Father Noel Alexandre's Literal Commentary on 1 Peter 1:3-9

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 Translated by Qwen. 1 Pet 1:3–4: The Blessing of Regeneration "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you." We ought to give immortal thanks to God, to offer Him continually the sacrifice of praise, on account of His infinite goodness toward His elect. It belongs to the Eternal Father to choose the members of His Son, the adopted children who are co-heirs with the Only-Begotten. Let us seek no other reason for this election than mercy, whose greatness cannot be worthily expressed in human words. He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Us, unworthy sinners, His enemies, deserving of eternal punishments, He has regenerated through Baptism; and, the oldness which we had contracted from Adam in our first birth being abolished, He ...
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Father (Blessed) Herve Bergidolensis' Commentary on Isaiah 58:7-10

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Is 58:7. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the poor and wanderers into your house; when you see one naked, clothe him, and do not despise your own flesh. 

That is, the flesh of your needy neighbor, because it is your own.

Is 58:8. Then your light shall break forth like the morning, and your health shall arise more swiftly; your righteousness shall go before your face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather you in.
Is 58:9. Then you shall call, and the Lord will hear; you shall cry out, and He will say: “Here I am.”

That is, then, he says—when you have done these things—your morning light shall break forth, because at once the guilt that was darkening the heart will depart, and the splendor of justice will shine. Then your light shall break forth like the morning: the darkness of sins will leave you, and you will shine with righteousness. And your health shall come swiftly: for the health of your soul had been languishing in sins. And your righteousness shall go before your face, because you will send your works ahead of you toward God, storing up treasures for yourself in heaven. Then the glory of the Lord shall gather you in, when you hear: Enter into the joy of your Lord (Matthew 25:23), or Receive the kingdom (Mt 25:34).

And when you have done works of mercy, then you shall call and He will hear, because prayer is heard more readily when the merit of works assists it. For how can God hear the one who does not wish to hear God? Thus He says: Why do you call me “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46). Whoever willingly listens to the commandments of the Lord—that is, carries them out—his prayers God gladly accepts, and to one crying out in prayer He responds: Here I am.

It follows: If you remove from your midst the chain, and cease to stretch out the finger and to speak what does not profit.

Is 58:10. When you pour out your soul for the hungry and fill the afflicted soul, your light shall rise in the darkness, and your darkness shall be like midday.

First of all, you must remove the chain from your midst—that is, from your heart—so that you cast off every bond of sin that constricts your mind. Undo, therefore, the bonds of impiety from your heart. Then, once the bond of conscience has been loosened, cease now to stretch out the finger and to speak what does not profit, and abandon undisciplined movements and useless words. For in the stretching out of the finger and in unprofitable speech there is signified a wandering and undisciplined looseness of the hands and tongue. An outward motion, after all, shows that there is no inner firmness rooted in sound counsel.

Or again: one stretches out the finger and speaks what does not profit his soul who points out individuals as though with a finger and detracts from them. Therefore, once the chain of the heart has been removed and the outward movements of the limbs have been brought into order, you must now serve the virtues—namely, to pour out your soul mercifully for the hungry, so that by heartfelt compassion you pour yourself out in good works, helping him in whatever ways you can with sincere intention and good will; and to fill the afflicted soul of the needy by the benefits of almsgiving.

And then your light shall rise in the darkness of the present life, and your darkness shall be like midday, because He will bring forth your justice like the light, and your righteousness like the noonday (Psalm 37:6). Your light in the darkness, because in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation you will shine like a light in the world. And your darkness shall be like midday, for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:8).

Or, by the name of darkness, the future may be signified, because the reprobate will be cast into outer darkness. Hence the Lord says: I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work (John 9:4). Indeed, He calls the present life day, or even the time itself of this life, and night the space that follows life, because then no one is able to work. Therefore your light shall rise in the darkness, because in that age you will see the light, while sinners are wrapped in darkness. And your darkness shall be like midday, because you will be surrounded by the most radiant brightness.

CONTINUE 

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