Saturday, September 3: Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Today’s Gospel (Luke 6:1-5)

Ver 1. And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.2. And certain of the Pharisees said to them, Why do you that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?3. And Jesus answering them said, Have you not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungered, and they which were with him;4. How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the show-bread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the Priests alone?5. And he said to them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

AMBROSE; Not only in the form of expression but in His very practice and mode of action, did the Lord begin to absolve man from the observance of the old law. Hence it is said, And it came to pass that he went through the corn fields, &c.

THEOPHYL; For His disciples having no opportunity for eating because the multitudes thronged so, were naturally hungry, but by plucking the ears of corn they relieved their hunger, which is a mark of a strict habit of life, not seeking for prepared meats, but mere simple food.

THEOPHYL. Now He says, on the second sabbath after the first, because the Jews called every feast a sabbath. For sabbath means rest. Frequently therefore was there feasting at the preparation, and they called the preparation a sabbath because of the feast, and hence they gave to the principal sabbath the name of the second-first, as being the second in consequence of the festival of the day preceding.

CHRYS. For there was a double feast; one on the principal sabbath, another on the next solemn day succeeding, which was also called a sabbath.

ISIDORE; He says, On the second-first, because it was the second day of the Passover, but the first of unleavened bread. Having killed the passover, on the very next day they kept the feast of unleavened bread. And it is plain that this was so from the fact, that the Apostles plucked ears of corn and ate them, for at that time the ears are weighed down by the fruit.

EPIPH. On the sabbath day then they were seen passing through the corn fields, and eating the corn, showing that the bonds of the sabbath were loosened, when the great Sabbath was come in Christ, Who made us to rest from the working of our iniquities.

CYRIL; But the Pharisees and Scribes not knowing the Holy Scriptures agreed together to find fault with Christ’s disciples, as it follows, And certain of the Pharisees said to them, Why do you, &c. Tell me now, when a table is set before you on the sabbath day; do you not break bread? Why then do you blame others?

THEOPHYL; But some say that these things were objected to our Lord Himself; they might indeed have been objected by different persons, both to our Lord Himself and His disciples, but to whomsoever the objection is made, it chiefly refers to Him.

AMBROSE; But the Lord proves the defenders of the law to be ignorant of what belongs to the law, bringing the example of David; as it follows, And Jesus answering said to them, Have you not read so much as this, &c.

CYRIL; As if He said, Whereas the law of Moses expressly says, Give a righteous judgment and you shall not respect persons in judgment, how now do you blame My disciples, who even to this day extol David as a saint and prophet, though he kept not the commandment of Moses?

CHRYS. And mark, that whenever the Lord speaks for His servants, (i.e. His disciples,) He brings forward servants, as for example David and the Priests; but when for Himself; He introduces His Father; as in that place, My Father works hitherto, and I work.

THEOPHYL. But he reproves them in another way, as it is added, And he said to them, that the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. As if he said, I am the Lord of the sabbath, as being He who ordained it, and as the Legislator I have power to loose the sabbath; for Christ was called the Son of man, who being the Son of God yet condescended in a miraculous manner to be made and called for man’s sake the Son of man.

CHRYS. But Mark declares that He uttered this of our common nature, for He said, The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. It is therefore more fitting that the sabbath should be subject to man, than that man should bow his neck to the sabbath.

AMBROSE; But herein is a great mystery. For the field is the whole world, the corn is the abundant harvest of the saints in the seed of the human race, the ears of corn are the fruits of the Church, which the Apostles shaking off by their works fed upon, nourishing themselves with our increase, and by their mighty miracles, as it were out of the bodily husks, plucking forth the fruits of the mind to the light of faith.

THEOPHYL; For they bruise the ears in their hands, because when they wish to bring others over into the body of Christ, they mortify their old man with its acts drawing them away from worldly thoughts.

AMBROSE; Now the Jews thought this unlawful on the Sabbath, but Christ by the gift of new grace represented hereby the rest of the law, the work of grace. Wonderfully has He called it the second-first sabbath, not the first-second, because that was loosed from the law which was first, and this is made first which was ordained second. It is therefore called the second sabbath according to number, the first according to the grace of the wolf. For that sabbath is better where there is no penalty, than that where there is a penalty prescribed. Or this perhaps was first in the foreknowledge of wisdom, and second in the sanction of the ordinance.

Now in David escaping with his companions, there was a foreshadowing of Christ in the law, who with His Apostles escaped the prince of the world. But how was it that the Observer and Defender of the law Himself both eat the bread, and gave it to those that were with Him, which no one was allowed to eat but the priests, except that He might show by that figure that the priests’ bread was to come over to the use of the people, or that we ought to imitate the priests’ life, or that all the children of the Church are priests, for we are anointed into a holy priesthood, offering ourselves a spiritual sacrifice to God. But if the sabbath was made for men, and the benefit of men required that a man when hungry (having been long without the fruits of the earth) should forsake the abstinence of the old fast, the law is surely not broken but fulfilled.

St Thomas Aquinas’ Lecture on Psalm 54 (53)

The following post consists of the Latin and English texts (side by side) of St Thomas’ lecture on Psalm 54 (53 is some versions, including that used by St Thomas). The English translation was done by Dr. Gregory Sadler as part of the Aquinas Translation Project. The text is copyrighted by Dr. Sadler and appears here in accordance with the Aquinas Translation Project’s guidelines for use.

In finem in carminibus intellectus David cum venissent Ziphei et dixissent ad Saul nonne David absconditus est apud nos.	Unto the end, In verses, understanding for David. When the men of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us?
a. Deus in nomine tuo salvum me fac et in virtute tua iudica me. Deus exaudi orationem meam auribus: percipe verba oris mei.	Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me in thy strength, O God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth.
b. Quoniam alieni insurrexerunt adversum me et fortes quaesierunt animam meam: non proposuerunt Deum ante conspectum suum diapsalma.	For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.
c. Ecce enim Deus adiuvat me Dominus susceptor animae meae.	For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my soul.
d. Averte mala inimicis meis in veritate tua disperde illos.	Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in thy truth.
e. Voluntarie sacrificabo tibi confitebor nomini tuo Domine quoniam bonum. Quoniam ex omni tribulatione eripuisti me et super inimicos meos despexit oculus meus	I will freely sacrifice to thee, and will give praise, O God, to thy name: because it is good: For thou hast delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye hath looked down upon my enemies.
a. Deus in nomine tuo. Supra in aliis psalmis psalmista exaggeravit iniquitatem peccatorum quantum ad affectum peccati et contemptum Dei; hic exponit persecutionem quam ab eis patitur.	O God, by thy name. Above, in the previous two Psalms, the Psalmist presented emphatically the wickedness of sinners in so far as its was a matter of the desire for sin and the contempt of God; here he sets forth the persecution that he suffers at their hands.
Titulus: in finem intellectus David in carminibus. Prima pars tituli plana est. Secunda tangit historiam quae scripta est 1 Reg. 23, quando David pervenit ad desertum Ziph civitatis, et homines illius civitatis accusaverunt David Sauli, et Saul persecutus est eum, non tamen potuit eum comprehendere; unde haec accusatio non nocuit David, in quo significatur quod Ziphaei, idest florentes in hoc mundo; Isai.40 : Gloria mundi quasi flos agri [omnis gloria eius quasi flos agri], accusant sanctos, nec tamen nocere possunt, quia sanctus occultatur apud Ziphaeos, quia sanctus inter peccatores non floret, sed floritio eius est in occulto; scilicet flores honestatis. Coloss. 3: vita vestra abscondita est cum Christo. Agit ergo David in psalmo isto de bonis qui absconditi sunt inter malos et persecutionem patiuntur ab eis.	The title reads: Unto the end, In verses, understanding for David. The first part of the title is quite clear. The second part touches upon the story that is written in 1 Kings 23, when David came to the desert of the community of Ziph, and the men of that community denounced David to Saul, and Saul pursued him, but nevertheless was not able to seize him; so, this denunciation did not injure David,by which is signified the Ziphians, that is, those flourishing in this world, [Isaias 40: The glory of the world is like the flower of the field (all its glory is as the flower of the field)], who brought charges against the holy, but were not able to injure them, for the holy one [David] was hidden even among the Ziphians; a holy person does not flourish among sinners, but rather his flowering (namely the flowers of genuine goodness) is in secret; namely the flowers of genuine goodness; Colossians 3: And your life is hid with Christ in God. David speaks therefore in this Psalm about the good people who are hidden among the evil people and the persecutions that they suffer from them.
Dividitur ergo psalmus iste in partes tres. Primo praemittit orationem. Secundo ostendit necessitatem orandi, ibi, Quoniam alieni. Tertio praemittit recompensationem, ibi, Voluntarie sacrificabo.	Therefore this Psalm is divided into three parts. In the first part, he presents his prayer. In the second he indicates the grave reason for prayer, at For strangers. Third he makes recompense, at I will freely sacrifice.
Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponit petitionem. Secundo ponit exauditionem, ibi, Deus exaudi. Petitio sua circa duo versatur. Primo enim petit pro se. Secundo pro inimicis. Pro se enim petit ut salvetur, non per merita sua sed propter amorem divini nominis. Unde dicit: Deus in nomine tuo salvum me fac. Act. 4: Non est aliud nomen datum sub coelo, etc.. Prov. 18: Turris fortissima nomen Domini.	With respect to the first he does two things. First he sets out what he is asking for. Second, he sets out the hearing of this, at O God hear my prayer. His prayer is occupied with two concerns. First, he asks on his own account. Second, on the account of his enemies. On his account, he prays that he be saved, not by his own merits, but according to the love of the divine name. For this reason, he says, Save me, O God, by thy name; Acts 4: For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved; Proverbs 18: The name of the Lord is a strong tower.
Pro adversariis petit iudicium quod potest tripliciter intelligi. Uno modo de iudicio discretionis, ut scilicet eiuscausa discutiatur ab eis. Ps. 42: Iudica me, Deus, et discerne. Alio modo ut intelligatur de iudicio persecutionis, ut scilicet secundum suam iustitiam iudicet eum, liberando ipsum a malis. Isai. 11: Iudicabit in iustitia pauperes. Alio modo de iudicio condemnationis. Et hoc non petit ex desiderio vindictae sed conformando se divinae iustitiae.	On the account of his opponents he asks for a judgement, which can be understood in three ways. In one manner, as a judgement of disclosure, namely so that his cause may be considered by them; Psalm 42: Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause. In another manner, so that it is understood as a judgement about the persecution [they impose], so that he be judged according to his own justice, by freeing him from evil people [who would judge him]; Isaias 11: But he shall judge the poor with justice. And, in another manner, as a judgment of condemnation. And he does not ask for this out of a desire for vengeance, but rather by conforming himself to divine justice.
Vel hoc dicit malorum iudicium praevidendo. Et hoc est quod dicit, Et in virtute tua iudica me, Deus, exaudi orationem meam. Hic ponitur exauditio. In oratione sunt duo. Scilicet illud quod petitur, et petitio. Quandoque autem Deus exaudit quod petitur, et non ipsam petitionem, quia id quod petitur aliquis impetrat ex gratia et misericordia; et haec sunt a Deo donata. Sed ipsa petitio aliquando fit a peccatore; et ideo non est exaudita, quia non est Deo accepta. Et ideo petit, scilicet ut sua oratio sive petitio impleatur cum dicit: Deus, exaudi orationem meam, et quod sua verba percipiat auribus, Auribus percipe verba oris mei; quod fit quando sua verba Deus acceptat et approbat. Ps. 5 : Verba mea auribus, etc.	Or he says this with an eye to the judgement of the wicked. And this is what he says, And judge me in thy strength, O God, hear my prayer. Here, he sets down the hearing of his cause. There are two things in his prayer, namely, that which is asked for, and the petition itself. When God hears the cause that is asked for, but not however, the petition itself, this is because that which is asked for is gotten by somebody out of grace and pity; and these are given by God. But the very same petition can be made by a sinner; and thus this is not heard, since it is not acceptable to God. So, he asks precisely that his prayer or petition be fulfilled when he says: O God, hear my prayer, and that his words be heard by [His] ears, Give ear to the words of my mouth, which takes place when God accepts and approves of his words; Psalm 5: Give ear, O Lord, to my words.
b. Quoniam alieni insurrexerunt. Hic ponit necessitatem orandi, ubi exaggerat persecutionem hostium, primo ex eorum affectu. Secundo ex potentia. Tertio ex contemptu Dei.	For strangers have risen up against me. Here he presents the grave reason for his praying, where he treats at length the persecution these enemies make against him, first from their disposition and desire. Second from their power. Third, from their contempt of God.
Ex affectu quia quando aliquis omnino alienus ab aliquo persequitur aliquem, hoc est periculosum, quia sine misericordia in eum insurgit; et ideo dicit, Quoniam alieni, idest daemones, vel peccatores. Si referatur ad quemlibet iustum, Insurrexerunt adversum me sine aliqua compassione sive misericordia. Sed alieni possunt dici qui aliter se habent quam amici, sicut Saul alienus erat a David, et Ziphaei qui accusaverunt eum Sauli. Iob 19: Noti mei quasi alieni recesserunt a me.	From their desire because, when somebody persecutes somebody else who is a total stranger to him, this is a most dangerous condition, because he rises up against him without any pity; and therefore he says, For strangers, that is demons, or sinners. If this refers to any particular just person, [they] Have risen up against me, without any compassion or pity. But the term “alien” can be said of any who are otherwise related than as friends, just as Saul was alien to David, and the Ziphians who denounced him to Saul; Job 19: And my acquaintance like strangers have departed from me.
Ex potentia, quia quando debilis invadit potest se quis defendere; sed isti sunt fortes, quia Fortes quaesierunt animam meam. 1 Reg. 24: Saul elegit tria millia virorum ad persequendum David. Vel fortes, idest daemones. Luc. 11: Cum fortis armatus, idest diabolus, etc.	From their power, because when somebody weak attacks, one can defend oneself; but these people are strong, since [the Psalmist states] The mighty have sought after my soul; 1 Kings 24: Saul therefore took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went out to seek after David. Or the mighty are demons; Luke 11: When a strong man armed, that is, the devil, keepeth his court.
Ex contemptu Dei, quia aliquando aliquis desistit a persecutione in quantum retinetur amore Dei. Sed isti nec propter hoc dimittunt, unde dicit, Et non proposuerunt Deum ante conspectum suum. Psalm: Dixit enim in corde suo: non requiret Deus.	Out of contempt for God, in that sometimes somebody leaves off from persecuting in so far as they are held back [from injustice] by love of God. But these people do not renounce this on account of that reason, whence he says, And they have not set God before their eyes.
c. Ecce enim Deus adiuvat me. Hic ostendit se esse in oratione exauditum. Et primo ostendit se esse exauditum quantum ad aliquid. Secundo ponit exauditum quantum ad alia, ibi, Averte mala.	For behold God is my helper. Here he shows that he was heard in his prayer. And first he shows that he was heard with respect to something. And, second he writes of the hearing in respect to other things, at, Turn back the evils.
Dictum est supra quod oratio erat pro se cum dicit: Salvum me fac, et pro inimicis cum dicit In virtute. Primo ergo dicit se exauditum pro se quia dicit se salvatum; et deinde dixit de inimicis qui insurrexerunt contra eum et qui quaerebant animam suam; et in utroque est salvatus, quia contra insultum inimicorum dicit, Ecce Deus adiuvat me, scilicet praebet mihi auxilium. Isai. 50: Dominus Deus auxiliator meus.	It is said above that the prayer was on his account when he says: Save me, and on the account of his adversaries when he says, In Thy strength. He speaks first, therefore, on his own account because he says himself to be saved; Besides, he spoke about the adversaries that have risen up against him and who sought his soul; and in both of these conditions, he is saved, because against the insult of his adversaries, he says, For behold God is my helper, namely, he offers aid to me; Isaias 50: The Lord God is my helper.
Contra hoc quod quaerit Animam meam dicit, Dominus susceptor est animae meae, quasi dicat: Dominus salvavit me suscipiendo me in sua tutela. Sapient. 3: Iustorum animae in manu Dei sunt. Psalm. 3: Tu autem, Domine, susceptor, etc.	Against the fact that they seek My soul, he says, The Lord is the protector of my soul, as if to say: the Lord has saved me by taking me under his care; Wisdom 3: But the souls of the just are in the hand of God; Psalm 3: But thou, O Lord art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head.
d. Averte mala inimicis meis. Hic petit se exaudiri pro inimicis. Et petit duo contra duo quae faciebant in illo, quia persequebantur eum, et quaerebant eum occidere; et ideo petit ut ipsi patiantur persecutionem et occidantur.	Turn back the evils upon my enemies. Here he asks that he be heard on account of his enemies. And he asks two things against the two that they did at that time, because they persecuted him, and they sought to kill him; so, he asks that they suffer persecution and that they be slain.
Quantum ad primum dicit, Averte, scilicet a me, Inimicis meis mala, quae mihi quaerunt inferre, quasi dicat: in eos illa mala averte quae volunt inferre mihi. Quantum ad secundum dicit, Disperde illos, idest fac ut disperdantur; idest occidantur; et hoc In virtute tua. Vel In virtute tua, idest propter potentiam tuam.	As to the first, he says, Turn back, namely from me, The evils upon my enemies, that they seek to bring against me, as if to say, “turn back the evils on those who will to being them upon me”. As to the second, he says, Cut them off, that is, make them be dissipated; that is, killed, and this In your strength. Or, In your strength means “on account of your power”.
Sed hoc videtur esse contra verbum Christi, qui dicit: orate pro persequentibus. Dicendum quod omnes istae imprecationes quae leguntur in prophetis, tripliciter possunt intelligi.	But this appears to be against the expression of Christ, who says: “pray for those who persecute you”. It is to be said that all of those curses that are read in the prophetic books can be understood in three ways.
Uno modo per modum pronunciationis quia loquebantur spiritu Dei et praedicebant futura per modum orationis, quasi dicat Averte, etc., idest avertes. Unde in Hebraeo habetur de praesenti, avertis.	In one way by the mode of declaration, because they discoursed through the spirit of God and predicted things to happen in the manner of prayer, as if he said, Turn back, etc. that is, “You will turn back”. Whence, in the Hebrew, it has the present, “You turn back”
Alio modo secundum conformitatem ad divinam iustitiam.	In another way according to the conformity to divine justice.
Tertio secundum spiritualem denunciationem. Peccatores quando desinunt peccare, tunc moriuntur et desinunt esse peccatores. Et hoc est continue precandum.	In another way according to the spiritual denunciation. When sinners cease to sin, at that time they die and they cease to be sinners. And this is something to be prayed for continually.
e. Voluntarie sacrificabo tibi. Hic ponit recompensationem. Et primo ponitur recompensatio. Secundo ponitur recompensationis ratio. Duo intendit recompensare sacrificium et confessionem.	I will freely sacrifice to Thee. Here he sets down that which he gives in return. And first he sets down this recompense. Second he sets down the reason for this recompense. He intends to give back in return in two ways, by sacrifice and by giving praise.
Quantum ad primum dicit, voluntarie sacrificabo tibi. Contra supra dixit si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem. Et dicendum quod hic dicit de sacrificio quod est acceptum Deo, quod est sacrificium spiritus contribulati et castigationis corporis. 1 Cor. 9: Castigo corpus meum, etc.. Rom. 12: Exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam viventem, etc.	As to the first, he says, I will freely sacrifice to Thee. Against the things above, he declares, “if you had wished a sacrifice, I would have given it”. And, it is to be said that he says this about the sacrifice that is accepted by God, which is a sacrifice of an oppressed spirit and of chastising of the body; 1 Corinthians 9: But I chastise my body; Romans 12: That you present your bodies a living sacrifice, etc.
Tertium sacrificium est de rebus melioribus. Hebr. ult.: Beneficentiae et communionis nolite oblivisci, talibus enim hostiis promeretur, idest placatur Deus. Hoc ergo triplici sacrificio Sacrificabo tibi, Voluntarie quia cum gaudio. 1 Esdrae 3: In omnibus in quibus offerebatur ultro sacrificium. 2 Cor. 9: Hilarem datorem diligit Deus.	The third sacrifice is of the better things; Hebrews 13: And do not forget to do good, and to impart; for by such sacrifices God’s favor is obtained. This therefore is the threefold sacrifice that I will . . . sacrifice to Thee, Freely, because with joy; 1 Esdras 3: And on all in which a freewill offering was made to the Lord; 2 Corinthians 9: For God loveth a cheerful giver.
Quantum ad secundum dicit, confitebor nomini tuo, Domine, quoniam, scilicet per gratiarum actionem. Tob. 12: Benedicite Deum coeli, idest gratias agite.	As to the second he says And [I] will give praise, O God, to thy name: namely by the giving of thanks, because it is good; Tobias 12: Bless ye the God of heaven, that is, give him thanks.
Et quare? Non propter bona temporalia, sicut peccatores faciunt, de quibus dicitur confitebitur tibi cum benefeceris ei. Sed propter Dei bonitatem et benignitatem, et propter beneficia suscepta, quia exauditus sum in petitionibus meis.	And why? Not for temporal goods, just as sinners do, about whom it is said that “he will praise you when you will have done him benefit”. But for God’s goodness and friendliness, and for the benefits received, for I have been heard in my petitions.
Unde dicit se exauditum in se cum dicit, Quoniam ex omni tribulatione eripuisti me. Et tibi quantum ad inimicos, quia Super inimicos meos despexit oculus meus, quia non potuerunt mihi nocere. Vel Despexit, etc., quia contempsit eorum felicitatem et prosperitatem: Ps. 14: Ad nihilum deductus est, etc.	So, he speaks of this hearing of his case when he says, For thou hast delivered me out of all trouble. And I will even praise you in regards to my enemies, because My eye hath looked down upon my enemies, because they were not able to kill me, or, Hath looked down, etc., because he disdains their happiness and prosperity; Psalm 14: In his sight the malignant is brought to nothing.

© Dr. Gregory Sadler
(gregsadler@netnitco.net)

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The Aquinas Translation Project
(http://www4.desales.edu/~philtheo/loughlin/ATP/index.html)

Saturday, Sept 3: Bernardin de Piconio’s Commentary on Colossians 1:21-23

This post includes commentary on verse 21-25.

21. And you, though once you were ahenated and enemies in sense in evil works:
22. But now lie has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and immaculate and blameless before him;
23. If however you remain founded in the faith, and settled and immoveable from the hope of the Gospel which you heard, which was preached in the whole creation which is under heaven; of which I Paul was made a minister.
24. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up want is wanting of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh, for his body, which is the Church,
25. Of which I was made a minister according to the dispensation of God which was given me to you, to fulfil the word of God.

Saint Paul here applies to the Colossians in particular what he has just said of the world in general. God has reconciled all things to himself; he has therefore reconciled you, although once, and not very long since, you were alienated from him, and in mind and disposition, as the Syriac says by hostile feeling, had become his enemies, acting as such by wicked (evil)  works (vs 21), by which he is offended. All mortal sins are overt acts of hostility against God, and cause him to regard those who do them as his enemies; although of this fact sinners are sometimes wholly unconscious, as the Colossians probably were before their conversion to the Christian faith. Now, however, Jesus Christ has reconciled you to his Father by his death, and presented you before him holy, immaculate, free from all blame (vs 22), by the complete remission of your sins in Baptism. The statement that Christ suffered death in the body of his flesh (Latin: corpore carnis eius) is probably insisted on, because it was one of the errors of the heretics that the body of Christ was visionary and not real, and his death only apparent. Holding as they did the pseudo-philosophical doctrine of the inherent and original impurity of matter, they pretended that contact of the Deity with the material world was impossible, and they therefore denied the reality of the Incarnation of the Word, of his body, and of his death and resurrection. And immaculate and blameless you will still remain, in God’s sight, as long as you adhere to the Catholic faith, and hold to the hope of eternal life which the Gospel sets before you (vs 23), namely at the resurrection of the dead, another dogma of the faith whicli the heretics derided and denied. This faith and hope, delivered to you by Epaphras, is no invention of his, or of mine, but is the same Gospel which for years past has been proclaimed by all the apostles to all nations under heaven, west and east, to the furthest limits of the Roman empire and beyond them, and which I Paul have myself proclaimed all over the West of Asia, and in great part of Europe. I am proclaiming it now in the centre and capital of the empire, where I suffer imprisonment on your behalf (vs 24), on a charge, the recognition of the Son of Mary as our Lord and King, of which you are equally guilty with myself, and I bear this and all my other sufferings, not only patiently, but actually with joy, because I have a share in the sufferings of Christ, who, though his own were sufficient for the redemption of the world, and many worlds, did they exist, has nevertheless left a legacy of suffering to be filled up and completed by those who proclaim his empire, and those who embrace it, to the end of time, that they may be partakers with him of his eternal reward. As Christ suffered in the body of his mortal flesh when he dwelt on earth, so now he suffers in his mystical body, the Church, and prolongs his passion until his coming again. And I, and all who believe in him, suffer, as he suffered, in the flesh, while in heart and soul I rejoice. And my choice and appointment to the office I hold was not made in any ordinary way, nor was I chosen like the other Apostles, my colleagues, but according to the dispensation of God towards you (vs 25), the Gentile nations, for the fulfilment of God’s great promise and purpose, the call of the Gentile nations to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It would seem that the Colossians, dwelling as they did in a somewhat remote portion of Phrygia, had been puzzled and bewildered by the confident assertions of the heretical teachers who had found their way among them, and who assured them that the teaching of Epaphras was an invention of his own, or an inaccurate representation of that of St. Paul, that neither Paul nor Epaphras could be trusted as correctly conveying to them these important truths, and that the real doctrine of Christ was only to be found in the heretic philosophy. The assurance thus solemnly given them by Saint Paul, and sent from his prison in Rome, could not but be highly satisfactory, and calculated to ensure their full confidence in their pastor and prelate. It is also not improbable that they had been told that Saint Paul’s imprisonment was a proof that he was an impostor and a criminal, on which account he assures them that he is only filling up what remained of the passion of Christ, and that while he suffered in the flesh he rejoiced in hope.

Saturday, September 3: Father Callan’s Commentary on Colossians 1:21-23

This post includes Father Callan’s Summary of Colossians 1:15-23. This Summary was also included in yesterday’s post on Col 1:15-20.

THE SUPREME DIGNITY OF CHRIST

A Summary of Col 1:15-23~In the preceding verses St. Paul has shown, against the false teachers who were trying to pervert the Colossians, what great blessings we owe to our Lord. And now in this section he goes further, and shows that Christ is the image of the invisible God, anterior to all creation; the Son in whom and by whom all things were created and are sustained. And not only is the Son the head of the universe, but He is also, in a very special manner, the head of the Church; in Him dwells the fullness of Divinity, and through His sacrificial death on the cross all things have been reconciled to the Father (ver. 18-20). The Colossians are included in this redemption, for they were formerly enemies of God, but have now been reconciled to the Father through the atoning death of the Son. The goal of this reconciliation was that they might be spotless before God here and now; and this they will continue to be, if only they hold fast to the faith which they have received, which is the same everywhere, and of which Paul is the minister (ver. 21-23) .

21. And you, whereas you were some time alienated and enemies in mind in evil works,

In verses 21-23 St. Paul applies to the Colossians what he has been saying in general regarding the redemptive work of Christ. Formerly, in their pagan state, they also had been alienated from God; their mental attitude was hostile to Him, as was proved by their evil deeds. But now they have been reconciled to the Father through the atoning sufferings and death on the cross of God’s only Son.

22. Yet now he hath reconciled you in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unspotted, and blameless before him:

In the body of his flesh, etc., i.e., in His own mortal, passible body, as distinguished from His mystical body, the Church: “For God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, etc.” (2 Cor 5:19).

To present you holy, etc. The purpose of this reconciliation was the sanctification of the Colossians, so that they might appear in the sight of God here and now free from vice of every kind and adorned with all virtues.

23. If so ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and immovable from the hope of the gospel which you have heard, which is preached in all the creation that is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister.

Here the Apostle tells the Colossians that they will continue in their holy state only if they preserve unsullied the faith which they have received from Epaphras, and which is the same as that preached everywhere else by St. Paul and his disciples.

Grounded and settled, etc. See on Eph 3:17. Father Callan wrote the following on Eph 3:17~17. That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts; that being rooted and founded in charity.

By faith, i.e., by means of an implicit trust in all that has been revealed, and this, not merely by a speculative adhesion of the mind to revealed truth, but by a practical exercise in works of what one believes, by a faith that lives by charity: “If any one love me, he will keep my word, etc.” (John 14:23 ff.).

Being rooted, like a tree of the Lord in the rich soil of the love of God, and founded, like stones of the Temple on the same love.

In charity. It is disputed whether these words should go with what precedes or with what follows ; and also whether there is question of God’s love for Christians or of the love Christians have for God. As to the first point, it seems that the participles “rooted” and “founded” need determination, and therefore that the phrase “in charity” should go with them. As to the second point, since the Apostle is praying that his readers may understand Christ’s love for them, and since love is perceived by love and the more Christ is loved the better He is understood, it would seem that the words “in charity” ought to refer to the love Paul’s readers have for Christ.

The hope of the Gospel, which is eternal salvation.

Which is preached, etc. St. Paul wants to assure the Colossians that the Gospel they have heard is the same as the authentic Gospel preached elsewhere.

Whereof I am made the minister. Some think these words were added to show the identity between the Gospel preached by Paul and that delivered by Epaphras; but it is more likely that they were intended as a link between what the Apostle has been saying and what he is about to say regarding his work in behalf of the pagans.

This Weeks Posts: Sunday, August 28–Saturday, September 3

All posts and links listed below are currently available. The Divine Office site for any given day (e.g., Wednesday) allows you you view the office one day in advance (Tues.), the day of (Wed.) and the day after (Thurs). If any further posts or links are added they will be marked UPDATE.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28
TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Resources for Today’s Mass. A weekly feature of this blog. Resources for next Sunday’s Mass will be posted on Wednesday or Thursday evening.

Today’s Divine Office.

Last Weeks Posts: Sunday, August 21-Saturday, August 27.

MONDAY, AUGUST 29
MEMORIAL OF THE MARTYRDOM (BEHEADING) OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST

And what shall I yet say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, Barac, Samson, Jephthe, David, Samuel, and the prophets: Who by faith conquered kingdoms, wrought justice, obtained promises...had trial of mockeries and stripes: moreover also of bands and prisons. They were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted: Of whom the world was not worthy: wandering in deserts, in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth. (see Heb 11)

Image source.

Today’s Mass Readings.

Today’s Divine Office.

My Notes on Today’s First Reading (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Father Callan’s Notes on Today’s First Reading (1 Thess 4:13-18).

Pope John Paul II’s Commentary/Meditation on Today’s Psalm (96).

Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Today’s Gospel (Mark 6:17-29).

TUESDAY, AUGUST 30
TUESDAY OF THE TWENTY-SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Today’s Mass Readings.

Today’s Divine Office.

Father Callan’s Commentary on Today’s First Reading (1 Thess 5:1-6, 9-11).

St Thomas Aquinas’ Lecture on Today’s Psalm (27).

Pope John Paul II’s Commentary/Meditation on Today’s Psalm (27).

Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Today’s Gospel (Luke 4:31-37.

UPDATE: Juan de Maldonado’s Commentary on Matt 18:15-20 for Sunday Mass, Sept 4. Reading used in the Ordinary Form of the Rite.

UPDATE: Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Matt 18:15-18 for Sunday Mass, Sept 4. Reading used in the Ordinary Form of the Rite.

UPDATE: Father Maas’ Commentary on Matt 18:15-20 for Sunday Mass, Sept 4. Reading used in the Ordinary Form of the Rite.

UPDATE: Cornelius a Lapide’s Commentary on 2 Cor 3:1-9 for Sunday Mass, Sept 4. Reading used in the Extraordinary Form of the Rite.

UPDATE: Father Callan’s Commentary on 2 Cor 3:1-9 for Sunday Mass, Sept 4. Reading used in the Extraordinary Form.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31
WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY-SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Today’s Mass Readings.

Today’s Divine Office.

Bernardin de Piconio’s Commentary on Today’s First Reading (Col 1:1-8).

St Thomas Aquinas’ Lecture on Today’s Psalm (52).

Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Today’s Gospel (Luke 4:38-44).

UPDATE: Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Luke 10:23-37 for Sunday Mass, Sept, 4. Reading used in the Extraordinary Form.

UPDATE: St Cyril of Alexandria’s Exegetical Homily on Luke 10:23-37 for Sunday Mass, Sept 4. Reading used in the Extraordinary Form.

UPDATE: Resources for Sunday Mass, Sept 4 (Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Rite).

UPDATE: Bede the Venerable’s Homily on Luke 10:23-37 for Sunday Mass, Sept 4. The Gospel reading used in the Extraordinary Form.

UPDATE: Aquinas’ Homily Notes on Luke 10:23-37 for Sunday Mass, Sept 4. The Gospel reading used in the Extraordinary Form.

UPDATE: R.D. Byles’ Commentary on 2 Cor 3:1-9 for Sunday Mass, Sept 4. The Epistle reading used in the Extraordinary Form.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1
THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY-SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Today’s Mass Readings.

Today’s Divine Office.

Bernardin de Piconio on Today’s First Reading (Col 1:9-14).

Pope John Paul II’s Commentary/Meditation on Today’s Psalm (98).

Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Today’s Gospel (Luke 5:1-11).

My Notes on Today’s Gospel (Luke 5:1-11).

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2
FRIDAY OF THE TWENTY-SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Today’s Mass Readings.

Today’s Divine Office.

Bernardin de Piconio Commentary on Today’s First Reading (Col 1:15-20).

Father Callan’s Commentary on Today’s First Reading (Col 1:15-20).

Pope John Paul II’s Commentary/Meditation on Today’s First Reading (Col 1:15-10).

St Augustine’s Notes on Today’s Psalm (100).

A Patristic/Medieval Commentary on Today’s Psalm (100).

Pope John Paul II’s Commentary/Meditation on Today’s Psalm (100).

Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Today’s Gospel (Luke 5:33-39).

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3
MEMORIAL OF ST GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

Be not anxious about what you have, but about who you are~Pope St Gregory the Great

Image source.

Today’s Mass Readings.

Today’s Divine Office.

UPDATE: Father Callan’s Commentary on Today’s First Reading (Col 1:21-23).

UPDATE: Bernardin de Piconio’s Commentary on Today’s First Reading (Col 1:21-23).

UPDATE: My Notes on Today’s Psalm (54:3-9).

UPDATE: St Thomas Aquinas’ Lecture on Today’s Psalm (54). This is numbered Ps 53 in the translation Aquinas was using.

UPDATE: Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Today’s Gospel (Luke 6:1-5).

UPDATE: Pope Benedict XVI on Pope St Gregory the Great:

• Talk 1.
• Talk 2.

UPDATE: The Pastoral Rule in Four Books. By Pope St Gregory the Great.

UPDATE: Audio version of the Pastoral Rule.

UPDATE: The Letters of Pope St Gregory the Great. In 14 books.

UPDATE: The Dialogues of Pope St Gregory the Great:

• Book 1.
• Book 2.
• Book 3.
• Book 4.

UPDATE: Moral on the Book of Job. Anglican translation.

• Vol. 1.
• Vol. 2.
• Vol 3.
• Vol. 4.

UPDATE: A Life of St Gregory the Great.

Friday, Sept 2: Pope John Paul II’s Commentary/Meditation on Today’s Psalm (100)

In prayer we abandon ourselves to God’s embrace

1. In the spirit of joy and celebration that continues in this last week of the Christmas season, we want to resume our meditation on the Liturgy of Lauds. Today we reflect on Psalm 99[100], just proclaimed, which is a joyful invitation to praise the Lord, the shepherd of his people.

Seven imperatives are scattered throughout the psalm and call the faithful community to celebrate and worship the God of love and of the covenant:  extol, serve, come before, acknowledge, enter his gates, praise him, bless him. One thinks of a liturgical procession that is about to enter the Temple of Zion to perform a rite in honour of the Lord (cf. Ps 14; 23; 94).

In the Psalm certain characteristic terms are repeated for exalting the bond of the covenant that exists between God and Israel. Above all, there emerges the assertion of a complete belonging to God:  “we belong to him, we are his people” (Ps 99[100],3), an affirmation full of both pride and humility, since Israel is presented as “the sheep of his pasture” (ibid.). We later find an expression of relationship:  “For he [the Lord] is our God” (Ps 94[95],7). Then we discover the richness of the relationship of love, his “mercy” and “fidelity”, joined with his “goodness” (cf. Ps 99[100],5), which, in the original Hebrew are formulated with the typical terms of the covenant that binds Israel to her God.

2. The coordinates of space and time are also reviewed. In fact, on the one hand, the entire earth is presented to us as joined in the praise of God (cf. v. 2); then the horizon shifts to the sacred area of the Temple of Jerusalem with its courts and gates (cf. v. 4), where the community is gathered in prayer. On the other hand, reference is made to time in its three basic dimensions:  the past of creation (“the Lord our God, he made us”, v. 3), the present of the covenant and worship (“we belong to him, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture”, ibid.) and finally, the future, in which the Lord’s merciful fidelity extends “from age to age” revealing itself to be “eternal” (v. 5).

3. We will now reflect briefly on the seven imperatives that make up the long invitation to praise God and take up the whole Psalm (vv. 2-4) before we discover, in the last verse, their motivation in the exaltation of God, contemplated in his intimate and profound identity.

The first appeal consists in the festive acclamation that involves the whole earth in the song of praise to the Creator. When we pray, we should feel in tune with all those who pray exalting the one Lord in different languages and ways. As the Prophet Malachi says, “For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and everywhere they bring sacrifice to my name and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts” (1,11).

4. Then come several calls using liturgical and ritual terms “serve”, “come before” and “go within the gates” of the temple. These are verbs which in alluding to royal audiences, describe the various gestures the faithful perform when they enter the sanctuary of Zion to take part in the community’s prayer. After the cosmic hymn, the liturgy is celebrated by the people of God “the sheep of his pasture”, his “possession among all peoples” (Ex 19,5).

The invitation to “go within his gates, giving thanks” and to “enter his courts with songs of praise” reminds us of a passage from The Mysteries of St Ambrose, in which he describes the baptized as they approach the altar:  “The cleansed people, [rich in these insignia], hasten to the altar of Christ, saying:  “I will go to the altar of God, the God who gives joy to my youth’ (Ps 42[43],4). For the people, having put aside the defilements of ancient error, renewed in their youth as an eagle, hasten to approach the heavenly banquet. So they come, and, when they see the sacred altar properly prepared, they exclaim:  ["You have prepared a table in my sight'. David introduces these people as speaking when he says], “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul’ (Ps 22[23],1-2)” (St Ambrose, Theological and Dogmatic Works, pp. 20-21, CUA Press, 1963).

5. The other imperatives that enrich the Psalm repeat the fundamental religious attitudes of the person at prayer:  acknowledge, praise, bless. The verb to acknowledge expresses the content of the profession of faith in the one God. In fact, we must proclaim that only “the Lord is God” (Ps 99[100],3), combatting all idolatry, pride and human power opposed to him.

The object of the other verbs praise and bless, is also “the name” of the Lord (cf. v. 4), or his person, his effective and saving presence.

In this light the Psalm leads in the end to a solemn exaltation of God, that is a kind of profession of faith: the Lord is good and his fidelity never abandons us because He is always ready to sustain us with his merciful love. With this confidence the person praying abandons himself to the embrace of his God:  “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” and the Psalmist also says, “happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 33[34],9; cf. I Pt 2,3).

Friday, September 2: Pope John Paul II’s Commentary/Meditation on Colossians 1:15-20

.

Actually, this post is on verse 12-20.

Christological hymn in the first chapter
of St Paul’s Letter to the Colossians

1. We have just heard the wonderful Christological hymn of the Letter to the Colossians. The Liturgy of Vespers presents it in all four weeks in which the liturgy unfolds and offers it to the faithful as a Canticle, returning the text to what was perhaps its original form. Indeed, many scholars think that the Canticle might be a citation from a hymn of the Church in Asia Minor, which Paul inserted into the Letter he addressed to the Christian community of Colossae, then a flourishing and densely populated city.

The Apostle, however, never went to this centre of Phrygia, a region that is now part of Turkey. The local Church was founded by one of his disciples who came from the region whose name was Epaphras. He is mentioned briefly at the end of the Letter, together with Luke the Evangelist, “the beloved physician” as St Paul calls him (4: 14), and another figure, Mark, “the cousin of Barnabas” (4: 10), perhaps the same Mark who was the companion of Barnabas and Paul (cf. Acts 12: 25; 13: 5, 13) and later became the Evangelist.

2. Since we will have several occasions to return to this Canticle, let us be content here with an overview of it, recalling a spiritual commentary on it by a famous Father of the Church, St John Chrysostom (fourth century A.D.), a noted orator who was also Bishop of Constantinople. The grandiose figure of Christ, Lord of the cosmos, stands out in this hymn. Like divine creative Wisdom, extolled in the Old Testament (cf. for example, Prv 8: 22-31), “he is before all things, and in him all things hold together”; indeed, “all things were created through him and for him” (Col 1: 16, 17).

Thus, a transcendent design unfolds in the universe that God puts into practice through the work of the Son. John also proclaims it in the Prologue to his Gospel when he says: “all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (Jn 1: 3). Even matter, with its energy, life and light, bears the imprint of the Word of God, “his beloved Son” (Col 1: 13). The revelation of the New Testament casts new light on the words of the wise man of the Old Testament, who declared that “from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator” (Wis 13: 5).

3. The Canticle in the Letter to the Colossians presents another function of Christ:  he is also the Lord of the history of salvation who makes himself manifest in the Church (cf. Col 1: 18) and is fulfilled in “the blood of his cross” (v. 20), a source of peace and harmony for the whole of human life.

It is therefore not only our external horizons that are marked by the effective presence of Christ, but also the most specific reality of human creatures:  history. It is not at the mercy of blind and irrational forces, but even in sin and evil is supported and guided toward fullness by Christ’s action. This is how the whole of reality is “reconciled” with the Father through the Cross of Christ (cf. v. 20).

Thus, the hymn paints a marvellous fresco of the universe and of history, inviting us to trust. We are not useless grains of dust, irrelevantly scattered in space and time, but are part of a wise plan conceived by the Father’s love.

4. As we announced, we will now let St John Chrysostom speak so that he may crown this reflection. In his Commentary on the Letter to the Colossians, he reflects extensively on our Canticle. At the beginning, he underlines the gratuitousness of the gift of God “who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (v. 12). “Why does he say “inheritance’?” Chrysostom asks himself, stating: ”To show that no one can attain the Kingdom with his own works. Here too, as it does more often than not, the word “inheritance’ means “fortune’. No one’s behaviour is such as to deserve the Kingdom, but all things are a gift from the Lord. For this reason, [the Lord] says: ”When you have finished doing everything, say: We are useless servants. We have done all that we had to do’” (PG 62: 312).

This kind and powerful free-giving comes to the fore once again when we later read that it is in Christ that all things were created (cf. Col 1: 16). “It is on him that the substance of all things depends”, the Bishop explains. “Not only does he make them pass from not existing to existing, but it is again he who supports them so that if they were removed from his providence they would perish and be dispelled…. They depend on him:  indeed, turning towards him is enough to sustain and strengthen them” (PG 62: 319).

What Christ accomplishes for the Church, of which he is the Head, is an even clearer sign of his gratuitous love. At this point (cf. v. 18), Chrysostom explains, “After speaking of Christ’s dignity, the Apostle also speaks of his love for men and women:  “He is the head of his body which is the Church’, desiring to demonstrate his intimate communion with us. Indeed, he who is so exalted, who is above all things, unites himself with those who are beneath him” (PG 62: 320).

Friday, September 2: Father Callan’s Commentary on Colossians 1:15-20

This post includes Father Callan’s Summary of Colossians 1:15-23 followed by his notes on today’s passage.

THE SUPREME DIGNITY OF CHRIST

A Summary of Col 1:15-23~In the preceding verses St. Paul has shown, against the false teachers who were trying to pervert the Colossians, what great blessings we owe to our Lord. And now in this section he goes further, and shows that Christ is the image of the invisible God, anterior to all creation; the Son in whom and by whom all things were created and are sustained. And not only is the Son the head of the universe, but He is also, in a very special manner, the head of the Church; in Him dwells the fullness of Divinity, and through His sacrificial death on the cross all things have been reconciled to the Father (ver. 18-20). The Colossians are included in this redemption, for they were formerly enemies of God, but have now been reconciled to the Father through the atoning death of the Son. The goal of this reconciliation was that they might be spotless before God here and now; and this they will continue to be, if only they hold fast to the faith which they have received, which is the same everywhere, and of which Paul is the minister (ver. 21-23) .

15. Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature:

Verses 15-20 here are the most important part of the present Epistle. They constitute a compendium of Christology, and, taken in conjunction with Eph. 1:20-23, Phil 2:6-1 1 and Heb 1:1 ff., they represent St. Paul’s most sublime writings relative to the person and dignity of Christ (Sales, hoc loco).

Who is the image, etc., i.e., the inward utterance and perfect expression of His Father, the Word of God (Rickaby, hoc loco). Christ is the substantial and perfect image of the Eternal Father, having the same divine nature and essence and having been begotten as the Eternal Son of the Father from eternity: “Philip, he that seeth me, seeth the Father also” (John 14:9).

The first-born of every creature, i.e., born of the Eternal Father from eternity, as is clear from the two following verses.

16. For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations or principalities, or powers—all things were created by him and unto him.

That the Son was begotten before all ages, before anything was created or made, is now proved; “for in him,” as effects are in their cause, “were all things created,” i.e., produced and brought into being; which shows that He existed prior to and above all creation, all succession, all becoming.

In heaven and on earth, etc., i.e., everything in the whole created universe was made by the Son. To emphasize his doctrine against the false teachers who were denying Divinity to the Son and maintaining a chain of angelic mediators between God and the world, the Apostle repeats at the end of the verse that “all things were created by him,” as by their first cause, “and unto him” (εἰς αυτω= eis auto),i.e., for Him, as their final cause and goal. (Some manuscripts read εν = en in place of εἰς).

Thrones, dominations, etc. See on Eph 1:21.

17. And he is before all, and in him all things consist.

To stress the pre-existence and pre-eminence as well as the creative power of Christ, the Apostle here repeats against the false teachers that the Son was prior and superior to all created things, and that all were not only created by Him, but are maintained in their existence by Him.

Consist. Better, “stand together,” hang together, cohere; all things were created by the Word, and all continue in existence and are conserved by Him.

The Vulgate ante omnes should be ante omnia, denoting all creation, as in the Greek.

18. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead ; that in all things he may hold the primacy;

Christ is not only the creator and conserver of all things in the universe, but He is also the creator of the new spiritual order of things inasmuch as He has repaired and redeemed all things; for He is the Founder and Head of that mystical body which is His Church (see on Eph 1:22).

Who is the beginning, i.e., the efficient cause and creator of that organization which is the Church; He is the fountain and author of grace and glory.

The first-bom from the dead, i.e., the first in time to be raised from death to a glorious and immortal life, thus becoming the principle and model of the final resurrection of all who belong to Him. Just above, in ver. 15-16, it was said that Christ was the “first-born” of all things in general, that is, the creator of all, and here it is said that He is the “first-bom” of His redeemed creation. In both orders, the natural and the supernatural. He holds “the primacy” of power and dignity; He is the creator of all things in the natural order, and He is the redeemer and saviour of all in the supernatural order of grace and glory.

19. Because in him, it hath well pleased the Father, that all the fullness should dwell;

Here and in the following verse the Apostle further shows how the Word holds the primacy in all things. First, “because in him, etc.,” i.e., at the time of the Incarnation it pleased the Father, or God, that “all the fullness” of Divinity, and consequently of grace and truth (John 1:14), through the hypostatic union of the divine and human natures in the one Person of the Word, should take up its permanent abode in Christ.

The Father is not expressed in Greek, but it is most natural to take it as the subject of the verb “hath well pleased” in view of the subject in verses 12 and 13 and the context of verses 15-18.

Fullness, i.e., plenitude, totality—”the fullness of the Godhead,” as it is expressed in 2:9 below. See on Eph 1:23.

Should dwell. The Greek implies permanency of dwelling.

20. And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven.

In the second place, it has pleased God the Father “through him” (i.e., through Christ) “to reconcile all things unto himself” (cf. Rom 5:10; 2 Cor 5:18, 19). These references to Romans and 2 Corinthians show that we should understand eis auton here to mean the Father rather than the Son.

Making peace through the blood of his cross. The meaning is that through the sacrificial death of the Son on the cross peace was effected with the Eternal Father (cf. Rom 5:).

Both as to the things that are on the earth, etc. See on Eph 1:10. The Apostle is stressing the point here, against the false teachers at Colossae, that Christ is the one and only medium of reconciling with the Father all things, spiritual and material, human and angelic. Men, indeed, needed reconciliation in the strict sense of the word; but as regards the material creation and the angelic world see on Eph 1:10. Here, however, there is no question of reconciling men and angels with one another, but of reconciling all with God the Father. Therefore, to explain how the sacrificial death of Christ effected reconciliation and peace between the angelic world and the Father some have had recourse to the meaning of  Eph 3:10, and explain the difficulty in the sense of that passage. Thus, men are really cleansed and restored to divine favor, while angels acquire greater knowledge and joy as a result of man’s salvation (so Knabenbauer, hoc loco). Others think that reconciliation, as applied here to angelic beings, must be taken in a wide sense, meaning that Christ’s propitiation brought the world of angels into closer union with God, thus making them less alien than they had been before that august event (so Alford, Moule, etc.).

Friday, September 2: Bernardin de Piconio’s Commentary on Colossians 1:15-20

15. Who is the image of God the invisible, firstborn of all creation;
16. Because in him all things were created, in the heavens and in earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones, or Dominations, or Principalities, or Powers; all were created through him and in him;
17. And he is before all, and in him all things consist.

God the Son is the image ol God the Father, who is  invisible, whom no man has seen nor can see (1 Tim 6), in all things like him, equal to him, consubstantial with him, proceeding from him per intellectum, his equal Word. And through this consubstantial Image of the Father, painted in the colours of the flesh, he becomes visible in time, who is invisible in eternity. Firstborn of all creation, that is, born before all creation, and therefore higher in dignity than anything created; elder than creation by all eternity, himself its Creator in time. First born, Saint Chrysostom observes, not first created. It is generation, not creation, which is predicated of him. Because, this marks that what follows is an explanation of the statement just made. Christ is the firstborn of creation in this sense, that in him all things were made. Made by God the Father through the agency or intervention of God the Word. In heaven or in earth, visible or invisible, and including therefore the angels (this is stated in opposition to the doctrine of Simon Magus) however lofty their dignity, however great their powers and faculties. All created things were made through Christ, and, in the Greek, to or for him. God the Father did not create the universe by himself, or for himself, but it was made through the agency of the Son, and for the pleasure of the Son. He is before all creatures in time, and in him they consist and are kept in being.

18. And he is the head of the body, the Church, who is the principle, the first-begotten from the dead; that he may in all things hold primacy.
19. Because in him it pleased God that all fullness should dwell.

Christ is the head of the Church, and the head is the seat and source of life, will, and sensation. And he is the Principle, Principium. Saint John applies this term to God the Father: In Principio, in the Principle, in the great First Cause, in the bosom of the Father from eternity, was the Word. But Moses seems to apply it to the Son, as the Principle or beginning of the Creation: In Principio, in the Principle, in the Divine Word, God the Father created the heavens and the earth. But some Greek writers instead of ἀρχή read àπἀρχή, which means literally the beginning of a sacrifice, and was usually a lock of haircut from the head of the victim and thrown into the fire. Generally it came to mean the firstfruits, the representative or more valuable part of anything. Saint Chrysostom says: He calls him the first-fruits, implying that he has hallowed us all by the oblation of his sacrifice. The first-fruits of the human race, offered for the rest in sacrifice to God; and also the Prince of the resurrection, the first-born from the dead. Thus in all things he holds primacy and pre-eminence, as the only-begotten son of the Father, as the author and beginner of the creation, as the Victim for mankind, as the Head of the Church, as the leader of the resurrection. For it pleased the Father, of his own love and generosity, of free grace, not the merit of Christ, that in Christ all fullness should dwell, the perfection of wisdom, grace, and power. Men receive these gifts in part, Christ has them all, and in all fullness. And in him they dwell, perpetually and inseparably, both by grace and in his Divine nature. But the life that dwells in the head flows also into the body, and having recourse to Christ we draw from the fullness of the fountain of divine grace.

20. And through him to reconcile all things to himself, making peace through the blood of his Cross, whether the things that are on earth, or the things that are in the heavens.

The infinitive depends upon complacuit (pleased) in the previous verse. It was the good pleasure of the Father to reconcile all things to himself by the blood of Christ shed on the Cross. The words in ipsum (unto Himself) are a Hebraism, and equivalent to sibi. Sin had introduced enmity between heaven and earth, but by the Cross of Christ sin is done away. By the blood of Christ angels and men are made at peace.

Friday, September 2: Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on Today’s Gospel (Luke 5:33-39)

Ver  33. And they said to him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but you eat and drink?34. And he said to them, Can you make the children of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?35. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.36. And he spoke also a parable to them; No man puts a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new makes a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agrees not with the old.37. And no man puts new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.38. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.39. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desires new: for he said, The old is better.

CYRIL; As soon as they have received the first answer from Christ, they proceed from one thing to another, with the intent to show that the holy disciples, and Jesus Himself with them, cared very little for the law. Hence it follows, Why do the disciples of John fast, but you eat, &c. As if they said, You eat with publicans and sinners, whereas the law forbids to have any fellowship with the unclean, but compassion comes in as an excuse for your transgression; why then do you not fast, as they are wont to do who ho wish to live according to the law? But holy men indeed fast, that by the mortification of their body they may quell its passions. Christ needed not fasting for the perfecting of virtue, since as God He was free from every yoke of passion. Nor again did His companions need fasting, but being made partakers of His grace without fasting they were ere strengthened in all holy and godly living. For when Christ fasted for forty days, it was not to mortify His passions, but to manifest to carnal men the rule of abstinence.

AUG. Now Luke evidently relates that this was spoken not by men of themselves, but by others concerning them. How then does Matthew say, Then came to him the disciple of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast; unless that they themselves also came, and were all eager, as far as they were able, to put the question to Him?

AUG. Now there are two fasts, one is in tribulation, to propitiate God for our sins; another in joy, when as carnal things delight us less, we feed the more on things spiritual. The Lord therefore being asked why His disciples did not fast, answered as to each fast. And first of the fast of tribulation; for it follows, And he said to them, Can you make the children of the bridegroom fast when the bridegroom is with them?

CHRYS. As if He should say, The present time is one of joy and gladness, sorrow must not then be mixed up with it.

CYRIL; For the showing forth of our Savior in this world was nothing else but a great festival, spiritually uniting our nature to Him as His bride, that she who was formerly barren might become fruitful. The children of the Bridegroom then are found to be those who have been called by Him through a new and evangelical discipline, but not the Scribes and Pharisees, who observe only the shadow of the law.

AUG. Now this which Luke alone mentions, You cannot make the children of the bridegroom fast, is understood to refer to those very men who said that they would make the children of the Bridegroom mourn and fast, since they were about to kill the Bridegroom.

CYRIL; Having granted to the children of the Bridegroom that it was not fitting that they should be troubled, as they were keeping a spiritual feast, but that fasting should be abolished among them, He adds as a direction, But the days shall come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

AUG. As if He said, Then shall they be desolate, and in sorrow and lamentation, until the joy of consolation shall be restored to them by the Holy Spirit.

AMBROSE; Or, That fast is not given up whereby the flesh is mortified, and the desires of the body chastened. (For this fast commends us to God.) But we cannot fast who have Christ, and banquet on the flesh and blood of Christ.

BASIL; The children of the Bridegroom also cannot fast, i.e. refuse nourishment to the soul, but live on every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God.

AMBROSE; But when are those days, in which Christ shall be taken away from us, since He has said, I will be with you always, even to the end of the world? But no one can take Christ away from you, unless you take yourself away from Him.

THEOPHYL; For as long as the Bridegroom is with us we both rejoice, and can neither fast nor mourn. But when He has gone away through our sins, then a fast must be declared and mourning be enjoined.

AMBROSE; Lastly, it is spoken of the fast of the soul, as the context shows , for it follows, But be said, No man puts a piece of a new garment upon an old. He calls fasting an old garment, which the Apostle thought should be taken off, saying, Put off the old man with his deeds. In the same manner we have a series of precepts not to mix up the actions of the old and new man.

AUG. Or else, The gift of the Holy Spirit being received, there is a kind of fast, which is of joy, which they who are already renewed to a spiritual life most seasonably celebrate. Before they receive this gift, He says they are as old garments, to which a new piece of cloth is most unsuitably sewed on, i.e. any part of the doctrine which relates to the soberness of the new life; for if this takes place, the very doctrine itself also is in a measure divided, for it teaches a general fast not from pleasant food only, but from all delight in temporal pleasures, the part of which that appertains to food He said ought not to be given to men still devoted to their old habits, for therein seems to be a rent, and it agrees not with the old. He says also, that they are like to old skins, as it follows, And no one puts wine into old skins.

AMBROSE; The weakness of man’s condition is exposed when our bodies are compared to the skins of dead animals.

AUG. But the Apostles are compared to old skins, who are more easily burst with new wine, i.e. with spiritual precepts, than contain them. Hence it follows, Else the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine will be spilled. But they were new skins at that time, when after the ascension of the Lord they received the Holy Spirit, when from desire of His consolation they were renewed by prayer and hope.

Hence it follows, But the new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved.

THEOPHYL; Inasmuch as wine refreshes us within, but garments cover us without, the garments are the good works which we do abroad, by which we shine before men; wine, the fervor of faith, hope, and charity. Or, The old skins are the Scribes and Pharisees, the new piece and the new wine the precepts of the Gospel.

GREG. NYSS. For wine newly drawn forth, evaporates on account of the natural heat in the liquor, throwing off from itself the scum by natural action. Such wine is the new covenant, which the old skins because of their unbelief contain not, and are therefore burst by the excellence of the doctrine, and cause the grace of the Spirit to flow in vain; because into an evil soul wisdom will not enter.

THEOPHYL; But to every soul which is not yet renewed, but goes on still in the old way of wickedness, the sacraments of new mysteries ought not to be given. They also who wish to mix the precepts of the Law with the Gospel, as the Galatians did, put new wine into old bottles. It follows, No man also having drank old wine straightway desires new, for he said, the old is better. For the Jews, imbued with the taste of their old life, despised the precepts of the new grace, and being defiled with the traditions of their ancestors, were not able to perceive the sweetness of spiritual words.