Daily Lenten Bible Readings Friday March 13 2009 Second Week of Lent

March 13 2009 Friday Second Week of Lent
Saint of the Day – St. Leander of Seville

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/031309.shtml

Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a
Douay-Rheims Challoner

Now Israel loved Joseph above all his sons, because he had him in his old age: and he made him a coat of divers colours. And his brethren seeing that he was loved by his father, more than all his sons, hated hem, and could not speak peaceably to him. And when his brethren abode in Sechem, feeding their father’s flocks, Israel said to him:

Thy brethren feed the sheep in Sichem: come, I will send thee to them.

And Joseph went forward after his brethren, and found them in Dothain. And when they saw him afar off, before he came nigh them, they thought to kill him: And said one to another:

Behold the dreamer cometh. Come, let us kill him, and cast him into some old pit: and we will say: Some evil beast hath devoured him: and then it shall appear what his dreams avail him:

And Ruben hearing this, endeavoured to deliver him out of their hands, and said:

Do not take away his life, nor shed his blood: but cast him into this pit, that is in the wilderness, and keep your hands harmless:

Now he said this, being desirous to deliver him out of their hands and to restore him to his father. And as soon as he came to his brethren, they forthwith stript him of his outside coat, that was of divers colours: And cast him into an old pit where there was not water. And sitting down to eat bread, they saw some Ismaelites on their way coming from Galaad, with their camels, carrying spices, and balm, and myrrh to Egypt. And Juda said to his brethren:

What will it profit us to kill our brother, and conceal his blood? It is better that he be sold to the Ismaelites, and that our hands be not defiled: for he is our brother and our flesh. His brethren agreed to his words.

And when the Madianite merchants passed by, they drew him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ismaelites, for twenty pieces of silver: and they led him into Egypt.

Responsorial Psalm 104:16-21 (Ps 105 NAB/Hebrew)
DR Challoner Text Only

And he called a famine upon the land:
and he broke in pieces all the support of bread.
He sent a man before them:
Joseph, who was sold for a slave.
They humbled his feet in fetters:
the iron pierced his soul,
Until his word came.
The word of the Lord inflamed him.
The king sent, and he released him:
the ruler of the people,
and he set him at liberty.
He made him master of his house,
and ruler of all his possession.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 21:33-46
Haydock New Testament

Jesus said:

Hear ye another parable: There was a master of a family who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a wine-press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen: and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen having laid hold of his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants more than the former: and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent to them his son, saying:

They will reverence my son.

But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves:

This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance.

And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen? They say to him:

He will bring those evil men to an evil end: and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, that shall render him the fruit in due season.

Jesus saith to them:

Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this hath been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes. Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they understood that he spoke of them. And seeking to lay hands on him, they feared the multitudes: because they held him as a prophet.

Haydock Commentary Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 3. Old age, and therefore expected to have no more children; but he loved him still more, on account of his innocent and sweet behaviour (M.): in which sense the Sam. Chal. &c. have, “because he was a wise and prudent boy.” — Colours. The nations of the East delight in gaudy attire, “hanging down to the heels” as the original passim is sometimes expressed, talaris & polymita, v. 3. C.
• Ver. 4. Could not, through envy, which caused them to notice every little distinction shewn to Joseph. They perceived he was the most beloved. His accusing them, and insinuating by his mysterious dreams that he would be their lord, heightened their rage. H.
• Ver. 13. In Sichem. About ninety miles off. The town had not probably been as yet rebuilt. Jacob had a field there, and the country was free for any one to feed their flocks. It was customary to drive them to a distance. C.
• Ver. 17. Dothain: twelve miles to the north of Samaria. Euseb.
• Ver. 19. The dreamer. Heb. Bahal hachalomoth, “the lord of dreams,” or the visionary lord (C.); or one who feigns dreams: so the Jews say of our Saviour, this seducer. H.
• Ver. 20. Pit: walled around to contain water: Heb. Bur. Bar means a well that has no walls. M. — Shall appear. They resolve to tell a lie, and easily believe that Joseph had been as bad as themselves in telling one first. If they had believed the dreams were from God, they would hardly have supposed that they could prevent them from having their effect. H.
• Ver. 22. His father. Ruben wished to regain his father’s favour. C. xxxv. 22.
• Ver. 25. To eat bread. How could they do this while their innocent brother was praying and lamenting! C. xlii. 21. H. — Some: a caravan of merchants. D. — Balm, or rosin; “That of Syria resembles attic honey.” Plin. — Myrrh, (stacten); Heb. Lot: “drops of myrrh or laudanum, or of the Lotus tree.” C.
• Ver. 28. Of silver. Some have read, thirty pieces of gold or silver. S. Amb. c. 3. — The price was trifling: twenty sicles would be about £2 5s. 7½d. English. The Madianites and Ismaelites jointly purchased Joseph. H.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 21:33-46

• Ver. 33. A certain master of a family, &c. This master is God; the vineyard, the Jews; the husbandmen, the Jewish priests; the servants, God’s prophets, sent from time to time: the son, called (Mark xii. 6,) his only and most dear son, is our Saviour Jesus Christ, whom they persecuted to death. Wi. — By this parable, our Saviour teaches the Jews that the providence of God had wonderfully watched over them from the beginning, that nothing had been omitted to promote their salvation, and that notwithstanding his prophets had been put to most cruel deaths, still the Almighty was not turned away from them, but had at length sent down his only Son, who should suffer at their hands the inexpressible ignominies and tortures of his cross and passion. S. Chry. hom. lxix.
• Ver. 37. They will reverence, &c. This is not said, as if God were ignorant what the Jews would do to his only begotten Son, since in this very place he declares that they would condemn him to death; but, to shew what they ought to have done, and what he had a right to expect from them. Nic. de Lyra.
• Ver. 38. Heir. From this text, it appears that the princes of the Jews knew Jesus to be the Messias, and that it was only through envy and malice they were so blinded as not to acknowledge him for the Son of God. When, therefore, the apostle says, (1 Cor. ii. 8,) If they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; this, it is probable, must be understood of the common people, since we can hardly believe that the princes of the people were ignorant of it, as Christ had so repeatedly inculcated this truth, that he even says himself they had no excuse, and were only actuated by hatred against him and his Father. S. John xv. 22. T. — Inheritance, &c. It appears from S. John xi. that one of the motives why the Jews killed our Saviour was, lest if they let him live, all men should believe, and the Romans should come and destroy their nation. But the very means they took to secure their kingdom to themselves, hastened their downfall, and eventually caused their ruin; since in punishment of their crucifying Jesus Christ, their city and state were completely ruined under the Roman emperors Titus and Vespasian. Nic. de Lyra.
• Ver. 41. He will bring those evil men to an evil end. This answer was made by some of them. Yet S. Luke (xx. 16,) tells us, that others among them, (whom we may take to be the Scribes and Pharisees) cried out, God forbid; seeing well enough that this was a prediction of their future ruin. Wi. — If we compare this text with S. Luke, it will appear that it was from the midst of the people that this answer was given, which was confirmed by Jesus Christ, and at which the high priests were so indignant, because they saw clearly it must fall upon themselves. V.
• Ver. 42. The head of the corner. By these words, (Psal. cxvii,) which the Jews themselves expounded of their Messias, Christ shewed them, that although they, who should have been the architects, had rejected him, yet he should be the chief corner-stone to unite the Jews and the Gentiles, converted into one Christian Church, militant on earth and triumphant in heaven. See Acts iv. 11. Wi. — S. Austin remarks, that this parable was addressed not only to the opponents of Christ’s authority, but likewise to the people.
• Ver. 43. The kingdom of God shall be taken from you. By this dreadful conclusion he tells them in plain terms, that they shall be forsaken, and punished for their blindness and obstinacy. Wi.
• Ver. 45. They understood that he spoke of them. This parable, though immediately addressed to the Jews, contains an admirable instruction for Christians. For, what the Jews have suffered for their wickedness and ingratitude, has also been the faith of many Christian kingdoms, and the mournful lot of many once flourishing happy churches, whose candlesticks are removed, and light extinct. The same conduct God observes with regard to particular persons, in punishment of their repeatedly abusing his graces; he at last withdraws them, and leaves the culprit to himself, and to the miserable consequences of this merited privation of grace.