Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas
Luke CHAP. 9
9:51–56
51. And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
52. And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
53. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
54. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
55. But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
56. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. When the time was near at hand in which it behoved our Lord to accomplish His life-giving Passion, and ascend up to heaven, He determines to go up to Jerusalem, as it is said, And it came to pass, &c.
TITUS BOSTRENSIS. Because it was necessary that the true Lamb should there be offered, where the typical lamb was sacrificed; but it is said, he stedfastly set his face, that is, He went not here and there traversing the villages and towns, but kept on His way straight towards Jerusalem.
BEDE. Let then the Heathen cease to mock the Crucified, as if He were a man, who it is plain, as God, both foresaw the time of His crucifixion, and going voluntarily to be crucified, sought with stedfast face, that is, with resolute and undaunted mind, the spot where He was to be crucified.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. And He sends messengers to make a place for Him and His companions, who when they came to the country of the Samaritans were not admitted, as it follows, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and altered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him.
AMBROSE. Mark that He was unwilling to be received by those who He knew had not turned to Him with a simple heart. For if He had wished, He might have made them devout, who were undevout. But God calls those whom He thinks worthy, and whom He wills He makes religious. But why they did not receive Him the Evangelist mentions, saying, Because his face was as if he would go to Jerusalem.
THEOPHYLACT. But if one understands that they did not receive Him for this reason, because He had determined to go to Jerusalem, an excuse is found for them, who did not receive Him. But we must say, that in the words of the Evangelist, And they did not receive him, is implied that He did not go into Samaria, but afterwards as if some one had asked St. Luke, he explained in these words, why they did not receive Him. And He went not to them, i. e. not that He was unable, but that He did not wish to go there, but rather to Jerusalem.
BEDE. Or the Samaritans see that our Lord is going to Jerusalem, and do not receive Him. For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, (John 4:9.) as John shews.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. But our Lord, Who knew all things before they came to pass, knowing that His messengers would not be received by the Samaritans, nevertheless commanded them to go before Him, because it was His practice to make all things conduce to the good of His disciples. Now He went up to Jerusalem as the time of His suffering drew near. In order then that they might not be offended, when they saw Him suffer, bearing in mind that they must also endure patiently when men persecute them, He ordained beforehand as a kind of prelude this refusal of the Samaritans. It was good for them also in another way. For they were to be the teachers of the world, going through towns and villages, to preach the doctrine of the Gospel, meeting sometimes with men who would not receive the sacred doctrine, allowing not that Jesus sojourned on earth with them. He therefore taught them, that in announcing the divine doctrine, they ought to be filled with patience and meekness, without bitterness, and wrath, and fierce enmity against those who had done any wrong to them. But as yet they were not so, nay, being stirred up with fervid zeal, they wished to bring down fire from heaven upon them. It follows, And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, will thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, &c.
AMBROSE. For they knew both that when Phineas had slain the idolaters it was counted to him for righteousness; (Numb. 25:8, Ps. 107:31) and that at the prayer of Elijah fire came down from heaven, that the injuries of the prophet might be avenged. (2 Kings 1:10, 12.)
BEDE. For holy men who well knew that that death which detaches the soul from the body was not to be feared, still because of their feelings who feared it, punished some sins with death, that both the living might be struck with a wholesome dread, and those who were punished with death might receive harm not from death itself but from sin, which would be increased were they to live.
AMBROSE. But let him be avenged who fears. He who fears not, seeks not vengeance. At the same time the merits of the Prophets are likewise shewn to have been in the Apostles, seeing that they claim to themselves the right of obtaining the same power of which the Prophet was thought worthy; and fitly do they claim that at their command fire should come down from heaven, for they were the sons of thunder.
TITUS BOSTRENSIS. (v. Theophyl. in loc.) They thought it much juster that the Samaritans should perish for not admitting our Lord, than the fifty soldiers who tried to thrust down Elijah.
AMBROSE. But the Lord is not moved against them, that He might shew that perfect virtue has no feeling of revenge, nor is there any anger where there is fulness of love. For weakness must not be thrust out, but assisted. Let indignation be far from the religious, let the high-souled have no desire of vengeance. Hence it follows, But he turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
BEDE. The Lord blames them, not for following the example of the holy Prophet, but for their ignorance in taking vengeance while they were yet inexperienced, perceiving that they did not desire correction from love, but vengeance from hatred. After that He had taught them what it was to love their neighbour as themselves, and the Holy Ghost also had been infused into them, there were not lacking these punishments, though far less frequent than in the Old Testament, because the Son of man came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. As if He said, And do you therefore who are sealed with His Spirit, imitate also His actions, now determining charitably, hereafter judging justly.
AMBROSE. For we must not always punish the offender, since mercy sometimes does more good, leading thee to patience, the sinner to repentance. Lastly, those Samaritans believed the sooner, who were in this place saved from fire.
Catena Aurea Luke 9
Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas
9:32–35
32. As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.
33. And when the devil was east out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.
34. But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
REMIGIUS. Observe the beautiful order of His miracles; how after He had given sight to the blind, He restored speech to the dumb, and healed the possessed of the dæmon; by which He shews Himself the Lord of power, and the author of the heavenly medicine. For it was said by Isaiah, Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, and the tongue of the dumb loosed. (Is. 35:6.) Whence it is said, When they were gone forth, they brought unto him a man dumb, and possessed with a dæmon.
JEROME. The Greek word here (κωφὸς) is more frequent in common speech in the sense of ‘deaf,’ but it is the manner of Scripture to use it indifferently as either.
CHRYSOSTOM. This was not a mere natural defect; but was from the malignity of the dæmon; and therefore he needed to be brought of others, for he could not ask any thing of others as living without voice, and the dæmon chaining his spirit together with his tongue. Therefore Christ does not require faith of him, but immediately healed his disorder; as it follows, And when the dæmon was cast out, the dumb spake.
HILARY. The natural order of things is here preserved; the dæmon is first cast out, and there the functions of the members proceed. And the multitude marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.
CHRYSOSTOM. They set Him thus above others, because He not only healed, but with such ease, and quickness; and cured diseases both infinite in number, and in quality incurable. This most grieved the Pharisees, that they set Him before all others, not only those that then lived, but all who had lived before, on which account it follows, But the Pharisees said, He casteth out dæmons through the Prince of dæmons.
REMIGIUS. Thus the Scribes and Pharisees denied such of the Lord’s miracles as they could deny; and such as they could not they explained by an evil interpretation, according to that, In the multitude of thy excellency thy enemies shall lie unto thee. (Ps. 66:3.)
CHRYSOSTOM. What can be more foolish than this speech of theirs? For it cannot be pretended that one dæmon would cast out another; for they are wont to consent to one another’s deeds, and not to be at variance among themselves. But Christ not only cast out dæmons, but healed the lepers, raised the dead, forgave sins, preached the kingdom of God, and brought men to the Father, which a dæmon neither could nor would do.
RABANUS. Figuratively; As in the two blind men were denoted both nations, Jews and Gentiles, so in the man dumb and afflicted with the dæmon is denoted the whole human race.
HILARY. Or; By the dumb and deaf, and dæmoniae, is signified the Gentile world, needing health in every part; for sunk in evil of every kind, they are afflicted with disease of every part of the body.
REMIGIUS. For the Gentiles were dumb; not being able to open their mouth in the confession of the true faith, and the praises of the Creator, or because in paying worship to dumb idols they were made like unto them. They were afflicted with a dæmon, because by dying in unbelief they were made subject to the power of the Devil.
HILARY. But by the knowledge of God the frenzy of superstition being chased away, the sight, the hearing, and the word of salvation is brought in to them.
JEROME. As the blind receive light, so the tongue of the dumb is loosed, that he may confess Him whom before he denied. The wonder of the multitude is the confession of the nations. The scoff of the Pharisees is the unbelief of the Jews, which is to this day.
HILARY. The wonder of the multitude is followed up by the confession, It was never so seen in Israel; because he, for whom there was no help under the Law, is saved by the power of the Word.
REMIGIUS. They who brought the dumb to be healed by the Lord, signify the Apostles and preachers, who brought the Gentile people to be saved before the face of divine mercy.
AUGUSTINE. (De Cons. Ev. ii. 29.) This account of the two blind men and the dumb dæmon is read in Matthew only. The two blind men of whom the others speak are not the same as these, though something similar was done with them. So that even if Matthew had not also recorded their cure, we might have seen that this present narrative was of a different transaction. And this we ought diligently to remember, that many actions of our Lord are very much like one another, but are proved not to be the same action, by being both related at different times by the same Evangelist. So that when we find cases in which one is recorded by one Evangelist, and another by another, and some difference which we cannot reconcile between their accounts, we should suppose that they are like, but not the same, events.
9:36–38
36. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
37. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
38. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
CHRYSOSTOM. The Lord would refute by actions the charge of the Pharisees, who said, He casteth out dæmons by the Prince of the dæmons; for a dæmon having suffered rebuke, does not return good but evil to those who have not shewn him honour. But the Lord on the other hand, when He has suffered blasphemy and contumely, not only does not punish, but does not utter a hard speech, yea He shews kindness to them that did it, as it here follows, And Jesus went about all their towns and villages. Herein He teaches us not to return accusations to them that accuse us, but kindness. For he that ceases to do good because of accusation, shews that his good has been done because of men. But if for God’s sake you do good to your fellow-servants, you will not cease from doing good whatever they do, that your reward may be greater.
JEROME. Observe how equally in villages, cities, and towns, that is to great as well as small, He preaches the Gospel, not respecting the might of the noble, but the salvation of those that believe. It follows, Teaching in their synagogues; this was His meat, going about to do the will of His Father, and saving by His teaching such as yet believed not.
GLOSS. (non occ.) He taught in their synagogues the Gospel of the Kingdom, as it follows, Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom.
REMIGIUS. Understand, ‘of God;’ for though temporal blessings are also proclaimed, yet they are not called The Gospel. Hence the Law was not called a Gospel, because to such as kept it, it held out not heavenly, but earthly, goods.
JEROME. He first preached and taught, and then proceeded to heal sicknesses, that the works might convince those who would not believe the words. Hence it follows, Healing every sickness and every disease, for to Him alone nothing is impossible.
GLOSS. (ap. Anselm.) By disease we may understand complaints of long standing, by sickness any lesser infirmity.
REMIGIUS. It should be known that those whom He healed outwardly in their bodies, He also healed inwardly in their souls. Others cannot do this of their own power, but can by God’s grace.
CHRYSOSTOM. Nor does Christ’s goodness rest here, but He manifests His care for them, opening the bowels of His mercy towards them; whence it follows, And seeing the multitudes, he had compassion upon them.
REMIGIUS. Herein Christ shews in Himself the disposition of the good shepherd and not that of the hireling. Why He pitied them is added, Because they were troubled1, and sick1 as sheep that have no shepherd—troubled either by dæmons, or by divers sicknesses and infirmities.
GLOSS. (ap. Anselm.) Or, troubled by dæmons, and sick, that is, benumbed and unable to rise; and though they had shepherds, yet they were as though they had them not.
CHRYSOSTOM. This is an accusation against the rulers of the Jews, that being shepherds they appeared like wolves; not only not improving the multitude, but hindering their progress. For when the multitude marvelled and said, It was never so seen in Israel, these opposed themselves, saying, He casteth out dæmons by the prince of the dæmons. (vid. Ps. 102:19.)
REMIGIUS. But when the Son of God looked down from heaven upon the earth, to hear the groans of the captives, straight a great harvest began to ripen; for the multitude of the human race would never have come near to the faith, had not the Author of human salvation looked down from heaven; and it follows, Then said he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few.
GLOSS. (ap. Anselm.) The harvest are those men who can be reaped by the preachers, and separated from the number of the damned, as grain is beaten out from the chaff that it may be laid up in granaries.
JEROME. The great harvest denotes the multitude of the people; the few labourers, the want of instructors.
REMIGIUS. For the number of the Apostles was small in comparison of so great crops to be reaped. The Lord exhorts His preachers, that is, the Apostles and their followers, that they should daily desire an increase of their number; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
CHRYSOSTOM. He privately insinuates Himself to be the Lord; for it is He Himself who is Lord of the harvest. For if He sent the Apostles to reap what they had not sown, it is manifest that He sent them not to reap the things of others, but what He had sown by the Prophets. But since the twelve Apostles are the labourers, He said, Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would send labourers into his harvest; and notwithstanding He added none to their number, but rather He multiplied those twelve many times, not by increasing their numbers, but by giving them more abundant grace.
REMIGIUS. Or, He then increased their number when He chose the seventy and two, and then when many preachers were made what time the Holy Spirit descended upon the believers.
CHRYSOSTOM. He shews us that it is a great gift that one should have the power of rightly preaching, in that He tells them that they ought to pray for it. Also we are here reminded of the words of John concerning the threshing-floor, and the fan, the chaff, and the wheat.
HILARY. Figuratively; When salvation was given to the Gentiles, then all cities and towns were enlightened by the power and entrance of Christ, and escaped every former sickness and infirmity. The Lord pities the people troubled with the violence of the unclean Spirit, and sick under the burden of the Law, and having no shepherd at hand to bestow on them the guardianship of the Holy Spirit. But of that gift there was a most abundant fruit, whose plenty far exceeded the multitude of those that drank thereof; how many soever take of it, yet an inexhaustible supply remains; and because it is profitable that there should be many to minister it, He bids us ask the Lord of the harvest, that God would provide a supply of reapers for the ministration of that gift of the Holy Spirit which was made ready; for by prayer this gift is poured out upon us from God.
Catena Aurea Matthew 9
Saint of the Day for September 27
(1580 - September 27, 1660)
Saint Vincent de Paul's Story
The deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent de Paul’s eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life.
The Countess de Gondi—whose servant he had helped—persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenant farmers and country people in general. Vincent was too humble to accept leadership at first, but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley slaves, he returned to be the leader of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians. These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages.
Later, Vincent established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish. From these, with the help of Saint Louise de Marillac, came the Daughters of Charity, “whose convent is the sickroom, whose chapel is the parish church, whose cloister is the streets of the city.” He organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds for his missionary projects, founded several hospitals, collected relief funds for the victims of war, and ransomed over 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa. He was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity, abuse, and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries.
Most remarkably, Vincent was by temperament a very irascible person—even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been “hard and repulsive, rough and cross.” But he became a tender and affectionate man, very sensitive to the needs of others.
Pope Leo XIII made him the patron of all charitable societies. Outstanding among these, of course, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by his admirer Blessed Frédéric Ozanam.
Reflection
The Church is for all God’s children, rich and poor, peasants and scholars, the sophisticated and the simple. But obviously the greatest concern of the Church must be for those who need the most help—those made helpless by sickness, poverty, ignorance, or cruelty. Vincent de Paul is a particularly appropriate patron for all Christians today, when hunger has become starvation, and the high living of the rich stands in more and more glaring contrast to the physical and moral degradation in which many of God’s children are forced to live.
Saint Vincent de Paul is the Patron Saint of:
Charitable Societies
franciscanmedia.org
NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23
Job’s Lament
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[1] After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
[2] And Job said:
[3] “Let the day perish wherein I was born. and the night which said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’
[11] “Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? [12] Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should suck? [13] For then I should have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then I should have been at rest, [14] with kings and counsellors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, [15] or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. [16] Or why was I not as a hidden untimely birth, as infants that never see the light? [17] There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.
[20] “Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, [21] who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures; [22] who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they find the grave? [23] Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, whom God has hedged in?
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Commentary:
3:1-42:6. The central and most important part of the book is the dialogues, which are in verse form. It is a debate about the sufferings of an innocent man, which also deals with questions to do with God, man and the order of the universe.
The debate sometimes seems quite academic -- a discussion about abstract ideas: at other times it is rather heated and emotional, reflecting particularly the anguish felt by one of the speakers (Job). Also, it is worth noting that, since Job is depicted in the prologue as a devout Jew, his conversation with wise men from other cultures makes him a symbol of the people of Israel under Persian domination and on the point of losing the hope built up in them by the prophets. In view of the situation of the Jews during and after the exile, the question must arise: How can God abandon his people, who have stayed true to him even when in the direst straits? Surely he cannot oppress them on a mere whim?
As pointed out in the Introduction, there are three groups of speeches -- Job’s dialogue with his friends (chaps. 3-31). Elihu’s intervention (chaps 32-37, and the speeches of the Lord (38:1-42:6).
3:1-26. The opening words (v. 1) spell out the theme of this long monologue by Job: he curses the day he was born. Speaking very forthrightly, dramatically and even with a certain cynicism. the protagonist bewails his life: by contrast with the “Let there he light” of creation (Gen 1:3), which distinguished day from night. Job asks that the day of his birth he plunged into darkness forever (vv. 3-10). The rhetorical questions and statements in vv. 11-19 express doubts as to whether life is worth living: If a person is suffering, is death not more desirable than life? The last part of this soliloquy, (vv. 20-26) asks the question about God almost without mentioning him: What sense can we make of things if God brings into being someone who is destined to suffer? Job feels so wretched that he cannot find the answer, but the fact that he asks this series of questions implies that an answer there must he.
Early commentators often posed the question: By speaking as he did, did Job not sin? St Gregory the Great goes so far as to comment that what Job says is unreasonable if one looks at it superficially, but that “in using these words the holy man does not mean them literally” (Moralia in lob. 4,3). Most commentators, however, justify Job’s lament by arguing that there is no sin involved in someone desiring to lie no longer if he is weighed down by suffering: sin comes in if a person commits suicide or desires to do so. Jeremiah, too, cursed the day of his birth (cf. Jer 20:14-17), but he did not sin (cf. St Thomas, Expositio super lob). Although for other reasons entirely, mystics, too, have experienced a desire to die, in their eagerness to be in heaven. St Teresa of Avila, for example, goes so far as to say, “And I live in hope of so high a form of life, that I die because I do not die” (Poems, 2).
“Those who curse the day” (v. 8): those who love darkness because they can do evil under cover of it: but even they should curse that night.
3:11-19. Death is seen here in the same kind of way as in traditional wisdom-- as marking the start of a vague existence akin to non-being. Therefore, as compared with suffering it is a place of rest, like a dream, all silent (v. 13), far removed from the noise created by evildoers (v. 17) or the barks of the taskmaster (v. 18). And there is no distinction of persons there: the poorest are on a par with kings and magnates (vv. 14-15), the small with the great, servants with masters (v. 19).
In the light of later Revelation, particularly the death and resurrection of Christ, death is no longer seen as mere relief from suffering: it marks the point when one begins to enjoy one’s reward: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.’ ‘Blessed indeed’: says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labours, for their deeds follow them’” (Rev 14:13). So, for a Christian, death is the antechamber to the resurrection of the dead. “Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thess 4:14). St Bernard puts it very nicely: “The death of the just man is good because it brings him peace: it is better still for the new joy it gives to him, and best of all because the peace and joy that death brings are never-ending” (Epistolae, 105).
