Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 07-20-2021

Matthew
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Matthew 12
46.	As he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold his mother and his brethren stood without, seeking to speak to him.	Adhuc eo loquente ad turbas, ecce mater ejus et fratres stabant foras, quærentes loqui ei.	ετι δε αυτου λαλουντος τοις οχλοις ιδου η μητηρ και οι αδελφοι αυτου ειστηκεισαν εξω ζητουντες αυτω λαλησαι
47.	And one said unto him: Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking thee.	Dixit autem ei quidam : Ecce mater tua, et fratres tui foris stant quærentes te.	ειπεν δε τις αυτω ιδου η μητηρ σου και οι αδελφοι σου εξω εστηκασιν ζητουντες σοι λαλησαι
48.	But he answering him that told him, said: Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?	At ipse respondens dicenti sibi, ait : Quæ est mater mea, et qui sunt fratres mei ?	ο δε αποκριθεις ειπεν τω ειποντι αυτω τις εστιν η μητηρ μου και τινες εισιν οι αδελφοι μου
49.	And stretching forth his hand towards his disciples, he said: Behold my mother and my brethren.	Et extendens manum in discipulos suos, dixit : Ecce mater mea, et fratres mei.	και εκτεινας την χειρα αυτου επι τους μαθητας αυτου ειπεν ιδου η μητηρ μου και οι αδελφοι μου
50.	For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.	Quicumque enim fecerit voluntatem Patris mei, qui in cælis est, ipse meus frater, et soror, et mater est.	οστις γαρ αν ποιηση το θελημα του πατρος μου του εν ουρανοις αυτος μου αδελφος και αδελφη και μητηρ εστιν

(*) in verse 47, "ζητουντες σοι λαλησαι" means "seeking to speak with thee", a translation of "λαλησαι" is also missing in Jerome's.

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

12:46–50

46. While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.

47. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.

48. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?

49. And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

50. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

HILARY. Because He had spoken all the aforesaid things in the power of His Father’s majesty, therefore the Evangelist proceeds to tell what answer He made to one that told Him that His mother and His brethren waited for Him without; While he yet spake unto the people, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to see him.

AUGUSTINE. (De Cons. Ev. ii. 40.) We are to understand without doubt that this happened close upon the foregoing; for he begins to tell it with the words, And while he yet spake. What can that yet mean but that it was at the very time He spake the foregoing things? Mark also follows up that which He had said concerning blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, by saying, And there came his mother and his brethren. (Mark 3:31) Luke has not observed the order of action here, but has placed this earlier as he happened to recollect it.

JEROME. (cont. Helvid. 14, et seq.) From this is taken one of Helvidius’s propositions, on the ground that mention is made in the Gospel of the brethren of the Lord. How, says he, are they called brethren of the Lord, if they were not his brethren? But now it should be known that in divine Scripture men are said to be brethren in four different ways, by nature, by nation, by kindred, and by affection. By nature, as Esau and Jacob. By nation, as all Jews are called brethren, as in Deuteronomy, Thou shalt not set over thee a foreigner who is not thy brother. (Deut. 17:15) They are called brethren by kindred who are of one family, as in Genesis, Abraham said unto Lot, Let there not be strife between thee and me, for we are brethren. (Gen. 13:8) Also men are called brethren by affection, which is of two kinds, special and general. Special, as all Christians are called brethren, as the Saviour says, Go tell my brethren. General, inasmuch as all men are born of one father, we are bound together by a tie of consanguinity, as in that, Say unto them that hate you, Ye are our brethren. (Is. 66:5 sec. LXX.) I ask then, after which manner these are called the Lord’s brethren in the Gospel? According to nature? But Scripture saith not, neither calling them sons of Mary nor of Joseph. By nation? But it is absurd that some few out of all the Jews should be called brethren, seeing that all the Jews who were there might have thus been called brethren. By affection, either of a human sort, or of the Spirit? If that be true, yet how were they more His brethren than the Apostles, whom He instructed in the inmost mysteries. Or if because they were men, and all men are brethren, it was foolish to say of them in particular, Behold, thy brethren seek thee. It only remains then that they should be His brethren by kindred, not by affection, not by privilege of nation, not by nature.

JEROME. (in loc.) But some suspect the brethren of the Lord to be sons of Joseph by another wife, following the idle fancies of apocryphal writers, who have coined a certain woman called E sea. But we understand by the brethren of the Lord, not the sons of Joseph, but cousins of the Saviour, sons of a sister of Mary, an aunt of Our Lord, who is said to be the mother of James the Less, and Joseph, and Jude, whom in another place of the Gospel we find called the brethren of the Lord. (Mark 6:3) And that cousins are called brethren, appears from every part of Scripture.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xliv.) But mart the loftiness of His brethrena; when they should have come in and heartened with the crowd, or if they would not this, to have waited the end of His speech, and then to have approached Him—they on the contrary call Him out to them, and do this before the multitude, therein shewing their superabundant love of honour, and also, that with all authority they lay their commands upon Christ. This the Evangelist covertly hints when he says, While he yet spake; as much as to say, Was there no other time? But what did they seek to say? Was it aught of the dogmas of truth? then should they have brought it forth before all, that all might profit thereby. But if of other things that concerned themselves alone, they should not have called Him in such haste, whence it is plain that they did this out of vain glory.

AUGUSTINE. (De Nat. et Grat. 36.) But whatever may be decided concerning these brethren, yet concerning the holy Virgin Mary, (for the honour of Christ,) when sin in her is in question, I would not have it brought into doubt. For from this only we might know that more abundant grace was conferred upon her that she should overcome sin on all sides, because she merited to conceive and bring forth Him Who it is clear had no sin. It follows; Then said one unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without seeking thee.

JEROME. He that delivers this message, seems to me not to do it casually and without meaning, but as setting a snare for Him, whether He would prefer flesh and blood to the spiritual work; and thus the Lord refused to go out, not because He disowned His mother and His brethren, but that He might confound him that had laid this snare for Him.

CHRYSOSTOM. For He said not, Go and say unto her, She is not My mother, but continues His discourse to him that had brought Him word; as it follows; But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?

HILARY. And He cannot be held to have thought meanly of His mother, seeing that in His passion He evinced the most extreme carefulness for her.

CHRYSOSTOM. But had He desired to disown His mother, He would have done it at the time when the Jews cast His birth in His teeth.

JEROME. He did not then, as Marcion and Manichæus say, disown His mother, so as to be thought to be born of a phantasm, but He preferred His Apostles to His kindred, that we also in a comparison of our affections should set the spirit before the flesh.

AMBROSE. (in Luc. 8:21.) Nor does He overthrow the duty of filial submission, which is conveyed in the command, Honour thy father and thy mother, (Ex. 20:12.) but shews that He owes more to the mysteries and relationship of His Father, than of His mother; as it follows, And stretching out his hand to his disciples, he said, Behold my mother and my brethren.

GREGORY. (Hom. in Ev. iii. 2.) The Lord deigned to call faithful disciples His brethren, saying, Go, tell my brethren. Since then a man may be made a brother of the Lord by coming to the faith, it should be enquired how one may become also His mother. Be it known by us then, that he that by believing is made brother or sister of Christ, becomes His mother by preaching; for in pouring Him into the heart of the hearer, he may be said to beget the Lord; and he is made the Lord’s mother, when by his word love of the Lord is begotten in the mind of his neighbour.

CHRYSOSTOM. And besides what has been said, He taught also somewhat more, namely, that we should not neglect virtue relying on any kindred. For if it profited His mother nothing that she was such, if she had not had virtue, who is there that shall be saved by his kindred? For there is one only nobility, to do the will of God, and therefore it follows, Whoso shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. Many women have blessed that holy Virgin and her womb, and have desired to be made such mothers. What is it then that hinders? Behold, He hath set before you a broad way, and not women only, but men likewise, may become the mother of God.

JEROME. Let us also expound in another way. The Saviour is speaking to the multitude—that is, He teaches the Gentiles the inward mysteries; His mother and His brethren, that is the synagogue and the Jewish people, stand without.

HILARY. Although they had like the rest power to come in, yet they abstain from all approach to Him, for he came unto his own, and his own received him not. (John 1:11.)

GREGORY. (ubi sup.) Thus also His mother is declared to stand without, as though she was not acknowledged, because the synagogue is therefore not acknowledged by its Author, because it held to the observance of the Law, and having lost the spiritual discernment thereof, kept itself without to guard the letter.

JEROME. And when they shall have asked and enquired, and sent a messenger, they shall receive for answer, that their will is free, and that they can enter in, if they will believe.

Catena Aurea Matthew 12

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

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

From: Exodus 14:21-15:1

Crossing the Red Sea
--------------------
[21] Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. [22] And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. [23] The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. [24] And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down upon the host of the Egyptians, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily; and the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from before Israel; for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians."

[26] Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen." [27] So Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its wonted flow when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled into it, and the Lord routed the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. [28] The waters return and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the hosts of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not so much as one of them remained. [29] But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

[30] Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. [31] And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did against the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord; and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Song of Victory
---------------
[1] Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song the Lord, saying, "I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."

***********************************************************************
Commentary:

14:19-22. At the wonderful moment of the crossing of the sea, God, man and the forces of nature play the leading role. In the person of the angel of the Lord, God the person of the angel of the Lord, becomes more visible; he directs operations; he plays a direct part. Moses' part consists in doing as the Lord commands; he is his vicar. The sons of Israel have no active part; they benefit from what happens. Even the forces of nature come into play: the pillar of cloud which marked the route by day now blocks the Egyptians' way; night, the symbol of evil become, as in the Passover, the time God's visitation; the warm west wind, always feared for its harmful effects, now proves a great help; and the waters of the sea, so often the symbol of the abyss and of evil, allow the victorious passage of the sons of Israel.

The prophets see this event as an instance of the creative power of God (cf. Is 43:1-3), and Christian writers comment along the same lines. Thus, Origen will say: "See the goodness of God the Creator: if you submit to his will and follow his Law, he will see to it that created things cooperate with you, against their own nature if necessary" (Homiliae In Exodum, 5,5).

The book of Wisdom turns the account of the crossing of the sea into a hymn of praise to the Lord who delivered Israel (cf. Wis 19:6-9), and St Paul sees the waters as a figure of baptismal water: "All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Cor 10:2).

14:31. The main effect the miraculous crossing of the sea had on the Israelites was the faith it gave them in the power of God and in the authority of Moses. This section of the account of the escape from Egypt ends as it began--that is, showing that the people's faith (4:31) is now strengthened. So, too, Christian faith is strengthened when we do what God desires.: "Following Jesus on his way. You have understood what our Lord was asking from you and you have decided to accompany him on his way. You trying to walk in his footsteps, to clothe yourself in Christ's clothing, to be Christ himself: well, your faith, your faith in the light our Lord is giving you, must both operative and full of sacrifice" (St J. Escriva, Friends of God, 198).

15:1-21. This victory anthem, along with that of Deborah (Judg 5), is one the oldest hymns of Israel. It probably goes as far back as the 13th century BC, long before the redactor of this be decided to include it as a colophon to Exodus account. It is called the "Song of Miriam" (v. 21) because, as we know from Ugarit poems of the period (13th-9th centuries BC) it was the practice to put at the end (not the start) the reason why the poem was written, the author's name and the poem's title (vv. 18-21). It is very likely that this canticle was recited in the liturgy and that the entire people said the response (vv, 1, 21) after each stanza was said or sung by the choir.

It is a hymn of praise and thanksgiving which the three stages of the deliverance of Israel are remembered--the prodigies of the Red Sea (vv. 4-10), the triumphal pilgrimage in the desert (vv. 4-16) and the taking possession of the land of Canaan (vv. 17-18).

In this poetic re-creation of these events the divine attributes are extolled one by one (might, military power, redemption, etc); they reflect the theological implications of exodus, wilderness and land: it is God who has done all these wondrous things; he has done them because he has chosen the people to be his very own; he himself requires that they respond by acknowledging him to be God, Lord of all, the only deliverer.

15:1-3. Victory over the Egyptians has revealed the glory arid might of God. Strength, power, salvation can be taken as meaning the same thing, for the sacred author does not regard the divine attributes as abstract qualities but as particular actions: only God could truly save the people.

"The Lord is a man of war": this daring description indicates that this is a very ancient poem. Some translations, possibly because they thought it might be misunderstood, toned it down a little: the Samaritan Pentateuch has "powerful in combat" and the Septuagint "he who breaks through battles". We in our Spanish version coincide with the RSV and the New Vulgate, retaining the blunt military imagery, which is very descriptive of the almighty power of God: "He is the Lord of the Universe [...]. He is master of history, governing hearts and events in keeping with his will" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 269).

"The Lord is his name": literally, "his name is Yah", using an abbreviation of Yahweh which may have been customary in more ancient times. It may well be that there is an echo of this name in the "Alleluia" of the Psalms.

From: Matthew 12:46-50

The True Kinsmen of Jesus
-------------------------
[46] While He (Jesus) was still speaking to the people, behold, His mother and His brethren stood outside, asking to speak to Him.* [48] But He replied to the man who told Him, "Who is My mother, and who are My brethren?" [49] And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Here are My mother and My brethren! [50] For whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven is My brother, and sister and mother."

***********************************************************************
Commentary:

46-47. "Brethren": ancient Hebrew, Aramaic and other languages had no special words for different degrees of relationship, such as are found in more modern languages. In general, all those belonging to the same family, clan and even tribe were "brethren".

In the particular case we have here, we should bear in mind that Jesus had different kinds of relatives, in two groups--some on His mother's side, others on St. Joseph's. Matthew 13:55-56 mentions, as living in Nazareth, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas ("His brethren") and elsewhere there is reference to Jesus' "sisters" (cf. Matthew 6:3). But in Matthew 27:56 we are told that James and Joseph were sons of a Mary distinct from the Blessed Virgin, and that Simon and Judas were not brothers of James and Joseph, but seemingly children of a brother of St. Joseph.

Jesus, on the other hand, was known to everyone as "the son of Mary" (Mark 6:3) or "the carpenter's son" (Matthew 13:55).

The Church has always maintained as absolutely certain that Jesus had no brothers or sisters in the full meaning of the term: it is a dogma that Mary was ever-Virgin (cf. note on Matthew 1:25).

48-50. Jesus obviously loved His Mother and St. Joseph. He uses this episode to teach us that in His Kingdom human ties do not take precedence. In Luke 8:19 the same teaching is to be found. Jesus regards the person who does the will of His Heavenly Father as a member of His own family. Therefore, even though it means going against natural family feelings, a person should do just that when needs be in order to perform the mission the Father has entrusted to him (cf. Luke 2:49).

We can say that Jesus loved Mary more because of the bonds between them created by grace than because He was her son by natural generation: Mary's divine motherhood is the source of all our Lady's other prerogatives; but this very motherhood is, in its turn, the first and greatest of the graces with which Mary was endowed.

(*Other ancient authorities insert verse 47, "Some one told Him, `Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to You.'")

Daily Word for Reflection—Navarre Bible Commentary

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Readings at Mass

The crossing of the Red Sea

My mother and my brothers are anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas