Supplemental Bench

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

316 Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

CCC Cross Reference:
Heb 9:11-28 1476, 1564; Heb 9:11 586, 662; Heb 9:12 1085; Heb 9:13-14 2100; Heb 9:14 614

Back to Deacon’s Bench ‘07
Back to Deacon’s Bench ‘09
Back to SOW II '11
Back to SOW II '13 (Memorial of Sts. Timothy and Titus - Gospel only)
Back to SOW II '15
Back to SOW II '17
Back to SOW II '19 (Memorial of Sts. Timothy and Titus - Gospel only)
Back to SOW II '21

Back to SOW II '23

Reading 1
Heb 9:2-3, 11-14

A tabernacle was constructed, the outer one,
in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of offering;
this is called the Holy Place.
Behind the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies.

But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be,
passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands,
that is, not belonging to this creation,
he entered once for all into the sanctuary,
not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own Blood,
thus obtaining eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes
can sanctify those who are defiled
so that their flesh is cleansed,
how much more will the Blood of Christ,
who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God,
cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9

R. (6) God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.

All you peoples, clap your hands,
shout to God with cries of gladness,
For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.

God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;
the LORD, amid trumpet blasts.
Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praise to our king, sing praise.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.

For king of all the earth is God:
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.

Gospel
Mk 3:20-21

Jesus came with his disciples into the house.
Again the crowd gathered,
making it impossible for them even to eat.
When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him,
for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

First reading Hebrews 9:2-3,11-14

There was a tent which comprised two compartments: the first, in which the lamp stand, the table and the presentation loaves were kept, was called the Holy Place; then beyond the second veil, an innermost part which was called the Holy of Holies.

But now Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to come. He has passed through the greater, the more perfect tent, which is better than the one made by men’s hands because it is not of this created order; and he has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption for us. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer are sprinkled on those who have incurred defilement and they restore the holiness of their outward lives; how much more effectively the blood of Christ, who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to God through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions so that we do our service to the living God.

Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 46(47):2-3,6-9

God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.

All peoples, clap your hands,
cry to God with shouts of joy!
For the Lord, the Most High, we must fear,
great king over all the earth.

God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.

God goes up with shouts of joy;
the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.
Sing praise for God, sing praise,
sing praise to our king, sing praise.

God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.

God is king of all the earth,
sing praise with all your skill.
God is king over the nations;
God reigns on his holy throne.

God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.

Gospel Mark 3:20-21

Jesus went home, and once more such a crowd collected that they could not even have a meal. When his relatives heard of this, they set out to take charge of him, convinced he was out of his mind.

Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible

Saturday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time

From: Hebrews 9:2-3, 11-14

The Rites of the Old Covenant Prefigure those of the New (Continuation)
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[2] For a tent was prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence; it is called the Holy Place. [3] Behind the second curtain stood a tent called the Holy of Holies.

Christ Sealed the New Covenant with His Blood Once and for All
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[11] But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tents (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) [12] he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. [13] For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, [14] how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

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Commentary:

1-10. In the preceding chapters the superiority of Christ's priesthood is discussed. Now the epistle examines the excellence of his sacrifice. To do so, it describes the sanctuary of the Old Covenant, the tent or tabernacle, where Yahweh dwelt during the period when the people of Israel were making their way through the wilderness and in the early years in the promised land. It also refers to the sacrifice on the great Day of Atonement or "Yom Kippur" (cf. Lev 16:1-34; 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11), whereby Israel was reconciled with its God by purification and the forgiveness of all those sins committed during the year for which no atonement had been made. Both the sanctuary and the rites celebrated in it on this solemn day are a prefigurement of the new sanctuary and new form of worship inaugurated by Christ. This leads on to a discussion of the most essential and specific function of priesthood--sacrifice.

It should be noted that in describing the sanctuary of the Old Covenant the epistle does so in terms not of the temple of Jerusalem but of the tent in the desert. In addition to having certain more traditional connotations and allowing the ark of the Covenant to be included in the description (the ark was destroyed in 587 B.C. when Nebuchadnessar sacked the temple), reference to the tabernacle is closely connected with an idea which underlies the entire epistle: the Christian is making his way in a new exodus towards his homeland in heaven, entry into which has been opened by Christ's sacrifice (cf. 3:7-11).

3. "The second curtain": separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. It is called the "second curtain" to distinguish it from the curtain at the entrance to the Holy Place, which would have been the first curtain. It was not, then, that there were two tents: there was only one, which was divided into two sections by this "second curtain".

For information about the tabernacle complex cf. pp. 26ff above.

11-14. The sacrifices of the Old Law could only promise ephemeral benefits, whereas Christ's redemptive sacrifice obtained for man, once and for all, "the good things to come", that is, the heavenly and eternal benefits proper to the messianic age -- sanctifying grace and entry to heaven. Like the high priest on the Day of Atonement, Christ entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, through the curtain. This sanctuary which he entered is the heavenly one; that is why it is "greater and more perfect" and not made by men (cf. 8:2). Christ passed through the heavens into the very presence of the Father (cf. 7:26) and is seated in heaven at his right hand (cf. 8:1).

Many Fathers, Doctors of the Church and modern scholars see the expression "through the greater and more perfect tent" as referring to the sacred humanity of our Lord, virginally conceived in the womb of Mary, that is, "not made with hands". The tent or tabernacle would be our Lord's body, in which the Godhead dwells. The text then says that it is "not of this creation", because Jesus as man was conceived without the action of a man and without original sin: he did not follow "the law of nature which holds sway in the created world" (Theodoret, "Interpretatio Ep. ad Hebraeos, ad loc."). In this case the inspired text would be saying that Christ redeemed us by means of his human nature (cf. v. 12). However, the words "through the greater and more perfect tent" can also be understood as referring to heaven, in the sense of a greater and more perfect sanctuary. In any event, whether by passing through the heavens or through his most sacred body, Christ achieved Redemption by offering his own blood. This does not have a temporary value--like the blood of animals shed each year when the priest entered the Holy of Holies: Jesus secured eternal Redemption. In the Old Law the Jews were cleansed by the blood of sacrificed animals from legal impurities which prevented them from taking part in the liturgy; but Christ's blood does so much more, for it cleanses man of his sins. "Do you want to know how effective the blood of Christ is? Let us go back to the symbols which foretold it and remind ourselves of the ancient accounts of (the Jews in) Egypt. Moses told them to kill a year-old lamb and put its blood on the two doorposts and the lintel of each house [...]. Would you like an additional way to appreciate the power of Christ's blood? See where it flowed from, what its source is. It began to flow from the very Cross and its source was the Lord's side. For, as the Gospel says, when our Lord was already dead, one of the soldiers went up to him with a lance and pierced his side and at once there came out water and blood--water, the symbol of Baptism; blood, the symbol of the Eucharist. The soldier pierced his side, he opened a breach in the wall of the holy temple, and there I discover the hidden treasure and I rejoice at the treasure I have found" (Chrysostom, "Baptismal Catechesis", III, 13-19).

And so the Church includes in the prayers it recommends to be said after Mass, one which reads: "I beseech thee, most sweet Lord Jesus, may your passion be the virtue which strengthens, protects and defends me; your wounds, food and drink to nourish, inebriate and delight me; your death, everlasting life for me; your cross, my eternal glory" ("Roman Missal of St Pius V", recommended prayer of thanksgiving after Mass).

12. "Thus securing an eternal redemption": the Greek text uses "having found", here translated as "securing". St John Chrysostom points out that the verb "to find" in this context has a shade of meaning that implies finding something unexpected: the reference is to finding, "as it were, something very unknown and very unexpected" ("Hom. on Heb, ad loc."). However, taking into account the whole context and the possible Hebraic background of the expression, the verb "to find" is synonymous with "to search keenly, to reach, to attain": in other words, Christ eagerly sought to redeem man and he did so by his sacrifice. The verse refers to an "eternal" redemption, in contrast to the provisional nature of Mosaic sacrifices.

13. These words refer to a ceremony of purification described in the Old Testament (cf. Num 19). To cleanse a person from certain transgressions of the Law, the Israelites could avail of certain expiatory ablutions. There were done with water mixed with the ashes of a heifer, which the high priest had sacrificed in front of the tabernacle and then burned in its entirety. Into the fire cedar-wood, hyssop and scarlet wool (9:19) had also to be thrown. Thus lustral water was only useful
for legal purification or "purification of the flesh", as distinct from purification of the spirit.

14. The Messiah acts "through the eternal Spirit", which may be taken as a reference to the Holy Spirit, as St Thomas, for example, interprets it: "Christ shed his blood, because the Holy Spirit did so; that is to say, it was by the Spirit's influence and prompting, that is, out of love of God and love of neighbor, that he did what he did. For it is the Spirit who purifies" ("Commentary on Heb, ad loc.").

Pope John Paul II has referred to this text to show the presence of the Holy Spirit in the redemptive sacrifice of the Incarnate Word: "In the sacrifice of the Son of Man the Holy Spirit is present and active just as he acted in Jesus' conception, in his coming into the world, in his hidden life and in his public ministry. According to the Letter to the Hebrews, on the way to his 'departure' through Gethsemani and Golgotha, the same "Jesus Christ" in his own humanity "opened himself totally" to this "action of the Spirit-Paraclete", who from suffering enables eternal salvific love to spring forth" ("Dominum et Vivificantem", 40).

The Son of God desired that the Holy Spirit should turn his death into a perfect sacrifice. Only Christ "in his humanity was worthy to become this sacrifice, for "he alone" was 'without blemish' (Heb 9:14). But he offered it 'through the eternal Spirit', which means that the Holy Spirit acted in a special way in this absolute self-giving of the Son of Man, in order to transform this suffering into redemptive love" ("ibid.").

It is also possible that "the eternal Spirit" is a more general reference to the Godhead present in Christ; in which case it would be the same as saying that Christ, being God and man, offered himself as an unblemished victim and therefore this offering was infinitely efficacious. Thus, as Pius XII says, Christ "labored unceasingly by prayer and self-sacrifice for the salvation of souls until, hanging on the Cross, he offered himself as a victim unblemished in God's sight, that he might purify our consciences and set them free from lifeless observances to serve the living God. All men were thus rescued from the path of ruin and perdition and set once more on the way to God, to whom they were now to give due glory by cooperating personally in their sanctification, making their own the holiness that springs from the blood of the unspotted Lamb" ("Mediator Dei", 1).

Christ's sacrifice purifies us completely, thereby rendering us fit to worship the living God. As St Alphonsus puts it, "Jesus Christ offered himself to God pure and without the trace of a fault; otherwise he would not have been a worthy mediator, would not have been capable of reconciling God and sinful man, nor would his blood have had the power to purify and cleanse our conscience from 'dead works', that is, from sins which are given that name because (our) works are in no way meritorious or else are worthy of eternal punishment. 'So that you might serve the
living God"' ("Reflections on the Passion", 9, 2).

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From: Mark 3:20-21

His Relatives Are Concerned About Jesus
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Then He (Jesus) went home; [20] and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. [21] And when His friends heard it, they went out to seize Him, for they said, "He is beside Himself."

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Commentary:

20-21. Some of His relatives, whose outlook was too human, regarded Jesus' total commitment to apostolate as excessive: the only explanation, they thought, was that He was out of His mind. On reading these words of the Gospel, we cannot help being moved, realizing what Jesus did for love of us: people even thought Him mad. Many saints, following Christ's example, have been taken for madmen --but they were mad with love, mad with love for Jesus Christ.

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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.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

315 Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

CCC Cross Reference:
Heb 8:6 1070; Heb 8:8-10 1965
Ps 85:11 214; Ps 85:12 2795
Mk 3:13-19 551, 787; Mk 3:13-14 858; Mk 3:14-19 1577; Mk 3:14-15 765; Mk 3:15 1673; Mk 3:16 552

Back to Deacon’s Bench ‘07
Back to Deacon’s Bench ‘09
Back to SOW II '11
Back to SOW II '15
Back to SOW II '17
Back to SOW II '21

Back to SOW II '23

Back to SOW II '25

Reading 1
Heb 8:6-13

Brothers and sisters:
Now our high priest has obtained so much more excellent a ministry
as he is mediator of a better covenant,
enacted on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless,
no place would have been sought for a second one.
But he finds fault with them and says:
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will conclude a new covenant with the house of
Israel and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers
the day I took them by the hand to lead
them forth from the land of Egypt;
for they did not stand by my covenant
and I ignored them, says the Lord.
But this is the covenant I will establish with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds
and I will write them upon their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
And they shall not teach, each one his fellow citizen and kin, saying,
“Know the Lord,”
for all shall know me, from least to greatest.
For I will forgive their evildoing
and remember their sins no more.

When he speaks of a “new” covenant,
he declares the first one obsolete.
And what has become obsolete
and has grown old is close to disappearing.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 85:8 and 10, 11-12, 13-14

R. (11a) Kindness and truth shall meet.

Show us, O LORD, your mercy,
and grant us your salvation.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Kindness and truth shall meet.

Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Kindness and truth shall meet.

The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
R. Kindness and truth shall meet.

Gospel
Mk 3:13-19

Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted
and they came to him.
He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles,
that they might be with him
and he might send them forth to preach
and to have authority to drive out demons:
He appointed the Twelve:
Simon, whom he named Peter;
James, son of Zebedee,
and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges,
that is, sons of thunder;
Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus;
Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean,
and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

First reading Hebrews 8:6-13

We have seen that Christ has been given a ministry of a far higher order, and to the same degree it is a better covenant of which he is the mediator, founded on better promises. If that first covenant had been without a fault, there would have been no need for a second one to replace it. And in fact God does find fault with them; he says:

See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks –
when I will establish a new covenant
with the House of Israel and the House of Judah,
but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors
on the day I took them by the hand
to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
They abandoned that covenant of mine,
and so I on my side deserted them. It is the Lord who speaks.
No, this is the covenant I will make
with the House of Israel
when those days arrive – it is the Lord who speaks.
I will put my laws into their minds
and write them on their hearts.
Then I will be their God
and they shall be my people.
There will be no further need for neighbor to try to teach neighbor,
or brother to say to brother,
‘Learn to know the Lord.’
No, they will all know me,
the least no less than the greatest,
since I will forgive their iniquities
and never call their sins to mind.

By speaking of a new covenant, he implies that the first one is already old. Now anything old only gets more antiquated until in the end it disappears.

Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 84(85):8,10-14

Mercy and faithfulness have met.

Let us see, O Lord, your mercy
and give us your saving help.
His help is near for those who fear him
and his glory will dwell in our land.

Mercy and faithfulness have met.

Mercy and faithfulness have met;
justice and peace have embraced.
Faithfulness shall spring from the earth
and justice look down from heaven.

Mercy and faithfulness have met.

The Lord will make us prosper
and our earth shall yield its fruit.
Justice shall march before him
and peace shall follow his steps.

Mercy and faithfulness have met.

Gospel Mark 3:13-19

Jesus went up into the hills and summoned those he wanted. So they came to him and he appointed twelve; they were to be his companions and to be sent out to preach, with power to cast out devils. And so he appointed the Twelve: Simon to whom he gave the name Peter, James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges or ‘Sons of Thunder’; then Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, the man who was to betray him.

Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible

Friday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time

From: Hebrews 8:6-13

Christ Is High Priest of a New Covenant, Which Replaces the Old
(Continuation)
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[6] But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. [7] For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second.

[8] For he finds fault with them when he says: "The days will come, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; [9] not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and so I paid no heed to them, says the Lord. [10] This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [11] And they shall not teach every one his fellow or every one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know me, fromthe least of them to the greatest. [12] For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

[13] In speaking of a new covenant he treats the first as obsolete. And what is be- coming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

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Commentary:

3-6. To compare the earthly and heavenly tabernacles, the author resorts to analogy and metaphor, which is all that he can do. Bearing this in mind, one should not interpret the words of this passage as meaning that Jesus Christ consummated his sacrifice only in heaven, for the sacrifice of Calvary happened only once and was complete in itself. What this passage is saying is that, in heaven, Christ, the eternal Priest, continuously presents to the Father the fruits of the Cross. In the New Covenant there is only one sacrifice--that of Jesus Christ on Calvary; this single sacrifice is renewed in an unbloody manner every day in the sacrifice of the Mass; there Jesus Christ the only Priest of the New Law -- immolates and offers, by means of priests who are his ministers, the same victim (body and blood) which was immolated in a bloody manner once and for all on the Cross.

7-12. The comparison between the two covenants, the Old made with Moses and written on stone, and the New, engraved on the minds and hearts of the faithful (cf. 2 Cor 3:3; Heb 10:16, 17) is developed with the help of a quotation from Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34), where the prophet announces the spiritual alliance of Yahweh with his people. Jeremiah's words, quoted from the Greek translation (very close to the original Hebrew), refer directly to the restoration of the Jews after the Exile. Now that the chosen people have been purified by suffering they are fit to be truly the people of God: "I will be their God, and they shall be my people"; this promise of intimate friendship is the core of the prophecy. That is what it means when it says the Law will be written on the minds and hearts of all, and all even the least -- shall know God. It may be that Jeremiah sensed the messianic restoration that lay beyond the restoration of the chosen people on its return from exile; certainly we can see that this oracle finds its complete fulfillment only with the New Covenant: the return from Babylon was merely an additional signal/symbol of the perfect Covenant which Christ would establish. For it is in that New Covenant that God truly forgives sins and remembers them no more.

The Old Covenant is said not to have been faultless, or sinless. This does not mean it was bad; rather; as St Thomas explains, it was powerless to atone for sins, it did not provide people with the grace to avoid committing sins, it simply showed people how to recognize sins, those who lived under the Old Law continued to be subject to sin (cf. "Commentary on Heb.", 7, 2).

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From: Mark 3:13-19

Jesus Chooses Twelve Apostles
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[13] And He (Jesus) went up into the hills, and called to Him those whom He desired; and they came to Him. [14] And He appointed twelve, to be with Him, and to be sent out to preach [15] and have authority to cast out demons; [16] Simon whom He surnamed Peter; [17] James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, whom He surnamed Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; [18] Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, [19] and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

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Commentary:

13. "He called to Him those whom He desired": God wants to show us that calling, vocation, is an initiative of God. This is particularly true in the case of the Apostles, which is why Jesus could tell them, later on, that "you did not choose Me, but I chose you" (Jn 15:16). Those who will have power and authority in the Church will not obtain this because first they offer their services and then Jesus accepts their offering: on the contrary, "not through their own initiative and preparation, but rather by virtue of divine grace, would they be called to the apostolate" (St. Bede, "In Marci Evangelium Expositio, in loc.").

14-19. The Twelve chosen by Jesus (cf. 3:14) receive a specific vocation to be "people sent out", which is what the word "apostles" means. Jesus chooses them for a mission which He will give them later (6:6-13) and to enable them to perform this mission He gives them part of His power. The fact that He chooses d"twelve" is very significant. This is the same number as the twelve Patriarchs of Israel, and the Apostles represent the new people of God, the Church founded by Christ. Jesus sought in this way to emphasize the continuity that exists between the Old and New Testaments. The Twelve are the pillars on which Christ builds His Church (cf. Gal 2:9); their mission to make disciples of the Lord (to teach) all nations, sanctifying and governing the believers (Mt 28:16-20; Mk 16: 15; Lk 24:45-48; Jn 20:21-23).

14. The Second Vatican Council sees in this text the establishment of the College of the Apostles: "The Lord Jesus, having prayed at length to the Father, called to Himself those whom He willed and appointed twelve to be with Him, whom He might send to preach the Kingdom of God (cf. Mk 3:13-19; Mt 10:1-42). These apostles (cf. Lk 6:13) He constituted in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which He placed Peter, chosen from amongst them" (cf. Jn 21: 15-17) [...]. "That divine mission, which was committed by Christ to the apostles, is destined to last until the end of the world (cf. Mt 28:20), since the Gospel, which they were charged to hand on, is, for the Church, the principle of all its life for all time. For that very reason the apostles were careful to appoint successors in their hierarchically constituted society." ("Lumen Gentium", 19-20). Therefore, the Pope and the bishops, who succeed to the College of the Twelve, are also called by our Lord to be always with Jesus and to preach the Gospel, aided by priests.

Life in union with Christ and apostolic zeal must be very closely linked together; in other words, effectiveness in apostolate always depends on union with our Lord, on continuous prayer and on sacramental life: "Apostolic zeal is a divine craziness I want you to have. Its symptoms are: hunger to know the Master; constant concern for souls; perseverance that nothing can shake" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 934).

16. At this point, before the word "Simon" the sentence "He formed the group of the twelve" occurs in many manuscripts (it is similar to the phrase "He appointed twelve" in v. 14) but it is not included in the New Vulgate. The repetition of the same expression and the article in "the twelve" show the importance of the establishment of the Apostolic College.

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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.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

314 Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

CCC Cross Reference:
Heb 7:25-27 1364; Heb 7:25 519, 662, 2634, 2741; Heb 7:26 1544; Heb 7:27 1085, 1366, 1540; Heb 8:2 1070; Heb 8:6 1070
Ps 40:7-9 LXX 462; Ps 40:7 2824
Mk 3:10 1504

Back to Deacon’s Bench ‘07
Back to Deacon’s Bench ‘09
Back to SOW II '11
Back to SOW II '13
Back to SOW II '15
Back to SOW II '17
Back to SOW II '19
Back to SOW II '21

Back to SOW II '23

Back to SOW II '25

Reading 1
Heb 7:25—8:6

Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him,
since he lives forever to make intercession for them.

It was fitting that we should have such a high priest:
holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners,
higher than the heavens.
He has no need, as did the high priests,
to offer sacrifice day after day,
first for his own sins and then for those of the people;
he did that once for all when he offered himself.
For the law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests,
but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law,
appoints a son, who has been made perfect forever.

The main point of what has been said is this:
we have such a high priest,
who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne
of the Majesty in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary
and of the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up.
Now every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices;
thus the necessity for this one also to have something to offer.
If then he were on earth, he would not be a priest,
since there are those who offer gifts according to the law.
They worship in a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary,
as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tabernacle.
For God says, “See that you make everything
according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry
as he is mediator of a better covenant,
enacted on better promises.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 17

R. (8a and 9a) Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

May all who seek you
exult and be glad in you,
And may those who love your salvation
say ever, “The LORD be glorified.”
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

Gospel
Mk 3:7-12

Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.
A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea.
Hearing what he was doing,
a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem,
from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan,
and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd,
so that they would not crush him.
He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases
were pressing upon him to touch him.
And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him
and shout, “You are the Son of God.”
He warned them sternly not to make him known.

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

First reading Hebrews 7:25-8:6

The power of Jesus to save is utterly certain, since he is living for ever to intercede for all who come to God through him.

To suit us, the ideal high priest would have to be holy, innocent and uncontaminated, beyond the influence of sinners, and raised up above the heavens; one who would not need to offer sacrifices every day, as the other high priests do for their own sins and then for those of the people, because he has done this once and for all by offering himself. The Law appoints high priests who are men subject to weakness; but the promise on oath, which came after the Law, appointed the Son who is made perfect for ever.

The great point of all that we have said is that we have a high priest of exactly this kind. He has his place at the right of the throne of divine Majesty in the heavens, and he is the minister of the sanctuary and of the true Tent of Meeting which the Lord, and not any man, set up. It is the duty of every high priest to offer gifts and sacrifices, and so this one too must have something to offer. In fact, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are others who make the offerings laid down by the Law and these only maintain the service of a model or a reflection of the heavenly realities. For Moses, when he had the Tent to build, was warned by God who said: See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

We have seen that he has been given a ministry of a far higher order, and to the same degree it is a better covenant of which he is the mediator, founded on better promises.

Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 39(40):7-10,17

Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,

but an open ear.

You do not ask for holocaust and victim.

Instead, here am I.

Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

In the scroll of the book it stands written

that I should do your will.

My God, I delight in your law

in the depth of my heart.

Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

Your justice I have proclaimed

in the great assembly.

My lips I have not sealed;

you know it, O Lord.

Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

O let there be rejoicing and gladness

for all who seek you.

Let them ever say: ‘The Lord is great’,

who love your saving help.

Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

Gospel Mark 3:7-12

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lakeside, and great crowds from Galilee followed him. From Judaea, Jerusalem, Idumaea, Transjordania and the region of Tyre and Sidon, great numbers who had heard of all he was doing came to him. And he asked his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, to keep him from being crushed. For he had cured so many that all who were afflicted in any way were crowding forward to touch him. And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, would fall down before him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he warned them strongly not to make him known.

Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible

Thursday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time

From: Hebrews 7:25-8:6

Jesus Christ Is a Priest After the Order of Melchizedek (Continuation)
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[25] Consequently he (Jesus) is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

[26] For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. [27] He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself. [28] Indeed, the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect for ever.

Christ Is High Priest of a New Covenant, Which Replaces the Old
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[1] Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, [2] a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord. [3] For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. [4] Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. [5] They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary; for when Moses was about to erect the tent he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain." [6] But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. [7] For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second.

[8] For he finds fault with them when he says: "The days will come, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

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Commentary:

23-25. Christ's priesthood is everlasting. Just as Melchizedek had no "end of life", so too the Son of God holds his priesthood permanently. The Levites are mere mortal men; Christ, however, has not been instituted as priest by "bodily descent but by the power of an indestructible life" (v. 16); that is why he can truly be said to be a priest "for ever". This makes sense, for death is a consequence of sin, and Christ has conquered sin and death. Moreover, death makes it necessary for there to be a succession of human priests in order to provide continuity; whereas the everlasting character of Christ's priesthood renders any further priesthood unnecessary.

St Thomas comments that this shows Christ to be the true and perfect Priest in the strict sense of the word, for it was impossible for the Jewish priests to be permanent mediators because death naturally deprived them of their priesthood. The case of Christian priests is quite different, because they are not mediators strictly speaking. There is only one Mediator, Jesus Christ; they are simply representatives of his, who act in his name. Christ is to the Levites as the perfect (which is necessarily one) is to the imperfect (which is always multiple): "Incorruptible things have no need to reproduce themselves [...]. Christ is immortal. As the eternal Word of the Father, he abides forever: his divine eternity is passed on to his body, for 'being raised from the dead (he) will never die again' (Rom 6:9). And so 'because he continues for ever, he holds his priesthood per- manently.' Christ alone is the true Priest; the others (priests) are his ministers" ("Commentary on Heb., ad loc.").

The eternal character of Christ's priesthood, St John Chrysostom points out, gives us reason for great confidence: "It is as if the Apostle were saying, 'Do not be afraid or think that (although) he loves us and has the Father's full confidence he cannot live forever on the contrary, he does live forever!"' ("Hom. On Heb.", 13). We can put our trust in Christ the Priest because his priesthood is an enduring expression of his heartfelt love for all mankind: "The living Christ continues to love us still; he loves us today, now, and he offers us his heart as the fountain of our redemption: 'he always lives to make intercession for (us)' (Heb 7:25). We are always--ourselves and the entire world--embraced by the love of this heart 'which has loved men so much and receives such poor response from them"' (John Paul II, "Hom. in Sacre Coeur", Montmartre, Paris, 1 June 1980).

Christ's priesthood is an expression of his Love, from which it cannot be separated; since his Love is everlasting, so too is his priesthood. In the first place, his priesthood is everlasting because it is linked to the Incarnation, which is something permanent; secondly, because Christ's mission is that of saving all men in all periods of history and not simply one of helping them by his teaching and his example; thirdly, because Christ continues to be present--St Ephraem says—not in the victims of the sacrifices of Mosaic worship, but in the prayer of the Church (cf. "Com. in Epist. ad Haebreos, ad loc."), particularly in the permanent efficacy of the sacrifice of the Cross constantly renewed in the Mass, and in the praying of the Divine Office. Finally, it is everlasting because Christ's sacrifice is perpetuated until the end of time in the Christian ministerial priesthood, for bishops and priests "in virtue of the sacrament of Order, are consecrated as true priests of the New Testament to preach the Gospel and shepherd the faithful and celebrate divine worship" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 28).

Christ not only interceded for us when he was on earth: he continues to make in- tercession for us from heaven: "This 'always' points to a great mystery," St John Chrysostom observes; "he lives not only here but also there, in heaven; not only here and for a while, but also there, in life eternal" ("Hom. on Heb.", 13). In saying that Christ "makes intercession" for us, the inspired text is saying that Christ "takes the initiative, addresses the Father, presents him with a request or a demand", as if Christ were an advocate before the Father, a help, a defender (a "Paraclete": cf. 1 Jn 2:1). But in what sense does he continue to make intercession for us, given that he cannot merit any more than he did when he was on this earth? He intercedes, St Thomas replies, first by again presenting his human nature to the Father, marked with the glorious signs of his passion, and then by expressing the great love and desire of his soul to bring about our salvation (cf. "Commentary on Heb.", 7, 4). Christ, so to speak, continues to offer the Father the sacrifice of his longsuffering, humility, obedience and love. That is why we can always approach him to find salvation. "Through Christ and in the Holy Spirit, a Christian has access to the intimacy of God the Father, and he spends his life looking for the Kingdom which is not of this world, but which is initiated and prepared in this world. We must seek Christ in the Word and in the Bread, in the Eucharist and in prayer. And we must treat him as a friend, as the real, living person he is--for he is risen. Christ, we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews [Heb 7:24-25 follows]" (St J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 116).

26-28. These last verses form a paean in praise of Christ, summing up and rounding off what has gone before. Christ is proclaimed to be "holy, blameless, unstained," that is, sinless, totally devoted to God the Father, just and faithful. Sacred Scripture uses similar language to describe people of outstanding holiness, such as Zechariah and Elizabeth (cf. Lk 1:6), Simeon, who was "righteous and devout", Joseph of Arimathea (cf. Lk 23:50), the centurion Cornelius (cf. Acts 10:22), etc. The praise given Christ here, however, hints at a perfection which is more than human. Christ is, at the same time, "separated from sinners", not in the sense that he refuses to have any dealings with them or despises them, for, on the contrary, we know that the Pharisees abused him, saying, "Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners" (Mt 11:19) and "This man receives sinners and eats with them" (Lk 15:2; cf. Mt 9-11:13 and par.; Lk 7:34); he is "separated from sinners" because he can have no sin in him, since the presence of sin in his human nature is absolutely incompatible with the holiness of the unique person that Christ is--the divine Word. He is the perfect embodiment of all the ancient prerequisites for a priest of the true God (cf. Lev 21:4, 6, 8, 15). Christ, finally, from the point of view of his human nature also, has been "exalted above the heavens" not only ethically speaking, by virtue of his sublime holiness, but also in his very body, through his glorious ascension (cf. Acts 2:33-26; 10:42); he is therefore the "Son who has been made perfect forever".

"Who was Jesus Christ?" St Alphonsus asks himself. "He was, St Paul replies, holy, blameless, unstained or, even better, he was holiness itself, innocence itself, purity itself' ("Christmas Novena", 4). And St Fulgentius of Ruspe extols Christ in these beautiful terms: "He is the one who possessed in himself all that was needed to bring about our redemption, that is, he himself was the priest and the victim; he himself was God and the temple--the priest by whose actions we are reconciled; the sacrifice which brings about our reconciliation; the temple wherein we are reconciled; the God with whom we have been reconciled.

Therefore, be absolutely certain of this and do not doubt it for a moment: the only-begotten God himself, the Word made flesh, offered himself to God on our behalf in an odor of sweetness as sacrifice and victim--the very one in whose honor as well as that of the Father and the Holy Spirit the patriarchs, prophets and priests used to offer sacrifices of animals in Old Testament times; and to whom now, that is, in the time of the New Testament, in the unity of the Father and the Holy Spirit, with whom he shares the same unique divinity, the holy Catholic Church never ceases to offer on behalf of the entire universe the sacrifice of the bread and wine, with faith and charity" ("De Fide Ad Petrum", 22).

The sublimity of Christ's priesthood is a source of encouragement, hope and holy pride for the priests of the New Testament, given that "every priest in his own way puts on the person of Christ and is endowed with a special grace. By this grace, the priest, through his service of the people committed to his care and all the people of God, is able the better to pursue the perfection of Christ, whose place he takes. The human weakness of his flesh is remedied by the holiness of him who became for us a high priest, 'holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners' (Heb 7:26)" (Vatican II, "Presbyterorum Ordinis", 12). For all these reasons St Pius X, addressing priests, wrote: "We ought, therefore, to represent the person of Christ and fulfill the mission he has entrusted to us; and thereby attain the end which he has set out to reach [...]. We are under an obligation, as his friends, to have the same sentiments as Jesus Christ, who is 'holy, blameless, unstained' (Heb 7:26). As his ambassadors we have a duty to win over men's minds to accept his law and his teaching, beginning by observing them ourselves; insofar as we have a share in his power, we are obliged to set souls free from the bonds of sin, and we must ourselves be very careful to avoid falling into sin" (St Pius X, "Haerent Animo", 5).

1-2. The key point of the epistle is now proclaimed with great formality--the superiority of Christ's priesthood. This links up what was already said in 1:3 (about Christ being enthroned at the right hand of the Majesty) with what will be developed in chapters 9 and 10 (about the new temple and new form of worship). In Christ the Old Covenant, which offered worship by means of sacrifice and offerings, finds its total perfection; from Christ onwards the New Covenant begins, with a new sacrifice and a new temple. Little by little, consideration of the priest- hood of the Mosaic form of worship gives way to examination of Christ's new form of divine service.

It is not just a matter of one temple or stone being replaced by another or by many such temples. The old temple has given way to a heavenly sanctuary, heaven itself. This is why Christ's ascension and enthronement at the right hand of the Father is so important: it marks the definitive entry of Jesus Christ's sacred humanity into his true temple, one not made by human hands. This makes it easier to understand the sense in which the temple of Jerusalem and the worship connected with it were a foreshadowing of future events.

Christ, then, possesses the true, definitive priesthood, for he exercises his ministry in the sanctuary of heaven, where he is seated at the right hand of the Father. This heavenly ministry of Christ is a further confirmation of the superiority of his priesthood. Firstly, because he is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven (cf. Ps 110:1)--"Majesty" meaning the Godhead itself, for it is a way of referring to God (cf. the "throne of grace" in 4:16). Moreover, the "throne of the Majesty" is the equivalent of supreme authority to rule and judge. This can be seen from descriptions of the Last Judgment: "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne" (Mt 25: 31; cf. Rev 3:21; 20:11; Mt 19:28; etc.). Secondly, Christ carries out his ministry in a new sanctuary and a new tabernacle ("tent"), which are "true" in the sense that the sanctuary and tabernacle of Moses were only an "image" of them. The earthly liturgy is a reflection of the true, heavenly liturgy, which is the eternal continuation of Christ's priesthood in the presence of the Father, for "in the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, Minister of the holies and of the true tabernacle" (Vatican II, "Sacrosanctum Concilium", 8).

Some Fathers see the true sanctuary and tabernacle as representing the Church, in its total sense of Church militant plus Church triumphant. And St Cyril of Alexandria, for example, points out in one of his works that "the old tabernacle was set up in the desert by Moses and it was highly suitable for performing all the sacred ceremonies of the Law. But the mansion which is appropriate to Christ is the city on high, that is, heaven, the divine tent which is not the product of human handiwork but rather something holy and begotten by God. Christ, established therein, offers to God the Father those who believe in him, those sanctified by the Spirit" (St Cyril, "Explanation of Heb.").

3-6. To compare the earthly and heavenly tabernacles, the author resorts to analogy and metaphor, which is all that he can do. Bearing this in mind, one should not interpret the words of this passage as meaning that Jesus Christ consummated his sacrifice only in heaven, for the sacrifice of Calvary happened only once and was complete in itself. What this passage is saying is that, in heaven, Christ, the eternal Priest, continuously presents to the Father the fruits of the Cross. In the New Covenant there is only one sacrifice--that of Jesus Christ on Calvary; this single sacrifice is renewed in an unbloody manner every day in the sacrifice of the Mass; there Jesus Christ the only Priest of the New Law -- immolates and offers, by means of priests who are his ministers, the same victim (body and blood) which was immolated in a bloody manner once and for all on the Cross.

7-12. The comparison between the two covenants, the Old made with Moses and written on stone, and the New, engraved on the minds and hearts of the faithful (cf. 2 Cor 3:3; Heb 10:16, 17) is developed with the help of a quotation from Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34), where the prophet announces the spiritual alliance of Yahweh with his people. Jeremiah's words, quoted from the Greek translation (very close to the original Hebrew), refer directly to the restoration of the Jews after the Exile. Now that the chosen people have been purified by suffering they are fit to be truly the people of God: "I will be their God, and they shall be my people"; this promise of intimate friendship is the core of the prophecy. That is what it means when it says the Law will be written on the minds and hearts of all, and all even the least—shall know God. It may be that Jeremiah sensed the messianic restoration that lay beyond the restoration of the chosen people on its return from exile; certainly we can see that this oracle finds its complete fulfillment only with the New Covenant: the return from Babylon was merely an additional signal/symbol of the perfect Covenant which Christ would establish. For it is in that New Covenant that God truly forgives sins and remembers them no more.

The Old Covenant is said not to have been faultless, or sinless. This does not mean it was bad; rather; as St Thomas explains, it was powerless to atone for sins, it did not provide people with the grace to avoid committing sins, it simply showed people how to recognize sins, those who lived under the Old Law continued to be subject to sin (cf. "Commentary on Heb.", 7, 2).

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From: Mark 3:7-12

Cures Beside the Sea of Galilee
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[7] Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed; also from Judea [8] and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing all that He did, came to Him. [9] And He told His disciples to have a boat ready for Him; [10] for He had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon Him to touch Him. [11] And whenever the unclean spirits beheld Him, they fell down before Him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." [12] And He strictly ordered them not to make Him known.

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Commentary:

10. During our Lord's public life people were constantly crowding round Him to be cured (cf. Luke 6:19; 8:45; etc). As in the case of many other cures, St. Mark gives us a graphic account of what Jesus did to these people (cf. Mark 1: 31, 41; 7:31-37; 8:22-26; John 9:1-7, 11, 15). By working these cures our Lord shows that He is both God and man: He cures by virtue of His divine power and using His human nature. In other words, only in the Word of God become man is the work of our Redemption effected, and the instrument God used to save us was the human nature of Jesus--His Body and Soul--in the unity of the person of the Word (cf. Vatican II, "Sacrosanctum Concilium", 5).

This crowding round Jesus is repeated by Christians of all times: the holy human nature of our Lord is our only route to salvation; it is the essential means we must use to unite ourselves to God. Thus, we can today approach our Lord by means of the sacraments, especially and pre-eminently the Eucharist. And through the sacraments there flows to us, from God, through the human nature of the Word, a strength which cures those who receive the sacraments with faith (cf. St Thomas Aquinas, "Summa theologiae", III, q. 62, a. 5).

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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.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

313 Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

CCC Cross Reference:
Heb 7:3 58; Heb 7:16 648
Ps 110 447; Ps 110:1 659; Ps 110:4 1537
Mk 3:1-6 574; Mk 3:4 2173; Mk 3:5-6 1859; Mk 3:5 591; Mk 3:6 574, 591

Back to Deacon's Bench '07
Back to Deacon’s Bench ‘09
Back to SOW II '11
Back to SOW II '13
Back to SOW II '15
Back to SOW II '17
Back to SOW II '19
Back to SOW II '21

Back to SOW II '23

Back to SOW II '25

Reading 1
Heb 7:1-3, 15-17

Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High,
met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings
and blessed him.
And Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything.
His name first means righteous king,
and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace.
Without father, mother, or ancestry,
without beginning of days or end of life,
thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up
after the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become so,
not by a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent
but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed.
For it is testified:
You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4

R. (4b) You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
till I make your enemies your footstool.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:
“Rule in the midst of your enemies.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

“Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;
before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:
“You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
R. You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

Gospel
Mk 3:1-6

Jesus entered the synagogue.
There was a man there who had a withered hand.
They watched Jesus closely
to see if he would cure him on the sabbath
so that they might accuse him.
He said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up here before us.”
Then he said to the Pharisees,
“Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
But they remained silent.
Looking around at them with anger
and grieved at their hardness of heart,
Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel
with the Herodians against him to put him to death.

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

First reading Hebrews 7:1-3,15-17

You remember that Melchizedek, king of Salem, a priest of God Most High, went to meet Abraham who was on his way back after defeating the kings, and blessed him; and also that it was to him that Abraham gave a tenth of all that he had. By the interpretation of his name, he is, first, ‘king of righteousness’ and also king of Salem, that is, ‘king of peace’; he has no father, mother or ancestry, and his life has no beginning or ending; he is like the Son of God. He remains a priest for ever.

This becomes even more clearly evident when there appears a second Melchizedek, who is a priest not by virtue of a law about physical descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it was about him that the prophecy was made: You are a priest of the order of Melchizedek, and for ever.

Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 109(110):1-4