The Ghent Altarpiece (wings open)
Jan van Eyck
1432
Oil on wood, 350 x 461 cm
Posted on 01/27/2020 10:16:32 PM PST by Salvation
David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom
into the City of David amid festivities.
As soon as the bearers of the ark of the LORD had advanced six steps,
he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.
Then David, girt with a linen apron,
came dancing before the LORD with abandon,
as he and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD
with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn.
The ark of the LORD was brought in and set in its place
within the tent David had pitched for it.
Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
When he finished making these offerings,
he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.
He then distributed among all the people,
to each man and each woman in the entire multitude of Israel,
a loaf of bread, a cut of roast meat, and a raisin cake.
With this, all the people left for their homes.
R. (8) Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in!
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Who is this king of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle.
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in!
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Who is this king of glory?
The LORD of hosts; he is the king of glory.
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
“Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you.”
But he said to them in reply,
“Who are my mother and my brothers?”
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.”
For the readings of the Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, please go here.
KEYWORDS: catholic; mk3; ordinarytime; prayer; saints;
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From: 2 Samuel 6:12b-15, 17-19
The Ark in Jerusalem (Continuation)
[17] And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in its place, inside the tent which David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. [18] And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts, [19] and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people departed, each to his house.
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Commentary:
6:1-23. By moving the ark to Jerusalem from Baale, a town on the border with the Philistines (cf. 1 Sam 4:1-7:1), David is making the city the religious capital: from now on, it will be the Holy City blessed by the presence of the Lord. The narrative gives a good idea of the solemnity of the transfer (a liturgical procession of the kind celebrated in Psalm 132) and has a lot of doctrinal content.
The first stage in the transfer of the ark (vv. 1-11) was interrupted by the death of Uzzah, son of Abinadab. This amazing episode may be meant to show the predominance of one priestly family, that of Abiathar (cf. 1 Sam 22:20-23; 2 Sam 15:27-29), and the disappearance (for some inexplicable reason) of the descendants of Abinadab; but the main message is of course the respect and veneration due to the ark as the symbol of God’spresence among his people. Only those in charge of the ark may touch it. Even the king wonders whether it is right to bring it as far as Jerusalem, and it is the Lord himself who, by blessing the house of Obed-edom, signals that it should be brought the rest of the way.
The procession bringing the ark into the holy city is reported in detail in the second stage of the transfer (vv. 12-15). David himself, as king of Israel, assumes the functions of a priest and gives a lead in ritual jubilation. The Fathers have seen the ark as a figure of the Blessed Virgin; so the transfer of the ark is a symbol of Mary’s journey to visit her relative Elizabeth (cf. Lk 1:39-45), and David’s dance is a figure of the Baptist, who leaps with joy in the womb of his mother when Mary arrives with Jesus in her womb. “The prophet dances before the ark; but what is the ark if not [a symbol of] Holy Mary? The ark contained the tablets of the testament, Mary held in her body the heir to the testament; the ark carried the Law, Mary the Gospel; the ark held the voice of God, Mary the Word; inside and out, the ark shone with gold, the light of Mary’s virginity shines inside and out; the ark was decorated with earthly gold, Mary with the gold of heaven” (St Maximus of Turin, Sermons, 42, 5). See also the note on 1 Chronicles 15:1-24.
The last scene records Michal’s failure to understand David’s sincere devotion towards the ark (vv. 16-23); her rejection has political implications as regards the succession. David will have many sons who later dispute the throne, but none of them will be descendants of Saul. The sentence pronounced against Michal, David’s first wife, draws a line under the house of Saul.
From: Mark 3:31-35
The True Kinsmen of Jesus
***********************************************************************
Commentary:
31-35. In Aramaic, the language used by the Jews, the word “brethren” is a broad term indicating kinship: nephews, first cousins, and relatives in general are called `brethren’ (for further explanation cf. note on Mark 6:1-3). “Jesus did not say this to disown His mother, but to show that she is worthy of honor not only account of having given birth to Jesus, but also because she has all the virtues” (Theophylact, “Enarratio In Evangelium Marci, in loc.”).
Therefore, the Church reminds us that the Blessed Virgin “in the course of her Son’s preaching received the words whereby, in extolling a kingdom beyond the concerns and ties of flesh and blood, He declared blessed those who heard and kept the word of God as she was faithfully doing” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 58).
Our Lord, then, is also telling us that if we follow Him we will share His life more intimately than if we were a member of His family. St. Thomas explains this by saying that Christ “had an eternal generation and a generation in time, and gave preference to the former. Those who do the will of the Father reach Him by Heavenly generation [...]. Everyone who does the will of the Father, that is to say, who obeys Him, is a brother or sister of Christ, because he is like Him who fulfilled the will of His Father. But he who not only obeys but converts others, begets Christ in them, and thus becomes like the Mother of Christ” (”Commentary on St. Matthew”, 12, 49-50.)
Liturgical Colour: White.
These are the readings for the feria
| First reading |
|---|
| 2 Samuel 6:12-15,17-19 © |
| Responsorial Psalm |
|---|
| Psalm 23(24):7-10 © |
| Gospel Acclamation | Ps118:135 |
|---|
| Or: | Mt11:25 |
|---|
| Gospel | Mark 3:31-35 © |
|---|
These are the readings for the memorial
| First reading |
|---|
| Wisdom 7:7-10,15-16 © |
| Responsorial Psalm |
|---|
| Psalm 118(119):9-14 © |
| Gospel Acclamation | Mt23:9,10 |
|---|
| Gospel | Matthew 23:8-12 © |
|---|
for compared with her, all gold is a pinch of sand
7
| Mark | |||
| English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
| Mark 3 |
|||
| 31. | And his mother and his bretheren came; and standing without, sent unto him, calling him. | Et veniunt mater ejus et fratres : et foris stantes miserunt ad eum vocantes eum, | ερχονται ουν οι αδελφοι και η μητηρ αυτου και εξω εστωτες απεστειλαν προς αυτον φωνουντες αυτον |
| 32. | And the multitude sat about him; and they say to him: Behold thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. | et sedebat circa eum turba : et dicunt ei : Ecce mater tua et fratres tui foris quærunt te. | και εκαθητο οχλος περι αυτον ειπον δε αυτω ιδου η μητηρ σου και οι αδελφοι σου και αι αδελφαι σου εξω ζητουσιν σε |
| 33. | And answering them, he said: Who is my mother and my brethren? | Et respondens eis, ait : Quæ est mater mea et fratres mei ? | και απεκριθη αυτοις λεγων τις εστιν η μητηρ μου η οι αδελφοι μου |
| 34. | And looking round about on them who sat about him, he saith: Behold my mother and my brethren. | Et circumspiciens eos, qui in circuitu ejus sedebant, ait : Ecce mater mea et fratres mei. | και περιβλεψαμενος κυκλω τους περι αυτον καθημενους λεγει ιδε η μητηρ μου και οι αδελφοι μου |
| 35. | For whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother. | Qui enim fecerit voluntatem Dei, hic frater meus, et soror mea, et mater est. | ος γαρ αν ποιηση το θελημα του θεου ουτος αδελφος μου και αδελφη μου και μητηρ εστιν |
By universal consent, Thomas Aquinas is the preeminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine revelation. He is one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic Church, honored with the titles Doctor of the Church and Angelic Doctor.
At five he was given to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in his parents’ hopes that he would choose that way of life and eventually became abbot. In 1239, he was sent to Naples to complete his studies. It was here that he was first attracted to Aristotle’s philosophy.
By 1243, Thomas abandoned his family’s plans for him and joined the Dominicans, much to his mother’s dismay. On her order, Thomas was captured by his brother and kept at home for over a year.
Once free, he went to Paris and then to Cologne, where he finished his studies with Albert the Great. He held two professorships at Paris, lived at the court of Pope Urban IV, directed the Dominican schools at Rome and Viterbo, combated adversaries of the mendicants, as well as the Averroists, and argued with some Franciscans about Aristotelianism.
His greatest contribution to the Catholic Church is his writings. The unity, harmony, and continuity of faith and reason, of revealed and natural human knowledge, pervades his writings. One might expect Thomas, as a man of the gospel, to be an ardent defender of revealed truth. But he was broad enough, deep enough, to see the whole natural order as coming from God the Creator, and to see reason as a divine gift to be highly cherished.
The Summa Theologiae, his last and, unfortunately, uncompleted work, deals with the whole of Catholic theology. He stopped work on it after celebrating Mass on December 6, 1273. When asked why he stopped writing, he replied, “I cannot go on…. All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.” He died March 7, 1274.
We can look to Thomas Aquinas as a towering example of Catholicism in the sense of broadness, universality, and inclusiveness. We should be determined anew to exercise the divine gift of reason in us, our power to know, learn, and understand. At the same time we should thank God for the gift of his revelation, especially in Jesus Christ.
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We thank you, God our Father, for those who have responded to your call to priestly ministry.
Accept this prayer we offer on their behalf: Fill your priests with the sure knowledge of your love.
Open their hearts to the power and consolation of the Holy Spirit.
Lead them to new depths of union with your Son.
Increase in them profound faith in the Sacraments they celebrate as they nourish, strengthen and heal us.
Lord Jesus Christ, grant that these, your priests, may inspire us to strive for holiness by the power of their example, as men of prayer who ponder your word and follow your will.
O Mary, Mother of Christ and our mother, guard with your maternal care these chosen ones, so dear to the Heart of your Son.
Intercede for our priests, that offering the Sacrifice of your Son, they may be conformed more each day to the image of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Saint John Vianney, universal patron of priests, pray for us and our priests
This icon shows Jesus Christ, our eternal high priest.
The gold pelican over His heart represents self-sacrifice.
The border contains an altar and grapevines, representing the Mass, and icons of Melchizedek and St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney.
Melchizedek: king of righteousness (left icon) was priest and king of Jerusalem. He blessed Abraham and has been considered an ideal priest-king.
St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney is the patron saint of parish priests.
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