Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas
6:19–21
19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
CHRYSOSTOM. When He has driven away the disease of vanity, He does well to bring in speech of contempt of riches. For there is no greater cause of desire of money than love of praise; for this men desire troops of slaves, horses accoutred in gold, and tables of silver, not for use or pleasure, but that they may be seen of many; therefore He says, Lay not up for yourselves treasure on earth.
AUGUSTINE. (Serm. in Mont. ii. 13.) For if any does a work with the mind of gaining thereby an earthly good, how will his heart be pure while it is thus walking on earth? For any thing that is mingled with an inferior nature is polluted therewith, though that inferior be in its kind pure. Thus gold is alloyed when mixed with pure silver; and in like manner our mind is defiled by lust of earthly things, though earth is in its own kind pure.
PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. Otherwise; As the Lord had above taught nothing concerning alms, or prayer, or fasting, but had only checked a pretence of them, He now proceeds to deliver a doctrine of three portions, according to the division which He had before made, in this order. First, a counsel that alms should be done; second, to shew the benefit of almsgiving; third, that the fear of poverty should be no hindrance to our purpose of almsgiving.
CHRYSOSTOM. Saying, Lay not up for yourselves treasure on earth, He adds, where rust and moth destroy, in order to shew the insecurity of that treasure that is here, and the advantage of that which is in Heaven, both from the place, and from those things which harm. As though He had said; Why fear you that your wealth should be consumed, if you should give alms? Yea rather give alms, and they shall receive increase, for those treasures that are in Heaven shall be added to them, which treasures perish if ye do not give alms. He said not, You leave them to others, for that is pleasant to men.
RABANUS. (ap. Anselm.) Here are three precepts according to the three different kinds of wealth. Metals are destroyed by rust, clothes by moth; but as there are other things which fear neither rust nor moth, as precious stones, He therefore names a common damage, that by thieves, who may rob wealth of all kinds. a
PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. Another reading is, Where moth and banqueting consume. For a threefold destruction awaits all the goods of this life. They either decay and are eaten of moths as cloth; or are consumed by their master’s luxurious living; or are plundered by strangers, either by violence, or pilfering, or false accusation, or some other unjust doing. For all may be called thieves who hasten by any unlawful means to make other men’s goods their own. But you will say, Do all who have these things, perforce lose them? I would answer by the way, that if all do not, yet many do. But ill-hoarded wealth, you have lost spiritually if not actually, because it profits you not to your salvation.
RABANUS. Allegorically; Rust denotes pride which obscures the brightness of virtue. Moth which privily eats out garments, is jealousy which frets into good intention, and destroys the bond of unity. Thieves denote heretics and demons, who are ever on the watch to rob men of their spiritual treasure.
HILARY. But the praise of Heaven is eternal, and cannot be carried off by invading thief, nor consumed by the moth and rust of envy.
AUGUSTINE. (Serm. in Mont, ii. 13.) By heaven in this place I understand not the material heavens, for every thing that has a body is earthly. But it behoves that the whole world be despised by him who lays up his treasure in that Heaven, of which it is said, The heaven of heavens is the Lord’s, (Ps. 115:16.) that is, in the spiritual firmament. For heaven and earth shall pass away; (Mat. 24:35.) but we ought not to place our treasure in that which passes away, but in that which abides for ever.
PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. Which then is better? To place it on earth where its security is doubtful, or in Heaven where it will be certainly preserved? What folly to leave it in this place whence you must soon depart, and not to send it before you thither, whither you are to go? Therefore place your substance there where your country is.
CHRYSOSTOM. But forasmuch as not every earthly treasure is destroyed by rust or moth, or carried away by thieves, He therefore brings in another motive, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. As much as to say; Though none of these former losses should befal you, you will yet sustain no small loss by attaching your affections to things beneath, and becoming a slave to them, and in falling from Heaven, and being unable to think of any lofty thing.
JEROME. This must be understood not of money only, but of all our possessions. The god of a glutton is his belly; of a lover his lust; and so every man serves that to which he is in bondage; and has his heart there where his treasure is.
PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. Otherwise; He now teaches the benefit of almsgiving. He who places his treasure on earth has nothing to look for in Heaven; for why should he look up to Heaven where he has nothing laid up for himself? Thus he doubly sins; first, because he gathers together things evil; secondly, because he has his heart in earth; and so on the contrary he does right in a twofold manner who lays up his treasure in Heaven.
6:22–23
22. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
CHRYSOSTOM. Having spoken of the bringing the understanding into captivity because it was not easy to be understood of many, He transfers it to a sensible instance, saying, The light of thy body is thy eye. As though He had said, If you do not know what is meant by the loss of the understanding, learn a parable of the bodily members; for what the eye is to the body, that the understanding is to the soul. As by the loss of the eyes we lose much of the use of the other limbs, so when the understanding is corrupted, your life is filled with many evils.
JEROME. This is an illustration drawn from the senses. As the whole body is in darkness, where the eye is not single, so if the soul has lost her original brightness, every sense, or that whole part of the soul to which sensation belongs, will abide in darkness. Wherefore He says, If then the light which is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! that is, if the senses which are the soul’s light be darkened by vice, in how great darkness do you suppose the darkness itself will be wrapped?
PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. It seems that He is not here speaking of the bodily eye, or of the outward body that is seen, or He would have said, If thine eye be sound, or weak; but He says, single, and, evil. But if one have a benign yet diseased eye, is his body therefore in light? Or if an evil yet a sound, is his body therefore in darkness?
JEROME. Those who have thick eye-sight see the lights multiplied; but the single and clear eye sees them single and clear.
CHRYSOSTOM. Or; The eye He speaks of is not the external but the internal eye. The light is the understanding, through which the soul sees God. He whose heart is turned to God, has an eye full of light; that is, his understanding is pure, not distorted by the influence of worldly lusts. The darkness in us is our bodily senses, which always desire the things that pertain to darkness. Whoso then has a pure eye, that is, a spiritual understanding, preserves his body in light, that is, without sin; for though the flesh desires evil, yet by the might of divine fear the soul resists it. But whoever has an eye, that is, an understanding, either darkened by the influence of the malignant passions, or fouled by evil lusts, possesses his body in darkness; he does not resist the flesh when it lusts after evil things, because he has no hope in Heaven, which hope alone gives us the strength to resist desire.
HILARY. Otherwise; from the office of the light of the eye, He calls it the light of the heart; which if it continue single and brilliant, will confer on the body the brightness of the eternal light, and pour again into the corrupted flesh the splendor of its origin, that is, in the resurrection. But if it be obscured by sin, and evil in will, the bodily nature will yet abide subject to all the evils of the understanding.
AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) Otherwise; by the eye here we may understand our purpose; if that be pure and right, all our works which we work according thereto are good. These He here calls the body, as the Apostle speaks of certain works as members; Mortify your members, fornication and uncleanness. (Col. 3:5.) We should look then, not to what a person does, but with what mind he does it. For this is the light within us, because by this we see that we do with good intention what we do. For all which doth make manifest is light. (Eph. 5:13.) But the deeds themselves, which go forth to men’s society, have a result to us uncertain, and therefore He calls them darkness; as when I give money to one in need, I know not what he will do with it. If then the purport of your heart, which you can know, is defiled with the lust of temporal things, much more is the act itself, of which the issue is uncertain, defiled. For even though one should reap good of what you do with a purport not good; it will be imputed to you as you did it, not as it resulted to him. If however our works are done with a single purport, that is with the aim of charity, then are they pure and pleasing in God’s sight.
AUGUSTINE. (cont. Mendac. 7.) But acts which are known to be in themselves sins, are not to be done as with a good purpose; but such works only as are either good or bad, according as the motives from which they are done are either good or bad, and are not in themselves sins; as to give food to the poor is good if it be done from merciful motives, but evil if it be done from ostentation. But such works as are in themselves sins, who will say that they are to be done with good motives, or that they are not sins? Who would say, Let us rob the rich, that we may have to give to the poor?
GREGORY. (Mor. xxviii. 11.) Otherwise; if the light that is in thee, that is, if what we have begun to do well, we overcloud with evil purpose, when we do things which we know to be in themselves evil, how great is the darkness!
REMIGIUS. (ap. Gloss. ord.) Otherwise; faith is likened to a light, because by it the goings of the inner man, that is, action, are lightened, that he should not stumble according to that, Thy word is a light to my feet. (Ps. 119:105.) If that then be pure and single, the whole body is light; but if defiled, the whole body will be dark. Yet otherwise; by the light may be understood the ruler of the Church, who may be well called the eye, as he it is that ought to see that wholesome things be provided for the people under him, which are understood by the body. If then the ruler of the Church err, how much more will the people subject to him err?
Catena Aurea Matthew 6
NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: 2 Corinthians 11:18, 21-30
He (St. Paul) Apologizes for Boasting (Continuation)
----------------------------------------------------
[18] Since many boast of worldly things, I too will boast. [21] To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!
What He has Suffered for Christ
-------------------------------
But whatever any one dares to boast of--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast of that. [22] Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. [23] Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. [24] Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. [25] Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; [26] on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; [27] in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. [28] And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. [29] Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
[30] If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
***********************************************************************
Commentary:
16-21. The Apostle breaks off once more to excuse his boasting. The only reason why he is making this apologia is to defend his apostolic authority over the Corinthians.
"The Apostle", St John Chrysostom comments, "acts like someone of illustrious race who has chosen to dedicate himself to heading a holy life and who feels compelled to sing the praises of his family in order to take down certain people who are priding themselves on being well-born. Do you think he is acting in a vain way? No, because the only reason he boasts is to humble these vain people" ("Hom on 2 Cor.", 24).
19-20. These words are heavily ironical, caricaturing as they do the foolishness of the Corinthians, who consider themselves to be so sensible. St Paul upbraided them on this score previously (cf. 1 Cor 1:18-4:21). In this instance their foolishness consists in letting themselves be taken advantage of by intruders and doing nothing about it.
21. "To my shame, I must say": this could also be translated as "To shame you I tell you", for the Greek does not make it clear who feels ashamed. St Paul is still speaking sarcastically: he argues that he showed himself too weak to the Corinthians, for he has not taken advantage of them the way the false apostles have. That may be why, he tells them, they consider him inferior to the latter.
23-33. St Paul begins his apologia proper, in which he points out his merits in contrast with those of his opponents. On the score of race, he is their equal (v. 22); on the score of being a minister of Christ, he is much better qualified: as proof of this he offers the physical suffering he has undergone in his apostolate (vv. 23-27, 30-33), and the moral suffering (vv. 28f). One cannot fail to be moved by this outline of his sufferings, an account which provides us with extremely valuable information about his life not contained in the Acts of the Apostles. Although this list is not exhaustive (cf. v. 28), and much suffering still lies ahead of him, we can see that Ananias' prophecy has already come true: "I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name" (Acts 9:16).
It is very revealing that the evidence he provides to show his superiority as a servant of Christ is precisely his sufferings. Our Lord had already said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Lk 9:23). Suffering, the cross, is something inseparable from the Christian life, and a sure sign that one is following in the Master's footsteps. Monsignor Escriva comments: "When we set out seriously along the 'royal highway', that of following Christ and behaving as children of God, we soon realize what awaits us--the Holy Cross. We must see it as the central point upon which to rest our hope of being united with our Lord.
"Let me warn you that the program ahead is not an easy one. It takes an effort to lead the kind of life our Lord wants. Listen to the account St Paul gives of the incidents and sufferings he encountered in carrying out the will of Jesus: 'Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one' (2 Cor 11:24-28)" ("Friends of God", 212).
22. The Apostle makes it quite clear that he is the equal of his opponents as far as background goes. The three terms used (Hebrew, Israelite, descendant of Abraham), although in a way they all mean the same, have different shades of meaning. "Hebrews" here designates both origin--descendants of Eber (cf. Gen 11:14)--and race. It may be that Paul's enemies questioned his ethnic purity on the grounds that he had been born in Tarsus, a city in Asia Minor; however, he was "a Hebrew born of Hebrews" (Phil 3:5) and spoke Hebrew (cf. Acts 21:40). "Israelites"--descendants of Jacob, whose name Yahweh changed to "Israel" (cf. Gen 32:28)--would indicate that he was a member of the chosen people who had the true religion. Being a "descendant of Abraham" would refer to the fact that he was an heir to the messianic promises.
St Paul often had to make a point of stressing his Jewish origin (cf. Acts 22:3; Rom 11:1; Gal 1:13ff; Phil 3:4ff). Probably his opponents were forever trying to discredit his teaching--about the superiority of the New Law over the Old, about circumcision not being necessary—by saying he was not a Jew. He most certainly is, he says, and he often refers to his immense love for those of his race (cf. Rom 9).
24. It is not possible to say exactly when these beatings took place; they are not reported in the Acts of the Apostles. Possibly they occurred in some of the synagogues where he went to preach: synagogues in the Diaspora had authority to inflict this form of punishment. Because Jewish law laid down a maximum of forty lashes (cf. Deut 25:2f), usually only thirty-nine were given to avoid going beyond the limit. It was a very severe and demeaning form of punishment.
25. The Romans beat people with rods. Though three beatings are mentioned here the Acts of the Apostles only tell us of one instance of Paul's being punished in this way at Philippi (cf. Acts 16:22-24). On the three occasions he must have been beaten unlawfully, for Roman law prescribed that this punishment could only be imposed on Roman citizens--St Paul was a Roman (cf. Acts 22:25-29)--when they were under sentence of death.
The stoning took place at Lystra, and after it the Apostle was dragged out of the city and left for dead (cf. Acts 14:19f).
The Acts of the Apostles refer to only one instance of shipwreck (cf. Acts 27:9ff).
28-29. In addition to the physical sufferings mentioned, others still greater weigh down on the Apostle--who was "all things to all men" (1 Cor 9:22)--those to do with the pastoral care of people who sought his help, and the care of the churches he had founded. The physical evils, St John Chrysostom comments, "no matter how terrible they may have been, passed over quite quickly and left behind them a great consolation. But what afflicted Paul, what oppressed his heart and made him so anxious was the pain caused him by the laxity of all the faithful without any distinction. It was not only the behavior of prominent members that caused him pain; he was indifferent to no one; he ranked all Christians, irrespective of who they were, as his dearly beloved children" ("Hom. on 2 Cor.", 25).
The Apostle, who is identified with Christ (cf. Gal 2: 19f), makes his own the words of his Master: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (Jn 10:11). He stands as a model for pastors of the Church as regards the solicitude they should have for the souls God has entrusted to them.
30. As if by way of summing up what he has said already, St Paul points out that he is really boasting about his "weakness", that is, about things which worldly eyes see as weakness, failure and humiliation. He will go on to explain that it is really in these things that God's power and strength are most clearly to be seen (cf. 12:7:10): this "weakness" makes fruitful the work of his chosen ones.
This is another example of the paradox of the Christian life: Christ won victory on the cross, and his Apostles rejoice and are proud to suffer on his account (cf. 7:4; 8:2; Acts 5:41; Gal 6:14).
