Sunday
November 27, 2011
Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7 1 Cor. 1:3-9 Mark 13:33-37
Commentary on the first reading from the Aquinas Study Bible
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63:16 our Father: God is so named not as begetting them of Himself, but as caring for them and shielding them. But whereas God, as we have said, is in an improper sense the Father of men, of Christ alone He is the Father by nature, not by adoption: and the Father of men in time, but of Christ before all time. (St. Cyril of Jerusalem Lecture 7)
63:17 God does not bestow on some the help for avoiding sin which He bestows on others. This help is not merely the infusion of grace, but also an exterior guardianship, whereby the occasions of sin are providentially removed from a man’s path. God also aids man against sin by the natural light of reason, and other natural goods that He bestows on man. When then He withdraws these aids from some, as their conduct deserves that he should, according to the exigency of His justice, He is said to harden them, or to blind them. (St. Thomas Aquinas On God and His Creaure 3.163.4) |
64:4 Isaiah is speaking of the Incarnation of Christ and of this present life. And hence Chrysostom, Ambrose, Theophylact, Oecumenius take this verse of the miracles of Christ, and of the wisdom, virtues, and grace which Christ by living here on earth has imparted to us. (Cornelius a Lapide Com. on 1 Cor 2:9)
64:6 That is, the works by which we pretended to make ourselves just. This is spoken particularly of the sacrifices, sacraments, and ceremonies of the Jews, after the death of Christ, and the promulgation of the new law. (Bishop Richard Challoner) |
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Commentary for the second reading from the Aquinas Study Bible
1:5 with all speech: either because they spoke in all manner of tongues or because they abounded in the utterance of doctrine. But because the word was not uttered properly, unless it proceeded from knowledge, he adds: and all knowledge, that is, the understanding of all Scriptures and, in general, of all things pertaining to salvation. (St. Thomas Aquinas)
1:7 coming of our Lord: That is, in His second Advent, when you will receive from Christ an abundant supply of all graces, and your consummation in heavenly glory. (Cornelius a Lapide) |
1:8 will confirm you to the end: All this is conditional. (Bishop John McEvilly) That is, so far as His part is. God shall give grace which can confirm you, and shall confirm you indeed, if you are willing to receive it, to use it, and to confirm yourselves in the faith and love of Christ. (Cornelius a Lapide)
1:9 Paul here calls the communion of the faith, grace and glory of Christ which is enjoyed in the Church of Christ, the fellowship of His Son; or that partaking of Christ in which we gave a fellowship of sonship, inheritance, the Sacraments, and all the benefits of Christ. (Cornelius a Lapde) | _____________________________________________________________
Commentary for the Gospel Reading from the Aquinas Study Bible
13:33-37 The object of the parable is to show how exact an account Christ will require from the slothful in the Day of Judgment; and how great will be the reward which He will give to the diligent, who have carefully used His gifts to the glory of God. (Cornelius a Lapide)
13:33 God has promised you that in the day you are converted, He will forget your past sins; but He has never promised you a tomorrow. God has wisely made the day of death uncertain. Let every man, for his profit, think upon his last day. It is of the mercy of God that man does not know when he shall die. The last day lies hid, that all days may be watched. (St. Augustine) |
13:34 For like a man about to travel into a far country, so too the Lord has called His own servants and distributed His property among them, some to one, some to another. Christ, Who became man for our sake, is the "man travelling into a far country," in reference either to His ascent into the heavens or to the length of time that He is long-suffering and does not summarily demand works from us, but waits. His servants are those who have been entrusted with the ministry of the Word, such as bishops, priests, and deacons, and who have received spiritual gifts, some greater, some lesser, each one according to his own strength, that is, according to the measure of his faith and purity. (Theophylact) |
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Monday
November 28, 2011
Isaiah 2:1-5 Matthew 8:5-11
2:1 Judea and Jerusalem: Isaiah mentions Judea and Jerusalem, and in this is nothing unusual. His discourse was a prophecy, momentarily obscured by the names that are indicated. For it is the same for Jacob, predicting this, in the same way Isaiah will now state it (cf. Gen 49:10-11). Is it then surprising that here too the prophet places the names of Judea and of Jerusalem in his predictions regarding the Church? As he addressed himself to the senseless people who killed the prophets, burned their books, overturned their altars, so it is reasonable that the veil would have been imposed on them in their reading of the Old Testament, according to the utterance of the blessed Paul, “But their minds were hardened. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ” 2 Cor 3:14. (St. John Chrysostom)
2:2 last days: The whole time of the new law, from the coming of Christ till the end of the world, is called in Scripture the last days; because no other age or time shall come after it, but only eternity. top of mountains: This shews the perpetual visibility of the church of Christ: for a mountain upon the top of mountains cannot be hid. (Bishop Richard Challoner)
2:3 It would seem that Christ should not have been born in Bethlehem. For it is written: "The law shall come forth from Sion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." But Christ is truly the Word of God. Therefore He should have come into the world at Jerusalem. But, as David was born in Bethlehem, so |
also did he choose Jerusalem to set up his throne there, and to build there the Temple of God, so that Jerusalem was at the same time a royal and a priestly city. Now, Christ's priesthood and kingdom were "consummated" principally in His Passion. Therefore it was becoming that He should choose Bethlehem for His Birthplace and Jerusalem for the scene of His Passion. (St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica 1.35.7)
2:4 When Christ was born, when the whole world lived under one ruler, peace abounded on the earth. Therefore it was a fitting time for the birth of Christ, for "He is our peace, who hath made both one," as it is written (Eph. 2:14). Wherefore Jerome says on Is. 2:4: "If we search the page of ancient history, we shall find that throughout the whole world there was discord until the twenty-eighth year of Augustus Caesar: but when our Lord was born, all war ceased"; according to Is. 2:4: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation." (St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica 2.35.8.r1)
2:5 This prophetic text urges those, then, no longer to sit by the dim lamp-light of the law, but to fill their souls with the brilliant rays of the true Light. (Theodoret of Cyrus) |
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Commentary for the Gospel Reading from the Aquinas Study Bible
8:5-6 This man, too, did not approach Jesus while on the mountain, to avoid interrupting the teaching. This is the same man mentioned by Luke (Lk. 7:1-10). Although Luke says that the centurion sent to Jesus others who were elders, this does not contradict Matthew who says that the centurion himself came to Jesus. For it is altogether likely that first he sent others, and then, when death was imminent, he himself came. (Theophylact)
8:10 Jesus marvelled: Consider how great a thing, and what sort of thing, that was which the Only-Begotten God marvels at. Gold, riches, kingdoms, principalities in His sight are as shadows, or as fading flowers. None of these things therefore in His sight are wonderful, as though they were great or precious. Faith alone is such: this He honors and admires: this He counts acceptable to Himself. (Origen) As St. Thomas explains it (3 Part, q. 15, Art. 18), thus; although, in virtue of His Divine omniscience, our Lord knew the faith of the centurion |
already, and, moreover, could not be ignorant of it, as it was He Himself that inspired the centurion by His heavenly grace; still, He really and interiorly marvelled, owing to the experimental knowledge of the fact; just as the astronomer, who predicts an eclipse, expresses his admiration and astonishment on witnessing it actually taking place. Others, with St. Augustine, &c., understand the word to convey the mere external expression of His praise, and commendation of it; and of astonishment, as evidenced by His whole external appearance and countenance. (Bishop John McEvilly)
8:11 Jesus did not say outright, "Many Gentiles shall sit at table." But He said it in a roundabout manner, so as not to scandalize the Jews, "Many shall come from the east and west." He mentioned Abraham to show that He does not stand in opposition to the Old Testament. (Theophylact) | ___________________________________________________________
Tuesday of the First Week of Advent
November 29, 2011
Isaiah 11:1-10 Luke 10:21-24
Commentary for the first reading from the Aquinas Study Bible
11:1 In which rod, no doubt the blessed Virgin Mary is predicted, who sprung from the stock of Jesse and David and fecundated by the Holy Spirit, brought forth a new flower of human flesh, becoming a virgin-mother. (Pope St. Leo the Great Sermon 4) Or it could be that a flower refers to Christ; and it is probably implied indirectly by "rod" that he has royal dignity as well, a rod being a symbol of kingship. (St. Cyril of Alexandria) Or it could be that Jesse is the root, David the tree that through its branch, that is, Mary, has produced fruit, that is Christ. (Glossa Ordinaria Romans 15:12)
11:2 Each of the prophets received a particular grace, but in Jesus has dwelled ‘the fullness of the Godhead bodily’ (Co 2:9) and, with respect to humanity, He possessed all the charismata of the Spirit: ‘For in His fullness we have all received,’ according to the inspired John. (Jn 1:16) (Theodoret of Cyrus)
11:3 It is said that in Christ there was the fear of God, not indeed as it regards the evil of separation from God by fault, nor as it regards the evil of punishment for fault; but inasmuch as it regards the Divine pre-eminence, on account of which the soul of Christ, led by the Holy Spirit, was borne towards God in an act of reverence. Hence it is said (Heb. 5:7) that in all things "he was heard for his reverence." For Christ as man had this act of reverence towards God in a fuller sense and beyond all others. And hence Scripture attributes to Him the fulness of the fear of the Lord. (St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica 3.7.6.a) not judge according to sight: To judge belongs to God in virtue of His own power: wherefore His judgment is based on the truth which He Himself knows, and not on knowledge imparted by others: the same is to be said of Christ, Who is true God and true man: whereas other judges do not judge in virtue of their own power, so that there is no comparison. (St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica 2.67.2.r2)
11:4-5 rod of his mouth....: He is not speaking literally, for all the language in this passage he employs in a spiritual sense. (St. John Chrysostom)
11:6-9 We all are blended into one and the same evenness of self-restraint, so also there, by the characters of the brute animals indicating the different dispositions of men, he again spoke of their being linked in one and the same harmony of godliness. (St. John Chrysostom Mt Homily 10)
11:9 kill: The most inveterate pagans, being once converted, entirely alter their manners, Osee ii. 18. (George Haydock) earth is filled with the knowledge: Thus we see that since the Incarnation of Christ men have been instructed more evidently and surely in the knowledge of God. (St. Thomas Aquinas God and His Creatures 4.54.3)
11:10 Isaiah shows that no longer will the Lord rule over just the Jews, but over the Gentiles; that those who believe in Him. (Theodoret of Cyrus).
Commentary for the Gospel Reading from the Aquinas Study Bible
10:21 rejoiced in the Holy Spirit: that is, in the results which came forth through the Holy Spirit. (St. Cyril of Alexandria) wise and prudent: That is, the Pharisees and others, who were endowed with human learning and abilities. These were the “wise“ to whom St. Paul refers to in 1 Cor. 1., as rejected in the work of the Gospel; worldly wise, “wise“ in their own conceits, haughty and proud, devoid of the humble docility necessary for embracing the faith. (Bishop John McEvilly) God hid the mysteries from those who seemed wise, not out of malice, or so as to cause ignorance, but because of their unworthiness, stemming from the very fact that they thought that they were wise. For he who thinks himself to be wise and is bold in his own knowledge does not call upon God. So then God, not having been called upon, gives him neither help nor revelation. (Theophylact) babes: Meaning to ignorant, unskilled, and uneloquent men, such as the Apostles, who seemed to the Scribes and worldly persons to be rude, and as foolish as children. (Cornelius a Lapide)
10:22 By this that He only knows the Father, He shows covertly that He is of one substance with the Father. When He says, “Neither does any know the Father but the Son,” He does not mean that all men are altogether ignorant of Him; but that none knows Him with that knowledge wherewith He knows Him; which may also be said of the Son. (St. John Chrysostom) except the Son: the Holy Spirit is not excluded; much less, when it is said, except the Father, is the Son excluded. For the rule of Theologians is, that exclusive particles, added to one of the Divine Persons in essential attributes do not exclude the other two Persons, but creatures only, or whatsoever is of a different essence. (Cornelius a Lapide)
10:23-24 For they saw Him, but not yet Incarnate, nor thus conversing with men, nor speaking with such authority to them. (St. John Chrysostom)
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