Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 21-May-2024

Mark
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Mark 9
30.	9:29 And departing from thence, they passed through Galilee, and he would not that any man should know it.	9:29 Et inde profecti prætergrediebantur Galilæam : nec volebat quemquam scire.	και εκειθεν εξελθοντες παρεπορευοντο δια της γαλιλαιας και ουκ ηθελεν ινα τις γνω
31.	9:30 And he taught his disciple, and said to them: The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise again the third day.	9:30 Docebat autem discipulos suos, et dicebat illis : Quoniam Filius hominis tradetur in manus hominum, et occident eum, et occisus tertia die resurget.	εδιδασκεν γαρ τους μαθητας αυτου και ελεγεν αυτοις οτι ο υιος του ανθρωπου παραδιδοται εις χειρας ανθρωπων και αποκτενουσιν αυτον και αποκτανθεις τη τριτη ημερα αναστησεται
32.	9:31 But they understood not the word, and they were afraid to ask him.	9:31 At illi ignorabant verbum : et timebant interrogare eum.	οι δε ηγνοουν το ρημα και εφοβουντο αυτον επερωτησαι
33.	9:32 And they came to Capharnaum. And when they were in the house, he asked them: What did you treat of in the way?	9:32 Et venerunt Capharnaum. Qui cum domi essent, interrogabat eos : Quid in via tractabatis ?	και ηλθεν εις καπερναουμ και εν τη οικια γενομενος επηρωτα αυτους τι εν τη οδω προς εαυτους διελογιζεσθε
34.	9:33 But they held their peace, for in the way they had disputed among themselves, which of them should be the greatest.	9:33 At illi tacebant : siquidem in via inter se disputaverunt : quis eorum major esset.	οι δε εσιωπων προς αλληλους γαρ διελεχθησαν εν τη οδω τις μειζων
35.	9:34 And sitting down, he called the twelve, and saith to them: If any man desire to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the minister of all.	9:34 Et residens vocavit duodecim, et ait illis : Si quis vult primus esse, erit omnium novissimus, et omnium minister.	και καθισας εφωνησεν τους δωδεκα και λεγει αυτοις ει τις θελει πρωτος ειναι εσται παντων εσχατος και παντων διακονος
36.	9:35 And taking a child, he set him in the midst of them. Whom when he had embraced, he saith to them:	9:35 Et accipiens puerum, statuit eum in medio eorum : quem cum complexus esset, ait illis :	και λαβων παιδιον εστησεν αυτο εν μεσω αυτων και εναγκαλισαμενος αυτο ειπεν αυτοις
37.	9:36 Whosoever shall receive one such child as this in my name, receiveth me. And whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.	9:36 Quisquis unum ex hujusmodi pueris receperit in nomine meo, me recipit : et quicumque me susceperit, non me suscipit, sed eum qui misit me.	ος εαν εν των τοιουτων παιδιων δεξηται επι τω ονοματι μου εμε δεχεται και ος εαν εμε δεξηται ουκ εμε δεχεται αλλα τον αποστειλαντα με

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

Mark CHAP. 9

9:30–37

30. And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.

31. For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.

32. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

33. And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?

34. But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.

35. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

36. And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,

37. Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

THEOPHYLACT. It is after miracles that the Lord inserts a discourse concerning His Passion, lest it should be thought that He suffered because He could not help it; wherefore it is said, And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee: and he would not that any man should know it. For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him.

BEDE. (in Marc. 3, 39) He always mingles together sorrowful and joyful things, that sorrow should not by its suddenness frighten the Apostles, but be borne by them with prepared minds.

THEOPHYLACT. After, however, saying what was sorrowful, He adds what ought to rejoice them; wherefore it goes on: And after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day; in order that we may learn that joys come on after struggles. There follows: But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) This ignorance of the disciples proceeds not so much from slowness of intellect, as from love for the Saviour, for they were as yet carnal, and ignorant of the mystery of the cross, they could not therefore believe that He whom they had recognised as the true God, was about to die; being accustomed then to hear Him often talk in figures, and shrinking from the event of His death, they would have it, that something was conveyed figuratively in those things, which he spoke openly concerning His betrayal and passion. It goes on: And they came to Capernaum.

PSEUDO-JEROME. Capernaum means the city of consolation, and agrees with the former sentence, which He had spoken: And after that he is killed, he shall arise the third day. There follows: And being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace.

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) Matthew however says, that the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? (Matt. 18:1) The reason is, that he did not begin the narrative from its commencement, but omitted our Saviour’s knowledge of the thoughts and words of His disciples; unless we understand Him to mean, that even what they thought and said, when away from Christ, was said unto Him, since it was as well known to Him as if it had been said to Him. It goes on: For by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. (Luke 9:46. Vulg.) But Luke says, that “the thought entered into the disciples which of them should be the greatest;” for the Lord laid open their thought and intention from their private discourse1 according to the Gospel narrative.

PSEUDO-JEROME. It was fit also that they should dispute concerning the chief place by the way; the dispute is like the place where it is held; for lofty station is only entered upon to be quitted: as long as a man keeps it, it is slippery, and it is uncertain at what stage, that is, on what day, it will end.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) The reason why the dispute concerning the chief place arose amongst the disciples seems to have been, that Peter, James, and John, were led apart from the rest into the mountain, and that something secret was there entrusted to them, also that the keys of the kingdom of heaven were promised to Peter, according to Matthew. Seeing however the thoughts of the disciples, the Lord takes care to heal the desire of glory by humility; for He first, by simply commanding humility, admonishes them that a high station was not to be aimed at. Wherefore it goes on: And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

JEROME. Where it is to be observed, that the disciples disputed by the way concerning the chief place, but Christ Himself sat down to teach humility; for princes toil while the humble repose.

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) The disciples indeed wished to receive honour at the hands of the Lord; they also had a desire to be made great by Christ, for the greater a man is, the more worthy of honour he becomes, for which reason He did not throw an obstacle in the way of that desire, but brought in humility.

THEOPHYLACT. For His wish is not that we should usurp for ourselves chief places, but that we should attain to lofty heights by lowliness. He next admonishes them by the example of a child’s innocence; wherefore there follows: And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc. Sed v. Chrys. Hom. in Matt. 58) By the very sight, persuading them to humility and simplicity; for this little one was pure from envy and vain glory, and from a desire of superiority. But He does not only say, If ye become such, ye shall receive a great reward, but also, if ye will honour others, who are such for my sake. Wherefore there follows: And when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) By which, He either simply shews, that those who would become greater must receive the poor of Christ in honour of Him, or He would persuade them to be in malice children, to keep simplicity without arrogance, charity without envy, devotedness without anger. Again, by taking the child into His arms, He implies that the lowly are worthy of His embrace and love. He adds also, In my name, that they might, with the fixed purpose of reason, follow for His name’s sake that mould of virtue to which the child keeps, with nature for his guide. And because He taught that He Himself was received in children, lest it should be thought that there was nothing in Him but what was seen, he added, And whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but Him that sent me; thus wishing, that we should believe Him to be of the same nature and of equal greatness with His Father.

THEOPHYLACT. See, how great is humility, for it wins for itself the indwelling of the Father, and of the Son, and also of the Holy Ghost.

Catena Aurea Mark 9

St. Godric of Finchale

He was born of very mean parents at Walpole, in Norfolk, and in his youth carried about little peddling wares which he sold in villages. Having by degrees improved his stock, he frequented cities and fairs, and made several voyages by sea to traffic in Scotland. In one of these he called at Holy Island, or Lindisfarne, where he was charmed and exceedingly edified with the retirement and religious deportment of the monks, and especially with the account which they gave him of the wonderful life of St. Cuthbert. He inquired of them every particular relating to him, visited every corner of that holy solitude and of the neighboring isle of Fame, and falling on his knees, prayed with many tears for grace to imitate the fervor of that saint in serving God, resolving for that purpose to give up all earthly pretensions. He entered upon a new course of life by a penitential devout pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and visited Compostella in his way home. After his return into Norfolk, he accepted the charge of house-steward in the family of a very rich man. The servants were not very regular, and for their private junketings often trespassed upon their neighbors. Godrick finding he was not able to prevent these injustices, and that the nobleman took no notice of his complaints about them, being easy so long as he was no sufferer himself, left his place for fear of being involved in the guilt of such an injustice.

After making a pilgrimage to St. Giles in France, and to Rome, he went to the north of England in order the better to carry into execution his design of devoting himself wholly to a retired life. A fervent servant of God, named Godwin, who had passed a considerable time in the monastery of Durham, and by conversing with the most holy monks and exercising himself in the interior and exterior practices of all virtues, was well qualified to be a director to an inexperienced novice, joined our saint, and they led together an austere anchoretical life in a wilderness situated on the north to Carlisle, serving one another, and spending both the days and nights in the praises of God. After two years God called Godwin to himself by a happy death after a short sickness. St. Godrick having lost his companion, made a second painful pilgrimage to Jerusalem. After his return he passed some time in the solitude of Streneshalch, now Whitby; but after a year and some months went to Durham to offer up his prayers before the shrine of St. Cuthbert, and from thence retired into the desert of Finchal, or Finkley, three miles from Durham, near the river Wear. St. John Baptist and St. Cuthbert he chose for his principal patrons and models. The austerities which he practiced are rather to be admired than imitated. He had his regular tasks of devotion, consisting of psalms and other prayers which he had learned by heart, and which he constantly recited at midnight, break of day, and the other canonical hours, besides a great number of other devotions. Though he was ignorant of the very elements of learning, he was too well experienced in the happy art of conversing with God and his own soul ever to be at a loss how to employ his time in solitude. Whole days and nights seemed too short for his rapturous contemplations, one of which he often wished with St. Bruno he could have continued without interruption for eternity, in inflamed acts of adoration, compunction, love, or praise. His patience under the sharpest pains of sicknesses or ulcers, and all manner of trials, was admirable; but his humility was vet more astonishing. His conversation was meek, humble, and simple. He concealed as much as possible from the sight and knowledge of all men whatever might procure their esteem, and he was even unwilling any one should see or speak with him. Yet this he saw himself obliged to allow on certain days every week to such as came with the leave of the prior of Durham, under whose care and obedience he died. A monk of that house was his confessor, said mass for him, and administered him the sacraments in a chapel adjoining to his cell, which the holy man had built in honor of St. John Baptist. He was most averse from all pride and vanity, and never spoke of himself but as of the most sinful of creatures, a counterfeit hermit, an empty phantom of a religious man: lazy, slothful, proud, and imperious, abusing the charity of good people who assisted him with their alms. But the more the saint humbled himself, the more did God exalt him by his grace, and by wonderful miraculous gifts. For several years before his death he was confined to his bed by sickness and old age. William of Newbridge, who visited him during that time, tells us that though his body appeared in a manner dead, his tongue was ever repeating the sacred names of the three divine Persons, and in his countenance there appeared a wonderful dignity, accompanied with an unusual grace and sweetness. Having remained in the desert sixty-three years, he was seized with his last illness, and happily departed to his Lord on the 21st of May, 1170, in the reign of Henry II. His body was buried in the chapel of St. John Baptist. Many miracles confirmed the opinion of his sanctity, and a little chapel was built in his memory by Richard, brother to Hugh Pidsey, bishop of Durham. See William of Newbridge, 1. 2, c. 20; Matthew Paris, Matthew of Westminster, his life written by Nicholas of Durham his confessarius, and abridged by Harpsfield, Saec. 12, c. 45.

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NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

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

First Reading:

From: James 4:1-10

The Source of Discord
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[1] What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is not your passions that are at war in your members? [2] You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war. You do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. [4] Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you suppose it is in vain that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? [6] But He gives more grace; therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." [7] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind. [9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to dejection. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you.

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Commentary:

1. "Wars" and "fighting" are an exaggerated reference to the contention and discord found among those Christians. "Passions", as elsewhere in the New Testament, means concupiscence, hedonism, pleasure-seeking (cf. verse 3; Luke 8:14; Titus 3:3; 2 Peter 2:13).

St. James points out that if one fails to fight as one should against one's evil inclinations, one's inner disharmony overflows in the form of quarreling and fighting. The New Testament often refers to the good kind of fight, which confers inner freedom and is a prerequisite for salvation (cf., e.g., Matthew 11:12; Romans 7:14-25; 1 Peter 2:11).

"How can you be at peace if you allow passions you do not even attempt to control to drag you away from the 'pull' of grace?

"Heaven pulls you upwards; you drag yourselves downwards. And don't seek excuses--that is what you are doing. If you go on like that, you will tear yourself apart" (St J. Escriva, "Furrow", 851).

2-3. St. James is describing the sad state to which free-wheeling hedonism (specifically, greed for earthly things) leads.

"You do not receive, because you ask wrongly": "He asks wrongly who shows no regard for the Lord's commandments and yet seeks Heavenly gifts. He also asks wrongly who, having lost his taste for Heavenly things, seeks only earthly things--not for sustaining his human weakness but to enable him to indulge himself" (St. Bede, "Super Iac. Expositio, ad loc.").

4-6. The sacred writer warns that inordinate love of the world, which stems from ambition, is incompatible with the love of God. "World" here has the meaning of "enemy of God", opposed to Christ and His followers (cf. note on 1:26-27). The teaching contained in these verses echoes that of our Lord: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24).

The Saints have frequently reminded us--by their lives as well as their teachings--that inordinate love of the world is incompatible with the love of God: "Worldly society has flowered from a selfish love which dared to despise even God, whereas the communion of saints is rooted in a love of God that is ready to trample on self" (St. Augustine, "The City of God", 14, 28).

"Unfaithful creatures!": the original Greek simply says, "Adulterers" (feminine) and the New Vulgate, "Adulterers" (masculine). This echoes the symbol the prophets often use (cf., e.g. Hosea 1:2ff; Jeremiah 3:7-10; Ezekiel 16:1ff) of the marriage of God and His people sealed by the Covenant. St. James, therefore, is not referring to the sin of adultery; he is berating those whose excessive love for the things of this world makes them unfaithful to God.

5. The original Greek is open to various interpretations and the quotation as given here is not to be found in the Bible. Translated word for word it means: "Jealously he loves the spirit which dwells in us." It is not clear who "loves"--God or the spirit; and "the spirit" may mean the soul or the Holy Spirit; moreover, the jealousy can be either something good or something bad (like envy). It might perhaps be translated as "The Spirit who dwells in us jealously loves us" (which is how the New Vulgate translates it).

Although this sentence does not appear literally in the Bible, St. James may be referring not so much to a specific passage as to an idea which often occurs in the Bible when it depicts God as a jealous lover (cf., e.g., Exodus 20:5; 34:14; Zechariah 1:14; 8:2), who expects His love to be returned wholeheartedly; this very human kind of language is a most moving evocation of God's immense love for man. St. Alphonsus teaches: "Since He loves us with infinite love, He desires all our love; that is why He is jealous when He sees others having a share in hearts which He wants entirely for His own. 'Jesus is jealous', St. Jerome said (Epistle 22), in the sense that He does not want us to love anything that is outside Himself. And if He sees that some creature has a part of your heart, He is in a sense envious of it, as the Apostle James writes, because He tolerates no rival for our love; He wants to have all our love" ("The Love of Jesus Christ", Chapter 11).

6. The sacred writer foresees the possibility that some may draw back from this "jealous" love God expects to be reciprocated: but God never expects the impossible; He gives us all the grace we need to do what He asks: "All my hope is naught," St. Augustine exclaims, "save in Your great mercy. Grant what You command, and command what You will" ("Confessions", 10, 29).

However, only people who are humble are given this grace, and have it bear fruit. The proud, who are full of self-love, even fail to realize that they need grace, and so they do not ask for it, or do not ask for it properly. The second part of the verse is a literal quotation from Proverbs 3:34 (according to the Septuagint Greek): it is an example of the "poetic" form, with the characteristic antithetical parallelism of Hebrew verse. St. Augustine, in his explanation of the fact that the Bible refers in places to the sins of prominent men, urges his readers to be humble, commenting that "there is scarcely a page in the sacred books which does not echo the fact that 'God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble'" ("De Doctrina Christiana", 3, 23).

7-10. Some ways of countering pride are identified here: basically what is required is a sincere and deep conversion, which must begin with the humility of recognizing that we are sinners and in need of purification. The tone of these verses is reminiscent of the way the Old Testament prophets upbraid the people of Israel for the unfaithfulness to Yahweh.

To draw near to God the sinner needs purification. "Cleaning your hand" should not be understood as referring to the physical ablutions of the Jews (cf. Exodus 30:19-21; Mark 7:1-5); but should be taken in a moral sense--purification from sins, and upright actions (e.g., Isaiah 1:15-17; 1 Timothy 2:8). Of all the possible ways of being purified and converted (for example, the penitential rite at Mass, a visit to a shrine, or fasting), "none is more significant," [Pope] John Paul II reminds us, "more divinely efficacious or more lofty and at the same time easily accessible as a rite than the Sacrament of Penance [...]. For a Christian, "the sacrament of Penance is the ordinary way of obtaining forgiveness and the remission of sins committed after Baptism" ("Reconciliatio Et Paenitentia", 28 and 31).

7. When someone resists the devil's temptations, the devil leaves him alone: he cannot force a man to commit sin. The "Shepherd of Hermas" (a work by an anonymous Christian writer, around the middle of the Second Century) elaborates on the same idea: "Be converted, you who walk in the commandments of the devil, commandments that are hard, bitter, cruel and foul. And do not fear the devil either, because he has no power against you [...]. The devil cannot lord it over those who are servants of God with their whole heart and who place their hope in Him. The devil can wrestle with, but not overcome them. So, if you resist him, he will flee from you in defeat and confusion" ("Eleventh Commandment", 4, 6 and 5,2).

9. "Be wretched": "To acknowledge one's sin--penetrating still more deeply into the consideration of one's own personhood--"to recognize oneself as a sinner", capable of sin and inclined to commit sin, is the essential first step in returning to God" ("Reconciliatio Et Paenitencia", 13).

Mourning and weeping are the external expression of sincere repentance (cf. Matthew 5:4 and note; Tobias 2:6; Amos 8:10): "You are crying? Don't be ashamed of it. Yes, cry: men also cry like you, when they are alone and before God. Each night, says King David, I soak my bed with tears. With those tears, those burning manly tears, you can purify your past and supernaturalize your present life" (St J. Escriva, "The Way", 216).

Gospel Reading:

From: Mark 9:30-37

Second Prophecy of the Passion
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[30] They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And He (Jesus) would not have any one know it; [31] for He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He is killed, after three days He will rise." [32] But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask Him.

Being the Servant of All
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[33] And they came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house He asked them, "What were you discussing on the way?" [34] But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest. [35] And He sat down and called the Twelve; and He said to them, "If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." [36] And He took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in His arms, He said to them, [37] "Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me".

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Commentary:

30-32. Although moved when He sees the crowds like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36), Jesus leaves them, to devote time to careful instruction of the Apostles. He retires with them to out-of-the-way places, and there He explains points of His public preaching which they had not understood (Matthew 13:36). Here, specifically, for a second time, He announces His death and resurrection.

In His relationships with souls Jesus acts in the same way: He calls man to be with him in the quiet of prayer and there He teaches him about His more intimate plans and about the more demanding side of the Christian life. Later, like the Apostles, Christians were to spread this teaching to the ends of the earth.

34-35. Jesus uses this argument going on behind his back to teach His disciples about how authority should be exercised in His Church--not by lording it over other, but by serving them. In fulfilling His own mission to found the Church whose head and supreme lawgiver He is, He came to serve and not to be served (Matthew 20:28).

Anyone who does not strive to have this attitude of self-forgetful service, not only lacks one of the main pre-requisites for proper exercise of authority but also runs the risk of being motivated by ambition or pride. "To be in charge of an apostolic undertaking demands readiness to suffer everything, from everybody, with infinite charity" (St J. Escriva, "The Way", 951).

36-37. To demonstrate to His Apostles the abnegation and humility needed in their ministry, He takes a child into His arms and explains the meaning of this gesture: if we receive for Christ's sake those who have little importance in the world's eyes, it is as if we are embracing Christ Himself and the Father who sent Him. This little child whom Jesus embraces represents every child in the world, and everyone who is needy, helpless, poor or sick--people who are not naturally attractive.

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Readings at Mass

Resist the devil and he will run away

Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me

Christian Art

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

Mark CHAP. 9

St. Godric of Finchale