The Night Office today, First Reading, was read from Isaiah, below.
In fact the Memorial today was on Saint Padre Pio, see later.
TWENTY-FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY
TIME TUESDAY
Second Reading From
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| Jean Danielou SJ |
WEDNESDAY
First Reading
Isaiah 7:1-17
Responsory Is 7:13; 2 Sm 7:8.16
Listen, House of David: The Lord of his own accord will give you a sign: + The maiden is with child, and she shall give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel.
V. Say to my servant David: Your family and your kingdom shall be established forever in my sight; your throne shall endure for all time. + The maiden ...
Second Reading
From The Infancy Narratives by Jean
Danielou
One
of the most characteristic preoccupations of Matthew is to show the events of Jesus'
life as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies. That is what he is doing
when he quotes the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 that a virgin will conceive and bear
a son, after explaining: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had
spoken by the prophet.
Now
if we look at the text from Isaiah, we find that the prophecy, addressed to a
king descended from David, Ahaz, begins: Hear, then, O house of
David, and its purpose is to foretell the birth of a descendant of David
who will be a "sign." Therefore, the prophecy essentially supports the
basic statement contained in the episode, namely that Jesus is of the house of
David. Indeed, that is its principal purpose. But furthermore, the prophecy contains
one verse that links it extremely well with a major element in the story - the verse
which says that the child to come will be the son of a woman whom the Hebrew
text designates by a word that could mean "virgin," and which the Greek
text deliberately translates so. That is why it is that verse that Matthew
quotes. But he uses it as a reference to the prophecy as a whole.
The text makes this quite clear in saying
that it is all this, all the events in question, and therefore, first
and foremost, the filiation to David, that took place to fulfill the
prophecy. The connection between the almah, virgin theme and the virgin
birth is only secondary. It does not base faith in the virgin birth on the fact
that it is the fulfilment of a prophecy: on the contrary, it provides a
Christian exegesis of the prophecy in the light of the virgin birth. This was something
specially characteristic of the targumin of the Judeo-Christians, who,
because of their legitimate certainty that Christ was the fulfilment of the Old
Testament, felt it their right to project onto the Old Testament the affirmations
of the New.
This
has some very important consequences. Whereas all too many exegetes like to see
the infancy narratives as myths presented in the guise of history, our analysis
leads us to precisely the opposite conclusion. The essential things in our text
are the historical statements, first among them the fact of Jesus' being adopted
by Joseph despite the virgin birth. And it is these statements that are so rich
in theological consequences, for they make it clear that Jesus is both Son of
God and Son of David.
Responsory Mt 1:20-23
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived through the Holy Spirit. + She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
V. All this happened to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord though the prophet: A virgin will conceive and bear a son, and he shall be called Emmanuel, which means God is with us. + She wil bear ...
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