Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 16-Feb-2022

Mark
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Mark 8
22.	And they came to Bethsaida; and they bring to him a blind man, and they besought him that he would touch him.	Et veniunt Bethsaidam, et adducunt ei cæcum, et rogabant eum ut illum tangeret.	και ερχεται εις βηθσαιδαν και φερουσιν αυτω τυφλον και παρακαλουσιν αυτον ινα αυτου αψηται
23.	And taking the blind man by the hand, he led him out of the town; and spitting upon his eyes, laying his hands on him, he asked him if he saw any thing.	Et apprehensa manu cæci, eduxit eum extra vicum : et exspuens in oculos ejus impositis manibus suis, interrogavit eum si quid videret.	και επιλαβομενος της χειρος του τυφλου εξηγαγεν αυτον εξω της κωμης και πτυσας εις τα ομματα αυτου επιθεις τας χειρας αυτω επηρωτα αυτον ει τι βλεπει
24.	And looking up, he said: I see men as it were trees, walking.	Et aspiciens, ait : Video homines velut arbores ambulantes.	και αναβλεψας ελεγεν βλεπω τους ανθρωπους οτι ως δενδρα ορω περιπατουντας
25.	After that again he laid his hands upon his eyes, and he began to see, and was restored, so that he saw all things clearly.	Deinde iterum imposuit manus super oculos ejus : et cœpit videre : et restitutus est ita ut clare videret omnia.	ειτα παλιν επεθηκεν τας χειρας επι τους οφθαλμους αυτου και εποιησεν αυτον αναβλεψαι και αποκατεσταθη και ενεβλεψεν τηλαυγως απαντας
26.	And he sent him into his house, saying: Go into thy house, and if thou enter into the town, tell nobody.	Et misit illum in domum suam, dicens : Vade in domum tuam : et si in vicum introieris, nemini dixeris.	και απεστειλεν αυτον εις [τον] οικον αυτου λεγων μηδε εις την κωμην εισελθης μηδε ειπης τινι εν τη κωμη

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

8:22–26

22. And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.

23. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.

24. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

25. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

26. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.

GLOSS. (non occ.) After the feeding of the multitude, the Evangelist proceeds to the giving sight to the blind, saying, And they come to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man to him, and besought him to touch him.

BEDE. (in Marc. 2, 34) Knowing that the touch of the Lord could give sight to a blind man as well as cleanse a leper. It goes on, And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town.

THEOPHYLACT. For Bethsaida appears to have been infected with much infidelity, wherefore the Lord reproaches it, (Matt. 11:21) Woe to thee, Bethsaida, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. He then takes out of the town the blind man, who had been brought to Him, for the faith of those who brought him was not true faith. It goes on; And when he had spit in his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) He spat indeed, and put His hand upon the blind man, because He wished to shew that wonderful are the effects of the Divine word added to action; for the hand is the symbol of working, but the spittle, of the word proceeding out of the mouth. Again He asked him whether he could see any thing, which He had not done in the case of any whom He had healed, thus shewing that by the weak faith of those who brought him, and of the blind man himself, his eyes could not altogether be opened. Wherefore there follows: And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees walking; because he was still under the influence of unfaithfulness, he said that he saw men obscurely.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) Seeing indeed the shapes of bodies amongst the shadows, but unable to distinguish the outlines of the limbs, from the continued darkness of his sight; just as trees standing thick together are wont to appear to men who see them from afar, or by the dim light of the night, so that it cannot easily be known whether they be trees or men.

THEOPHYLACT. But the reason why he did not see at once perfectly, but in part, was, that he had not perfect faith; for healing is bestowed in proportion to faith.

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat, in Marc.) From the commencement, however, of the return of his senses, He leads him to apprehend things by faith, and thus makes him see perfectly; wherefore it goes on, After that, he put his hands again upon his eyes, and he began to see, and afterwards he adds, And he was restored, and saw all things clearly; that is, being perfectly healed in his senses and his intellect. It goes on: And he sent him away to his house, saying, Go into thy home, and if thou enter into the town, tell it not to any one.

THEOPHYLACT. These precepts He gave him, because they were unfaithful, as has been said, lest perchance he should receive hurt in his soul from them, and they by their unbelief should ran into a more grievous crime.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) Or else, He leaves an example to His disciples that they should not seek for popular favour by the miracles which they did. 1Mystically, however, Bethsaida is interpreted ‘the house of the valley,’ that is, the world, which is the vale of tears. Again, they bring to the Lord a blind man, that is, one who neither sees what he has been, what he is, nor what he is to be. They ask Him to touch him, for what is being touched, but feeling compunction.?

BEDE. (ubi sup.) For the Lord touches us, when He enlightens our minds with the breath of His Spirit, and He stirs us up that we may recognise our own infirmity, and be diligent in good actions. He takes the hand of the blind man, that He may strengthen him to the practice of good works.

PSEUDO-JEROME. And He brings him out of the town, that is, out of the neighbourhood of the wicked; and He puts spittle into his eyes, that he may see the will of God, by the breath of the Holy Ghost; and putting His hands upon him, He asked him if he could see, because by the works of the Lord His majesty is seen.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) Or else, putting spittle into the eyes of the blind man, he lays His hands upon him that he may see, because He has wiped away the blindness of the human race both by invisible gifts, and by the Sacrament of His assumed humanity; for the spittle, proceeding from the Head, points out the grace of the Holy Ghost. But though by one word He could cure the man wholly and all at once, still He cures him by degrees, that He may shew the greatness of the blindness of man, which can hardly, and only as it were step by step, be restored to light; and He exhibits to us His grace, by which He furthers each step towards perfection. Again, whoever is weighed down by a blindness of such long continuance, that he is unable to distinguish between good and evil, sees as it were men like trees walking, because he sees the deeds of the multitude without the light of discretion.

PSEUDO-JEROME. Or else, he sees men as trees, because he thinks all men higher than himself. But He put His hands again upon his eyes, that he might see all things clearly, that is, understand invisible things by visible, and with the eye of a pure mind contemplate, what the eye hath not seen, the glorious state of his own soul after the rust of sin. He sent him to his home, that is, to his heart; that he might see in himself things which he had not seen before; for a man despairing of salvation does not think that he can do at all what, when enlightened, he can easily accomplish.

THEOPHYLACT. Or else, after He has healed him He sends him to his home; for the home of every one of us is heaven, and the mansions which are there.

PSEUDO-JEROME. And He says to him, If thou enter into the town, tell it not to any one, that is, relate continually to thy neighbours thy blindness, but never tell them of thy virtue.

Catena Aurea Mark 8

Saint Juliana of Nicomedia

Her Life

During the last great persecution before the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire, the Emperor Diocletian ordered the killing of thousands of Christians for their fidelity to their faith. Among the great number of youths who gave their lives rather than abandon their faith in Jesus Christ was St. Juliana, Virgin and Martyr. Her feast falls on the anniversary of her martyrdom, February 16, 305.

According to the Martyrology of the Venerable Bede, Juliana lived in the city of Nicomedia in Bythinia (now in Turkey). Juliana was martyred for the faith when she refused to marry a Roman prefect.

Her father, the pagan Africanus, was an ambitious functionary in the Roman legions and despised Juliana simply because she had become a Christian. Against her will, he betrothed her to a Roman official, the Senator Eleusius, who had nothing but contempt for her faith and chastity. When Eleusius realized that she would not become his wife, he decided that she should be noone’s bride. Her calling had left Juliana without a family of her own. Both men, failing to get their own way with this determined saint, treated her brutally: Juliana’s father scourged and tortured her. Eleusius flung her into jail where she was seen to be fighting with the disguised Satan, finally binding him and throwing him to the ground.

Juliana died a martyr’s death. It is said that first she was partially burned in flames; then she was plunged into a boiling cauldron of oil; finally the long-suffering saint was freed from the torments of this world by the mercifully instantaneous act of beheading.

Juliana’s struggle with Satan was one of the favorite stories of the medieval Church. What still is fascinating is its deep psychological meaning: for Satan is said to have appeared to the saint as an angel of light. His aim was to persuade her that what she had renounced in this world was in fact good.

The Roman Martyrology describes Juliana’s suffering at Nicomedia in Asia Minor, but it is more probable that she died in Naples, perhaps Cumae, where her relics are said to be enshrined. Some of them are now in Brussels, Belgium, in the church of Our Lady of Sablon. Though her story was the source of many romantic tales, according to the Venerable Bede, Juliana is clearly a historical figure as Saint Gregory the Great requested relics of her from Bishop Fortunatus of Naples for an oratory that a wealthy Christian woman had built on her estate in Campania, Italy, to honor Saint Juliana and others. On the other hand, tradition in the north of Spain holds that Saint Juliana is buried there, in a town near the Cantabrian Sea that took its name from her, Santillana del Mar. Santillana is a contraction of Santa-Iuliana. The Church of St. Juliana in Santillana is a Romanesque abbey, well over a thousand years old.

In art, Saint Juliana is sometimes shown in a cauldron, leading the devil in chains, or crowned wearing a cross on her breast. She is invoked against infectious diseases. In the paintings and stained glass of the Middle Ages, Saint Juliana is frequently shown battling with a winged devil; usually she carries a chain in order to bind him. She may also be seen with a dragon at her feet.

Though there are uncertain elements to the story of Saint Juliana, and there may be some legendary embellishments, she is a most appropriate Patroness for our Parish. St. Juliana’s unwavering commitment to her Christian faith and virtue makes her a fitting model for all the people of our Parish, especially the youth, who are confronted and tempted by the false values and allurements of modern society. Her statue is in the church above the organ.

Lord God, You gave St. Juliana the crown of eternal joy because she gave her life rather than renounce the virginity she had promised in witness to Christ.
Encouraged by her generosity, help us to rise out of the bondage of our earthly desires and attain to the glory of your kingdom.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit.
One God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

stjulianacatholicchurch.com

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

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

From: James 1:19-27

Doers of the Word, Not Hearers Only
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[19] Know this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, [20] for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God. [21] Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

[22] But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. [23] For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror; [24] for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. [25] But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing.

[26] If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man's religion is vain. [27] Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

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Commentary:

19-27. In the previous verse the sacred writer referred to the effectiveness of "the word of truth". Now he makes the point that although the Gospel has this effectiveness, it is not enough just to hear it: we need to listen to it with docility (verses 19-21) and put it into practice (verses 22-27). Further on he will emphasize this connection between faith and works (cf. 2:14-26).

19-20. These counsels occur frequently in the wisdom books of the Old Testament (cf., e.g., Proverbs 1:5; 10:19; Sirach 5:12-13; 20:5-8). To put doctrine into practice one needs to listen to it with a good disposition (verse 21). The letter will have more to say about prudence in speech (cf. 1:26; and especially 3:1ff).

"The anger of man does not work the righteousness of God": a Hebrew _expression meaning that someone who gives way to anger is not acting justly in God's eyes.

Anger is one of the "capital" sins (one of the "seven deadly sins"), capital because they lead to many other sins; anger leads particularly to the evil desire for vengeance. Speaking of the effects of anger St. Gregory the Great explains that it clouds one's judgment when making decisions, makes it difficult to get on with others, causes discord and makes it difficult to see where the truth lies. Moreover, "it deprives one of righteousness, as it is written, `The anger of man does not work the righteousness of God' (James 1:20) because when one's mind is not at peace, one's critical faculty is impaired and one judges to be right whatever one's anger suggests" ("Moralia", 5, 45). This sin is avoided by the practice of the virtue of patience, of which St. James spoke a few verses earlier (cf. 1:2-4; also 5:7-11).

21. "First he calls", St. Bede comments, "for the cleansing of mind and body from vice, so that those who receive the word of salvation can live in a worthy manner. A person who does not first turn his back on evil cannot do good" ("Super Iac. Expositio, ad loc".).

To listen docilely to the word of God one needs to try to keep evil inclinations at bay. Otherwise, pride--deceiving itself with all sorts of false reasons--rebels against the word of God (which it sees as a continuous reproach for a habit of sin it is unwilling to give up).

22-25. Sacred Scripture frequently exhorts us to put the word of God into practice: "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a man who built his house upon the sand" (Matthew 7:26; cf., e.g., Ezekiel 33:10-11; Matthew 12:50; Romans 2:13; James 2:14-26).

The comparison of the man looking into the mirror is a very good one: the word of God is frustrated unless it leads to examination of conscience and a firm resolution to mend one's ways. Those who are doers of the word will be "blessed"; our Lord says the same thing when He describes as blessed those who "hear the word of God and keep it" (Luke 11:28).

St. James' counsels in this passage are a clear call for the consistency a Christian must seek at all times. Pope John Paul II comments: "These are very serious, very severe statements; a Christian should always be genuine, should never be content with words alone. The mission he has received is a delicate one: he should be leaven in society, light of the world, salt of the earth. As time goes by, the Christian becomes more and more aware of his commitment, and the difficulties it entails: he discovers he has to swim against the tide, he has to bear witness to truths which are absolute, yet invisible; he has to lose his earthly life in order to gain eternity; he needs to feel responsible not just for himself but also for his neighbor—for whom he should light the way, and edify and save. However, he realizes that he is not alone in all this [...]. The Christian knows that not only did Jesus Christ, the Word of God, become man to reveal saving truth and redeem mankind; He has also chosen to stay with us on earth, mysteriously renewing the sacrifice of the Cross by means of the Eucharist and becoming spiritual food for the soul and accompanying it on its journey through life" ("Homily", 1 September 1979).

25. "The perfect law, the law of freedom": that is, the good news brought by Christ, who has made us children of God (cf. John 1:12; 1 John 3:1ff) and set us free from every kind of servitude, both that of the Old Law (cf., e.g., Galatians 2:4 and 4:21ff...) and subjection to the devil, to sin and to death.

It can also be regarded as a law of freedom because when man obeys it he is expressing his freedom to the fullest degree (cf. John 8:31ff), and he is happy in this life and will be blessed in the next (cf., e.g., Psalm 1:1ff; 119:1ff). Thus, when a person sins and turns his back on this law, he becomes not a free man but a slave: "Such a person may show that he has acted according to his preferences," St J. Escriva explains, "but he does not speak with the voice of true freedom, because he has become a slave of his decision and he has decided for the worst, for the absence of God, where there is no freedom to be found.

"I tell you once again: I accept no slavery other than that of God's love. This is because, as I have told you on other occasions, religion is the greatest rebellion of men, who refuse to live like animals, who are dissatisfied and restless until they know their Creator and are on intimate terms with Him. I want you to be rebels, free and unfettered, because I want you--it is Christ who wants us!--to be children of God. Slavery or divine sonship, this is the dilemma we face. Children of God or slaves to pride, to sensuality, to the fretful selfishness which seems to afflict so many souls" ("Friends of God", 37-38).

26-27. St. James now gives some examples of what doing "the word of truth" (verse 18), that is, the Gospel, means--controlling one's tongue, being charitable and not letting oneself be stained by the world.

The Old Testament often refers to widows and orphans as deserving of special attention (cf. Psalm 68:5; 146:9; Deuteronomy 27:19), and the first Christians made arrangements for the care of widows in the early communities (cf. Acts 6:1ff; 9:39; 1 Timothy 5:3ff). Concern for widows and orphans is included in the works of mercy ("by which the temporal or spiritual wants of our neighbor are relieved" ("St. Pius X Catechism", 943), which our Lord will take into account at the Last Judgment (cf. Matthew 25:31-46).

"World" here has the pejorative meaning of "enemy of God and of Christians" (cf. also 4:4; and other passages of Scripture, e.g., John 1:10; 7:7; 16:8-11; Ephesians 2:2; 2 Peter 2:20); one needs to be constantly on the alert to avoid contamination...

"God and the Father": this is the literal meaning of the Greek. In New Testament Greek the term "God" when preceded by the definite article normally means not the divine nature but the person of the Father. In this case by adding the words "and the Father" St. James does not mean another, distinct Divine Person: he is simply making explicit the meaning of the term "the God". It could also be translated by the paraphrase "before Him who is God and Father".

From: Mark 8:22-26

The Curing of a Blind Man at Bethsaida
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[22] And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to Him (Jesus) a blind man, and begged Him to touch him. [23] And He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the village. And when He had spit on his eyes and laid His hands upon him, He asked, "Do you see anything?" [24] And he looked up and said, "I see men, but they look like trees, walking." [25] Then again He laid His hands upon his eyes; and He looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly. [26] And He sent him away to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."

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Commentary:

22-25. Normally the cures which Jesus worked were instantaneous; not so in this case. Why? Because the blind man's faith was very weak, it would seem, to begin with. Before curing the eyes of his body, Jesus wanted the man's faith to grow; the more it grew and the more trusting the man became, the more sight Jesus gave him. In this way Jesus acted in keeping with His usual pattern: not working miracles unless there was a right predisposition, yet encouraging a good disposition in the person and giving more grace as he responds to the grace already given.

God's grace is essential even for desiring holy things: "Give us light, Lord. Behold, we need it more than the man who was blind from his birth, for he wished to see the light and could not, whereas nowadays, Lord, no one wishes to see it. Oh, what a hopeless ill is this! Here, my God, must be manifested Thy power and Thy mercy" (St. Teresa, "Exclamations of the Soul to God", 8).

Source: Daily Word for Reflection—Navarre Bible Commentary

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Readings at Mass

The Word is not only to be listened to, but obeyed

The blind man was cured and could see everything distinctly

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

Saint Juliana of Nicomedia

Her Life