Saturday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

412 Saturday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

CCC Cross Reference:
There are no references to these texts.

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Reading 1
Hb 1:12—2:4

Are you not from eternity, O Lord,
my holy God, immortal?
O Lord, you have marked him for judgment,
O Rock, you have readied him punishment!
Too pure are your eyes to look upon evil,
and the sight of misery you cannot endure.
Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silence
while the wicked man devours
one more just than himself?
You have made man like the fish of the sea,
like creeping things without a ruler.
He brings them all up with his hook,
he hauls them away with his net,
He gathers them in his seine;
and so he rejoices and exults.
Therefore he sacrifices to his net,
and burns incense to his seine;
for thanks to them his portion is generous,
and his repast sumptuous.
Shall he, then, keep on brandishing his sword
to slay peoples without mercy?

I will stand at my guard post,
and station myself upon the rampart,
And keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what answer he will give to my complaint.

Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write down the vision
Clearly upon the tablets,
so that one can read it readily.
For the vision still has its time,
presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint;
If it delays, wait for it,
it will surely come, it will not be late.
The rash man has no integrity;
but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 9:8-9, 10-11, 12-13

R. (11b) You forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.

The Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.
He judges the world with justice;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. You forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of distress.
They trust in you who cherish your name,
for you forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.
R. You forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.

Sing praise to the Lord enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations his deeds;
For the avenger of blood has remembered;
he has not forgotten the cry of the poor.
R. You forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.

Gospel
Mt 17:14-20

A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said,
“Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely;
often he falls into fire, and often into water.
I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
Jesus said in reply,
“O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you?
Bring the boy here to me.”
Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him,
and from that hour the boy was cured.
Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,
“Why could we not drive it out?”
He said to them, “Because of your little faith.
Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

First reading Habakkuk 1:12 - 2:4

Are not you, from ancient times the Lord,
my God, my Holy One, who never dies?
O Lord, you have made this people an instrument of justice,
set it firm as a rock in order to punish.

Your eyes are too pure to rest on wickedness,
you cannot look on at tyranny.
Why do you look on while men are treacherous,
and stay silent while the evil man swallows a better man than he?

You treat mankind like fishes in the sea,
like creeping, masterless things.

A people, these, who catch all on their hook,
who draw them with their net,
in their dragnet gather them,
and so, triumphantly, rejoice.

At this, they offer a sacrifice to their net,
and burn incense to their dragnet,
for providing them with luxury
and lavish food.

Are they then to empty their net unceasingly,
slaughtering nations without pity?

I will stand on my watchtower,
and take up my post on my battlements,
watching to see what he will say to me,
what answer he will make to my complaints.

Then the Lord answered and said,
‘Write the vision down,
inscribe it on tablets
to be easily read,
since this vision is for its own time only:
eager for its own fulfillment, it does not deceive;
if it comes slowly, wait,
for come it will, without fail.

‘See how he flags, he whose soul is not at rights,
but the upright man will live by his faithfulness.’

Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 9A:8-13

You will never forsake those who seek you, O Lord.

The Lord sits enthroned for ever.
He has set up his throne for judgement;
he will judge the world with justice,
he will judge the peoples with his truth.

You will never forsake those who seek you, O Lord.

For the oppressed let the Lord be a stronghold,
a stronghold in times of distress.
Those who know your name will trust you;
you will never forsake those who seek you.

You will never forsake those who seek you, O Lord.

Sing psalms to the Lord who dwells in Zion.
Proclaim his mighty works among the peoples,
for the Avenger of blood has remembered them,
has not forgotten the cry of the poor.

You will never forsake those who seek you, O Lord.

Gospel Matthew 17:14 – 20

As they were rejoining the crowd a man came up to him and went down on his knees before him. ‘Lord,’ he said ‘take pity on my son: he is a lunatic and in a wretched state; he is always falling into the fire or into the water. I took him to your disciples and they were unable to cure him.’ ‘Faithless and perverse generation!’ Jesus said in reply ‘How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.’ And when Jesus rebuked it the devil came out of the boy who was cured from that moment.

Then the disciples came privately to Jesus. ‘Why were we unable to cast it out? they asked. He answered, ‘Because you have little faith. I tell you solemnly, if your faith were the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”, and it would move; nothing would be impossible for you.’

Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible

Saturday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time

From: Habakkuk 1:12-2:4

The prophet's second complaint
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[12] Art thou not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O Lord, thou hast ordained them as a judgment;
and thou, O Rock, hast established them for chastisement.
[13] Thou who art of purer eyes than to behold evil
and canst not look on wrong,
why dost thou look on faithless men,
and art silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
[14] For thou makest men like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things that have no ruler.
[15] He brings all of them up with a hook,
he drags them out with his net,
he gathers them in his seine;
so he rejoices and exults.
[16] Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense to his seine;
for by them he lives in luxury,
and his food is rich.
[17] Is he then to keep on emptying his net,
and mercilessly slaying nations for ever?

[1] I will take my stand to watch,
and station myself on the tower,
and look forth to see what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

God's reply
-----------------
[2] And the Lord answered me:
"Write the vision;
make it plain upon tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
[3] For still the vision awaits its time;
it hastens to the end -- it will not lie.
If it seem slow, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.
[4] Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.

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Commentary:

1:12-2:1. Here the prophet gives full expression to his confusion. He admits that God is the sovereign Lord who has raised up the Chaldeans "as a judgment" and "for chastisement" (1:12). The chastisement is valid, but what he does not understand is the method God uses: How is it possible for the Lord, who is the immortal Holy One (1:12), to choose a treacherous and unbelieving nation to carry out the punishment (1:13)? And he then goes on to explain in what this treachery and faithlessness consists. He describes the treachery by using the analogy of fishing: men, the righteous (cf. 1:13), are like fish that are living in their natural habitat, the sea, and the in invader is like the fisherman who catches them with his hook, net and seine (1:15) and then kills them. But this treachery turns into irreligion; for the invader delights in what he does; worse still, he adores what gives him power (1:16-17; cf. 1:11). There may be a reference here to some Eastern peoples who had the custom of offering an annual sacrifice to their sword, taking it as a symbol of their god of war (Herodotus, History, 4, 62), but in biblical tradition the seduction of power is often likened to or described as idolatry: "Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honours and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, 'You cannot serve God and mammon' (Mt 6:24). Many martyrs died for not adoring 'the Beast', refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2113).

But the prophet is a man of faith; even though he does not understand what God is telling him, he continues to listen carefully, because he knows that God will not fail him: "Listen to the words of Habakkuk: I will take my stand to watch, and station myself on the tower, and look forth to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. We too, my beloved brothers, should be watchmen, for the day of battle has come. Let us enter into the depths of our hearts, where Christ lives and awaits us. May we refine our spirits and be prudent, never trusting to our own strengths, but concentrating on keeping our watch and weak guard" (St Bernard, Sermones de diversis, 5, 4).

2:2-4. As if admitting that the prophet is right, God answers his questions. The first point he makes clear is that when he promises something, it will happen: time may pass, but his word will not pass away unfulfilled (vv. 2-3). And this delay is a test of people's faithfulness (v. 4).

The last verse here ("Behold ... the righteous shall live by his faith") is important in both the Jewish and Christian biblical traditions. Some rabbis saw it as a summary of all 613 commandments of the Law; the writers of the Qumran commentary understood it to mean that he who kept the Law would escape the Judgment; and in the New Testament it is quoted on a number of occasions in connection with the power of faith and the need for fortitude.

However, the verse is difficult to translate; this can he seen in various translations and even in the way the text is quoted in the New Testament. The Letter to the Hebrews 10:38 quotes this passage, working from the Greek translation, to exhort Christians to persevere in the faith they have received: "My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." Although the author of Hebrews inverts the order of the original, the meaning is unchanged. Similarly, "faith" ("faithfulness": note d) translates a very common word ('emunah) which means stability, faithfulness, faith. It is a quality of God (Deut 32:4) and also of those who honour him (2 Chron 19:9) and who are righteous in his eyes (Prov 12:22). In Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11, St Paul quotes the second part of the Habakkuk verse ("the righteous shall live by his faith") applied to the individual, to ground his teaching on justification by faith rather than by the works of the Law. St Paul's use of the verse means that it is very important from a Christian point of view.

St Jerome's interpretation takes account of both the original audience and the Christian readership: "If your faith is weak and you begin to doubt that what was promised will come about, you will cause my soul great displeasure. But the just man, who believes in my word and never doubts the promises I make, will receive eternal life as his reward [...]. It is clear that these words contain a prophecy of the coming of Christ. The problem they contain will be resolved by him: sin will triumph and punishment be never-ending until He comes" (Commentarii in Abacuc, 2, 4). The verse is similar in style to a proverb (or maxim), and can be readily applied to the Christian life. For example, just as the New Testament says of St Joseph that he was a just man (cf. Mt 1:19), the Habakkuk passage can be applied to him as a sign that justice implies faith: "To be just is not simply a matter of obeying rules. Goodness should grow from the inside; it should be deep and vital -- for the just man lives by faith' (Hab 2:4). These words, which later became a frequent subject of St Paul's meditation, really did apply in the case of St Joseph. He didn't fulfill the will of God in a routine or perfunctory way; he did it spontaneously and wholeheartedly. For him, the law which every practising Jew lived by was not a code or a cold list of precepts, but an expression of the will of the living God. So he knew how to recognize the Lord's voice when it came to him so unexpectedly and so surprisingly" (St. Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 41).

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From: Matthew 17:14-20

The Curing of an Epileptic Boy
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[14] And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling before him said, [15] "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. [16] And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." [17] And Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." [18] And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. [19] Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" [20] He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move hence to yonder place,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you."

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Commentary:

14-21. This episode of the curing of the boy shows both Christ's omnipotence and the power of prayer full of faith. Because of his deep union with Christ, a Christian shares, through faith, in God's own omnipotence, to such an extent that Jesus actually says on another occasion, "he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father" (Jn 14:12).

Our Lord tells the Apostles that if they had faith they would be able to work miracles, to move mountains. "Moving mountains" was probably a proverbial saying. God would certainly let a believer move a mountain if that were necessary for his glory and for the edification of one's neighbor; however, Christ's promise is fulfilled everyday in a much more exalted way. Some Fathers of the Church (St. Jerome, St. Augustine) say that "a mountain is moved" every time someone is divinely aided to do something which exceed man's natural powers. This clearly happens in the work of our sanctification, which the Paraclete effects in our souls when we are docile to him and receive with faith and love the grace given us in the sacraments: we benefit from the sacraments to a greater or lesser degree depending on the dispositions with which we receive them. Sanctification is something more sublime than moving mountains, and it is something which is happening every day in so many holy souls, even though most people do not notice it.

The Apostles and many saints down the centuries have in fact worked amazing material miracles; but the greatest and most important miracles were, are and will be the miracles of souls dead through sin and ignorance being reborn and developing in the new life of the children of God.

20. Here and in the parable of Matthew 13:31-32 the main force of the comparison lies in the fact that a very small seed -- the mustard seed -- produces a large shrub up to three meters (ten feet) high: even a very small act of genuine faith can produce surprising results.

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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.

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