Daily Bible Readings Saturday February 21 2009 Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

February 21 2009 Saturday Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day – St. Peter Damian

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/022109.shtml

Hebrews 11:1-7
Haydock New Testament

NOW faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not. For by this the ancients obtained a testimony. By faith we understand that the world was framed by the word of God; that from invisible things visible things might be made. By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice exceeding that of Cain, by which he obtained a testimony that he was just, God giving testimony to his gifts; and by it he being dead, yet speaketh. By faith Henoch was translated, that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had testimony that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder of them that seek him. By faith Noe having received an answer concerning those things which as yet were not seen, moved with fear, framed the ark for the saving of his family, whereby he condemned the world: and was instituted heir of the justice which is by faith.

Responsorial Psalm 144:2-5, 10-11 (Ps 145 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Every day will I bless thee:
and I will praise thy name for ever;
yea, for ever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised:
and of his greatness there is no end.
Generation and generation shall praise thy works:
and they shall declare thy power.
They shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of thy holiness:
and shall tell thy wondrous works.
Let all thy works, O lord, praise thee:
and let thy saints bless thee.
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom:
and shall tell of thy power:

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 9:2-13
Haydock New Testament

And his garments became shining, and exceedingly white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can make white. And there appeared to them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answering, said to Jesus:

Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

For he knew not what he said: for they were struck with fear. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, saying:

This is my most beloved Son: hear ye him.

And immediately looking about, they saw no man any more, but Jesus only with them. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them not to tell any man what things they had seen, till the Son of man shall be risen again from the dead. And they kept the word to themselves: questioning together what that should mean:

When he shall be risen from the dead.

And they asked him, saying:

Why then do the Pharisees and Scribes say, that Elias must come first?

He answering, said to them:

Elias, when he shall come first, shall restore all things: and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be despised. But I say to you, that Elias also is come, (and they have done to him whatsoever they would) as it is written of him.

And coming to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the Scribes questioning with them.

Haydock Commentary Hebrews 11:1-7
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. All this chapter is a commendation and recommendation of faith, which is the substance[1] of things hoped for, giving as it were a substance in our minds to such things as we are in hopes and in expectation of hereafter, and making them present to us before they come to pass. — It is also a sure conviction[2] of things that appear not. For when God has revealed things, and we believe them upon the divine and infallible authority of the revealer, we have a greater certainty of them than any demonstration can afford us. By this virtue of faith, they of old, our forefathers, obtained[3] a testimony from God that their actions were pleasing to him. Wi. — Faith is the basis, the foundation supporting hope; for unless there be faith, there cannot possibly be any hope. Menochius.
• Ver. 3. The faith so highly commended here is not that special faith of sectarists, by means of which persons of various and contradictory tenets pretend to assure themselves that their sins in particular are pardoned for Christ’s sake, but a firm and lively belief of all that God has revealed or promised.
• Ver. 4. A sacrifice.[4] Lit. a greater sacrifice than his brother Cain, offering to God the best and fattest cattle he had, by which he obtained a testimony (a mark of God’s approbation) that he was just, and his piety pleasing to God. S. Jerom, from a tradition among the Hebrews, thinks that this mark was, that fire descended from heaven upon Abel’s sacrifice and not upon that of Cain. — And by it, he being dead, yet speaketh. By it, in construction, may be either referred to his faith or to his sacrifice. Some expound it, that by reason of his faith, or of his sacrifice, his memory still lives after his death, and he is commended by all good men. Others think that the apostle alludes to the words which God spoke to Cain, (Gen. iv. 10) “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to me from the earth,” and that in this manner he is said to have spoken after his death. Wi. — Men of all religions, whether true or false, have offered sacrifices, as being the supreme act of religion; and therefore we may conclude, that what is so general and universal, must have come from the instinct and light of our nature, and be a kind of first principle implanted in us by God himself.
• Ver. 5. Henoch was translated, so as not to die nor see death. In Ecclesiasticus (C. xliv.) he is said to be translated into paradise. By these words, that he should not see death, it is the general exposition of the ancient interpreters, that he is not dead; but in what place, or in what manner God preserveth him, we know not. See S. Aug. l. de pec. orig. c. xxiii. S. Chrys. &c. Wi.
• Ver. 6. He proves the Henoch was translated by faith, or on account of faith, thus: Henoch was translated because he pleased God; now he could not please God but by faith; therefore by faith he was translated. Menochius.
• Ver. 7. Having received an answer . . . moved with fear;[5] i.e. with a religious fear: by the Greek, prepared the ark, by which he condemned the rest of the incredulous world, who would not take warning nor believe. Wi. — Noe warned impenitent sinners of impending judgments; but unbelievers and scoffers, they only laughed at Noe’s credulity: thus worldlings, who laugh at the simplicity of the few, who work out their salvation with fear and trembling, will one day see their error, when the former shall perish in their infidelity, and the latter shall triumph in the midst of a falling world.

Haydock Commentary Mark 9:2-13

• Ver. 4. The law and the prophets were signified by Moses and Elias; both bear testimony to the divinity of Jesus Christ’s mission, which was effectually to close the old, and open the new dispensation. By the apparitions of these two illustrious personages, we learn also that sometimes, though not often, there is, by the permission of heaven, a certain intercourse between the living and the dead. B.
• Ver. 5. Peter had forgotten that the glorious kingdom of Christ was not of this world, but in heaven only; that himself and the other apostles, clothed as they were with their mortality, could not participate in immortal joys; and that the mansions in the house of the Father are not raised with human hands. He again shewed that he knew not what he said, by wishing to make three tabernacles, one for the law, one for the prophets, and one for the gospel, since these three cannot be separated from each other. Ven. Bede.
• Ver. 9. Risen from the dead. The disciples believed the resurrection of the dead, but they knew not what Christ meant by by his rising from the dead. Their thoughts were filled with the idea of a glorious kingdom in this world, in which they should enjoy great dignities and offices under the Messias. Wi.
• Ver. 10. The Jews here confound the two comings of Jesus Christ. The Baptist, in the spirit of Elias, will precede the first, and Elias in person, the second coming of Christ.

Catena Aurea Mark 9
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