Daily Bible Readings Friday July 17 2009 15th Week in Ordinary Time

July 17 2009 Friday Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Saint of the Day – St. Francis Solano

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/071709.shtml

Exodus 11:10—12:14
Douay-Rheims Challoner

And Moses and Aaron did all the wonders that are written, before Pharao. And the Lord hardened Pharao’s heart, neither did he let the children of Israel go out of his land. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:

This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first in the months of the year. Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and say to them: On the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb by their families and houses. But if the number be less than may suffice to eat the lamb, he shall take unto him his neighbour that joineth to his house, according to the number of souls which may be enough to eat the lamb. And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year; according to which rite also you shall take a kid.

And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted at the fire, and unleavened bread with wild lettuce.

You shall not eat thereof any thing raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted at the fire; you shall eat the head with the feet and entrails thereof. Neither shall there remain any thing of it until morning. If there be any thing left, you shall burn it with fire. And thus you shall eat it: you shall gird your reins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste; for it is the Phase (that is the Passage) of the Lord.

And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments; I am the Lord. And the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall be; and I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you; and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt. And this day shall be for a memorial to you; and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord in your generations, with an everlasting observance.

Responsorial Psalm 115:3-4, 6-9 (Ps 116:12-13, 15 and 16bc, 17-18 NAB)
DR Challoner Text Only

What shall I render to the Lord,
for all the things that he hath rendered to me?
I will take the chalice of salvation;
and I will call upon the name of the Lord.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
O Lord, for I am thy servant:
I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid.
Thou hast broken my bonds:
I will sacrifice to thee the sacrifice of praise,
and I will call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord in the sight of all his people:

The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew 12:1-8
Haydock New Testament

AT that time Jesus went through the cornfields on the sabbath-day: and his disciples being hungry, began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. And the Pharisees seeing them, said to him:

Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath-days.

But he said to them:

Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and they that were with him: How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the loaves of proposition, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for them that were with him, but for the priests only? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath-days the priests in the temple break the sabbath, and are without blame?

But I tell you that there is here a greater than the temple. And if you knew what this meaneth: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: you would never have condemned the innocent. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.

Haydock Commentary Exodus 11:10—12:14
Notes Copied From Haydock Commentary Site

• Ver. 10. The Lord hardened, &c.  See the annotations above, chap. iv. 21. and chap. vii. 3.
• EXODUS 12
• CHAPTER XII.
• Ver. 1. Said, some time before.  Moses mentions all the plagues together.  M.
• Ver. 2. Year, sacred or ecclesiastical, which is most commonly used in Scripture.  The civil year commenced with Tisri, in September, and regulated the jubilee, contracts, &c.  Lapide — January was the first month to determine the age of trees, and August to decide when cattle became liable to be tithed.  C. xxii. 29.  Levit. xix. 23.  C. — Before the captivity, the months were not styled Nisan, &c. but abib, (C. xiii. 4,) the first…Bul the 11th, (1 K. vi.), &c.  Sa.
• Ver. 3. Children; a word which has been dropped in the printed Heb. and in the Chaldee, which has been assimilated to it, though found still in some MSS. and in the Sam. Sept. Syr. and Arab. versions.  Ken. — Day. This regarded only the present occasion.  Jonathan. — The Jews no longer eat the paschal lamb, as they are banished from Chanaan.  C. — Man, who has a family sufficient to eat a lamb; Heb. se, which means also a kid, (as either was lawful, v. 13,) and perhaps also a calf.  Deut. xvi. 2.
• Ver. 4. Less. Moses does not specify the number.  But in never comprised fewer than ten, nor more than twenty, in which number Menoch does not think women or children are comprised.  The Jews satisfied the inquiry of Cestius, concerning the multitude which might be assembled at the paschal solemnity, by allowing ten for every victim; and finding that 250,600 victims had been sacrificed in the space of two hours, they concluded 2,700,000 people were collected at Jerusalem.  Josep. Bel. vii. 16.
• Ver. 5. Lamb. Heb. se, which denotes the young of either sheep or goats.  Kimchi.  He who had not a lamb, was to sacrifice a kid.  Theodoret. — A kid. The Phase might be performed, either with a lamb or with a kid; and all the same rites and ceremonies were to be used with the one as with the other.  Ch. — Many have asserted, that both were to be sacrificed.  But custom decides against them.  All was to be perfect, Momim, as even the pagans required; (Grotius) and God (Lev. xxii. 22,) orders the victims in general must have no fault.  The Egyptians rejected them, if they were even spotted, or twins. — A male, as all holocausts were to be.  Pagans gave the preference to females.  C. — One year, not older, though it would do if above eight days old.  M. — The paschal lamb prefigured Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us by his death, being holy, set apart, and condescending to feed us with his sacred person, in the blessed Eucharist.  Here we eat the lamb without breaking a bone, though we take the whole victim.  Jo. xix. 36.  1 Cor. v. 7.  C. — To fulfil this figure, Christ substituted his own body, and, making his apostles priests, ordered them to continue this sacrifice for ever.  He came to Jerusalem on the 10th day of Nisan, on Sunday.  He gave himself to his disciples on the evening of the 14th, and died at noon on the 15th.  The unleavened bread, and the cup, (Lu. xxii. 17,) clearly denoted the blessed Sacrament, which was ordered to be eaten in the house or church of God.  S. Cyp. Unit.  See S. Greg. hom. 22. in Evang.   Tert. c. Marc. iv.  “The bread he made his own body.”  If, therefore, the truth must surpass the figure, surely the blessed Sacrament must be more than bread and wine; otherwise it would yield in excellence and signification to the paschal lamb.  W.
• Ver. 6. Sacrifice, not simply kill, as the Protestants would have it.  W. — Evening. Heb. “between the two evenings,” or “suns,” according to the Chaldee, alluding to the sun when it declines and when it sets, including about the space of two hours.  This time belonged to the evening of the 14th, at which time the lamb was to be sacrificed, though it was to be eaten in the night, which pertained to the 15th.  M. — The Jews began the day at sun-set, and some began the first evening soon after mid-day.  Matt. xiv. 15. and seq.  C.
• Ver. 7. Houses. Those who joined their neighbours to eat the paschal lamb, were therefore to continue with them that night, if they would escape destruction, v. 23.  M.
• Ver. 8. Unleavened, in testimony of innocence, 1 Cor. v. 7.  The priests of Jupiter did the like.  Servius. — Lettuce, or some “bitter herbs.”  Heb. and Sept.  The Jews allow of five sorts.
• Ver. 9. Raw. Some nations delighted in raw flesh, in the feasts of Bacchus, who hence received the title of Omadios. Porphyr. de Abstin. 3.  The Heb. term na occurs no where else, and may perhaps signify half-roasted or boiled, semicoctum. It cannot be inferred from this prohibition, that the Hebrews commonly lived on such food. — In water, as the other victims usually were, 1 K. ii. 13.  2 Par. xxxv. 13. — You shall eat, is not in the original, nor in the Sept.  We may supply it, however, or “you shall roast all, head,” &c. but in eating, you shall avoid breaking any bone, as the Sept. and Syr. express it, (v. 10,) and as we read, v. 46, and Num. ix. 12.  These were to be burnt, that they might not be profaned.  C.
• Ver. 11. Haste, as all the aforesaid prescriptions intimate.  M. — Many of them regarded only this occasion, and were not required afterwards. — Phase, which the Chaldee writes Pascha, signifies the passing over (C.) of the destroying angel, when he spared those houses only which were marked with blood, to insinuate the necessity of faith in Christ’s death.  Some have derived the word from the Greek Pascho, “to suffer,” on account of the similarity of sound.  H.
• Ver. 12. First-born, often denotes the most beloved; or, when spoken of those under oppression, the most miserable.  Is. xiv. 30.  Ps. lxxxvii. 27.  Moses observes, (v. 30,) that every house had one dead, which would not probably be true of the first-born, taken in a literal sense; but where there was no child, there the most dear and honourable person was cut off.  Hab. iii. 13. 14. — Gods, idols, whose statues some assert were overthrown (S. Jer. ep. ad Fabiol.  Euseb. præp. ix. ult.); or sacred animals, which were adored by the Egyptians; (Origen) or the word may imply that the princes and judges of the land would be mostly destroyed.  C. — Forbes observes, that by the destruction of the first-born, all the proper sacrifices, and priests of Egypt, were destroyed.
• Ver. 14. This day. The Jews assert, that as their fathers were delivered out of Egypt on the 15th of Nisan, so Israel will be redeemed on that day by the Messias; which has been literally verified in Jesus Christ. — Everlasting. This is what will be done with respect to our Christian passover, (C.) of which the Jewish was a figure, designed to subsist as long as their republic.  M.

Haydock Commentary Matthew 12:1-8

• Ver. 1. And his disciples being hungry. How truly admirable is the conduct of the apostles, who would not depart from the company of Jesus, though pressed by the greatest hunger and fatigue, not even to take a little refreshment for the body.  S. Chrys. — It is remarked by S. Jerom, that the Pharisees did not accuse the disciples of theft, but of a breach of the sabbath.  S. Luke calls this sabbath, Sabbatum secundo primum, which is differently explained by interpreters.  Ribeira, following S. Chrysostom and Theophilactus, thinks that every sabbath was so called, which followed immediately any feast.  Maldonatus is of opinion that some particular sabbath is pointed out by this name, and conjectures that it was the sabbath of Pentecost, because it is the second of the great feast, viz. the Passover, Pentecost, Scenopegia, or of the Tabernacles. — In the Greek, sabbath is in the plural, and means the days of the sabbath or rest, which were a part of the feast.  The three great feasts lasted a whole week each.  They were all three called prwta, i.e. great, solemn feasts.  The first was that of the Passover, with the seven days of unleavened bread, called prwtoprwton, the first-first sabbath by excellence: the second was the great feast of Pentecost, deuteroprwton, the second-first sabbath, (which seems to have been the feast meant by the evangelist in this place, as at this season the corn was ripe in Palestine) and the third was the feast of tabernacles, tritoprwton, the third-first great sabbath.  Many, however, are of the opinion, that by the second-first sabbath is meant the octave day of the feast, which was ordered to be equally solemnized with the first day of the feast.  Liv. xxiii. 36. 39. and Num. xxix. 35.
• Ver. 2. That which is not lawful to do on the sabbath-days. The Pharisees blame not the disciples for plucking the ears of corn, as they passed by, (this being allowed, Deut. xxiii. 25.) but for doing it on a sabbath-day, as if it had been a breach of the sabbath.  Wi. — Behold, &c.  The Pharisees here mildly rebuke our Lord; but afterwards, when he restored the withered hand, they rose up against him with such rage, that they formed upon the spot designs of killing him, as in ver. 14.  When there is nothing great or sublime, they are more quiet, but when with his word only he restores health to the infirm, like furious beasts, they grow enraged.  S. Chrysos. hom. xl.
• Ver. 3. What David, &c.[1]  Christ shews them that the law need not always be taken according to the bare letter. — Into the house of God; i.e. where the tabernacle was then kept: not into the temple, which at that time was not built. — Eat the loaves, &c.  Christ speaks of  those loaves which were ordered to be placed on a table within the tabernacle, and changed from time to time.  This translation seems as literal as may be, and more intelligible than loaves of proposition, or shew-bread. Wi. — To refute this calumny of the Jewish leaders, Jesus reminds them of the conduct of David when pursued by Saul, who, reduced to the like extremity, eat of that bread which the priests alone were allowed to touch.  Achimelec, the high priest, thinking it a more pleasing sacrifice to God to preserve the life of man, than to make an offering of bread.  S. Jerom. — And they that were with him. In the place alluded to, (1 K. xxi.) it is said, that he was alone. It may be answered, that no one was with him when he received the loaves.  M.
• Ver. 4. How  he entered, &c.  The house of God was then at Nobe.  In S. Mark, the high priest is called Abiathar.  See C. ii. 26.  To this difficulty some answer, that the father and son bore these two names, Achimelec and Abiathar.  This they attempt to prove from 2 K. viii. 19, and 1 Paral. xxiv. 3.  Others say that Abiathar, son of Achimelec, was present, and sanctioned the action of his father, thus making it his own.  Others again contend, that it ought to have been translated, in the chapter called Abiathar, instead of under Abiathar: for the Jews divided the Scriptures into parts, and called them by the names of the most remarkable person or thing spoken of in them.  Thus Romans, ii. 2.  In Elias, means in the part called Elias. — The loaves of proposition. So were called the twelve loaves which were placed before the sanctuary, in the temple of God.  Ch. — These were exposed every sabbath, on the golden table, before the Lord.  V.
• Ver. 5. Break the sabbath; i.e. they do that, which if the divine worship did not require, would not be allowed on the sabbath, as the work they do, of its own nature, is servile.
• Ver. 6. A greater than the temple: so what can be done for the temple without a sin, may be done for him without a crime.  V.
• Ver. 7. Mercy, and not sacrifice. Osee vi. 6.  The meaning of this is, if you then approve of the mercy of the high priest, who refreshed the famished fugitive David, why do you condemn my disciples?  S. Jerom.
• Ver. 8. Lord . . . of the sabbath. He proves that he can dispense with the observation of the feast, because he is master of the feast.  In S. Mark (ii. 27.) it is written, the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath; i.e. man’s salvation is to be preferred to the observation of the sabbath.  M. — In the concurrence of two incompatible precepts, we must give the preference to that which is the end and object of the other; thus we must prefer the preservation of life to the observance of the sabbath.  A. — These loaves were twelve, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel.  They were set six and six, one upon another, at each end of the table.  Upon the uppermost loaf of each heap stood a vessel, smoking with the sweetest incense.  These loaves at the week’s end were, according to God’s order, eaten by the priests only, when they were replaced by twelve fresh ones, made like them, with the finest flour, tempered with oil.  This offering of the shew-bread before the Lord, was a continual sacrifice, as the holy Fathers observe, and a figure of a more excellent kind of shew-bread, viz. Jesus Christ himself in the holy eucharist.  A.