First Reading — Jeremiah 28:1-17
Rashi
On 28:1
And it came to pass in that year When that time arrived that Nebuchadnezzar gave Zedekiah dominion over the five kings to whom Jeremiah stated his message and sent the thongs and the bars to the kings by the hand of their ambassadors.
in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah In the beginning of his dominion over the five kings. But it is impossible to say that it means at the beginning of his reign, since it says, “in the fourth year.” In that year, he went down to greet Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and Seraiah the receptionist was with him, as is stated at the end of the Book (51:59), and he gave him dominion over the kings.
said to me Our Sages state: Who misled Hananiah? He heard Jeremiah prophesying in the upper street, “Behold I am breaking the bow of Elam” (49:35). And this prophecy was said in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, as is explained there, and since Elam is adjacent to Babylon, he stood in the lower street, and expounded. And he derived a major case from a minor one. If Elam, who came only to aid the Chaldeans, the Holy One, blessed be He, said, “Behold I am breaking the bow of Elam,” how much more is this so with the Chaldeans themselves? He came into the lower street and said: So said the Lord: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon, as it is in Sanhedrin (89a).
On 28:6
may...do Fasse in French.
May...fulfill An expression of prayer. (These three lines up to “and he brought him to the prison” were not arranged by the author.) Amen! So may the Lord do, etc.Amen! The scholars of Aggadah say: So did he say to him: If only your words were fulfilled! I gain and you lose. I am a priest, and I eat the food hallowed in the name of Heaven if the Temple remains standing. But you are a Gibeonite, as it is written [here], “who was from Gibeon.” And you will be a slave to me, chopping wood and drawing water (Pesikta Rabbathi 27:4, Yalkut Shimoni ad loc.). But Moreh Zedek who did not explain, adopted the reason of our Sages (Sotah 41b) who learned from here that whoever flatters a wicked man will ultimately fall into his hands or into the hands of his son or into the hands of his son’s son, for Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah seized him and brought him to prison.
On 28:7
But, hearken now... The prophet who would prophesy for peace. He said: I prophesy retribution. If it does not come, I am not a liar, for the Holy One, blessed be He, renounces the evil, but the prophet who prophesies for peace, etc., when the word of the prophet comes, etc., but if his word does not come, he is a liar, as it is said, “God is not a man that He should lie, etc.” (Num. 23:19). In this manner Rabbi Tanhuma (Vayera 13) expounded.
On 28:14
the beasts of the field have I given to him He rode on a lion and tied a serpent on its head.
On 28:17
in that year, in the seventh month Is it not so that the seventh month is not of the year? Rather, he died on the day preceding Rosh Hashanah and commanded his children to hurry him after Rosh Hashanah, but not before, and they should conceal his death on that day in order to make Jeremiah’s prophecy appear false.
Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 119:29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102
Hippolytus of Rome
On 118:30
He who loves truth, and never utters a false word with his mouth, may say, "I have chosen the way of truth." Moreover, he who always sets the judgments of God before his eyes, and remembers them in every action, will say, "Thy judgments have I not forgotten." And how is our heart enlarged by trials and afflictions! For these pluck out the thorns of anxious thoughts within us, and enlarge the heart for the reception of the divine laws. For, says he, "in affliction Thou hast enlarged me." Then do we walk in the way of God's commandments, well prepared for it by the endurance of trials.
Gospel — Matthew 14:22-36
Hilary of Poitiers
On 14:22
But Christ coming in the end shall find His Church wearied, and tossed by the spirit of Anti-Christ, and by the troubles of the world. And because by their long experience of Anti-Christ they will be troubled at every novelty of trial, they shall have fear even at the approach of the Lord, suspecting deceitful appearances. But the good Lord banishes their fear, saying, It is I; and by proof of His presence takes away their dread of impending shipwreck.
On 14:22
That when Peter was seized with fear, the Lord gave him not power of coming to Him, but held him by the hand and sustained him, this is the signification thereof; that He who alone was to suffer for all alone forgave the sins of all; and no partner is admitted into that which was bestowed upon mankind by one.
On 14:23
Or, that He is alone in the evening, signifies His sorrow at the time of His passion, when the rest were scattered from Him in fear.
On 14:23
That He commands His disciples to enter the ship and to go across the sea, while He sends the multitudes away, and after that He goes up into the mountain to pray; He therein bids us to be within the Church, and to be in peril until such time as returning in His splendour He shall give salvation to all the people that shall be remaining of Israel, and shall for give their sins; and having dismissed them into His Father’s kingdom, returning thanks to His Father, He shall sit down in His glory and majesty. Meanwhile the disciples are tossed by the wind and the waves; struggling against all the storms of this world, raised by the opposition of the unclean spirit.
On 14:25
The first watch Was therefore of the Law, the second of the Prophets, the third His coming in the flesh, the fourth His return in glory.
On 14:28
Or; That Peter alone out of all the number of those that were in the vessel has courage to answer, and to pray that the Lord would bid him come to Him upon the waters, figures the frowardness of his will in the Lord’s passion, when following after the Lord’s steps he endeavoured to attain to despise death. But his fearfulness shews his weakness in his after trial, when through fear of death, he was driven to the necessity of denial. His crying out here is the groaning of his repentance there.
On 14:33
Also by this entrance of Christ into the boat, and the calm of the wind and sea thereupon, is pointed out the eternal peace of the Church, and that rest which shall be after His return in glory. And forasmuch as He shall then appear manifestly, rightly do they all cry out now in wonder, Truly thou art the Son of God. For there shall then be a free and public confession of all men that the son of God is come no longer in lowliness of body, but that He has given peace to the Church in heavenly glory.
On 14:36
Otherwise; When the times of the Law were ended, and five thousand out of Israel were entered within the Church, it was then that the people of believers met Him, then those that were saved out of the Law by faith set before the Lord the rest of their sick and weak; and they that were thus brought sought to touch the hem of His garment, because through their faith they would be healed. And as the virtue of the hem proceeded from the whole garment, so the virtue of the grace of the Holy Spirit went forth from our Lord Jesus Christ, and imparted to the Apostles, who proceeded as it were from the same body, administers salvation to such as desire to touch.