Daily Bible Readings Thursday April 2 2009 Fifth Week of Lent

April 2 2009 Thursday Fifth Week of Lent
Saint of the Day – St. Francis of Paola

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/040209.shtml

Genesis 17:3-9
Douay-Rheims Challoner

Abram fell flat on his face. And God said to him:

I am, and my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name be called any more Abram: but thou shalt be called Abraham: because I have made thee a father of many nations. And I will make thee increase exceedingly, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give to thee, and to thy seed, the land of thy sojournment, all the land of Chanaan, for a perpetual possession, and I will be their God.

Again God said to Abraham:

And thou therefore shalt keep my covenant, and thy seed after thee in their generations.

Responsorial Psalm 104:4-9 (Ps 105 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Seek ye the Lord, and be strengthened: seek his face evermore.
Remember his marvellous works which he hath done;
his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth.
O ye seed of Abraham his servant; ye sons of Jacob his chosen.
He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in all the earth.
He hath remembered his covenant for ever:
the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.
Which he made to Abraham; and his oath to Isaac:

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint John 8:51-59
Haydock New Testament

Jesus said:

Amen, amen, I say to you, if any man keep my word, he shall not see death for ever.

The Jews, therefore, said,

Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets: and thou sayest, If any man keep my word, he shall not taste death for ever. Art thou greater than our father, Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom dost thou make thyself?

Jesus answered:

If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: it is my Father that glorifieth me, whom you say that he is your God. And you have not known him, but I know him: And if I should say that I know him not, I should be like to you, a liar. But I know him, and keep his word. Abraham, your father, rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it, and was glad.

The Jews then said to him,

Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

Jesus said to them,

Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am.

Then they took up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Haydock Commentary Genesis 17:3-9
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 4. I am unchangeable, and faithful to my promises, the only God. D. — Nations. Jews, Saracens or Arabs, Idumeans, and, by faith, of all nations who shall believe in Christ, the King of kings. C. — The true Church will never then be reduced to a few unknown believers, as the Donatists and Protestants assert. W.
• Ver. 5. Abraham. Abram, in the Hebrew, signifies a high father; but Abraham, the father of the multitude: Sarai signifies my Lady, but Sara absolutely Lady. Ch. — God thus receives them, as it were, into his own family. C.
• Ver. 7. Perpetual; that shall last as long as they remain obedient. M. v. 9.

Haydock Commentary John 8:51-59

• Ver. 51. He shall not see death, he shall not die, for ever. That is, he shall not incur an eternal death, as they who die in sin: but they understood his words of the death of the body. Wi. — You accuse me of being possessed with a devil, because I preach to you a doctrine far different from what you are accustomed to hear; but I speak nothing but the truth; I give honour to my Father, I execute his orders; and the words I now speak to you, are the words of eternal life. Whoever observes them shall not die. Moses promised a long life to those who observed what was commanded in the old law, and offered them as their reward goods and temporal prosperity. But I now offer you an eternal life. Believe my words, keep them, and observe my ordinances, and you shall not feel the death of the soul, the second, eternal, and most miserable of deaths. Calmet.
• Ver. 56. Abraham, your father, rejoiced that he might see my day, my entrance into this world, my incarnation, my birth, my manifestation in Israel, my death and passion. S. Irenæus, Origen, S. Cyril, &c. — He waited with impatience for the deliverance of the whole world. He saw it, and was glad. He saw it in spirit, for God revealed it to him. He saw it approaching in the birth of his son Isaac, and in the miraculous deliverance of his dear son, when he was commanded to offer him in sacrifice to the Lord. The vivacity of his faith made him, as it were, present at the time of my birth, though then so far off. S. Chrys. Leont. Theophyl. Euth. — It is not unlikely that this patriarch, and the others who were with him, detained in limbo, were apprised of the incarnation and coming of the Messias, which would fill them with an effusion of inexpressible joy. S. Chrys. — Christ here teaches us two things. 1. That he was before Abraham. 2. That the Jews were not true sons of Abraham, now treating so rudely him, who, even before his coming, had given the patriarch so much joy. Calmet.
• Ver. 58. Before Abraham was made, I am.[4] Christ here speaks of his eternal existence as God. S. Aug. shews this by these very words, I am. He does not say, before Abraham was made, I was made: because, as the Son of God, he never was made: but I am, which shews his eternal divine nature. Wi.