Annotated Bibliography

• [A] The Anchor Bible, published by Doubleday.
• [C] The Collegeville Bible Commentary, edited by Robert J. Karris. Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992. Short and easy to read.
• [D] The Collegeville Pastoral Dictionary of Biblical Theology, edited by Carroll Stuhlmueller. Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992.
• [J] Jerusalem Bible notes (in both English and Vietnamese).
• [N] New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1990. Edited by Raymond Brown, Joseph Fitzmeyer, and Roland Murphy. Prentice Hall.
• [P] John Pilch's The Cultural World of Jesus. Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992. Cycle A (1995) and B (1996) are available.
• [S] Sacra Pagina, edited by Daniel J. Harrington. Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992. For Gospels, only Matthew (Harrington, 1991) and Luke (Luke T. Johnson, 1991) are available.

Other sources include:

• Brown, Raymond E. Reading the Gospels with the Church from Christmas through Easter. Cincinnati, OH: St. Anthony Messenger Press. Short (90 pages) and lucid, covering all four Gospels.
• Hutchinson, Orion N. Luke. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1988. 157 page, easy to read, by a Methodist pastor.
• McBrien, Philip J. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Readings. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications. Cycle B is published in 1996. Each week covers all three readings plus several questions for reflections, all on two pages, so not detailed. 171 pages.
• Moloney, Francis, J. The Gospel of the Lord: Reflections on the Gospel Readings. Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press. Cycle A was published in 1992 and has a helpful introduction on Matthew.
• Morris, Leon. The Gospel according to Matthew. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992. A long (781 pages) work and not difficult.
• O'Brien, John E. Refreshed by the Word. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press. Cycle B is published in 1996. Each week has reflection, sharing, action response, and prayer, thus suitable for groups. All are available from Theological Book Service, 800-558-0580. They offer about 10% discount. Borders Book offers 20% discount for non-profit organizations. Bookstores get even better margins.

  
  

  Books on Sunday Readings, Cycle A

  These books are usually short, easy to read, and organized chronologically so it is easy to look up a particular Sunday reading. There are many books of this kind. Here are a sample, not necessary the best selection.
  [CLEARY] Cleary, Francis X., S.J. Scriptural Backgrounds and Pastoral Springboards for your Sunday and Holy Day Homily. Liguori: Ligouri Publications, about 1983. The explanations for all 3 readings are short but very useful. Out of print.
  [FULLER] Fuller, Reginald H., Preaching the Lectionary. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1984. This inexpensive 640-page paperback covers all three readings plus the responsorial psalm plus suggestions for homilies, and that was done for each Sunday of all three cycles A, B, and C. This may be a good reference source, but only a tenth of it is on the Gospel readings in cycle A.
  [MOLONEY] Moloney, Francis J., S.D.B., The Gospel of the Lord: Reflections on the Gospel Readings, Year A. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1992. This book has a 35-page summary on the structure of the Gospel. It also has 2 pages on each Sunday Gospel reading. Part of the explanation deals with today's applications, or questions for our reflection. $12.95, 224 pages.
  [OSULLIVAN] O'Sullivan, Kevin, O.F.M. The Sunday Readings, Cycle A. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1971. This lengthy book has four advantages: it prints all 3 readings of each Sunday; it explains each verse in a most simple, readable way; it has a long "application" section after the explanation of each reading; and it is rather inexpensive for a hard-cover book. However, the explanations can be too simple and are rather old. About $15, 419 pages.
  [PILCH] Pilch, John J. (1995) The Cultural World of Jesus: Sunday by Sunday, Cycle A. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press. Pilch is a professor at Georgetown University, a Jesuit school. The explanation is short, easy to read, and using reliable Catholic sources (including Harrington, below). It is interesting and entertaining. This may be the best of the bunch in this category. $11.95, 170 pages.
  The Liturgical Press has many other books on Sunday readings.
  
  

  Books on the Gospel of St. Matthew

  More than half of the Sunday Gospel readings in Year A come from the Gospel of St. Matthew.
  [HARRINGTON] Harrington, Daniel J., S.J. The Gospel of Matthew. Sacra Pagina 1. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1991. This may be the best Catholic commentary on St. Matthew. At places it presumes a little biblical background, but most of the book is readable by common folks. 429 pages, about $40.
  [MORRIS] Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to St. Matthew. Leicaster, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1992. This book is even longer than Harrington's but easier to read, and the two are not redundant, so it is good to read both. The author's interest shines through the text and attracts readers. Catholic readers should be aware of the Protestant interpretation on specific topics. 781 pages, about $40.
  
  

  Commentaries on the whole Bible

  [JEROME] The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1990. This is the standard reference text, pooling some of the best Catholic authors. The 1484 pages here cover the whole of Scripture, so the section on each Sunday reading is slim. It is on sale now for about $40 (down from the original price of about $65).
  [HARPER] Harper's Bible Commentary. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988. This is probably the Protestant equivalent of the Catholic's Jerome Biblical Commentary. It has many excellent articles on Scripture in general. It was on sale at Crown Books for less than $10. Otherwise, it is about $40 for 1326 pages of text plus some 10 pages of color maps.
  [KTTU] Kinh Tha'nh Ta^n U+o+'c, the new translation, has the explanations from the Jerusalem Bible, which is old but still helpful and is the only source here that is in Vietnamese.
  
  Updated: 12/18/95