December
17, 2015
Thursday
of the Third Week of Advent
Saints of the Day: St. Josep Manyanet y Vives,
Priest and Founder († 1901) hSaint Josep Manyanet y Vives, priest & Founder (1901), Saint Olympias, Widow (c. 410)
Reading 1
2Jacob
called his sons and said to them: “Assemble
and listen, sons of Jacob,
listen
to Israel, your father.
8“You,
Judah, shall your brothers praise –your
hand on the neck of your enemies;
the
sons of your father shall bow down to you. 9Judah,
like a lion’s whelp, you
have grown up on prey, my son. He
crouches like a lion recumbent, the
king of beasts–who would dare rouse him?
10The
scepter shall never depart from Judah, or
the mace from between his legs,
Responsorial Psalm
1God, with your judgment endow the king, and
with your justice, the king’s son;
2He
shall govern your people with justice and
your afflicted ones with judgment.
R.
Justice shall flourish in His time, and fullness of peace for ever.
3The
mountains shall yield peace for the people, and
the hills justice. 4aHe
shall defend the afflicted among the people, 4bsave
the children of the poor.
R.
Justice shall flourish in His time, and fullness of peace for ever.
7Justice
shall flower in His days, and
profound peace, till the moon be no more.
8May He rule from sea to sea, and
from the River to the ends of the earth.
R.
Justice shall flourish in His time, and fullness of peace for ever.
17May His name be blessed forever; as
long as the sun His name shall remain.
In
him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed; all
the nations shall proclaim His happiness.
R.
Justice shall flourish in His time, and fullness of peace for ever.
Alleluia
R.
Alleluia, alleluia.
O
Wisdom of our God Most High, guiding creation with power and love: come to teach
us the path of knowledge!
R.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
1The
book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.[2][3] 2Abraham
became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob
the father of Judah and his brothers.
3Judah
became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez
became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4Ram the father of
Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of
Salmon, 5Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz
became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of
Jesse, 6Jesse the father of David the king. David became the father of Solomon,
whose mother had been the wife of Uriah.
7Solomon
became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah
the father of Asaph.[4] 8Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat
the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah.
9Uzziah
became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of
Hezekiah. 10Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of
Amos, Amos the father of Josiah.[5]
11Josiah
became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian
exile. 12After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel
the father of Zerubbabel,
13Zerubbabel
the father of Abiud. Abiud became the
father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok
became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, 15Eliud the father of
Eleazar. Eleazar
became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,
16Jacob
the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called
the Christ.
17Thus
the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from
David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile
to the Christ, fourteen generations.[6]
Notes on Readings:
[1] Genesis 49:10 - While tribute is brought to him: this
translation is based on a slight change in the Hebrew text, which, as it
stands, would seem to mean, "until he comes to Shiloh." A somewhat
different reading of the Hebrew text would be, "until he comes to whom it
belongs." This last has been traditionally understood in a Messianic
sense. In any case, the passage foretells the supremacy of the tribe of Judah,
which found its fulfillment in the Davidic dynasty and ultimately in the
Messianic Son of David, Jesus Christ.
[2] Matthew 1:1 - 2:23 - The infancy narrative forms the prologue of the gospel. Consisting of a
genealogy and five stories, it presents the coming of Jesus as the climax of
Israel's history, and the events of his conception, birth, and early childhood
as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The genealogy is probably
traditional material that Matthew edited. In its first two sections (Matthew 1;2-11) it was drawn from Ruth 4:18-22; 1 Chronicle 1-3. Except for Jechoniah, Shealtiel, and Zerubbabel, none of the names in the
third section (Matthew 1:12-16) is found in any Old Testament genealogy. While the genealogy shows the
continuity of God's providential plan from Abraham on, discontinuity is also
present. The women Tamar (Matthew 1:3), Rahab and Ruth (Matthe5 1:5), and the wife
of Uriah, Bathsheba (Matthew 1:6), bore their sons through unions that were in varying degrees strange and
unexpected. These "irregularities" culminate in the supreme
"irregularity" of the Messiah's birth of a virgin mother; the age of
fulfillment is inaugurated by a creative act of God. Drawing upon both biblical
tradition and Jewish stories, Matthew portrays Jesus as reliving the Exodus
experience of Israel and the persecutions of Moses. His rejection by His own
people and His passion are foreshadowed by the troubled reaction of "all
Jerusalem" to the question of the magi who are seeking the "newborn
king of the Jews"(Matthew 2:2-3), and by Herod's attempt to have Him killed. The magi who do Him homage
prefigure the Gentiles who will accept the preaching of the gospel. The infancy
narrative proclaims who Jesus is, the savior of His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21), Emmanuel in whom "God is with us" (Matthew 1:23), and the Son of God (Matthew 2:15).
[3] Matthew 1:1 - The Son of David, the son of Abraham: two links of the genealogical chain are
singled out. Although the later, David is placed first in order to emphasize
that Jesus is the royal Messiah. The mention of Abraham may be due not only to
his being the father of the nation Israel but to Matthew's interest in the
universal scope of Jesus' mission; compare with Genesis 22:18 ". . . . in your descendants all
the nations of the earth shall find blessing."
[4] Matthew 1:7 - The successor of Abijah was not Asaph but
Asa (see 1 Chronicle 3:10). Some textual witnesses read the latter name; however, Asaph is better
attested. Matthew may have deliberately introduced the psalmist Asaph into the
genealogy (and in (and in Matthew 1:10) the prophet Amos) in order to show that Jesus is the fulfillment not only of
the promises made to David (see 2 Samuel 7) but of all the Old Testament.
[5] Matthew 1:10 - Amos: some textual witnesses read Amon, who
was the actual successor of Manasseh (see 1 Chronicle 3:14).
[6] Matthew 1:17 - Matthew is concerned with fourteen generations,
probably because fourteen is the numerical value of the Hebrew letters forming
the name of David. In the second section of the genealogy (Matthew 1:6b-11), three kings of Judah, Ahaziah, Joash,
and Amaziah, have been omitted (see 1 Chronicle 3:11-12), so that there are fourteen generations in that section. Yet the third (Matthew 1:12-16) apparently has only thirteen. Since Matthew here emphasizes that each section
has fourteen, it is unlikely that the thirteen of the last was due to his
oversight. Some scholars suggest that Jesus who is called the Messiah (Matthew 1:16b) doubles the final member of the chain: Jesus, born within the family of David,
opens up the new age as Messiah, so that in fact there are fourteen generations
in the third section. This is perhaps too subtle, and the hypothesis of a slip
not on the part of Matthew but of a later scribe seems likely. On Messiah, see
the footnote on Luke 2:11.
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Dear Humanity,
I personally encourage everyone to emulate JESUS' values on LOVE, FAITH, HOPE
and CHARITY, as the humanity has been a failure; which resulted to the more than two (2) years of pandemic and its after-effects on economy, not only here in the Philippines but worldwide.
And the saddest part of it, is that, it affected the POOREST of the POOR to even extremely be more poorer, in exchange of the affluent to be more richer.
Thank you and may GOD bless you and the whole family to have an enjoyed life's journey at home, Church, schools/universities, corporate commitments, public and places of interest.