Daily Bible Readings February 28 2009 Saturday After Ash Wednesday

February 28 2009 Saturday After Ash Wednesday
Saint of the Day – Blessed Daniel Brottier

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/022809.shtml

Isaiah 58:9b-14
Douay-Rheims Challoner

If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not. When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday.

And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail. And the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundation of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest.

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy own will in my holy day, and call the sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found, to speak a word: Then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Responsorial Psalm 85:1-6 (Ps 86 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear me:
for I am needy and poor.
Preserve my soul, for I am holy:
save thy servant, O my God, that trusteth in thee.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I have cried to thee all the day.
Give joy to the soul of thy servant,
for to thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul.
For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild:
and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer:
and attend to the voice of my petition.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Luke 5:27-32
Haydock New Testament

And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the custom-house, and he said to him:

Follow me.

And leaving all things, he rose up, and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans, and of others, that were at table with them. But the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying to his disciples:

Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees in like manner: but thine eat and drink?

And Jesus answering, said to them:

They who are in health need not the physician: but they that are sick. I came not to call the just, but sinners, to penance.

Haydock Commentary Isaias 58:9b-14
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 9. Finger, contemptuously, or threatening. S. Jer. — Some explain it of the ordaining sacred ministers, or taking another’s property.
• Ver. 10. Soul, effectually, and with love relieving the distressed. C.
• Ver. 11. Fail. Sept. Alex. adds, “and thy bones as a flower shall spring and grow fat, and shall inherit ages of ages.” S. Jerom says this is not in the best copies. H.
• Ver. 12. Generation. As the Jews did not comply with the condition, the Church falls heir to these promises.
• Ver. 13. Sabbath, doing no work, or refraining from the violation of festivals. — Delightful. We must not think the sabbath of the Lord a loss: (Amos viii. 5.) but rejoice in praising him. Ps. xlv. 11. C. — A word, or to apply to God’s word. Grot. — Pious reading on holidays is the duty of all who have an opportunity. H.
• Ver. 14. Earth. Judea. C. — Sept. “upon the good things of the land.” H.

Haydock Commentary Luke 5:27-32

• Ver. 28. The profane Julian charge S. Matthew with levity, in leaving all and following a stranger at one word. But hereby is seen the marvellous efficacy of Christ’s word and internal working, which in a moment can alter the heart of man, and cause him to despise what before was most near and dear to him. And this was done not only whilst Christ was living on earth, but daily in his Church. Thus S. Anthony, S. Francis, and others, hearing this word in the Church, forsook all and followed Jesus. S. Jer. in Matt. ix. S. Athan. in vita. S. Anton. August. Confess. l. viii. c. 11. Bonav. in vit. S. Francisci.
• Ver. 29. And Levi made him a great feast, to testify his gratitude to Jesus for the favour he had done him. It appears that both S. Mark and S. Luke affect, through consideration for S. Matthew, to designate him here by his less known name of Levi; whereas he designates himself, through humility, in this same circumstance, by his more known appellation of Matthew. See Matt. ix. 9. V.
• Ver. 31. Jesus Christ gives them here to understand, that they were of the number of those who languished under a severe indisposition, and that he was come to act as their Physician. S. Chrysos. hom. xxxi. in Matt.

Catena Aurea Luke 5:27-32
From Catechetics Online

• AUG. After the healing of the sick of the palsy, St. Luke goes on to mention the conversion of a publican, saying, And after these things, he went forth, and saw a publican of the name of Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom. This is Matthew, also called Levi.
• THEOPHYL; Now Luke and Mark, for the honor of the Evangelist, are silent as to his common name, but Matthew is the first to accuse himself, and gives the name of Matthew and publican, that no one might despair of salvation because of the enormity of his sins, when he himself was changed from a publican to an Apostle.
• CYRIL; For Levi had been a publican, a rapacious man, of unbridled desires after vain things, a lover of other men’s goods, for this is the character of the publican, but snatched from the very worship of malice by Christ’s call. Hence it follows, And he said to him, Follow me. He bids him follow Him, not with bodily step, but with the soul’s affections. Matthew therefore, being called by the Word, left his own, who was wont to seize the things of others, as it follows, And having left all, he rose, and followed him.
• CHRYS. Here mark both the power of the caller, and the obedience of him that was called. For he neither resisted nor wavered, but forthwith obeyed; and like the fishermen, he did not even wish to go into his own house that he might tell it to his friends.
• BASIL; He not only gave up the profits of the customs, but also despised the dangers which might occur to himself and his family from leaving the accounts of the receipts uncompleted.
• THEOPHYL. And so from him that received toll from the passers by, Christ received toll, not money, but entire devotion to His company.
• CHRYS. But the Lord honored Levi, whom He had called, by immediately going to his feast. For this testified the greater confidence in him. Hence it follows, And Levi made him a great feast in his own house. Nor did He sit down to meat with him alone, but with many, as it follows, And there was a great company of Publicans and others that sat down with them. For the publicans came to Levi as to their colleague, and a man in the same line with themselves, and he too glorying in the presence of Christ, called them all together. For Christ displayed every sort of remedy, and not only by discoursing and displaying cures, or even by rebuking the envious, but also by eating with them, He corrected the faults of some, thereby giving us a lesson, that every time and occasion brings with it its own profit. But He shunned not the company of Publicans, for the sake of the advantage that might ensue, like a physician, who unless he touch the afflicted part cannot cure the disease.
• AMBROSE; For by His eating with sinners, He prevents not us also from going to a banquet with the Gentiles.
• CHRYS. But nevertheless the Lord was blamed by the Pharisees, who were envious, and wished to separate Christ and His disciples, as it follows, And the Pharisees murmured, saying, Why do you eat with Publicans, &c.
• AMBROSE; This was the voice of the Devil. This was the first word the Serpent uttered to Eve, Yea has God said, You shall not eat. So they diffuse the poison of their father.
• AUG. Now St. Luke seems to have related this somewhat different from the other Evangelists. For he does not say that to our Lord alone it was objected that He eat and drank with publicans and sinners, but to the disciples also, that the charge might be understood both of Him and them. But the reason that Matthew and Mark related the objection as made concerning Christ to His disciples, was, that seeing the disciples ate with publicans and sinners, it was the rather objected to their Master as Him whom they followed and imitated; the meaning therefore is the same, vet so much the better conveyed, as while still keeping to the truth, it differs in certain words.
• CHRYS. But our Lord c refutes all their charges, showing, that so far from its being a fault to mix with sinners, it is but a part of His merciful design, as it follows, And Jesus answering said to them, They that are whole need not a physician; in which He reminds them of their common infirmities, and shows them that they are of the number of the sick, but adds, He is the Physician.
• It follows, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. As if He should say, So far am I from hating sinners, that for their sakes only I came, not that they should remain sinners, but be converted and become righteous.
• AUG. Hence He adds, to repentance, which serves well to explain the passage, that no one should suppose that sinners, because they are sinners, are loved by Christ, since that similitude of the sick plainly suggests what our Lord meant by calling sinners, as a Physician, the sick, in order that from iniquity as from sickness they should be saved.
• AMBROSE; But how does God love righteousness, and David has never seen the righteous man forsaken, if the righteous are excluded, the sinner called; unless you understand that at He meant by the righteous those who boast of the law, and seek not the grace of the Gospel. Now no one is justified by the law, but redeemed by grace. He therefore calls not those who call themselves righteous, for the claimers to righteousness are not called to grace. For if grace is from repentance, surely he who despises repentance renounces grace.
• AMBROSE; But He calls those sinners, who considering their guilt, and feeling that they cannot be justified by the law, submit themselves by repentance to the grace of Christ.
• CHRYS. Now He speaks of the righteous ironically, as when He says, Behold Adam is become as one of us. But that there was none righteous upon the earth St. Paul shows, saying, All have sinned, and need the grace of God.
• GREG. NYSS. Or, He means that the sound and righteous need no physician, i.e. the angels, but the corrupt and sinners, i. e. ourselves do; since we catch the disease of sin, which is not in heaven.
• THEOPHYL; Now by the election of Matthew is signified the faith of the Gentiles, who formerly gasped after worldly pleasures, but now refresh the body of Christ with zealous devotion.
• THEOPHYL. Or the publican is he who serves the prince of this world, and is debtor to the flesh, to which the glutton gives his food, the adulterer his pleasure, and another something else. But when the Lord saw him sitting at the receipt of custom, and not stirring himself to greater wickedness, He calls him that he might be snatched from the evil, and follow Jesus, and receive the Lord into the house of his soul.
• AMBROSE; But he who receives Christ into his inner chamber, is fed with the greatest delights of overflowing pleasures. The Lord therefore willingly enters, and reposes in his affection; but again the envy of the treacherous is kindled, and the form of their future punishment is prefigured; for while all the faithful are feasting in the kingdom of heaven, the faithless will be cast out hungry. Or, by this is denoted the envy of the Jews, who are afflicted at the salvation of the Gentiles.
• AMBROSE; At the same time also is shown the difference between those who are zealous for the law and those who are for grace, that they who follow the law shall suffer eternal hunger of soul, while they who have received the word into the inmost soul, refreshed with abundance of heavenly meat and drink, can neither hunger nor thirst. And so they who fasted in soul murmured.

Daily Bible Readings February 27 2009 Friday After Ash Wednesday

February 27 2009 Friday After Ash Wednesday
Saint of the Day – St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

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/022709.shtml

Isaiah 58:1-9a
Douay-Rheims Challoner

Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their wicked doings, and the house of Jacob their sins. For they seek me from day to day, and desire to know my ways, as a nation that hath done justice, and hath not forsaken the judgment of their God: they ask of me the judgments of justice: they are willing to approach to God.

Why have we fasted, and thou hast not regarded: have we humbled our souls, and thou hast not taken notice? Behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors. Behold you fast for debates and strife, and strike with the fist wickedly. Do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry to be heard on high. Is this such a fast as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day? is this it, to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden. Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.

Responsorial Psalm 50:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19 (Ps 51 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to thy great mercy.
And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies
blot out my iniquity.
Wash me yet more from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my iniquity,
and my sin is always before me.
To thee only have I sinned,
and have done evil before thee
For if thou hadst desired sacrifice,
I would indeed have given it:
with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.
A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit:
a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 9:14-15
Haydock New Testament

Then came to him the disciples of John, saying,

Why do we, and the Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples do not fast?

And Jesus said to them:

Can the children of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast.

Haydock Commentary Isaias 58:1-9a
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. Sins. During the captivity. v. 11. S. Thomas. — Some will not hear, and those must be rebuked with all patience, till they follow virtue. W.
• Ver. 2. Approach, and contend with God, scrutinizing his conduct, (Prov. xxv. 27.) and doing good for the sake of applause and self-interest.
• Ver. 3. Will. This alone suggested their fasts, and they did not shew compassion. Ezec. vii. 2. C. — Debtors, who are not able to pay. S. Jer. Deut. xxiv. 12.
• Ver. 4. Strife. The usual works were interrupted. The Church formerly forbade law-suits on fast-days. — Fist. Mat. xviii. 28. — Wickedly. Sept. “the humble.”
• Ver. 5. Circle. They affected extreme debility. Mat. vi. 16. C. — Ashes. These external marks of penance are not condemned, but the want of corresponding sentiments. H. — Prot. would hence infer that fasting from flesh is not requisite, or a religious worship. But S. Jerom shews the contrary, provided it be joined with the observance of other commandments, as the saints and Christ himself have shewn us. W.
• Ver. 6. Bands. Contracts of usury, &c. C.
• Ver. 7. Deal. Lit. “break.” H. — Thin cakes are still used in the East. — Flesh, or relation. Gen. xxvii. 27.
• Ver. 8. Light. Prosperity, (C.) or Saviour. H. — Mat. iv. 2. and John i. 8. C. — Health. Aquila, “the scar of thy wound shall soon be covered.” S. Jer. — Up. He shall close the rear, like the angel in the cloud. Ex. xiii. 21. and xiv. 19. He will grant thee rest from bondage in the grave and in heaven. C.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 9:14-15

• Ver. 14. Then came. When the Pharisees in the prior question had been discomfited. By S. Mark, (xi. 18,) we learn that the Pharisees joined with the disciples of the Baptist, and thus is reconciled what we read in S. Luke v. 33, who only mentions the Pharisees. V. — Why do we, and the Pharisees fast. It is not without reason that the disciples of S. John should ask this question, fasting being always esteemed a great virtue, witness Moses and Elias; the fasts which Samuel made the people observe in Masphat, the tears, prayers, and fasting of Ezechias, of Judith, of Achab, of the Niniites, of Anna, the wife of Eleana, of Daniel, of David, after he had fallen into the sin of adultery. Aaron, and the other priests, also fasted before they entered into the temple. Witness also the fasts of Anna, the prophetess, of S. John the Baptist, of Christ himself, of Cornelius the centurion, &c. &c. &c. St. Jerom. — This haughty interrogation of S. John’s disciples was highly blameable, not only for uniting with the Pharisees, whom they knew their master so much condemned, but also for calumniating him, who, they knew was foretold by John’s own testimony. S. Jerom. — S. Austin is likewise of opinion, that John’s disciples were not the only persons that said this, since S. Mark rather indicates that it was spoken by others. S. Thos. Aquin.
• Ver 15. Can the children of the bridegroom.[1] This, by a Hebraism, signifies the friends or companions of the bridegroom, as a lover of peace, is called a child of peace: he that deserves death, the son of death, &c. Wi. — the disciples had not yet ascended to the higher degrees of perfection, they had not yet been renewed in spirit; therefore they required to be treated with lenity; for had the higher and more sublime mysteries been delivered to them without previous preparation, they would never, not even in the natural course of things, have been able to comprehend them. I have many things to say to you, said our Saviour, but you cannot bear them now. S. John xvi. Thus did he condescend to their weakness. S. Chrys. hom. xxxi.

Catena Aurea Matthew 9:14-15

• Gloss., ap. Anselm: When He had replied to them respecting eating and converse with sinners, they next assault Him on the matter of food; “Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples fast not?”
• Jerome: O boastful enquiry and ostentation of fasting much to be blamed, nor can John’s disciples be excused for their taking part with the Pharisees who they knew had been condemned by John, and for bringing a false accusation against Him whom they knew their master had preached.
• Chrys.: What they say come to this, Be it that you do this as Physician of souls, but why do your disciples neglect fasting and approach such tables? And to augment the weight of their charge by comparison, they put themselves first, and then the Pharisees. They fasted as they learnt out of the Law, as the Pharisee spoke, “I fast twice in the week;” [Luk_18:12] the others learnt it of John.
• Rabanus: For John drank neither wine, nor strong drink, increasing his merit by abstinence, because he had no power over nature. But the Lord who has power to forgive sins, why should He shun sinners that eat, since He has power to make them more righteous than those that cannot? Yet doth Christ fast, that you should not avoid the command; but He eats with sinners that you may know His grace and power.
• Aug.: Through Matthew mentions only the disciples of John as having made this enquiry, the words of Mark rather seem to imply that some other persons spoke of others, that is, the guests spoke concerning the disciples of John and the Pharisees – this is still more evident from Luke [ref. Luk_5:33]; why then does Matthew here say, “Then came unto him the disciples of John,” unless that they were there among other guests, all of whom with one consent put this objection to Him?
• Chrys.: Or; Luke relates that the Pharisees, but Matthew that the disciples of John, said thus, because the Pharisees had taken them with them to ask the question, as they afterwards did the Herodians. Observe how when strangers, as before the Publicans, were to be defended, He accuses heavily those that blamed them; but when they brought a charge against His disciples, He makes answer with mildness. “And Jesus saith unto them, Can the children of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” Before He had styled Himself Physician, now Bridegroom, calling to mind the words of John which he had said, “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom.” [Joh_3:29]
• Jerome: Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church the Bride. Of this spiritual union the Apostles were born; they cannot mourn so long as they see the Bridegroom in the chamber with the Bride. But when the nuptials are past, and the time of passion and resurrection is come, then shall the children of the Bridegroom fast.
• “The days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.”
• Chrys.: He means thus; The present is a time of joy and rejoicing; sorrow is therefore not to be now brought forward; and fasting is naturally grievous, and to all those that are yet weak; for to those that seek to contemplate wisdom, it is pleasant; He therefore speaks here according to the former opinion. He also shews that this they did was not of gluttony, but of a certain dispensation.
• Jerome: Hence some think that a fast ought to follow the forty days of Passion, although the day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit immediately bring back our joy and festival. From this text accordingly, Montanus, Prisca, and Maximilla enjoin a forty days abstinence after Pentecost, but it is the use of the Church to come to the Lord’s passion and resurrection through humiliation of the flesh, that by carnal abstinence we may better be prepared for spiritual fulness.

Daily Bible Readings February 26 2009 Thursday After Ash Wednesday

February 26 2009 Thursday After Ash Wednesday
Saint of the Day – St. Porphyry of Gaza

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/022609.shtml

Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Douay-Rheims Challoner

Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil: That thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and keep his commandments and ceremonies and judgments, and bless thee in the land, which thou shalt go in to possess. But if thy heart be turned away, so that thou wilt not hear, and being deceived with error thou adore strange gods, and serve them: I foretell thee this day that thou shalt perish, and shalt remain but a short time in the land, to which thou shalt pass over the Jordan, and shalt go in to possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live: And that thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and obey his voice, and adhere to him (for he is thy life, and the length of thy days,) that thou mayst dwell in the land, for which the Lord swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give it them.

Responsorial Psalm 1:1-6
DR Challoner Text Only

Blessed is the man
who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stood in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the chair of pestilence:
But his will is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he shall meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree
which is planted near the running waters,
which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season.
And his leaf shall not fall off:
and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.
Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust,
which the wind driveth from the face of the earth.
Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment:
nor sinners in the council of the just.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the just:
and the way of the wicked shall perish.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Luke 9:22-25
Haydock New Testament

But he strictly charging them, commanded they should tell this to no man, Saying:

The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients, and chief priests, and Scribes, and be killed, and rise again the third day.

And he said to all:

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it. For what doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, and cast away himself?

Haydock Commentary Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 15. Evil. Obedience will insure eternal life: but if thou give the preference to evil, the second death must be thy portion, v. 19. H. Eccli. xv. 17. M. — It may also refer to the goods and evils of the present life, of which Moses has been speaking. C.
• Ver. 19. I call. He begins his canticle in the same emphatical manner, (C. xxii.) as Isaias does his prophecy. H.
• Ver. 20. He is. From God all advantages are derived. We may render the Heb. with the Sept. “Because this is thy life (C.)…to dwell,” &c. By observing the law of God, long life and possession of the promised land can be alone attained. H.

Haydock Commentary Luke 9:22-25

• Nothing here. See next.

Catena Aurea Luke 9:22-25
From Catechetics Online

• AMBROSE; But our Lord Jesus Christ was as at first unwilling to be preached, lest an uproar should arise; as it follows, And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man any thing. For many reasons He commands His disciples to be silent; to deceive the prince of this world, to reject boasting, to teach humility. Christ then would not boast, and cost you boast who are of ignoble birth? Likewise He did it to prevent rude and as yet imperfect disciples from being oppressed with the wonder of this awful announcement. They are then forbid to preach Him as the Son of God, that they might afterwards preach Him crucified.
• CHRYS. Timely also was our Lord’s command that no one should tell that He was Christ, in order that when offenses should be taken away and the sufferings of the cross completed, a proper opinion of Him might be firmly rooted in the minds of the hearers. For that which has once taken root and afterwards been torn up, when fresh planted will scarcely ever be preserved. But that which when once planted continues undisturbed, grows up securely. For if Peter was offended merely by what he heard, what would be the feelings of those many who, after they had heard that He was the Son of God, saw Him crucified, and spit upon?
• CYRIL; It was the duty then of the disciples to preach Him throughout the world. For this was the work of those who were chosen by Him to the office of the Apostleship. But as holy Scripture bears witness, There is a time for every thing. For it was fitting that the cross and resurrection should be accomplished, an d then should follow the preaching of the Apostles; as it is spoken, saying, The Son of man must needs suffer many things.
• AMBROSE; Perhaps because the Lord knew that the disciples would believe even the difficult mystery of the Passion and Resurrection, He wished to be Himself the proclaimer of His own Passion and Resurrection.
• CYRIL; Great and noble leaders provoke the mighty in arms to deeds of velour, not only by promising them the honors of victory, but by declaring that suffering is in itself glorious. Such we see is the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. For He had foretold to His disciples, that He must needs suffer the accusations of the Jews, be slain, and rise again on the third day. Lest then they should think that Christ indeed was to suffer persecution for the life of the world, but that they might lead a soft life, He shows them that they must needs pass through similar struggles, if they desired to obtain His glory. Hence it is said, And he said to all.
• THEOPHYL; He rightly addressed Himself to all, since He treats of the higher things (which relate to the belief in His birth and passion) apart with His disciples.
• CHRYS. Now the Savior of His great mercy and loving kindness will have no one serve Him unwillingly and from constraint, but those only who come of their own accord, and are grateful for being allowed to serve Him. And so not by compelling men and putting a yoke upon them, but by persuasion and kindness, He draws to Him every where those who are willing, saying, If any man will, &c.
• BASIL; But He has left His own life for an example of blameless conversation to those who are willing to obey Him; as He says, Come after me, meaning thereby not a following of His body, for that would be impossible to all, since our Lord is in heaven, but a due imitation of His life according to their capacities.
• THEOPHYL; Now unless a man renounces himself, he comes not near to Him, who is above him; it is said therefore, Let him deny himself.
• BASIL; A denial of one’s self is indeed a total forgetfulness of things past, and a forsaking of his own will ill anti affection
• ORIGEN; A man also denies himself when by a sufficient alteration of manners or a good conversation he changes a life of habitual wickedness. He who has long lived in lasciviousness, abandons his lustful self when he becomes chaste, and in like manner a forsaking of any crimes is a denial of one’s self.
• BASIL; Now a desire of suffering death for Christ and a mortification of one’s members which are upon the earth, end a manful resolution to undergo any danger for Christ, and an indifference towards the present life, this it is to take up one’s cross. Hence it is added, And let him take up his cross daily.
• THEOPHYL. By the cross, He speaks of an ignominious death, meaning, that if any one will follow Christ, he must not for his own sake flee from even an ignominious death.
• GREG. In two ways also is the cross taken up, either when the body is afflicted through abstinence, or the mind touched by sympathy.
• GREEK EX. He rightly joins these two, Let him deny himself, and let him take up his cross, for as he who is prepared to ascend the cross conceives in his mind the intention of death, and so goes on thinking to have no more part in this life, so he who is willing to follow our Lord, ought first to deny himself, and so take up his cross, that his will may be ready to endure every calamity.
• BASIL; Herein then stands a man’s perfection, that he should have his affections hardened, even towards life itself, and have ever about him the answer of death, that he should by no means trust in himself. But perfection takes its beginning from the relinquishment of things foreign to it; suppose these to be possessions or vain-glory, or affection for things that profit not.
• THEOPHYL; We are bid then to take up the cross of which we have above spoken, and having taken it, to follow our Lord who bore His own cross. Hence it follows, And let him follow me.
• ORIGEN; He assigns the cause of this when He adds, For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; that is, whosoever will according to the present life keep his own soul fixed on things of sense, the same shall lose it, never reaching to the bounds of happiness. But on the other hand He adds, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it. That is, whosoever forsakes the things of sense looking upon truth, and exposes himself to death, as it were losing his life for Christ, shall the rather save it. If then it is a blessed thing to save our life, (with regard to that safety which is in God,) there must be also a certain good surrender of life which is made by looking upon Christ. It seems also to me from resemblance to that denying of one’s self which has been before spoken of, that it becomes us to lose a certain sinful life of ours, to take up that which is saved by virtue.
• CYRIL; But that incomparable exercise of the passion of Christ, which surpasses the delights and precious things of the world, is alluded to when he adds, What is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or be a cast away? As if he says, When a man, through his looking after the present delights, gains pleasure, and refuses indeed to suffer, but chooses to live splendidly in his riches, what advantage will he get then, when he has lost his soul? For the fashion of this world passes away, and pleasant things depart as a shadow. For the treasures of ungodliness shall not profit, but righteousness snatches a man from death.
• GREG. Since then the holy Church has one time of persecution, another time of peace, our Lord has noticed both times in His command to us. For at the time of persecution we must lay down our soul, that is our life, which He signified, saying, Whosoever shall lose his life. But in time of peace, those things which have the greatest power to subdue us, our earthly desires, must be vanquished; which He signified, saying, What does it profit a man, &c. Now we commonly despise all fleeting things, but still we are so checked by that feeling of shame so common to man, that we are yet unable to express in words the uprightness which we preserve in our hearts.

Daily Bible Readings Ash Wednesday February 25 2009

February 25 2009 Ash Wednesday
Go get your ashes…

About the sources used. The readings on this site are not official for 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/readings/022509.shtml

Joel 2:12-18
Douay-Rheims Challoner

Now, therefore, saith the Lord. Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and mourning.
And rend your hearts, and not your garments and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil. Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God?
Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, Gather together the people, sanctify the church, assemble the ancients, gather together the little ones, and them that suck at the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride out of her bridal chamber. Between the porch and the altar the priests, the Lord’s ministers, shall weep, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people: and give not thy inheritance to reproach, that the heathens should rule over them. Why should they say among the nations: Where is their God? The Lord hath been zealous for his land, and hath spared his people.

Responsorial Psalm 50 LXX/Vulgate 51 Hebrew
Douay-Rheims Challoner – Full Psalm, no Comments

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy.
And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.
Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.
To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee:
that thou mayst be justified in thy words,
and mayst overcome when thou art judged.
For behold I was conceived in iniquities;
and in sins did my mother conceive me.
For behold thou hast loved truth:
the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom
thou hast made manifest to me.
Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed:
thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.
To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness:
and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.
Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Create a clean heart in me, O God:
and renew a right spirit within my bowels.
Cast me not away from thy face;
and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,
and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.
I will teach the unjust thy ways:
and the wicked shall be converted to thee.
Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation:
and my tongue shall extol thy justice.
O Lord, thou wilt open my lips:
and my mouth shall declare thy praise.
For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it:
with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.
A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit:
a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion;
that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.
Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice,
oblations and whole burnt offerings:
then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.

2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
Haydock NT

We are, therefore, ambassadors for Christ, God as it were exhorting by us. For Christ, we beseech you, be ye reconciled to God. Him, who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in him.
And we helping, do exhort you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain. For he saith:

In an accepted time have I heard thee: and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time: behold, now is the day of salvation.

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Haydock NT – Catena Aurea Available for this Gospel reading Click Here

Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall have no reward of your Father, who is in heaven. Therefore when thou dost an alms-deed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, and in the streets, that they may be honoured by men. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth: That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father, who seeth in secret will repay thee. And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues, and at the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father, who seeth in secret, will reward thee.

And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear fasting to men. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face, That thou appear not fasting to men, but to thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will repay thee.

Haydock Commentary Joel 2:12-18

• Ver. 12. Mourning. For moving the heart to repentance these external works are requisite, at least in will: if they be wilfully omitted, it is a sure sign that the heart is not moved. S. Jerome. W.
• Ver. 13. Garments, as was customary in great distress. God will not be satisfied with mere external proofs of repentance. C.—Evil. He will forego his threats if we do penance. S. Jer.—He punishes unwillingly. Is. xxviii. 21.
• Ver. 14. Who knoweth. Confidence in God and repentance must accompany prayer.—Blessing; plentiful crops, so that the usual sacrifices may be performed again. C. i. 9.
• Ver. 15. Trumpet. Thus were festivals announced. Num. x. 7.
• Ver. 16. Sanctify. Let all make themselves ready to appear.—Ones. Their cries would make an impression on men, and prevail on God to shew mercy. Judith. iv. 9.
• Ver. 17. Altar of holocausts. They turned towards the holy place, lying prostrate. 1 Esd. x. 1. and 2 Mac. x. 26. C.—Hither the victim of expiation was brought, and the high priest confessed. Maimon.—Over them, as they might easily have done during the famine. C.
• Ver. 18. Zealous. Indignation is excited when a person perceives any thing contemned which he loves. So God resented the injuries done maliciously by the Gentiles otwards his people; though he often punished them for their correction or greater merit. W.—He will resent the blasphemies uttered by infidels against his holy name, and will restore fertility to the land. C.

Haydock Commentary 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2

• Ver. 20. Be not deaf to this voice, harden not your hearts, suffer yourselves to be moved to the charity of God: it is immense, it is infinite. V.
• Ver. 21. Him (Christ) who knew no sin, (who had never sinned, nor was capable of sinning) he (God) hath made sin for us. I had translated, with some French translators, he hath made a sacrifice for sin, as it is expounded by S. Augustin and many others, and grounded upon the authority of the Scriptures, in which the sacrifices for sins are divers times called sins, as Osee (Hosea) iv. 8. and in several places in Leviticus, by the Hebrew word Chattal, which signifies a sin, and is translated a victim for sin. But as this is not the only interpretation, and that my design is always a literal translation of the text, not a paraphrase, upon second thoughts I judged it better to follow the very words of the Greek, as well as of the Latin text. For besides the exposition already mentioned, others expound these words, him he hath made sin for us, to signify that he made Christ like unto sinners, a mortal man, with the similitude of sin. Others that he made him reputed a sinner; with the wicked was he reputed; (Mar. xv. 28) God having laid upon him all our iniquities. Isaiah liii. 6.—That we might be made the justice of God in him; that is, that we might be justified and sanctified by God’s sanctifying grace, and the justice we receive from him. Wi.—Sin for us. That is, to be a sin-offering, a victim for sin. Ch.
• Ver. 1. We helping, or in the Greek, working together, that is, with God, as employed by him, or as his ministers, and ambassadors, we exhort you not to receive the grace of God in vain, by resisting his interior graces, by an idle, or a wicked life. Wi.
• Ver. 2. Now is the day of salvation, by the coming of your Redeemer. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

• Ver. 1. Your justice; in the common Greek copies, your alms, which seems to be the sense in this place. Wi.—Hereby it is plain that good works are justice, and that man doing them doth justice, and is thereby just and justified, and not by faith only. All which justice of a Christian man, our Saviour here compriseth in the three eminent good works, alms deeds, prayer and fasting. Aug. l. perf. just. c. viii. So that to give alms is to do justice, and the works of mercy are justice. Aug. in ps. xlix, v. 5. B.—S. Gregory says, that the man who by his virtuous actions would gain the applause of men, quite at an easy rate a treasure of immense value; for, with what he might purchase the kingdom of heaven, he only seeks to acquire the transitory applause of mortals. This precept of Christ, says S. Chrysostom, beautifully evinces the solicitude and unspeakable goodness of God, lest we should have the labour of performing good works, and on account of evil motives be deprived of our reward. Hom. xix. “Shut up alms in the heart of the poor.” Eccles. xxix. 15.
• Ver. 2. This must be understood figuratively, that we must avoid all ostentation in the performance of our good works. Many respectable authors are of opinion, that it was customary with the Pharisees and other hypocrites, to assemble the poor they designed to relieve by sound of trumpet. M.—Let us avoid vain glory, the agreeable plunderer of our good works, the pleasant enemy of our souls, which presents its poison to us under the appearance of honey. S. Bas.
• Ver. 3. Be content to have God for witness to your good works, who alone has power to reward you for them. They will be disclosed soon enough to man, when at the day of general retribution the good and the evil will be brought to light, and every one shall be rewarded according to his works. A.
• Ver. 4. This repaying or rewarding of good works, so often mentioned here by Jesus Christ, clearly evinces that good works are meritorious, and that we may do them with a view to a reward, as David did, propter retributionem. A.
• Ver. 5. Hypocrisy is forbidden in all these three good works of justice, but not the doing of them openly for the glory of God, the edification of our neighbour, and our own salvation. Let your light so shine before men, i.e. let your work be so done in public, that the intention remain in secret. S. Greg.
• Ver. 6. Because he who should pray in his chamber, and at the same time desire it to be known by men, that he might thence receive vain glory, might truly be said to pray in the street, and sound a trumpet before him: whilst he, who though he pray in public, seeks not thence any vain glory, acts the same as if he prayed in his chamber. M.—Jesus Christ went up to the temple, to attend public worship on the festival days.
• Ver. 16. He condemns not public fasts as prescribed to the people of God, (Jud. xx. 26. 2 Esdras ix. Joel ii. 15. John iii.) but fasting through vain glory, and for the esteem of men. B.
• Ver. 17. The forty days’ fast, my dear brethren, is not an observance peculiar to ourselves; it is kept by all who unite with us in the profession of the same faith. Nor is it without reason that the fast of Christ should be an observance common to all Christians. What is more reasonable, than that the different members should follow the example of the head. If we have been made partakers with him of good, why not also of evil. Is it generous to exempt ourselves from every thing that is painful, and with to partake with him in all that is agreeable? With such dispositions, we are members unworthy of such a head….. Is it much for us to fast with Christ, who expect to sit at the table of his Father with him? Is it much for the members to suffer with the head, when we expect to be made one day partakers with him glory? Happy the man who shall imitate such a Master. He shall accompany him whithersoever he goes. S. Bern. Serm, in Quad.—Wherefore, my dear brethren, if the taste only has caused us to offend God, let the taste only fast, and it will be enough. But if the other members also have sinned, let them also fast. Let the eye fast, if it has been the cause of sin to the soul; let the ear fast, the tongue, the hand, and the soul itself. Let the eye fast from beholding objects, which are only calculated to excite curiosity and vanity; that being now humbled, it may be restrained to repentance, which before wandered in guilt. Let the ear fast from listening to idle stories and words that have no reference to salvation. Let the tongue fast from detraction and murmuring, from unprofitable and sacrilegious discourse; sometimes also, out of respect to holy silence, from speaking what appears necessary and profitable. Let the hand also fast from useless works, and from every action that is not commanded. But above all, let the soul fast from sin and the doing of its own will. Without these fasts, all others will not be accepted by the Lord. S. Bern. Serm. 2. de Jejun. Quad.—Fast from what is in itself lawful, that you may receive pardon for what you have formerly done amiss. Redeem an eternal fast by a short and transitory one. For we have deserved hell fire, where there will be no food, no consolation, no end; where the rich man begs for a drop of water, and is not worthy to receive it. A truly good and salutary fast, the observance of which frees us from eternal punishment, by obtaining for us in this life the remission of our sins. Nor is it only the remission of former transgressions, but likfewise a preservative against future sin, by meriting for us grace to enable us to avoid those faults we might otherwise have committed. I will add another advantage, which results from fasting, one which I hope I am not deceived in saying you have frequently experienced. It gives devotion and confidence to prayer. Observe how closely prayer and fasting are connected. Prayer gives us power to fast, fasting enables us to pray. Fasting gives strength to our prayer, prayer sanctifies our fast, and renders it worthy of acceptance before the Lord. S. Bern. Serm. de Orat. & Jejun (last word unintelligible – I guessed)

Daily Bible Readings Tuesday February 24 2009 Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

February 24 2009 Tuesday Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day – Blessed Luke Belludi

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/022409.shtml

Sirach or Ecclesiasticus 2:1-11
Douay-Rheims Challoner

Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation. Humble thy heart, and endure: incline thy ear, and receive the words of understanding: and make not haste in the time of clouds. Wait on God with patience: join thyself to God, and endure, that thy life may be increased in the latter end.

Take all that shall be brought upon thee: and in thy sorrow endure, and in thy humiliation keep patience. For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. Believe God, and he will recover thee: and direct thy way, and trust in him. Keep his fear, and grow old therein.

Ye that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy: and go not aside from him lest ye fall. Ye that fear the Lord, believe him: and your reward shall not be made void. Ye that fear the Lord hope in him, and mercy shall come to you for your delight. Ye that fear the Lord, love him, and your hearts shall be enlightened.

My children behold the generations of men: and know ye that no one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded.

Responsorial Psalm 36:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40 (Ps 37 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Trust in the Lord, and do good, and dwell in the land,
and thou shalt be fed with its riches.
Delight in the Lord,
and he will give thee the requests of thy heart.
The Lord knoweth the days of the undefiled;
and their inheritance shall be for ever.
They shall not be confounded in the evil time;
and in the days of famine they shall be filled:
Decline from evil and do good,
and dwell for ever and ever.
For the Lord loveth judgment,
and will not forsake his saints:
they shall be preserved for ever.
The unjust shall be punished,
and the seed of the wicked shall perish.
But the salvation of the just is from the Lord,
and he is their protector in the time of trouble.
And the Lord will help them and deliver them:
and he will rescue them from the wicked,
and save them because they have hoped in him.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 9:30-37 (29-36 Haydock/DR)
Haydock New Testament

And departing from thence, they passed through Galilee, and he would not that any man should know it. And he taught his disciples, and said to them:

The Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise again the third day.

But they understood not the word: and they were afraid to ask him. And they came to Capharnaum. And when they were in the house, he asked them:

What did you treat of in the way?

But they held their peace: for in the way they had disputed among themselves, which of them should be the greatest. And sitting down, he called the twelve, and saith to them:

If any man desire to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the servant of all.

And taking a child, he set him in the midst of the them: and when he had embraced him, he saith to them:

Whosoever shall receive one such child as this in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

Haydock Commentary Sirach Ecclesiasticus 2:1-11
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. God. All must be tried. Tob. xii. 13. Heb. xii. 6. Lu. xxiv. 46. But God will grant sufficient grace. 1 Cor. x. 13. C.
• Ver. 2. Humble. Gr. “regulate thy heart, and endure, and make not haste in the time of trouble,” (H.) inflicted by God. Grot. — But not impatient. Is. xxviii. 16. — Clouds. Lit. “overcast,” obductionis. H. — Desire not death, in order to be covered from the miseries of life; for that would (W.) border on despair. H.
• Ver. 3. Patience. Or expectation of being relieved. M.
• Ver. 5. Humiliation. It shews what they really are. C.
• Ver. 10. Enlightened. With joy. Is. lviii. M. — This verse is not in Greek. To avoid such frequent repetitions, it would be well to mark the passage in different characters, (H.) or between crotchets, as in the French version. C. — Yet the Greek editions are not uniform. See Drusius and Hæschel.

Haydock Commentary Mark 9:29-36

• Ver. 31. They could not comprehend what he said; and this not so much through the dulness and stupidity of their understandings, as through their personal affection to him; and because knowing him to be God, they could not conceive how a God could die. Nic. de Lyra.

Catena Aurea Mark 9:30-37
From Catechetics Online

• Theophylact: It is after miracles that the Lord inserts a discourse concerning His Passion, lest it should be thought that He suffered because He could not help it.
• Wherefore it is said, “And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and He would not that any man should know it. For He taught His disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him.”
• Bede, in Marc., 1, 39: He always mingles together sorrowful and joyful things, that sorrow should not by its suddenness frighten the Apostles, but be borne by them with prepared minds.
• Theophylact: After, however, saying what was sorrowful, He adds what ought to rejoice them; wherefore it goes on: “And after that He is killed, He shall rise the third day;” in order that we may learn that joys come on after struggles. There follows: “But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask Him.”
• Bede: This ignorance of the disciples proceeds not so much from slowness of intellect, as from love for the Saviour, for they were as yet carnal, and ignorant of the mystery of the cross, they could not therefore believe that He whom they had recognized as the true God, was about to die; being accustomed then to hear Him often talk in figures, and shrinking from the events of His death, they would have it that something was conveyed figuratively in those things, which He spoke openly concerning His betrayal and passion. It goes on: “And they came to Capernaum.”
• Pseudo-Jerome: Capernaum means the city of consolation, and agrees with the former sentence, which He had spoken: “And after that He is killed, He shall arise the third day.”
• There follows: “And being in the house He asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace.”
• Pseudo-Chrys., Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: Matthew however says that the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” [Mat_18:1]
• The reason is, that He did not begin the narrative from its commencement, but omitted our Saviour’s knowledge of the thoughts and words of His disciples; unless we understand Him to mean, that even what they thought and said, when away from Christ, was said unto Him, since it was as well known to Him as if it had been said to Him.
• It goes on: “For by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.” But Luke says [ed. note: Luk_9:46, Vulgate] that “the thought entered into the disciples which of them should be the greatest;” for the Lord laid open their thought and intention from their private discourse according to the Gospel narrative.
• Pseudo-Jerome: It was fit also that they should dispute concerning the chief place by the way; the dispute is like the place where it is held; for lofty station is only entered upon to be quitted: as long as a man keeps it, it is slippery, and it is uncertain at what stage, that is, on what day, it will end.
• Bede: The reason why the dispute concerning the chief place arose amongst the disciples seems to have been, that Peter, James and John, were led apart from the rest into the mountain, and that something secret was there entrusted to them, also that the keys of the kingdom of heaven were promised to Peter, according to Matthew.
• Seeing however the thoughts of the disciples, the Lord takes care to heal the desire of glory by humility; for He first, by simply commanding humility, admonishes them that a high station was not to be aimed at.
• Wherefore it goes on: “And He sat down, and called the twelve and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.”
• Jerome: Where it is to be observed, that the disciples disputed by the way concerning the chief place, but Christ Himself sat down to teach humility; for princes toil while the humble repose.
• Pseudo-Chrys., Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: The disciples indeed wished to receive honour at the hands of the Lord; they also had a desire to be made great by Christ, for the great a man is, the more worthy of honour he becomes, for which reason He did not throw an obstacle in the way of that desire, but brought in humility.
• Theophylact: For His wish is not that we should usurp for ourselves chief places, but that we should attain to lofty heights by lowliness. He next admonishes them by the example of a child’s innocence. Wherefore there follows, “And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them.”
• Chrys., Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc. see Chrys., Hom. in Matt., 58: By the very sight, persuading them to humility and simplicity; for this little one was pure from envy and vain glory, and from a desire of superiority. But He does not only say, If ye become such, ye shall receive a great reward, but also, if ye will honour others, who are such for My sake.
• Wherefore there follows: “And when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in My name, receiveth Me.”
• Bede: By which, He either simply shews that those who would become greater must receive the poor of Christ in honour of Him, or He would persuade them to be in malice children, to keep simplicity without arrogance, charity without envy, devotedness without anger. Again, by taking the child into His arms, He implies that the lowly are worthy of his embrace and love.
• He adds also, “In My name,” that they might, with the fixed purpose of reason, follow for His name’s sake that mould of virtue to which the child keeps, with nature for his guide. And because He taught that He Himself was received in children, lest it should be thought that there was nothing in Him but what was seen, He added, “And whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me.;” thus wishing that we should believe Him to be of the same nature and of equal greatness with His Father.
• Theophylact: See, how great is humility, for it wins for itself the indwelling of the Father, and of the Son, and also of the Holy Ghost.