Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 14-February-2023

Mark
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Mark 8
14.	And they forgot to take bread; and they had but one loaf with them in the ship.	Et obliti sunt panes sumere : et nisi unum panem non habebant secum in navi.	και επελαθοντο λαβειν αρτους και ει μη ενα αρτον ουκ ειχον μεθ εαυτων εν τω πλοιω
15.	And he charged them, saying: Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.	Et præcipiebat eis, dicens : Videte, et cavete a fermento pharisæorum, et fermento Herodis.	και διεστελλετο αυτοις λεγων ορατε βλεπετε απο της ζυμης των φαρισαιων και της ζυμης ηρωδου
16.	And they reasoned among themselves, saying: Because we have no bread.	Et cogitabant ad alterutrum, dicentes : quia panes non habemus.	και διελογιζοντο προς αλληλους λεγοντες οτι αρτους ουκ εχομεν
17.	Which Jesus knowing, saith to them: Why do you reason, because you have no bread? do you not yet know nor understand? have you still your heart blinded?	Quo cognito, ait illis Jesus : Quid cogitatis, quia panes non habetis ? nondum cognoscetis nec intelligitis ? adhuc cæcatum habetis cor vestrum ?	και γνους ο ιησους λεγει αυτοις τι διαλογιζεσθε οτι αρτους ουκ εχετε ουπω νοειτε ουδε συνιετε ετι πεπωρωμενην εχετε την καρδιαν υμων
18.	Having eyes, see you not? and having ears, hear you not? neither do you remember.	oculos habentes non videtis ? et aures habentes non auditis ? nec recordamini,	οφθαλμους εχοντες ου βλεπετε και ωτα εχοντες ουκ ακουετε και ου μνημονευετε
19.	When I broke the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? They say to him, Twelve.	quando quinque panes fregi in quinque millia : quot cophinos fragmentorum plenos sustulistis ? Dicunt ei : Duodecim.	οτε τους πεντε αρτους εκλασα εις τους πεντακισχιλιους ποσους κοφινους πληρεις κλασματων ηρατε λεγουσιν αυτω δωδεκα
20.	When also the seven loaves among four thousand, how many baskets of fragments took you up? And they say to him, Seven.	Quando et septem panes in quatuor millia : quot sportas fragmentorum tulistis ? Et dicunt ei : Septem.	οτε δε τους επτα εις τους τετρακισχιλιους ποσων σπυριδων πληρωματα κλασματων ηρατε οι δε ειπον επτα
21.	And he said to them: How do you not yet understand?	Et dicebat eis : Quomodo nondum intelligitis ?	και ελεγεν αυτοις πως ου συνιετε

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

8:10–21

10. And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha.

11. And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.

12. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.

13. And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side.

14. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf.

15. And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.

16. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.

17. And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?

18. Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

19. When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.

20. And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.

21. And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?

THEOPHYLACT. After that our Lord had worked the miracle of the loaves, He immediately retires into another spot, lest on account of the miracle, the multitudes should take Him to make Him a king; wherefore it is said, And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha.

AUGUSTINE. (de Con. Evan. 2. 51) Now in Matthew we read that He entered into the parts of Magdala1. But we cannot doubt that it is the same place under another name; for several manuscripts even of St. Mark have only Magdala. It goes on, And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.

BEDE. (in Marc. 2, 33) The Pharisees, then, seek a sign from heaven, that He, Who had for the second time fed many thousands of men with a few loaves of bread, should now, after the example of Moses, refresh the whole nation in the last time with manna sent down from heaven, and dispersed amongst them all.

THEOPHYLACT. Or they seek for a sign from heaven, that is, they wish Him to make the sun and moon stand still, to bring down hail, and change the atmosphere; for they thought that He could not perform miracles from heaven, but could only in Beelzebub perform a sign on earth.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) When, as related above, He was about to refresh the believing multitude, He gave thanks, so now, on account of the foolish petition of the Pharisees, He groans; because, bearing about with Him the feelings of human nature, as He rejoices over the salvation of men, so He grieves over their errors. Wherefore it goes on, And he groaned in spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, If a sign shall be given to this generation. That is, no sign shall be given; as it is written in the Psalms, (Ps. 89:36) I have sworn once by my holiness, if I shall fail David, that is, I will not fail David.

AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) Let no one, however, be perplexed that the answer which Mark says was given to them, when they sought a sign from heaven, is not the same as that which Matthew relates, namely, that concerning Jonah. He says that the Lord’s answer was, that no sign should be given to it; by which we must understand such an one as they asked for, that is, one from heaven; but he has omitted to say, what Matthew has related.

THEOPHYLACT. Now the reason why the Lord did not listen to them was, that the time of signs from heaven had not arrived, that is, the time of the second Advent, when the powers of the heaven shall be shaken, and the moon shall not give her light. But in the time of the first Advent, all things are full of mercy, and such things do not take place.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) For a sign from heaven was not to be given to a generation of men, who tempted the Lord; but to a generation of men seeking the Lord, He shews a sign from heaven, when in the sight of the Apostles He ascended into heaven. It goes on, And he left them, and entering into a ship again, he departed to the other side.

THEOPHYLACT. The Lord indeed quits the Pharisees, as men uncorrected; for where there is a hope of correction, there it is right to remain; but where the evil is incorrigible, we should go away. There follows: Now they had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) Some may ask, how they had no bread, when they had filled seven baskets just before they embarked in the ship. But Scripture relates that they had forgotten to take them with them, which is a proof how little care they had for the flesh in other things, since in their eagerness to follow the Lord, even the necessity of refreshing their bodies had escaped from their mind.

THEOPHYLACT. By a special providence1 also the disciples forgot to take bread, that they might be blamed by Christ, and thus become better, and arrive at a knowledge of Christ’s power. For it goes on, And he charged them, saying, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod.

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) Matthew says, of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees; Luke, however, of the Pharisees only. All three, therefore, name the Pharisees, as being the most important of them, but Matthew and Mark have each mentioned one of the secondary sects; and fitly has Mark added of Herod, as a supplement to Matthew’s narrative, in which they were left out. But in saying this, He by degrees brings the disciples to understanding and faith.

THEOPHYLACT. He means by leaven their hurtful and corrupt doctrine, full of the old malice, for the Herodians were the teachers, who said that Herod was the Christ.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) Or, the leaven of the Pharisees is making the decrees of the divine law inferior to the traditions of men, preaching the law in word, attacking it in deed, tempting the Lord, and disbelieving His doctrine and His works; but the leaven of Herod is adultery, murder, rash swearing, a pretence of religion, hatred to Christ and His forerunner.

THEOPHYLACT. But the disciples themselves thought that the Lord spoke of the leaven of bread. Wherefore it goes on, And they reasoned amongst themselves, saying, it is because we have no bread; and this they said, as not understanding the power of Christ, who could make bread out of nothing; wherefore the Lord reproves them; for there follows, And when Jesus knew it, he said unto them, Why reason ye because ye have no bread?

BEDE. (ubi sup.) Taking occasion then from the precept, which He had commanded, saying, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod, our Saviour teaches them what was the meaning of the five and the seven loaves, concerning which He adds, And do ye not remember, when I brake the five loaves amongst five thousand, and how many baskets full of fragments ye took up? For if the leaven mentioned above means perverse traditions, of course the food, with which the people of God was nourished, means the true doctrine.

Catena Aurea Mark 8

Saint of the Day for February 14

(Cyril: c. 827 – February 14, 869 | Methodius: c. 815 – April 6, 884)

Saints Cyril and Methodius’ Stories

Because their father was an officer in a part of Greece inhabited by many Slavs, these two Greek brothers ultimately became missionaries, teachers, and patrons of the Slavic peoples.

After a brilliant course of studies, Cyril (called Constantine until he became a monk shortly before his death) refused the governorship of a district such as his brother had accepted among the Slavic-speaking population. Cyril withdrew to a monastery where his brother Methodius had become a monk after some years in a governmental post.

A decisive change in their lives occurred when the Duke of Moravia asked the Eastern Emperor Michael for political independence from German rule and ecclesiastical autonomy (having their own clergy and liturgy). Cyril and Methodius undertook the missionary task.

Cyril’s first work was to invent an alphabet, still used in some Eastern liturgies. His followers probably formed the Cyrillic alphabet. Together they translated the Gospels, the psalter, Paul’s letters and the liturgical books into Slavonic, and composed a Slavonic liturgy, highly irregular then.

That and their free use of the vernacular in preaching led to opposition from the German clergy. The bishop refused to consecrate Slavic bishops and priests, and Cyril was forced to appeal to Rome. On the visit to Rome, he and Methodius had the joy of seeing their new liturgy approved by Pope Adrian II. Cyril, long an invalid, died in Rome 50 days after taking the monastic habit.

Methodius continued mission work for 16 more years. He was papal legate for all the Slavic peoples, consecrated a bishop and then given an ancient see (now in the Czech Republic). When much of their former territory was removed from their jurisdiction, the Bavarian bishops retaliated with a violent storm of accusation against Methodius. As a result, Emperor Louis the German exiled Methodius for three years. Pope John VIII secured his release.

Because the Frankish clergy, still smarting, continued their accusations, Methodius had to go to Rome to defend himself against charges of heresy and uphold his use of the Slavonic liturgy. He was again vindicated.

Legend has it that in a feverish period of activity, Methodius translated the whole Bible into Slavonic in eight months. He died on Tuesday of Holy Week, surrounded by his disciples, in his cathedral church.

Opposition continued after his death, and the work of the brothers in Moravia was brought to an end and their disciples scattered. But the expulsions had the beneficial effect of spreading the spiritual, liturgical, and cultural work of the brothers to Bulgaria, Bohemia and southern Poland. Patrons of Moravia, and specially venerated by Catholic Czechs, Slovaks, Croatians, Orthodox Serbians and Bulgarians, Cyril and Methodius are eminently fitted to guard the long-desired unity of East and West. In 1980, Pope John Paul II named them additional co-patrons of Europe.

Reflection

Holiness means reacting to human life with God’s love: human life as it is, crisscrossed with the political and the cultural, the beautiful and the ugly, the selfish and the saintly. For Cyril and Methodius much of their daily cross had to do with the language of the liturgy. They are not saints because they got the liturgy into Slavonic, but because they did so with the courage and humility of Christ.

Saints Cyril and Methodius are the Patron Saints of:

Slavic Peoples
Ecumenism

franciscanmedia.org

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

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

From: Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10

The spread of wickedness
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[5] The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. [6] And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. [6] So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” [8] But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.

[1] Then the Lord said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. [2] Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate; [3] and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive upon the face of all the earth. [4] For in seven days I will send rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground."

Boarding the ark
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[5] And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

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Commentary:

6:1-8. From the very beginning, evil and sin spread in tandem with the growth of mankind. We can see this in the episode of Cain and Abel and the same point is being made, somewhat obscurely in this account, which bears traces of the ancient Yahwistic tradition.

6:5-8. The severity of these words shows just how corrupt mankind had become. There is also a lesson here about the absolute sovereignty of God, who has power to wipe mankind off the face of the earth.

God’s original plan when he created man seems to have been a failure--hence his decision (couched in very human terms) to destroy what he has made. But that is not going to happen: mankind will be saved through the fidelity of one man, Noah; and the earth will he populated again after the flood. We see two themes coming in here which have a high profile in the Bible: the first is that God loves everything he creates, and his interventions (even in the form of punishment) are always aimed at man’s salvation; the second is that the righteous man, or a small remnant of faithful people, brings about the salvation of all mankind. It is in this sense that the Fathers also see in Noah a figure of Christ, because through Christ’s obedience God’s mercy reaches every human being.

Jesus recalled this episode of Genesis to warn us that we need to be always vigilant and ready to receive him at his second coming: "As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man"’ (Mt 24:37-39).

6:9-8:22. The flood happens because man rejected the law of God (this process began with Adam and Eve). God punishes man’s disobedience by undoing the order of nature that he himself had established for man’s benefit. Thus, the waters above and below, which God had wisely separated from the earth (cf. 1:7), now invade the land in full force (cf. 7:11). The result is a return to chaos, and mankind is on the point of disappearing. The situation calls for a new beginning following on a severe purification. The bible is offering us here an impressive lesson about the destiny of mankind when it turns its back on God and rejects the laws that are stamped on creation itself.

In many religions, not only those of the Near East, we can find stories to do with the destruction of mankind (or a large part of it) in pre-history -- be it by water or fire or sonic cataclysm. Most of these stories tie in with belief in malevolent gods and man’s fear of them, or with his sense of a need or purification. For example, certain Sumerian and Babylonian legends had features very like those in the Bible account of the flood. But there is a fundamental difference: the Bible depicts the blood as a consequence of mankind’s sin, and as a new starting point from which the true God, the Creator of the world and of man, can advance his plans of salvation through a remnant; from that remnant will later emerge Abraham, the father of the chosen people.

7:4. On the seven days’ downpour St Ambrose, following 1 Peter 3:20, which speaks of God’s patience at that time, explaining that "the Lord made available a time for penance, because he prefers pardon to punishment" ("De Noe et arca", 13, 42).

7:5. In contrast with Adam’s disobedience, which was the source of all evil in the world, Noah followed the Lord’s instructions exactly, even in the smallest details (cf. 6:22). For his obedience Noah will he exalted as one who put his faith in God into practice: "By faith Noah, being warned by God of events as yet unseen, took hold and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith" (Heb 11:7).

From: Mark 8:14-21

The Leaven of the Pharisees (Continuation)
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[14] Now they had forgotten to bring bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. [15] And He (Jesus) cautioned them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." [16] And they discussed it with one another, saying, "We have no bread." [17] And being aware of it, Jesus said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? [18] Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? [19] When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." [20] And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to Him, "Seven." [21] And He said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"

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Commentary:

15-16. In another Gospel passage--Luke 13:20-21 and Matthew 31:33--Jesus uses the simile of the leaven to show the vitality of His teaching. Here "leaven" is used in the sense of bad disposition. In the making of bread, leaven is what causes the dough to rise; the Pharisees' hypocrisy and Herod's dissolute life, stemming from their personal ambition, were the "leaven" which was poisoning from within the "dough" of Israel and which would eventually corrupt it. Jesus seeks to warn His disciples about these dangers, and to have them understand that if they are to take in His doctrine they need a pure and simple heart.

But the disciples fail to understand: "They weren't educated; they weren't very bright, if we judge from their reaction to supernatural things. Finding even the most elementary examples and comparisons beyond their reach, they would turn to the Master and ask: `Explain the parable to us.' When Jesus uses the image of the `leaven' of the Pharisees, they think that He's reproaching them for not having purchased bread…These were the disciples called by our Lord. Such stuff is what Christ chose. And they remain just like that until they are filled with the Holy Spirit and thus become pillars of the Church. They are ordinary people, full of defects and shortcomings, more eager to say than to do. Nevertheless, Jesus calls them to be fishers of men, co-redeemers, dispensers of the grace of God" (St J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 2). The same thing can happen to us. Although we may not be very gifted, the Lord calls us, and love of God and docility to His words will cause to grow in our souls unsuspected fruit of holiness and supernatural effectiveness.

Source: Daily Word for Reflection—Navarre Bible

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Readings at Mass

Noah's Ark

Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod

Since you have rejected the word of God, we must turn to the pagans

Your peace will rest on that man

Christian Art

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

Saint of the Day for February 14

(Cyril: c. 827 – February 14, 869 | Methodius: c. 815 – April 6, 884)