Daily Bible Readings Thursday March 5 2009 First Week of Lent

March 5 2009 Thursday First Week of Lent
Saint of the Day – St. John Joseph of the Cross

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/030509.shtml

Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25 (DR 14:1-14)
Douay-Rheims Challoner
The verse numbering is very different here. I tried to come close

Queen Esther also, fearing the danger that was at hand, had recourse to the Lord. And when she had laid away her royal apparel, she put on garments suitable for weeping and mourning: instead of divers precious ointments, she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she humbled her body with fasts: and all the places in which before she was accustomed to rejoice, she filled with her torn hair. And she prayed to the Lord the God of Israel, saying:

O my Lord, who alone art our king, help me a desolate woman, and who have no other helper but thee. My danger is in my hands. I have heard of my father that thou, O Lord, didst take Israel from among all nations, and our fathers from all their predecessors, to possess them as an everlasting inheritance, and thou hast done to them as thou hast promised. We have sinned in thy sight, and therefore thou hast delivered us into the hands of our enemies: For we have worshipped their gods. Thou art just, O Lord. And now they are not content to oppress us with most hard bondage, but attributing the strength of their hands to the power of their idols, They design to change thy promises, and destroy thy inheritance, and shut the mouths of them that praise thee, and extinguish the glory of thy temple and altar, That they may open the mouths of Gentiles, and praise the strength of idols, and magnify for ever a carnal king.

Give not, O Lord, thy sceptre to them that are not, lest they laugh at our ruin: but turn their counsel upon themselves, and destroy him that hath begun to rage against us. Remember, O Lord, and shew thyself to us in the time of our tribulation, and give me boldness, O Lord, king of gods, and of all power: Give me a well ordered speech in my mouth in the presence of the lion, and turn his heart to the hatred of our enemy, that both he himself may perish, and the rest that consent to him. But deliver us by thy hand, and help me, who have no other helper, but thee, O Lord, who hast the knowledge of all things.

Responsorial Psalm 137:1-3, 7c-8 (Ps 138 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart:
for thou hast heard the words of my mouth.
I will sing praise to thee in the sight of the angels:
I will worship towards thy holy temple,
and I will give glory to thy name.
For thy mercy, and for thy truth:
for thou hast magnified thy holy name above all.
In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me:
thou shalt multiply strength in my soul.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 7:7-12
Haydock New Testament

Jesus said:

Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

Or what man is there among you, of whom if his son shall ask bread, will he reach him a stone? Or if he shall ask a fish, will he reach him a serpent? If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?

All things, therefore, whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them. For this is the law and the prophets.

Haydock Commentary Esther 14:1-14
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. Fearing. Gr. “caught in the agony of death.” The old Vulgate has many variations in this chapter. C. — This prayer should be placed after that of Mardochai, at the end of C. iv. M.
• Ver. 2. Ointments. Gr. “instead of the proud sweets, she filled her head with ashes and dust.” Such as might be soon cleansed again. H. — Torn. Gr. “curled hair,” (straptwn trichwn. H.) some of which she cut off. See Lev. xix. 27. and xxi. 5. Houbig.
• Ver. 4. Hands; very imminent. I am ready to expose my life. Ps. cxviii. 109. C.
• Ver. 5. Heard. Old Vulg. often repeats, “from the books of my fathers;” adducing the various instances of protection which God had shewn to his people, Noe, Abraham, Jonas, the three children, Daniel, Ezechias, and Anna: which intimates that Esther made the sacred books the subject of her frequent meditations, as good people ought to do. H.
• Ver. 7. For. Gr. “since we have extolled,” &c. Esther had not been guilty herself of this prevarication; but too many of the people had. H.
• Ver. 8. But. Gr. Compl. “Yea, thou hast placed (or rather as the Alex. MS. reads, they have placed) their hands upon the hands of their idols, (H. making league together. C.) to tear away the decree of thy mouth,” (H.) and to put in execution the projects of (M.) the devil. H.
• Ver. 10. Idols. Gr. “of the vain things, and to render wonderful for ever,” &c.
• Ver. 11. Not idols, as they are often here designated, (C. and 1 Cor. viii.) being only the imaginations of men. W. — Destroy. Gr. “Make an example of the man, who had begun (H. evils. C.) against us.” H. — She throws the blame upon Aman, and not upon her husband. C.
• Ver. 12. Gods. Gr. “nations, and Lord of all power.” H.
• Ver. 13. Lion. This expression seems not sufficiently respectful. Capellus. — But why might not Esther use it with regard to one, who was raging against her people more than any lion, as S. Paul applies it to Nero, probably after her example? Houbigant. 2 Tim. iv. 17. — David also thus styles Saul and his persecutors in general. Ps. vii. 3. &c. C.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 7:7-12

• Ver. 7. After having preached these great and wonderful truths, after having commanded his apostles to keep themselves free from the vices of mankind, and make themselves like not to angels or archangels only, but to the Lord of all things; and not only observe justice themselves, but likewise to labour for the correction of others, lest they should be disheartened at these almost insurmountable difficulties: our Redeemer subjoins, Ask, and you shall receive, &c. When we offer our petitions to the Almighty, we must imitate the example of Solomon, who immediately obtained what he asked of the Lord, because he asked what he ought. Two things, therefore, are necessary to every prayer, that it be offered up with perseverance and fervour, and that it contain a lawful prayer. Chry. hom. xxiv. — The reasons why so many do not obtain the effects of their prayers, are, — 1st. Because they ask for what is evil; and he that makes such a request, offers the Almighty an intolerable injury by wishing to make him, as it were, the author of evil: 2nd. Although what they ask be not evil, they seek it for an evil end. S. James iv.: 3rd. Because they who pray, are themselves wicked; (S. John ix.) for God doth not hear sinners: 4th. Because they ask with no faith, or with faith weak and wavering: (S. James i.) 5th. Because although what we ask be good in itself, yet the Almighty refuses it, in order to grant us a greater good: 6th. Because God wishes us to persevere, as he declares in the parable of the friend asking bread, Luke, ch. ii.; and that we may esteem his gifts the more: 7th. We do not always receive what we beg, because, according to S. Augustine, (lib. ii, de Serm. Dom. et epis. 34, ad Paulinum) God often does not grant us what we petition for, that he may grant us something more useful and profitable. Maldonatus.
• Ver. 8. Whatever we ask necessary to salvation with humility, fervour, perseverance, and other due circumstances, we may be assured God will grant when it is best for us. If we do not obtain what we pray for, we must suppose it is not conducive to our salvation, in comparison of which all else is of little moment. A.
• Ver. 9. Lest any one considering the great inequality between God and man, should despair of obtaining favours of God, and therefore should not dare to offer up his petitions, he immediately introduces this similitude of the Father; so that if we were on the point of despairing on account of our sins, from his fatherly tenderness we might still have hopes. S. Thos. Aquinas.
• Ver. 12. For this is the law and the prophets; that is, all precepts that regard our neighbour are directed by this golden rule, do as you would be done by. Wi. — The whole law and all the duties between man and man, inculcated by the prophets, have this principle for foundation. The Roman emperor Alexander Severus, is related to have said, that he esteemed the Christians for their acting on this principle. A. — This is the sum of the law and of the prophets, the whole law of the Jews. M.