Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 17-Feb-2022

Mark
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Mark 8
27.	And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. And in the way, he asked his disciples, saying to them: Whom do men say that I am?	Et egressus est Jesus, et discipuli ejus in castella Cæsareæ Philippi : et in via interrogabat discipulos suos, dicens eis : Quem me dicunt esse homines ?	και εξηλθεν ο ιησους και οι μαθηται αυτου εις τας κωμας καισαρειας της φιλιππου και εν τη οδω επηρωτα τους μαθητας αυτου λεγων αυτοις τινα με λεγουσιν οι ανθρωποι ειναι
28.	Who answered him, saying: John the Baptist; but some Elias, and others as one of the prophets.	Qui responderunt illi, dicentes : Joannem Baptistam, alii Eliam, alii vero quasi unum de prophetis.	οι δε απεκριθησαν ιωαννην τον βαπτιστην και αλλοι ηλιαν αλλοι δε ενα των προφητων
29.	Then he saith to them: But whom do you say that I am? Peter answering said to him: Thou art the Christ.	Tunc dicit illis : Vos vero quem me esse dicitis ? Respondens Petrus, ait ei : Tu es Christus.	και αυτος λεγει αυτοις υμεις δε τινα με λεγετε ειναι αποκριθεις δε ο πετρος λεγει αυτω συ ει ο χριστος
30.	And he strictly charged them that they should not tell any man of him.	Et comminatus est eis, ne cui dicerent de illo.	και επετιμησεν αυτοις ινα μηδενι λεγωσιν περι αυτου
31.	And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients and by the high priests, and the scribes, and be killed: and after three days rise again.	Et cœpit docere eos quoniam oportet Filium hominis pati multa, et reprobari a senioribus, et a summis sacerdotibus et scribis, et occidi : et post tres dies resurgere.	και ηρξατο διδασκειν αυτους οτι δει τον υιον του ανθρωπου πολλα παθειν και αποδοκιμασθηναι απο των πρεσβυτερων και των αρχιερεων και των γραμματεων και αποκτανθηναι και μετα τρεις ημερας αναστηναι
32.	And he spoke the word openly. And Peter taking him, began to rebuke him.	Et palam verbum loquebatur. Et apprehendens eum Petrus, cœpit increpare eum.	και παρρησια τον λογον ελαλει και προσλαβομενος αυτον ο πετρος ηρξατο επιτιμαν αυτω
33.	Who turning about and seeing his disciples, threatened Peter, saying: Go behind me, Satan, because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but that are of men.	Qui conversus, et videns discipulos suos, comminatus est Petro, dicens : Vade retro me Satana, quoniam non sapis quæ Dei sunt, sed quæ sunt hominum.	ο δε επιστραφεις και ιδων τους μαθητας αυτου επετιμησεν τω πετρω λεγων υπαγε οπισω μου σατανα οτι ου φρονεις τα του θεου αλλα τα των ανθρωπων

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

8:27–33

27. And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Cæsarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?

28. And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.

29. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.

30. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

31. And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

32. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.

33. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

THEOPHYLACT. After taking His disciples afar from the Jews, He then asks them concerning Himself, that they might speak the truth without fear of the Jews; wherefore it is said, And Jesus entered, and his disciples, into the towns of Cæsarea Philippi.

BEDE. (in Marc. 2, 35) Philip was that brother of Herod, of whom we spoke above, who in honour of Tiberius Cæsar called that town, which is now called Paneas, Cæsarea Philippi. It goes on, And by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) He asks the question with a purpose, for it was right that His disciples should praise Him better than the crowd.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) Wherefore He first asks what is the opinion of men, in order to try the faith of the disciples, lest their confession should appear to be founded on the common opinion. It goes on, And they answered, saying, Some say John the Baptist, some Elias, and others, One of the prophets.

THEOPHYLACT. For many thought that John had risen from the dead, as even Herod believed, and that he had performed miracles after his resurrection. After however having enquired into the opinion of others, He asks them what was the belief of their own minds on this point; wherefore it continues, And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. in Mat. 54) From the manner, however, itself of the question, He leads them to a higher feeling, and to higher thoughts, concerning Him, that they might not agree with the multitude. But the next words shew what the head of the disciples, the mouth of the Apostles, answered; when all were asked, Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.

THEOPHYLACT. He confesses indeed that He is the Christ announced by the Prophets; but the Evangelist Mark passes over what the Lord answered to his confession, and how He blessed him, lest by this way of relating it, he should seem to be favouring his master Peter; Matthew plainly goes through the whole of it.

ORIGEN. (in Matt. Tom. xii. 15) Or else, Mark and Luke, as they wrote that Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, without adding what is put down in Matthew, the Son of the living God, so they omitted to relate the blessing which was conferred on this confession. It goes on, And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

THEOPHYLACT. For He wished in the mean time to hide His glory, lest many should be offended because of Him, and so earn a worse punishment.

CHRYSOSTOM. (ubi sup.) Or else, that He might wait to fix the pure faith in their minds, till the Crucifixion, which was an offence to them, was over, for after it was once perfected, about the time of His ascension, He said unto the Apostles, Go ye and teach all nations.

THEOPHYLACT. But after the Lord had accepted the confession of the disciples, who called Him the true God, He then reveals to them the mystery of the Cross. Wherefore it goes on, And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again; and he spake that saying openly, that is, concerning His future passion. But His disciples did not understand the order of the truth, neither could they comprehend His resurrection, but thought it better that He should not suffer.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc. v. Chrys. ubi sup.) The reason, however, why the Lord told them this, was to shew, that after His cross and resurrection, Christ must be preached by His witnesses. Again, Peter alone, from the fervour of his disposition, had the boldness to dispute about these things. Wherefore it goes on, And Peter took him up, and began to rebuke hime.

BEDE. (ubi sup. Chrys. ubi sup.) This, however, he speaks with the feelings of a man who loves and desires; as if he said, This cannot be, neither can mine ears receive that the Son of God is to be slain.

CHRYSOSTOM. But how is this, that Peter, gifted with a revelation from the Father, has so soon fallen, and become unstable? Surely, however, it was not wonderful that one who had received no revelation concerning the Passion should be ignorant of this. For that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God, he had learnt by revelation; but the mystery of His cross and resurrection had not yet been revealed to him. He Himself, however, shewing that He must come to His Passion, rebuked Peter; wherefore there follows, And when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, &c.

THEOPHYLACT. For the Lord, wishing to shew that His Passion was to take place on account of the salvation of men, and that Satan alone was unwilling that Christ should suffer, and the race of man be saved, called Peter Satan, because he savoured the things that were of Satan, and, from unwillingness that Christ should suffer, became His adversary; for Satan is interpreted ‘the adversary.’

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) But He saith not to the devil, when tempting Him, Get thee behind me, but to Peter He saith, Get thee behind me, that is, follow Me, and resist not the design of My voluntary Passion. There follows, For thou savourest not the things which be of God, but which be of men.

THEOPHYLACT. He says that Peter savours the things which be of men, in that he in some way savoured carnal affections, for Peter wished that Christ should spare Himself and not be crucified.

Catena Aurea Mark 8

The Story of the Seven Founders of the Servite Order

Can you imagine seven prominent men of Boston or Denver banding together, leaving their homes and professions, and going into solitude for a life directly given to God? That is what happened in the cultured and prosperous city of Florence in the middle of the 13th century. The city was torn with political strife as well as the heresy of the Cathari, who believed that physical reality was inherently evil. Morals were low and religion seemed meaningless.

In 1240, seven noblemen of Florence mutually decided to withdraw from the city to a solitary place for prayer and direct service of God. Their initial difficulty was providing for their dependents, since two were still married and two were widowers.

Their aim was to lead a life of penance and prayer, but they soon found themselves disturbed by constant visitors from Florence. They next withdrew to the deserted slopes of Monte Senario.

In 1244, under the direction of Saint Peter of Verona, O.P., this small group adopted a religious habit similar to the Dominican habit, choosing to live under the Rule of St. Augustine and adopting the name of the Servants of Mary. The new Order took a form more like that of the mendicant friars than that of the older monastic Orders.

Members of the community came to the United States from Austria in 1852 and settled in New York and later in Philadelphia. The two American provinces developed from the foundation made by Father Austin Morini in 1870 in Wisconsin.

Community members combined monastic life and active ministry. In the monastery, they led a life of prayer, work and silence while in the active apostolate they engaged in parochial work, teaching, preaching, and other ministerial activities.

Reflection

The time in which the seven Servite founders lived is very easily comparable to the situation in which we find ourselves today. It is “the best of times and the worst of times,” as Dickens once wrote. Some, perhaps many, feel called to a countercultural life, even in religion. All of us are faced in a new and urgent way with the challenge to make our lives decisively centered in Christ.

franciscanmedia.org

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

From: James 2:1-9

Respect for the Poor
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[1] My brethren, show no partiality as you hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. [2] For if a man with gold rings and in fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, [3] and you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "Have a seat here, please," while you say to the poor man, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," [4] have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? [5] Listen, my beloved brethren. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him? [6] But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you, is it not they who drag you into court? [7] Is it not they who blaspheme that honorable name by which you are called?

[8] If you really fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well. [9] But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

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Commentary:

1-13. Apparently some of the Christians to whom this letter was addressed were guilty of discriminating against people on the grounds of social standing--a clear instance of inconsistency between faith and actions, a key theme which James has already touched on (cf. 1:19-27) and will develop later (cf. 2:14-26). He may well be taking an example from something that actually happened (verses 1-4) to make the very vigorous point that discrimination is opposed to the Gospel (verses 5-7) as indeed to the Law (verses 8-11); and he makes it plain that this type of behavior will be severely punished by God when He comes to judge (verses 12-13).

1-4. God "is not partial and takes no bribe" (Deuteronomy 10:17). Discrimination among people is often condemned in the Old Testament—in the Law as well as in the Prophets and the Wisdom books (cf., e.g. Leviticus 19:15; Isaiah 5:23; Micah 3:9-11; Psalm 82:2-4). In the Gospel even our Lord's enemies admit that He is impartial and does not make unfair distinctions (cf. Matthew 22:16).

In line with this teaching, the Church takes issue with every form of discrimination. "All men are endowed with a rational soul and are created in God's image; they have the same nature and origin and, being redeemed by Christ, they enjoy the same divine calling and destiny; there is here a basic equality between men and it must be given ever greater recognition. Undoubtedly not all men are alike as regards physical capacity and intellectual and moral powers. But forms of social or cultural discrimination in basic personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language or religion, must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God's design" ("Gaudium Et Spes", 29).

1. "The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory": literally "the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory." This phrase can be interpreted in slightly different ways depending on how one understands "of glory". The most likely interpretation is that this is an instance of a Semitic genitive used in place of the adjective "glorious" or "glorified"; in which case St. James is referring to Jesus Christ who, after His ascension and resurrection, enjoys, also in His capacity as man, the highest honor and glory.

The RSV takes up the idea found in 1 Corinthians 2:8 where St. Paul calls Christ "the Lord of glory": since in the Old Testament "glory" was the splendor of the majesty of Yahweh (cf. Exodus 24:16), by applying this divine attribute to Christ His divinity is being explicitly asserted. If this is the correct translation, it may be a form of words taken from early Christian liturgy.

Some translate it in another way which puts even greater stress on Christ's divinity: "The faith of the glory (that is, the divinity) of our Lord Jesus Christ."

All these translations are compatible with one another and complementary to one another.

5-7. Many of the people to whom the letter was written must have been quite poor (cf. note on 1:2-4; 1 Corinthians 1:26-29). St. James reminds them that God wants to make them rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus in fact had given as a sign of His messiahship the fact that the Gospel is proclaimed to the poor (cf. Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:22) and He also taught that "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5:3). "Christ was sent by the Father 'to preach good news to the poor...to heal the contrite of heart' (Luke 4:18), 'to seek and to save the lost' (Luke 19:10). Similarly, the Church encompasses with her love all those who are afflicted by human misery and she recognizes in those who are poor and who suffer, the image of her poor and suffering Founder. She does all in her power to relieve their need and in them she strives to serve Christ" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 8).

Of the rich on the other hand, the Apostle speaks with unusual harshness. As elsewhere in Sacred Scripture, those who deserve such severe condemnation are people who are bent on building up their possession as if ownership were the only purpose in life, not minding what means they used, and oppressing and ill-treating the poor (cf. note on Luke 6:24).

Behavior of this type is so serious that it amounts to "blaspheming that honorable name by which you are called" (verse 7)--blasphemy by scandalous action rather than by words. This "name" can mean both the name "Jesus"--called down on them at Baptism--and that of "Christian", a name already being given to those first followers of the Master (cf. Acts 11:26).

What St. James says here can in no sense be used to justify the "class struggle" which some materialistic doctrines propose. The Magisterium of the Church has often pointed out that the application of Christian principles should make for harmony and concord between the various groups in society (cf. Leo XIII, "Rerum Novarum", 14). James' words certainly do urge everyone to make a real effort to promote the human dignity of all: "The evil inequities and oppression of every kind which afflict millions of men and women today openly contradict Christ's Gospel and cannot leave the conscience of any Christian indifferent" (SCDF, "Libertatis Conscientia", 57).

8-11. The Apostle extends his argument against discrimination, recalling what is said in the Old Testament (with which his original readers would have been familiar, since many of them were Jewish converts to Christianity). As we have pointed out previously (cf. note on 2:1-4) all unjust discrimination is condemned in the Old Testament.

8. "The royal law" is spelled out in the Book of Leviticus (19:18). St. James calls it this perhaps because, in addition to commanding love of God above all things, it is the basis and root of all the other commandments (cf. Matthew 22:34-40).

Jesus corrected narrow interpretations of that law of charity (cf. Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 10:25-37) and formulated the "new commandment" at the Last Supper: "that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love another" (John 13:34). In proposing this new standard ("as I have loved you") our Lord gives new content and meaning to the precept of brotherly love. This commandment is the law of the new people of God, the Church (cf. "Lumen Gentium", 9).

From: Mark 8:27-33

Peter's Profession of Faith
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[27] And Jesus went on with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He asked His disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" [28] And they told Him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others one of the prophets." [29] And He asked them, "But who do you say I am?" Peter answered Him, "You are the Christ." [30] And He charged them to tell no one about Him.

Jesus Foretells His Passion and Resurrection. Christian Renunciation
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[31] And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. [32] And He said this plainly. And Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him. [33] But turning and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men."

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Commentary:

29. Peter's profession of faith is reported here in a shorter form than in Matthew 16:18-19. Peter seems to go no further than say that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. Eusebius of Caesarea, in the fourth century, explains the Evangelist's reserve by the fact that he was the interpreter of St. Peter, who omitted from his preaching anything which might appear to be self-praise. The Holy Spirit, when inspiring St. Mark, wanted the Gospel to reflect the preaching of the prince of the Apostles, leaving it to other evangelists to fill out certain important details to do with the episode of the confession of Peter.

The sketchiness of the narrative still show Peter's role quite clearly: he is the first to come forward affirming the messiahship of Jesus. Our Lord's question, "But who do you say that I am?", shows what Jesus is asking the Apostles for--not an opinion, more or less favorable, but firm faith. It is St. Peter who expresses this faith (cf. note on Matthew 16:13-20).

31-33. This is the first occasion when Jesus tells His disciples about the sufferings and death He must undergo. He does it twice more, later on (cf. Mark 9:31 and 10:32). The Apostles are surprised, because they cannot and do not want to understand why the Master should have to suffer and die, much less that He should be so treated "by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes." But Peter, with his usual spontaneity, immediately begins to protest. And Jesus replies to him using the same words as He addressed the devil when he tempted Him (cf. Matthew 4:10); He wants to affirm, once again, that His mission is spiritual, not earthly, and that therefore it cannot be understood by using mere human criteria: it is governed by God's designs, which were that Jesus should redeem us through His passion and death. So too, for a Christian, suffering, united with Christ, is also a means of salvation.

Source: Daily Word for Reflection—Navarre Bible Commentary

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Readings at Mass

God chose the poor but you do not respect them

The way you think is not God's way, but man's

Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas