First Reading — Baruch 1:15-22
George Leo Haydock
On 1:20
Curses against transgressors, Leviticus xxvi., and Daniel ix. 11. (Calmet) — Day. We feel the effects of sin. The land of Juda was not flourishing, though not yet laid waste. (Haydock)
On 1:22
Serve, or sacrifice unto: (Sanctius) operata Deo: (Tibul.) or to worship, chap. ii. 21. (Calmet) Bible Text & Cross-references: The Jews of Babylon send the book of Baruch, with money, to Jerusalem, requesting their brethren there to offer sacrifice, and to pray for the king and for them, acknowledging their manifold sins. 1 And *these are the words of the book, which Baruch, the son of Nerias, the son of Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son of Sedei, the son of Helcias, wrote in Babylonia. 2 In the fifth year, in the seventh day of the month, at the time that the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire. 3 And Baruch read the words of this book in the hearing of Jechonias, the son of Joakim, king of Juda, and in the hearing of all the people that came to hear the book. 4 And in the hearing of the nobles, the sons of the kings, and in the hearing of the ancients, and in the hearing of the people, from the least even to the greatest of them, that dwelt in Babylonia, by the river Sodi. 5 And when they heard it they wept, and fasted, and prayed before the Lord. 6 And they made a collection of money, according to every man’s power. 7 And they sent it to Jerusalem, to Joakim, the priest, the son of Helcias, the son of Salom, and to the priests, and to all the people, that were found with him in Jerusalem: 8 At the time when he received the vessels of the temple of the Lord, which had been taken away out of the temple, to return them into the land of Juda, the tenth day of the month Sivan, the silver vessels, which Sedecias, the son of Josias, king of Juda, had made. 9 After that, Nabuchodonosor, the king of Babylon, had carried away Jechonias, and the princes, and all the powerful men, and the people of the land from Jerusalem, and brought them bound to Babylon. 10 And they said: Behold we have sent you money, buy with it holocausts, and frankincense, and make meat-offerings, and offerings for sin at the altar of the Lord our God: 11 And pray ye for the life of Nabuchodonosor, the king of Babylon, and for the life of Baltasaar, his son, that their days may be upon earth as the days of heaven: 12 And that the Lord may give us strength, and enlighten our eyes, that we may live under the shadow of Nabuchodonosor, the king of Babylon, and under the shadow of Baltasaar, his son, and may serve them many days, and may find favour in their sight. 13 And pray ye for us to the Lord our God: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, and his wrath is not turned away from us even to this day. 14 And read ye this book, which we have sent to you to be read in the temple of the Lord, on feasts, and proper days. 15 *And you shall say: To the Lord our God belongeth justice, but to us confusion of our face: as it is come to pass at this day to all Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 16 To our kings, and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our prophets, and to our fathers. 17 *We have sinned before the Lord our God, and have not believed him, nor put our trust in him: 18 And we were not obedient to him, and we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his commandments which he hath given us. 19 From the day that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, we were disobedient to the Lord our God: and going astray we turned away from hearing his voice. 20 *And many evils have cleaved to us, and the curses which the Lord foretold by Moses, his servant: who brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. 21 And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, according to all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us: 22 And we have gone away every man after the inclinations of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord our God.
Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 79:1b-2, 3-5, 8, 9
Gregory of Nazianzus
On 78:4
If you shut the heavens, who will open them? And if you let loose your torrents, who will restrain them? It is an easy thing in your eyes to make some people poor and others rich, to make some alive and to kill others, to strike some with illness and to heal others. Whatever you do according to your will is perfect. You are angry, and we have sinned, someone said long ago, in making confession. Now it is time for me to say the opposite, "We have sinned, and you are angry"; therefore "we have become a reproach to our neighbors." You turned your face from us, and we were filled with dishonor. But stay, Lord; cease, Lord; forgive, Lord; deliver us not up forever because of our iniquities, and let not our chastisements be a warning for others, when we might learn wisdom from the trials of others.
On 78:5
Some things mentioned in the Bible are not factual; some factual things are not mentioned; some nonfactual things receive no mention there; some things are both factual and mentioned. Do you ask for my proofs here? I am ready to offer them. In the Bible, God "sleeps," "wakes up," "is angered," "walks" and has a "throne of cherubim." Yet when has God ever been subject to emotion? When do you ever hear that God is a bodily being? This is a nonfactual, mental picture. We have used names derived from human experience and applied them so far as we could, to aspects of God. His retirement from us, for reason known to himself into an almost unconcerned inactivity, is his "sleeping." Human sleeping, after all, has the character of restful inaction. When he alters and suddenly benefits us, that is his "waking up." Waking up puts an end to sleep, just as looking at somebody puts an end to turning away from him. We have made his punishing us, his "being angered"; for with us, punishment is born of anger. His acting in different places, we call "walking," for walking is a transition from one place to another. His resting among the heavenly powers, making them almost his haunt, we call his "sitting" and "being enthroned"; this too is human language. The divine, in fact, rests nowhere as he rests in the saints. God's swift motion we call "flight;" his watching over us is his "face";12 his giving and receiving is his "hand." In short every faculty or activity of God has given us a corresponding picture in terms of some thing bodily.
Gospel — Luke 10:13-16
Titus of Bostra
On 10:13
But at the same time He herein consoles His disciples, as if He said, Say not why are we about to suffer reproach. Let your speech be with moderation. I give you grace, upon Me your reproaches fall.