Readings

First Reading: Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 45:10, 11, 12, 16 (10bc)

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:20-27

Alleluia:

Gospel: Luke 1:39-56

Commentary

Today the Faithful honor the memory of the Mother of God, Mary Assumed into Heaven. The Assumption Lectionary Readings are not included in Appendix II—Table of Readings and Appendix III—Table of Responsorial Psalms and Canticles. This is one more sign of incompetence by the authors of the Lectionary. Imagine how this Jewish mother dislikes such incompetence.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans, Louisiana, is responsible for revising the Lectionary. We pray that his due diligence will produce a work of which the Faithful can be justifiably proud.

These Personal Notes keep pointing to what needs improvement. This particular set of Personal Notes has made an effort to see what is available in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly. In that way, the Notes provide something below the double line. My hope is that the Archbishop will pay more attention to academic rigor.

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Annotated Bibliography

Material above the double line draws from material below the double line. Those uninterested in scholarly and tangential details should stop reading here. If they do, however, they may miss some interesting material.

Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a

Different languages perceive reality differently. Translating this emphasis from the original Greek into English is an object of the highlighting on the last page of the hard copy, not found on the web site. The purpose of the highlighting is to transfer the Greek emphasis on personal pronouns into the English translation. Pronouns highlighted in blue have greater emphasis than in English, but are not as intense as the words marked in red.

Words marked with a vertical line, rather than fully highlighted, indicate places where the English translation lacks a pronoun corresponding to a pronoun in the Greek. Words underlined with a horizontal line, indicate places where the English translation uses a noun, corresponding to a pronoun in the Greek. Marks that do not highlight anything indicate untranslated pronouns. Words in brackets [ ] are not in the Greek

Anyone wanting a copy of the highlighted verses, please ask me at Jirran@verizon.net. Thank you.

Besides the usual pronouns, two other words in this Revelations reading have a more intense emphasis: verse 12:1, a crown of twelve stars; and verse 12:5 destined to rule all the nations.

Psalm 45:10, 11, 12, 16 (10bc)

1 Corinthians 15:20-27

Six Greek words are more intense: verse 22, in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life; verse 24 he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power; verse 25, until he has put all his enemies under his feet, and verse 27a, he subjected everything under his feet.

Luke 1:39-56

In Luke there are only two intense Greek words: verse 43, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? and verse 48, all generations will call me blessed.

Part of verse 39 is missing, namely, in those days. The documentation does not recognize the omission. Sloppy scholarship.

There is a marked difference in the Greek between how the Lectionary translates verse 48, his lowly servant and verse 54, the help of his servant Israel. When Mary refers to herself in verse 48 as lowly servant, the Greek connotes slave. When Mary refers to Israel in verse 54, the Greek connotes child.

Luke 1:46-55

Raymond E. Brown, S.S.

“Gospel Infancy Narrative Research from 1976 to 1986: Part II (Luke)”

This is Brown at his best, showing that dogma develops apart from Sacred Scripture. He has a section on “Visitation, Canticles, Magnificat.” Brown elaborates on the verb tenses in the Magnificat that I will save for another time with Daniel B. Wallace.

Luke 1:26-56 and Revelation 12:10

Pheme Perkins, “Theological Implications of New Testament Pluralism”

Perkins argues, “Liberation theology argues that the integration of religious symbols, values, and modes of action with the whole social system negates the modern isolation of religion.” The most important aspect of reading the Magnificat is the radical aspect, expressed elsewhere as the last shall be first and the first last. (Matt 20:16) The “From Narrative and Poetry to Myth” section makes more sense out of the Book of Revelation than I have seen elsewhere.

Luke 1:40-55

Dennis Hamm, S.J., review of Mark Coleridge, The Birth of the Lukan Narrative: Narrative as Christology in Luke 1—2

Hamm reports, “The visitation pericope emerges not simply as a bridge to the Magnificat but, together with the canticle, it functions as a celebration and expression of Mary’s own faith-interpretation,” faith-interpretation of how to understand the actions of God.

Luke 1:42

Brittany E. Wilson, “Pugnacious Precursors and the Bearer of Peace: Jael, Judith, and Mary in Luke 1:42”

Wilson argues, “The most marked difference between Mary’s victory song and the songs praising her two predecessors [Jael and Judith] is that the Magnificat ends on a note of mercy … as opposed to destruction of Israel’s enemies.” Wilson concludes, “From now on, those who are called blessed follow not the way of violence but the way of peace” because, as she puts it, “`peace’ becomes synonymous with the arrival of the kingdom of God in the person of Jesus.”

For more on sources see the Appendix file. Personal Notes are on the web site at www.western-civilization.com/CBQ/Personal%20Notes

At this stage I have purchased Windows 7 and am using Wordpad, with resulting difficulty converting from Word in Windows XP, which I had been using.