Daily Bible Readings Friday March 20 2009 Third Week of Lent

March 20 2009 Friday Third Week of Lent
Saint of the Day – St. Salvator of Horta

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/032009.shtml

Hosea 14:2-10 (Osee)
Douay-Rheims Challoner

Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen down by thy iniquity. Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more: The works of our hands are our gods: for thou wilt have mercy on the fatherless that is in thee. I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely: for my wrath is turned away from them.

I will be as the dew, Israel shall spring as the lily, and his root shall shoot forth as that of Libanus. His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive tree: and his smell as that of Libanus. They shall be converted that sit under his shadow: they shall live upon wheat, and they shall blossom as a vine: his memorial shall be as the wine of Libanus. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I will hear him, and I will make him flourish like a green fir tree: from me is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall in them.

Responsorial Psalm 80:6c-11ab, 14 and 17 (Ps 81 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only
Tense modified in last 2 verses for this reading to make sense of it

He removed his back from the burdens:
his hands had served in baskets.
Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee:
I heard thee in the secret place of tempest:
I proved thee at the waters of contradiction.
Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee:
O Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me,
there shall be no new god in thee:
neither shalt thou adore a strange god.
For I am the Lord thy God,
who brought thee out of the land of Egypt
If my people would hear me:
if Israel would walk in my ways:
I would feed them with the fat of wheat,
and fill them with honey out of the rock.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Mark 12:28-34
Haydock New Testament

And there came one of the Scribes, that had heard them reasoning together, and seeing that he had answered them well, asked him which was the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him:

The first commandment of all is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God, is one God: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other command greater than these.

And the Scribe said to him:

Well, master, thou hast said in truth, that there is one God, and there is no other besides him. And that he should be loved with the whole heart, and with the whole understanding, and with the whole soul, and with the whole strength: and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is a greater thing than all the holocausts and sacrifices.

And Jesus seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him:

Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.

And no man after that durst ask him any question.

Haydock Commentary Hosea 14:2-10 (Osee)
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 3. Words. In captivity, legal victims cannot be offered. C. — But a contrite heart is always acceptable. Ps. l. — Good. While engaged in sin, (H.) “we can offer thee nothing good.” — Calves: victims of praise. S. Jer. — Heb. parim. Sept. omit m, (H.) and render fruit. They are followed by the Arab. and Syr. as well as by the apostle. Heb. xiii. 15. C. — We will offer what victims we please. E. Ps. lxix. 23. and lxv. 13.
• Ver. 4. Gods. The Assyrians, instead of protecting, oppress us; while Egypt, famous for horses, sits unconcerned. C. — But the source of all our evils are the idols, which we will follow no more. — In thee: adheres to the true faith in practice. H. — Israel was like an orphan during the captivity. Lam. i. 1. C.
• Ver. 5. Breaches, when Israel shall be converted, as some were to Christ, and many will be at the end of the world. W. — Heb. “their return.” Sept. “dwellings.” They shall be purified. — Freely. I have been forced to chastise, My heart dilates. C. — Sept. “I will love them manifestly.” Syr. “accept their free offerings.” H.
• Ver. 6. Dew. Israel has been like a plant dried up. C. xiii. 15. — Libanus. The cedars were tall and bulky, being well rooted.
• Ver. 7. Glory. Sept. “he shall be as fruitful as the olive-tree.” — Libanus, or incense. C. — The term has both meanings. H.
• Ver. 8. His. This may refer to the tree, or to God. The captives shall return, and be happy. But in a more sublime sense it refers to the nations which shall embrace the gospel. — Libanus, or fragrant. Such wine was esteemed in which certain odoriferous herbs were infused. Cant. vii. 2. C. — Libanus was also famous for generous wines. Siconita 11.
• Ver. 9. Idol? or God will no more reproach them, as their conversion is sincere. — Make. Heb. “be to him like,” &c. C.
• Ver. 10. Wise. This denotes the obscurity of the prophecy. Theod. — No human wit can explain the prophets: yet the just shall understand as much as shall be necessary. S. Jer. S. Aug. de Civ. Dei. xviii. 28. W. — Only few will make good use of these admonitions, and share in the promises. C.

Haydock Commentary Mark 12:28-34

• Ver. 29. Literally the Lord our God is the only Lord: and this is the sense of the text in Deuteronomy vi. 4. The word in the original text, rendered by the term Lord, is the grand name JEHOVA, which signifies properly God, considered as the supreme Being, or the author of all existence.
• Ver. 33. Venerable Bede gathers from this answer of the Scribes, that it had been long disputed among the Scribes and Pharisees, which was the greatest commandment in the law; some preferring the acts of faith and love, because many of the fathers, before the law was instituted, were pleasing to God on account of their faith and piety, and not on account of their sacrifices; yet none were agreeable to God who had not faith and charity. This Scribe seems to have been of the opinion of those who preferred the love of God. Ven. Bede. — The excellence of charity teacheth us that faith only is not sufficient. B.
• Ver. 34. Being now refuted in their discourse, they no longer interrogate him, but deliver him up to the Roman power. Thus envy may be vanquished, but with great difficulty silenced. Ven. Bede.