Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 27-Jan-2022; St. Sabas of Serbia

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

Mark CHAP. 4

4:21–25

21. And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?

22. For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.

23. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

24. And he saith unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.

25. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.

CHRYSOSTOM. (non occ.) After the question of the disciples concerning the parable, and its explanation, He well subjoins, And he said unto them, Is a candle brought, &c. As if he said, A parable is given, not that it should remain obscure, and hidden as if under a bed or a bushel, but that it should be manifested to those who are worthy. The candle within us is that of our intellectual nature, and it shines either clearly or obscurely according to the proportion of our illumination. For if meditations which feed the light, and the recollection with which such a light is kindled, are neglected, it is presently extinguished.

PSEUDO-JEROME. Or else the candle is the discourse concerning the three sorts of seed. The bushel or the bed is the hearing of the disobedient. The Apostles are the candlestick, whom the word of the Lord hath enlightened; wherefore it goes on, For there is nothing hidden, &c. The hidden and secret thing is the parable of the seed, which comes forth to light, when it is spoken of by the Lord.

THEOPHYLACT. Or else the Lord warns His disciples to be as light, in their life and conversation; as if He said, As a candle is put so as to give light, so all will look to your life. Therefore be diligent to lead a good life; sit not in corners, but be ye a candle. For a candle gives light, not when placed under a bed, but on a candlestick; this light indeed must be placed on a candlestick, that is, on the eminence of a godly life, that it may be able to give light to others. Not under a bushel, that is, in things pertaining to the palate, nor under a bed, that is, in idleness. For no one who seeks after the delights of his palate and loves rest can be a light shining over all.

BEDE. (in Marc. i. 20) Or, because the time of our life is contained under a certain measurement of Divine Providence, it is rightly compared to a bushel. But the bed of the soul is the body, in which it dwells and reposes for a time. He therefore who hides the word of God under the love of this transitory life, and of carnal allurements, covers his candle with a bushel or a bed. But he puts his light on a candlestick, who employs his body in the ministry of the word of God; therefore under these words He typically teaches them a figure of preaching. Wherefore it goes on, For there is nothing hidden, which shall not be revealed, nor is there any thing made secret, which shall not come abroad. As if He said, Be not ashamed of the Gospel, but amidst the darkness of persecution raise the light of the word of God upon the candlestick of your body, keeping fixedly in your mind that day, when the Lord will throw light upon the hidden places of darkness, for then everlasting praise awaits you, and everlasting punishment your adversaries.

CHRYSOSTOM. (in Matt. Hom. 15) Or else, There is nothing hid; as if He said, If ye conduct your life with care, accusation will not be able to obscure your light.

THEOPHYLACT. For each of us, whether he have done good or evil, is brought to light in this life, much more in that which is to come. For what can be more hidden than God, nevertheless He Himself is manifested in the flesh. It continues, If any man have ears to ear, let him hear.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) That is, if any man have a sense for understanding the word of God, let him not withdraw himself, let him not turn his ear to fables, but let him lend his ear to search those things which truth hath spoken, his hands for fulfilling them, his tongue for preaching them. There follows, And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear.

THEOPHYLACT. That is, that none of those things which are said to you by me should escape you. With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you, that is, whatsoever degree of application ye bring, in that degree ye will receive profit.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) Or else, If ye diligently endeavour to do all the good which ye can, and to teach it to your neighbours, the mercy of God will come in, to give you both in the present life a sense to take in higher things, and a will to do better things, and will add for the future an everlasting reward. And therefore it is subjoined, And to you shall more be given.

PSEUDO-JEROME. According to the measure of his faith the understanding of mysteries is divided to every man, and the virtues of knowledge will also be added to them. It goes on: For he that hath, to him shall be given; that is, he who hath faith shall have virtue, and he who hath obedience to the word, shall also have the understanding of the mystery. Again, he who, on the other hand, has not faith, fails in virtue; and he who has not obedience to the word, shall not have the understanding of it; and if he does not understand, he might as well not have heard.

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) Or else, He who has the desire and wish to hear and to seek, to him shall be given. But he who has not the desire of hearing divine things, even what he happens to have of the written law is taken from him.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) For sometimes a clever reader by neglecting his mind, deprives himself of wisdom, of which he tastes the sweetness, who, though slow in intellect, works more diligently.

CHRYSOSTOM. (non occ.) Again it may be said, that he hath not, who has not truth. But our Lord says that he hath, because he has a lie, for every one whose understanding believes a lie, thinks that he has something.

St. Sabas of Serbia,br>

The son of a Serbian king who was also a saint, St. Sabas was born Rastko c. 1173/ 76; at 17, to avoid marriage, he fled to Mt. Athos, where he became a monk and founded the Hilander Monastery. In 1196, King Stephen I of Serbia abdicated, and taking the name Symeon, joined his son on Mt. Athos. Symeon died three years later, and Sabas, Archbishop of Serbia, translated his father's relics to their native land in 1208. Sabas wrote a history of his father's reign and a service to his father, the earliest known Serbian hynmography in Church Slavonic. Sabas copied books of law and compiled the Nomocanon, a book of canon laws. He was responsible for having liturgical documents translated from Greek into Serbian and for compiling two Serbian Typica. Because of his experience with Roman bishops and leaders on Athos after the Venetian sack of Constantinople in 1204, Sabas opposed the pro-Roman policies of his brother, Stephen II, the only Serbian king crowned by a pope. From 1217- 1219/ 20, Sabas was in exile, during which he persuaded the patriarch of Constantinople to grant the Serbian and Bulgarian churches autocephaly. When he returned to Serbia, he recrowned his brother. Sabas resigned as archbishop in 1230 /33 and travelled to the Holy Land, where he visited monasteries at Sketis, the Thebiad, and Mt. Sinai. He died in Bulgaria on his trip back from the Holy Land c. 1235/ 1237 King Ladislas of Serbia translated the relics of St. Sabas to Milesevo, a monastery the saint had founded shortly before his death. The Turks burned the relics in 1594.

Mark
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Mark 4
21.	And he said to them: Doth a candle come in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?	Et dicebat illis : Numquid venit lucerna ut sub modo ponatur, aut sub lecto ? nonne ut super candelabrum ponatur ?	και ελεγεν αυτοις μητι ο λυχνος ερχεται ινα υπο τον μοδιον τεθη η υπο την κλινην ουχ ινα επι την λυχνιαν επιτεθη
22.	For there is nothing hid, which shall not be made manifest: neither was it made secret, but that it may come abroad.	Non est enim aliquid absconditum, quod non manifestetur : nec factum est occultum, sed ut in palam veniat.	ου γαρ εστιν τι κρυπτον ο εαν μη φανερωθη ουδε εγενετο αποκρυφον αλλ ινα εις φανερον ελθη
23.	If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.	Si quis habet aures audiendi, audiat.	ει τις εχει ωτα ακουειν ακουετω
24.	And he said to them: Take heed what you hear. In what measure you shall mete, it shall be measured to you again, and more shall be given to you.	Et dicebat illis : Videte quid audiatis. In qua mensura mensi fueritis, remetietur vobis, et adjicietur vobis.	και ελεγεν αυτοις βλεπετε τι ακουετε εν ω μετρω μετρειτε μετρηθησεται υμιν και προστεθησεται υμιν τοις ακουουσιν
25.	For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, that also which he hath shall be taken away from him.	Qui enim habet, dabitur illi : et qui non habet, etiam quod habet auferetur ab eo.	ος γαρ αν εχη δοθησεται αυτω και ος ουκ εχει και ο εχει αρθησεται απ αυτου

Saint Angela Merici’s story

Angela Merici has the double distinction of founding the first of what are now called “secular institutes” and the first teaching order of women in the Church.

Born in Desenzano, Italy, she was orphaned in her teens. As a young woman, with her heart centered on Christ, Angela joined the Third Order of St. Francis and embraced austerity. In a visionary experience, she felt called to found a “company” of women.

Angela was invited to become a live-in companion for a widow in the nearby town of Brescia. There she became the spiritual advisor of a group of men and women with ideals of spiritual renewal and service to those in need. While on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1524, Angela was struck with blindness. She proceeded to visit the sacred shrines, seeing them with her spirit. On the way back while praying before a crucifix, Angela's sight was restored.

At age 60, Angela and 12 other women began the Company of St. Ursula, named for a patroness of medieval universities and venerated as a leader of women. This constituted a new way of life: single women consecrated to Christ and living in the world rather than in a monastery. With Angela as their "mother and mistress," Company members did not live in community, wore no special clothing, and made no formal vows.

Angela Merici died in Brescia, Italy, in 1540. Clothed in the habit of a Franciscan tertiary, her body was interred in Brescia's Church of Saint' Afra. Four years later the Company's Rule that Angela had composed, prescribing the practices of chastity, poverty and obedience, was approved by the pope.

In the early 1600s, Companies that had expanded into France were re-organized into the religious Order of St. Ursula, to teach girls. Angela’s words continue to inspire the Ursuline nuns’ mission of education, a mission that spread worldwide. The Company of St. Ursula also continued to exist and is federated worldwide today with members in 30 countries. Angela Merici was canonized by Pope Pius VII in 1807.

Reflection

As with so many saints, history is mostly concerned with their activities. But deep Christian faith and love sustain one whose courage lasts a lifetime, and who can take bold new steps when human need demands.

Saint Angela Merici is a Patron Saint of:

Educators/Teachers
[Also sickness, handicapped people, loss of parents]

franciscanmedia.org

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

From: 2 Samuel 7:18-19, 24-29

David’s prayer
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[18] Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far? [19] And yet this was a small thing in thy eyes, O Lord God; thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come, and hast shown me future generations, O Lord God!

[24] And thou didst establish for thyself thy people Israel to be thy people for ever; and thou, O Lord, didst become their God. [25] And now, O Lord God, confirm for ever the word which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house, and do as thou hast spoken; [26] and thy name will be magnified for ever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of thy servant David will be established before thee. [27] For thou, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, hast made this revelation to thy servant, saying, “I will build you a house’; therefore thy servant has found courage to pray this prayer to thee. [28] And now, O Lord God, thou art God, and thy words are true, and thou hast promised this good thing to thy servant; [29] now therefore may it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee; for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken, and with thy blessing shall the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.”

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Commentary:

7:18-29. David’s prayer in response to the prophecy is a song of praise that follows the three main points of the prophecy: the divine election of David himself (vv. 18-21), the election of the people as people of God (vv. 22-24), and the consolidation of the Davidic dynasty (vv. 25-29). In this prayer David identifies himself with his line, and therefore the blessings which have come on him extend to the whole house of David (vv. 28-29). “David is par excellence the king ‘after God’s own heart’, the shepherd who prays for his people and prays in their name. His submission to the will of God, his praise and his repentance, will be a model for the prayer of the people. His prayer, the prayer of God’s Anointed, is a faithful adherence to the divine promise (2 Sam 7:18-29) and expresses a loving and joyful trust in God, the only King and Lord.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2579).

From: Mark 4:21-25

Parables of the Lamp and the Measure
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[21] And He (Jesus) said to them, "Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand? [22] For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. [23] If any man has ears to hear, let him hear." [24] And He said to them, "Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. [25] For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

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Commentary:

21. A "bushel" was a container used for measuring cereals and vegetables. It held a little over eight liters (two gallons).

22. This parable contains a double teaching. Firstly, it says that Christ's doctrine should not be kept hidden; rather, it must be preached throughout the whole world. We find the same idea elsewhere in the Gospels: "what you hear whispered, proclaim it upon the house-tops" (Matthew 10:27); "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole of creation..." (Mark 16:15). The other teaching is that the Kingdom which Christ proclaims has such ability to penetrate all hearts that, at the end of time, when Jesus comes again, not a single human action, in favor or against Christ, will not become public and manifest.

24-25. Our Lord never gets tired of asking the Apostles, the seed which will produce the Church, to listen carefully to the teaching He is giving: they are receiving a treasure for which they will be held to account. "To him who has will more be given...": he who responds to grace will be given more grace and will yield more and more fruit; but he who does not will become more and more impoverished (cf. Matthew 25:14-30). Therefore, there is no limit to the development of the theological virtues: "If you say `Enough,' you are already dead" (St. Augustine, "Sermon 51"). A soul who wants to make progress in the interior life will pray along these lines: "Lord, may I have due measure in everything, except in Love" (St J. Escriva, "The Way", 247).

Source: Daily Word for Reflection—Navarre Bible Commentary

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St. Sabas of Serbia

Readings at Mass

'The house of your servant will be blessed for ever'

A lamp is to be put on a lampstand. The amount you measure out is the amount you will be given

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

Mark CHAP. 4