33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Fathers wax eloquent on the end times in this Catena for today's Gospel.

Once again I've had to make several important corrections in the Newman-team translation. For example, denuntiat gets translated as "denounces", when the clear (and ordinary) translation is "announces". Perhaps a 19th century denunciation was less derogatory than today's, but be that as it may, we have certainly lost the sense of the original when the translation reads:

"God denounces the woes that shall forerun the destruction of the world...."

Here is the original:

Perituri mundi praecurrentia mala denuntiat Dominus....

Here is my translation:

"The Lord makes known the evils that will come before the end of the world...."

This is just one of many corrections I've had to make in today's selection.

The Catena Aurea is a work of incredible genius that can be of invaluable help in reconnecting us orphans with our Fathers in faith--if they're allowed to speak to us in our language.

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week's Catena is supplemented with an excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the resurrection. Not to take away at all from the depth of the Father's comments on this Gospel. Just the opposite. The juxtaposition demonstrates how much of our catechesis is an echo of the Fathers.

I was surprised by the number of errors in the Newman-team translation this week. There are always a couple in any given selection, not to mention several infelicitous turns of phrase (by today's standards), but this week's sets a record. Castitas, for example, gets translated as charity. The term "faculty" gets inserted into a sentence, rendering it impossible to understand. What is "faculty discourse"? And so on. I sincerely hope that those who are republishing Newman's translation go over it with a fine toothed comb. Actually, we should, with all due respect to the great work of Newman's team, re-translate the entire Catena.

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

A classic Catena for this Sunday's Gospel, complete with literal, allegorical, anagogical and moral interpretations.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Sunday's Catena is longer than the last few weeks' since the Fathers wax eloquent on the apparent similarities and real differences between pride and humility, as exemplified by the Pharisee and the Publican.

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Once again, the Catena for this Sunday's Gospel is so brief (yet still profound) that I have added another excerpt from one of St. John Chrysostom's homilies on Second Timothy.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week's short catena is again supplemented with an excerpt from one of St. John Chrysostom's homilies on Second Timothy.

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Catena for today's Gospel is brief, though profound, and so I've added an excerpt from St. John Chrysostom's first homily on St. Paul's second epistle to Timothy. St. John's marvelous ability to describe the human condition as it is shines right through.