Daily Bible Readings Thursday June 11 2009 Memorial of St Barnabas, Apostle

June 11 2009 Thursday Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle
Saint of the Day – St. Barnabas

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/061109.shtml

Acts 11:21b-26; 13:1-3
Haydock New Testament

And a great number believing, was converted to the Lord. And the report of these things came to the ears of the church that was at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas as far as Antioch. Who when he was come, and had seen the grace of God, rejoiced: and exhorted them all with purpose of heart to continue in the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith. And a great multitude was added to the Lord. And Barnabas went to Tarsus, to seek Saul: whom, when he had found, he brought to Antioch. And they conversed there in the church a whole year: and they taught a great multitude, so that at Antioch the disciples were first name Christians.

NOW there were in the church, which was at Antioch, prophets and teachers, among whom was Barnabas, and Simon, who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manahen, who was the foster-brother of Herod, the tetrarch, and Saul. And as they were ministering to the Lord, and fasting, the Holy Ghost said to them: Separate me Saul and Barnabas, for the work to which I have taken them. Then they fasting and praying, and imposing their hands upon them, sent them away.

Responsorial Psalm 97:1-6 (Ps 98 NAB/Hebrew)
DR Challoner Text Only

Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle:
because he hath done wonderful things.
His right hand hath wrought for him salvation,
and his arm is holy.
The Lord hath made known his salvation:
he hath revealed his justice in the sight of the Gentiles.
He hath remembered his mercy
and his truth toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Sing joyfully to God, all the earth;
make melody, rejoice and sing.
Sing praise to the Lord on the harp,
on the harp, and with the voice of a psalm:
With long trumpets, and sound of cornet.
Make a joyful noise before the Lord our king:

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 5:20-26
Haydock New Testament

Jesus said:

For I say to you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and of the Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill, shall be liable to the judgment. But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be liable to the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore, if thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there shalt remember that thy brother hath any thing against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother: and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thy adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him: lest perhaps the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Amen, I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence, till thou pay the last farthing.

Haydock Commentary Acts 11:21b-26; 13:1-3
Notes copied from Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 24. Multitude was added, as before, (c. x.) a few were added to the visible Church.  Ever since Christ’s ascension, this Church has been notoriously seen.  Of her ministers, their preaching has been open, their sacraments visible, their discipline visible, their persecutions visible, their wonderful increase visible, and their manifestly divine protection visible, and known to all the world.  Whilst all that have separated themselves by schism from this venerable body, have fallen into discredit, and most into complete oblivion.  The Catholic Church was the first, and it will be the last.
• Ver. 25. To seek Saul, who had retired for a while, to his native city, Tarsus.  These two remained in Antioch about a year, during which time they reaped a plentiful harvest.
• Ver. 26. At Antioch the disciples were first named Christians, when S. Paul and S. Barnabas were preaching there.  Before that, they were called the disciples of Jesus, and sometimes Nazarenes, (see Acts xxiv. 5.) or perhaps Galileans. This honourable name of Christians, distinguished them from Gentiles and Jews, and from all heretical sects, who generally had some name from the authors of such sects, as Simonites, Cerinthians, Nicolaits, &c.  Of which see S. Epiphanius.  The faithful had also after some time the name of Catholics, being taught in the apostles’ creed to believe in the Catholic Church. And S. Augustin, in several places, takes notice, that no heretics could ever get themselves called by this name; nor can they to this present.  See S. Aug. de util. credendi. c. viii. de vera relig. c. vii. cont. epis. fundam. c. iv.  Whosoever is of the true faith of Christ, may justly say, Christian is my name, Catholic my surname: a greater honour, and a greater advantage, than to be of any royal family.  Wi. — The faithful disciples, believers, &c. as before they were called, now received the name of Christians.  It is not certain whether they took the name themselves, or it was given them out of disrespect, by the pagans.  Galileans were a term of reproach likewise given to the Christians.  S. Peter, in his first epistle, uses the appellation of Christians; but it does not appear that S. Paul ever did in any of his writings.  Calmet, Tirinus, &c. — The name of Christian should be common to all the faithful, and all other new names of sectaries abhorred.  “If you hear,” says S. Jer. any where such as are said to be of Christ, “not to have their name from Christ, but from some other, as Marcionites, Valentinians, (as now also Lutherans, Calvinists, &c. &c. &c. &c.) know that they belong not to the Church of Christ, but to the synagogue of Antichrist.”  S. Pacianus, in his letter to Sympronian, says, when heresies had arisen, and endeavoured by diverse names to tear the dove of the Lord and Queen in pieces, that faithful required their surname: hence they who before were called Christians, are now surnamed also Catholics. Christian is my name and Catholic my surname.  By this term Catholic, the apostles, in their creed, have distinguished the one true visible Church from all and every other congregation, sect, or party.  This mark is so self-evident, that S. Augustin hesitates not to say: “In the lap of the Church the very name Catholic keepeth me.”  Cont. ep. fund. c. iv. — Again, in his book on the utility of believing, he says: “if after these troubles of mind you still are tossed and vexed, and wish for peace, follow the way of Catholic discipline, which from Christ himself, by the apostles, hath proceeded even unto us, and shall proceed from hence to the latest posterity.”  1 Tim. iii. 15.
• Ver. 1. Manahen . . . foster-brother to Herod, or nursed with the same milk.  Wi. — It would appear from his having been  brought up with Herod, that he was of noble parentage.  He is likewise believed to have been one of the seventy-two disciples.  The Latins keep his feast on the 24th of May.  Calmet.
• Ver. 2. As they were ministering to the Lord.[1]  Mr. N. and some others translate, offering up sacrifice. There are indeed good grounds to take this to be the true sense, as the Rhemish translators observed, who notwithstanding only put ministering, lest, (said they) we should seem to turn it in favour of our own cause, since neither the Latin nor Greek word signifies of itself to sacrifice, but any public ministry in the service of God; so the S. Chrys. says, when they were preaching. Wi. — Separate me. Though Paul and Barnabas are here chosen by the Holy Ghost for the ministry, yet they were to be ordained, consecrated, and admitted by men; which loudly condemns all those modish and disordered spirits, that challenge and usurp the office of preaching, and other sacred and ecclesiastical functions, without any appointment from the Church.  B. — Consider, says S. Chrysostom, by whom they are ordained: by Lucius, of Cyrene, and Manahen, rather than by the Spirit.  The less honourable these persons are, the more signal is the grace of God.”
• Ver. 3. Fasting and prayer, imposing their hands upon them. By which is clearly expressed, the manner in which the ministers of God were, and are still ordained bishops, priests, deacons in the Church.  Wi. — Interpreters are much divided in opinion, whether this imposition of hands be a mere deputation to a certain employment, or the sacramental ceremony, by which orders are conferred.  SS. Chrysostom, Leo, &c. are of the latter opinion; nor does it any where appear that S. Paul was bishop before this.  Arator, sub-deacon of the Church of Rome, who dedicated in the year 544 his version of the Acts of the Apostles into heroic verse to Pope Virgilius, attributes this imposition of hands to S. Peter:
• ———-Quem mox sacravit euntem
• Imposita Petrus ille manu, cui sermo magistri
• Omnia posse dedit.———-
• — See his printed poems in 4to. Venice, an. 1502.  Arator was sent in quality of ambassador from Athalaric to the emperor Justinian. — Following the practice of the apostles, the Church of God ordains a solemn and general fast on the four public times for ordination, the ember days, as a necessary preparation for so great a work, and this S. Leo calls also an apostolical tradition.  See S. Leo, serm. ix. de jejun. and ep. lxxxi. c. 1. and serm. iii. and iv. de jejun. 7. mensis.— Nor was this fasting a fasting from sin, as some ridiculously affirm, for such fasting was a universal obligatin: nor was it left to each one’s discretion, as certain heretics maintained.  Vide S. Aug. hæres. iii.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 5:20-26

• Ver. 20. Of the Scribes and of the  Pharisees. The Scribes were the doctors of the law of Moses; the Pharisees were a precise set of men, making profession of a more exact observance of the law: and upon that account greatly esteemed among the people.  Ch. — See how necessary it is, not only to believe, but to keep all the commandments, even the very least.  B. — Our Saviour makes this solemn declaration at the opening of his mission, to shew to what a height of perfection he calls us.  Aquin. — “Your justice.”  It is our justice when given us by God.  Aug. in Ps. xxx. l. de. spir. & lit. c. ix.  So that Christians are truly just, and have in themselves inherent justice, by observing God’s commandments, without which justice of works, no man can be saved.  Aug. de fide & oper. c. xvi.  Whereby we see salvation, justice and justification, do not come by faith only, or imputation of Christ’s justice.  B.
• Ver. 21. Shall be liable to the judgment. That is, shall deserve to be punished by that lesser tribunal among the Jews, called the judgment, which took cognizance of such crimes.  Ch. — Among the Jews at the time of Christ, there were three sorts of tribunals: the first composed of three judges to try smaller causes, as theft; there was one in each town: the second of twenty-three judges, who judged criminal causes, and had the power of condemning to death.  This was called the Little Sanhedrim, and of this it is supposed Jesus Christ speaks: the third, or Great Sanhedrim of seventy-two judges, who decided on the most momentous affairs, relating to religion, the king, the high priest, and the state in general.  It is this last that is designated under the name of council in the next verse.  A.
• Ver. 22. Whosoever is angry[2] with his brother. In almost all Greek copies and MSS. we now read angry without a cause: yet S. Jerom, who corrected the Latin of the New Testament from the best copies in his time, tells us that these words, without a cause, were only found in some Greek copies, and not in the true ones. It seems at fist to have been placed in the margin for an interpretation only, and by some transcribers afterwards taken into the text.  This as well as many other places may convince us, that the Latin Vulgate is many times to be preferred to our present Greek copies. — Roca.[3]  S. Augustin thinks this was no significant word, but only a kind of interjection expression a motion of anger.  Others take it for a Syro-Chaldaic word, signifying a light, foolish man, though not so injurious as to call another a fool. — Shall be guilty of the council:[4] that is, shall deserve to be punished by the highest court of judicature, called the council, or sanhedrim, consisting of seventy-two persons, where the highest causes were tried and judged, and which was at Jerusalem. — Thou fool; this was a most provoking injury, when uttered with contempt, spite, or malice. — Shall be in danger of hell fire.[5]  Lit. according to the Greek, shall deserve to be cast into the Gehennon of fire. Gehennom was the valley of Hinnom, near to Jerusalem, where the worshippers of the idol Moloch used to burn their children, sacrificed to that idol.  In that place was a perpetual fire, on which account it is made use of by our Saviour (as it hath been ever since), to express the fire and punishments of hell.  Wi. — Here is a plain difference between sin and sin; some mortal, that lead to hell; some venial, and less punished.  B.
• Ver. 23. He commands us to leave unfinished any work we may have begun, though in its own nature most acceptable to God, in order to go and be reconciled to our brother; because God will have mercy and not sacrifice.  Thus he in a manner seems to prefer the love of our neighbour to the love of himself.  M.
• Ver. 24. Leave thy offering. This is not to be understood, as if a man were always bound to go to the person offended; but it is to signify, that a man is bound in his heart and mind to be reconciled, to forgive every one, and seek peace with all men.  Wi. — Beware of coming to the holy table, or to any sacrament, without charity.  Be first reconciled to your brother, and much more to the Catholic Church, which is the whole brotherhood of Christian men.  Heb. xiii. 1.  B.
• Ver. 25. & 26. Agree whilst you are in the way, or wayfaring men, i.e. in this life, lest you be cast into prison, i.e. according to SS. Cyprian, Ambrose, and Origen, into purgatory; according to S. Augustin, into hell, in which, as the debt is to be paid to inflexible justice, it can never be acquitted, and of course no release can be hoped for from that prison.  A.