Daily Bible Readings Monday April 20 2009 Second Week of Easter

April 20 2009 Monday Second Week of Easter
Saint of the Day – St Marcellinus, Bishop

About the sources used. The readings on this site are not official for the Mass of Roman Rite of the Catholic Church in the USA, but are from sources free from copyright. They are here to present the comparable readings alongside traditional Catholic commentary as published in the Haydock Bible for your own personal study. Readings vary depending on your local calendar.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/042009.shtml

Acts 4:23-31
Haydock New Testament

And being let go, they came to their own company, and related all that the chief priests and ancients had said to them. Who, having heard it, with one accord lifted up their voice to God, and said;

Lord, thou art he that didst make heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them: Who, in the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of our father, David, thy servant, hast said;

Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain thing? The kings of the earth stood up and the princes assembled together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

For of a truth there assembled together in this city, against thy holy child, Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, To do what thy hand and thy counsel decreed to be done.

And now, Lord, behold their threatening, and grant to thy servants, with all confidence to speak thy word, By stretching forth thy hand to cures, and signs, and wonders, to be done by the name of thy holy Son, Jesus.

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were assembled: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the word of God with confidence.

Responsorial Psalm 2:1-9
DR Challoner Text Only

Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things?
The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together,
against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Let us break their bonds asunder:
and let us cast away their yoke from us.
He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them:
and the Lord shall deride them.
Then shall he speak to them in his anger,
and trouble them in his rage.
But I am appointed king by him over Sion, his holy mountain,
preaching his commandment.
The Lord hath said to me:
Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance,
and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron,
and shalt break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint John 3:1-8
Haydock New Testament

AND there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night, and said to him:

Rabbi, we know that thou art come a teacher from God: for no man can do these miracles, which thou dost, unless God be with him.

Jesus answered and said to him:

Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus saith to him:

How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born again?

Jesus answered:

Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh: and that which is born of the spirit, is spirit. Wonder not that I said to thee, you must be born again. The Spirit breatheth where he will, and thou hearest his voice; but thou knowest not whence he cometh, nor whither he goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Haydock Commentary Acts 4:23-31
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 23. Being let go, they came to their own[3] company, relating with simplicity all that had happened.
• Ver. 24. With one accord. With one mind, as in the Greek, and with one voice, being inspired by the Holy Ghost, they fell to prayer. Wi.
• Ver. 30. That thou stretch forth thy hand.[4] Lit. in this that thou stretch forth thy hand to cures, &c. They pray to God, that he would continue to confirm their faith by miracles. Wi.
• Ver. 31. The place was shaken. Much in the same manner, as at the first coming of the Holy Ghost. — They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Their hearts were inflamed and excited by a new motion of grace. Wi.

Haydock Commentary John 3:1-8

• Ver. 2. By night. Nicodemus was at this time weak in faith, and therefore did not wish to endanger himself by coming to our Saviour in open day, when the enemies of Christ could see him. For many (as this evangelist informs us in chap. xii. v. 42,) of the chief men also believed in him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess, that they might not be cast out of the Synagogue. S. Chrys. — It appears from this verse that Jesus Christ wrought many miracles, even in the first year of his preaching: though not very publicly, and amidst the crowd. However, few of those which he performed in Judea are noticed by the evangelist.
• Ver. 5. Unless a man be born again of water, and the Holy Ghost. Though the word Holy be now wanting in all Greek copies, it is certainly the sense. The ancient Fathers, and particularly S. Aug. in divers places, from these words, prove the necessity of giving baptism to infants: and by Christ’s adding water, is excluded a metaphorical baptism. See also Acts viii. 36. and x. 47. and Titus iii. 5. Wi. — Except a man be born again. That is, unless you are born again by a spiritual regeneration in God, all the knowledge which you learn from me, will not be spiritual but carnal. But I say to you, that neither you nor any other person, unless you be born again in God, can undestand or conceive the glory which is in me. S. Chrys.
• Ver. 8. The Spirit breatheth where he will. The Prot. translation has the wind: and so it is expounded by S. Chrys. and S. Cyril on this verse; as if Christ compared the motions of the Holy Ghost to the wind, of which men can give so little account, whence it comes, or whither it goes. Yet many others, as S. Aug. S. Amb. S. Greg. understand this expression of the Holy Ghost, of whom it can only be properly said, that he breatheth where he will. Wi.