Saint Apollinaris, Bishop, Martyr
Biographical Information about Saint Apollinaris
Readings for Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Exodus 14:5-18
When it was reported to the king of Egypt
that the people had fled,
Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them.
They exclaimed, "What have we done!
Why, we have released Israel from our service!"
So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiers
six hundred first-class chariots
and all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all.
So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaoh
that he pursued the children of Israel
even while they were marching away in triumph.
The Egyptians, then, pursued them;
Pharaoh’s whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers,
caught up with them as they lay encamped by the sea,
at Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
Pharaoh was already near when the children of Israel looked up
and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them.
In great fright they cried out to the LORD.
And they complained to Moses,
"Were there no burial places in Egypt
that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert?
Why did you do this to us?
Why did you bring us out of Egypt?
Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said,
'Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’?
Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians
than to die in the desert."
But Moses answered the people,
"Fear not! Stand your ground,
and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today.
These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again.
The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still."
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me?
Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea,
split the sea in two,
that the children of Israel may pass through it on dry land.
But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate
that they will go in after them.
Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army,
his chariots and charioteers.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,
when I receive glory through Pharaoh
and his chariots and charioteers."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ex 14:5-18
The great exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt is complicated as Pharaoh has a change of heart and sends his armies to bring them back to servitude. Seeing their hopeless fate and lacking faith in God they cry out against Moses. God prepares a mighty sign for both the people of Israel and the Egyptians as he asks Moses to lift his staff and part the waters of the sea so the people can walk through.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Exodus 15:1bc-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (1b) Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
He is my God, I praise him;
the God of my father, I extol him.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
The LORD is a warrior,
LORD is his name!
Pharaoh’s chariots and army he hurled into the sea;
the elite of his officers were submerged in the Red Sea.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
The flood waters covered them,
they sank into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O LORD, magnificent in power,
your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ex 15:1bc-2, 3-4, 5-6
This poem from Exodus celebrates God’s wondrous act of salvation as it recalls the passage of the people of Israel through the depths of the sea and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army following them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Matthew 12:38-42
Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
"Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."
He said to them in reply,
"An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,
but no sign will be given it
except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights,
so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and there is something greater than Jonah here.
At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon;
and there is something greater than Solomon here."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mt 12:38-42
In this passage from Matthew’s Gospel the Scribes and Pharisees demand a sign even though the Lord has been performing cures and exorcisms in front of them. Jesus reply tells them in no uncertain terms that no further sign will be given to them. Using a reference first to Jonah (see Jonah 2:1), and then to Wisdom of Solomon (see 1 Kings 10:1-13), he calls them unfaithful (literally adulterous) in their failure to understand that he is sent by God and his mission.
The implication of the first analogy is that through Christ’s death, spending three days in the tomb as Jonah spent three days in the whale, he will become judge and those who do not accept him, (referring to the scribes and Pharisees). The condemnation prescribed by God for Nineveh (Jonah 3:4) will be applied to a greater degree to them because the Messiah is greater than the Prophet Jonah. Similarly in the second analogy Christ’s revelation of the Father is compared to the Wisdom of Solomon which the “queen from the south (the Queen of Sheba)” came a great distance to hear. Again, the statement is made that this legendary Wisdom of Solomon is a pale comparison to Christ’s revelation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
There is a great tinge of irony is the scripture selections provided. In the first reading from Exodus God provides a sign for the Israelites that he is with them by thwarting the Pharaoh’s army. This act of salvation by God is recounted through all generations since it took place as a reminder of how God will save his faithful followers from destruction.
Placed against this spectacular sign comes the demand by some scribes and Pharisees that he provide them with something similar so that they might come to believe that he is the “Anointed One” – the Messiah. Jesus responds to them, telling them that since they refuse to believe that he is the one who came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (using the analogies of two other great signs form the Old Testament; Jonah’s encounter with the whale and the Queen of Sheba’s sacrifice for the sake of the Wisdom of Solomon), that they would suffer a punishment worse than the one promised by Jonah to Nineveh.
Two great signs of God’s love are given (the second given great emphasis for our benefit). And now we ask ourselves what sign does this age get to see? What did God plan to show this age and these generations to bring them to faith? One answer always surprises and humbles us. Christ gives us as a sign to the world. With huge strokes of the brush with which he paints the future of humankind he uses us to show the world what great love he has for us. We become the sign and instrument of his plan.
Today as we marvel at God’s great works; recalling how Pharaoh’s army was destroyed in the Red Sea and how God’s Son brings to fullness the Law and the Prophets, we pledge to do our part as a sign for our generation. Through our example we pray that others will see how great God’s love for them is and be amazed as we are at the peace that flows from him, through Christ, to us.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “Crossing of the Red Sea” by Cosimo Rosselli, 1481-82
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
Biographical Information about Saint Apollinaris
Readings for Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Exodus 14:5-18
When it was reported to the king of Egypt
that the people had fled,
Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them.
They exclaimed, "What have we done!
Why, we have released Israel from our service!"
So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiers
six hundred first-class chariots
and all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all.
So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaoh
that he pursued the children of Israel
even while they were marching away in triumph.
The Egyptians, then, pursued them;
Pharaoh’s whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers,
caught up with them as they lay encamped by the sea,
at Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
Pharaoh was already near when the children of Israel looked up
and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them.
In great fright they cried out to the LORD.
And they complained to Moses,
"Were there no burial places in Egypt
that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert?
Why did you do this to us?
Why did you bring us out of Egypt?
Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said,
'Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’?
Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians
than to die in the desert."
But Moses answered the people,
"Fear not! Stand your ground,
and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today.
These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again.
The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still."
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me?
Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea,
split the sea in two,
that the children of Israel may pass through it on dry land.
But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate
that they will go in after them.
Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army,
his chariots and charioteers.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,
when I receive glory through Pharaoh
and his chariots and charioteers."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ex 14:5-18
The great exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt is complicated as Pharaoh has a change of heart and sends his armies to bring them back to servitude. Seeing their hopeless fate and lacking faith in God they cry out against Moses. God prepares a mighty sign for both the people of Israel and the Egyptians as he asks Moses to lift his staff and part the waters of the sea so the people can walk through.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Exodus 15:1bc-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (1b) Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
He is my God, I praise him;
the God of my father, I extol him.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
The LORD is a warrior,
LORD is his name!
Pharaoh’s chariots and army he hurled into the sea;
the elite of his officers were submerged in the Red Sea.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
The flood waters covered them,
they sank into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O LORD, magnificent in power,
your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ex 15:1bc-2, 3-4, 5-6
This poem from Exodus celebrates God’s wondrous act of salvation as it recalls the passage of the people of Israel through the depths of the sea and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army following them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Matthew 12:38-42
Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
"Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."
He said to them in reply,
"An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,
but no sign will be given it
except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights,
so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and there is something greater than Jonah here.
At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon;
and there is something greater than Solomon here."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mt 12:38-42
In this passage from Matthew’s Gospel the Scribes and Pharisees demand a sign even though the Lord has been performing cures and exorcisms in front of them. Jesus reply tells them in no uncertain terms that no further sign will be given to them. Using a reference first to Jonah (see Jonah 2:1), and then to Wisdom of Solomon (see 1 Kings 10:1-13), he calls them unfaithful (literally adulterous) in their failure to understand that he is sent by God and his mission.
The implication of the first analogy is that through Christ’s death, spending three days in the tomb as Jonah spent three days in the whale, he will become judge and those who do not accept him, (referring to the scribes and Pharisees). The condemnation prescribed by God for Nineveh (Jonah 3:4) will be applied to a greater degree to them because the Messiah is greater than the Prophet Jonah. Similarly in the second analogy Christ’s revelation of the Father is compared to the Wisdom of Solomon which the “queen from the south (the Queen of Sheba)” came a great distance to hear. Again, the statement is made that this legendary Wisdom of Solomon is a pale comparison to Christ’s revelation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
There is a great tinge of irony is the scripture selections provided. In the first reading from Exodus God provides a sign for the Israelites that he is with them by thwarting the Pharaoh’s army. This act of salvation by God is recounted through all generations since it took place as a reminder of how God will save his faithful followers from destruction.
Placed against this spectacular sign comes the demand by some scribes and Pharisees that he provide them with something similar so that they might come to believe that he is the “Anointed One” – the Messiah. Jesus responds to them, telling them that since they refuse to believe that he is the one who came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (using the analogies of two other great signs form the Old Testament; Jonah’s encounter with the whale and the Queen of Sheba’s sacrifice for the sake of the Wisdom of Solomon), that they would suffer a punishment worse than the one promised by Jonah to Nineveh.
Two great signs of God’s love are given (the second given great emphasis for our benefit). And now we ask ourselves what sign does this age get to see? What did God plan to show this age and these generations to bring them to faith? One answer always surprises and humbles us. Christ gives us as a sign to the world. With huge strokes of the brush with which he paints the future of humankind he uses us to show the world what great love he has for us. We become the sign and instrument of his plan.
Today as we marvel at God’s great works; recalling how Pharaoh’s army was destroyed in the Red Sea and how God’s Son brings to fullness the Law and the Prophets, we pledge to do our part as a sign for our generation. Through our example we pray that others will see how great God’s love for them is and be amazed as we are at the peace that flows from him, through Christ, to us.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “Crossing of the Red Sea” by Cosimo Rosselli, 1481-82
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment