From: Mark 6:30-34
The Apostles Return
[30] The Apostles returned to Jesus, and told Him all that they had done and taught. [31] And He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. [32] And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves.
First Miracles of the Loaves
[33] Now many saw them going, and knew them, and they ran there on foot from the towns, and got there ahead of them. [34] As He landed He saw a great throng, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.
_________________________
Commentary:
30-31. We can see here the intensity of Jesus' public ministry. Such was His dedication to souls that St. Mark twice mentions that the disciples did not even have time to eat (cf. Mark 3:20). A Christian should be ready to sacrifice his time and even his rest in the service of the Gospel. This attitude of availability will lead us to change our plans whenever the good of souls so requires.
But Jesus also teaches us here to have common sense and not to go to such extremes that we physically cannot cope: "The Lord makes His disciples rest, to show those in charge that people who work or preach cannot do so without breaks" (St. Bede, "In Marci Evangelium Expositio, in loc."). "He who pledges himself to work for Christ should never have a free moment, because to rest is not to do nothing: it is to relax in activities which demand less effort" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 357).
34. Our Lord had planned a period of rest, for Himself and His disciples, from the pressures of the apostolate (Mark 6:31-32). And He has to change His plans because so many people come, eager to hear Him speak. Not only is He not annoyed with them: He feels compassion on seeing their spiritual need. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). They need instruction and our Lord wants to meet this need by preaching to them. "Jesus is moved by hunger and sorrow, but what moves Him most is ignorance" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 109).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
News Updates, 7/18
Pope Benedict Waits His Turn
The Pope leaves hospital with a cast on his right arm. (CNS/Reuters)
Pope Benedict XVI insisted on waiting his turn behind another patient when he was admitted to the hospital today for an X-ray and operation on his broken right wrist...
Massive Resistance! 'Health Care' Funds Abortion?
Some version of the Presidents’ plan will pass. For Catholics, other Christians, (that is at least Christians who still adhere to the unbroken teaching concerning the dignity of every human person at every age and stage and have not compromised the truth), other people of faith and all people of good will who recognize the preeminent Natural Law Right to Life and the foundational freedom to be born, there is a resulting looming emergency. This Health Care Bill is about much more than the economic implications and loss of local control. This has become a matter of life and death...
Obama Health Bill: Those on Social Security - Mandatory Counseling on Asst. Suicide
On Page 425 of Obama’s health care bill, the Federal Government will require EVERYONE who is on Social Security to undergo a counseling session every 5 years with the objective being that they will explain to them just how to end their own life earlier. Yes...They are going to push SUICIDE to cut medicare spending!!! And no, I am NOT SH**ing YOU! So those of you who voted for Obama have now put your own parents in dire straights ... Congratulations! Also, planned denial of medical care for seniors.
[These demonic enemies of God and country are going to push SUICIDE to cut medicare spending!!! The time for "revisiting" the Declaration of Independence draws nigh - traitors and enemies have breached the walls! The fraud Obama and his Marxist comrades are enemies of this country - they need to go NOW!]
Dissenting Catholic (so-called) group struggles to survive, needs $60K ASAP
Voice of the Faithful, the Catholic lay group that formed in response to the priest sex abuse scandal, is facing its own crisis: lack of money. The national organization said it is "at the crossroads of financial survival" and needs $60,000 in donations by the end of July to keep going...
[Die already!]
Cardinal Cordes on "Caritas in Veritate"
"The Heart of Social Doctrine Remains the Human Person"
Here is a Vatican translation of the address Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, the president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unam, gave July 7 at the press conference that marked the release of Benedict XVI's encyclical "Caritas in Veritate"...
Pope preaches in public after breaking wrist
Benedict XVI had surgery after he fell Thursday night
Nun becomes top-selling Polish cookbook writer
'It is only God who gives me the recipes. Who else?'
Iowa church closing puzzles parishioners
Parishioner: 'What they didn't make clear was what's next'
Church-funded family agency backs gay couples
Agency head: Traditional two-parent family 'no better'
Behind the scenes at the Pope's newspaper...
L'Osservatore hitting the headlines in its own right
Pope: Bone fragments found in St Paul's tomb
Confirms belief that it housed the apostle's remains
Suspect arrested in Cuba priest murder
Church says killing unrelated to earlier priest death
Vatican reconciles with Oscar Wilde
Flamboyant homosexuality shocked Britain in 19th century
=========
Other Issues
=========
****** U.S. Bailout Costs May Reach $23.7 Trillion, TARP Inspector
U.S. taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 trillion to bail out financial companies, according to Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.
ATF to Montana: 'You will respect our authoritah!'
On Friday, we saw the letter ATF sent to FFL dealers in Tennessee telling them the Bureau was overriding the state's Firearms Freedom Act, and would continue to impose federal requirements in disregard of state law. They've done the same thing to Montanans.
[Any federal agents in Montana who violate the Montana laws should be arrested or deported to DC, the District of Corruption]
Netanyahu: Jerusalem is Ours, Not Up for Debate
(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a sharp response Sunday to United States pressure to stop Jews from building in parts of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinian Authority. Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem is “not up for debate,” Netanyahu said, and Jews are permitted to build in any part of the capital city, as are Arabs. Netanyahu implied that the U.S. request was racist, saying before the weekly Cabinet meeting, “Imagine what would happen if Jews were forbidden to live or to buy apartments in certain parts of London, New York, Paris or Rome. There would be an international outcry."
Retired general, lieutenant colonel join reservist's lawsuit over Obama's birth status
Senator quashes Treasury’s bid for humorist
The chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee quashed an effort by the Treasury Department to hire a cartoonist after the link to the job ad was posted on the Drudge Report.
Hon. James David Manning, PhD says Obama is more dangerous than Hitler...
ATF to Tennessee: We're Above Your Law
The ATF - as expected - has issued a letter in which it disregards the 10th Amendment restrictions on federal power (as seems to be the trend since the late 1930) and has notified Tennessee’s federal firearms dealers that the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act is meaningless. Essentially, ATF is saying to the state of Tennessee that the 10th Amendment no longer exists...
[10th Amendment - use it or lose it! Go Tennessee!]
McCaskill's Office Locks Doors, Calls Cops & Forces Obamacare Protesters Off Public Property
Local Tea Party patriots held an anti-Obama Care protest at Senator Claire "ACORN" McCaskill’s district offices on Delmar Boulevard today. The protest was organized by Americans for Prosperity and the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition. McCaskill's office manager locked the doors, pull down the blinds, called the cops and forced the protesters across the street...
[1st Amendment Kudos to the protesters! McCaskill needs to go]
Argentina declares alert as pigs found with swine flu
Swine flu mother dies after giving birth, leaving her premature baby fighting for life
Australian swine flu cases top 10,000
Britain prepares for 65,000 deaths from swine flu
The NHS has been told to plan for a worst-case scenario of 65,000 swine flu deaths this year. The news came as the number of people to die after contracting the virus rose sharply. Health officials said that 29 people had now died — up from 17 confirmed deaths on Monday. There were unconfirmed reports that the new cases included a young boy from Kent.
________________
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.
-Patrick Henry, speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778
The Pope leaves hospital with a cast on his right arm. (CNS/Reuters)Pope Benedict XVI insisted on waiting his turn behind another patient when he was admitted to the hospital today for an X-ray and operation on his broken right wrist...
Massive Resistance! 'Health Care' Funds Abortion?
Some version of the Presidents’ plan will pass. For Catholics, other Christians, (that is at least Christians who still adhere to the unbroken teaching concerning the dignity of every human person at every age and stage and have not compromised the truth), other people of faith and all people of good will who recognize the preeminent Natural Law Right to Life and the foundational freedom to be born, there is a resulting looming emergency. This Health Care Bill is about much more than the economic implications and loss of local control. This has become a matter of life and death...
Obama Health Bill: Those on Social Security - Mandatory Counseling on Asst. SuicideOn Page 425 of Obama’s health care bill, the Federal Government will require EVERYONE who is on Social Security to undergo a counseling session every 5 years with the objective being that they will explain to them just how to end their own life earlier. Yes...They are going to push SUICIDE to cut medicare spending!!! And no, I am NOT SH**ing YOU! So those of you who voted for Obama have now put your own parents in dire straights ... Congratulations! Also, planned denial of medical care for seniors.
[These demonic enemies of God and country are going to push SUICIDE to cut medicare spending!!! The time for "revisiting" the Declaration of Independence draws nigh - traitors and enemies have breached the walls! The fraud Obama and his Marxist comrades are enemies of this country - they need to go NOW!]
Dissenting Catholic (so-called) group struggles to survive, needs $60K ASAP
Voice of the Faithful, the Catholic lay group that formed in response to the priest sex abuse scandal, is facing its own crisis: lack of money. The national organization said it is "at the crossroads of financial survival" and needs $60,000 in donations by the end of July to keep going...
[Die already!]
Cardinal Cordes on "Caritas in Veritate"
"The Heart of Social Doctrine Remains the Human Person"
Here is a Vatican translation of the address Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, the president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unam, gave July 7 at the press conference that marked the release of Benedict XVI's encyclical "Caritas in Veritate"...
Pope preaches in public after breaking wrist
Benedict XVI had surgery after he fell Thursday night
Nun becomes top-selling Polish cookbook writer
'It is only God who gives me the recipes. Who else?'
Iowa church closing puzzles parishioners
Parishioner: 'What they didn't make clear was what's next'
Church-funded family agency backs gay couples
Agency head: Traditional two-parent family 'no better'
Behind the scenes at the Pope's newspaper...
L'Osservatore hitting the headlines in its own right
Pope: Bone fragments found in St Paul's tomb
Confirms belief that it housed the apostle's remains
Suspect arrested in Cuba priest murder
Church says killing unrelated to earlier priest death
Vatican reconciles with Oscar Wilde
Flamboyant homosexuality shocked Britain in 19th century
=========
Other Issues
=========
****** U.S. Bailout Costs May Reach $23.7 Trillion, TARP Inspector
U.S. taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 trillion to bail out financial companies, according to Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.
ATF to Montana: 'You will respect our authoritah!'
On Friday, we saw the letter ATF sent to FFL dealers in Tennessee telling them the Bureau was overriding the state's Firearms Freedom Act, and would continue to impose federal requirements in disregard of state law. They've done the same thing to Montanans.
[Any federal agents in Montana who violate the Montana laws should be arrested or deported to DC, the District of Corruption]
Netanyahu: Jerusalem is Ours, Not Up for Debate
(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a sharp response Sunday to United States pressure to stop Jews from building in parts of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinian Authority. Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem is “not up for debate,” Netanyahu said, and Jews are permitted to build in any part of the capital city, as are Arabs. Netanyahu implied that the U.S. request was racist, saying before the weekly Cabinet meeting, “Imagine what would happen if Jews were forbidden to live or to buy apartments in certain parts of London, New York, Paris or Rome. There would be an international outcry."
Retired general, lieutenant colonel join reservist's lawsuit over Obama's birth status
Senator quashes Treasury’s bid for humorist
The chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee quashed an effort by the Treasury Department to hire a cartoonist after the link to the job ad was posted on the Drudge Report.
Hon. James David Manning, PhD says Obama is more dangerous than Hitler...
ATF to Tennessee: We're Above Your Law
The ATF - as expected - has issued a letter in which it disregards the 10th Amendment restrictions on federal power (as seems to be the trend since the late 1930) and has notified Tennessee’s federal firearms dealers that the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act is meaningless. Essentially, ATF is saying to the state of Tennessee that the 10th Amendment no longer exists...
[10th Amendment - use it or lose it! Go Tennessee!]
McCaskill's Office Locks Doors, Calls Cops & Forces Obamacare Protesters Off Public Property
Local Tea Party patriots held an anti-Obama Care protest at Senator Claire "ACORN" McCaskill’s district offices on Delmar Boulevard today. The protest was organized by Americans for Prosperity and the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition. McCaskill's office manager locked the doors, pull down the blinds, called the cops and forced the protesters across the street...
[1st Amendment Kudos to the protesters! McCaskill needs to go]
Argentina declares alert as pigs found with swine flu
Swine flu mother dies after giving birth, leaving her premature baby fighting for life
Australian swine flu cases top 10,000
Britain prepares for 65,000 deaths from swine flu
The NHS has been told to plan for a worst-case scenario of 65,000 swine flu deaths this year. The news came as the number of people to die after contracting the virus rose sharply. Health officials said that 29 people had now died — up from 17 confirmed deaths on Monday. There were unconfirmed reports that the new cases included a young boy from Kent.
________________
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.
-Patrick Henry, speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778
2nd Reading, 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
From: Ephesians 2:13-18
Reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles in Christ
[13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. [14] For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, [15] by abolishing, in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, [16] and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. [17] And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; [18] for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
_________
Commentary:
11-22. What is the significance of the calling of the Gentiles to the Church? Their previous situation, separated from Christ (vv. 11-12), has undergone radical change as a result of the Redemption Christ achieved on the Cross: that action has, on the one hand, brought the two peoples together (made peace between them: vv. 13-15) and, on the other, it has reconciled them with God, whose enemy each was (w. 16-18). The Redemption has given rise to the Church, which St Paul here describes as a holy temple built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (vv. 19-22).
14-15. "He is our peace": through his death on the cross Christ has abolished the division of mankind into Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles, who had been far away from God, from his covenant and from his promises (cf. v. 12), are now on a par with the Jews: they share in the New Covenant that has been sealed with the blood of Christ. That is why he is "our peace". In him all men find that solidarity they yearned for, because, through his obedient self-sacrifice unto death, Christ has made up for the disobedience of Adam, which had been the cause of human strife and division (cf. Gen 3-4). "Christ, the Word made flesh, the prince of peace, reconciled all men to God by the cross, and, restoring the unity of all in one people and one body, he abolished hatred in his own flesh (cf. Eph 2:16; Col 1:20-22) and, having been lifted up through his resurrection, he poured forth the Spirit of love into the hearts of men" (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 78).
God's plan to attract mankind to himself and to reestablish peace included the election of the Jewish people, from whom the Messiah would be born; and in that Messiah all the nations of the world would be blessed (cf. Gen 11:3). He is in fact called "prince of peace" (Is 9:6; cf. Mic 5:4). However, many Jews had come to regard their election in such a narrow-minded way that they saw it as creating a permanent barrier between themselves and the Gentiles. Some rabbis of our Lord's time despised and even hated the Gentiles. The separation between the two peoples was reflected in the temple wall which divided the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the sacred precincts (cf. Acts 21:28). The real roots of the separation lay in Jewish pride at being the only ones to have the Law of God and keep it by scrupulous attention to countless legal niceties.
By his death on the cross Jesus Christ has broken down the barriers dividing Jews from Gentiles and also those which kept man and God apart. St Paul says this metaphorically when he says that Christ "has broken down the dividing wall", referring to the wall in the temple. But he is not resorting to metaphor when he says that Christ abolished "in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances". Christ, through his obedience to the Father unto death (cf. Phil 2:8), has brought the Law to fulfillment (cf. Mt 5:17 and note on Mt 5:17-19); he has become, for all mankind, the way to the Father. The Law of the Old Testament, although it was something good and holy, also created an unbridgeable gap between God and man, because man, on his own, was incapable of keeping the Law (cf. notes on Gal 3:19-20; 3:21-25; and Acts 15:7-11). Christ, through grace, has created a new man who can keep the very essence of the Law--obedience and love.
The "new man" of whom St Paul speaks here is Jesus Christ himself, who stands for both Jews and Gentiles, because he is the new Adam, the head of a new mankind: the "new man", St Thomas Aquinas explains, "refers to Christ himself, who is called 'new man' because of the new form his conception took, ...the newness of the grace which he extends ..., and the new commandment which he brings" ("Commentary on Eph, ad loc.").
By taking human nature and bringing about our redemption, the Son of God has become the cause of salvation for all, without any distinction between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female (cf. Gal 3:28): only through Christ's grace can peace be achieved and all differences overcome. Pope John XXIII explains this in his encyclical "Pacem In Terris": peace is "such a noble and elevated task that human resources, even though inspired by the most praiseworthy goodwill, cannot bring it to realization alone. In order that human society may reflect as faithfully as possible the Kingdom of God, help from on high is necessary. For this reason, during these sacred days our supplication is raised with greater fervor towards him who by his painful passion and death overcame sin--the root of discord and the source of sorrows and inequalities--and by his blood reconciled mankind to the Eternal Father: 'For he is our peace, who has made us both one'."
16. Through his death on the cross, Jesus Christ reestablishes man's friendship with God, which sin had destroyed. Pope John Paul suggests that "With our eyes fixed on the mystery of Golgotha we should be reminded always of that 'vertical' dimension of division and reconciliation concerning the relationship between man and God, a dimension which in the eyes of faith always prevails over the 'horizontal' dimension, that is to say, over the reality of division between people and the need for reconciliation between them. For we know that reconciliation between people is and can only be the fruit of the redemptive act of Christ, who died and rose again to conquer the kingdom of sin, to reestablish the covenant with God and thus break down the dividing wall which sin had raised up between people" ("Reconciliatio Et Paenitentia", 7). Redemption therefore brings about our reconciliation with God (cf. Rom 5:10-2 Cor 5:18) and it affects everyone, Gentiles as well as Jews, and all creation (cf. Col 1:20). This reconciliation is achieved in the physical body of Christ sacrificed on the cross (cf. Col 1:22) and also in his mystical body, in which Christ convokes and assembles all whom he has reconciled with God by his redemptive sacrifice (cf. 1 Cor 12:13ff). The words "in one body" can be taken in two senses--as referring to Christ's physical body on the cross and to his mystical body, the Church.
The sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, "the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the Sacrifice of the cross is forever perpetuated, is the summit and the source of all worship and Christian life. By means of it the unity of the body of Christ is signified and brought about, and the building up of the body of Christ is perfected" (Code of Canon Law, can. 897).
18. Prior to Christ's coming, man was excluded from the Father's house, living like a slave rather than a son (cf. Gal 4:1-5). But in the fullness of time God sent his Son to give us the spirit of sonship that enables us to call God our Father (cf. note on Rom 8:15-17).
"The way that leads to the throne of grace would be closed to sinners had Christ not opened the gate. That is what he does: he opens the gate, leads us to the Father, and by the merits of his passion obtains from the Father forgiveness of our sins and all those graces God bestows on us" (St Alphonsus, "Thoughts on the Passion", 10, 4).
Here we see the part played by the Holy Spirit in the work of salvation decreed by the Father and carried out by the Son. The words "in one Spirit", as well as identifying the access route to the Father, also imply two basic facts: on the one hand, that the mysterious union which binds Christians together is caused by the action of the Holy Spirit who acts in them; on the other, that this same Holy Spirit, inseparable from the Son (and from the Father) because they constitute the same divine nature, is always present and continually active in the Church, the mystical body of Christ. "When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth (cf. In 17:4) was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that he might continually sanctify the Church, and that, consequently, those who believe might have access through Christ in one Spirit to the Father (cf. Eph 2:18). [...] Hence the universal Church is seen to be 'a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit' (cf. St Cyprian, "De Oratione Dominica", 23)" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 4).
Christ has brought about salvation, and, to enable all to appropriate that salvations he calls them to form part of his body, which is the Church. The Holy Spirit is, as it were, the soul of this mystical body; it is he who gives it life and unites all its members. "If Christ is the head of the Church, the Holy Spirit is its soul: 'As the soul is in our body, so the Holy Spirit is in the body of Christ, that is, the Church' (St Augustine, "Sermon 187")" (Leo XIII, "Divinum Illud Munus", 8). The Holy Spirit is inseparably united to the Church, for St Irenaeus says, "where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and the fullness of grace" ("Against Heresies", III, 24).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles in Christ
[13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. [14] For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, [15] by abolishing, in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, [16] and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. [17] And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; [18] for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
_________
Commentary:
11-22. What is the significance of the calling of the Gentiles to the Church? Their previous situation, separated from Christ (vv. 11-12), has undergone radical change as a result of the Redemption Christ achieved on the Cross: that action has, on the one hand, brought the two peoples together (made peace between them: vv. 13-15) and, on the other, it has reconciled them with God, whose enemy each was (w. 16-18). The Redemption has given rise to the Church, which St Paul here describes as a holy temple built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (vv. 19-22).
14-15. "He is our peace": through his death on the cross Christ has abolished the division of mankind into Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles, who had been far away from God, from his covenant and from his promises (cf. v. 12), are now on a par with the Jews: they share in the New Covenant that has been sealed with the blood of Christ. That is why he is "our peace". In him all men find that solidarity they yearned for, because, through his obedient self-sacrifice unto death, Christ has made up for the disobedience of Adam, which had been the cause of human strife and division (cf. Gen 3-4). "Christ, the Word made flesh, the prince of peace, reconciled all men to God by the cross, and, restoring the unity of all in one people and one body, he abolished hatred in his own flesh (cf. Eph 2:16; Col 1:20-22) and, having been lifted up through his resurrection, he poured forth the Spirit of love into the hearts of men" (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 78).
God's plan to attract mankind to himself and to reestablish peace included the election of the Jewish people, from whom the Messiah would be born; and in that Messiah all the nations of the world would be blessed (cf. Gen 11:3). He is in fact called "prince of peace" (Is 9:6; cf. Mic 5:4). However, many Jews had come to regard their election in such a narrow-minded way that they saw it as creating a permanent barrier between themselves and the Gentiles. Some rabbis of our Lord's time despised and even hated the Gentiles. The separation between the two peoples was reflected in the temple wall which divided the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the sacred precincts (cf. Acts 21:28). The real roots of the separation lay in Jewish pride at being the only ones to have the Law of God and keep it by scrupulous attention to countless legal niceties.
By his death on the cross Jesus Christ has broken down the barriers dividing Jews from Gentiles and also those which kept man and God apart. St Paul says this metaphorically when he says that Christ "has broken down the dividing wall", referring to the wall in the temple. But he is not resorting to metaphor when he says that Christ abolished "in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances". Christ, through his obedience to the Father unto death (cf. Phil 2:8), has brought the Law to fulfillment (cf. Mt 5:17 and note on Mt 5:17-19); he has become, for all mankind, the way to the Father. The Law of the Old Testament, although it was something good and holy, also created an unbridgeable gap between God and man, because man, on his own, was incapable of keeping the Law (cf. notes on Gal 3:19-20; 3:21-25; and Acts 15:7-11). Christ, through grace, has created a new man who can keep the very essence of the Law--obedience and love.
The "new man" of whom St Paul speaks here is Jesus Christ himself, who stands for both Jews and Gentiles, because he is the new Adam, the head of a new mankind: the "new man", St Thomas Aquinas explains, "refers to Christ himself, who is called 'new man' because of the new form his conception took, ...the newness of the grace which he extends ..., and the new commandment which he brings" ("Commentary on Eph, ad loc.").
By taking human nature and bringing about our redemption, the Son of God has become the cause of salvation for all, without any distinction between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female (cf. Gal 3:28): only through Christ's grace can peace be achieved and all differences overcome. Pope John XXIII explains this in his encyclical "Pacem In Terris": peace is "such a noble and elevated task that human resources, even though inspired by the most praiseworthy goodwill, cannot bring it to realization alone. In order that human society may reflect as faithfully as possible the Kingdom of God, help from on high is necessary. For this reason, during these sacred days our supplication is raised with greater fervor towards him who by his painful passion and death overcame sin--the root of discord and the source of sorrows and inequalities--and by his blood reconciled mankind to the Eternal Father: 'For he is our peace, who has made us both one'."
16. Through his death on the cross, Jesus Christ reestablishes man's friendship with God, which sin had destroyed. Pope John Paul suggests that "With our eyes fixed on the mystery of Golgotha we should be reminded always of that 'vertical' dimension of division and reconciliation concerning the relationship between man and God, a dimension which in the eyes of faith always prevails over the 'horizontal' dimension, that is to say, over the reality of division between people and the need for reconciliation between them. For we know that reconciliation between people is and can only be the fruit of the redemptive act of Christ, who died and rose again to conquer the kingdom of sin, to reestablish the covenant with God and thus break down the dividing wall which sin had raised up between people" ("Reconciliatio Et Paenitentia", 7). Redemption therefore brings about our reconciliation with God (cf. Rom 5:10-2 Cor 5:18) and it affects everyone, Gentiles as well as Jews, and all creation (cf. Col 1:20). This reconciliation is achieved in the physical body of Christ sacrificed on the cross (cf. Col 1:22) and also in his mystical body, in which Christ convokes and assembles all whom he has reconciled with God by his redemptive sacrifice (cf. 1 Cor 12:13ff). The words "in one body" can be taken in two senses--as referring to Christ's physical body on the cross and to his mystical body, the Church.
The sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, "the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the Sacrifice of the cross is forever perpetuated, is the summit and the source of all worship and Christian life. By means of it the unity of the body of Christ is signified and brought about, and the building up of the body of Christ is perfected" (Code of Canon Law, can. 897).
18. Prior to Christ's coming, man was excluded from the Father's house, living like a slave rather than a son (cf. Gal 4:1-5). But in the fullness of time God sent his Son to give us the spirit of sonship that enables us to call God our Father (cf. note on Rom 8:15-17).
"The way that leads to the throne of grace would be closed to sinners had Christ not opened the gate. That is what he does: he opens the gate, leads us to the Father, and by the merits of his passion obtains from the Father forgiveness of our sins and all those graces God bestows on us" (St Alphonsus, "Thoughts on the Passion", 10, 4).
Here we see the part played by the Holy Spirit in the work of salvation decreed by the Father and carried out by the Son. The words "in one Spirit", as well as identifying the access route to the Father, also imply two basic facts: on the one hand, that the mysterious union which binds Christians together is caused by the action of the Holy Spirit who acts in them; on the other, that this same Holy Spirit, inseparable from the Son (and from the Father) because they constitute the same divine nature, is always present and continually active in the Church, the mystical body of Christ. "When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth (cf. In 17:4) was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that he might continually sanctify the Church, and that, consequently, those who believe might have access through Christ in one Spirit to the Father (cf. Eph 2:18). [...] Hence the universal Church is seen to be 'a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit' (cf. St Cyprian, "De Oratione Dominica", 23)" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 4).
Christ has brought about salvation, and, to enable all to appropriate that salvations he calls them to form part of his body, which is the Church. The Holy Spirit is, as it were, the soul of this mystical body; it is he who gives it life and unites all its members. "If Christ is the head of the Church, the Holy Spirit is its soul: 'As the soul is in our body, so the Holy Spirit is in the body of Christ, that is, the Church' (St Augustine, "Sermon 187")" (Leo XIII, "Divinum Illud Munus", 8). The Holy Spirit is inseparably united to the Church, for St Irenaeus says, "where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and the fullness of grace" ("Against Heresies", III, 24).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
1st Reading, 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
From: Jeremiah 23:1-6
[1] "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" says the LORD. [2] Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: "You have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. [3] Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. [4] I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, says the LORD.
The future king
[5] Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. [6] In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called” 'The Lord is our righteousness.'
_________
Commentary:
23:1-8. The previous chapters (21:1-22:30) announced the exile to come, and come it did, on account of the kings' failure to keep the Covenant. The kings, in chronological order, were the subject of the various oracles. Now Jeremiah, looking to the future, uses the image of shepherds to proclaim a new era in which God himself will be the shepherd-ruler of his people (vv. 1-4); he will raise up a new king who will govern justly (vv. 5-6); and the new situation that will develop after the return from exile will be more glorious than that of the period after the exodus from Egypt (vv. 7-8). John Pal II refers to this oracle to stress that the new people of God, the Church, will always have pastors to guide it: "In these words from the prophet Jeremiah, God promises his people that he will never leave them without shepherds to father them together and guide them: 'I will set shepherds over them [my sheep] who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed' (Jer 23:4). The Church, the people of God, constantly experiences the reality of the prophetic message and continues joyfully to thank God for it. She knows that Jesus Christ himself is the living, supreme and definitive fulfillment of God's promise: 'I am the good shepherd' (Jn 10:11). He, 'the great shepherd of the sheep' (Heb 13:20), entrusted to the apostles and their successors the ministry of shepherding God's flock (cf. Jn 21:15ff; 1 Pet 5:2)” (Pastores dabo vobis, 1).
23:5-6. The promise of the new king is the key to understanding Jeremiah's thought. The passage is repeated (with slight variations) in 33:15-16. "The days are coming”, a phrase often found in oracles of salvation, is a reference to the End time, but sometimes it can mean the return from exile. The "righteous branch”, meaning the future king, will eventually become a technical term for the Messiah, in both Zechariah (Zech 3:8; 6:12) and the New Testament (cf. Lk 1:78): he is "righteous”, he shall "execute…righteousness” and he will be called "the Lord in our righteousness”. All this insistence on justice and right indicates, firstly, that Jeremiah wants to justify the accession of Zedekiah, whose name means "justice of the Lord”; but he also wants to show that the future Messiah will be David's legal, legitimate descendant: the Lord guarantees this by calling him a "righteous” that is "legitimate”, branch. And the main message, of course, is that in the new era justice will reign and there will be peace and security; it will be the time of definitive salvation.
Thus, Jeremiah is proclaiming the coming of a descendant of David who will bring about a new era of prosperity and salvation. Jeremiah is the last prophet, in order of time, to proclaim a Messiah King, an intermediary between God and his people. At the same time, he is also promising direct intervention by God.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
[1] "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" says the LORD. [2] Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: "You have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. [3] Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. [4] I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, says the LORD.
The future king
[5] Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. [6] In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called” 'The Lord is our righteousness.'
_________
Commentary:
23:1-8. The previous chapters (21:1-22:30) announced the exile to come, and come it did, on account of the kings' failure to keep the Covenant. The kings, in chronological order, were the subject of the various oracles. Now Jeremiah, looking to the future, uses the image of shepherds to proclaim a new era in which God himself will be the shepherd-ruler of his people (vv. 1-4); he will raise up a new king who will govern justly (vv. 5-6); and the new situation that will develop after the return from exile will be more glorious than that of the period after the exodus from Egypt (vv. 7-8). John Pal II refers to this oracle to stress that the new people of God, the Church, will always have pastors to guide it: "In these words from the prophet Jeremiah, God promises his people that he will never leave them without shepherds to father them together and guide them: 'I will set shepherds over them [my sheep] who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed' (Jer 23:4). The Church, the people of God, constantly experiences the reality of the prophetic message and continues joyfully to thank God for it. She knows that Jesus Christ himself is the living, supreme and definitive fulfillment of God's promise: 'I am the good shepherd' (Jn 10:11). He, 'the great shepherd of the sheep' (Heb 13:20), entrusted to the apostles and their successors the ministry of shepherding God's flock (cf. Jn 21:15ff; 1 Pet 5:2)” (Pastores dabo vobis, 1).
23:5-6. The promise of the new king is the key to understanding Jeremiah's thought. The passage is repeated (with slight variations) in 33:15-16. "The days are coming”, a phrase often found in oracles of salvation, is a reference to the End time, but sometimes it can mean the return from exile. The "righteous branch”, meaning the future king, will eventually become a technical term for the Messiah, in both Zechariah (Zech 3:8; 6:12) and the New Testament (cf. Lk 1:78): he is "righteous”, he shall "execute…righteousness” and he will be called "the Lord in our righteousness”. All this insistence on justice and right indicates, firstly, that Jeremiah wants to justify the accession of Zedekiah, whose name means "justice of the Lord”; but he also wants to show that the future Messiah will be David's legal, legitimate descendant: the Lord guarantees this by calling him a "righteous” that is "legitimate”, branch. And the main message, of course, is that in the new era justice will reign and there will be peace and security; it will be the time of definitive salvation.
Thus, Jeremiah is proclaiming the coming of a descendant of David who will bring about a new era of prosperity and salvation. Jeremiah is the last prophet, in order of time, to proclaim a Messiah King, an intermediary between God and his people. At the same time, he is also promising direct intervention by God.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Principles and Practices - July 19
The First Step
'Venial sin,' says St. Thomas, , by attracting our will towards a created object, weakens its love for the Sovereign Good and thus establishes the commencement of a divorce between them.' Oh! fearful thought! Could there be anything more calculated to inspire us with a horror of this sin?
-Bellecius, S.J.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
'Venial sin,' says St. Thomas, , by attracting our will towards a created object, weakens its love for the Sovereign Good and thus establishes the commencement of a divorce between them.' Oh! fearful thought! Could there be anything more calculated to inspire us with a horror of this sin?
-Bellecius, S.J.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Thoughts of St Augustine for July 19
MORAL conduct is the road to understanding; the life of the heart leads to the life of the mind....The cry of the heart is great intentness of thought, expressive of great affection of desire and petition.
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-July 19
THE judgement sat and the books were opened. There will be two books, the Gospel and the conscience. In the Gospel will be read what the accused should have done, and in his conscience what he has done. In the balance of divine justice, not riches, nor dignities, nor nobility, but works alone will have weight.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
Friday, July 17, 2009
Gospel for Saturday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial: Our Lady's Saturday
From: Matthew 12:14-21
Jesus, the Suffering Servant of Yahweh
[14] But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against Him, how to destroy Him. [15] Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed Him, and He healed them all, [16] and ordered them not to make Him known. [17] This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: [18] "Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon Him, and He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. [19] He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will any one hear His voice in the streets; [20] He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick, till He brings justice to victory; [21] and in His name will the Gentiles hope."
___________________
Commentary:
17-21. Once again the sacred text points out the contrast between the contemporary mistaken Jewish notion of a spectacular messianic kingdom and the discernment which Jesus asks of those who witness and accept His teaching and miracles. By providing this long quotation from Isaiah (42:1-4), the Evangelist is giving us the key to the teaching contained in Chapters 11 and 12: in Jesus the prophecy of the Servant of Yahweh is fulfilled: the lovable and gentle teacher has come to bring the light of truth.
When narrating the passion of our Lord, the Gospels will once again remind us of the figure of the Servant of Yahweh, to show that in Jesus the suffering and expiatory aspect of the death of the Servant finds fulfillment (cf. Matthew 27:30, with reference to Is 50:6; Matthew 8:17 and Isaiah 53:4; John 1:38 and Isaiah 53:9-12; etc.).
17. Isaiah 42:1-4 speaks of a humble servant, beloved of God, chosen by God. And in fact Jesus, without ceasing to be the Son of God, one in substance with the Father, took the form of a servant (cf. Philippians 2:6). This humility led him to cure and care for the poor and afflicted of Israel, without seeking acclaim.
18. See the note on Matthew 3:16.
[Note on Matthew 3:16 states:
16. Jesus possessed the fullness of the Holy Spirit from the moment of His conception. This is due to the union of human nature and divine nature in the person of the Word (the dogma of hypostatic union). Catholic teaching says that in Christ there is only one person (who is divine) but two natures (divine and human). The descent of the Spirit of God spoken of in the text indicates that just as Jesus was solemnly commencing His messianic task, so the Holy Spirit was beginning His action through Him. There are very many texts in the Old Testament which speak of the showing forth of the Holy Spirit in the future Messiah. This sign of the Spirit gave St. John the Baptist unmistakable proof of the genuineness of his testimony concerning Christ (cf. John 1:29-34). The mystery of the Holy Trinity is revealed in the baptism of Jesus: the Son is baptized; the Holy Spirit descends on Him in the form of a dove; and the voice of the Father gives testimony about His Son. Christians must be baptized in the name of the Three Divine Persons. "If you have sincere piety, the Holy Spirit will descend on you also and you will hear the voice of the Father saying to you from above: "This was not My son, but now after Baptism he has been made My son" (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, "De Baptismo", 14).]
19. The justice proclaimed by the Servant, who is filled with the Holy Spirit, is not a noisy virtue. We can see the loving, gentle way Jesus worked His miracles, performing righteousness in all humility. This is how He brings about the triumph of His Father's Justice, His plan of revelation and salvation--very quietly and very effectively.
20. According to many Fathers, including St. Augustine and St. Jerome, the bruised reed and the smoldering wick refer to the Jewish people. They also stand for every sinner, for our Lord does not seek the sinner's death but his conversion, and his life (cf. Ezekiel 33:11). The Gospels often bear witness to this reassuring truth (cf. Luke 15:11-32), the parable of the prodigal son; Matthew 18:12-24, the parable of the lost sheep; etc.).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
From: Matthew 12:14-21
Jesus, the Suffering Servant of Yahweh
[14] But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against Him, how to destroy Him. [15] Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed Him, and He healed them all, [16] and ordered them not to make Him known. [17] This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: [18] "Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon Him, and He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. [19] He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will any one hear His voice in the streets; [20] He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick, till He brings justice to victory; [21] and in His name will the Gentiles hope."
___________________
Commentary:
17-21. Once again the sacred text points out the contrast between the contemporary mistaken Jewish notion of a spectacular messianic kingdom and the discernment which Jesus asks of those who witness and accept His teaching and miracles. By providing this long quotation from Isaiah (42:1-4), the Evangelist is giving us the key to the teaching contained in Chapters 11 and 12: in Jesus the prophecy of the Servant of Yahweh is fulfilled: the lovable and gentle teacher has come to bring the light of truth.
When narrating the passion of our Lord, the Gospels will once again remind us of the figure of the Servant of Yahweh, to show that in Jesus the suffering and expiatory aspect of the death of the Servant finds fulfillment (cf. Matthew 27:30, with reference to Is 50:6; Matthew 8:17 and Isaiah 53:4; John 1:38 and Isaiah 53:9-12; etc.).
17. Isaiah 42:1-4 speaks of a humble servant, beloved of God, chosen by God. And in fact Jesus, without ceasing to be the Son of God, one in substance with the Father, took the form of a servant (cf. Philippians 2:6). This humility led him to cure and care for the poor and afflicted of Israel, without seeking acclaim.
18. See the note on Matthew 3:16.
[Note on Matthew 3:16 states:
16. Jesus possessed the fullness of the Holy Spirit from the moment of His conception. This is due to the union of human nature and divine nature in the person of the Word (the dogma of hypostatic union). Catholic teaching says that in Christ there is only one person (who is divine) but two natures (divine and human). The descent of the Spirit of God spoken of in the text indicates that just as Jesus was solemnly commencing His messianic task, so the Holy Spirit was beginning His action through Him. There are very many texts in the Old Testament which speak of the showing forth of the Holy Spirit in the future Messiah. This sign of the Spirit gave St. John the Baptist unmistakable proof of the genuineness of his testimony concerning Christ (cf. John 1:29-34). The mystery of the Holy Trinity is revealed in the baptism of Jesus: the Son is baptized; the Holy Spirit descends on Him in the form of a dove; and the voice of the Father gives testimony about His Son. Christians must be baptized in the name of the Three Divine Persons. "If you have sincere piety, the Holy Spirit will descend on you also and you will hear the voice of the Father saying to you from above: "This was not My son, but now after Baptism he has been made My son" (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, "De Baptismo", 14).]
19. The justice proclaimed by the Servant, who is filled with the Holy Spirit, is not a noisy virtue. We can see the loving, gentle way Jesus worked His miracles, performing righteousness in all humility. This is how He brings about the triumph of His Father's Justice, His plan of revelation and salvation--very quietly and very effectively.
20. According to many Fathers, including St. Augustine and St. Jerome, the bruised reed and the smoldering wick refer to the Jewish people. They also stand for every sinner, for our Lord does not seek the sinner's death but his conversion, and his life (cf. Ezekiel 33:11). The Gospels often bear witness to this reassuring truth (cf. Luke 15:11-32), the parable of the prodigal son; Matthew 18:12-24, the parable of the lost sheep; etc.).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Reading for Saturday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial: Our Lady's Saturday
From: Exodus 12: 37-42
The Sons of Israel Leave Egypt
[37] And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. [38] A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very many cattle, both flocks and herds. [39] And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any provisions.
[40] The time that the people of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. [41] And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. [42] It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
_______________
Commentary:
12:37-42. Here we are given concrete details about the departure from Egypt. They headed towards Succoth, a city which modern excavations locate some 15 kms (nine miles) south-east of Rameses, in the Nile delta. It seems to make sense that they should have avoided trade routes, which would have been quieter but busier and patrolled by Egyptian armies--the coast road to the country of the Philistines (cf. 13:17), the road through the southern desert, which led to Beer-sheba, or the trading route linking Egypt and Arabia. Even in this little thing one can see God's special providence at work: he has no need of beaten tracks to show his people where to go.
The figure of 600,000 is an idealize one (cf. Num 1:46; 26:51), for it would imply a total population of three million people, women and children included. Maybe for the hagiographer's contemporaries this figure had a significance which escapes us today; or perhaps it is just a way of indicating that there were very many people--part of the epic style of the account, to highlight the power of God.
The figure of 430 years for the time the sons of Israel had been in Egypt (v. 40) is slightly different from the 404 years which appears more often in the Bible (cf, Gen 15:13; Acts 7:6; Gal 3:16-17). In the Pentateuch numbers often have a more symbolic than chronological meaning (cf. the note on Gen 5:1-32). The 400 years would mean that the chosen people lived in Egypt for ten generations (forty years per generation: cf. the note on Ex 7:9), that is, a complete period of the history of Israel.
"Night of watching" (v. 42): if the darkness causes any misgiving, God will transform it into a time of salvation. Because God looks out for them, the Israelites will also commemorate the night of their deliverance by keeping watch. Christian liturgy celebrates the Lords' resurrection with a solemn vigil, commemorating the deliverance of the Israelites, the redemption of Christians, and Christ's victory over death--three stages in God's intervention to save souls; as the Church sings: "This is the night when first you saved our fathers: you freed the people of Israel from their slavery. [...] This is the night when Christians everywhere (are) washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement. [...] This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave" ("Roman Missal", Exultet).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
From: Exodus 12: 37-42
The Sons of Israel Leave Egypt
[37] And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. [38] A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very many cattle, both flocks and herds. [39] And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any provisions.
[40] The time that the people of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. [41] And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. [42] It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
_______________
Commentary:
12:37-42. Here we are given concrete details about the departure from Egypt. They headed towards Succoth, a city which modern excavations locate some 15 kms (nine miles) south-east of Rameses, in the Nile delta. It seems to make sense that they should have avoided trade routes, which would have been quieter but busier and patrolled by Egyptian armies--the coast road to the country of the Philistines (cf. 13:17), the road through the southern desert, which led to Beer-sheba, or the trading route linking Egypt and Arabia. Even in this little thing one can see God's special providence at work: he has no need of beaten tracks to show his people where to go.
The figure of 600,000 is an idealize one (cf. Num 1:46; 26:51), for it would imply a total population of three million people, women and children included. Maybe for the hagiographer's contemporaries this figure had a significance which escapes us today; or perhaps it is just a way of indicating that there were very many people--part of the epic style of the account, to highlight the power of God.
The figure of 430 years for the time the sons of Israel had been in Egypt (v. 40) is slightly different from the 404 years which appears more often in the Bible (cf, Gen 15:13; Acts 7:6; Gal 3:16-17). In the Pentateuch numbers often have a more symbolic than chronological meaning (cf. the note on Gen 5:1-32). The 400 years would mean that the chosen people lived in Egypt for ten generations (forty years per generation: cf. the note on Ex 7:9), that is, a complete period of the history of Israel.
"Night of watching" (v. 42): if the darkness causes any misgiving, God will transform it into a time of salvation. Because God looks out for them, the Israelites will also commemorate the night of their deliverance by keeping watch. Christian liturgy celebrates the Lords' resurrection with a solemn vigil, commemorating the deliverance of the Israelites, the redemption of Christians, and Christ's victory over death--three stages in God's intervention to save souls; as the Church sings: "This is the night when first you saved our fathers: you freed the people of Israel from their slavery. [...] This is the night when Christians everywhere (are) washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement. [...] This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave" ("Roman Missal", Exultet).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Oppose Cuts to Alternatives to Abortion Program
From Missouri Right to Life:
Due to the shortfall in the Missouri budget, Governor Nixon is considering cuts to various programs. He requested all state departments to recommend programs that can be cut or their funding reduced. In response, the Mo. Department of Health, headed by pro-abortion former Rep. Margaret Donnelly, is recommending cuts to the Alternatives to Abortion program (ATA).
Through the ATA, women in crisis pregnancies receive a variety of services including job placement, housing, medical care, and adoption referrals. These services have been proven to help women choose life for their unborn child. In these difficult economic times, we know providing assistance to women experiencing crisis pregnancies can make all the difference in the decision to carry a child to term or end that child's life in the womb. The numbers of abortions in Missouri has been dropping steadily for many years. The ATA program has been a key component in the success of that effort.
Contact Governor Nixon now. Ask him to retain the Missouri Alternatives to Abortion Program. The lives of hundreds, if not thousands of unborn babies could be at risk. The physical and psychological health of Missouri women experiencing unplanned pregnancies could be in danger.
In January, Gov. Nixon promised pro-life Missourians to fully fund the Alternatives to Abortion program at $1,949,512. He needs to fulfill that promise. Missouri's unborn children and pregnant women should not pay the price for these uncertain economic times.
Contact the Governor:
Governor Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon
P O Box 720
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Phone (573) 751-3222
www.governor.mo.gov/contact
Principles and Practices - July 18
Hard But Sweet
The ladder of perfection is reached but not mounted; and there is just a danger of sitting contentedly at the foot, measuring the distance to be climbed later on, and thus putting off the day of sacrifice which Jesus asks. His Heart is opened to receive you; He points to it as your home and resting-place; but the crown of thorns, like a thick hedge, bars the way. Are you afraid of pressing against those thorns which will wound and tear you as you force your way through? Have courage, the love of Jesus will sweeten it all, and His strong right arm will support you if you are brave.
-Doyle, S.J.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
The ladder of perfection is reached but not mounted; and there is just a danger of sitting contentedly at the foot, measuring the distance to be climbed later on, and thus putting off the day of sacrifice which Jesus asks. His Heart is opened to receive you; He points to it as your home and resting-place; but the crown of thorns, like a thick hedge, bars the way. Are you afraid of pressing against those thorns which will wound and tear you as you force your way through? Have courage, the love of Jesus will sweeten it all, and His strong right arm will support you if you are brave.
-Doyle, S.J.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Thoughts of St Augustine for July 18
THE government of the whole universe is a greater miracle than feeding five thousand men on five loaves. Still no man wonders at the first, whereas men wonder at the second, not because it is greater, but because it is rarer.
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-July 18
OH, the wonderful, the mighty power of prayer! Two sinners are dying on Calvary by the side of Jesus Christ; one, because he prays, Remember me, is saved; the other, because he does not pray, is damned.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
Thursday, July 16, 2009
News Updates, 7/17
Vatican taps Chaput to investigate order (Legionaires of Christ)
The Vatican has asked Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput and four other prelates to investigate institutions of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order whose deceased founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, had been accused of sexual improprieties...
Did Pres__ent Obama Mislead Pope Benedict? [It's a given - the man is a pathologial liar]
In the late afternoon of July 10, Pres__ent Obama met privately with Pope Benedict XVI for just over 30 minutes. According to official Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, S.J., "The pres__ent explicitly expressed his commitment to reducing the numbers of abortions and to listen to the church's concern on moral issues."...
Mexican cardinal says existence of devil must be taken seriously
Mexico City, Mexico, Jul 16, 2009 / 02:26 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, said yesterday that the existence of the devil must be taken as fact, without exaggerating or minimizing his actions out of skepticism or credulity taken to the extreme...the cardinal said skepticism leads many to deny the existence of the devil and dismiss his actions as psychological, socio-cultural or paranormal phenomena. Others, out of extreme gullibility, see the devil everywhere and grant him supernatural powers as if he were God, the cardinal stated...
Medical researchers: the unborn have memories
Able to store info and retrieve it four weeks later
NZ Masons jailed over Fiji sorcery claims
Police seized wands, compasses and a skull at lodge
'Imagine No Religion' billboard ignites debate
Erected by the US-based Alabama Freethought Association
Vatican to UN: World needs new development model
'...centered on the human person rather than profit'
Cardinal Newman to be beatified next May
Possibly at Birmingham's Oratory on Athanasius' feast
Vietnam Catholics fined for having large families
Government requires limit of two children per couple
Has George Weigel lost his Vatican 'insider' status?
Commentator thinks he can 'pick and choose' from encyclical
UK bishop bans holy water to halt swine flu
17 people in Britain have died after contracting H1N1 virus
Honduran Catholic bishops oppose Zelaya, Chavez
Catholic Church has firmly backed the ouster of president
[When will US Bishops oppose Obozo?]
=========
Other Issues
=========
AIG’s European Derivatives May Take Decades to Expire
American International Group Inc.’s trading partners may force the insurer to bear the risk of losses on corporate loans and mortgages for years beyond the company’s expectations, complicating U.S. efforts to stabilize the firm, analysts said.
[The fact is, AIG is not on the hook for anything - the US taxpayers are]
Ted Nugent: Obama Represents 'Tyranny & Slavery'
"With a liberal in the White House, it's sad to see the celebration of mediocrity and slovenliness and the cult of denial expand," he says. "That's heartbreaking to see this once-great nation abandon the drive of excellence and the new squawking mantra of whining and excuse-making, which is why we have the pres__ent [id missing] we have, and for him and his administration to defy the Constitution and Fedzilla exploding into the private sector and controlling corporations, it's shocking."...
WHO: H1N1 pandemic spreading too fast to count
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that the H1N1 flu pandemic was the fastest-moving pandemic ever and that it was now pointless to count every case...
CBO: Federal budget is on unsustainable path
Under current law, the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, because federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run. Although great uncertainty surrounds long-term fiscal projections, rising costs for health care and the aging of the population will cause federal spending to increase rapidly under any plausible scenario for current law...
Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’
Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan [government mandated welfare program] becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money...
Treasury looking for a few good comedians
The Contractor shall conduct two, 3-hour, Humor in the Workplace programs that will discuss the power of humor in the workplace, the close relationship between humor and stress, and why humor is one of the most important ways that we communicate in business and office life...
__________
"I might inform those humanitarians who have a nightmare of new and needless babies (for some humanitarians have that sort of horror of humanity) that if the recent decline in the birth-rate were continued for a certain time, it might end in there being no babies at all; which would console them very much."
-G.K. Chesterton, ILN 5-24-30
The Vatican has asked Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput and four other prelates to investigate institutions of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order whose deceased founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, had been accused of sexual improprieties...
Did Pres__ent Obama Mislead Pope Benedict? [It's a given - the man is a pathologial liar]
In the late afternoon of July 10, Pres__ent Obama met privately with Pope Benedict XVI for just over 30 minutes. According to official Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, S.J., "The pres__ent explicitly expressed his commitment to reducing the numbers of abortions and to listen to the church's concern on moral issues."...
Mexican cardinal says existence of devil must be taken seriously
Mexico City, Mexico, Jul 16, 2009 / 02:26 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, said yesterday that the existence of the devil must be taken as fact, without exaggerating or minimizing his actions out of skepticism or credulity taken to the extreme...the cardinal said skepticism leads many to deny the existence of the devil and dismiss his actions as psychological, socio-cultural or paranormal phenomena. Others, out of extreme gullibility, see the devil everywhere and grant him supernatural powers as if he were God, the cardinal stated...
Medical researchers: the unborn have memories
Able to store info and retrieve it four weeks later
NZ Masons jailed over Fiji sorcery claims
Police seized wands, compasses and a skull at lodge
'Imagine No Religion' billboard ignites debate
Erected by the US-based Alabama Freethought Association
Vatican to UN: World needs new development model
'...centered on the human person rather than profit'
Cardinal Newman to be beatified next May
Possibly at Birmingham's Oratory on Athanasius' feast
Vietnam Catholics fined for having large families
Government requires limit of two children per couple
Has George Weigel lost his Vatican 'insider' status?
Commentator thinks he can 'pick and choose' from encyclical
UK bishop bans holy water to halt swine flu
17 people in Britain have died after contracting H1N1 virus
Honduran Catholic bishops oppose Zelaya, Chavez
Catholic Church has firmly backed the ouster of president
[When will US Bishops oppose Obozo?]
=========
Other Issues
=========
AIG’s European Derivatives May Take Decades to Expire
American International Group Inc.’s trading partners may force the insurer to bear the risk of losses on corporate loans and mortgages for years beyond the company’s expectations, complicating U.S. efforts to stabilize the firm, analysts said.
[The fact is, AIG is not on the hook for anything - the US taxpayers are]
Ted Nugent: Obama Represents 'Tyranny & Slavery'
"With a liberal in the White House, it's sad to see the celebration of mediocrity and slovenliness and the cult of denial expand," he says. "That's heartbreaking to see this once-great nation abandon the drive of excellence and the new squawking mantra of whining and excuse-making, which is why we have the pres__ent [id missing] we have, and for him and his administration to defy the Constitution and Fedzilla exploding into the private sector and controlling corporations, it's shocking."...
WHO: H1N1 pandemic spreading too fast to count
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that the H1N1 flu pandemic was the fastest-moving pandemic ever and that it was now pointless to count every case...
CBO: Federal budget is on unsustainable path
Under current law, the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, because federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run. Although great uncertainty surrounds long-term fiscal projections, rising costs for health care and the aging of the population will cause federal spending to increase rapidly under any plausible scenario for current law...
Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’
Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan [government mandated welfare program] becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money...
Treasury looking for a few good comedians
The Contractor shall conduct two, 3-hour, Humor in the Workplace programs that will discuss the power of humor in the workplace, the close relationship between humor and stress, and why humor is one of the most important ways that we communicate in business and office life...
__________
"I might inform those humanitarians who have a nightmare of new and needless babies (for some humanitarians have that sort of horror of humanity) that if the recent decline in the birth-rate were continued for a certain time, it might end in there being no babies at all; which would console them very much."
-G.K. Chesterton, ILN 5-24-30
Gospel for Friday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Matthew 12:1-8
The Question of the Sabbath
[1] At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck ears of grain and to eat. [2] But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." [3] He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: [4] how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? [5] Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless? [6] I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. [7] And if you had known what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. [8] For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
_____________________
Commentary:
2. "The Sabbath": this was the day the Jews set aside for worshipping God. God Himself, the originator of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:3), ordered the Jewish people to avoid certain kinds of work on this day (Exodus 20:8-11; 21:13; Deuteronomy 5:14) to leave them free to give more time to God. As time went by, the rabbis complicated this divine precept: by Jesus' time they had extended to 39 the list of kinds of forbidden work.
The Pharisees accuse Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath. In the casuistry of the scribes and the Pharisees, plucking ears of corn was the same as harvesting, and crushing them was the same as milling--types of agricultural work forbidden on the Sabbath.
3-8. Jesus rebuts the Pharisees' accusation by four arguments--the example of David, that of the priests, a correct understanding of the mercy of God and Jesus' own authority over the Sabbath.
The first example which was quite familiar to the people, who were used to listening to the Bible being read, comes from 1 Samuel 21:2-7: David, in flight from the jealousy of King Saul, asks the priest of the shrine of Nob for food for his men; the priest gave them the only bread he had, the holy bread of the Presence; this was the twelve loaves which were placed each week on the golden altar of the sanctuary as a perpetual offering from the twelve tribes of Israel (Leviticus 24:5-9). The second example refers to the priestly ministry to perform the liturgy, priests had to do a number of things on the Sabbath but did not thereby break the law of Sabbath rest (cf. Numbers 28:9). On the other two arguments, see the notes on Matthew 9:13 and Mark 2:26-27, 28.
[The notes on Matthew 9:13 states:
13. Here Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6, keeping the hyperbole of the Semitic style. A more faithful translation would be: "I desire mercy MORE THAN sacrifice". It is not that our Lord does not want the sacrifices we offer Him: He is stressing that every sacrifice should come from the heart, for charity should imbue everything a Christian does--especially his worship of God (see 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Matthew 5:23-24).]
[The notes on Mark 2:26-27, 28 states:
6-27. The bread of the Presence consisted of twelve loaves or cakes placed each morning on the table in the sanctuary, as homage to the Lord from the twelve tribes of Israel (cf. Leviticus 24:5-9). The loaves withdrawn to make room for the fresh ones were reserved to the priests. Abiathar's action anticipates what Christ teaches here. Already in the Old Testament God had established a hierarchy in the precepts of the Law so that the lesser ones yielded to the main ones.
This explains why a ceremonial precept (such as the one we are discussing) should yield before a precept of the natural law. Similarly, the commandment to keep the Sabbath does not come before the duty to seek basic subsistence. Vatican II uses this passage of the Gospel to underline the value of the human person over and above economic and social development: "The social order and its development must constantly yield to the good of the person, since the order of things must be subordinate to the order of persons and not the other way around, as the Lord suggested when He said that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. The social order requires constant improvement: it must be founded in truth, built on justice, and enlivened by love" ("Gaudium Et Spes", 26).
Finally in this passage Christ teaches God's purpose in instituting the Sabbath: God established it for man's good, to help him rest and devote himself to Divine worship in joy and peace. The Pharisees, through their interpretation of the Law, had turned this day into a source of anguish and scruple due to all the various prescriptions and prohibitions they introduced.
By proclaiming Himself `Lord of the Sabbath', Jesus affirms His divinity and His universal authority. Because He is Lord he has the power to establish other laws, as Yahweh had in the Old Testament.
28. The Sabbath had been established not only for man's rest but also to give glory to God: that is the correct meaning of the _expression "the Sabbath was made for man." Jesus has every right to say He is Lord of the Sabbath, because He is God. Christ restores to the weekly day of rest its full, religious meaning: it is not just a matter of fulfilling a number of legal precepts or of concern for physical well-being: the Sabbath belongs to God; it is one way, suited to human nature, of rendering glory and honor to the Almighty. The Church, from the time of the Apostles onwards, transferred the observance of this precept to the following day, Sunday--the Lord's Day--in celebration of the resurrection of Christ.
"Son of Man": the origin of the messianic meaning of this _expression is to be found particularly in the prophecy of Dan 7:13ff, where Daniel, in a prophetic vision, contemplates `one like the Son of Man' coming down on the clouds of Heaven, who even goes right up to God's throne and is given dominion and glory and royal power over all peoples and nations. This _expression appears 69 times in the Synoptic Gospels; Jesus prefers it to other ways of describing the Messiah--such as Son of David, Messiah, etc.--thereby avoiding the nationalistic overtones those expressions had in Jewish minds at the time (cf. "Introduction to the Gospel According to St. Mark", p. 62 above.]
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
The Question of the Sabbath
[1] At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck ears of grain and to eat. [2] But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." [3] He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: [4] how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? [5] Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless? [6] I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. [7] And if you had known what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. [8] For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
_____________________
Commentary:
2. "The Sabbath": this was the day the Jews set aside for worshipping God. God Himself, the originator of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:3), ordered the Jewish people to avoid certain kinds of work on this day (Exodus 20:8-11; 21:13; Deuteronomy 5:14) to leave them free to give more time to God. As time went by, the rabbis complicated this divine precept: by Jesus' time they had extended to 39 the list of kinds of forbidden work.
The Pharisees accuse Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath. In the casuistry of the scribes and the Pharisees, plucking ears of corn was the same as harvesting, and crushing them was the same as milling--types of agricultural work forbidden on the Sabbath.
3-8. Jesus rebuts the Pharisees' accusation by four arguments--the example of David, that of the priests, a correct understanding of the mercy of God and Jesus' own authority over the Sabbath.
The first example which was quite familiar to the people, who were used to listening to the Bible being read, comes from 1 Samuel 21:2-7: David, in flight from the jealousy of King Saul, asks the priest of the shrine of Nob for food for his men; the priest gave them the only bread he had, the holy bread of the Presence; this was the twelve loaves which were placed each week on the golden altar of the sanctuary as a perpetual offering from the twelve tribes of Israel (Leviticus 24:5-9). The second example refers to the priestly ministry to perform the liturgy, priests had to do a number of things on the Sabbath but did not thereby break the law of Sabbath rest (cf. Numbers 28:9). On the other two arguments, see the notes on Matthew 9:13 and Mark 2:26-27, 28.
[The notes on Matthew 9:13 states:
13. Here Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6, keeping the hyperbole of the Semitic style. A more faithful translation would be: "I desire mercy MORE THAN sacrifice". It is not that our Lord does not want the sacrifices we offer Him: He is stressing that every sacrifice should come from the heart, for charity should imbue everything a Christian does--especially his worship of God (see 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Matthew 5:23-24).]
[The notes on Mark 2:26-27, 28 states:
6-27. The bread of the Presence consisted of twelve loaves or cakes placed each morning on the table in the sanctuary, as homage to the Lord from the twelve tribes of Israel (cf. Leviticus 24:5-9). The loaves withdrawn to make room for the fresh ones were reserved to the priests. Abiathar's action anticipates what Christ teaches here. Already in the Old Testament God had established a hierarchy in the precepts of the Law so that the lesser ones yielded to the main ones.
This explains why a ceremonial precept (such as the one we are discussing) should yield before a precept of the natural law. Similarly, the commandment to keep the Sabbath does not come before the duty to seek basic subsistence. Vatican II uses this passage of the Gospel to underline the value of the human person over and above economic and social development: "The social order and its development must constantly yield to the good of the person, since the order of things must be subordinate to the order of persons and not the other way around, as the Lord suggested when He said that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. The social order requires constant improvement: it must be founded in truth, built on justice, and enlivened by love" ("Gaudium Et Spes", 26).
Finally in this passage Christ teaches God's purpose in instituting the Sabbath: God established it for man's good, to help him rest and devote himself to Divine worship in joy and peace. The Pharisees, through their interpretation of the Law, had turned this day into a source of anguish and scruple due to all the various prescriptions and prohibitions they introduced.
By proclaiming Himself `Lord of the Sabbath', Jesus affirms His divinity and His universal authority. Because He is Lord he has the power to establish other laws, as Yahweh had in the Old Testament.
28. The Sabbath had been established not only for man's rest but also to give glory to God: that is the correct meaning of the _expression "the Sabbath was made for man." Jesus has every right to say He is Lord of the Sabbath, because He is God. Christ restores to the weekly day of rest its full, religious meaning: it is not just a matter of fulfilling a number of legal precepts or of concern for physical well-being: the Sabbath belongs to God; it is one way, suited to human nature, of rendering glory and honor to the Almighty. The Church, from the time of the Apostles onwards, transferred the observance of this precept to the following day, Sunday--the Lord's Day--in celebration of the resurrection of Christ.
"Son of Man": the origin of the messianic meaning of this _expression is to be found particularly in the prophecy of Dan 7:13ff, where Daniel, in a prophetic vision, contemplates `one like the Son of Man' coming down on the clouds of Heaven, who even goes right up to God's throne and is given dominion and glory and royal power over all peoples and nations. This _expression appears 69 times in the Synoptic Gospels; Jesus prefers it to other ways of describing the Messiah--such as Son of David, Messiah, etc.--thereby avoiding the nationalistic overtones those expressions had in Jewish minds at the time (cf. "Introduction to the Gospel According to St. Mark", p. 62 above.]
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Reading for Friday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Exodus 11:10-12:14
[10] Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.
The Institution of the Passover
[1] The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, [2] "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. [3] Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household; [4] and if the household is too small for a lamb, then a man and his neighbor next to his house shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. [5] Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats; [6] and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening. [7] Then they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. [8] They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. [9] Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. [10] And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
[11] In this manner you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's passover. [12] For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all, the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. [13] The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
[14] "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever."
______________
Commentary:
12:1-14. This discourse of the Lord contains a number of rules for celebrating the Passover and the events commemorated in it; it is a kind of catechetical-liturgical text which admirably summarizes the profound meaning of that feast.
The Passover probably originated as a shepherds' feast held in springtime, when lambs are born and the migration to summer pastures was beginning; a new-born lamb was sacrificed and its blood used to perform a special rite in petition for the protection and fertility of the flocks. But once this feast became connected with the history of the Exodus it acquired a much deeper meaning, as did the rites attaching to it.
Thus, the "congregation" (v. 3) comprises all the Israelites organized as a religious community to commemorate the most important event in their history, deliverance from bondage.
The victim will be a lamb, without blemish (v. 5) because it is to be offered to God. Smearing the doorposts and lintel with the blood of the victim (vv. 7. 13), an essential part of the rite, signifies protection from dangers. The Passover is essentially sacrificial from the very start.
The meal (v. 11) is also a necessary part, and the manner in which it is held is a very appropriate way of showing the urgency imposed by circumstances: there is no time to season it (v. 9); no other food is eaten with it, except for the bread and desert herbs (a sign of indigence); the dress and posture of those taking part (standing, wearing sandals and holding a staff) show that they are on a journey. In the later liturgical commemoration of the Passover, these things indicate that the Lord is passing among his people.
The rules laid down for the Passover are evocative of very ancient nomadic desert rites, where there was no priest or temple or altar. When the Israelites had settled in Palestine, the Passover continued to be celebrated at home, always retaining the features of a sacrifice, a family meal and, very especially, a memorial of the deliverance the Lord brought about on that night.
Our Lord chose the context of the Passover Supper to institute the Eucharist: "By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his Father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 1340).
12:2. This event is so important that it is going to mark the starting point in the reckoning of time. In the history of Israel there are two types of calendar, both based on the moon--one which begins the year in the autumn, after the feast of Weeks (cf. 23:16; 34:22), and the other beginning it in spring, between March and April. This second calendar probably held sway for quite a long time, for we know that the first month, known as Abib (spring)--cf. 13:4; 23:18; 34:18--was called, in the post-exilic period (from the 6th century BC onwards) by the Babylonian name of Nisan (Neh 2:1; Esther 3:7). Be that as it may, the fact that this month is called the first month is a way of highlighting the importance of the event which is going to be commemorated (the Passover).
12:11. Even now it is difficult to work out the etymology of the word "Passover". In other Semitic languages it means "joy" or "festive joy" or also "ritual and festive leap". In the Bible the same root means "dancing or limping" in an idolatrous rite (cf. 1 Kings 18:21, 26) and "protecting" (cf. Is 31:5), so it could mean "punishment, lash" and also "salvation, protection". In the present text the writer is providing a popular, non-scholarly etymology, and it is taken as meaning that "the Lord passes through", slaying Egyptians and sparing the Israelites.
In the New Testament it will be applied to Christ's passage to the Father by death and resurrection, and the Church's "passage" to the eternal Kingdom: "The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 677).
12:14. The formal tone of these words gives an idea of the importance the Passover always had. If the historical books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) hardly mention it, the reason is that they allude only to sacrifices in the temple and the Passover was always celebrated in people's homes. When the temple ceased to be (6th century BC), the feast acquired more prominence, as can be seen from the post-exilic biblical texts (cf Ezra 6:19-22; 2 Chron 30:1-27; 35:1-19) and extrabiblical texts such as the famous "Passover papyrus Elephantine" (Egypt) of the 5th century BC. In Jesus' time a solemn Passover sacrifice was celebrated in the temple the Passover meal was held at home.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
[10] Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.
The Institution of the Passover
[1] The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, [2] "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. [3] Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household; [4] and if the household is too small for a lamb, then a man and his neighbor next to his house shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. [5] Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats; [6] and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening. [7] Then they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. [8] They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. [9] Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. [10] And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
[11] In this manner you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's passover. [12] For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all, the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. [13] The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
[14] "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever."
______________
Commentary:
12:1-14. This discourse of the Lord contains a number of rules for celebrating the Passover and the events commemorated in it; it is a kind of catechetical-liturgical text which admirably summarizes the profound meaning of that feast.
The Passover probably originated as a shepherds' feast held in springtime, when lambs are born and the migration to summer pastures was beginning; a new-born lamb was sacrificed and its blood used to perform a special rite in petition for the protection and fertility of the flocks. But once this feast became connected with the history of the Exodus it acquired a much deeper meaning, as did the rites attaching to it.
Thus, the "congregation" (v. 3) comprises all the Israelites organized as a religious community to commemorate the most important event in their history, deliverance from bondage.
The victim will be a lamb, without blemish (v. 5) because it is to be offered to God. Smearing the doorposts and lintel with the blood of the victim (vv. 7. 13), an essential part of the rite, signifies protection from dangers. The Passover is essentially sacrificial from the very start.
The meal (v. 11) is also a necessary part, and the manner in which it is held is a very appropriate way of showing the urgency imposed by circumstances: there is no time to season it (v. 9); no other food is eaten with it, except for the bread and desert herbs (a sign of indigence); the dress and posture of those taking part (standing, wearing sandals and holding a staff) show that they are on a journey. In the later liturgical commemoration of the Passover, these things indicate that the Lord is passing among his people.
The rules laid down for the Passover are evocative of very ancient nomadic desert rites, where there was no priest or temple or altar. When the Israelites had settled in Palestine, the Passover continued to be celebrated at home, always retaining the features of a sacrifice, a family meal and, very especially, a memorial of the deliverance the Lord brought about on that night.
Our Lord chose the context of the Passover Supper to institute the Eucharist: "By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his Father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 1340).
12:2. This event is so important that it is going to mark the starting point in the reckoning of time. In the history of Israel there are two types of calendar, both based on the moon--one which begins the year in the autumn, after the feast of Weeks (cf. 23:16; 34:22), and the other beginning it in spring, between March and April. This second calendar probably held sway for quite a long time, for we know that the first month, known as Abib (spring)--cf. 13:4; 23:18; 34:18--was called, in the post-exilic period (from the 6th century BC onwards) by the Babylonian name of Nisan (Neh 2:1; Esther 3:7). Be that as it may, the fact that this month is called the first month is a way of highlighting the importance of the event which is going to be commemorated (the Passover).
12:11. Even now it is difficult to work out the etymology of the word "Passover". In other Semitic languages it means "joy" or "festive joy" or also "ritual and festive leap". In the Bible the same root means "dancing or limping" in an idolatrous rite (cf. 1 Kings 18:21, 26) and "protecting" (cf. Is 31:5), so it could mean "punishment, lash" and also "salvation, protection". In the present text the writer is providing a popular, non-scholarly etymology, and it is taken as meaning that "the Lord passes through", slaying Egyptians and sparing the Israelites.
In the New Testament it will be applied to Christ's passage to the Father by death and resurrection, and the Church's "passage" to the eternal Kingdom: "The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 677).
12:14. The formal tone of these words gives an idea of the importance the Passover always had. If the historical books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) hardly mention it, the reason is that they allude only to sacrifices in the temple and the Passover was always celebrated in people's homes. When the temple ceased to be (6th century BC), the feast acquired more prominence, as can be seen from the post-exilic biblical texts (cf Ezra 6:19-22; 2 Chron 30:1-27; 35:1-19) and extrabiblical texts such as the famous "Passover papyrus Elephantine" (Egypt) of the 5th century BC. In Jesus' time a solemn Passover sacrifice was celebrated in the temple the Passover meal was held at home.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Principles and Practices - July 17
The First Virtue
God, moved by compassion for our misery and perverse inclinations, permits temptations to come upon us, and sometimes to be very horrible, and to come under different forms, that we may humble ourselves and know ourselves, though they seem to us to be useless. It is this way He manifests His Goodness and Wisdom in making things which seem to us most hurtful to be most helpful, in that through them we become more humble - which is the thing above all others our souls need.
-Spiritual Combat.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
God, moved by compassion for our misery and perverse inclinations, permits temptations to come upon us, and sometimes to be very horrible, and to come under different forms, that we may humble ourselves and know ourselves, though they seem to us to be useless. It is this way He manifests His Goodness and Wisdom in making things which seem to us most hurtful to be most helpful, in that through them we become more humble - which is the thing above all others our souls need.
-Spiritual Combat.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Thoughts of St Augustine for July 17
SPIRITUAL things are indeed to be said to be taught without animal ones; but those who receive them are both to hold spiritual things and to work material deeds in no material spirit.
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-July 17
Do not leave undone any good action out of human respect. Do not complain in sickness of any want of attention on the part of the doctors, servants or assistants and try to conceal your sufferings as much as you can.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
News Updates, 7/16
White House: New Catholic Surgeon General Supports Obama Abortion Agenda
A White House spokesman appears to have settled confusion on the position of Surgeon General nominee Dr. Regina Benjamin by saying that the doctor, though widely considered a devout Roman Catholic, supports President Obama's agenda on abortion...
[That would mean she could NOT possibly be considered a "devout" Catholic - more likely an heretic or apostate...What's wrong with William Donohue? Will he retract his suport?]
The New York Times also recently reported that an associate of Benjamin's said the Catholic doctor regularly distributes contraception, despite the Catholic Church's teaching against contraception...
[Another candidate, it seems, for the application of Canon 915]
Surgeon General Nominee Regina Benjamin Pro-Abortion
LifeNews reports show naivete of Catholic Church
Surgeon general pick: pro-abortion Catholic doctor
White House says Benjamin supports Obama's position
Catholic League approves of Surgeon General pick
Bill Donohue praises Obama for his sensitive selection
Sotomayor Sat on Board of Organization That Fought ‘Any Efforts’ to Oppose Abortion
At her confirmation hearing this week, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor refused to give her personal views on abortion. However, Sotomayor spent more than a decade serving on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), a group that opposes “any efforts” to “in any way restrict” abortion...
Bishop D'Arcy: Put tabernacles at center of sanctuary
'...along the central axis behind the main altar'
Obama's science czar: I don't support forced abortion
Holdren authored book promoting coercive population control
[Don't all leftists, marxists, statists LIE??? They take everyone for idiots who can't understand?]
Russian bishops: conditions improving for Church
Hopeful for development of higher-level diplomatic relations
Malaysia arrests 9 Christians on conversion claim
Attorney denies 'proselytizing of Muslims' charge
Is beatification of G.K. Chesterton possible?
UK's Chesterton Society launches proposal for his cause
Sotomayor says Obama didn't ask about abortion
...at the outset of a second day of Senate questioning
Catholic parents file lawsuit to block closing
Families are seeking an injunction to keep school open
=========
Other Issues
=========
Democratic Health (Death) Care Plan
Which will result in THIS!
Health Care Bill- Bans Private Individual Insurance
Congress: It didn't take long to run into an "uh-oh" moment when reading the House's "health care for all Americans" bill. Right there on Page 16 is a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal...
[Washington is overrun with criminals and domestic enemies who should be hanging from ropes.]
Pentagon orders soldier fired for challenging prez
The Department of Defense has compelled a private employer to fire a U.S. Army Reserve major from his civilian job after he had his military deployment orders revoked for arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office...
[We find ourselves living in a fascist country!]
Lou Dobbs interview w/Orly Taitz & Alan Keyes on Obama's citizenship
This is the Audio of Alan Keyes and Orly Taitz on Obama's natural-born citizenship...
Looking at Liberty and Tyranny
When Mark Levin was a teenager, he loved coming into Philadelphia from Elkins Park and visiting Independence Hall. In the room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated, he would imagine the founding fathers designing a nation...
British swine flu death toll reaches 29 and could hit 65,000
Twenty-nine people have now died in Britain after contracting swine flu while the Government predicts 65,000 people will die this winter...
BBC:Paulson admits bank merger threat
The ex-US Treasury Secretary has admitted telling the Bank of America boss he might lose his job if he walked away from a merger from Merrill Lynch. Hank Paulson warned the bank's chief executive Kenneth Lewis that the Federal Reserve could oust him and the board if the rescue did not proceed...
Michigan Unemployment - 15.2%
Why We Must RATION Health Care (Peter Singer/NYT)
You have advanced kidney cancer. It will kill you, probably in the next year or two. A drug called Sutent slows the spread of the cancer and may give you an extra six months, but at a cost of $54,000. Is a few more months worth that much?...
[Singer (& 0bama) want you to die for the "Greater Good"]
_________
"Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable."
-G.K. Chesterton, ILN, 10/23/09
A White House spokesman appears to have settled confusion on the position of Surgeon General nominee Dr. Regina Benjamin by saying that the doctor, though widely considered a devout Roman Catholic, supports President Obama's agenda on abortion...
[That would mean she could NOT possibly be considered a "devout" Catholic - more likely an heretic or apostate...What's wrong with William Donohue? Will he retract his suport?]
The New York Times also recently reported that an associate of Benjamin's said the Catholic doctor regularly distributes contraception, despite the Catholic Church's teaching against contraception...
[Another candidate, it seems, for the application of Canon 915]
Surgeon General Nominee Regina Benjamin Pro-Abortion
LifeNews reports show naivete of Catholic Church
Surgeon general pick: pro-abortion Catholic doctor
White House says Benjamin supports Obama's position
Catholic League approves of Surgeon General pick
Bill Donohue praises Obama for his sensitive selection
Sotomayor Sat on Board of Organization That Fought ‘Any Efforts’ to Oppose Abortion
At her confirmation hearing this week, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor refused to give her personal views on abortion. However, Sotomayor spent more than a decade serving on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), a group that opposes “any efforts” to “in any way restrict” abortion...
Bishop D'Arcy: Put tabernacles at center of sanctuary
'...along the central axis behind the main altar'
Obama's science czar: I don't support forced abortion
Holdren authored book promoting coercive population control
[Don't all leftists, marxists, statists LIE??? They take everyone for idiots who can't understand?]
Russian bishops: conditions improving for Church
Hopeful for development of higher-level diplomatic relations
Malaysia arrests 9 Christians on conversion claim
Attorney denies 'proselytizing of Muslims' charge
Is beatification of G.K. Chesterton possible?
UK's Chesterton Society launches proposal for his cause
Sotomayor says Obama didn't ask about abortion
...at the outset of a second day of Senate questioning
Catholic parents file lawsuit to block closing
Families are seeking an injunction to keep school open
=========
Other Issues
=========
Democratic Health (Death) Care Plan
Which will result in THIS!
Health Care Bill- Bans Private Individual Insurance
Congress: It didn't take long to run into an "uh-oh" moment when reading the House's "health care for all Americans" bill. Right there on Page 16 is a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal...
[Washington is overrun with criminals and domestic enemies who should be hanging from ropes.]
Pentagon orders soldier fired for challenging prez
The Department of Defense has compelled a private employer to fire a U.S. Army Reserve major from his civilian job after he had his military deployment orders revoked for arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office...
[We find ourselves living in a fascist country!]
Lou Dobbs interview w/Orly Taitz & Alan Keyes on Obama's citizenship
This is the Audio of Alan Keyes and Orly Taitz on Obama's natural-born citizenship...
Looking at Liberty and Tyranny
When Mark Levin was a teenager, he loved coming into Philadelphia from Elkins Park and visiting Independence Hall. In the room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated, he would imagine the founding fathers designing a nation...
British swine flu death toll reaches 29 and could hit 65,000
Twenty-nine people have now died in Britain after contracting swine flu while the Government predicts 65,000 people will die this winter...
BBC:Paulson admits bank merger threat
The ex-US Treasury Secretary has admitted telling the Bank of America boss he might lose his job if he walked away from a merger from Merrill Lynch. Hank Paulson warned the bank's chief executive Kenneth Lewis that the Federal Reserve could oust him and the board if the rescue did not proceed...
Michigan Unemployment - 15.2%
Why We Must RATION Health Care (Peter Singer/NYT)
You have advanced kidney cancer. It will kill you, probably in the next year or two. A drug called Sutent slows the spread of the cancer and may give you an extra six months, but at a cost of $54,000. Is a few more months worth that much?...
[Singer (& 0bama) want you to die for the "Greater Good"]
_________
"Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable."
-G.K. Chesterton, ILN, 10/23/09
Gospel for Thursday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Old Calendar: Commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel
From: Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus Thanks His Father (Continuation)
(At that time Jesus declared,) [28] "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."
_______________________
Commentary:
28-30. Our Lord calls everyone to come to Him. We all find things difficult in one way or another. The history of souls bears out the truth of these words of Jesus. Only the Gospel can fully satisfy the thirst for truth and justice which sincere people feel. Only our Lord, our Master--and those to whom He passes on His power--can soothe the sinner by telling him, "Your sins are forgiven" (Matthew 9:2). In this connection Pope Paul VI teaches: "Jesus says now and always, `Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' His attitude towards us is one of invitation, knowledge and compassion; indeed, it is one of offering, promise, friendship, goodness, remedy of our ailments; He is our comforter; indeed, our nourishment, our bread, giving us energy and life" ("Homily on Corpus Christi", 13 June 1974).
"Come to Me": the Master is addressing the crowds who are following Him, "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). The Pharisees weighed them down with an endless series of petty regulations (cf. Acts 15:10), yet they brought no peace to their souls. Jesus tells these people, and us, about the kind of burden He imposes: "Any other burden oppresses and crushes you, but Christ's actually takes weight off you. Any other burden weighs down, but Christ's gives you wings. If you take a bird's wings away, you might seem to be taking weight off it, but the more weight you take off, the more you tie it down to the earth. There it is on the ground, and you wanted to relieve it of a weight; give it back the weight of its wings and you will see how it flies" (St. Augustine, "Sermon" 126).
"All you who go about tormented, afflicted and burdened with the burden of your cares and desires, go forth from them, come to Me and I will refresh you and you shall find for your souls the rest which your desires take from you" (St. John of the Cross, "Ascent of Mount Carmel", Book 1, Chapter 7, 4).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Old Calendar: Commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel
From: Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus Thanks His Father (Continuation)
(At that time Jesus declared,) [28] "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."
_______________________
Commentary:
28-30. Our Lord calls everyone to come to Him. We all find things difficult in one way or another. The history of souls bears out the truth of these words of Jesus. Only the Gospel can fully satisfy the thirst for truth and justice which sincere people feel. Only our Lord, our Master--and those to whom He passes on His power--can soothe the sinner by telling him, "Your sins are forgiven" (Matthew 9:2). In this connection Pope Paul VI teaches: "Jesus says now and always, `Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' His attitude towards us is one of invitation, knowledge and compassion; indeed, it is one of offering, promise, friendship, goodness, remedy of our ailments; He is our comforter; indeed, our nourishment, our bread, giving us energy and life" ("Homily on Corpus Christi", 13 June 1974).
"Come to Me": the Master is addressing the crowds who are following Him, "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). The Pharisees weighed them down with an endless series of petty regulations (cf. Acts 15:10), yet they brought no peace to their souls. Jesus tells these people, and us, about the kind of burden He imposes: "Any other burden oppresses and crushes you, but Christ's actually takes weight off you. Any other burden weighs down, but Christ's gives you wings. If you take a bird's wings away, you might seem to be taking weight off it, but the more weight you take off, the more you tie it down to the earth. There it is on the ground, and you wanted to relieve it of a weight; give it back the weight of its wings and you will see how it flies" (St. Augustine, "Sermon" 126).
"All you who go about tormented, afflicted and burdened with the burden of your cares and desires, go forth from them, come to Me and I will refresh you and you shall find for your souls the rest which your desires take from you" (St. John of the Cross, "Ascent of Mount Carmel", Book 1, Chapter 7, 4).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Reading for Thursday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial: Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Old Calendar: Commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel
From: Exodus 3:13-20
The Divine Name is Revealed
[3] Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" [4] God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" [5] God said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': this is my name forever and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
The Mission of Moses
[16] Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, 'The Lord the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt; [17] and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey." [18] And they will hearken to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, we pray you, let us go a three days' joumey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.' [19] I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. [20] So I will stretch my hand and smite Egypt with all the wonders which I will do it; after that he will let you go."
__________
Commentary:
3:13-15. Moses now raises another difficulty: he does not know the name of the God who is commissioning him. This gives rise to the revelation of the name "Yahweh" and the explanation of what it means--"I am who I am".
According to the tradition recorded in Gn 4:26, a grandson of Adam, Enosh, was the first to call upon the name of the Lord (Yahweh). Thus, the biblical text is stating that a part of mankind knew the true God, whose name was revealed to Moses in this solemn way (Ex 35:15 and 6:2). The patriarchs invoked God under other names, to do with the divine attributes, such as the Almighty ("El-Shaddai": Gen 17:1; Ex 6:2-3). Other proper names of God which appear in very ancient documents lead one to think that the name Yahweh had been known from along time back. The revelation of the divine name is important in salvation history because by that name God will be invoked over the course of the centuries.
All kinds of suggestions have been put forward as to the meaning of Yahweh; not all are mutually exclusive. Here are some of the main ones: a) God is giving an evasive answer here because he does not want those in ancient times, contaminated as they were by magic rites, to think that because they knew name they would have power over the god. According to this theory, "I am who I am" would be equivalent to "I am whom you cannot know". "I am unnameable". This solution stresses the transcendence of God. b) What God is revealing is his nature--that he is subsistent being; in which case "I am who I am means I am he who exists "per sibi", absolute being. The divine name refers to what he is by essence; it refers to him whose essence it is to be. God is saying that he "is", and he is giving the name by which he is to be called. This explanation is often to be found in Christian interpretation. c) On the basis of the fact Yahweh is a causative form of the ancient Hebrew verb "hwh" (to be), God revealing himself as "he who causes to be", the creator, not so much in the fullest sense of the word (as creator of the universe) but above all the creator of the present situation--the one who gives the people its being and who always stays with it. Thus, calling upon Yahweh will always remind the good Israelite of his reason-for-being, as an individual and as a member of a chosen people.
None of these explanations is entirely satisfactory. "This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is--infinitely above everything that we can understand or say: he is the 'hidden God' (Is 45: 15), his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men (cf. Judg 1.3:18)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 206).
At a later time, around the 4th century BC, out of reverence for the name of Yahweh the use of the word was avoided; when it occurred in the sacred text it was read as "Adonai", my Lord. In the Greek version it is translated as "Kyrios" and in the Latin as "Dominus". "It is under this title that the divinity of Jesus will be acclaimed: 'Jesus is Lord'" (ibid., 209). The RSV always renders "Yahweh" as "the Lord". The medieval form Jehovah was the result of a misreading of the Hebrew text into which vowels were inserted by the Massoretes; it is simply a mistake and there is no justification for the use of "Jehovah" nowadays (cf. ibid., 446).
3:16-22. The Lord comes back again to the subject of Moses' mission; despite all the obstacles, it will be a success. "The elders of Israel" (v. 16), that is, the chiefs of clans, representing the whole community, will be happy to hear what Moses has to say. The words "I have observed you" (v. 16: literally, "I. have car ried out an inspection among you") are significant because they indicate the key thing--God's is a friendly presence; but it is also a demanding presence which expects an account of the use we made of gifts received (cf. 32:34; Jer 9:24; Hos 4:14). The three days' journey (v. 18) would not take them to Sinai but it was enough to get them away from Egypt. Later, three days will become a number symbolizing divine action. See the note on 6:10-13.
The pharaoh, unlike the elders, will refuse to let the people go-making it clearer that the Israelites will attain their freedom only if God comes to their rescue.
The "despoiling" of the Egyptians (v. 22) is by way of compensation for the years they have spent with nothing to show for it (cf. Gen 15:14; Wis 10:17) and also as a sort of booty of war (cf. Ex 11:2-3; 12:35-36): God comes out the victor in the struggle against the pharaoh, and he gives the sons of Israel a share in the booty. It may also be meant to signal festive joy: the Israelites are to dress up to celebrate the victory God has given them.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Old Calendar: Commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel
From: Exodus 3:13-20
The Divine Name is Revealed
[3] Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" [4] God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" [5] God said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': this is my name forever and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
The Mission of Moses
[16] Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, 'The Lord the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt; [17] and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey." [18] And they will hearken to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, we pray you, let us go a three days' joumey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.' [19] I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. [20] So I will stretch my hand and smite Egypt with all the wonders which I will do it; after that he will let you go."
__________
Commentary:
3:13-15. Moses now raises another difficulty: he does not know the name of the God who is commissioning him. This gives rise to the revelation of the name "Yahweh" and the explanation of what it means--"I am who I am".
According to the tradition recorded in Gn 4:26, a grandson of Adam, Enosh, was the first to call upon the name of the Lord (Yahweh). Thus, the biblical text is stating that a part of mankind knew the true God, whose name was revealed to Moses in this solemn way (Ex 35:15 and 6:2). The patriarchs invoked God under other names, to do with the divine attributes, such as the Almighty ("El-Shaddai": Gen 17:1; Ex 6:2-3). Other proper names of God which appear in very ancient documents lead one to think that the name Yahweh had been known from along time back. The revelation of the divine name is important in salvation history because by that name God will be invoked over the course of the centuries.
All kinds of suggestions have been put forward as to the meaning of Yahweh; not all are mutually exclusive. Here are some of the main ones: a) God is giving an evasive answer here because he does not want those in ancient times, contaminated as they were by magic rites, to think that because they knew name they would have power over the god. According to this theory, "I am who I am" would be equivalent to "I am whom you cannot know". "I am unnameable". This solution stresses the transcendence of God. b) What God is revealing is his nature--that he is subsistent being; in which case "I am who I am means I am he who exists "per sibi", absolute being. The divine name refers to what he is by essence; it refers to him whose essence it is to be. God is saying that he "is", and he is giving the name by which he is to be called. This explanation is often to be found in Christian interpretation. c) On the basis of the fact Yahweh is a causative form of the ancient Hebrew verb "hwh" (to be), God revealing himself as "he who causes to be", the creator, not so much in the fullest sense of the word (as creator of the universe) but above all the creator of the present situation--the one who gives the people its being and who always stays with it. Thus, calling upon Yahweh will always remind the good Israelite of his reason-for-being, as an individual and as a member of a chosen people.
None of these explanations is entirely satisfactory. "This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is--infinitely above everything that we can understand or say: he is the 'hidden God' (Is 45: 15), his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men (cf. Judg 1.3:18)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 206).
At a later time, around the 4th century BC, out of reverence for the name of Yahweh the use of the word was avoided; when it occurred in the sacred text it was read as "Adonai", my Lord. In the Greek version it is translated as "Kyrios" and in the Latin as "Dominus". "It is under this title that the divinity of Jesus will be acclaimed: 'Jesus is Lord'" (ibid., 209). The RSV always renders "Yahweh" as "the Lord". The medieval form Jehovah was the result of a misreading of the Hebrew text into which vowels were inserted by the Massoretes; it is simply a mistake and there is no justification for the use of "Jehovah" nowadays (cf. ibid., 446).
3:16-22. The Lord comes back again to the subject of Moses' mission; despite all the obstacles, it will be a success. "The elders of Israel" (v. 16), that is, the chiefs of clans, representing the whole community, will be happy to hear what Moses has to say. The words "I have observed you" (v. 16: literally, "I. have car ried out an inspection among you") are significant because they indicate the key thing--God's is a friendly presence; but it is also a demanding presence which expects an account of the use we made of gifts received (cf. 32:34; Jer 9:24; Hos 4:14). The three days' journey (v. 18) would not take them to Sinai but it was enough to get them away from Egypt. Later, three days will become a number symbolizing divine action. See the note on 6:10-13.
The pharaoh, unlike the elders, will refuse to let the people go-making it clearer that the Israelites will attain their freedom only if God comes to their rescue.
The "despoiling" of the Egyptians (v. 22) is by way of compensation for the years they have spent with nothing to show for it (cf. Gen 15:14; Wis 10:17) and also as a sort of booty of war (cf. Ex 11:2-3; 12:35-36): God comes out the victor in the struggle against the pharaoh, and he gives the sons of Israel a share in the booty. It may also be meant to signal festive joy: the Israelites are to dress up to celebrate the victory God has given them.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Principles and Practices - July 16
A Fallen State
Man was not created to suffer; God placed him on earth to be happy, and he has preserved such a sweet and ineffaceable memory of the happiness he enjoyed in Eden that to possess it again is the object and motive of all his actions, the involuntary tendency of his whole being, the incessant aspiration of his soul. Alas! all that he enjoys here below is but a faint image of his first happiness; he has but a fleeting experience of its ineffable sweetness.
-Book of the Professed.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Man was not created to suffer; God placed him on earth to be happy, and he has preserved such a sweet and ineffaceable memory of the happiness he enjoyed in Eden that to possess it again is the object and motive of all his actions, the involuntary tendency of his whole being, the incessant aspiration of his soul. Alas! all that he enjoys here below is but a faint image of his first happiness; he has but a fleeting experience of its ineffable sweetness.
-Book of the Professed.
_________________
From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
Thoughts of St Augustine for July 16
THE crowd stands in the way of Jesus; the crowd, boasting and glorying in revenge when able to take it, prevent us from seeing him who said as he hung on the Cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
_________________________
Click here for more information.
From Thoughts of St Augustine for Every Day
by Kathleen Mary Balfe (© 1926)
Nihil Obstat: Georgius D. Smith, S.T.D
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont
Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-July 16
(Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel)
As men esteem it an honour to have persons who wear their livery, so also is our Blessed Lady pleased that her clients should wear her scapular, as a mark that they have dedicated themselves to her service, and that they are members of the household of the Mother of God.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
As men esteem it an honour to have persons who wear their livery, so also is our Blessed Lady pleased that her clients should wear her scapular, as a mark that they have dedicated themselves to her service, and that they are members of the household of the Mother of God.
_________________
From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
News Updates, 7/15
Democratic founder of 'Catholics for Kerry' pleads guilty to prostituting 17-year-old
R. Eric McFadden, a former leader of several Democrat-leaning 'Catholic' groups, has pled guilty to two counts of compelling prostitution for prostituting a 17-year-old girl on the internet.
[Another example of dissent and rebellion leading to moral decay - if McFadden had demonstrated fidelity and obedience to Christ and His Church he would have been able to use the graces God was given him to resist his temptations of sinfulness and rebellion.]
Grand Returns. "Iota unum" and "Stat veritas" by Romano Amerio [Chiesa]
Two outstanding works of Catholic culture are returning to the bookstores. And the taboo on one of the greatest Christian intellectuals of the twentieth century is crumbling definitively. The question he highlights is also at the center of Benedict XVI's pontificate: how much can the Church change, and in what way?...
A followup:
Obama nominates Catholic doctor as Surgeon General
Benjamin was first black woman to be admitted to the AMA
Spanish priest killed in Cuba, 2nd in 5 months
No mention of the murder in state media
Iraq boosts security in Christian areas after attacks
Deadly bombings have dismayed Church leaders
Surgeon General pick will be grilled on 'life issues'
Awarded a medal for her work by Pope Benedict XVI
Anti-witchcraft Catholic may become saint
Benedict Daswa martyred for rejecting his tribal beliefs
Man charged with impersonating Catholic priest
Arrested while visiting hospitalized police officer
Malaysian Muslims stir anger with church article
Two pretended to be Christians and took Communion
Vatican paper praises values in new Harry Potter film
Four stars for 'friendship, altruism, loyalty and self-giving'
=========
Other Issues
=========
Treasury to Banks, an Ultimatum on Mortgage Relief
"The letter demanded that representatives from the top 25 mortgage servicers assemble in Washington on July 28."
[TurboTax Timmy calls a "Come to God" meeting for Mortgage Servicers]
White House turns up heat on Arizona senator
The Obama administration is firing back at Sen. Jon Kyl for calling for an end to economic stimulus spending, and they're aiming for where it hurts the most - at home in Arizona.
Texas faces $643M shortfall in benefits for unemployed
Texas' unemployment insurance trust fund will run out of money early next week and have to borrow $643 million from the federal government to cover claims through Oct. 1, a Texas Workforce Commission official said today.
[Now that's a chunk of change...]
Soldier balks at deploying; says Obama isn’t president
[Are the wheels starting to come off the bus? ]
Eligibility Update: Cook v. Good: Orders Revoked!
A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after he argued that he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his legitimacy for office.
[Looks like Obama/Soetoro doesn't want to take the chance in court with 'discovery']
_________
"[No society can survive the socialist] fallacy that there is an absolutely unlimited number of inspired officials and an absolutely unlimited amount of money to pay them."
-G.K.Chesterton, The Debate with Bertrand Russell, BBC Magazine, 11/27/35
R. Eric McFadden, a former leader of several Democrat-leaning 'Catholic' groups, has pled guilty to two counts of compelling prostitution for prostituting a 17-year-old girl on the internet.
[Another example of dissent and rebellion leading to moral decay - if McFadden had demonstrated fidelity and obedience to Christ and His Church he would have been able to use the graces God was given him to resist his temptations of sinfulness and rebellion.]
Grand Returns. "Iota unum" and "Stat veritas" by Romano Amerio [Chiesa]
Two outstanding works of Catholic culture are returning to the bookstores. And the taboo on one of the greatest Christian intellectuals of the twentieth century is crumbling definitively. The question he highlights is also at the center of Benedict XVI's pontificate: how much can the Church change, and in what way?...
A followup:
Obama nominates Catholic doctor as Surgeon General
Benjamin was first black woman to be admitted to the AMA
Spanish priest killed in Cuba, 2nd in 5 months
No mention of the murder in state media
Iraq boosts security in Christian areas after attacks
Deadly bombings have dismayed Church leaders
Surgeon General pick will be grilled on 'life issues'
Awarded a medal for her work by Pope Benedict XVI
Anti-witchcraft Catholic may become saint
Benedict Daswa martyred for rejecting his tribal beliefs
Man charged with impersonating Catholic priest
Arrested while visiting hospitalized police officer
Malaysian Muslims stir anger with church article
Two pretended to be Christians and took Communion
Vatican paper praises values in new Harry Potter film
Four stars for 'friendship, altruism, loyalty and self-giving'
=========
Other Issues
=========
Treasury to Banks, an Ultimatum on Mortgage Relief
"The letter demanded that representatives from the top 25 mortgage servicers assemble in Washington on July 28."
[TurboTax Timmy calls a "Come to God" meeting for Mortgage Servicers]
White House turns up heat on Arizona senator
The Obama administration is firing back at Sen. Jon Kyl for calling for an end to economic stimulus spending, and they're aiming for where it hurts the most - at home in Arizona.
Texas faces $643M shortfall in benefits for unemployed
Texas' unemployment insurance trust fund will run out of money early next week and have to borrow $643 million from the federal government to cover claims through Oct. 1, a Texas Workforce Commission official said today.
[Now that's a chunk of change...]
Soldier balks at deploying; says Obama isn’t president
[Are the wheels starting to come off the bus? ]
Eligibility Update: Cook v. Good: Orders Revoked!
A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after he argued that he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his legitimacy for office.
[Looks like Obama/Soetoro doesn't want to take the chance in court with 'discovery']
_________
"[No society can survive the socialist] fallacy that there is an absolutely unlimited number of inspired officials and an absolutely unlimited amount of money to pay them."
-G.K.Chesterton, The Debate with Bertrand Russell, BBC Magazine, 11/27/35
Gospel for July 15, Memorial: St Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor
Wednesday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Matthew 11:25-27
Jesus Thanks His Father
[25] At that time Jesus declared, "I thank Thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; [26] yea, Father, for such was Thy gracious will. [27] All things have been delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him."
_____________________
Commentary:
25-26. The wise and understanding of this world, that is, those who rely on their own judgment, cannot accept the revelation which Christ has brought us. Supernatural outlook is always connected with humility. A humble person, who gives himself little importance, sees; a person who is full of self-esteem fails to perceive supernatural things.
27. Here Jesus formally reveals His divinity. Our knowledge of a person shows our intimacy with Him, according to the principle given by St. Paul: "For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him?" (1 Corinthians 2:11). The Son knows the Father by the same knowledge as that by which the Father knows the Son. This identity of knowledge implies oneness of nature; that is to say, Jesus is God just as the Father is God.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
From: Matthew 11:25-27
Jesus Thanks His Father
[25] At that time Jesus declared, "I thank Thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; [26] yea, Father, for such was Thy gracious will. [27] All things have been delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him."
_____________________
Commentary:
25-26. The wise and understanding of this world, that is, those who rely on their own judgment, cannot accept the revelation which Christ has brought us. Supernatural outlook is always connected with humility. A humble person, who gives himself little importance, sees; a person who is full of self-esteem fails to perceive supernatural things.
27. Here Jesus formally reveals His divinity. Our knowledge of a person shows our intimacy with Him, according to the principle given by St. Paul: "For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him?" (1 Corinthians 2:11). The Son knows the Father by the same knowledge as that by which the Father knows the Son. This identity of knowledge implies oneness of nature; that is to say, Jesus is God just as the Father is God.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
Reading for July 15, Memorial: St Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor
Wednesday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Exodus 3:1-6, 9-12
God Appears to Moses in the Burning Bush
[1] Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. [2] And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. [3] And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." [4] When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here am I." [5] Then he said, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." [6] And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
[9] And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. [10] Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt."
[11] But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" [12] He said, "But I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain."
_________
Commentary:
3:1-4:17. This account of the calling of Moses is charged with theological content; it gives the features of two protagonists (Moses and God) and the bases of the liberation of the people by means of wondrous divine intervention.
In the dialogue between God and Moses after the theophany of the burning bush (vv. 1-10), the Lord endows Moses with alt the gifts he needs to carry out his mission: he promises him help and protection (vv. 11-12), he makes his name known to him (vv. 13-22), he gives him the power to work wonders (4:1-9), and he designates his brother Aaron as his aide, who will be his spokesman (4:10-17).
This section shows how God brings about salvation by relying on the docility of a mediator whom he calls and trains for the purpose. But the initiative always stays with God. Thus, God himself designs the smallest details of the most important undertaking the Israelites will embark on--their establishment as a people and their passing from bondage to freedom and the possession of the promised land.
3:1-3. The mountain of God, Horeb, called in other traditions Sinai, probably lies in the south-east part of the Sinai peninsula. Even today shepherds in that region will leave the valleys scorched by the sun in search of better pasture in the mountains. Although we do not yet know exactly where Mount Horeb is, it still had primordial importance in salvation history. On this same mountain the Law will later be promulgated (chap. 19), in the context of another dramatic theophany. Elijah will come back here to meet God (I Kings 19:8-19). It is the mountain of God "par excellence".
The "angel of the Lord" is probably an expression meaning "God". In the most ancient accounts (cf., e.g., Gen 16:7; 22:11, 14; 31:11, 13),immediately after the angel comes on the scene it is God himself who speaks: since God is invisible he is discovered to be present and to be acting in "the angel of the Lord", who usually does not appear in human form. Later, in the period of the monarchy, the existence of heavenly messengers distinct from God will begin to be recognized (cf 2 Sam 19:28; 24:16; 1 Kings 19:5,7; etc.).
Fire is often a feature of theophanies (cf., e.g., Ex 19:18; 24:17; Lev 9:23-24; Ezek 1:17), perhaps because it is the best symbol to convey the presence of things spiritual and divine transcendence. The bush mentioned here would he one of the many thorny shrubs that grow in desert uplands in that region. Some Christian writers have seen in the burning bush an image of the Church which endures despite the persecutions and trials it undergoes. It is also seen as a figure of the Blessed Virgin, in whom the divinity always burned (cf. St Bede, "Commentaria In Pentateuchum", 2, 3).
All the details given in the passage help to bring out the simplicity and at the same time the drama of God's action; the scene is quite ordinary (grazing, a mountain, a bush...), but extraordinary things happen (the angel of the Lord, a flame which does not burn, a voice).
3:4-10. The calling of Moses is described in this powerful dialogue in four stages: God calls him by his name (v. 4); he introduces himself as the God of Moses' ancestors (v. 9); he makes his plan of deliverance known in a most moving way (vv. 7-9); and, finally, he imperiously gives Moses his mission (v. 10).
The repetition of his name ("Moses, Moses!'') stresses how important this event is (cf. Gen 22:11; Lk 22:31). Taking one's shoes off is a way of showing veneration in a holy place. In some Byzantine communities there was a custom for a long time of celebrating the liturgy barefoot or wearing different footwear from normal. Christian writers have seen this gesture as being an act of humility and detachment in the face of the presence of God: "no one can gain access to God r see him unless first he has shed every earthly attachment" ("Glossa Ordinaria In Exodum", 3, 4).
The sacred writer makes it clear that the God of Sinai is the same as the God of Moses' ancestors; Moses, then, is not a founder of a new religion; he carries on the religious tradition of the patriarchs, confirming the election of Israel as people of God. Four very expressive verbs are used to describe this election, this choice of Israel by God: I have seen..., I have heard..., I know..., I have come down to deliver (v. 8). This sequence of action includes no human action: the people are oppressed, they cry, theirs is a sorry plight. But God has a clear aim in sight--"to deliver them and to bring them up [...] to a good and broad land" (v. 8). These two terms will become keynotes of God's saving action. To bring up to the promised land will come to mean, not only a geographical ascent but also a journey towards plenitude. St Luke's Gospel will take up the same idea. (cf. "The Navarre Bible: The Gospel of Saint Luke", pp 22). God's imperative command is clear in the original text (v. 10): "...bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt". This is another way of referring to the salvific event which gives its name to this book; according to Greek and Latin traditions "exodus" means "going out".
3:11-12. In reply to Moses' first objection about his sheer inability to do what God is asking of him, God assures him that he will be at his side and will protect him --as he will help all who have a difficult mission of salvation (cf. Gen 28:15; Josh 1:5; Jer 1:8). The Blessed Virgin will hear the same words at the Annunciation: "The Lord is with you" (Lk 1:27).
The sign which God gives Moses is linked to his faith, because it involves both a promise and a command: when they come out of Egypt, Moses and the people will worship God on this very mountain. When this actually happens, Moses will acknowledge the supernatural nature of his mission but, meanwhile, he has to obey faithfully the charge given him by God.
Moses' conversation with the Lord is a beautiful prayer and one worth imitating. By following his example, a Christian can dialogue personally and intimately with the Lord: "We ought to be seriously committed to dealing with God. We cannot take refuge in the anonymous crowd. If interior life doesn't involve personal encounter with God, it doesn't exist--it's as simple as that. There are few things more at odds with Christianity than superficiality. To settle down to routine in our Christian life is to dismiss the possibility of becoming a contemplative soul. God seeks us out, one by one. And we ought to answer him, one by one: 'Here I am, Lord, because you have called me' (1 Kings 3:5)" (St. J. Escrivá, "Christ Is Passing By", 174; cf. "Catechism of the Catholic Church", 2574-5).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
From: Exodus 3:1-6, 9-12
God Appears to Moses in the Burning Bush
[1] Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. [2] And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. [3] And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." [4] When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here am I." [5] Then he said, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." [6] And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
[9] And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. [10] Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt."
[11] But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" [12] He said, "But I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain."
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Commentary:
3:1-4:17. This account of the calling of Moses is charged with theological content; it gives the features of two protagonists (Moses and God) and the bases of the liberation of the people by means of wondrous divine intervention.
In the dialogue between God and Moses after the theophany of the burning bush (vv. 1-10), the Lord endows Moses with alt the gifts he needs to carry out his mission: he promises him help and protection (vv. 11-12), he makes his name known to him (vv. 13-22), he gives him the power to work wonders (4:1-9), and he designates his brother Aaron as his aide, who will be his spokesman (4:10-17).
This section shows how God brings about salvation by relying on the docility of a mediator whom he calls and trains for the purpose. But the initiative always stays with God. Thus, God himself designs the smallest details of the most important undertaking the Israelites will embark on--their establishment as a people and their passing from bondage to freedom and the possession of the promised land.
3:1-3. The mountain of God, Horeb, called in other traditions Sinai, probably lies in the south-east part of the Sinai peninsula. Even today shepherds in that region will leave the valleys scorched by the sun in search of better pasture in the mountains. Although we do not yet know exactly where Mount Horeb is, it still had primordial importance in salvation history. On this same mountain the Law will later be promulgated (chap. 19), in the context of another dramatic theophany. Elijah will come back here to meet God (I Kings 19:8-19). It is the mountain of God "par excellence".
The "angel of the Lord" is probably an expression meaning "God". In the most ancient accounts (cf., e.g., Gen 16:7; 22:11, 14; 31:11, 13),immediately after the angel comes on the scene it is God himself who speaks: since God is invisible he is discovered to be present and to be acting in "the angel of the Lord", who usually does not appear in human form. Later, in the period of the monarchy, the existence of heavenly messengers distinct from God will begin to be recognized (cf 2 Sam 19:28; 24:16; 1 Kings 19:5,7; etc.).
Fire is often a feature of theophanies (cf., e.g., Ex 19:18; 24:17; Lev 9:23-24; Ezek 1:17), perhaps because it is the best symbol to convey the presence of things spiritual and divine transcendence. The bush mentioned here would he one of the many thorny shrubs that grow in desert uplands in that region. Some Christian writers have seen in the burning bush an image of the Church which endures despite the persecutions and trials it undergoes. It is also seen as a figure of the Blessed Virgin, in whom the divinity always burned (cf. St Bede, "Commentaria In Pentateuchum", 2, 3).
All the details given in the passage help to bring out the simplicity and at the same time the drama of God's action; the scene is quite ordinary (grazing, a mountain, a bush...), but extraordinary things happen (the angel of the Lord, a flame which does not burn, a voice).
3:4-10. The calling of Moses is described in this powerful dialogue in four stages: God calls him by his name (v. 4); he introduces himself as the God of Moses' ancestors (v. 9); he makes his plan of deliverance known in a most moving way (vv. 7-9); and, finally, he imperiously gives Moses his mission (v. 10).
The repetition of his name ("Moses, Moses!'') stresses how important this event is (cf. Gen 22:11; Lk 22:31). Taking one's shoes off is a way of showing veneration in a holy place. In some Byzantine communities there was a custom for a long time of celebrating the liturgy barefoot or wearing different footwear from normal. Christian writers have seen this gesture as being an act of humility and detachment in the face of the presence of God: "no one can gain access to God r see him unless first he has shed every earthly attachment" ("Glossa Ordinaria In Exodum", 3, 4).
The sacred writer makes it clear that the God of Sinai is the same as the God of Moses' ancestors; Moses, then, is not a founder of a new religion; he carries on the religious tradition of the patriarchs, confirming the election of Israel as people of God. Four very expressive verbs are used to describe this election, this choice of Israel by God: I have seen..., I have heard..., I know..., I have come down to deliver (v. 8). This sequence of action includes no human action: the people are oppressed, they cry, theirs is a sorry plight. But God has a clear aim in sight--"to deliver them and to bring them up [...] to a good and broad land" (v. 8). These two terms will become keynotes of God's saving action. To bring up to the promised land will come to mean, not only a geographical ascent but also a journey towards plenitude. St Luke's Gospel will take up the same idea. (cf. "The Navarre Bible: The Gospel of Saint Luke", pp 22). God's imperative command is clear in the original text (v. 10): "...bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt". This is another way of referring to the salvific event which gives its name to this book; according to Greek and Latin traditions "exodus" means "going out".
3:11-12. In reply to Moses' first objection about his sheer inability to do what God is asking of him, God assures him that he will be at his side and will protect him --as he will help all who have a difficult mission of salvation (cf. Gen 28:15; Josh 1:5; Jer 1:8). The Blessed Virgin will hear the same words at the Annunciation: "The Lord is with you" (Lk 1:27).
The sign which God gives Moses is linked to his faith, because it involves both a promise and a command: when they come out of Egypt, Moses and the people will worship God on this very mountain. When this actually happens, Moses will acknowledge the supernatural nature of his mission but, meanwhile, he has to obey faithfully the charge given him by God.
Moses' conversation with the Lord is a beautiful prayer and one worth imitating. By following his example, a Christian can dialogue personally and intimately with the Lord: "We ought to be seriously committed to dealing with God. We cannot take refuge in the anonymous crowd. If interior life doesn't involve personal encounter with God, it doesn't exist--it's as simple as that. There are few things more at odds with Christianity than superficiality. To settle down to routine in our Christian life is to dismiss the possibility of becoming a contemplative soul. God seeks us out, one by one. And we ought to answer him, one by one: 'Here I am, Lord, because you have called me' (1 Kings 3:5)" (St. J. Escrivá, "Christ Is Passing By", 174; cf. "Catechism of the Catholic Church", 2574-5).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.