we compare him to winds and birds. But He speaks to the multitudes in parables, with His usual providence, that those who could not take in heavenly things, might conceive what they heard by an earthly similitude.
• CHRYS. For He rouses the minds of His hearers by a parable, pointing out objects to the sight, to make His discourse more manifest.
• THEOPHYL. And in order to rouse the attention of those who heard, the first parable that He proposes is concerning the seed, which is the word of God. Wherefore it goes on, And he said to them in his doctrine. Not in that of Moses, nor of the Prophets, because He preaches His own Gospel. Hearken: behold, there went out a sower to sow. Now the Sower is Christ.
• CHRYS. Not that He went out in space, Who is present in all space, and fills all, but in the form and economy by which He is made more near to us through the clothing of flesh. For since we were not able to go to Him, because sins impeded our path, He went out to us. But He went out, preaching in order to sow the worth of piety, which He spoke abundantly. Now He does not needlessly repeat the same word, when He says, A sower went out to sow, for sometimes a sower goes out that he may break up land for tillage, or to pull up weeds, or for some other work. But this one went out to sow.
• BEDE; Or else, He went out to sow, when after calling to His faith the elect portion of the synagogue, He poured out the gifts of His grace in order to call the Gentiles also.
• CHRYS. Further, as a sower does not make a distinction in the ground which is beneath him, but simply and without distinction puts in the seed, so also He Himself addresses all. And to signify this, The says, And as he sowed, come fell by the way-side.
• THEOPHYL. Take notice, that He says not that He threw it in the way, but that it fell, for a sower, as far as he can, throws it into good ground, but if the ground be bad, it corrupts the seed. Now the way is Christ; but infidels are by the way-side, that is, out of Christ.
• BEDE; Or else, the way is a mind which is a path for bad thoughts, preventing the seed of the word from growing in it. And therefore whatever good seed comes in contact with such a way, perishes, and is carried off by devils. Wherefore there follows, And the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And well are the devils called fowls of the air, either because they are of a heavenly and spiritual origin, or because they dwell in the air. Or else, those who are about the way are negligent and slothful men. It goes on: And some fell on stony ground. He calls stone, the hardness of a wanton mind; He calls ground, the inconstancy of a soul in its obedience; and sun, the heat of a raging persecution. Therefore the depth of earth, which ought to have received the seed of God, is the honesty of a mind trained in heavenly discipline, and regularly brought up in obedience to the Divine words. But the stony places, which have no strength for fixing the root firmly, are those breasts which are delighted only with the sweetness of the word which they hear, and for a time with the heavenly promises, but in a season of temptation fall away, for there is too little of healthful desire in them to conceive the seed of life.
• THEOPHYL. Or, the stony persons are those who adhering a little to the rock, that is, to Christ, up to a short time, receive the word, and afterwards, falling back, cast it away. It goes on: And some fell among thorns; by which are marked souls which care for many things. For thorns are cares.
• CHRYS. But further He mentions good ground, saying, And other fell on good ground. For the difference of the fruits follows the quality of the ground. But great is the love of the Sower for men, for the first He commends, and rejects not the second, and gives a place to the third.
• THEOPHYL. Sec also how the bad are the greatest number, and the few are those who are saved, for the fourth part of the ground is found to be saved.
• CHRYS. This, however, the greater portion of the seed is not lost through the fault of the owner, but of the earth, which received it, that is, of the soul, which hears. And indeed the real husbandman, if he sowed in this way, would be rightly blamed; for he is not ignorant that rock, or the road, or thorny ground, cannot become fertile. But in spiritual things it is not so; for there it is possible that stony ground may become fertile; and that the road should not be trodden down, and that the thorns may be destroyed, for if this could not take place, he would not have sown there. By this therefore He gives to us hope of repentance. It goes on, And he said to them, He that has ears to hear, let him hear.
• BEDE; As often as this is inserted in the Gospel or in the Apocalypse of John, that which is spoken is mystical, and is pointed out as healthful to be heard and learnt. For the ears by which they are heard belong to the heart, and the ears by which men obey and do what is commanded, are those of an interior sense. There follows, And when he was alone, the twelve that were with him asked of him the parable; and he said to them, To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to them that are without all things are done in parables.
• PSEUD-CHRYS. As if He said to them, You that are worthy to be taught all things which are fitted for teaching, shall learn the manifestation of parables; but I use parables with them who are unworthy to learn, because of their wickedness. For it was right that they who did not hold fast their obedience to that law which they had received, should not have any share in a new teaching, but should be estranged from both; for He showed by the obedience of His disciples, that, on the other hand, the others were become unworthy of mystical doctrine. But afterwards, by bringing in a voice from prophecy, He confounds their wickedness, as having been long before reproved; wherefore it goes on, that seeing they might see, and not perceive, &c. as if He said, that the prophecy might be fulfilled which foretells these things.
• THEOPHYL. For it was God Who made them to see, that is, to understand what is good. But they themselves see not, of their own will making themselves not to see, lest they should be converted and correct themselves, as if they were displeased at their own salvation. It goes on, Lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins be forgiven them.
• PSEUD-CHRYS. Thus, therefore, they see and they do not see, they hear and do not understand, for their seeing and hearing comes to them from God’s grace, but their seeing and not understanding comes to them from their willingness to receive grace, and closing their eyes, and pretending that they could not see; neither do they acquiesce in what was said, and so are not changed as to their sins by hearing and seeing, but rather are made worse.
• THEOPHYL. Or we may understand in a different way His speaking to the rest in parables, that seeing they might not perceive, and hearing, not understand. For God gives sight and understanding to men who seek for them, but the rest He blinds, lest it become a greater accusation against them, that though they understood, they did not choose to do what they ought. Wherefore it goes on, Lest at any time they should be, &c.
• AUG. Or else they deserved this, their not understanding., and yet this in itself was done in mercy to them, that they might know their sins, and, being converted, merit pardon.
• BEDE; To those then who are without, all things are done in parables, that is, both the actions and the words of the Savior because neither in those miracles which He was working, nor in those mysteries which He preached, were they able to acknowledge Him as God. Therefore they are not able to attain to the remission of their sins.
• PSEUD-CHRYS. But His speaking to them only in parables, and yet not leaving off speaking to them entirely, shows that to those who are placed near to what is good, though they may have no good in themselves, still good is shown disguised. But when a man approaches it with reverence and a right heart, he wins for himself an abundant revelation of mysteries; when on the contrary his thoughts are not sound, he will he neither made worthy of those things which are easy to many men, nor even of hearing them. There follows, And he said to them, Know you not this parable, how then shall you know all parables?
• PSEUSDO-JEROME; For it was necessary that they to whom h ho spoke in parables should ask for what they do not understand, and learn by the Apostle whom they despised, the mystery of the kingdom which they themselves had not.
• GLOSS. And for this reason, the Lord in saying these things, shows that they ought to understand both this first, and all following miracles. Wherefore explaining it, He goes on, The sower sows the word.
• CHRYS. And indeed the prophet has compared the teaching of the people to the planting of a vine; in this place however it is compared to sowing, to show that obedience is now shorter and more easy, and will sooner yield fruit.
• BEDE; But in this exposition of the Lord there is embraced the whole range of those who might hear the words of truth, but are unable to attain to salvation. For there are some to whom no faith, no intellect, nay no opportunity of trying its usefulness, can give a perception of the word which they hear; of whom He says, And these are by the wayside. For unclean spirits take away at once the word committed to their hearts, as birds carry away the seed of the trodden way. There are some who both experience its usefulness and feel a desire for it, but some of them the calamities of this world frighten, and others its prosperity allures, so that they do not attain to that which they approve. Of the first of whom He says, And these are they who fell on stony ground; of the latter, And these are they which are sown among thorns. But riches are called thorns, because they tear the soul with the piercing of its own thoughts, and after bringing it to sin, they, as one may say, make it bleed by inflicting a wound. Again He says, And the toil of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches; for the man who is deceived by an empty desire of riches must soon he afflicted by the toils of continual cares. He adds, And the lusts of other things; because, whoever despises the commandments of God, and wanders away lustfully seeking other things, is unable to attain to the joy of beatitude. And concupiscences of this sort choke the word, because they do not allow a good desire to enter into the heart, and, as it were, stifle the entrance of vital breath. There are, however, excepted from these different classes of men, the Gentiles who do not even have grace to hear the words of life.
• THEOPHYL. Further, of those who receive the seed as they ought there are three degrees. Wherefore it goes on, And these are they who are sown on good ground. Those who bear fruit an hundred-fold are those who lead a perfect and an obedient life, as virgins and hermits. Those who bear fruit sixty-fold are those who are in the mean as continent persons and those who are living in convents. Those who bear thirty-fold are those who though weak indeed, bear fruit according to their own virtue, as laymen and married persons.
• BEDE; Or he bears thirty-fold, who instills into the minds of the elect faith in the Holy Trinity; sixty-fold, who teaches the perfection of good works; a hundred-fold, who shows the rewards of the heavenly kingdom. For in counting a hundred, we pass on to the fight hand; therefore that number is fitly made to signify everlasting happiness. But the good ground is the conscience of the elect, which does the contrary to all the former three, which both receives with willingness the seed of the word committed to it, and keeps it when received up to the season of fruit.
• PSEUDO-JEROME; Or else the fruits of the earth are contained in thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold, that is, in the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel.