Sunday, July 20, 2008

The first reading got by me, because it was so unfamiliar:
There is no god besides you who have the care of all,
that you need show you have not unjustly condemned.

For your might is the source of justice;
your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.

For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity1.

But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency,
and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you.

And you taught your people, by these deeds,
that those who are just must be kind;
and you gave your children good ground for hope
that you would permit repentance for their sins.
- Wis. 12:13, 16-19
The brief note of explanation in my missal called out the reading's point:

"the lesson of the parable of the weeds among the wheat is succinctly stated in the lines from Wisdom, which speak of God as just but kind. What is particularly sriking in these verses is the balance the author achieves between God's might and God's mercy. ... God's leniency proves God's power. ... 'Your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.'"

And after this line:
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.
I told Kenny that quote is from the psalms, not the prophets.2

The homilist began by criticizing the NAB's literal translation of agios ("holy ones"), saying that "saints" is more familiar. Yet, immediately, the homilist informed us that the Catholic concept of "saints" is not the biblical notion of "saints" which was said of living people3. Then he went on to describe a "saint" he once knew ... and all the things she did ...

Commonweal has this snippet from Benedict's sermon4 on the same reading. Naturally, there are translation issues discussed there as well!

JP has a post complaining about Catholic laxity at Sunday worship. I didn't bother with that little gesture5 and I noticed the teenager in front of me making the sign of the cross on the tip of her nose!


1 "... who has had the unmitigated temerity to feel sorry for a white woman ..." - Atticus's speech.
2 "some textual witnesses read 'Isaiah the prophet.' The quotation is actually from Psalm 78:2; the first line corresponds to the LXX text of the psalm. The psalm's title ascribes it to Asaph, the founder of one of the guilds of temple musicians. He is called 'the prophet' (NAB 'the seer') in 2 Chron 29:30 but it is doubtful that Matthew averted to that; for him, any Old Testament text that could be seen as fulfilled in Jesus was prophetic." - NAB footnote.
3 If "saints" doesn't convey to the Catholic the intent of the sacred text, then why would the homilist bother to introduce the term, only to undercut it, especially when the Catholic translators chose another word? Stick with "holy ones."
4 Paulist Press has a book of the transcripts, I guess, of the Pope's words in America. I thought it was audio but it isn't.
5 "Why do Catholics touch their face before reading the Gospel?" - Catholic Answers Forum.

No comments: