Geneis 32:31. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”

TWO YEAR LECTIONARY

PATRISTIC VIGILS READINGS

ORDINARY TIME

WEEKS 1 to 17 : YEAR II

THURSDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II

Jabbok River

    

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF GENESIS

(Jacob meet Esau and wrestles with God: Genesis 32:3-30)

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; and I have oxen, asses, flocks, menservants, and maidservants; and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favour in your sight.’”

And ...

v.24_30: The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Tell me, I pray, your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”

Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Year 2

A READING FROM THE HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL BY ST GREGORY THE GREAT

The pursuit of the contemplative life is something for which a great and sustained effort on the part of the powers of the soul is required, an effort to rise from earthly to heavenly things, an effort to keep one's attention fixed on spiritual things, an effort to pass beyond and above the sphere of things visible to the eyes of flesh, an effort finally to hem oneself in, so to speak, in order to gain access to spaces that are broad and open.

There are times indeed when one succeeds, overcoming the opposing obscurity of one's blindness and catching at least a glimpse, be it ever so fleeting and superficial, of boundless light. But the experience is momentary only, so that all too quickly the soul must again return to itself. From that light which is ap­proached with bated breath, it must now, sighing and mournful, go back once more to the obscurity of its blindness.

We have a beautiful illustration of all this in the sacred history of the Scriptures where the story is told of Jacob's encounter with the angel, while on his return journey to the home of his parents. On the way he met an angel with whom he engaged in a great struggle and, like anyone involved in such a contest, Jacob found his opponent, now stronger, now weaker than himself.

Let us understand the angel of this story as representing the Lord, and Jacob who contended with the angel as representing the soul of the perfect individual who in contemplation has come face to face with God. This soul, as it exerts every effort to behold God as he is in himself, is like one engaged with another in a contest of strength. At one moment it prevails so to speak, as it gains access to that boundless light and briefly experiences in mind and heart the sweet savour of the divine presence. The next moment, however, it succumbs, overcome and drained of its strength by the very sweetness of the taste it has experienced. The angel, therefore, is, as it were, overcome when in the innermost recesses of the intellect the divine presence is directly experienced and seen.

Here, however, it is to be noted that the angel, when he could not prevail over Jacob, touched the sciatic muscle of Jacob’s hip, so that it forthwith withered and shrank. From that time on Jacob became lame in one leg and walked with a limp. Thus also does the all-powerful God cause all carnal affections to dry up and wither away in us, once we have come to experience in our mind and hear the knowledge of him as he is in himself.

Previously we walked about on two feet, as it were, when we thought, so it seemed, that we could seek after God while remain­ing at the same time attached to the world. But having once come to the knowledge and experience of the sweetness of God, only one of these two feet retains its life and vigour, the other becoming lame and useless. For it necessarily follows that the stronger we grow in our love for God alone, the weaker becomes our love for the world.

St Gregory the Great, Hom. in Ez., 1.12 (PL 76:955); Word in Season VII

Alternative Reading

From a sermon by Guerric of Igny (In nat. Joannis Baptistae, sermo II: PL 185, 167-169)

No longer is love as strong as death, but stronger than death Since the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent are even now seizing it.

Did not the untiring wrestler, the patriarch Jacob, do violence to God? As it is written, he was strong against God and prevailed, wrestled with him until morning perseveringly and with all his might held fast to him when he asked to be let go. I will not let you go, he said, unless you bless me. I say that he wrestled with God, for God was in the angel with whom he wrestled. Otherwise the angel would not say: Why do you ask for my name? It is wonderful, and Jacob would not say: I have seen the Lord face to face.

It was a good sort of violence then that extorted a blessing; happy the wrestling in which God yielded to man and the vanquished rewarded the victor with the grace of a blessing and the honour of a holier name. What if he touched the sinew of his thigh and it withered, and so he went limping? A man will readily sacrifice his body and soon be comforted for the harm done when it is compensated for by such a gift, especially the man who could say: I have loved wisdom more than health and all beauty. Would that not only the sinew of my thigh but the strength of my whole body would wither, provided I might win but one blessing from an angel. Would that I might not only limp with Jacob but also die with Paul so as to obtain the grace and name of Israel as an everlasting gift. Jacob bears a withered hip, but Paul a dead body, because the mortification of the body's members begun by the first practices of the prophets was brought to completion by the gospel. Jacob goes limping, because in part his thoughts dwell on the things of the world while his other foot he bears raised up from the earth. Paul's thoughts dwell only on the things of God whether in the body or out of the body I know not, God knows; he is wholly free in spirit and flies up to heaven.

So to you, brethren, we say, you whose set purpose it is to win heaven by force, you who have come together to wrestle with the angel who guards the way to the tree of life, to you we say: it is wholly necessary that you should wrestle perseveringly and without remission.

But God forbid, brethren, God forbid that he who willed to become weak, and even to die for you, will be strong against you who ask for what is pleasing to him. He has been pierced with so many wounds, his whole body has suffered crucifixion; from where can he draw strength to resist that charity which led him, as if conquered and a prisoner, through every kind of weakness even to death, death on a cross? No longer is love as strong as death, but stronger than death, since God's strength through the power of his love has been made weak unto death. Yet his weakness has been found stronger than all the strongest, his death has been proved to be your death, O death.

Be armed then with the power of love, whoever you are who in your devotion would force an entry into the kingdom of heaven and make it your prize; and be assured that you will easily conquer the king of heaven himself. If he seems to oppose you with difficulties or hardness, do not be fainthearted but understand what his purpose is in so acting. By the very contradiction he seeks to give a finer edge to your spirit, as the nature of the magnanimous and the strong is wont to be; he seeks to exercise your forces, to prove your constancy, to multiply your victories and increase your crowns.

Responsory          1 In 4:9.16b; In 3:16

God's love for us was revealed when he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. + God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in God and God lives in him.

V. God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. + God is love ...

Allegory and the Text of the Bible. Hilary of Poitiers and Ambrose of Milan are considered to be the two theologians in the Latin West

COMMENT: from previous Post.

Candlemass Offertory

 
Hebrew Bible, Old Testament  The History of Its Interpretation - Google Books

A Word in Season - Reading by St Ambrose,- newer Edition commentary of ST HILARY OF POITIERS.

Placing the commentaries of Hilary (315-367) and Ambrose (339-397) in columns impress on us the patristic biblical styles succeeding in 30 years. 367-397.

http://orthodoxwiki.org/Ambrose_of_Milan

Ambrose zealously combatted imperial court attempts at favoritism to the parties of Arians, the "old" religion, and the Jews, particularly opposing the favors from Emperor Valentinian who supported the Arians. In defending the Orthodox position he has often been compared to St. Hilary of Poitiers. 

Ambrose is ranked with the great Western Christian leaders of the time: Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Gregory the Great, and St. Hilary of Poitiers. Ambrose was most known for his administrative talents, given his education and early experience before becoming a bishop. Yet, like Hilary he was an Alexandrian and was in the forefront in the doctrinal issues of the day, particularly those concerning Arianism. His sermons were famous and were influential in the conversion of Augustine. His endeavors in hymn writing became models of hymns of dignified simplicity for future times. Ambrose is credited with introducing antiphonal chanting wherein one choir alternates with another. Of particular note is that Ambrose baptized Augustine, his celebrated convert.

http://orthodoxwiki.org/Ambrose_of_Milan

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Hebrew Bible, Old Testament: The History of Its Interpretation

Magne Saebø, Christianus Brekelmans, Menahem Haran

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1 Dec 1996 - Bible - 847 pages

The first volume of the series Hebrew Bible / Old Testament deals with questions of the canon with regard to its interpretation from the Jewish, New Testament, rabbinic, and patristic point of view, and encompasses the time up to Augustine. It ends with a synopsis on Church and Synagogue as the respective matrix for the development of authoritative text interpretation.

page 682-3

Chapter Twenty

The Reception of the OriginistTradition in Latin Exegesis

By Christoph Jacob Munster

 Allegory and the Text of the Bible

Hilary of Poitiers and Ambrose of Milan are considered to be the two theologians in the Latin West who by their personal fate or by the the thoroughness of their education learned to know the Origenist interpretation of Scripture, assumed it wholeheartedly and paved the way for subsequent Latin exegesis.

p. 287     x 4

p. 688

In the conclusion to the treatise on the mysteries, Hilary speaks about the difficulties of allegorical interpretation in general: it is not easy to discern whether a certain passage of Scripture is to be understood as a simple event as a simple historical narrative or in the typical sense: the knowledge of the simple event is corrupted if treated vainly as a prophecy and its transfiguration dynamic is destroyed if it is considered as a historical fact only. (25 Cf Tractatus mysteriorum I. 13). This is said to be one of the wisest statements of Christian antiquity. (26 J. Danielou, Saint Hilaire eveque et docteur 1968)

This may be correct; it would be wrong, however, to trust J. Danielou’s introductory remark: he believes he has discovered here a distinction between allegory and ‘typology’. But Hilary does not oppose a “true exegesis”, i.e. an ecclesiastical typology, to an allegorical or literal understanding of Scripture. This the distinction of Danielou is trying to promote. Hilary rather speaks of the general difficulty arising from the decision about suitability of an historical or a spiritual reading of the Bible. One may n fact approve of the question raised by Hilary, but it is not possible to claim him to be an adherent of a ‘typological exegesis’ as opposed to allegorical interpretations. His question is more fundamental, asking about the meaning of ‘holy’ Scripture as such.

... It is not only a matter of historical justice to appreciate the hermeneutics of Hilary and Ambrose even if it differs essentially from the position of modern exegesis.

Ambrose and Hilary use allegorical techniques in order to get away from a semantical reading of the Bible. They regard Scripture as a crystal being able to reflect interpretations Christological or ecclesiastical issues. These different  interpretations do no harm to this crystal and at the same time its transparency is not complete: it scatters the light shining through it and gives rise to its many different colours. Is not this exactly the objective of allegorical expositions of the Bible.

Contents:

20. The Reception of the Origenist Tradition in Latin Exegesis 
By CHRISTOPH JACOB, Munster 

1. Allegory and the Text of the Bible
2. Hilary of Poitiers
2.1. The Fullness of His Exegetical Work
2.2. The Bible in the Christological Debates
3. Ambrose of Milan    :
3.1. Towards the Principles of His Exegesis
3.2. Allegorica dissimulatio: the Ambrosian Rhetoric
3.3. The Song of Songs in Ambrosian Allegory
4. Allegory and Interpretative Pluralism

Psalm 139 (138) DGB, Latin, Greek 'The Hound of Heaven'

 Exercise: compare Douai, Vulgate and Septuagint,
and Ps. 139 and Ps. 104. 

The Hound from Heaven

There can be little doubt that Francis Thompson (1859-1907) was inspired by the words of Psalm 139 when composing The Hound of Heaven. This will be evident from the opening lines:

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and the mist of tears

I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

Omniscience & Omnipresence  

 

  http://www.bibleinsong.com/Song_Pages/Psalms/Psalm139/Psalm139.htm 

The theme of Ps. 139 is God’s omniscience and omnipresence.  The psalmist recognizes God as present everywhere, One who is not only all-powerful, but also all-knowing, One who has formed man from the womb, and One whose presence man cannot escape.5

Ps.139 Compared to Psalm 104

This Psalm has often been admired for the grandeur of its sentiments, the elevation of its style, as well as the variety and beauty of its imagery. Bishop Lowth, in his 29th Prelection, classes it amongst the Hebrew idyls, as next to the 104th, in respect both to the conduct of the poem, and the beauty of the style. "If it be excelled," says he, "(as perhaps it is) by the former in the plan, disposition, and arrangement of the matter, it is not in the least inferior in the dignity and elegance of its sentiments, images, and figures." "Amongst its other excellencies," says Bishop Mant, "it is for nothing more admirable than for the exquisite skill with which it descants on the perfections of the Deity.

Douay-Rheims Bible You Have Searched Me and Know Me 1Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me: 2thou hast know my sitting down, and my rising up. 3Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line thou hast searched out. 4And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue. 5Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me. 6Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me: it is high, and I cannot reach to it. 7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face? 8If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present. 9If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea: 10Even there also shall thy hand lead me: and thy right hand shall hold me. 11And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures. 12But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to thee. 13For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother's womb. 14I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well. 15My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth. 16Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them. 17But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened. 18I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand: I rose up and am still with thee. 19If thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me: 20Because you say in thought: They shall receive thy cities in vain. 21Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee: and pine away because of thy enemies? 22I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me. 23Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths. 24And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in the eternal way. Douay-Rheims Bible

<< Psalmi 139 >> Psalm 139 Latin: Biblia Sacra Vulgata 1 (138-1) pro victoria David canticum Domine investigasti me et cognovisti 2 (138-2) tu cognovisti sessionem meam et surrectionem meam 3 (138-3) intellexisti malum meum de longe semitam meam et accubitionem meam eventilasti 4 (138-4) et omnes vias meas intellexisti quia non est eloquium in lingua mea 5 (138-5) ecce Domine nosti omnia retrorsum et ante formasti me et posuisti super me manum tuam 6 (138-6) super me est scientia et excelsior est non potero ad eam 7 (138-7) quo ibo ab spiritu tuo et quo a facie tua fugiam 8 (138-8) si ascendero in caelum ibi es tu si iacuero in inferno ades 9 (138-9) si sumpsero pinnas diluculo habitavero in novissimo maris 10 (138-10) etiam ibi manus tua deducet me et tenebit me dextera tua 11 (138-11) si dixero forte tenebrae operient me nox quoque lux erit circa me 12 (138-12) nec tenebrae habent tenebras apud te et nox quasi dies lucet similes sunt tenebrae et lux 13 (138-13) quoniam tu possedisti renes meos orsusque es me in utero matris meae 14 (138-14) confitebor tibi quoniam terribiliter magnificasti me mirabilia opera tua et anima mea novit nimis 15 (138-15) non sunt operta ossa mea a te quibus factus sum in abscondito imaginatus sum in novissimis terrae 16 (138-16) informem adhuc me viderunt oculi tui et in libro tuo omnes scribentur dies formatae sunt et non est una in eis 17 (138-17) mihi autem quam honorabiles facti sunt amici tui Deus quam fortes pauperes eorum 18 (138-18) dinumerabo eos et harena plures erunt evigilavi et adhuc sum tecum 19 (138-19) si occideris Deus impium viri sanguinum declinate a me 20 (138-20) qui contradicent tibi scelerate elati sunt frustra adversarii tui 21 (138-21) nonne odientes te Domine odivi et contra adversarios tuos distabui 22 (138-22) perfecto odio oderam illos inimici facti sunt mihi 23 (138-23) scrutare me Deus et cognosce cor meum proba me et scito cogitationes meas 24 (138-24) et vide si via idoli in me est et deduc me in via aeterna << Psalm 139 >> Latin: Biblia Sacra Vulgata

<< Psalms 139 >> Psalm 139 Greek OT: Septuagint with Diacritics 1εἰς τὸ τέλος ψαλμὸς τῷ δαυιδ κύριε ἐδοκίμασάς με καὶ ἔγνως με 2σὺ ἔγνως τὴν καθέδραν μου καὶ τὴν ἔγερσίν μου σὺ συνῆκας τοὺς διαλογισμούς μου ἀπὸ μακρόθεν 3τὴν τρίβον μου καὶ τὴν σχοῖνόν μου σὺ ἐξιχνίασας καὶ πάσας τὰς ὁδούς μου προεῖδες 4ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν λόγος ἐν γλώσσῃ μου 5ἰδού κύριε σὺ ἔγνως πάντα τὰ ἔσχατα καὶ τὰ ἀρχαῖα σὺ ἔπλασάς με καὶ ἔθηκας ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὴν χεῖρά σου 6ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἐξ ἐμοῦ ἐκραταιώθη οὐ μὴ δύνωμαι πρὸς αὐτήν 7ποῦ πορευθῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός σου καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου σου ποῦ φύγω 8ἐὰν ἀναβῶ εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν σὺ εἶ ἐκεῖ ἐὰν καταβῶ εἰς τὸν ᾅδην πάρει 9ἐὰν ἀναλάβοιμι τὰς πτέρυγάς μου κατ' ὄρθρον καὶ κατασκηνώσω εἰς τὰ ἔσχατα τῆς θαλάσσης 10καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖ ἡ χείρ σου ὁδηγήσει με καὶ καθέξει με ἡ δεξιά σου 11καὶ εἶπα ἄρα σκότος καταπατήσει με καὶ νὺξ φωτισμὸς ἐν τῇ τρυφῇ μου 12ὅτι σκότος οὐ σκοτισθήσεται ἀπὸ σοῦ καὶ νὺξ ὡς ἡμέρα φωτισθήσεται ὡς τὸ σκότος αὐτῆς οὕτως καὶ τὸ φῶς αὐτῆς 13ὅτι σὺ ἐκτήσω τοὺς νεφρούς μου κύριε ἀντελάβου μου ἐκ γαστρὸς μητρός μου 14ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ὅτι φοβερῶς ἐθαυμαστώθην θαυμάσια τὰ ἔργα σου καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου γινώσκει σφόδρα 15οὐκ ἐκρύβη τὸ ὀστοῦν μου ἀπὸ σοῦ ὃ ἐποίησας ἐν κρυφῇ καὶ ἡ ὑπόστασίς μου ἐν τοῖς κατωτάτοις τῆς γῆς 16τὸ ἀκατέργαστόν μου εἴδοσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ βιβλίον σου πάντες γραφήσονται ἡμέρας πλασθήσονται καὶ οὐθεὶς ἐν αὐτοῖς 17ἐμοὶ δὲ λίαν ἐτιμήθησαν οἱ φίλοι σου ὁ θεός λίαν ἐκραταιώθησαν αἱ ἀρχαὶ αὐτῶν 18ἐξαριθμήσομαι αὐτούς καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄμμον πληθυνθήσονται ἐξηγέρθην καὶ ἔτι εἰμὶ μετὰ σοῦ 19ἐὰν ἀποκτείνῃς ἁμαρτωλούς ὁ θεός ἄνδρες αἱμάτων ἐκκλίνατε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ 20ὅτι ἐρεῖς εἰς διαλογισμόν λήμψονται εἰς ματαιότητα τὰς πόλεις σου 21οὐχὶ τοὺς μισοῦντάς σε κύριε ἐμίσησα καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς σου ἐξετηκόμην 22τέλειον μῖσος ἐμίσουν αὐτούς εἰς ἐχθροὺς ἐγένοντό μοι 23δοκίμασόν με ὁ θεός καὶ γνῶθι τὴν καρδίαν μου ἔτασόν με καὶ γνῶθι τὰς τρίβους μου 24καὶ ἰδὲ εἰ ὁδὸς ἀνομίας ἐν ἐμοί καὶ ὁδήγησόν με ἐν ὁδῷ αἰωνίᾳ << Psalm 139 >>