And after that forty days were passed, Noe, opening the window of the ark which he had made, sent forth a raven:7 Which went forth and did not return, till the waters were dried up upon the earth.8 He sent forth also a dove after him, to see if the waters had now ceased upon the face of the earth.9 But she, not finding where her foot might rest, returned to him into the ark: for the waters were upon the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and caught her, and brought her into the ark.10 And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove out of the ark.11 And she came to him in the evening, carrying a bough of an olive tree, with green leaves, in her mouth. Noe therefore understood that the waters were ceased upon the earth.12 And he stayed yet other seven days: and he sent forth the dove, which returned not any more unto him.13 Therefore in the six hundredth and first year, the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were lessened upon the earth, and Noe opening the covering of the ark, looked, and saw that the face of the earth was dried.20 And Noe built an altar unto the Lord: and taking of all cattle and fowls that were clean, offered holocausts upon the altar.21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and said: I will no more curse the earth for the sake of man: for the imagination and thought of man’s heart are prone to evil from his youth: therefore I will no more destroy every living soul as I have done.22 All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not cease.
The Synagogue has not this oil, inasmuch as she has not the olive, and understood not that dove which brought back the olive branch after the deluge. For that Dove descended afterwards when Christ was baptized, and abode upon Him, as John testified in the Gospel, saying: "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He abode upon Him." But how could he see the Dove, who saw not Him, upon Whom the Spirit descended like a dove?
The psalm's verse numbering differs between the modern lectionary and the Douay-Rheims this library hosts, so the text isn't matched verse-for-verse here yet.
And they came to Bethsaida; and they bring to him a blind man, and they besought him that he would touch him.23 And taking the blind man by the hand, he led him out of the town; and spitting upon his eyes, laying his hands on him, he asked him if he saw any thing.24 And looking up, he said: I see men as it were trees, walking.25 After that again he laid his hands upon his eyes, and he began to see, and was restored, so that he saw all things clearly.†26 And he sent him into his house, saying: Go into thy house, and if thou enter into the town, tell nobody.
(ubi sup.) Or else, He leaves an example to His disciples that they should not seek for popular favour by the miracles which they did. 1Mystically, however, Bethsaida is interpreted ‘the house of the valley,’ that is, the world, which is the vale of tears. Again, they bring to the Lord a blind man, that is, one who neither sees what he has been, what he is, nor what he is to be. They ask Him to touch him, for what is being touched, but feeling compunction.?
(ubi sup.) For the Lord touches us, when He enlightens our minds with the breath of His Spirit, and He stirs us up that we may recognise our own infirmity, and be diligent in good actions. He takes the hand of the blind man, that He may strengthen him to the practice of good works.
(in Marc. 2, 34) Knowing that the touch of the Lord could give sight to a blind man as well as cleanse a leper. It goes on, And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town.
(ubi sup.) Seeing indeed the shapes of bodies amongst the shadows, but unable to distinguish the outlines of the limbs, from the continued darkness of his sight; just as trees standing thick together are wont to appear to men who see them from afar, or by the dim light of the night, so that it cannot easily be known whether they be trees or men.
(ubi sup.) Or else, putting spittle into the eyes of the blind man, he lays His hands upon him that he may see, because He has wiped away the blindness of the human race both by invisible gifts, and by the Sacrament of His assumed humanity; for the spittle, proceeding from the Head, points out the grace of the Holy Ghost. But though by one word He could cure the man wholly and all at once, still He cures him by degrees, that He may shew the greatness of the blindness of man, which can hardly, and only as it were step by step, be restored to light; and He exhibits to us His grace, by which He furthers each step towards perfection. Again, whoever is weighed down by a blindness of such long continuance, that he is unable to distinguish between good and evil, sees as it were men like trees walking, because he sees the deeds of the multitude without the light of discretion.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)