January 29 2009 Thursday Third Week in Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day – Servant of God Brother Juniper
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/012909.shtml
Hebrews 10:19-25
Haydock New Testament
Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the sanctuary by the blood of Christ, A new and living way, which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, And a high priest over the house of God: Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering (for he is faithful who hath promised), And let us consider one another to provoke unto charity and to good works. Not forsaking our assembly as some are accustomed, but comforting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
Responsorial Psalm 23:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6 (Ps 24 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only
The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof:
the world, and all they that dwell therein.
For he hath founded it upon the seas;
and hath prepared it upon the rivers.
Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord:
or who shall stand in his holy place?
The innocent in hands, and clean of heart,
who hath not taken his soul in vain,
nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
and mercy from God his Saviour.
This is the generation of them that seek him,
of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob.
The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 4:21-25
Haydock New Testament
And he said to them:
Doth a candle come to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be made manifest: neither was it made secret, but that it may come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
And he said to them:
Take heed what you hear: With what measure you shall mete, it shall be measured to you again, and more shall be given you. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, that also which he hath, shall be taken away from him.
Haydock Commentary Hebrews 10:19-25
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site
- Ver. 19. Having therefore, brethren, a confidence. Here begins as it were the second part of his epistle, in which the apostle exhorts the Hebrews to the practice of Christian virtues, to a firm hope, and confidence of entering with Christ into the holy of holies; i.e. into heaven. Wi.
- Ver. 20. A new and living way; that is, having a new way, which he hath traced out and opened us, by entering himself first into heaven, through the veil, i.e. through his flesh, or by taking upon him, our flesh or human nature. He speaks with an allusion and comparison with the high priest of the former law, who to enter into the sanctuary, was to pass through the veil of separation. He compares Christ’s flesh or body to this veil, inasmuch as Christ entered into the sanctuary of heaven by his sufferings in the flesh, and by the death of his body on the cross; or, inasmuch as the divinity of Christ was hidden from us by the veil of his human nature, as the sanctuary was hidden from the people by its veils. Wi.
- Ver. 21. And a high priest; i.e. and having a great priest, to wit, Christ, over the house of God, that is, over the Church, or over all the faithful, both in the Church militant on earth and in the Church triumphant in heaven. Wi.
- Ver. 22. Let us draw near with a full and firm faith, our hearts being cleansed and sprinkled from sin. He again alludes to that ceremony, by which the high priest of the Jews on the feast, called of expiation, sprinkled the people with the blood of the victim offered. Wi. — En plhroforia pistewV. The Protestant version gives erroneously, in full assurance of faith. See Ward’s Errata.
- Ver. 25. Not forsaking our assembly.[6] S. Chrys. understands the assemblies of Christians, where they met to celebrate the divine mysteries. Others expound it of not leaving the faith and communion of the Catholic Church by turning apostates: this is confirmed by the following words: for if we sin wilfully, . . . there is now left no sacrifice for sins. The Novatian heretics understood no pardon for sins after baptism. S. Chrys. and others understood no second baptism, wherewith to be cleansed in the same manner as before; but the most probable interpretation, and most agreeable to the text and doctrine of S. Paul, seems to be, that now remained no sacrifice for sins, i.e. no other sacrifice but that of Christ, which the apostate renouncing, by quitting and abandoning his faith, thereby cuts himself off from the very groundwork and foundation of salvation, as long as he continues in his apostacy. So that nothing remains for him but a dreadful expectation[7] of God’s just and severe judgments. Wi.
Haydock Commentary Mark 4:21-25
- Ver. 22. All my parables, doctrines, and actions, which appear now to you so full of mystery, shall not always be so: in due time they shall all be publicly expounded by you, my apostles, and by your successors. Tirinus.
- Ver. 23. And let him learn that he is not to bury in unjust silence the instructions or examples I give him; but must exercise them for the light and direction of others. V.
- Ver. 24. Pay attention then to what you hear this day, that you may retain it, and communicate it to others, you brethren; for as you measure to others, so shall it be meted unto you; yes, more shall be given to you, who receive the word of God, if you be attentive to preserve it yourselves, and to communicate it to your brethren. V.
- Ver. 25. They who do not profit by the knowledge of the word of God, shall in punishment of their neglect, lose the advantage which they may seem to have, since it will turn in the end to their greater condemnation: and moreover, by trusting to their own judgment, they interpret the word in a perverse sense, and thus also lose what they seem to have. Nic. de Lyra. — Let those who talk so much about Scripture, and interpret it according to their own private spirit or fancy, see lest this also attach to them. A.
Catena Aurea Mark 4:21-25
From Catechetics Online
- CHRYS. After the question of the disciples concerning the parable, and its explanation, He well subjoins, And he said to them, Is a candle brought, &c. As if he said, A parable is given, not that it should remain obscure, and hidden as if under a bed or a bushel, but that it should be manifested to those who are worthy. The candle within us is that of our intellectual nature, and it shines either clearly or obscurely according to the proportion of our illumination. For if meditations which feed the light, and the recollection with which such a light is kindled, are neglected, it is presently extinguished.
- PSEUDO-JEROME; Or else the candle is the discourse concerning the three sorts of seed. The bushel or the bed is the hearing of the disobedient. The Apostles are the candlestick, whom the word of the Lord has enlightened; wherefore it goes on, For there is nothing hidden, &c. The hidden and secret thing is the parable of the seed, which comes forth to light, when it is spoken of by the Lord.
- THEOPHYL. Or else the Lord warns His disciples to be as light, in their life and conversation; as if He said, As a candle is put so as to give light, so all will look to your life. Therefore be diligent to lead a good life; sit not in corners, but be you a candle. For a candle gives light, not when placed under a bed, but on a candlestick; this light indeed must be placed on a candlestick, that is, on the eminence of a godly life, that it may be able to give light to others. Not under a bushel, that is, in things pertaining to the palate, nor under a bed, that is, in idleness. For no one who seeks after the delights of his palate and loves rest can be a light shining over all.
- BEDE; Or, because the time of our life is contained under a certain measurement of Divine Providence, it is rightly compared to a bushel. But the bed of the soul is the body, in which it dwells and reposes for a time. He therefore who hides the word of God under the love of this transitory life, and of carnal allurements, covers his candle with a bushel or a bed. But be puts his light on a candlestick, who employs his body in the ministry of the word of God; therefore under these words He typically teaches them a figure of preaching. Wherefore it goes on, For there is nothing hidden, which shall not be revealed, nor is there any thing made secret, which shall not come abroad. As if He said, Be not afraid of the Gospel, but amidst the darkness of persecution raise the light of the word of God upon the candlestick of your body, keeping fixedly in your mind that day, when the Lord will throw light upon the hidden places of darkness, for then everlasting praise awaits you, and everlasting punishment your adversaries.
- CHRYS. Or else, There is nothing hid; as if He said, If you conduct your life with care, accusation will not be aide to obscure your light.
- THEOPHYL. For each of us, whether he have done good or evil, is brought to light in this life, much more in that which is to come. For what can be more hidden than God, nevertheless He Himself is manifested in the flesh. It continues, If any man have ears to ear, let him hear.
- BEDE; That is, if any man have a sense for understanding. the word of God, let him not withdraw himself, let him not turn his ear to fables, but let him lend his ear to search those things which truth has spoken, his hands for fulfilling them, his tongue for preaching them. There follows, And he said to them, Take heed what you hear.
- THEOPHYL. That is, that none of those things which are said to you by me should escape you. With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you, that is, whatsoever degree of application you bring, in that degree you will receive profit.
- BEDE; Or else, If you diligently endeavor to do all the good which you can, and to teach it to your neighbors, the mercy of God will come in, to give you both in the present life a sense to take in higher things, and a will to do better things, and will add for the future an everlasting reward. And therefore it is subjoined, And to you shall more be given.
- PSUEDO-JEROME; According. to the measure of his faith the understanding of mysteries is divided to every man, and the virtues of knowledge will also be added to them. It goes on: For he that has, to him shall be given; that is, he who has faith shall have virtue, and he who has obedience to the word, shall also have the understanding of the mystery. Again, he who, on the other hand, has not faith, fails in virtue; and he who has not obedience to the word, shall not have the understanding of it; and if he does not understand he might as well not have heard.
- PSEUD-CHRYS Or else, he who has the desire and wish to hear and to seek, to him shall be given. But be who has not the desire of hearing. divine things even what he happens to have of the written law is taken from him.
- BEDE; For sometimes a clever reader by neglecting his mind, deprives himself of wisdom, of which he tastes the sweetness, who, though slow in intellect, works more diligently.
- CHRYS. Again it may be said, that he has not, who has not truth. But our Lord says that he has, because he has a lie, for every one whose understanding believes a lie, thinks that he has something.
