Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Navarre Bible Commentary:
Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas

John 1:1–18
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.’”) And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

Catholic Exegesis:
The Second Vatican Council teaches  that if we are to derive the true meaning from the sacred texts,  attention must be devoted “not only to their content but to the unity of the whole of Scripture, the living tradition of the entire Church, and the analogy of faith. […] Everything to do with the interpretation of Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the divinely conferred communion and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).
St. John Paul II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church,  explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).
Cited in the Catechism:
Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism in 29 different paragraphs.
Commentary:
1:1–18. These verses form the introduction to the Fourth Gospel; they are a poem prefacing the account of Jesus Christ’s life on earth, proclaiming and praising his divinity and eternity. Jesus is the uncreated Word, God the Only-begotten, who takes on our human condition and offers us the chance to become sons and daughters of God, that is, to share in God’s own life in a real and supernatural way.

Right through his Gospel St John lays special emphasis on our Lord’s divinity; his existence did not begin when he became man in Mary’s virginal womb: before that he existed in divine eternity as the Word, one in substance with the Father and the Holy Spirit. This luminous truth helps us understand all that Jesus says and does as reported in this Gospel.
St John’s personal experience with Jesus’ public ministry and his appearances after the Resurrection were the material he drew on to contemplate God’s divinity and express it as “the Word of God”. By placing this poem as a prologue to his Gospel, the apostle is giving us a key to understand all that follows, in the same sort of way as the first chapters of the Gospels of St Matthew and St Luke initiate us into the contemplation of the life of Christ by telling us about the virgin birth and other episodes to do with his infancy; in structure and content, however, this passage is akin to the opening passages of other New Testament books, such as Col 1:15–20, Eph 1:13–14 and 1 Jn 1–4.

The prologue is a magnificent hymn in praise of Christ. We do not know whether St John composed it when writing his Gospel, or whether he based it on some existing liturgical hymn; but there is no trace of any such text in other early Christian documents.

The prologue is very reminiscent of the first chapter of Genesis, on a number of scores: 1) the opening words are the same: “In the beginning …”; in the Gospel they refer to absolute beginning, that is, eternity, whereas in Genesis they mean the beginning of creation and time; 2) there is a parallelism in the role of the Word: in Genesis, God creates things by his word (“And God said …”); in the Gospel, we are told that they were made through the Word of God; 3) in Genesis, God’s work of creation reaches its peak when he creates man in his own image and likeness; in the Gospel, the work of the Incarnate Word culminates when man is raised (by a new creation, as it were) to the dignity of being a son of God.

The main teachings in the prologue are: 1) the divinity and eternity of the Word; 2) his incarnation and manifestation as man; 3) the part played by him in creation and in the salvation of mankind; 4) the ways in which people react to his coming—some accepting him with faith, others rejecting him; 5) finally, John the Baptist bears witness to the presence of the Word in the world.

The Church has always given special importance to this prologue; many Fathers and ancient Christian writers wrote commentaries on it, and for centuries it was always read at the end of Mass for instruction and meditation.

The prologue is poetic in style. Its teaching is given in verses, which combine to make up stanzas (vv. 1–5; 6–8; 9–13; 14–18). Just as a stone dropped in a pool produces ever widening ripples, so the idea expressed in each stanza tends to be expanded in later verses. This kind of exposition was much favoured in olden times because it makes it easier to get the meaning across—and God used it to help us go deeper into the central mysteries of our faith.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Navarre Bible Commentary:
Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas

Luke 2:36–40
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanu-el, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. [1]

Catholic Exegesis:
The Second Vatican Council teaches that if we are to derive the true meaning from the sacred texts, attention must be devoted “not only to their content but to the unity of the whole of Scripture, the living tradition of the entire Church, and the analogy of faith. […] Everything to do with the interpretation of Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the divinely conferred communion and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).
St. John Paul II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church,  explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).
Cited in the Catechism:
Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in Catechism, paragraphs 529, 583, and 711.
Commentary:
Anna the prophetess
2:36–38. Anna’s testimony is very similar to Simeon’s; like him, she too has been awaiting the coming of the Messiah her whole life long, in faithful service of God, and she too is rewarded with the joy of seeing him. She spoke of him, that is, of the Child—praising God in her prayer and exhorting others to believe that this Child is the Messiah.

Thus, the birth of Christ was revealed by three kinds of witnesses in three different ways—first, by the shepherds, after the angel’s announcement; second, by the Magi, who were guided by a star; third, by Simeon and Anna, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

All who, like Simeon and Anna, persevere in piety and in the service of God, no matter how insignificant their lives seem in men’s eyes, become instruments the Holy Spirit uses to make Christ known to others. In his plan of redemption God avails of these simple souls to do much good to all mankind.
The childhood of Jesus
2:39. Before their return to Nazareth, St Matthew tells us (2:13–23), the Holy Family fled to Egypt where they stayed for some time.
2:40. “Our Lord Jesus Christ as a child, that is, as one clothed in the fragility of human nature, had to grow and become stronger but as the eternal Word of God he had no need to become stronger or to grow. Hence he is rightly described as full of wisdom and grace” (St Bede, In Lucae Evangelium expositio, in loc.).[2]

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome 


[1] Catholic Lectionary (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009).
in loc. in locum, commentary on this passage
[2] Saint Luke’s Gospel, The Navarre Bible (Dublin; New York: Four Courts Press; Scepter Publishers, 2005), 49–50.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Navarre Bible Commentary:
Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas

Luke 2:22–35
And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.”

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”

Catholic Exegesis:
The Second Vatican Council teaches that if we are to derive the true meaning from the sacred texts,  attention must be devoted “not only to their content but to the unity of the whole of Scripture, the living tradition of the entire Church, and the analogy of faith. […] Everything to do with the interpretation of Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the divinely conferred communion and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).
St. John Paul II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church,  explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).
Cited in the Catechism:
Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in Catechism, paragraphs 149, 529, 575, 583, 587, 618, 695, 711 and 713.
Commentary:
The purification of Mary and the presentation of Jesus in the temple
2:22–24. The Holy Family goes up to Jerusalem to fulfil the prescriptions of the Law of Moses—the purification of the mother and the presentation and then redemption or buying back of the first-born. According to Leviticus 12:2–8, a woman who bore a child was unclean. The period of legal impurity ended, in the case of a mother of a male child, after forty days, with a rite of purification. Mary most holy, ever-virgin, was exempt from these precepts of the Law, because she conceived without intercourse, nor did Christ’s birth undo the virginal integrity of his Mother. However, she chose to submit herself to the Law, although she was under no obligation to do so.

“Through this example, foolish child, won’t you learn to fulfil the holy Law of God, regardless of any personal sacrifice?

“Purification! You and I certainly do need purification. Atonement and, more than atonement, Love. Love as a searing iron to cauterize our soul’s uncleanness, and as a fire to kindle with divine flames the wretchedness of our hearts” (St Josemaría Escrivá, Holy Rosary, fourth joyful mystery).

Also, in Exodus 13:2, 12–13 it is indicated that every first-born male belongs to God and must be set apart for the Lord, that is, dedicated to the service of God. However, once divine worship was reserved to the tribe of Levi, first-born who did not belong to that tribe were not dedicated to God’s service, and to show that they continued to be God’s special property, a rite of redemption was performed.

The Law also laid down that the Israelites should offer in sacrifice some lesser victim—for example, a lamb or, if they were poor, a pair of doves or two pigeons. Our Lord, who “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9), chose to have a poor man’s offering made on his behalf.

Simeon’s prophecy
2:25–32. Simeon, who is described as a righteous and devout man, obedient to God’s will, addresses himself to our Lord as a vassal or loyal servant who, having kept watch all his life in expectation of the coming of his Lord, sees that this moment has “now” come, the moment that explains his whole life. When he takes the Child in his arms, he learns, not through any reasoning process but through a special grace from God, that this Child is the promised Messiah, the Consolation of Israel, the Light of the nations.

Simeon’s canticle (vv. 29–32) is also a prophecy. It consists of two stanzas: the first (vv. 29–30) is an act of thanksgiving to God, filled with profound joy for having seen the Messiah. The second (vv. 31–32) is more obviously prophetic and extols the divine blessings which the Messiah is bringing to Israel and to all men. The canticle highlights the fact that Christ brings redemption to all men without exception—something foretold in many Old Testament prophecies (cf. Gen 22:18; Is 2:6; 42:6; 60:3; Ps 28:2).

It is easy to realize how extremely happy Simeon was—given that many patriarchs, prophets and kings of Israel had yearned to see the Messiah, yet did not see him, whereas he now held him in his arms (cf. Lk 10:24; 1 Pet 1:10).

2:33. The Blessed Virgin and St Joseph marvelled not because they did not know who Christ was; they were in awe at the way God was revealing him. Once again they teach us to contemplate the mysteries involved in the birth of Christ.

2:34–35. After Simeon blesses them, the Holy Spirit moves him to further prophecy about the Child’s future and his Mother’s. His words become clearer in the light of our Lord’s life and death.

Jesus came to bring salvation to all men, yet he will be a sign of contradiction because some people will obstinately reject him—and for this reason he will be their ruin. But for those who accept him with faith Jesus will be their salvation, freeing them from sin in this life and raising them up to eternal life.

The words Simeon addresses to Mary announce that she will be intimately linked with her Son’s redemptive work. The sword indicates that Mary will have a share in her Son’s sufferings; hers will be an unspeakable pain which pierces her soul. Our Lord suffered on the cross for our sins, and it is those sins which forge the sword of Mary’s pain. Therefore, we have a duty to atone not only to God but also to his Mother, who is our Mother too.
The last words of the prophecy, “that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed”, link up with v. 34: uprightness or perversity will be demonstrated by whether one accepts or rejects Christ.

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.


"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome 

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Navarre Bible Commentary:
Feast of the Holy Family

Light to the Gentiles by Greg Olson
Luke 2:22–40
And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.”
And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanu-el, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Catholic Exegesis:
The Second Vatican Council teaches  that if we are to derive the true meaning from the sacred texts,  attention must be devoted “not only to their content but to the unity of the whole of Scripture, the living tradition of the entire Church, and the analogy of faith. […] Everything to do with the interpretation of Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the divinely conferred communion and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).
St. John Paul II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church,  explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).
Cited in the Catechism:
Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in Catechism, paragraphs 529, 583, 695, 711 and 713.
Commentary:
The purification of Mary and the presentation of Jesus in the temple
2:22–24. The Holy Family goes up to Jerusalem to fulfil the prescriptions of the Law of Moses—the purification of the mother and the presentation and then redemption or buying back of the first-born. According to Leviticus 12:2–8, a woman who bore a child was unclean. The period of legal impurity ended, in the case of a mother of a male child, after forty days, with a rite of purification. Mary most holy, ever-virgin, was exempt from these precepts of the Law, because she conceived without intercourse, nor did Christ’s birth undo the virginal integrity of his Mother. However, she chose to submit herself to the Law, although she was under no obligation to do so.

“Through this example, foolish child, won’t you learn to fulfil the holy Law of God, regardless of any personal sacrifice?

“Purification! You and I certainly do need purification. Atonement and, more than atonement, Love. Love as a searing iron to cauterize our soul’s uncleanness, and as a fire to kindle with divine flames the wretchedness of our hearts” (St Josemaría Escrivá, Holy Rosary, fourth joyful mystery).

Also, in Exodus 13:2, 12–13 it is indicated that every first-born male belongs to God and must be set apart for the Lord, that is, dedicated to the service of God. However, once divine worship was reserved to the tribe of Levi, first-born who did not belong to that tribe were not dedicated to God’s service, and to show that they continued to be God’s special property, a rite of redemption was performed.

The Law also laid down that the Israelites should offer in sacrifice some lesser victim—for example, a lamb or, if they were poor, a pair of doves or two pigeons. Our Lord, who “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9), chose to have a poor man’s offering made on his behalf.

Simeon’s prophecy
2:25–32. Simeon, who is described as a righteous and devout man, obedient to God’s will, addresses himself to our Lord as a vassal or loyal servant who, having kept watch all his life in expectation of the coming of his Lord, sees that this moment has “now” come, the moment that explains his whole life. When he takes the Child in his arms, he learns, not through any reasoning process but through a special grace from God, that this Child is the promised Messiah, the Consolation of Israel, the Light of the nations.

Simeon’s canticle (vv. 29–32) is also a prophecy. It consists of two stanzas: the first (vv. 29–30) is an act of thanksgiving to God, filled with profound joy for having seen the Messiah. The second (vv. 31–32) is more obviously prophetic and extols the divine blessings which the Messiah is bringing to Israel and to all men. The canticle highlights the fact that Christ brings redemption to all men without exception—something foretold in many Old Testament prophecies (cf. Gen 22:18; Is 2:6; 42:6; 60:3; Ps 28:2).

It is easy to realize how extremely happy Simeon was—given that many patriarchs, prophets and kings of Israel had yearned to see the Messiah, yet did not see him, whereas he now held him in his arms (cf. Lk 10:24; 1 Pet 1:10).

2:33. The Blessed Virgin and St Joseph marvelled not because they did not know who Christ was; they were in awe at the way God was revealing him. Once again they teach us to contemplate the mysteries involved in the birth of Christ.

2:34–35. After Simeon blesses them, the Holy Spirit moves him to further prophecy about the Child’s future and his Mother’s. His words become clearer in the light of our Lord’s life and death.

Jesus came to bring salvation to all men, yet he will be a sign of contradiction because some people will obstinately reject him—and for this reason he will be their ruin. But for those who accept him with faith Jesus will be their salvation, freeing them from sin in this life and raising them up to eternal life.

The words Simeon addresses to Mary announce that she will be intimately linked with her Son’s redemptive work. The sword indicates that Mary will have a share in her Son’s sufferings; hers will be an unspeakable pain which pierces her soul. Our Lord suffered on the cross for our sins, and it is those sins which forge the sword of Mary’s pain. Therefore, we have a duty to atone not only to God but also to his Mother, who is our Mother too.

The last words of the prophecy, “that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed”, link up with v. 34: uprightness or perversity will be demonstrated by whether one accepts or rejects Christ.

Anna the prophetess
2:36–38. Anna’s testimony is very similar to Simeon’s; like him, she too has been awaiting the coming of the Messiah her whole life long, in faithful service of God, and she too is rewarded with the joy of seeing him. She spoke of him, that is, of the Child—praising God in her prayer and exhorting others to believe that this Child is the Messiah.

Thus, the birth of Christ was revealed by three kinds of witnesses in three different ways—first, by the shepherds, after the angel’s announcement; second, by the Magi, who were guided by a star; third, by Simeon and Anna, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

All who, like Simeon and Anna, persevere in piety and in the service of God, no matter how insignificant their lives seem in men’s eyes, become instruments the Holy Spirit uses to make Christ known to others. In his plan of redemption God avails of these simple souls to do much good to all mankind.

The childhood of Jesus
2:39. Before their return to Nazareth, St Matthew tells us (2:13–23), the Holy Family fled to Egypt where they stayed for some time.

2:40. “Our Lord Jesus Christ as a child, that is, as one clothed in the fragility of human nature, had to grow and become stronger but as the eternal Word of God he had no need to become stronger or to grow. Hence he is rightly described as full of wisdom and grace” (St Bede, In Lucae Evangelium expositio, in loc.).

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome