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Reading 1
Jl 4:12-21
Thus says the Lord:
Let the nations bestir themselves and come up
to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
For there will I sit in judgment
upon all the neighboring nations.
Apply the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe;
Come and tread,
for the wine press is full;
The vats overflow,
for great is their malice.
Crowd upon crowd
in the valley of decision;
For near is the day of the Lord
in the valley of decision.
Sun and moon are darkened,
and the stars withhold their brightness.
The Lord roars from Zion,
and from Jerusalem raises his voice;
The heavens and the earth quake,
but the Lord is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the children of Israel.
Then shall you know that I, the Lord, am your God,
dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain;
Jerusalem shall be holy,
and strangers shall pass through her no more.
And then, on that day,
the mountains shall drip new wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk;
And the channels of Judah
shall flow with water:
A fountain shall issue from the house of the Lord,
to water the Valley of Shittim.
Egypt shall be a waste,
and Edom a desert waste,
Because of violence done to the people of Judah,
because they shed innocent blood in their land.
But Judah shall abide forever,
and Jerusalem for all generations.
I will avenge their blood,
and not leave it unpunished.
The Lord dwells in Zion.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12
R. (12a) Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The Lord is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many isles be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him,
justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
Light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright of heart.
Be glad in the Lord, you just,
and give thanks to his holy name.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
Gospel
Lk 11:27-28
While Jesus was speaking,
a woman from the crowd called out and said to him,
“Blessed is the womb that carried you
and the breasts at which you nursed.”
He replied, “Rather, blessed are those
who hear the word of God and observe it.”
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Joel 4:12 – 21
‘Let the nations rouse themselves, let them march
to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for I am going to sit in judgment there
on all the nations round.
Put the sickle in:
the harvest is ripe;
come and tread:
the winepress is full,
the vats are overflowing,
so great is their wickedness!’
Host on host
in the Valley of Decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the Valley of Decision!
Sun and moon grow dark,
the stars lose their brilliance.
The Lord roars from Zion,
makes his voice heard from Jerusalem;
heaven and earth tremble.
But the Lord will be a shelter for his people,
a stronghold for the sons of Israel.
‘You will learn then that I am the Lord your God,
dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem will be a holy place,
no alien will ever pass through it again.’
When that day comes,
the mountains will run with new wine
and the hills flow with milk,
and all the river beds of Judah
will run with water.
A fountain will spring from the house of the Lord
to water the wadi of Acacias.
Egypt will become a desolation,
Edom a desert waste
on account of the violence done to the sons of Judah
whose innocent blood they shed in their country.
But Judah will be inhabited for ever,
Jerusalem from age to age.
‘I will avenge their blood and let none go unpunished’,
and the Lord shall make his home in Zion.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 96(97):1-2,5-6,11-12
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
The Lord is king, let earth rejoice,
let all the coastlands be glad.
Cloud and darkness are his raiment;
his throne, justice and right.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
The mountains melt like wax
before the Lord of all the earth.
The skies proclaim his justice;
all peoples see his glory.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
Light shines forth for the just
and joy for the upright of heart.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord;
give glory to his holy name.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord.
Gospel Luke 11:27 – 28
Now as Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ But he replied, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
Saturday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Joel 3:12-21 (NAB Joel 4:12-21)
A call to battle
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[12] Let the nations bestir themselves,
and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat;
for there I will sit to judge
all the nations round about.
[13] Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
for the wine press is full.
The vats overflow,
for their wickedness is great.
The day of the Lord
----------------------------
[14] Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
[15] The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
[16] And the Lord roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth shake.
But the Lord is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.
[17] "So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
who dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy
and strangers shall never again pass through it.
The future glory of Israel
-----------------------------------
[18] "And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the stream beds of Judah
shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the valley of Shittim.
[19] "Egypt shall become a desolation
and Edom a desolate wilderness,
for the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
[20] But Judah shall be inhabited for ever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
[21] I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty,
for the Lord dwells in Zion."
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Commentary:
3:14-17. The preceding verses were really a preparation for this final oracle which describes the Judgment and the victory of the Lord. "The valley of decision" (v. 14) is the same valley as that of Jehoshaphat. The judgment that takes place on the day of the Lord is compared to a harvesting; the Lord will save his faithful, and destroy his enemies. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1040 uses this passage, along with Daniel 7:10 and Malachi 3:19, in its teaching about the Last Judgment (cf. the note on Jer 51:56) in which God the Father "through his Son Jesus Christ […] will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation, and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything toward its final end".
The core of the oracle is vv. 16-17 when Joel sees the Lord presiding over Jerusalem and protecting his people, whose refuge and strength he is (cf. Ps 46). The picture of the Lord dwelling in his temple in Jerusalem recurs throughout biblical tradition and is probably in the background of what the fourth Gospel says about the Word, who was God and "dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14). Similarly, the reference in v. 17 which makes Jerusalem a holy place through which strangers must not pass (cf. also Is 52:1; Jer 31:40; Zech 9:8) later gave rise to there being a "dividing wall" (cf. Eph 2:14) that prevented outsiders from entering the temple proper, under pain of death. This is the wall that St Paul sees as being symbolically broken down by Christ"s sacrifice, which removed any distinction between Jew and Gentile "that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end" (Eph 2:16). "The passion of the Savior made peace between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, so that the Jew could no longer condemn the Gentile, basing his righteousness on the power of circumcision, nor could the Gentile denounce the Jew, asserting his superiority by the fact that he is uncircumcised, that is, a pagan. Both are re-ade, and live out the faith of the one true God in Christ" (Ambrosiaster, "Ad Ephesios", 2, 14).
3:18-21. The book ends with a vision of the eschatological Jerusalem in the new golden age. Three themes typical of Joel are raised in these verses, Judah"s afflictions (the locust plague, and the hunger and devastation that it brought) and here offset by an idyllic, Eden-like picture where Judah is a garden full of good things, of sweet wine and milk (v. 18). The same imagery and themes are to be found in Isaiah 30:25; Ezekiel 47:1-12; and Zechariah 14:8; the theme of living water will be taken up later by St John (cf. Jn 4:10-15; Rev 22:1). Judah will be most fertile, but God"s vengeance will be wreaked on Egypt and Edom (symbolizing Israel"s enemies); they will now be the ones to suffer devastation.
Finally (vv. 20-21) comes the promise that never again will there be exile (Judah and Jerusalem will always be inhabited), and "the Lord will dwell in Zion" (cf. v. 21) -- which is their dearest wish. The entire book of Joel has been working up to this outcome. This passage is used most notably by St John in his vision of the messianic Jerusalem coming down from heaven ("He carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, having the glory of God": Rev 21:10-11); and it is an image of the heartfelt hope of all mankind.
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From: Luke 11:27-28
Responding to the Word of God
----------------------------------------------
[27] As He (Jesus) said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that You sucked!" [28] But He said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"
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Commentary:
27-28. These words proclaim and praise the Blessed Virgin's basic attitude of soul. As the Second Vatican Council explains: "In the course of her Son's preaching she [Mary] received the words whereby, in extolling a Kingdom beyond the concerns and ties of flesh and blood, He declared blessed those who heard and kept the word of God (cf. Mark 3:35; Luke 11:27-28) as she was faithfully doing (cf. Luke 2:19-51)" ("Lumen Gentium", 58). Therefore, by replying in this way Jesus is not rejecting the warm praise this good lady renders His Mother; He accepts it and goes further, explaining that Mary is blessed particularly because she has been good and faithful in putting the word of God into practice. "It was a complement to His Mother on her "fiat", 'be it done' (Luke 1:38). She lived it sincerely, unstintingly, fulfilling its every consequence, but never amid fanfare, rather in the hidden and silent sacrifice of each day" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 177). See the note on Luke 1:34-38.
[Note on Luke 1:34-38 states:
34-38. Commenting on this passage Bl. John Paul II said: "'Virgo fidelis', the faithful virgin. What does this faithfulness of Mary mean? What are the dimensions of this faithfulness? The first dimension is called search. Mary was faithful first of all when she began, lovingly, to seek the deep sense of God's plan in her and for the world. 'Quomodo fiet?' How shall this be?, she asked the Angel of the Annunciation [...]."
"The second dimension of faithfulness is called reception, acceptance. The 'quomodo fiet?' is changed, on Mary's lips, to a 'fiat': Let it be done, I am ready, I accept. This is the crucial moment of faithfulness, the moment in which man perceives that he will never completely understand the 'how': that there are in God's plan more areas of mystery than of clarity; that is, however he may try, he will never succeed in understanding it completely [...]."
"The third dimension of faithfulness is consistency to live in accordance with what one believes; to adapt one's own life to the object of one's adherence. To accept misunderstanding, persecutions, rather than a break between what one practices and what one believes: this is consistency [...]."
"But all faithfulness must pass the most exacting test, that of duration. Therefore, the fourth dimension of faithfulness is constancy. It is easy to be consistent for a day or two. It is difficult and important to be consistent for one's whole life. It is easy to be consistent in the hour of enthusiasm, it is difficult to be so in the hour of tribulation. And only a consistency that lasts throughout the whole life can be called faithfulness. Mary's 'fiat' in the Annunciation finds its fullness in the silent 'fiat' that she repeats at the foot of the Cross" ("Homily in Mexico City Cathedral", 26 January 1979).]
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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.
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