Daily Bible Readings Wednesday June 17 2009 Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Joseph Cafasso

June 17 2009 Wednesday Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day – St. Joseph Cafasso

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/061709.shtml

2 Corinthians 9:6-11
Haydock New Testament

Now this I say: He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly; and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap of blessings. Every one as he hath determined in his heart, not with sadness, or of necessity: For God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound in you: that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work, As it is written: He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever.

Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, will both give you bread to eat, and will multiply your seed, and increase the growth of the fruits of your justice: That being enriched in all things, you may abound unto all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

Responsorial Psalm 111:1bc-4, 9 (Ps 112 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord:
he shall delight exceedingly in his commandments.
His seed shall be mighty upon earth:
the generation of the righteous shall be blessed.
Glory and wealth shall be in his house:
and his justice remaineth for ever and ever.
To the righteous a light is risen up in darkness:
he is merciful, and compassionate and just.
He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor:
his justice remaineth for ever and ever:
his horn shall be exalted in glory.

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Haydock New Testament

Christ Pantocrator

Jesus said:

TAKE heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall have no reward of your Father, who is in heaven. Therefore when thou dost an alms-deed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, and in the streets, that they may be honoured by men. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth: That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father, who seeth in secret will repay thee.

And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues, and at the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father, who seeth in secret, will reward thee.

And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear fasting to men. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face, That thou appear not fasting to men, but to thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will repay thee.

Haydock Commentary 2 Corinthians 9:6-11
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 8. God is generous to the liberally disposed Christian; filling such as relieve the poor with every species of good, and returning their charities a hundred-fold.  M.
• Ver. 11-13. All bountifulness,[1] by which is signified, a sincere and free liberality, by giving with a sincere heart, and good intention.  S. Paul encourages them to contribute willingly for God’s sake, and out of a true charity for their indigent brethren, who will praise, and thank God, and pray for them, &c.  Wi.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

• Ver. 1. Your justice;[1] in the common Greek copies, your alms, which seems to be the sense in this place.  Wi. — Hereby it is plain that good works are justice, and that man doing them doth justice, and is thereby just and justified, and not by faith only.  All which justice of a christian man, our Saviour here compriseth in the three eminent good works, alms deeds, prayer, and fasting.  Aug. l. perf. just. c. viii.  So that to give alms is to do justice, and the works of mercy are justice.  Aug. in ps. xlix, v. 5.  B. — S. Gregory says, that the man who by his virtuous actions would gain the applause of men, quits at an easy rate a treasure of immense value; for, with what he might purchase the kingdom of heaven, he only seeks to acquire the transitory applause of mortals.  This precept of Christ, says S. Chrysostom, beautifully evinces the solicitude and unspeakable goodness of God, lest we should have the labour of performing good works, and on account of evil motives be deprived of our reward.  Hom. xix.  “Shut up alms in the heart of the poor.”  Eccles. xxix. 15.
• Ver. 2. This must be understood figuratively, that we must avoid all ostentation in the performance of our good works.  Many respectable authors are of opinion, that it was customary with the Pharisees and other hypocrites, to assemble the poor they designed to relieve by sound of trumpet.  M. — Let us avoid vain glory, the agreeable plunderer of our good works, the pleasant enemy of our souls, which presents its poison to us under the appearance of honey.  S. Bas.
• Ver. 3. Be content to have God for witness to your good works, who alone has power to reward you for them.  They will be disclosed soon enough to man, when at the day of general retribution the good and the evil will be brought to light, and every one shall be rewarded according to his works.  A.
• Ver. 4. This repaying or rewarding of good works, so often mentioned here by Jesus Christ, clearly evinces that good works are meritorious, and that we may do them with a view to a reward, as David did, propter retributionem.  A.
• Ver. 5. Hypocrisy is forbidden in all these three good works of justice, but not the doing of them openly for the glory of God, the edification of our neighbour, and our own salvation.  Let your light so shine before men, i.e. let your work be so done in public, that the intention remain in secret.  S. Greg.
• Ver. 6. Because he who should pray in his chamber, and at the same time desire it to be known by men, that he might thence receive vain glory, might truly be said to pray in the street, and sound a trumpet before him: whilst he, who though he pray in public, seeks not thence any vain glory, acts the same as if he prayed in his chamber.  M. — Jesus Christ went up to the temple, to attend public worship on the festival days.
• Ver. 16. He condemns not public fasts as prescribed to the people of God, (Jud. xx. 26.  2 Esdras ix.  Joel ii. 15.  John iii.) but fasting through vain glory, and for the esteem of men.  B.
• Ver. 17. The forty days’ fast, my dear brethren, is not an observance peculiar to ourselves; it is kept by all who unite with us in the profession of the same faith.  Nor is it without reason that the fast of Christ should be an observance common to all Christians.  What is more reasonable, than that the different members should follow the example of the head.  If we have been made partakers with him of good, why not also of evil.  Is it generous to exempt ourselves from every thing that is painful, and with to partake with him in all that is agreeable?  With such dispositions, we are members unworthy of such a head. . . . Is it much for us to fast with Christ, who expect to sit at the table of his Father with him?  Is it much for the members to suffer with the head, when we expect to be made one day partakers with him glory?  Happy the man who shall imitate such a Master.  He shall accompany him whithersoever he goes.  S. Bern. Serm, in Quad. — Wherefore, my dear brethren, if the taste only has caused us to offend God, let the taste only fast, and it will be enough.  But if the other members also have sinned, let them also fast.  Let the eye fast, if it has been the cause of sin to the soul; let the ear fast, the tongue, the hand, and the soul itself.  Let the eye fast from beholding objects, which are only calculated to excite curiosity and vanity; that being now humbled, it may be restrained to repentance, which before wandered in guilt.  Let the ear fast from listening to idle stories and words that have no reference to salvation.  Let the tongue fast from detraction and murmuring, from unprofitable and sacrilegious discourse; sometimes also, out of respect to holy silence, from speaking what appears necessary and profitable.  Let the hand also fast from useless works, and from every action that is not commanded.  But above all, let the soul fast from sin and the doing of its own will.  Without these fasts, all others will not be accepted by the Lord.  S. Bern. Serm. 2 de Jejun.  Quad. — Fast from what is in itself lawful, that you may receive pardon for what you have formerly done amiss.  Redeem an eternal fast by a short and transitory one.  For we have deserved hell fire, where there will be no food, no consolation, no end; where the rich man begs for a drop of water, and is not worthy to receive it.  A truly good and salutary fast, the observance of which frees us from eternal punishment, by obtaining for us in this life the remission of our sins.  Nor is it only the remission of former transgressions, but likewise a preservative against future sin, by meriting for us grace to enable us to avoid those faults we might otherwise have committed.  I will add another advantage, which results from tasting, one which I hope I am not deceived in saying you have frequently experienced.  It gives devotion and confidence to prayer.  Observe how closely prayer and fasting are connected.  Prayer gives us power to fast, fasting enables us to pray.  Fasting gives strength to our prayer, praying sanctifies our fast, and renders it worthy of acceptance before the Lord.  S. Bern. Serm. de Orat. & []ejun.