Daily Bible Readings Tuesday June 16 2009 Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

June 16 2009 Tuesday Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day – St. John Francis Regis

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/061609.shtml

2 Corinthians 8:1-9
Haydock New Testament

NOW we make known to you, brethren, the grace of God, that hath been given in the churches of Macedonia: That in much experience of tribulation they have had abundance of joy, and their very deep poverty hath abounded unto the riches of their simplicity: For according to their power I bear them witness, and beyond their power they were willing, With much intreaty, begging of us the grace and communication of the ministry that is done towards the saints. And not as we hoped, but they gave their ownselves first to the Lord, then to us by the will of God; Insomuch, that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so also he would finish in you this same grace. That as in all things you abound in faith, and word, and knowledge, and all carefulness, moreover also in your charity towards us; so in this grace also you may abound. I speak not as commanding: but by the carefulness of others, approving also the good disposition of your charity. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that being rich, he became poor for your sakes: that through his poverty you might be rich.

Responsorial Psalm 145:2, 5-9a (Ps 146 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Praise the Lord, O my soul, in my life I will praise the Lord:
I will sing to my God as long as I shall be.
Put not your trust in princes:
Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his helper,
whose hope is in the Lord his God:
Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.
Who keepeth truth for ever:
who executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong:
who giveth food to the hungry.
The Lord looseth them that are fettered:
The Lord enlighteneth the blind.
The Lord lifteth up them that are cast down:
the Lord loveth the just.
The Lord keepeth the strangers

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 5:43-48
Haydock New Testament

Jesus said:

You have heard that it hath been said: Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy. But I say to you: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you, That you may be the children of your Father, who is in heaven: who maketh his sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.  For if you love those that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens the same?

Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.

Haydock Commentary 2 Corinthians 8:1-9
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 1. Grace of God,[1] that hath been given in the Churches of Macedonia. It was certainly the grace of God, that moved the Macedonians to make those charitable contributions for the relief of their poor Christian brethren in Judea, which S. Paul now speaks of: and therefore with those who seem the most exact translators, (even with the most approved Prot. translation) I have, according to the letter, put the grace of God, rather than the godly charity, as others would have it, whom I had once followed, and which I think probable, taking the grace of God, for a great grace, a great charity, or a great benevolence.  Wi.
• Ver. 2. Poverty hath abounded, &c.  The sense seems to be, that in their great poverty, they shewed the riches of their simplicity, that is, of a sincere, willing, and charitable heart.  Wi.
• Ver. 4. Begging of us the grace, &c.  We may translate, benevolence, or charity, meaning their charitable alms or contributions.  It also may be called a grace, a favour, or a charity, which they did for the poor.  He exhorts them to these charitable contributions by the example of Christ, who being the God of glory, made himself the lowest and poorest of men to enrich us with grace and glory.  Wi. — Towards the saints. The saints whom S. Paul is here speaking of, are the faithful of Jerusalem, who had been deprived of all their property at the beginning of their conversion, by their countrymen, for their steady adherence to the Christian faith, and were now reduced to the greatest want.  It is for the support of their brethren in Palestine that the charitable contributions here mentioned by S. Paul, were raised in the Churches of Macedon.  Calmet. — In the Greek we read, entreating us to receive the alms which they offered as a contribution to the charitable fund destined for the saints, or faithful, at Jerusalem.  See Rom. xv. 25. 26. and 1 Cor. xvi. 1. 3.
• Ver. 5. They gave their ownselves. That is, they resigned themselves and families to the care of Providence for the necessaries of life, begging that the apostle would receive their alms, which exceeded even their means.  C. — And by the will of God they also gave themselves to us, that we might dispose of them, and of all that belonged to them, as we should judge proper.  V.
• Ver. 6. We desired Titus. Having experienced the benevolence and generosity of the faithful of Macedon, S. Paul dismisses his faithful disciple, Titus, to exhort the Corinthians to imitate the example of their brethren in Macedon, laying before their eyes, in the following verses, the charity of Christ, who reduced himself to the greatest poverty and indulgence, to shew us an example of humility and charity.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 5:43-48

• Ver. 43.  And hate thy enemy. The words of the law (Levit. xix. 18.) are only these: thou shalt love thy friend as thyself; but by a false gloss and inference, these words, and hate thy enemy, were added by the Jewish doctors.  Wi.
• Ver. 44. I come to establish the purity of the law, which they have corrupted.  A.
• Ver. 46. The publicans. These were the gatherers of the public taxes: a set of men, odious and infamous among the Jews, for their extortions and injustice.  Ch.
• Ver. 48. Jesus Christ here sums up his instructions by ordering us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect; i.e. to imitate, as far as our exertions, assisted by divine grace, can reach, the divine perfection.  Wi. — See here the great superiority of the new over the old law.  But let no one hence take occasion to despise the old.  Let him examine attentively, says S. Chrysostom, the different periods of time, and the persons to whom it was given; and he will admire the wisdom of the divine Legislator, and clearly perceive that it is one and the same Lord, and that each law was to the great advantage of mankind, and wisely adapted to the times of their promulgation.  For, if among the first principles of rectitude, these sublime and eminent truths had been found, perhaps neither these, nor the less perfect rules of mortality would have been observed; whereas, by disposing of both in their proper time, the divine wisdom has employed both for the correction of the world.  Hom xviii.  Seeing then that we are thus blessed as to be called, and to be the children of so excellent a Father, we should endeavour, like Him, to excel in goodness, meekness, and charity; but above all in humility, which will secure to us the merit of good works, through the infinite merits of our divine Redeemer, Master, and model, Christ Jesus the Lord.  A.