Friday
9th Week of Ordinary Time
(I) 1st Reading: Tobit 11:5-17
Tobias' Return
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[5] Now Anna sat looking intently down the road for her son. [6] And she caught
sight of him coming, and said to his father, "Behold, your son is coming, and so
is the man who went with him!”
[7] Raphael said, "I know, Tobias, that your father will open his eyes. [8] You
must therefore anoint his eyes with the gall; and when they smart he will rub
them, and will cause the white films to fall away, and he will see you.”
[9] Then Anna ran to meet them, and embraced her son, and said to him, "I have
seen you, my child; now I am ready to die.” And they both wept. [10] Tobit star-
ted toward the door, and stumbled. But his son ran to him [11] and took hold of
his father, and he sprinkled the gall upon his father’s eyes, saying, "Be of good
cheer, father.” [12] And when his eyes began to smart he rubbed them, [13] and
the white films scaled off from the corner of his eyes. [14] Then he saw his so
and embraced him, and he wept and said, "Blessed art thou, O God, and bles-
sed is thy name for ever, and blessed are all the holy angels. [15] For thou hast
afflicted me, but thou hast had mercy upon me; here I see my son Tobias!” And
his son went in rejoicing, and he reported to his father the great things that had\
happened to him in Media.
[16] Then Tobit went out to meet his daughter-in-law at the gate of Nineveh,
rejoicing and praising God. Those who saw him as he went were amazed because
he could see.
[17] And Tobit gave thanks before them that God had been merciful to him.
When Tobit came near to Sarah his daughter-in-law, he blessed her, saying,
"Welcome, daughter! Blessed is God who has brought you to us, and blessed
are your father and your mother." So there was rejoicing among all his brethren
in Nineveh.
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Commentary:
11:1-14:15. This last part of the story takes us back to Nineveh. The author tells
about Tobias’ arrival home with Sarah and the angel, and how Tobit is cured of
his blindness (11:1-19). The angel has completed his mission (cf. 3:16-17) and
can now reveal who he is, and go back to God (12:1-22). Tobit praises God in a
long prayer of rejoicing (13:1-18), and, in due course, after giving his son his spi-
ritual testament, he dies (14:1-11). Having done all that piety demands in Nine-
veh, Tobias and Sarah move to Media to be with Sarah’s parents (14:12-15).
The story has a happy ending, befitting Tobit’s good works and the mercy of
God, who never neglects the righteous. There have been severe trials, but trust
in God has been rewarded by special intervention of divine providence through
the angel Raphael. This is the main message of the book of Tobias. True, not
all painful situations are resolved by angels in the same remarkable way as in
the story of Tobit. But we always have angels with us, and they will comfort us
if we put our trust in God. We can see this in the life of our Lord: during his pas-
sion, an angel of heaven comforted him in the garden of olives (cf. Lk 22:43); but
Jesus still had to drink the chalice of suffering and death in order to do his Father’s
will and bring about the redemption of mankind.
11:1-15a. The scene prior to the travellers’ entry into Nineveh (vv 1-8) is similar
to that described earlier, when Tobias and the angel were nearing Ecbatana (cf.
6:10-17), and it connects up with the passage about the start of the journey
through the mention of the dog (cf. 5:16). Once again the angels takes the ini-
tiative, by telling Tobit how to cure his father. Then (vv 9-15) everything happens
very quickly. Anna is cured of her spiritual blindness on seeing her son, and
Tobit of his physical blindness thanks to the angel’s wisdom and Tobias’ obe-
dience. Tobit launches into a spontaneous prayer, blessing God and all his
angels, still not knowing who Raphael is.
(II) 1st Reading: 2 Timothy 3:10-17
Preventing Error From Doing Harm
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[10] Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith,
my patience, my love, my steadfastness, [11] my persecutions, my sufferings,
what befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured;
yet from them all the Lord rescued me. [12] Indeed all who desire to live a godly
life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, [13] while evil men and impostors will go
on from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived.
Staying True to Scripture
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[14] But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed,
knowing from whom you learned it [15] and how from childhood you have been
acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus. [16] All scripture is inspired by God and profitable
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that
the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
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Commentary:
10-13. Unlike those who were opposing St Paul's teachings, Timothy is commen-
ded for his faithfulness and is offered practical advice on how to cope with difficul-
ties. To encourage him, Paul recalls his own experience (with which Timothy, a
native of Lystra, was very familiar). In his first letter (cf. 1 Thess 3:2-3 and note)
he already made the point and now he repeats it: "all who desire to live a godly
life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Thanks to suffering we can obtain a share
in the victory won by Christ. "Christ has overcome the world definitively by his
Resurrection. Yet, because of the relationship between the Resurrection and his
Passion and death, he has at the same time overcome the world by his suffering
[...]. Through the Resurrection, he manifests the victorious power of suffering,
and he wishes to imbue with the conviction of this power the hearts of those
whom he chose as Apostles and those whom he continually chooses and sends
forth" (John Paul II, "Salvifici Doloris", 25).
14-15. "Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed": this is sound
advice--that Timothy should not relinquish the truth which he learned from his
mother and from the Apostle: "Religion, of its nature, must be passed on in its
entirety to children with the same fidelity as it has been received by the parents
themselves; we have no right to take religion and do with it what we will; rather,
it is we who must follow religion wherever it leads us" (St Vincent of Lerins,
"Commonitorium", 5).
Assiduous meditation on the Word of God and reflection on our experience in the
light of faith make for deeper understanding of revealed truth; but the essential
meaning of the truths of faith does not change, because God does not contradict
himself. Progress in theology consists in obtaining this deeper understanding of
the content of Revelation and relating it to the needs and the insights of people
in each culture and period of history. In this connection Paul VI wrote: "We also
insisted on the grave responsibility incumbent upon us, but which we share with
our Brothers in the Episcopate, of preserving unaltered the content of the Catho-
lic faith which the Lord entrusted to the Apostles. While being translated into all
expressions, this content must be neither impaired nor mutilated. While being
clothed with the outward forms proper to each people, and made explicit by theo-
logical expression which takes account of different cultural, social and even racial
milieu it must remain the content of the Catholic faith just exactly as the ecclesial
Magisterium has received it and transmits it" ("Evangelii Nuntiandi", 65).
16. Due to the conciseness of the Greek language (which often omits the verb
"to be"), this verse can also be translated as "All scripture inspired by God is
profitable"; cf. the RSV note. Paul is explicitly stating here that all the books of
the Bible are inspired by God, and are therefore of great help to the Church in its
mission.
The books of Sacred Scripture enjoy special authority because "the divinely re-
vealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture,
have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For Holy Mother
Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical
the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts,
on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit they have God
as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself. To com-
pose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed
them in this task, made full use of their powers and faculties so that, though he
acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing
whatever he wanted written, and no more. Since, therefore, all that the inspired
authors, or sacred writers, affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit,
we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture, firmly, faithfully and without
error, teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see con-
fided to the Sacred Scripture" (Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 11).
Therefore, the Bible is very useful in preaching and teaching, in theological re-
search and for one's own spiritual advancement and that of others. Referring to
the training of future priests, the Second Vatican Council recommends that they
"receive a most careful training in Holy Scripture, which should be the soul, as it
were, of all theology" ("Optatam Totius", 16).
St Gregory the Great has this to say about Scripture's usefulness "for teaching":
"Anyone preparing to preach in the right way needs to take his points from the
Sacred Scriptures in order to ensure that everything he says is based on divine
authority" ("Moralia", 18, 26). And the same Father says elsewhere: "What is
Sacred Scripture if not a kind of letter from almighty God to his creature? [...]
Therefore, please study and reflect on the words of your Creator every day. Learn
what the will of God is by entering deep into the words of that God, so as to de-
sire divine things more ardently and set your soul aflame with great yearning for
heavenly delights" ("Epistula ad Theodorum Medicum", 5, 31).
Scripture is also profitable "for reproof", St Jerome writes: "Read the divine
Scriptures very often, or, to put it better, never let sacred reading matter out of
your hands. Learn what it has to teach, keep a firm hold on the word of faith
which accords with doctrine, so as to be able to exhort others with sound doc-
trine and win over your opponents" ("Ad Nepoitanum", 7).
17. "Man of God": see the note on 1 Tim 6:11. This description shows the basis
of a priest's dignity. "The priestly vocation is invested with a dignity and great-
ness which has no equal on earth. St Catherine of Siena put these words on
Jesus' lips: 'I do not wish the respect which priests should be given to be in any
way diminished; for the reverence and respect which is shown them is not re-
ferred to them but to Me, by virtue of the Blood which I have given to them to
administer Were it not for this, you should render them the same reverence as
lay people, and no more....you must not offend them; by offending them you
offend Me and not them. Therefore I forbid it and I have laid it down that you
shall not touch my Christs" (St. J. Escriva, "In Love with the Church", 38).
Gospel Reading: Mark 12:35-37
Christ the Son and Lord of David
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[35] And as Jesus taught in the temple, He said, "How can the scribes say that
the Christ is the son of David? [36] David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit,
declared, 'The Lord said to the Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I put Thy enemies
under Thy feet'. [37] David himself calls Him Lord; so how is He his son?" And
the throng heard Him gladly.
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Commentary:
35-37. Jesus here bears witness, with His special authority, to the fact that
Scripture is divinely inspired, when He says that David was inspired by the Holy
Spirit when writing Psalm 110. We can see from here that Jews found it difficult
to interpret the beginning of the Psalm. Jesus shows the messianic sense of the
words "The Lord said to my Lord": the second "Lord" is the Messiah, with whom
Jesus implicitly identifies Himself. The mysteriously transcendental character of
the Messiah is indicated by the paradox of His being the son, the descendant,
of David, and yet David calls Him his Lord. Cf. note on Matthew 22:41-46.
[Note on Matthew 22:41-46 states:
41-46. God promised King David that one of his descendants would reign forever
(2 Samuel 7:12ff); this was obviously a reference to the Messiah, and was inter-
preted as such by all Jewish tradition, which gave the Messiah the title of "Son
of David". In Jesus' time this messianic title was understood in a very nationa-
listic sense: the Jews were expecting an earthly king, a descendant of David,
who would free them from Roman rule. In this passage Jesus shows the Phari-
sees that the Messiah has a higher origin: He is not only "Son of David"; His
nature is more exalted than that, for He is the Son of God and transcends the
purely earthly level. The reference to Psalm 110:1 which Jesus uses in His ar-
gument explains that the Messiah is God: which is why David calls Him Lord--
and why He is seated at the right hand of God, His equal in power, majesty and
glory (cf. Acts of the Apostles 33-36; 1 Corinthians 6:25).]
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].