Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 20-September-2022; Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Priest, and Paul Chong Hasang, and their Companions, Martyrs

Universalis/Jerusalem Bible ^

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20 September 2022

Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Priest, and Paul Chong Hasang, and their Companions, Martyrs
on Tuesday of week 25 in Ordinary Time



St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church, Baltimore

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Red. Year: C(II).

Readings for the feria

Readings for the memorial

These are the readings for the feria

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First reading

Proverbs 21:1-6,10-13 ©

On wickedness and virtue

Like flowing water is the heart of the king in the hand of the Lord,

  who turns it where he pleases.

A man’s conduct may strike him as upright,

  the Lord, however, weighs the heart.

To act virtuously and with justice

  is more pleasing to the Lord than sacrifice.

Haughty eye, proud heart,

  lamp of the wicked, nothing but sin.

The hardworking man is thoughtful, and all is gain;

  too much haste, and all that comes of it is want.

To make a fortune with the help of a lying tongue,

  such the idle fantasy of those who look for death.

The wicked man’s soul is intent on evil,

  he looks on his neighbour with dislike.

When a mocker is punished, the ignorant man grows wiser,

  when a wise man is instructed he acquires more knowledge.

The Just One watches the house of the wicked:

  he hurls the wicked to destruction.

He who shuts his ear to the poor man’s cry

  shall himself plead and not be heard.

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Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 118(119):1,27,30,34-35,44 ©

Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

They are happy whose life is blameless,

  who follow God’s law!

Make me grasp the way of your precepts

  and I will muse on your wonders.

Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

I have chosen the way of truth

  with your decrees before me.

Train me to observe your law,

  to keep it with my heart.

Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

Guide me in the path of your commands;

  for there is my delight.

I shall always keep your law

  for ever and ever.

Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

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Gospel Acclamation	cf.Ps129:5

Alleluia, alleluia!

My soul is waiting for the Lord,

I count on his word.

Alleluia!

Or:	Lk11:28

Alleluia, alleluia!

Happy are those

who hear the word of God

and keep it.

Alleluia!

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Gospel	Luke 8:19-21 ©

'My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God'

The mother and the brothers of Jesus came looking for him, but they could not get to him because of the crowd. He was told, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to see you.’ But he said in answer, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.’

Continue

These are the readings for the memorial

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First reading	Wisdom 3:1-9 ©

The souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God

The souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God,

no torment shall ever touch them.

In the eyes of the unwise, they did appear to die,

their going looked like a disaster,

their leaving us, like annihilation;

but they are in peace.

If they experienced punishment as men see it,

their hope was rich with immortality;

slight was their affliction, great will their blessings be.

God has put them to the test

and proved them worthy to be with him;

he has tested them like gold in a furnace,

and accepted them as a holocaust.

When the time comes for his visitation they will shine out;

as sparks run through the stubble, so will they.

They shall judge nations, rule over peoples,

and the Lord will be their king for ever.

They who trust in him will understand the truth,

those who are faithful will live with him in love;

for grace and mercy await those he has chosen.

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Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 125(126):1-6 ©

Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage,

  it seemed like a dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

  on our lips there were songs.

Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels

  the Lord worked for them!’

What marvels the Lord worked for us!

  Indeed we were glad.

Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage

  as streams in dry land.

Those who are sowing in tears

  will sing when they reap.

Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

They go out, they go out, full of tears,

  carrying seed for the sowing:

they come back, they come back, full of song,

  carrying their sheaves.

Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

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Gospel Acclamation	1P4:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

It is a blessing for you

when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ,

for the Spirit of God rests on you.

Alleluia!

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Gospel	Luke 9:23-26 ©

The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously

Jesus said:

  ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self? For if anyone is ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.’

The readings on this page are from the Jerusalem Bible, which is used at Mass in most of the English-speaking world. The New American Bible readings, which are used at Mass in the United States, are available in the Universalis apps, programs and downloads.

You can also view this page with the Gospel in Greek and English.

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For your reading, reflection, faith-sharing, comments, questions, discussion.

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KEYWORDS: catholic; lk8; lk9; ordinarytime; prayer;

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Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 8
19.	And his mother and brethren came unto him; and they could not come at him for the crowd.	Venerunt autem ad illum mater et fratres ejus, et non poterant adire eum præ turba.	παρεγενοντο δε προς αυτον η μητηρ και οι αδελφοι αυτου και ουκ ηδυναντο συντυχειν αυτω δια τον οχλον
20.	And it was told him: Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.	Et nuntiatum est illi : Mater tua et fratres tui stant foris, volentes te videre.	και απηγγελη αυτω λεγοντων η μητηρ σου και οι αδελφοι σου εστηκασιν εξω ιδειν σε θελοντες
21.	Who answering, said to them: My mother and my brethren are they who hear the word of God, and do it.	Qui respondens, dixit ad eos : Mater mea et fratres mei hi sunt, qui verbum Dei audiunt et faciunt.	ο δε αποκριθεις ειπεν προς αυτους μητηρ μου και αδελφοι μου ουτοι εισιν οι τον λογον του θεου ακουοντες και ποιουντες αυτον

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Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

8:19–21

19. Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.

20. And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.

21. And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.

TITUS BOSTRENSIS. Our Lord had left His kinsfolk according to the flesh, and was occupied in His Father’s teaching. But when they began to feel His absence, they came unto Him, as it is said, Then came unto him his mother and his brethren. When you hear of our Lord’s brethren you must include also the notions of piety and grace. For no one in regard of His divine nature is the brother of the Saviour, (for He is the Only-begotten,) but He has, by the grace of piety, made us partakers in His flesh and His blood, and He who is by nature God has become our brother.

BEDE. But those who are said to be our Lord’s brethren according to the flesh, you must not imagine to be the children of the blessed Mary, the mother of God, as Helvidius thinks, nor the children of Joseph by another wife, as some say, but rather believe to be their kinsfolk.

TITUS BOSTRENSIS. His brethren thought that when He heard of their presence He would send away the people, from respect to His mother’s name, and from His affection towards her, as it follows, And it was told him, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 44. in Matt.) Think what it was, when the whole people stood by, and were hanging upon His mouth, (for His teaching had already begun,) to withdraw Him away from them. Our Lord accordingly answers as it were rebuking them, as it follows, And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are they which hear the word of God, and do it, &c.

AMBROSE. The moral teacher who gives himself an example to others, when about to enjoin upon others, that he who has not left father and mother, is not worthy of the Son of God, first submits Himself to this precept, not that He denies the claims of filial piety, (for it is His own sentence, He that knoweth not his father and mother shall die the death,) but because He knows that He is more bound to obey His Father’s mysteries than the feelings of His mother. Nor however are His parents harshly rejected, but the bonds of the mind are shewn to be more sacred than those of the body. Therefore in this place He does not disown His mother, (as some heretics say, eagerly catching at His speech,) since she is also acknowledged from the cross; but the law of heavenly ordinances is preferred to earthly affection.

BEDE. They then who hear the word of God and do it, are called the mother of our Lord, because they daily in their actions or words bring Him forth as it were in their inmost hearts; they also are His brethren where they do the will of His Father, Who is in heaven.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 41. in Matt.) Now He does not say this by way of reproof to His mother, but to greatly assist her, for if He was anxious for others to beget in them a just opinion of Himself, much more was He for His mother. And He had not raised her to such a height if she were always to expect to be honoured by Him as a son, and never to consider Him as her Lord.

THEOPHYLACT. But some take this to mean that certain men, hating Christ’s teaching, and mocking at Him for His doctrine, said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without wishing to see thee; as if thereby to shew His meanness of birth. And He therefore knowing their hearts gave them this answer, that meanness of birth harms not, but if a man, though of low birth, hear the word of God, He reckons him as His kinsman. Because however hearing only saves no one, but rather condemns, He adds, and doeth it; for it becomes us both to hear and to do. But by the word of God He means His own teaching, for all the words which He Himself spake were from His Father.

AMBROSE. In a mystical sense he ought not to stand without, who was seeking Christ. Hence also that saying, Come unto him, and be enlightened (Ps. 34:6. Vulg.). For if they stand without, not even parents themselves are acknowledged; and perhaps for our example they are not. How are we acknowledged by Him if we stand without? That meaning also is not unreasonable, because by the figure of parents He points to the Jews of whom Christ was born, (Rom. 9:5.) and thought the Church to be preferred to the synagogue.

BEDE. For they cannot enter within when He is teaching whose words they refuse to understand spiritually. But the multitude went before and entered into the house, because when the Jews rejected Christ the Gentiles flocked to Him. But those who stand without, wishing to see Christ, are they, who not seeking a spiritual sense in the law, have placed themselves without to guard the letter of it, and as it were rather compel Christ to go out, to teach them earthly things, than consent to enter in themselves to learn spiritual things.

Catena Aurea Luke 8

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Coronation of the Virgin

Fra Angelico

1434-35
Tempera on panel, 213 x 211 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

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Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 9
23.	And he said to all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.	Dicebat autem ad omnes : Si quis vult post me venire, abneget semetipsum, et tollat crucem suam quotidie, et sequatur me.	ελεγεν δε προς παντας ει τις θελει οπισω μου ελθειν απαρνησασθω εαυτον και αρατω τον σταυρον αυτου και ακολουθειτω μοι
24.	For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it.	Qui enim voluerit animam suam salvam facere, perdet illam : nam qui perdiderit animam suam propter me, salvam faciet illam.	ος γαρ εαν θελη την ψυχην αυτου σωσαι απολεσει αυτην ος δ αν απολεση την ψυχην αυτου ενεκεν εμου ουτος σωσει αυτην
25.	For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, and cast away himself?	Quid enim proficit homo, si lucretur universum mundum, se autem ipsum perdat, et detrimentum sui faciat ?	τι γαρ ωφελειται ανθρωπος κερδησας τον κοσμον ολον εαυτον δε απολεσας η ζημιωθεις
26.	For he that shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of man shall be ashamed, when he shall come in his majesty, and that of his Father, and of the holy angels.	Nam qui me erubuerit, et meos sermones: hunc Filius hominis erubescet cum venerit in majestate sua, et Patris, et sanctorum angelorum.	ὃς γὰρ ἂν ἐπαισχυνθῇ με καὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς λόγους, τοῦτον ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπαισχυνθήσεται, ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐν τῇ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων.

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Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

Luke CHAP. 9

9:23–27

23. And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

24. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

25. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

26. For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.

27. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. (non occ.) Great and noble leaders provoke the mighty in arms to deeds of valour, not only by promising them the honours of victory, but by declaring that suffering is in itself glorious. Such we see is the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. For He had foretold to His disciples, that He must needs suffer the accusations of the Jews, be slain, and rise again on the third day. Lest then they should think that Christ indeed was to suffer persecution for the life of the world, but that they might lead a soft life, He shews them that they must needs pass through similar struggles, if they desired to obtain His glory. Hence it is said, And he said unto all.

BEDE. He rightly addressed Himself to all, since He treats of the higher things (which relate to the belief in His birth and passion) apart with His disciples.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 55. in Matt.) Now the Saviour of His great mercy and lovingkindness will have no one serve Him unwillingly and from constraint, but those only who come of their own accord, and are grateful for being allowed to serve Him. And so not by compelling men and putting a yoke upon them, but by persuasion and kindness, He draws unto Him every where those who are willing, saying, If any man will, &c.

BASIL. (in Cons. Mon. cap. 4.) But He has left His own life for an example of blameless conversation to those who are willing to obey Him; as He says, Come after me, meaning thereby not a following of His body, for that would be impossible to all, since our Lord is in heaven, but a due imitation of His life according to their capacities.

BEDE. Now unless a man renounces himself, he comes not near to Him, who is above him; it is said therefore, Let him deny himself.

BASIL. (in reg. fus. int. 6.) A denial of one’s self is indeed a total forgetfulness of things past, and a forsaking of his own will and affection.

ORIGEN. (in Matt. tom. 12.) A man also denies himself when by a sufficient alteration of manners or a good conversation he changes a life of habitual wickedness. He who has long lived in lasciviousness, abandons his lustful self when he becomes chaste, and in like manner a forsaking of any crimes is a denial of one’s self.

BASIL. (ubi sup.) Now a desire of suffering death for Christ and a mortification of one’s members which are upon the earth, and a manful resolution to undergo any danger for Christ, and an indifference towards the present life, this it is to take up one’s cross. Hence it is added, And let him take up his cross daily.

THEOPHYLACT. By the cross, He speaks of an ignominious death, meaning, that if any one will follow Christ, he must not for his own sake flee from even an ignominious death.

GREGORY. (Hom. 32. in Ev) In two ways also is the cross taken up, either when the body is afflicted through abstinence, or the mind; touched by sympathy.

GREEK EXPOSITOR. (Isaac. Monac.) He rightly joins these two, Let him deny himself, and let him take up his cross, for as he who is prepared to ascend the cross conceives in his mind the intention of death, and so goes on thinking to have no more part in this life, so he who is willing to follow our Lord, ought first to deny himself, and so take up his cross, that his will may be ready to endure every calamity.

BASIL. (ubi sup. lnt. 8.) Herein then stands a man’s perfection, that he should have his affections hardened, even towards life itself, and have ever about him the answer (ἀποκρίμα.) of death a, that he should by no means trust in himself. (2 Cor. 1:9.) But perfection takes its beginning from the relinquishment of things foreign to it; suppose these to be possessions or vain-glory, or affection for things that profit not.

BEDE. We are bid then to take up the cross of which we have above spoken, and having taken it, to follow our Lord who bore His own cross. Hence it follows, And let him follow me.

ORIGEN. (ut sup.) He assigns the cause of this when He adds, For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; that is, whosoever will according to the present life keep his own soul fixed on things of sense, the same shall lose it, never reaching to the bounds of happiness. But on the other hand He adds, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it. That is, whosoever forsakes the things of sense looking upon truth, and exposes himself to death, as it were losing his life for Christ, shall the rather save it. If then it is a blessed thing to save our life, (with regard to that safety which is in God,) there must be also a certain good surrender of life which is made by looking upon Christ. It seems also to me from resemblance to that denying of one’s self which has been before spoken of, that it becomes us to lose a certain sinful life of ours, to take up that which is saved by virtue.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. (non occ.) But that incomparable exercise of the passion of Christ, which surpasses the delights and precious things of the world, is alluded to when he adds, What is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or be a cast away? As if he says, When a man, through his looking after the present delights, gains pleasure, and refuses indeed to suffer, but chooses to live splendidly in his riches, what advantage will he get then, when he has lost his soul? For the fashion of this world passeth away, and pleasant things depart as a shadow. (1 Cor. 7:31. Sap. 5:9.) For the treasures of ungodliness shall not profit, but righteousness snatches a man from death. (Prov. 10:2.)

GREGORY. (Hom. 32. in Ev.) Since then the holy Church has one time of persecution, another time of peace, our Lord has noticed both times in His command to us. For at the time of persecution we must lay down our soul, that is our life, which He signified, saying, Whosoever shall lose his life. But in time of peace, those things which have the greatest power to subdue us, our earthly desires, must be vanquished; which He signified, saying, What does it profit a man, &c. Now we commonly despise all fleeting things, but still we are so checked by that feeling of shame so common to man, that we are yet unable to express in words the uprightness which we preserve in our hearts. But to this wound the Lord indeed subjoins a suitable application, saying, For whoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed.

THEOPHYLACT. He is ashamed of Christ who says, Am I to believe on Him that is crucified? He also is ashamed of His words who despises the simplicity of the Gospel. But of him shall the Lord be ashamed in His kingdom, in the same manner as if a master of a household should have a bad servant, and be ashamed to have him.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Now he strikes fear into their hearts, when He says that He will descend from heaven, not in His former humility and condition proportioned to our capacities for receiving Him, but in the glory of the Father, with the Angels ministering unto Him. For it follows, When he shall come in his own glory, and his Father’s, and of the holy angels. Awful then and fatal will it be, to be branded as an enemy, and slothful in business, when so great a Judge shall descend with the armies of Angels standing round Him. But from this you may perceive, that though He has taken to Himself our flesh and blood, the Son is no less God, seeing that He promises to come in the glory of God the Father, and that Angels shall minister to Him as the Judge of all, Who was made man like unto us.

AMBROSE. Now our Lord while He ever raises us to look to the future reward of virtue, and teaches us how good it is to despise worldly things, so also He supports the weakness of the human mind by a present recompense. For it is a hard thing to take up the cross, and expose your life to danger and your body to death; to give up what you are, when you wish to be what you are not; and even the loftiest virtue seldom exchanges things present for future. The good Master then, lest any man should be broken down by despair or weariness, straightway promises that He will be seen by the faithful, in these words, But I say unto you, There are some standing here who shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God.

THEOPHYLACT. That is, the glory in which the righteous shall be. Now He said this of His transfiguration, which was the type of the glory to come; as if He said, There are some standing here, Peter, James, and John, who shall not reach death before they have seen at the time of My transfiguration what will be the glory of those who confess Me.

GREGORY. (Hom. 32. in Ev.) Or, by the kingdom of God in this place, is meant the present Church; and some of His disciples were to live in the body up to that time, when they should behold the Church of God built and raised up against the glory of the world.

AMBROSE. If then we also wish not to fear death, let us stand where Christ is. For they only cannot taste death who are able to stand with Christ, wherein we may consider from the nature of the very word, that they will not experience even the slightest perception of death, who are thought worthy to obtain union with Christ. At least let us suppose that the death of the body is tasted by touch, the life of the soul preserved by possession; for here not the death of the body, but of the soul, is denied.

Catena Aurea Luke 9

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Andrea Mantegna

St Sebastian

c. 1506
Oil on canvas, 213 x 95 cm
Galleria Franchetti, Ca' d'Oro, Venice

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Saints of the Day for September 20

Saint Andrew Kim Taegon (August 21, 1821 - September 16, 1846); Saint Paul Chong Hasang and Companions (d. between 1839 - 1867)

Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and Companions’ Stories

The first native Korean priest, Andrew Kim Taegon was the son of Christian converts. Following his baptism at the age of 15, Andrew traveled 1,300 miles to the seminary in Macao, China. After six years, he managed to return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol. He was arrested, tortured, and finally beheaded at the Han River near Seoul, the capital.

Andrew's father Ignatius Kim, was martyred during the persecution of 1839, and was beatified in 1925. Paul Chong Hasang, a lay apostle and married man, also died in 1839 at age 45.

Among the other martyrs in 1839 was Columba Kim, an unmarried woman of 26. She was put in prison, pierced with hot tools and seared with burning coals. She and her sister Agnes were disrobed and kept for two days in a cell with condemned criminals, but were not molested. After Columba complained about the indignity, no more women were subjected to it. The two were beheaded. Peter Ryou, a boy of 13, had his flesh so badly torn that he could pull off pieces and throw them at the judges. He was killed by strangulation. Protase Chong, a 41-year-old nobleman, apostatized under torture and was freed. Later he came back, confessed his faith and was tortured to death.

Christianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for taking taxes to Beijing annually. On one of these occasions, around 1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to study. A home Church began. When a Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a dozen years later, he found 4,000 Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10,000 Catholics. Religious freedom came to Korea in 1883.

Besides Andrew and Paul, Pope John Paul II canonized 98 Koreans and three French missionaries who had been martyred between 1839 and 1867, when he visited Korea in 1984. Among them were bishops and priests, but for the most part they were lay persons: 47 women and 45 men.

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Reflection

We marvel at the fact that the Korean Church was strictly a lay Church for a dozen years after its birth. How did the people survive without the Eucharist? It is no belittling of this and other sacraments to realize that there must be a living faith before there can be a truly beneficial celebration of the Eucharist. The sacraments are signs of God’s initiative and response to faith already present. The sacraments increase grace and faith, but only if there is something ready to be increased.

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[fidelis]

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)

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

From: Proverbs 21:1-6, 10-13

The way of the wise
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[1] The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. [2] Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. [3] To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. [4] Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin. [5] The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but every one who is hasty comes only to want. [6] The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapour and a snare of death.

[10] The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbour finds no mercy in his eyes. [11] When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise; when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge. [12] The righteous observes the house of the wicked; the wicked are cast down to ruin. [13] He who closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself cry out and not be heard.

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Commentary:

The Navarre Bible Commentary has no commentary for this reading. The footnotes on the New American Bible state:

21:1 “Channeled water” in Is 32:2 and Prv 5:16 is water that fertilizes arid land. It takes great skill to direct water, whether it be water to fertilize fields or cosmic floods harnessed at creation, for water is powerful and seems to have a mind of its own. It also requires great skill to direct the heart of a king, for it is inscrutable and beyond ordinary human control.

21:3 External rites or sacrifices do not please God unless accompanied by internal worship and right moral conduct; cf. 15:8; 21:27; Is 1:11–15; Am 5:22; Mal 1:12.

21:4 Heart and eyes depict, respectively, the inner and the outer person. “Haughty eyes” peering out from a “proud heart” show a thoroughly arrogant person. How can such a person flourish! Their lamp, which signifies life, will go out.

21:5 The antitheses are diligent and impetuous. The metaphor characterizing each type is taken from the world of commerce. Planning is important; bustle leads to waste.

21:12 It is difficult to ascertain the subject of the saying. Some hold it is the Lord, the “Righteous One,” who is normally the executor of justice in Proverbs. Others believe it is the just person who is the agent of divine justice. “Righteous One” is a title for God in Is 24:16. The best argument for making God the subject of the verb is that elsewhere in Proverbs righteous human beings never do anything to the wicked; only God does.

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From: Luke 8:19-21

The True Kinsmen of Jesus
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[19] Then His (Jesus') mother and His brethren came to Him, but they could not reach Him for the crowd. [20] And He was told, "Your mother and your brethren are standing outside, desiring to see You." [21] But He said to them, "My mother and my brethren are those who hear the word of God and do it."

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Commentary:

19-21. These words of our Lord show us that fulfillment of the Will of God is more important than kinship and that, therefore, our Lady is more united to her Son by virtue of her perfect fulfillment of what God asked of her, than by the Holy Spirit's using her to make Christ's body (cf. notes on Matthew 12:48-50 and Mark 3:31-35).

[Notes on Matthew 12:48-50 states: 48-50. Jesus obviously loved His Mother and St. Joseph. He uses this episode to teach us that in His Kingdom human ties do not take precedence. In Luke 8:19 the same teaching is to be found. Jesus regards the person who does the will of His Heavenly Father as a member of His own family. Therefore, even though it means going against natural family feelings, a person should do just that when needs be in order to perform the mission the Father has entrusted to him (cf. Luke 2:49).

We can say that Jesus loved Mary more because of the bonds between them created by grace than because He was her son by natural generation: Mary's divine motherhood is the source of all our Lady's other prerogatives; but this very motherhood is, in its turn, the first and greatest of the graces with which Mary was endowed.]

[Notes on Mark 3:31-35 states: 31-35. In Aramaic, the language used by the Jews, the word "brethren" is a broad term indicating kinship: nephews, first cousins, and relatives in general are called `brethren' (for further explanation cf. note on Mark 6:1-3). "Jesus did not say this to disown His mother, but to show that she is worthy of honor not only account of having given birth to Jesus, but also because she has all the virtues" (Theoplylact, "Enarratio In Evangelium Marci, in loc.").

Therefore, the Church reminds us that the Blessed Virgin "in the course of her Son's preaching received the words whereby, in extolling a kingdom beyond the concerns and ties of flesh and blood, He declared blessed those who heard and kept the word of God as she was faithfully doing" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 58).

Our Lord, then, is also telling us that if we follow Him we will share His life more intimately than if were a member of His family. St. Thomas explains this by saying that Christ "had an eternal generation and a generation in time, and gave preference to the former. Those who do the will of the Father reach Him by Heavenly generation [...].Everyone who does the will of the Father, that is to say, who obeys Him, is a brother or sister of Christ, because he is like Him who fulfilled the will of His Father. But he who not only obeys but converts others, begets Christ in them, and thus becomes like the Mother of Christ" ("Commentary on St. Matthew", 12, 49-50.)]

Source: Daily Word for Reflection—Navarre Bible Commentary

[fidelis]

The St. Paul Center's daily audio scripture reflections from the Mass for the Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions by Dr. Shane Owens.

Why Jesus Was an Only Child - The Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions