Extraordinary Form: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Readings.

Sunday Gospel Scripture Study.  Excellent  audio/video.  Not yet posted.  Keep trying link.

Sunday Reflections.  Very good, brief audio/video presentation.  Run-time 4:25.  Examines the themes of the readings and looks at the Gospel teaching on “The Son of Man” in relation to the prophecy of Daniel 7.

The Navarre Bible Daily Word.  Text and commentary on the daily Mass readings taken from the famous Navarre Bible Commentary.  This Sunday’s readings/commentaries listed below.

• First reading/commentary.
• Second reading/commentary.
• Gospel reading/commentary.

Daily Gospel.  This site provides the daily Mass readings and brief commentary on the Gospel, usually taken from the writings of a Saint.

Word Sunday.  Contains text and notes on the readings, including the Responsorial Psalm. Below are the links and summary of the readings taken from the Homepage, which contains more resources.

• FIRST READING: The book of Wisdom presented the evil as those who attacked the faithful for no other reason than their trust in God. This is truly a trial for the good, but they can take solace in their relationship with the Almighty.
• PSALM: Sometimes we are lead to thank God even in times of trial, for that prayer is an expectation of salvation. Psalm 54 is such a hymn of thanksgiving in the midst of trouble.
• SECOND READING: In his letter, James appealed to the higher virtue of wisdom for guidance in the Christian life. God’s wisdom beats the “common wisdom” every time.
• GOSPEL: Even after Jesus defined his role as Messiah in Mark’s gospel, his followers still didn’t understand. They jostled for leadership positions within the group. This led to a teachable moment for Jesus. Care for the least was the hallmark of Christian leadership.

Daily Scripture Reading & Meditation.  Click on date (Sept 20).

Extraordinary Form 16th Sunday after Pentecost.  Please note that the readings of the EF Differ from those of the OF.

First Reading, Ephesians 3:13-21.

Second Reading, Luke 14:1-11.

Devout Instructions on the Epistle and Gospel.  Contains text and notes on the readings and prayers of this Sunday’s Mass, followed by instructions on how to keep holy Sundays and holydays.

Homily on the Gospel: The Sanctification of Sundays and Holydays

Homily on the Epistle for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost

Ordinary Form:

Sunday Gospel Scripture Study.  Video.  As I write this the video is not yet available so keep checking.

John Paul II Catholic University.  Video, approx. 5 minutes.  I’ve been having problems with my computer; could someone tell me if the sound quality of this video is bad?

Daily Word: Text and Commentary on the readings taken from the Navarre Bible.

• 1st Reading
• 2nd Reading
• Gospel Reading

Daily Gospel.  Another great daily resource.  Contains the Gospel reading of the day, a link to a brief reflection, usually by a Church Father or Saint.  The If you are viewing the page on a day other than Sunday, July 26 you must click the blue arrow and select the date.  You can get this resource daily via email.

• Readings.
• Commentary.  By St Hilary.  Very brief.
• Saint of the day.  Very brief.

Word Sunday.  Contains a podcast, the Scripture readings with brief commentary, children’s readings, and suggested family activities.

Word On Fire.  Audio sermon by Father Robert Barron.

Extraordinary Form: Please note that the readings for the EF differ from those of the OF.

The Pulpit Orator.  Outstanding sermons from Father Johann Evangelist Zollner.

• Homiletic Sketch #1: Why We Must Mortify The Deeds Of The Flesh.
• Homiletic Sketch #2: The Parable Of The Unjust Steward.
• Dogmatic Sketch: On The Particular Judgment.
• Liturgical Sketch: On St Mary Magdalen, St James the Greater, and St Anne.

St Thomas Aquinas Homily Notes:

• On the Epistle.
• On the Gospel.  Please not that the Gospel reading in St Thomas’ day differed from that of the 1962 Missal.  I’ve included the link because these notes are excellent sources for reflection and meditation.

Instructions for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.  Includes a Moral Lesson Concerning Detraction.

Homily by St Jerome.  Includes Gospel Reading.

Sermon on the Unjust Steward.

St Alphonsus Ligouri.  Sermon on the Unjust Steward.  The text is faded, increase text size or use the “zoom in” feature for easier reading.

Sermon on the Death of the Just.

Homily on the Epistle Reading. By Bishop Bonomelli

The post below contain links to online video, audio, and text resources for this Sunday’s Mass according to both forms of the Rite.

Novo Ordo:

John Paul II University.  Video Reflections, 4 minutes.  This comes via SINGING IN THE REIGN Blog.

Sunday Gospel Scripture Study.  Video. An excellent resource.  Most presentations take 50-60 minutes.

Daily Word.  Text and commentary on the readings taken from the Navarre Bible.

• First Reading.
• Second Reading.
• Gospel.

Daily Gospel.  Another great daily resource.  Contains the Gospel reading of the day, a link to a brief reflection, usually by a Church Father or Saint.  The If you are viewing the page on a day other than Sunday, July 19 you must click the blue arrow and select the date.

• Readings.  Includes the Psalm.
• Commentary/reflection.  By Origen.
• Saint(s)/Martyr(s) of the day.
• Main Page. For daily use.  Readings and links change daily.

Word On Fire.  Audio by Father Robert Barron.  Be sure to check out his main page.

Father Philip Neri Powell.  As I write this post his Sunday sermon is not up yet.

Word Sunday.  Contains a podcast, the Scripture readings with brief commentary, children’s readings, and suggested family activities.

Extraordinary Form.  Please note that the lectionary readings for the older form are not the same as the Novo Ordo.

Instructions For The 7th Sunday After Pentecost.

Homily by St Hilary.

A Homily on Capital Punishment.  Note that although this was published in 1902 it still describes the subject of capital punishment and its abolition as “an open question among Catholics.”

Homily by St Alphonsus Ligouri: On The Education Of Children.  The text is somewhat faded; you may have to click on the “+” sign to increase the text size for easier reading.

Homily: On The Death Of A Sinner.

4. Date and Place of Writing. From 1 Cor 16:8 it is clear that this letter was written at Ephesus; and from 1 Cor 16:5, where there is a question of a proximate visit to Macedonia, it is also clear that it was written toward the end of the Apostle’s sojourn in Ephesus on his third missionary journey, very probably in the spring of the year 57; for it was about this time that Timothy and Erastus were sent to Macedonia (Acts 19:22), just shortly before the tumult stirred up by Demetrius (Acts 19:23 ff.), following which St Paul left Asia.  That the Epistle was written around Paschal time also seems very probable from the allusions in it to the Pasch, to unleavened bread (5:6-7; 15:20, 23; 16:15), and to the Resurrection of Christ (15:4, 12).  Cornely thinks it was written in 58.  The exact time depends on the date assigned to the close of St Paul’s stay in Ephesus on his third missionary journey, and since this cannot be fixed with entire certainty and precision, the date given for the writing of the Epistle can be only approximate.

The Epistle was probably carried to Corinth by the delegates who had come from there to Ephesus, namely Stephanus, Fortanatus and Achaicus.  This is according to the note attached to the end of the letter in the Received Text.  That Timothy could not have delivered the letter to the Corinthians, as some have said, seems evident from the fact that he had departed for Macedonia before it was completed.

5. Authenticity and Canonicity. The authenticity of this Epistle has been so universally accepted by critics of practically every school that it seems hardly necessary to cite arguments in proof of it.  Even the German Rationalists of the Tubingen School admitted as genuine the Epistles to the Corinthians, the Romans and the Galatians.  A few minor objections to 1 Corinthians have in recent times been raised by such Rationalists as Bruno Baur, Nabor, Pierson and Loman; but they are too insignificant to merit any serious attention.  It will be sufficient, therefore, to give some of the principle proofs for its genuineness and canonicity.

(a) External proofs.  This Epistle was certainly known to the earliest ecclesiastical writers.  Clement of Rome, who was the friend and companion of St Paul (Phil 4:3), and later Bishop of Rome (Euseb., Hist. Eccl. 111. 4), in his first letter to the Corinthians (47:1-3) wrote about the year 98 as follows: “Take up the Epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul.  What did he write to you at the time when the Gospel first began to be preached?  Truly, under the inspiration of the Spirit, he wrote to you concerning himself and Cephas, and Apollo, because even the parties had been formed among you,” etc.  Polycarp, the disciple of St John the Evangelist, in his letter to the Philippians (11:2) cites 1 Cor 6:2, attributing it directly to St Paul: “Do we not know that the saints shall judge the world, as Paul teaches.”  The enumeration of the vices of the Philippians given by Polycarp in the same letter is exactly parallel with 1 Cor 6:9-10, and terminates with the very words of the Apostle: “They shall not possess the Kingdom of God.”  In the Greek edition of the letters of St Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (circa 98-117), there are many quotations from this Epistle.  St Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons and a disciple of Polycarp, cites (Adv. Haer. 111. 11, 9; 18, 2) the Epistle over sixty times, often observing that it is the work of St Paul and was written to the Corinthians.  Clement of Alexandria (Pædag. 1. 6) and Tertullian (De rusur. mort. 18) also cites 1 Corinthians a great number of times, and frequently by name.  Many other authorities might be given in proof of the authorship of this Epistle, but it will be sufficient to add that it was also admitted as authentic by Basilides, Marcion and other heretics of the first centuries.

(b) Internal proofs.  Even a casual examination of the nature and contents of the present Epistle shows beyond question that it was written by St Paul.  Its historical facts and dogmatic teaching, its peculiarity of language and style, the manner in which it refers to the Old Testament, the characteristic way in which arguments are developed, beginning with general principles and coming to particular conclusions, the personal touches which it bears on every page,-all prove conclusively that it could not have been written by anybody except the Apostle Paul.  Moreover, all that we otherwise known of St Paul and of Corinth we find to be in perfect agreement with the information furnished by this Epistle.  As Charles Baur has said (Der Apostel Paulus, Stuttgart, 1845, vil. I, p. 260), “this letter is tis own guarantee of authenticity; for more than any other writing of the New Testament, it carries us to the living midst of the a Church in formation and gives us an inner view of the development of the new life called forth by Christianity.”

Due to the length of the introduction I have decided to divide it up into a series of posts.  This first post looks at the city itself; its history, geographical importance, and social situation.  Circumstances relating to St Paul’s ministry in the city and the production of the Letters to Corinth will be presented in future posts.

1.  Corinth. The city to which the Corinthian letters were addressed, and which St Paul first visited and evangelized on his second missionary journey, was not the ancient metropolis by the same name.  The old city, which Cicero called the “light of all Greece” (PRo Lege Manil. 5), was destroyed by the Romans under the generalship of Lucius Mummius in 146 B.C., and lay in complete ruins for an entire century.  In 146 B.C. Julius Caesar laid on the anceint site the foundations of the new metropolis and called it Colonia Julia Corinthus.

In a comparatively short time the new city became nearly as populous and flourishing as the old one had been.  This was due to its remarkable location.  Lying at the southern extremity of the isthmus, about four miles in breadth, that connects the Peloponnesus or lower portion of the Grecian peninsula with the mainland, and fed by the two famous seaport towns, Lechaeum on the west and Cenchrae on the east of the isthmus, Corinth was bound to be, as it had been in the past, a commercial center of highest importance.  Its position was conspicuous on the highway of commerce between the Orient and the Occident, and it was not without reason that the great business thoroughfare of the then-known world passed this way; for all trading between the East and Rome took this route in order to avoid the perilous and more or less continual storms that swept the seas about the southern coast of Greece.  Although inferior to Athens as an intellectual center Corinth was very eminent in this respect also.  It was proud of its many schools of philosophy and rhetoric, as well as the excellence of its architecture.

As might be expected, Corinth was unrivaled in its wealth, in the variety of its population, and in its profligacy.  Being the capital of the Roman Province of Achaia it was the residence of the proconsul, and its political and civil influence was mainly Roman.  Asiatics were also there from Ephesus, and Jews in sufficient numbers to have their synagogues.  And yet, having been Greek in its origin, the city never lost the spirit and customs of its ancestors; its language, its literature and its laws remained Greek.

St Chrysostom pronounced Corinth “the most licentious city of all that are or ever have been.”  During the daytime its streets were packed with peddlers, sodliers and sailors; with foreign and domestic traders, boxers and wrestlers; with idlers, slaves, gamblers and the like.  At night the great metropolis was a scene of drunken revelry and of every kind of vice.  “To live like a Corinthian” was to lead a dissolute and lawless life.  Far from correcting or restraining the shameless immorality of its inhabitants the religion of Corinth only added to it.  Aphrodite Pandemos, the goddess of lust and sinful love, was the guardian deity of the city.  In her temple, professional prostitutes who gave lascivious dances at public festivals, and carnal intercourse with whom was looked upon as a religious consecration.  Little wonder that a city of such gross sensuality should have been filled with defrauders, fornicators, idolators, adulterers, effeminate, liars, thieves, covetous, drunkards, railers and extortioners (1 Cor 6:8-10).  St Paul, from his long residence there, had personal knowledge of conditions as they existed, and hence the vividness and force of the letters he addressed to the faithful of that wicked city.

The ancient site of Corinth possesses now only a miserable town of five churches and a few thousand inhabitants.  Aside from some Doric dolumns, still defying in their massive grandeur the wastes of time, no relic remains of the glories and powers that once were gathered there.  The site of the old city is no so desolate because, not only has it been repeatedly plundered since ancient days, but in the year 1858, after a destructive earthquake, it was largely abandoned, and a new city by the same name was built on the west of the isthmus on the Corinthian gulf.