Navarre Bible Commentary:Friday, 6th Week of Easter

John 16:20–23

20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name.  

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, paragraphs 2615  and 2815.

Commentary:

Fullness of joy (16:16–33)

16:16–22. Earlier our Lord consoled the disciples by assuring them that he would send them the Holy Spirit after he went away (v. 7). Now he gives them further consolation: he is not leaving them permanently, he will come back to stay with them. However, the apostles fail to grasp what he means, and they ask each other what they make of it. Our Lord does not give them a direct explanation, perhaps because they would not understand what he meant (as happened before: cf. Mt 16:21–23 and par.). But he does emphasize that though they are sad now they will soon be rejoicing: after suffering tribulation they will be filled with a joy they will never lose (cf. Jn 17:13). This is a reference primarily to the Resurrection (cf. Lk 24:41), but also to their definitive encounter with Christ in heaven. This image of the woman giving birth (frequently used in the Old Testament to express intense pain) is also often used, particularly by the prophets, to mean the birth of the new messianic people (cf. Is 21:3; 26:17; 66:7; Jer 30:6; Hos 13:13; Mic 4:9–10). The words of Jesus reported here seem to be the fulfilment of those prophecies. The birth of the messianic people—the Church of Christ—involves intense pain, not only for Jesus but also, to some degree, for the apostles. But this pain, like birth pains, will be made up for by the joy of the final coming of the Kingdom of Christ: “I consider,” says St Paul, “that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18).

16:23–24. See the note on Jn 14:12–14.

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  

Navarre Bible Commentary:Saturday, 3rd Week in Lent

Pharisee and Tax Collector by eikonik

Luke 18:9–14

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

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, paragraphs 588, 2559, 2613, 2631, 2667 and 2839.

Commentary:

8:9–14. Besides constancy, prayer requires humility. That is the message of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector: “When we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or ‘out of the depths’ (Ps 130:1) of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that ‘we do not know how to pray as we ought’ (Rom 8:26), are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. ‘Man is a beggar before God’ (St Augustine, Sermo, 56, 6, 9)."

Our Lord here rounds off his teaching on prayer. In addition to being persevering and full of faith, prayer must flow from a humble heart, a heart that repents of its sins: Cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies (Ps 51:17), the Lord, who never despises a contrite and humble heart, resists the proud and gives his grace to the humble (cf. 1 Pet 5:5; Jas 4:6).

The parable presents two opposite types—the Pharisee, who is so meticulous about external fulfilment of the Law; and the tax collector, who in fact is looked on as a public sinner (cf. Lk 19:7). The Pharisee’s prayer is not pleasing to God, because his pride causes him to be self-centred and to despise others. He begins by giving thanks to God, but obviously it is not true gratitude, because he boasts about all the good he has done and he fails to recognize his sins; since he regards himself as righteous, he has no need of pardon, he thinks; and he remains in his sinful state; to him also apply these words spoken by our Lord to a group of Pharisees on another occasion: “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains” (Jn 9:41). The Pharisee went down from the temple, therefore, unjustified.

But the tax collector recognizes his personal unworthiness and is sincerely sorry for his sins: he has the necessary dispositions for God to pardon him. His ejaculatory prayer wins God’s forgiveness: “It is not without reason that some have said that prayer justifies; for repentant prayer or supplicant repentance, raising up the soul to God and re-uniting it to his goodness, without doubt obtains pardon in virtue of the holy love which gives it this sacred movement. And therefore we ought all to have very many such ejaculatory prayers, said as an act of loving repentance and with a desire of obtaining reconciliation with God, so that by thus laying our tribulation before our Saviour, we may pour out our souls before and within his pitiful heart, which will receive them with mercy” (St Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God, book 2, chap. 20).

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  

Navarre Bible Commentary:Ash Wednesday

Matthew 6:1–6, 16–18

1 “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2 “Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

16 “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

  

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 twelve (12) different paragraphs.

Commentary:

An upright intention in almsgiving, prayer and fasting

6:1–18. “Piety”, here, means good works (cf. the note on Mt 5:6). Our Lord is indicating the kind of spirit in which we should do acts of personal piety. Almsgiving, fasting and prayer were the basic forms taken by personal piety among the chosen people—which is why Jesus refers to these three subjects. With complete authority he teaches that true piety must be practised with an upright intention, in the presence of God and without any ostentation. Piety practised in this way implies exercising our faith in God who sees us—and also in the safe knowledge that he will reward those who are sincerely devout.

6:5–6. Following the teaching of Jesus, the Church has always taught us to pray even when we were infants. By saying “you” (singular) our Lord is stating quite unequivocally the need for personal prayer—relating as child to Father, alone with God.

Public prayer, for which Christ’s faithful assemble together, is something necessary and holy; but it should never displace obedience to this clear commandment of our Lord: “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father.”

The Second Vatican Council reminds us of the teaching and practice of the Church in its liturgy, which is “the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows […]. The spiritual life, however, is not limited solely to participation in the liturgy. The Christian is indeed called to pray with others, but he must also enter into his bedroom to pray to his Father in secret; furthermore, according to the teaching of the apostle, he must pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17)” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10 and 12).

A soul who really puts his Christian faith into practice realizes that he needs frequently to get away and pray alone to his Father, God. Jesus, who gives us this teaching about prayer, practised it during his own life on earth: the holy Gospel reports that he often went apart to pray on his own: “At times he spent the whole night in an intimate conversation with his Father. The apostles were filled with love when they saw Christ pray” (St J. Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 119; cf. Mt 14:23; Mk 1:35; Lk 5:16; etc.). The apostles followed the Master’s example, and so we see Peter going up to the rooftop of the house to pray in private, and receiving a revelation (cf. Acts 10:9–16). “Our life of prayer should also be based on some moments that are dedicated exclusively to our conversation with God, moments of silent dialogue” (Christ Is Passing By, 119).

6:16–18. Starting from the traditional practice of fasting, our Lord tells us the spirit in which we should practise mortification of our senses: we should do so without ostentation, avoiding praise, discreetly; that way Jesus’ words will not apply to us: “they have their reward”; it would have been a very bad deal. “The world admires only spectacular sacrifice, because it does not realize the value of sacrifice that is hidden and silent” (St Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 185).

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  

Navarre Bible Commentary:5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Healing of Peter's Mother in Law, James Tissot

Mark 1:29–39

And immediately he left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them.

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered together about the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.  

And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him pursued him, and they found him and said to him, “Every one is searching for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out.” And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.   

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, paragraph 2602.

Commentary:

Jesus cures many sick people

1:34. Demons possess a supernatural type of knowledge and therefore they recognize Jesus as the Messiah (Mk 1:24). Through the people they possess they are able to publish this fact. But our Lord, using his divine powers, orders them to be silent. On other occasions he also silences his disciples (Mk 8:30; 9:9), and he instructs people whom he has cured not to talk about their cure (Mk 1:4; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26). He may have acted in this way to educate the people away from a too human and political idea of the Messiah (cf. the note on Mt 9:30). Therefore, he first awakens their interest by performing miracles and gradually, through his preaching, gives them a clearer understanding of the kind of Messiah he is.

Some Fathers of the Church point out that Jesus does not want to accept, in support of the truth, the testimony of him who is the father of lies. Cf. the note on Jn 8:44.

Jesus goes to a lonely place to pray

1:35. Many passages of the New Testament make reference to Jesus praying. The evangelists point to him praying only on specially important occasions during his public ministry: Baptism (Lk 3:1), the choosing of the Twelve (Lk 6:12), the first multiplication of the loaves (Mk 6:46), the transfiguration (Lk 9:29), in the garden of Gethsemane prior to his passion (Mt 26:39), etc. St Mark, for his part, refers to Jesus’ prayer at three solemn moments: at the beginning of his public ministry (1:35), in the middle of it (6:46), and at the end, in Gethsemane (14:32).

Jesus’ prayer is prayer of perfect praise to the Father; it is prayer of petition for himself and for us; and it is also a model for his disciples. It is a prayer of perfect praise and thanksgiving because he is God’s beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased (cf. Mk 1:11). It is a prayer of petition because the first spontaneous movement of a soul who recognizes God as Father is to ask him for things. Jesus’ prayer, as we see in very many Gospel passages (e.g., Jn 17:9ff) was a continuous petition to the Father for the work of redemption which he, Jesus, had to achieve through prayer and sacrifice (cf. the notes on Mk 14:32–42 and Mt 7:7–11).

Our Lord wants to give us an example of the kind of attitude a Christian should have: he should make a habit of addressing God as son to Father in the midst of and through his everyday activities—work, family life, personal relationships, apostolate—so as to give his life a genuinely Christian meaning, for, as Jesus will point out later on, “apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).

“You write: ‘To pray is to talk with God. But about what?’ About what? About him, about yourself: joys, sorrows, successes and failures, noble ambitions, daily worries, weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions and love and reparation. In a word: to get to know him and to get to know yourself: ‘to get acquainted!’ ” (St Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 91; cf. the notes on Mt 6:5–6; 7:11; and 14:22–23).

1:38. Jesus tells us here that his mission is to preach, to spread the Good News. He was sent for this purpose (cf. also Lk 4:43). The apostles, in turn, were chosen by Jesus to be preachers (Mk 3:14; 16:15). Preaching is the method selected by God to effect salvation: “it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (1 Cor 1:21). This is why St Paul says to Timothy: “Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and teaching” (2 Tim 4:1–2). Faith comes from hearing, we are told in Romans 10:17, where St Paul enthusiastically quotes Isaiah: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!” (Rom 10:15; Is 52:7).

The Church identifies preaching the Gospel as one of the main tasks of bishops and priests. St Pius X went so far as saying that “for a priest there is no duty more grave or obligation more binding (to dispel ignorance)” (Acerbo nimis). In this connexion Vatican II states: “The people of God is formed into one in the first place by the Word of the living God (cf. 1 Pet 1:23; Acts 6:7; 12:24), which is quite rightly sought from the mouths of priests (cf. 2 Cor 11:7). For since nobody can be saved who has not first believed (Mk 16:16), it is the first task of priests as co-workers of the bishops to preach the Gospel of God to all men (cf. 2 Cor 11:7). In this way they carry out the Lord’s command ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature’ (Mk 16:15) (cf. Mal 2:7; 1 Tim 4:11–13; etc.) and thus set up and increase the people of God” (Presbyterorum ordinis, 4).

Jesus’ preaching is not just limited to words: he backs up his teaching with his authority and with deeds. The Church also has been sent to preach salvation and to effect the work of salvation which it proclaims—a work done through the sacraments and especially through the renewal of the sacrifice of Calvary in the Mass (cf. Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 6).

In the Church of God all of us should listen devoutly to the preaching of the Gospel and we all should feel a responsibility to spread the Gospel by our words and actions. It is the responsibility of the hierarchy of the Church to teach the Gospel authentically—on the authority of 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

Time to Re-Evaluate Your Plan of Life

Black Eyed Peas and Resolutions
We associate New Year's Eve with parties and 12 O'clock kisses. New Year's Day is associated with black eyed peas and New Year's resolutions. At Joe Catholic we have associated the start of the new year as an opportunity to evaluate and initiate Spiritual Plans of Life, in other words an organized system of daily prayer.

Online Series
This Saturday we will have our 10th annual workshop on this topic. Today, we begin an online series on developing a spiritual game plan by sharing last year's talk. In the days to follow we will share resources, systems and tips for helping you implement and succeed at developing your daily prayer regimen.

Last Year's Workshop Video

Navarre Bible Commentary:Monday, First Week of Advent

Matthew 8:5–11

As he entered Caperna-um, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion answered him, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,

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, paragraphs 543, 1386 and 2610.

Commentary:

The centurion’s faith

8:5–13. “Centurion”: an officer of the Roman army in control of one hundred men. This man’s faith is still an example to us. At the solemn moment when a Christian is about to receive Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist, the Church’s liturgy places on his lips and in his heart these words of the centurion, to enliven his faith: “Lord, I am not worthy …”.

The Jews of this time regarded any Jew who entered a Gentile’s house as contracting legal impurity (cf. Jn 19:28; Acts 11:2–3). This centurion has the deference not to place Jesus in an embarrassing position in the eyes of his fellow Israelites. He shows that he is convinced that Jesus has power over disease and illness; he suggests that if Jesus just says the word, he will do what is needed without having actually to visit the house; he is reasoning, in a simple, logical way, on the basis of his own professional experience. Jesus avails of this meeting with a Gentile believer to make a solemn prophecy to the effect that his Gospel is addressed to the world at large; all men, of every nation and race, of every age and condition, are called to follow 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