Daily Bible Readings Thursday February 19 2009 Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

February 19 2009 Thursday Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day – St. Conrad of Piacenza

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/021909.shtml

Genesis 9:1-13
Douay-Rheims Challoner

And God blessed Noe and his sons. And he said to them:

Increase, and multiply, and fill the earth. And let the fear and dread of you be upon all the beasts of the earth, and upon all the fowls of the air, and all that move upon the earth: all the fishes of the sea are delivered into your hand. And every thing that moveth, and liveth shall be meat for you: even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you: Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat. For I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man, and of his brother, will I require the life of man. Whosoever shall shed man’s blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God. But increase you and multiply, and go upon the earth and fill it.

Thus also said God to Noe, and to his sons with him:

Behold I will establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you: And with every living soul that is with you, as well in all birds, as in cattle and beasts of the earth, that are come forth out of the ark, and in all the beasts of the earth. I will establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall be no more destroyed with the waters of a flood, neither shall there be from henceforth a flood to waste the earth.

And God said:

This is the sign of the covenant which I give between me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations. I will set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between me and between the earth.

Responsorial Psalm 101:16-21, 29 and 22-23 (Ps 102 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

All the Gentiles shall fear thy name, O Lord,
and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
For the Lord hath built up Sion:
and he shall be seen in his glory.
He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble:
and he hath not despised their petition.
Let these things be written unto another generation:
and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord:
Because he hath looked forth from his high sanctuary:
from heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth.
That he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters:
that he might release the children of the slain:
The children of thy servants shall continue
and their seed shall be directed for ever.
That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion:
and his praise in Jerusalem;
When the people assemble together,
and kings, to serve the Lord.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 8:27-33
Haydock New Testament

And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Cæsarea Philippi; and in the way he asked his disciples, saying to them:

Whom do men say that I am?

And they answered him, saying:

John the Baptist; but some Elias, and others as one of the prophets.

The he saith to them:

But whom do you say that I am?

Peter answering, said to him:

Thou art the Christ.

And he strictly charged them that they should not tell any man if him. And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients, and by the high priests, and the Scribes, and be killed: and after three days rise again. And he spoke the word openly: And Peter taking him, began to rebuke him. But he turning about and seeing his disciples, threatened Peter, saying:

Go after me, Satan, because thou dost not relish the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.

Haydock Commentary Genesis 9:1-13
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. Blessed, with fecundity. Barrenness was deemed a curse. C.
• Ver. 2. Fear, &c. God confirms the dominion of man over all the animals, though he must exercise it now by compulsion; they will not obey always without reluctance, as they would have done in the state of innocence. H.
• Ver. 3. Meat. The more religious, at least, had hitherto abstained from flesh, being content with herbs, &c.: which had been expressly granted. Now, the salt waters of the deluge had vitiated the earth, its plants were no longer so nutritive. M. — God gives leave to eat flesh meat, but with some restriction, that we may still learn to obey. W.
• Ver. 4. With blood. This was a matter of indifference in itself, like the forbidden fruit. But God gave the prohibition, to keep people at a greater distance from imbruing their hands in the blood of others, which nevertheless we know some have drunk! He would also assert his dominion over all things; the blood or life of animals being reserved to be offered in sacrifice to him, instead of the life of man. Lev. xvii. 11. Blood of brutes is gross and unwholesome. M. — The apostles required this law to be observed by the first Christians, that the Jews might not be disgusted: but, after a competent time had been allowed them, the Church thought proper to alter this discipline. S. Aug. c. Faust. xxxii. 13.
• Ver. 5. At the hand; a Heb. idiom. God orders an ox to be stoned, which had slain a man. Ex. xxi. 28. — Man, (hominis) every man, (viri) brother. By these three terms, God inculcates a horror of bloodshed; because we are all of the same nature, ought to act like generous men, and to consider every individual as a brother, since we spring from the same stock. M.
• Ver. 6. Shed. God had not subjected Cain to this law of retaliation, as he was the first murderer, and the earth was unpeopled. H. — Here he declares, that it is just to inflict such a punishment on the offender. M. — Judges are hence authorized to punish murderers with death. C. — The general law, thou shalt not kill, admits of exceptions, and forbids killing by private authority, or out of revenge. H. — The blood of your lives, may signify the blood on which your life depends; or, according to the Rabbin, it is a prohibition of suicide, which one would think is so contrary to the first law of nature, self-preservation, as to require no prohibition; and yet, to the scandal of philosophers, some have written in its defence! H.
• Ver. 10. Soul…in birds, &c. The covenant of God is made with animals, only in as much as they are subservient to man. D. — The Egyptians adored most of them; and many oriental nations, and even philosophers, pretended they had intelligent souls, and could speak a rational language, which some of them would have the people believe they could understand. C. — This was the case of those great impostors Apollonius of Tyena, Mahomet, &c. H. — Moses shews sufficiently that beasts were neither divinities nor rational. C.
• Ver. 13. My rain bow. This had been from the beginning; but it was not before appointed for a sign that the earth should no more be destroyed by water. It is styled God’s bow, on account of its beauty and grandeur. M. Ecclus xliii. 12. — “As the rain-bow, which makes its appearance in the clouds, borrows all its effulgence from the sun, so those only who acknowledge the glory of Christ in God’s clouds, and do not seek their own glory, will escape destruction in the deluge.” S. Aug. c. Faust. ii. 21.

Haydock Commentary Mark 8:27-33

• Ver. 28. As one of the prophets. In the Greek it is, one of the prophets.
• Ver. 31. After our Redeemer had heard the confession of his first apostle, who spoke in the name of all, as the head, he opens out to them the grand mystery of his passion.

Catena Aurea Mark 8:27-33
From Catechetics Online

• Theophylact: After taking His disciples afar from the Jews, He then asks them concerning Himself, that they might speak the truth without fear of the Jews. Wherefore it is said, “And Jesus entered, and His disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi.”
• Bede, in Marc., 2, 35: Philip was that brother of Herod, of whom we spoke above, who in honour of Tiberius Caesar called that town, which is now called Paneas, Caesarea Philippi. It goes on, “And by the way He asked His disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?”
• Pseudo-Chrys., Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: He asks the question with a purpose, for it was right that His disciples should praise Him better than the crowd.
• Bede: Wherefore He first asks what is the opinion of men, in order to try the faith of the disciples, lest their confession should appear to be founded on the common opinion. It goes on, “And they answered, saying, ‘Some [p. 158] say John the Baptist, some Elias, and others, One of the prophets.”
• Theophylact: For many thought that John had risen from the dead, as even Herod believed, and that he had performed miracles after his resurrection. After however having enquired into the opinion of others, He asks them what was the belief of their own minds on this point. Wherefore it continues, “And He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?”
• Chrys., Hom. in Matt., 54: From the manner, however, itself of the question, He leads them to a higher feeling, and to higher thoughts, concerning Him, that they might not agree with the multitude. But the next words shew what the head of the disciples, the mouth of the Apostles, answered; when all were asked, “Peter answereth and saith unto Him, Thou art the Christ.”
• Theophylact: He confesses indeed that He is the Christ announced by the Prophets; but the Evangelist Mark passes over what the Lord answered to his confession, and how He blessed him, lest by this way of relating it, he should seem to be favouring his master Peter; Matthew plainly goes through the whole of it.
• Origen, in Matt. Tom., 12, 15: Or else, Mark and Luke, as they wrote that Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ,” without adding what is put down in Matthew, “the Son of the living God,” so they omitted to relate the blessing which was conferred on this confession. It goes on, “And He charged them that they should tell no man of Him.”
• Theophylact: For He wished in the meantime to hide His glory, lest many should be offended because of Him, and so earn a worse punishment.
• Chrys.: Or else, that He might wait to fix the pure faith in their minds, till the Crucifixion, which was an offence to them, was over, for after it was once perfected, about the time of His ascension, He said unto the Apostles, “Go ye and teach all nations.”
• Theophylact: But after the Lord had accepted the confession of the disciples, who called Him the true God, He then reveals to them the mystery of the Cross.
• Wherefore it goes on, “And He began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again; and He spake that saying openly,” that is, concerning His future passion.
• But His disciples did not understand the order of the truth, neither could they [p. 159] comprehend His resurrection, but thought it better that He should not suffer.
• Chrys., Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: The reason, however, why the Lord told them this, was to shew, that after His cross and resurrection, Christ must be preached by His witnesses. Again, Peter alone, from the fervour of his disposition, had the boldness to dispute about these things. Wherefore it goes on, “And Peter took Him up, and began to rebuke Him.”
• Bede: This, however, he speaks with the feelings of a man who loves and desires; as if he said, This cannot be, neither can mind ears receive that the Son of God is to be slain.
• Chrys.: But how is this, that Peter, gifted with a revelation from the Father, has so soon fallen, and become unstable? Surely, however, it was not wonderful that one who had received no revelation concerning the Passion should be ignorant of this. For that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God, he had learnt by revelation; but the mystery of His cross and resurrection had not yet been revealed to him. He Himself, however, shewing that He must come to His Passion, rebuked Peter. Wherefore there follows, “And when He had turned about and looked on His disciples, He rebuked Peter, &c.”
• Theophylact: For the Lord, wishing to shew that His Passion was to take place on account of the salvation of men, and that Satan alone was unwilling that Christ should suffer, and the race of man be saved, called Peter Satan, because he savoured the things that were of Satan, and, from unwillingness that Christ should suffer, became His adversary; for Satan is interpreted ‘the adversary.’
• Pseudo-Chrys., Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: But He saith not to the devil, when tempting Him, “Get thee behind me,” but to Peter He saith, “Get thee behind me,” that is, follow Me, and resist not the design of My voluntary Passion. There follows, “For thou savourest not the things which be of God, but which be of men.”
• Theophylact: He says that Peter savours the things which be of men, in that he in some way savoured carnal affections, for Peter wished that Christ should spare Himself and not be crucified.