Daily Bible Readings Thursday February 5 2009 Memorial of St Agatha Virgin and Martyr

February 5 2009 Thursday Memorial of Saint Agatha, virgin and martyr
Saint of the Day – St Agatha

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/020509.shtml

Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24
Haydock New Testament

For you are not come to a mountain that might be touched, and a burning fire, and a whirlwind, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they that heard excused themselves, that the word might not be spoken to them. And so terrible was that which was seen, Moses said:

“I am frightened, and tremble.”

But you are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of Angels, And to the church of the first-born, who are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, And to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testament, and to the sprinkling of blood, which speaketh better than that of Abel.

Responsorial Psalm 47:2-4, 9-11 (Ps 48 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Great is the Lord,
and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God,
in his holy mountain.
With the joy of the whole earth is mount Sion founded,
on the sides of the north, the city of the great king.
In her houses shall God be known,
when he shall protect her.
As we have heard, so have we seen,
in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God:
God hath founded it for ever.
We have received thy mercy,
O God, in the midst of thy temple.
According to thy name, O God,
so also is thy praise unto the ends of the earth:
thy right hand is full of justice.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 6:7-13
Haydock New Testament

And he called the twelve; and began to send them two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. And he commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, but a staff only: no scrip, no bread, nor money in their purse, But to be shod with sandals, and that they should not put on two coats. And he said to them:

Wheresoever you shall enter into a house, there abide till you depart from that place. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, going forth from thence, shake off the dust from your feet for a testimony to them.

And going forth they preached that they should do penance: And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them:

Haydock Commentary Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 18. For you are not come to a mountain,[7] &c. That is, to a mountain on earth that can be touched; to wit, to Mount Sinai, where the law was given to Moses, where the mountain seemed all on fire, with dreadful thunder and lightning, whirlwinds, darkness, tempests, sounding of trumpets, voices, &c. which they who heard excused themselves, begging that Moses only, and not God, might speak to them, for they could not without exceeding consternation think of what was then said; that if any man, or even beast, should touch the mountain, he should be stoned to death. Ex. xix. 15. Nay Moses himself, trembling, was frightened. This particular is nowhere mentioned in the Scripture, but the apostle might know it by revelation, or by some tradition among the Jews. Wi.
• Ver. 22. But you are come to Mount Sion, where not a law of fear, like that of Moses, but a new law of love and mercy hath been given you, preached by our Saviour himself, and by his apostles, testified by the coming of the Holy Ghost, and by the effusion of God’s spirit upon the believers. Here you are called to the city of the living God, (to the Christian Church on earth) and even to the celestial Jerusalem, there to be for ever happy in the company of may millions of Angels; to the church of the first-born, who are written in heaven, (v. 23.) to be happy with those who have been chosen by a special mercy of God, and blessed with an endless happiness; to be there in the presence of God, the judge of all men, with all the celestial spirits and souls of the just and perfect in the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ is the mediator of this new testament, the redeemer of mankind by his death on the cross, by the sprinkling and effusion of his blood, which speaketh better than that of Abel: the blood of Abel cried to heaven for vengeance, and the blood of Christ for mercy and pardon. Wi.

Haydock Commentary Mark 6:7-13

• Ver. 13. It was usual for the Jews to prescribe oil as a proper thing to anoint the sick; but its virtue in the present instance, when used by the apostles, was not natural but supernatural, and was derived from him who sent them; because this unction always produced a certain and constant cure in those who were anointed. This miraculous gift of healing the sick with oil, which Christ conferred on his apostles, was a prelude or gradual preparation to the dignity to which he raised this unction, when he established it a perpetual rite in his holy Church. Rutter. — With oil, &c. This anointing the sick, was at least a figure of the sacrament, which Christ was pleased to institute for the spiritual relief of persons in danger of death: and which is fully expressed by S. James, in his Catholic Epistle. C. vi. The Council of Trent says this sacrament was instituted in S. Mark, and published in the Epistle of S. James. Trid. sess. xiv. c. 1. Wi.

Catena Aurea Mark 6:7-13
From Catechetics Online

• Theophylact: Again He sends the Apostles two and two that they might become more active; for, as says the Preacher, “Two are better than one.” [Ecc_4:9] But if He had sent more than two, there would not have been a sufficient number to allow of their being sent to many villages.
• Greg., Hom. in Evan., 17: Further, the Lord sent the disciples to preach, two and two, because there are two precepts of charity, namely, the love of God, and of our neighbour; and charity cannot be between less than two; by this therefore He implies to us, that he who has not charity towards his neighbour, ought in no way to take upon himself the office of preaching. There follows: “And He commanded them, that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: but be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.”
• Bede: For such should be the preacher’s trust in God, that, though he takes no thought for supplying his own wants in this present world, yet he should feel most certain that these will not be left unsatisfied, lest whilst his mind is taken up with temporal things, he should provide less of eternal things to others.
• Pseudo-Chrys., Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: The Lord also gives them this command, that they might shew by their mode of life, how far removed they were from the desire of riches.
• Theophylact: Instructing them also by this means not to be fond of receiving gifts, in order too that those, who saw them proclaim poverty, might be reconciled to it, when they saw that the Apostles themselves possessed nothing.
• Augustine, de Con. Evan., 2, 30: Or else; according to Matthew, the Lord immediately subjoined, “The workman is worthy of his meat,” [Mat_10:19] which sufficiently proves why He forbade their carrying or possessing such things; not because they were not necessary, but because He sent them in such a way as to shew, that they were due to them from the faithful, to whom they preached the Gospel.
• From this it is evident that the Lord did not mean by this precept that the Evangelists ought to live only on the gifts of those to whom they preach the Gospel, else the Apostle transgressed this precept when he procured his livelihood by the labour of his own hands, but He meant that He had given them a power, in virtue of which, they might be assured these things were due to them.
• It is also often asked, how it comes that Matthew and Luke have related that the Lord commanded His disciples not to carry even a staff, whilst Mark says, “And He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only.” Which question is solved, by supposing that the word ’staff’ has a meaning in Mark, who says that it ought to be carried, different from that which it bears in Matthew and Luke, who affirm the contrary. For in a concise way one might say, Take none of the necessaries of life with you, nay, not a staff, save a staff only; so that the saying, nay not a staff, may mean, nay not the smallest thing; but that which is added, “save a staff only,” may mean that, through the power received by them from the Lord, of which a rod is the ensign, nothing, even of those things which they do not carry, will be wanting to them.
• The Lord, therefore, said both, but because one Evangelist has not given both, men suppose, that he who has said that the staff, in one sense, should be taken, is contrary to him who again has declared, that, in another sense, it should be left behind: now however that a reason has been given, let no one think so.
• So also when Matthew declares that shoes are not to be worn on the journey, he forbids anxiety about them, for the reason why men are anxious about carrying them, is that they may not be without them. This is also to be understood of the two coats, that no man should be troubled about having only that with which he is clad from anxiety lest he should need another, when he could always obtain one from the power given by the Lord.
• In like manner Mark, by saying that they are to be shod with sandals or soles, warns us that this mode of protecting the feet has a mystical signification, that the foot should neither be covered above nor be naked on the ground, that is, that the Gospel should neither be hid, nor rest upon earthly comforts; and in that He forbids their possessing or taking with them, or more expressly their wearing, two coats, He bids them walk simply, not with duplicity. But whosoever thinks that the Lord could not in the same discourse say some things figuratively, others in a literal sense, let him look into His other discourses, and he shall see, how rash and ignorant is his judgment.
• Bede: Again, by the two tunics He seems to me to mean two sets of clothes; not that in places like Scythia, covered with the ice and snow, a man should be content with only one garment, but by coat, I think a suit of clothing is implied, that being clad with one, we should not keep another through anxiety as to what may happen.
• Pseudo-Chrys.: Or else, Matthew and Luke neither allow shoes nor [p. 111] staff, which is meant to point out the highest perfection. But Mark bids them take a staff and be shod with sandals, which is spoken by permission. [see 1Co_7:6]
• Bede: Again, allegorically; under the figure of a scrip is pointed out the burdens of this world, by bread is meant temporal delights, by money in the purse, the hiding of wisdom; because he who receives the office of a doctor, should neither be weighed down by the burden of worldly affairs, nor be made soft by carnal desires, nor hide the talent of the word committed to him under the case of an inactive body. It goes on, “And He said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.”
• Where He gives a general precept of constancy, that they should look to what is due to the tie of hospitality, adding, that it is inconsistent with the preaching of the kingdom of heaven to run about from house to house.
• Theophylact: That is, lest they should be accused of gluttony in passing from one to another. It goes on, “And whoever shall not receive you, &c.” This the Lord commanded them, that they might shew that they had walked a long way for their sakes, and to no purpose. Or, because they received nothing from them, not even dust, which they shake off, that it might be a testimony against them, that is, by way of convicting them.
• Pseudo-Chrys.: Or else, that it might be a witness of the toil of the way, which they sustained for them; or as if the dust of the sins of the preachers was turned against themselves.
• It goes on: “And they went and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.”
• Mark alone mentions their anointing with oil. James however, in his canonical Epistle, says a thing similar. For oil both refreshes our labours, and gives us light and joy; but again, oil signifies the mercy of the unction of God, the healing of infirmity, and the enlightening of the heart, the whole of which is worked by prayer.
• Theophylact: It also means, the grace of the Holy Ghost, by which we are eased from our labours, and receive light and spiritual joy.
• Bede: Where it is evident from the Apostles themselves, that it [p. 112] is an ancient custom of the holy Church that persons possessed or afflicted with any disease whatever, should be anointed with oil consecrated by priestly blessing.