Daily Bible Readings Wednesday May 13 2009 Fifth Week of Easter Our Lady of Fatima

Our Lady of Fatima

May 13 2009 Wednesday Fifth Week of Easter
Saint of the Day – Our Lady of Fatima

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/051309.shtml

The Acts of the Apostles 15:1-6
Haydock New Testament

AND some coming down from Judea, taught the brethren:

That unless you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved.

And when Paul and Barnabas had no small contest with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of the other side, should go up to the apostles and priests to Jerusalem, about this question. They, therefore, being brought on their way by the church, passed through Phœnice and Samaria, relating the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy to all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church, and by the apostles and ancients, declaring how great things God had done with them. But there rose up some of the sect of the Pharisees that believed, saying:

They must be circumcised, and be commanded to observe the law of Moses.

And the apostles and ancients assembled to consider of this matter.

Responsorial Psalm 121:1-5
DR Challoner Text Only

I rejoiced at the things that were said to me:
We shall go into the house of the Lord.
Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, which is built as a city,
which is compact together.
For thither did the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord:
the testimony of Israel,
to praise the name of the Lord.
Because their seats have sat in judgment,
seats upon the house of David.

The Gospel According to Saint John 15:1-8
Haydock NT

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 15:1-6
Notes copied from Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. Unless you be circumcised. Many who had been converted from Judaism, held that none, not even converted from paganism, could be saved, unless they were circumcised, and observed the other ceremonies of the law of Moses.  Wi. — See Gal. v. 2.
• Ver. 2. To the apostles and priests,[1] where we find again presbyters in Greek, meaning bishops and priests.  Wi. — Paul . . . should go to . . . Jerusalem. We learn from Gal. ii. 2. 4. that S. Paul undertook this journey in consequence of a divine revelation, and was accompanied by Barnabas and Titus, the latter of whom he would not suffer to be circumcised.  Such confidence had he in the rectitude of the opinion he defended.  From the example of S. Paul and S. Barnabas, apostles, and men full of the Spirit of God, we learn, that as often as any contest arises about faith, recourse should be had to the supreme visible authority established by Jesus Christ, to have all differences adjusted.  This is the order of divine Providence with regard to the Church; without it truth and unity could not be preserved; without it, the Church of God would be more defective and inefficient than any human government.  Tell the Church: and if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican. Matt. xviii. 17.

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.