Resources for Sunday Mass, Sept 19 (Ordinary & Extraordinary Forms

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MORE RESOURCES COMING THURSDAY -SATURDAY! This post contains (mostly) biblical resources for this Sunday’s Mass and includes items for both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite. A number of these resources were published on this blog earlier in the week, these are marked with asterisks (***).More resources will be added to the page in the coming days.

ORDINARY FORM: Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Readings from the NAB. Text.

***My Notes on Amos 8:4-7 for Sunday Mass, Sept 19.

Pope Benedict XVI on Psalm 113 for Sunday Mass, Sept 19. Off site.

UPDATE: Bishop MacEvily on 1 Tim 2:1-8 for Sunday Mass, Sept 19. Available @ midnight.

***Aquinas Catena Aurea on Luke 16:1-13 for Sunday Mass, Sept 19.

Bishop MacEvily on Luke 16:1-13 for Sunday Mass, Sept 19.

Haydock Bible Commentary. Text of the Douay Rheims followed by notes from the commentary.

Dr Scott Hahn Podcast. Brief, relates the theme(s) of the readings. Text Available.

Word On Fire Podcast. Father Robert Barron’s Homily.

UPDATE, 9/16. Franciscan Sisters Sunday Bible Study Podcast.

UPDATE, 9/17. Navarre Bible Commentary.

• First Reading/Commentary.
• Second Reading/Commentary.
• Gospel Reading/ Commentary.
  

UPDATE, 9/17. Word Sunday.

• MP3 PODCAST In this week’s audio podcast, we consider the true use of money, not on the self, but for the good of others.
• FIRST READING Amos preached against the money hungry, those who accumulation above the good of people.
• PSALM Psalm 113 spoke to the glory of God and his care for the least in society. YHWH is the Lord of all, not the few.
• SECOND READING 1 Timothy addressed the ideal Christian life, one lived in peace, piety and evangelization. How can we create conditions for this life?
• GOSPEL In Luke 16, Jesus addressed the possession and use of wealth. How we use our wealth is far more important than how we gain it, for it’s use reveals our character and our relationships with others.
• CHILDREN’S READINGS In the story for the first reading, we imagine the prophet Amos as a young boy. The young Amos saw a merchant trying to cheat his father, a practice he would rail against as an adult. In the story for the gospel, three friends were almost torn apart by a loan. In the end, they realized people are more important than money, just like Jesus told us.
• CATECHISM LINK In this week’s Catechism Link, we study God the Father, All-powerful and All-loving.

Lector Notes. gives historical and theological background.

Historical Cultural Context. Focuses on the Parable of the Steward.

Thoughts from the Early Church. Excerpt on the Gospel from Gaudentius of Brescia.

EXTRAORDINARY FORM: 17th Sunday After Pentecost.

***Father Callan on Ephesians 4:1-6.

***Father Wilberforce on Ephesians 4:1-6.

***Aquinas Catena Aurea on Matt 22:35-46.

The following links are to online books. If you need to increase text size for easier reading use the site’s zoom feature located on the top left side of page.

UPDATE, 9/16. Homily on the Epistle. By Bishop Bonomelli.

UPDATE, 9/16. Homily on the Gospel. Bishop Bonomelli.

Father Wilberforce on Ephesians 4:1-6

4:1. I therefore, the Prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called.

In the three preceding chapters St. Paul has been explaining at length the wonderful privileges bestowed on those converted to Christianity; and he now goes on to exhort the Ephesians to live up to their high vocation, and, above all things, to remain in the unity of the one Church.

First he admonishes them to persevere in unity, secondly, at verse 17 (“This then I say”) he instructs them how to remain in ecclesiastical unity.

To induce them to persevere in ecclesiastical unity he makes an appeal to their affection. Therefore, because you have received so many benefits from the Lord, you ought to make a return of love; and in order to do this I exhort you. I might indeed command you with apostolic authority; but I prefer to appeal to your charity, and so I remind you that I am the prisoner in the Lord. This pathetic appeal would carry great weight, for three reasons:—

(a) From the compassion they would feel for their beloved Apostle.

(b) They would remember that the Apostle was suffering for their sakes (2 Cor. 1:6).

(V) The sufferings of the Apostle were their glory, and therefore they must do honour to the Father, who had begotten them in Christ. What he beseeches them to do is to reflect on the high dignity of their Christian vocation; and to walk, that is to live, with corresponding holiness. Noblesse oblige. It would be unbecoming in one called to a throne to live like a peasant. As you therefore, says the Apostle, are called to be ” fellow-citizens with the Saints” (2:19), it would be highly unbecoming to love earthly things and to care only for this world (comp. Col. 1:10 and 1 Peter 2:9). As St. Bernard aroused himself to fervour in his religious life by constantly saying, ” Bernard, why did you leave the world and come here,” so ought every Christian to say to himself, ” Why did God lead me into the admirable light of His Church? That I might love Christ, and live like Christ.

4:2. With all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity.

As the Apostle is urging the necessity of unity in faith and charity, he notices four vices which tend to destroy unity and recommends the contrary virtues. These vices are pride, anger, impatience, and illregulated zeal.

1. To counteract pride he exhorts them to walk with all humility. Pride which makes all desire to be first and none to submit themselves, must cause dissension and destroy peace; as the Holy Ghost says, ” Among the proud there are always contentions” (Prov. 13:10). This vice utterly disappears among those who walk with all humility. He is not truly humble who is not humble in all things and to all—superiors, equals, inferiors. If a man prefers himself in his own mind before anyone, he does not walk with all humility. ” The greater thou art, humble thyself the more in all things, and then shalt thou find grace before God” (Ecclus. 3:20; comp. Phil. 2:3 ; James 4:6).

2. The second vice that destroys union is anger. Those given to anger are always ready to injure others in word and deed and thus to destroy peace. “A wrathful man stirreth up strife ; he that is patient appeaseth those that are stirred up” (Prov. 15:18). Christians therefore are to walk in mildness, which calms contention and preserves peace, which comes from Him ” Who giveth grace to the meek” (Prov. iii. 34).

3. Impatience is the third vice destructive of union. For sometimes a man may be humble and meek himself and not inclined to trouble others; but cannot bear patiently the injuries done or attempted against him by others. Therefore he recommends patience, which “hath a perfect work” (James 1: 4) and should accompany humility (comp. Ecclus. 2:4; Heb. 10:36).

4. Ill-regulated zeal is the fourth vice. When men judge all they see in others, and desire to correct everything at once without waiting for the proper time and place, they destroy peace and raise disorder. This is frequent among good people; for zeal being virtuous the devil hides himself under it, and as an angel of light deceives the unwary and destroys fraternal concord. ” If you bite and devour one another, take heed you be not consumed one of another” (Gal. 5:15). And therefore he here says, supporting one another in charity, each one bearing patiently the faults of others, and this in charity which “beareth all things” (1 Cor. 13:7). When a fault is committed it should not always be at once corrected, but it should be mercifully borne with till a favourable time for reproof arrives. At the same time defects of this kind must not be tolerated out of negligence, consent, or carnal friendship, but from a motive of charity (Gal. 6:12; Rom. 15:1 ; Prov. 18:19).

4:3. Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Unity is the object of his whole exhortation, and he desires them to be careful, because there is a difficulty in preserving it intact. They must be careful about it as an essential matter. He is not content simply to admonish them to preserve unity, but defines it as the unity of the Spirit; for there is a unity which is evil, and may be called the unity of the flesh, where men unite for wicked ends, as, for instance, in some bad secret society. But the union produced by the grace of the Holy Ghost is holy, and by it men are supported and encouraged in good: it is a reflection of the unity of God Himself, as our Lord teaches by praying to His Father, that His disciples ” may be one, even as we are one ” (John 17:22 ; Ps. 132. (133:1).

But how is this unity to be preserved ? By the bond of peace. Charity is a union of souls. Now just as when material objects are closely united they need some external bond to keep them together, so also must we provide some spiritual bond to keep souls in close union. This bond of peace, which is, says Augustine, the tranquillity of order, implies that each one should have what is his own. This peace is preserved by justice, which gives each one his own, as the prophet says, ” The work of justice shall be peace” (Isa. 32:17).

4:4- One body and one Spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling.

St. Paul here exhorts them to preserve the double unity of the Church, that of the body and of the Spirit; the exterior and visible unity of the body against schism, the interior and invisible unity of the Spirit against heresy. He thus shows that there is one visible Church which must possess a visible and corporate unity, and not merely an invisible Church with a spiritual unity only.

There is an implied metaphor taken from the unity that exists in man, which is twofold: (1) the unity of many members making one undivided body; (2) the unity between the body and the soul, forming one man. Both these unities are found in the true Church.

1. All the members of the Church are united in one exterior body, as the various limbs of one man are united in one organic whole. ” We being many are one body in Christ” (Rom. 12:5).

2. All the members of the Church are also united in the second sense by unity of faith and charity, as the whole human body is animated by the same soul. ” A body is composed of many members, and one spirit makes all the members live. . . . The duties of the members are different, but one spirit rules all. Many things are commanded and done; one commands, one is obeyed. What our spirit—that is, our soul—is to our members, that the Holy Ghost is to the members of Christ, to the body of Christ, which is the Church. Does this body live ? It doth live. Whence ? From one Spirit” (St. Aug., Serm. 268, 2).

4:4 cont. As you are called in one hope of your calling.

The most powerful incentive to keep the unity of the Church intact is to remember that, however much we may otherwise differ, we are all called by the same Lord, all have in him one and the same hope, eternal happiness, and all are “partakers of the heavenly vocation” (Heb. 3:1). If anyone asks, Who hath called us, and to what, St. Peter answers that it is ” The God of all grace, who hath called us into His Eternal Glory in Christ” (1 Peter 5:10; Apoc. 19:9).

4:5-6. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in us all.

After this earnest exhortation to keep the exterior and interior unity of the one Church the Apostle proceeds to explain the nature of that unity. The Church of God is like a city or commonwealth, and therefore its unity is that of a body composed of different parts in one organic whole, not that of a spiritual substance not made up of parts. In verses 5 and 6 he shows what is common to the whole Church and in verse 7 he notices the peculiar gifts bestowed on each member separately.

In every commonwealth, in order to preserve unity, we find four things common to the whole body politic, namely: (1) one governor; (2) one law; (3) the same outward token, or flag; and (4) the same end and object. As the Church is a spiritual kingdom or commonwealth these four things are found in it. You ought, St. Paul says, to have one body and one spirit, because you are all in the unity of the Church, which is one.

1. One Lord. The Church has one leader and ruler, which is Christ; so there is one Lord, not many, whose different wills might cause disunion (Heb. 3:6; Acts 2:36; 1 Cor. 8:6).

2. One Faith. The law of the Church is the law of faith (Rom. 3:27). Now, the word “faith” can be understood in two different senses, either in the sense of the objective truth believed, as when it is said, ” This is the Catholic Faith”; or it can be used to denote the subjective habit of faith by which we believe in our souls. In both these senses we can say there is one and only one faith.

(«) In the first sense we are commanded to believe one and the same thing, and to act in the same manner, because one and the same truth is believed by all the faithful, whence the faith is called universal, that is, Catholic (1 Cor. 1:10).

(b) In the second sense also there is one faith, that is, one habit of faith by which all believe; one, that is, in kind, not in number; because one thing ought to be in the heart of all. In this way men are said to be of one will, if they all wish the same thing.

3. One flag. The ensign or flag of the Church is found in the Sacraments of Christ, the first of which is Baptism, which is the door of all the others. So the Apostle adds One Baptism. In three ways is Baptism one:—

(1) Because whoever administers Baptism, it is always the one Baptism of Christ (John 1:33).

(2) Because it is given always in the name of the one Holy Trinity (Matt. 28:19).

(3) Because it cannot be repeated. Penance, Marriage, the Eucharist, and Extreme Unction can be repeated, but not Baptism (Heb. 6:4).

4. One end. In the Church there is one and the same end to be aimed at and desired by all—God Himself. For the Son, Whose Body the Church is, leads us to the Father (1 Cor. 15:23-25). For this reason does St. Paul say One God; and after thus declaring His Unity, of which the unity of the Church is the reflection, he proceeds to describe the infinite dignity of the one God. First he declares Him to be the universal Father, the Father of all, thus praising His lovingkindness to us, as the Prophet Isaias exclaims, “Thou, O Lord, art our Father and our Redeemer ” (Isa. 63:16; Mai. 2:10). Then the infinite dignity and majesty of the one God is shown by the three expressions—above all, through all, and in us all.

(a) Above all, because His Divine Nature is exalted infinitely above all creatures (Ps. 112: 4. (113:4.).

(b) Through all, because of His almighty power. “Do I not fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord” (Jer. 23:24).

(c) In us all, because of the abundance of His Grace, which He, the Giver of all good, bestows upon us. He is in us all by grace (Jer. 14:9). St. Jerome applies these three words to the Holy Trinity—the Father is above all, because He is the origin and fount of all; the Son is through all, because through Him all was made; the Holy Ghost in all, for He is poured out into our hearts and we are His temples.

Aquinas Catena Aurea on Matt 22:35-46 for Sunday Mass, Sept 19 (Extraordinary Form)

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The Gospel reading is for Matt 22:35-46 but I have included comment on verse 34.

Ver 34. But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.35. Then one of them, which was a Lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,36. “Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?”37. Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.38. This is the first and great commandment.39. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.40. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Jerome: The Pharisees having been themselves already confuted (in the matter of the denarius), and now seeing their adversaries also overthrown, should have taken warning to attempt no further deceit against Him; but hate and jealousy are the parents of impudence.

Origen: Jesus had put the Sadducees to silence, to shew that the tongue of falsehood is silenced by the brightness of truth. For as it belongs to the righteous man to be silent when it is good to be silent, and to speak when it is good to speak, and not to hold his peace; so it belongs to every teacher of a lie not indeed to be silent, but to be silent as far as any good purpose is concerned.

Jerome: The Pharisees and Sadducees, thus foes to one another, unite in one common purpose to tempt Jesus.

Pseudo-Chrys.: Or the Pharisees meet together, that their numbers may silence Him whom their reasonings could not confute; thus, while they array numbers against Him, shewing that truth failed them; they said among themselves, Let one speak for all, and all speak, through one, so if He prevail, the victory may seem to belong to all; if He be overthrown, the defeat may rest with Him alone; so it follows, “Then one of them, a teacher of the Law, asked him a question, tempting Him.”

Origen: All who thus ask questions of any teacher to try him, and not to learn of him, we must regard as brethren of this Pharisee, according to what is said below, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of mine, ye have done it unto me.” [Mat_25:40]

Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 73: Let no one find a difficulty in this, that Matthew speaks of this man as putting his question to tempt the Lord, whereas Mark does not mention this, but concludes with what the Lord said to him upon his answering wisely, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” [Mar_12:34] For it is possible that, though he came to tempt, yet the Lord’s answer may have wrought correction within him.

Or, the tempting here meant need not be that of one designing to deceive an enemy, but rather the cautious approach of one making proof of a stranger. And that is not written in vain, “Whoso believeth lightly, he is of a vain heart.” [Ecc_19:4]

Origen: He said “Master” tempting Him, for none but a disciple would thus address Christ. Whoever then does not learn of the Word, nor yields himself wholly up to it, yet calls it Master, he is brother to this Pharisee thus tempting Christ. Perhaps while they read the Law before the Saviour’s coming, it was a question among them which was the great commandment in it; nor would the Pharisee have asked this, if it had not been long time enquired among themselves, but never found till Jesus came and declared it.

Pseudo-Chrys.: He who now enquires for the greatest commandment had not observed the least. He only ought to seek for a higher righteousness who has fulfilled the lower.

Jerome: Or he enquires not for the sake of the commands, but which is the first and great commandment, that seeing all that God commands is great, he may have occasion to cavil whatever the answer be.

Pseudo-Chrys.: But the Lord so answers him, as at once to lay bare the dissimulation of his enquiry, “Jesus saith unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Thou shalt love,” not ‘fear,’ for to love is more than to fear; to fear belongs to slaves, to love to sons; fear is in compulsion, love in freedom. Whoso serves God in fear escapes punishment, but has not the reward of righteousness because he did well unwillingly through fear. God does not desire to be served servilely by men as a master, but to be loved as a father, for that He has given the spirit of adoption to men.

But to love God with the whole heart, is to have the heart inclined to the love of no one thing more than of God. To love God again with the whole soul is to have the mind stayed upon the truth, and to be firm in the faith. For the love of the heart and the love of the soul are different. The first is in a sort carnal, that we should love God even with our flesh, which we cannot do unless we first depart from the love of the things of this world. The love of the heart is felt in the heart, but the love of the soul is not felt, but is perceived because it consists in a judgment of the soul. For he who believes that all good is in God, and that without Him is no good, he loves God with his whole soul. But to love God with the whole mind, is to have all the faculties open and unoccupied for Him. He only loves God with his whole mind, whose intellect ministers to God, whose wisdom is employed about God, whose thoughts travail in the things of God, and whose memory holds the things which are good.

Aug., de Doctr. Christ., i, 22: Or otherwise; You are commanded to love God “with all thy heart,” that your whole thoughts — “with all thy soul,” that your whole life — “with all thy mind,” that your whole understanding — may be given to Him from whom you have that you give. Thus He has left no part of our life which may justly be unfilled of Him, or give place to the desire after any other final good [marg. note: alia re frui]; but if aught else present itself for the soul’s love, it should be absorbed into that channel in which the whole current of love runs. For man is then the most perfect when his whole life tends towards the life [marg. note: al. bonum] unchangeable, and clings to it with the whole purpose of his soul.

Gloss., interlin.: Or, “with all thy heart,” i.e. understanding; “with all thy soul,” i.e. thy will; “with all thy mind,” i.e. memory; so you shall think, will, remember nothing contrary to Him.

Origen: Or otherwise; “With all thy heart,” that is, in all recollection, act, thought; “with all thy soul,” to be ready, that is, to lay it down for God’s religion; “with all thy mind,” bringing forth nothing but what is of God. And consider whether you cannot thus take the heart of the understanding, by which we contemplate things intellectual, and the “mind” of that by which we utter thoughts, walking as it were with the mind through each expression, and uttering it.

If the Lord had given no answer to the Pharisee who thus tempted Him, we should have judged that there was no commandment greater than the rest. But when the Lord adds, “This is the first and great commandment,” we learn how we ought to think of the commandments, that there is a great one, and that there are less down to the least. And the Lord says not only that it is a great, but that it is the first commandment, not in order of Scripture, but in supremacy of value.

They only take upon them the greatness and supremacy of this precept, who not only love the Lord their God, but add these three conditions. Nor did He only teach the first and great commandment, but added that there was a second like unto the first, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:” But if “Whoso loveth iniquity hath hated his own soul,” [Psa_11:5] it is manifest that he does not love his neighbour as himself, when he does not love himself.

Aug., de Doctr. Christ., i, 30; see Rom_13:10: It is clear that every man is to be regarded as a neighbour, because evil is to be done to no man. Further, if every one to whom we are bound to shew service of mercy, or who is bound to shew it to us, be rightly called our neighbour, it is manifest that in this precept are comprehended the holy Angels who perform for us those services of which we may read in Scripture.

Whence also our Lord Himself would be called our neighbour; for it was Himself whom He represents as the good Samaritan, who gave succour to the man who was left half-dead by the way.

Aug., de Trin., viii, 6: He that loves men ought to love them either because they are righteous, or that they may be righteous; and so also ought he to love himself either for that he is, or that he may be righteous. And thus without peril he may love his neighbour as himself.

Aug., de Doctr. Christ., i, 22: But if even yourself you ought not to love for your own sake, but because of Him in whom is the rightful end of your love, let not another man be displeased that you love even him for God’s sake. Whoso then rightly loves his neighbour, ought to endeavour with him that he also with his whole heart love God.

Pseudo-Chrys.: But who loves man is as who loves God; for man is God’s image, wherein God is loved, as a King is honoured in his statue. For this cause this commandment is said to be like the first.

Hilary: Or otherwise; That the second command is like the first signifies that the obligation and merit of both are alike; for no love of God without Christ, or of Christ without God, can profit to salvation.

It follows, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 33: “Hang,” that is, refer thither as their end.

Raban.: For to these two commandments belongs the whole decalogue; the commandments of the first table to the love of God, those of the second to the love of our neighbour.

Origen: Or, because he that has fulfilled the things that are written concerning the love of God and our neighbour, is worthy to receive from God the great reward, that he should be enabled to understand the Law and the Prophets.

Aug., de Trin., viii. 7: Since there are two commandments, the love of God and the love of our neighbour, on which hang the Law and the Prophets, not without reason does Scripture put one for both; sometimes the love of God; as in that, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God;” [Rom_8:28] and sometimes the love of our neighbour; as in that, “All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” [Gal_5:14]

And that because if a man love his neighbour, it follows therefrom that he loves God also; for it is the selfsame affection by which we love God, and by which we love our neighbour, save that we love God for Himself, but ourselves and our neighbour for God’s sake.

Aug., de Doctr. Christ., i, 26, 30: But since the Divine substance is more excellent and higher than our nature, the command to love God is distinct from that to love our neighbour. But if by yourself, you understand your whole self, that is both your soul and your body, and in like manner of your neighbour, there is no sort of things to be loved omitted in these commands. The love of God goes first, and the rule thereof is so set out to us as to make all other loves center in that, so that nothing seems said of loving yourself.

But then follows, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” so that love of yourself is not omitted.

Ver 41. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,42. Saying, “What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?” They say unto him, “The Son of David.”43. He saith unto them, “How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,44. ‘The Lord saith unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?’45. If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?”46. And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

Pseudo-Chrys.: The Jews tempted Christ, supposing Him to be mere man; had they believed Him to be the Son of God, they would not have tempted Him. Christ therefore, willing to shew that He knew the treachery of their hearts, and that He was God, yet would not declare this truth to them plainly, that they might not take occasion thence to charge Him with blasphemy, and yet would not totally conceal this truth; because to that end had He come that He should preach the truth.

He therefore puts a question to them, such as should declare to them who He was; “What think ye of Christ? whose Son is He?”

Chrys., Hom. lxxi: He first asked His disciples what others said of Christ, and then what they themselves said; but not so to these. For they would have said that He was a deceiver, and wicked. They thought that Christ was to be mere man, and therefore “they say unto Him, The Son of David.” To reprove this, He brings forward the Prophet, witnessing His dominion, proper Sonship, and His joint honour with His Father.

Jerome: This passage is out of the 109th Psalm. Christ is therefore called David’s Lord, not in respect of His descent from him, but in respect of His eternal generation from the Father, wherein He was before His fleshly Father. And he calls Him Lord, not by a mere chance, nor of his own thought, but by the Holy Spirit.

Remig.: That He says, “Sit thou on my right hand,” is not to be taken as though God had a body, and either a right hand or a left hand; but to sit on the right hand of God is to abide in the honour and equality of the Father’s majesty.

Pseudo-Chrys.: I suppose that He formed this question, not only against the Pharisees, but also against the heretics; for according to the flesh He was truly David’s Son, but his Lord according to His Godhead.

Chrys.: But He rests not with this, but that they may fear, He adds, “Till I make thine enemies thy footstool;” that at least by terror He might gain them.

Origen: For God puts Christ’s enemies as a footstool beneath His feet, for their salvation as well as their destruction.

Remig.: But “till” is used for indefinite time, that the meaning be, Sit Thou for ever, and for ever hold thine enemies beneath thy feet.

Gloss., ap. Anselm: That it is by the Father that the enemies are put under the Son, denotes not the Son’s weakness, but the union of His nature with His Father. For the Son also puts under Him the Father’s enemies, when He glorifies His name upon earth. He concludes from this authority, “If David then call Him Lord, how is He his son?”

Jerome: This question is still available for us against the Jews; for these who believe that Christ is yet to come, assert that He is a mere man, though a holy one, of the race of David. Let us then thus taught by the Lord ask them, If He be mere man, and only the Son of David, how does David call Him his Lord?

To evade the truth of this question, the Jews invent many frivolous answers. They allege Abraham’s steward, he whose son was Eliezer of Damascus, and say that this Psalm was composed in his person, when after the overthrow of the five kings, the Lord God said to his lord Abraham, “Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.”

Let us ask how Abraham could say the things that follow, and compel them to tell us how Abraham was born before Lucifer, and how he was a Priest after the order of Melchisedech, for whom Melchisedech brought bread and wine, and of whom he received tithes of the spoil?

Chrys.: This conclusion He put to their questionings, as final, and sufficient to stop their mouth. Henceforward accordingly they held their peace, not by their own good-will, but from not having aught to say.

Origen: For had their question sprung of desire to know, He would never have proposed to them such things as should have deterred them from asking further.

Raban.: Hence we learn that the poison of jealousy may be overcome, but can hardly of itself rest at peace.

Father Callan on Ephesians 4:1-13

Summary of the Moral part of the Epistle~4:1—6:20. The precepts of Christ follow from the doctrine of Christ as conclusions from premises, so that rightly lived the Christian life is nothing more than a vivid reflection of Christ’s teachings. So far in this Epistle the Apostle has spoken of Christians as predestined members of Christ’s mystical body, as living stones in God’s temple, and as units in the divine household, destined to a glory beyond all our imaginings. High, therefore, is their calling; and he would have them walk worthy of it. To this end he describes first in this Moral Part the general character of the Christian life as lived in mutual charity and holiness (4:1-24); then he treats of particular duties, whether pertinent to all or to individual members of the Christian family (4:25—6:9) ; and finally he illustrates the life of Christians as a warfare (vi. 10-20). See Introduction, No. VIII, B.

Summary of 4:1-16~CHRISTIANS MUST WALK WORTHY OF THEIR VOCATION IN ALL UNITY. The Christian life imposes on its members the obligation of preserving, by means of humility and loving forbearance, the spirit of unity which has been given them in the Holy Ghost. All have the same hope; all acknowledge one and the same Lord as their head; the same faith is common to all, expressed in one and the same Sacrament of Baptism; and finally, all have the same heavenly Father. There is a great diversity of gifts and functions in the Christian society, but the Ascended Christ is the Source of them all; and all have the one purpose, which is growth into perfect  corporate unity, so that the Church will come to express in its own life and maturity the life of Christ its divine Head.

Notes:

1. I therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you were called,

I therefore. The Apostle is now going to deduce practical conclusions from what he has been saying in the first part of the Epistle; and hence he means to say that, in view of all the blessings and privileges they enjoy as a result of their call to the faith, they ought to do what he is about to exhort.

A prisoner in the Lord, or, as he said above in 3:1, “the prisoner of Jesus Christ,” for having preached the Gospel.

Beseech you, etc. Better, according to the Greek, “exhort you, etc.” In view of the blessings they have received and of all Paul has suffered for them and other Christians, they ought to lead lives in conformity with their high dignity.

2. With all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity,

He now shows them practically what they must do to live lives worthy of their calling as Christians, recommending four principal virtues. They must practise: (a) “humility,” which is opposed to pride, a source of discord and the enemy of the peace of society; (b) “mildness,” which implies gentleness and submission under trial, as opposed to anger and injurious conduct; (c) “patience,” which means long-suffering and forbearance with the defects of others and with injuries received from others; (d) “charity,” or love of neighsbor, the root and supernatural spring of all the other virtues, which makes easy the practice of all the others, and without which no other virtue can be perfect.

3. Careful to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace:

Careful, etc. Behold the end to which is ordained the practice of the four virtues just mentioned, namely, “the unity of the spirit, etc.,” i.e., concord of mind and heart, of thoughts and feelings; and this unity of souls is effected by the “bond of peace,” which is the tranquility of order. This “bond (or co-bond) of peace” means the peaceful union of souls, united by Christian love. It is the peace of which our Lord spoke at the Last Supper: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, etc.” (John 14:27). Compare the present passage with its parallel in Col 3:13-15 (cf. Hitchcock, h. l.). It is more probable that “spirit” here is to be understood of concord of minds and hearts rather than of the Holy Ghost (so ST Thomas, Estius, and others).

4. One body and one Spirit; as you were called in one hope of your calling:

After commending the foregoing concord of souls, the Apostle goes on to consider the elements from which the unity of the Church results objectively. There are three intrinsic elements: one body, one Spirit, one hope or end of our calling; there are three extrinsic factors: one Lord, one faith, one baptism; and finally, there is one transcendent element or factor, whose universal action is exercised in three ways: one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all (ver. 4-6). Cf. Voste, h. I.

Where there is “one body” (which is Christ’s mystical body, the Church), “one Spirit,” which animates the Church (namely, the Holy Ghost), and “one hope of your calling” (which is eternal beatitude), there surely ought to exist oneness of mind and heart, as said above. Some expositors take “Spirit” in this verse to mean concord or harmony among the members of the Church; but it is more likely that it means the Holy Spirit, because there is question now of the essential constitution of the Church and of that which unites it objectively, from which subjective harmony among its members should result, as an effect from its cause.

5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism:

In the preceding verse the Apostle considered the intrinsic elements of unity. Now he will treat of the extrinsic elements. The faithful have one leader, Christ, whom they all obey and in whom they are all united; they have the same objective law or faith in Christ, by which they accept the same truths and observe the same precepts; they have one and the same divine seal by which they are made members of the one mystical body of Christ, namely,
Baptism.

6. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all.

Here we have the transcendent element of unity, “One God” (from whom we all have the same nature) “and Father of all” (uniting us all in one common brotherhood through adoption in Christ), “who is above all” things (as governing all), “and through all” (as pervading all), “and in all” (as sustaining all). It is better to understand the adjective “all” here as neuter rather than masculine (so Westcott, Robinson, Voste) ; and hence the Vulg. is arbitrary in varying from the one gender to the other. The nobis of the Vulg. is not represented in the best Greek.

7. But to every one of us was given grace, according to the measure of the giving of Christ.

So far the Apostle has considered the unity of the Church as to its common elements; and now he will consider that which is proper and special to individual members of the same mystical body, namely, their different gifts and functions, all of which should tend to the good of the whole (verses 7-16).

To every one of us (i.e., to each one of the faithful who make up the unity of the Church, and not to the ministers only) was given grace (i.e., the special divine help to discharge certain duties and offices in the Church, and this was done, not haphazardly confusedly, but) according to the measure, etc. (i.e., according to the work each one was to do in the Church in fulfillment of the purpose of Christ, the Giver of that grace).

8. Wherefore he saith: Ascending on high, he led captivity captive; he gave gifts to men.

In this and in the two following verses the Apostle shows that our Lord is indeed the distributer of the gifts spoken of in verse 7; and to prove it he quotes in the present verse Psalm 68:19, which, in its literal sense, refers to a temporal victory of the Jews over their enemies through the help of Jehovah, but in its spiritual meaning refers to the triumphal Ascension of our Lord into heaven after achieving our redemption by His victory over sin and Satan. The Psalmist is picturing Jehovah as ascending to His Sanctuary on Mt. Sion after the victory of His people, and there accepting spoil from His vanquished foes; and this is a figure of the Ascension of Christ into heaven, following the completion of the work of our redemption, and thence distributing His gifts to the faithful on the Day of Pentecost. The munificence of Jehovah to Israel prefigured the bounty of Christ bestowing His gifts on men. The Apostle is probably quoting the Psalm from memory, and so does not give the exact words either of the Hebrew or of the LXX of the Psalm.

He saith. Better, “It saith” (i.e., the Scripture says).

Captivity means “captives,” the Hebrew abstract standing for the concrete. But who are the captives in the application? If we need to seek an application for this phrase, they are (a) mankind wrested from the captivity of the evil one, Satan, or (b) the conquered evil spirits who had enslaved man until the coming of Christ.

He gave. In the Psalm we have “Thou didst receive,” a different person and a different verb; but St. Paul, speaking in the third person of our Lord, is using the words which the Psalmist addressed to Jehovah in the second person. As Jehovah received spoil from Israel’s enemies, so did our Lord receive gifts to be distributed “to men” (i.e., to the faithful).

9. Now that he ascended, what is it, but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

The Apostle means to say here that the Ascension of Christ into heaven presupposes His descent from heaven to this earth at the time of His Incarnation; or to the lower parts of the earth, to the Limbo of the dead, after His crucifixion; or, if we take the ascent to be previous to the descent, the meaning is that after our Lord ascended into heaven. He later descended at Pentecost through the Holy Spirit with His special gifts of grace to the faithful, or in general to take up His dwelling in the souls of the just. But St. Paul is saying that the descent was previous to the ascent, and hence we must reject opinions that suppose the contrary. We should hold, then, that the descent in question was either at the time of the Incarnation when our Lord first came to this earth (so Knabenbauer, Cajetan, and many non-Catholics), or when He visited the abode of the dead between His own death and glorious Resurrection (so St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, Estius, Voste, etc.). The latter opinion is thought to be more in harmony with: (a) Pss. 62:10; 138:15; Rom 10:7; Acts 2:27; 1 Peter 3:19, 1 Peter 4:6; (b) the context of St. Paul, for in the following verse it is said that our Lord “ascended above all the heavens,” the contrary of which would be to descend to the lowest parts of the earth: He ranged from the lowest to the highest, thus visiting all, “that he might fill all things” (ver. 10).

What is it? That is, “What does it imply?” The word “first” agrees with the context, but is of doubtful authenticity.

10. He that descended is the same also that ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.

He that descended (from heaven to earth, and even to the lower parts of the earth, though His Incarnation) is the same also that ascended, etc. (on Ascension Day, and took His seat on the right hand of the Father), that he might fill all things (by the exercise of His power and rule, and the influence of His grace, especially in His Church). The person that ascended is the same as the person that descended. The Son of God descended from heaven, taking upon Himself our human nature; and the Son of man ascended according to His human nature to the sublimity of immortal life (St. Thomas, h. l.).

Above all the heavens. These words contain no approval by St. Paul of the opinion of the Rabbins that there were seven heavens; the Apostle is merely emphasizing the supreme exaltation of the Lord. It is true that in 2 Cor 12:2, St. Paul himself speaks of the “third heaven,” but there he is most likely only referring to the immediate presence of God.

11. And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors,

Returning to the thought of ver. 7, after the parenthesis of ver. 8-10, the Apostle is now going to speak about the various gifts bestowed by our Lord on certain ones among the faithful, and the end to which these gifts are ordained (cf. also Rom 12:4-6; 1 Cor 12:4 ff.). It is to be noted that the various names here designate offices or functions rather than persons. Therefore, “apostles” are those who had the gift of the apostolate, and most likely included others besides the Twelve, like Paul, Barnabas, etc. (Rom 16:7).

Prophets are those who taught, instructed, and exhorted others (1 Cor 14:1-5), as well as foretellers of future events, like Agabus (Acts 11:27-28, Acts 21:10-11).

Evangelists are not necessarily those only who wrote the Gospels, but missionaries and preachers of the word among strangers and infidels (John 21:15 ff.; Acts 21:8; 2 Tim 4:5; 1 Peter 2:25).

Pastors and doctors. Before these two names in Greek there is but one article; whereas the article precedes each of the names given before in this list. From this fact St. Jerome, St. Thomas, and others have concluded that the care of souls and the office of teacher go together, that he who is a pastor ought also to be a teacher. But other commentators hold that there is question of separate functions here not necessarily to be found in the same person, just as there was above, and that St. Paul omitted the article before the last word here in his hurry to close the list (so Voste).

12. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ

Here the Apostle points out the end or purpose of the ministry
just detailed. All those gifts and offices were “for the perfecting of the saints” (i.e., for the purpose of equipping or fitting out those on whom they were bestowed) “for the work of the ministry” (i.e., for the fulfillment of the duties they were to discharge among the faithful), thus enabling all the members of the Church to do each his full share by word, work and example towards “the edifying of the body of Christ” (i.e., towards building up and perfecting the Church, and spreading its work and influence over the world). The word rendered “perfecting” occurs here only in the New Testament, and most probably means “equipment,” “preparation.” Those who translate it in the sense of “perfection” reverse the order of the words in the verse and make “the perfecting of the saints” the end and purpose of “the work of the ministry” and “the edifying of the body of Christ.”

13. Until we all meet into the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ;

Until does not here refer so much to time as to the ultimate purpose or end to which all the charisms in question are ordained, which end or purpose is “unity of faith” and a supernatural “knowledge of the Son of God”; so that by individual and corporate spiritual growth, effort and influence the Church may come to realize and express in her own life that mature and full-grown perfection which is in Christ her divine Head. Christ is the standard or “measure” of perfection toward which the individual Christian and the Church as a whole must tend, and which, individually and collectively, the faithful must, in so far as possible, endeavor to express here on earth. Hence “age” here refers not to the years but to the perfection of Christ.