Sunday Bible Readings May 10 2009 Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 10 2009 Fifth Sunday of Easter

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/051009.shtml

Acts 9:26-31
Haydock New Testament

And when he was come into Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and related to them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had acted confidently in the name of Jesus. And he was with them, coming in and going out, in Jerusalem, and acting confidently in the name of the Lord. He spoke also to the Gentiles, and disputed with the Grecians: but they sought to kill him. Which when the brethren had known, they brought him down to Cæsarea, and sent him away to Tarsus.

Now the church had peace throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and was edified, walking in the fear of the Lord, and was filled with the consolation of the Holy Ghost.

Responsorial Psalm 21:26-28, 30-32 (Ps 22 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

With thee is my praise in a great church:
I will pay my vows in the sight of them that fear him.
The poor shall eat and shall be filled:
and they shall praise the Lord that seek him:
their hearts shall live for ever and ever.
All the ends of the earth shall remember,
and shall be converted to the Lord:
And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight.
All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored:
all they that go down to the earth shall fall before him.
And to him my soul shall live: and my seed shall serve him.
There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come:
and the heavens shall shew forth his justice
to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made.

1 John 3:18-24
Haydock New Testament

My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth. In this we know that we are of the truth: and in his sight we shall persuade our hearts. For is our heart reprehend us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

Dearly beloved, if our heart do not reprehend us, we have confidence towards God: And whatsoever we shall ask, we shall receive of him: because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment: that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ: and love one another, as he hath given commandment unto us. And he that keepeth his commandments, abideth in him, and he in him: and in this we know that he abideth in us, but the Spirit which he hath given us.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint John 15:1-8
Haydock New Testament

Jesus said:

I AM the true vine; and my Father is the husband-man. Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit, he will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean, by reason of the word, which I have spoken to you. Remain in my: and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit itself, unless it abide in the vine: so neither can you, unless you abide in me.

I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. If any one remaineth not in me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall whither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you: you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done to you. In this is my Father glorified, that you bring forth very much fruit, and become my disciples.

Haydock Commentary Acts 9:26-31
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 27. Brought him to the apostles Peter and James.  See Gal. i. 18. and 19.
• Ver. 29. He spoke also to the Gentiles,[1] and disputed with the Grecians, or Hellenists.  See c. vi. v. 1.  By the Gentiles, many understand those who had been Gentiles, and were become proselytes or converts to the Jewish religion, and not those who still remained Gentiles.  And by the Greeks, or Hellenists, they understand Jews, who had lived in places where they spoke Greek, or Hellenists, they understand Jews, who had lived in places where they spoke Greek, not Syriac, whom S. Paul endeavoured to convert to the Christian faith.  Wi.
• Ver. 31. The Church visibly proceedeth still with much comfort and patience; she is perfected by persecution, and by means of the promised infallible protection, she has ever proved herself invulnerable to all the envenomed shafts of her adversaries.

Haydock Commentary 1 John 3:18-24

• Ver. 19-20. And in his sight we shall persuade our hearts. That is, if we love God and our neighbour in deed, as he said before, we may rest satisfied in conscience that we follow the ways of truth, and may have a well-grounded confidence in God. — But if our hearts reprehend us, for not complying with this duty and precept of charity, God is still greater than our heart; i.e. he sees and knows the interior dispositions of our heart, even better than we know ourselves, and therefore we have more reason to fear him, especially when even our heart and conscience reprehend us.  Wi.
• Ver. 24. We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. These words may be either referred to the body of the Church in general or to the apostles, or to every one in particular.  It is certain that God gave his Spirit to his Church and to the apostles, by the coming of the Holy Ghost in a visible manner, and by the miraculous gifts bestowed upon the apostles; but every one in particular has only a moral certainty that he has the Spirit of God, and his sanctifying grace in his soul.  Wi.

Haydock Commentary John 15:1-8

• Ver 1. I am the true vine. Christ, says S. Aug. speaks of himself, as man, when he compares himself to a vine, his disciples to the branches, and his Father to the husbandman. He himself, as God, is also the husbandman. — Without me, you can do nothing, that shall be meritorious of a reward in heaven.  Wi. — These words are supposed to have been spoken by our Saviour, when on the road, as he was going from the house, where he had supped, to the garden of Olives.  It was then about midnight.  Calmet. — Though many other interpreters think they were spoken before Jesus Christ left the house.
• Ver. 2. He here shews, that the virtuous themselves stand in need of the help of the husbandman; therefore the Almighty sends them tribulations, and temptations, that they may be cleansed, and rendered firm, like the vine, which, the more it is pruned, the more vigorous are its shoots.  S. Chrys. hom. lxxv. in Joan.
• Ver. 3. See supra xiii. 10.
• Ver. 7. On account of our being in this world, we sometimes ask for that, which is not expedient for us.  But these things will not be granted us, if we remain in Christ, who never grants us any thing, unless it be profitable to us.  S. Aug. tract. 81. in Joan. — If we abide in Christ, by a lively faith, and his words abide in us by a lively, ardent charity, which can make us produce the fruits of good works, all that we ask, will be granted us.  V. — These conditional expressions, if you remain in the vine, if you keep my commandments, &c. give us to understand, that our perseverance and salvation are upon conditions, to be fulfilled by us. — S. Aug. de cor. & gra. c. 13.
• Ver. 8. It is the glory of the husbandman, to see his vine well cultivated, and laden with fruit.  And it is the glory of God, my Father, to see you filled with faith, charity, and good works, and to behold you usefully employed, in the conversion of others.  Then will men, seeing your heavenly Father, as the author of all these blessings.  S. Matt. v. 16.  Calmet.