Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas
CHAP. 12
12:35–40
35. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
36. And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
37. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
38. And if he shall come in the second watch, or in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
39. And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
40. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
THEOPHYLACT. Our Lord having taught His disciples moderation, taking from them all care and conceit of this life, now leads them on to serve and obey, saying, Let your loins be girded, that is, always ready to do the work of your Lord, and your lamps burning, that is, do not lead a life in darkness, but have with you the light of reason, shewing you what to do and what to avoid. For this world is the night, but they have their loins girded, who follow a practical or active life. For such is the condition of servants who must have with them also lamps burning; that is, the gift of discernment, that the active man may be able to distinguish not only what he ought to do, but in what way; otherwise men rush down the precipice of pride. But we must observe, that He first orders our loins to be girded, secondly, our lamps to be burning. For first indeed comes action, then reflection, which is an enlightening of the mind. Let us then strive to exercise the virtues, that we may have two lamps burning, that is, the conception of the mind ever shining forth in the soul, by which we are ourselves enlightened, and learning, whereby we enlighten others.
MAXIMUS. Or, he teaches us to keep our lamps burning, by prayer and contemplation and spiritual love.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Or, to be girded, signifies activity and readiness to undergo evils from regard to Divine love. But the burning of the lamp signifies that we should not suffer any to live in the darkness of ignorance.
GREGORY. (Hom. 13. in Evang.) Or else, we gird our loins when by continence we control the lusts of the flesh. For the lust of men is in their loins, and of women in their womb; by the name of loins, therefore, from the principal sex, lust is signified. But because it is a small thing not to do evil, unless also men strive to labour in good works, it is added, And your lamps burning in your hands; for we hold burning lamps in our hands, when by good works we shew forth bright examples to our neighbours.
AUGUSTINE. (de Qu. Ev. lib. ii. q. 25.) Or, He teaches us also to gird our loins for the sake of keeping ourselves from the love of the things of this world, and to have our lamps burning, that this thing may be done with a true end and right intention.
GREGORY. (ubi sup.) But if a man has both of these, whosoever he be, nothing remains for him but that he should place his whole expectation on the coming of the Redeemer. Therefore it is added, And be ye like to men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, &c. For our Lord went to the wedding, when ascending up into heaven as the Bridegroom He joined to Himself the heavenly multitude of angels.
THEOPHYLACT. Daily also in the heavens He betroths the souls of the Saints, whom Paul or another offers to Him, as a chaste virgin. (2 Cor 11:2.) But He returns from the celebration of the heavenly marriage, perhaps to all at the end of the whole world, when He shall come from heaven in the glory of the Father; perhaps also every hour standing suddenly present at the death of each individual.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Now consider that He comes from the wedding as from a festival, which God is ever keeping; for nothing can cause sadness to the Incorruptible Nature.
GREGORY OF NYSSA. (Hom. 11. in Cant..) Or else, when the wedding was celebrated and the Church received into the secret bridal chamber, the angels were expecting the return of the King to His own natural blessedness. And after their example we order our life, that as they living together without evil, are prepared to welcome their Lord’s return, so we also, keeping watch at the door, should make ourselves ready to obey Him when He comes knocking; for it follows, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately.
GREGORY. (ubi sup.) For He comes when He hastens to judgment, but He knocks, when already by the pain of sickness He denotes that death is at hand; to whom we immediately open if we receive Him with love. For he who trembles to depart from the body, has no wish to open to the Judge knocking, and dreads to see that Judge whom he remembers to have despised. But he who rests secure concerning his hope and works, immediately opens to Him that knocks; for when he is aware of the time of death drawing near, he grows joyful, because of the glory of his reward; and hence it is added, Blessed are the servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching. He watches who keeps the eyes of his mind open to behold the true light; who by his works maintains that which he beholds, who drives from himself the darkness of sloth and carelessness.
GREGORY OF NYSSA. (ubi sup.) For the sake then of keeping watch, our Lord advised above that our loins should be girded, and our lamps burning, for light when placed before the eyes drives away sleep. The loins also when tied with a girdle, make the body incapable of sleep. For he who is girt about with chastity, and illuminated by a pure conscience, continues wakeful.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. When then our Lord coming shall find us awake and girded, having our hearts enlightened, He will then pronounce us blessed, for it follows, Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself; from which we perceive that He will recompense us in like manner, seeing that He will gird Himself with those that are girded. (Isa. 11:5.)
ORIGEN. For He will be girded about His loins with righteousness.
GREGORY. (Hom. 13. in Ev.) By which He girds Himself, that is, prepares for judgment.
THEOPHYLACT. Or, He will gird Himself, in that He imparts not the whole fulness of blessings, but confines it within a certain measure. For who can comprehend God how great He is? Therefore are the Seraphims said to veil their countenance, because of the excellence of the Divine brightness. It follows, and will make them to sit down; for as a man sitting down causes his whole body to rest, so in the future coming the Saints will have complete rest; for here they have not rest for the body, but there together with their souls their spiritual bodies partaking of immortality will rejoice in perfect rest.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. He will then make them to sit down as a refreshment to the weary, setting before them spiritual enjoyments, and ordering a sumptuous table of His gifts.
PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS. (Dion. in Ep. ad Tit.) The “sitting down” is taken to be the repose from many labours, a life without annoyance, the divine conversation of those that dwell in the region of light enriched with all holy affections, and an abundant pouring forth of all gifts, whereby they are filled with joy. For the reason why Jesus makes them to sit down, is that He might give them perpetual rest, and distribute to them blessings without number. Therefore it follows, And will pass over (transiens) and serve them.
THEOPHYLACT. That is, Give back to them, as it were, an equal return, that as they served Him, so also He will serve them.
GREGORY. (Hom. 13. in Ev.) But He is said to be passing over, when He returns from the judgment to His kingdom. Or the Lord passes to us after the judgment, and raises us from the form of His humanity to a contemplation of His divinity.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Our Lord knew the proneness of human infirmity to sin, but because He is merciful, He docs not allow us to despair, but rather has compassion, and gives us repentance as a saving remedy. And therefore He adds, And if he shall come in the second watch, &c. For they who keep watch on the walls of cities, or observe the attacks of the enemy, divide the night into three or four watches.
GREGORY. (ubi sup.) The first watch then is the earliest time of our life, that is, childhood, the second youth and manhood, but the third represents old age. He then who is unwilling to watch in the first, let him keep even the second. And he who is unwilling in the second, let him not lose the remedies of the third watch, that he who has neglected conversion in childhood, may at least in the time of youth or old age recover himself.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Of the first watch, however, he makes no mention, for childhood is not punished by God, but obtains pardon; but the second and third age owe obedience to God, and the leading of an honest life according to His will.
GREEK EXPOSITOR. (Severus.) Or, to the first watch belong those who live more carefully, as having gained the first step, but to the second, those who keep the measure of a moderate conversation, but to the third, those who are below these. And the same must be supposed of the fourth, and if it should so happen also of the fifth. For there are different measures of life, and a good rewarder metes out to every man according to his deserts.
THEOPHYLACT. Or since the watches are the hours of the night which lull men to sleep, you must understand that there are also in our life certain hours which make us happy if we are found awake. Does any one seize your goods? Are your children dead? Are you accused? But if at these times you have done nothing against the commandments of God, He will find you watching in the second and third watch, that is, at the evil time, which brings destructive sleep to idle souls.
GREGORY. (ubi sup.) But to shake off the sloth of our minds, even our external losses are by a similitude set before us. For it is added, And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come.
THEOPHYLACT. Some understand this thief to be the devil, the house, the soul, the goodman of the house, man. This interpretation, however, does not seem to agree with what follows. For the Lord’s coming is compared to the thief as suddenly at hand, according to the word of the Apostle, The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. (1 Thess. 5:2.) And hence also it is here added, Be ye also ready, for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
GREGORY. (Hom. 13. in Ev.) Or else; unknown to the master the thief breaks into the house, because while the spirit sleeps instead of guarding itself, death comes unexpectedly, and breaks into the dwelling place of our flesh. But he would resist the thief if he were watching, because being on his guard against the coming of the Judge, who secretly seizes his soul, he would by repentance go to meet Him, lest he should perish impenitent. But the last hour our Lord wishes to be unknown to us, in order as we cannot foresee it, we may be unceasingly preparing for it.
NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV) ********************************************************************************
From: Ephesians 2:12-22
Reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles in Christ
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[12] Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. [14] For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, [15] by abolishing, in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, [16] and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. [17] And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; [18] for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. [19] So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, [20] built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, [21] in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; [22] in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
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Commentary:
11-22. What is the significance of the calling of the Gentiles to the Church? Their previous situation, separated from Christ (vv. 11-12), has undergone radical change as a result of the Redemption Christ achieved on the Cross: that action has, on the one hand, brought the two peoples together (made peace between them: vv. 13-15) and, on the other, it has reconciled them with God, whose enemy each was (w. 16-18). The Redemption has given rise to the Church, which St Paul here describes as a holy temple built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (vv. 19-22).
11-12. Prior to the coming of the Messiah, the Gentiles bore the mark of paganism even on their bodies: they were uncircumcised; and on this account they were despised by the Jews. St Paul, however, goes much further: he says that the essential distinction between Jews and Gentiles was not circumcision but the grace of election, which previously was extended only to the Jewish people. To them "belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs" (Rom 9:4-5). The Gentiles had been given no such grace; it had been reserved to the people to whom God had promised the Messiah. Despite their myriad gods, the Gentiles did not know the true God.
Thus, one of the great results of the Redemption wrought by Christ and by God's mercy is that the Gentiles have been admitted to the covenants God made with the patriarchs, covenants which contained the promise that a Messiah would bring salvation (cf. note on Rom 9:4-6). This fulfilled the promise made to Abraham that through him all the families of the earth should account themselves blessed (cf. Gen 12:3). The prophets proclaimed this many times (cf. Is 2:1-3; 56:6-8; 60:11-14; etc.), and Jesus Christ saw it as imminent when he said that many would come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (cf. Mt 8:11).
14-15. "He is our peace": through his death on the cross Christ has abolished the division of mankind into Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles, who had been far away from God, from his covenant and from his promises (cf. v. 12), are now on a par with the Jews: they share in the New Covenant that has been sealed with the blood of Christ. That is why he is "our peace". In him all men find that solidarity they yearned for, because, through his obedient self-sacrifice unto death, Christ has made up for the disobedience of Adam, which had been the cause of human strife and division (cf. Gen 3-4). "Christ, the Word made flesh, the prince of peace, reconciled all men to God by the cross, and, restoring the unity of all in one people and one body, he abolished hatred in his own flesh (cf. Eph 2:16; Col 1:20-22) and, having been lifted up through his resurrection, he poured forth the Spirit of love into the hearts of men" (Vatican II, Gaudium Et Spes, 78).
God's plan to attract mankind to himself and to reestablish peace included the election of the Jewish people, from whom the Messiah would be born; and in that Messiah all the nations of the world would be blessed (cf. Gen 11:3). He is in fact called "prince of peace" (Is 9:6; cf. Mic 5:4). However, many Jews had come to regard their election in such a narrow-minded way that they saw it as creating a permanent barrier between themselves and the Gentiles. Some rabbis of our Lord's time despised and even hated the Gentiles. The separation between the two peoples was reflected in the temple wall which divided the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the sacred precincts (cf. Acts 21:28). The real roots of the separation lay in Jewish pride at being the only ones to have the Law of God and keep it by scrupulous attention to countless legal niceties.
By his death on the cross Jesus Christ has broken down the barriers dividing Jews from Gentiles and also those which kept man and God apart. St Paul says this metaphorically when he says that Christ "has broken down the dividing wall", referring to the wall in the temple. But he is not resorting to metaphor when he says that Christ abolished "in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances". Christ, through his obedience to the Father unto death (cf. Phil 2:8), has brought the Law to fulfillment (cf. Mt 5:17 and note on Mt 5:17-19); he has become, for all mankind, the way to the Father. The Law of the Old Testament, although it was something good and holy, also created an unbridgeable gap between God and man, because man, on his own, was incapable of keeping the Law (cf. notes on Gal 3:19-20; 3:21-25; and Acts 15:7-11). Christ, through grace, has created a new man who can keep the very essence of the Law--obedience and love.
The "new man" of whom St Paul speaks here is Jesus Christ himself, who stands for both Jews and Gentiles, because he is the new Adam, the head of a new mankind: the "new man", St Thomas Aquinas explains, "refers to Christ himself, who is called 'new man' because of the new form his conception took, ...the newness of the grace which he extends ..., and the new commandment which he brings" (Commentary on Eph, ad loc.).
By taking human nature and bringing about our redemption, the Son of God has become the cause of salvation for all, without any distinction between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female (cf. Gal 3:28): only through Christ's grace can peace be achieved and all differences overcome. Pope John XXIII explains this in his encyclical Pacem In Terris: peace is "such a noble and elevated task that human resources, even though inspired by the most praiseworthy goodwill, cannot bring it to realization alone. In order that human society may reflect as faithfully as possible the Kingdom of God, help from on high is necessary. For this reason, during these sacred days our supplication is raised with greater fervor towards him who by his painful passion and death overcame sin--the root of discord and the source of sorrows and inequalities--and by his blood reconciled mankind to the Eternal Father: 'For he is our peace, who has made us both one'."
16. Through his death on the cross, Jesus Christ reestablishes man's friendship with God, which sin had destroyed. Pope John Paul suggests that "With our eyes fixed on the mystery of Golgotha we should be reminded always of that 'vertical' dimension of division and reconciliation concerning the relationship between man and God, a dimension which in the eyes of faith always prevails over the 'horizontal' dimension, that is to say, over the reality of division between people and the need for reconciliation between them. For we know that reconciliation between people is and can only be the fruit of the redemptive act of Christ, who died and rose again to conquer the kingdom of sin, to reestablish the covenant with God and thus break down the dividing wall which sin had raised up between people" (Reconciliatio Et Paenitentia, 7). Redemption therefore brings about our reconciliation with God (cf. Rom 5:10-2 Cor 5:18) and it affects everyone, Gentiles as well as Jews, and all creation (cf. Col 1:20). This reconciliation is achieved in the physical body of Christ sacrificed on the cross (cf. Col 1:22) and also in his mystical body, in which Christ convokes and assembles all whom he has reconciled with God by his redemptive sacrifice (cf. 1 Cor 12:13ff). The words "in one body" can be taken in two senses--as referring to Christ's physical body on the cross and to his mystical body, the Church.
The sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, "the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the Sacrifice of the cross is forever perpetuated, is the summit and the source of all worship and Christian life. By means of it the unity of the body of Christ is signified and brought about, and the building up of the body of Christ is perfected" (Code of Canon Law, can. 897).
18. Prior to Christ's coming, man was excluded from the Father's house, living like a slave rather than a son (cf. Gal 4:1-5). But in the fullness of time God sent his Son to give us the spirit of sonship that enables us to call God our Father (cf. note on Rom 8:15-17).
"The way that leads to the throne of grace would be closed to sinners had Christ not opened the gate. That is what he does: he opens the gate, leads us to the Father, and by the merits of his passion obtains from the Father forgiveness of our sins and all those graces God bestows on us" (St Alphonsus, Thoughts on the Passion, 10, 4).
Here we see the part played by the Holy Spirit in the work of salvation decreed by the Father and carried out by the Son. The words "in one Spirit", as well as identifying the access route to the Father, also imply two basic facts: on the one hand, that the mysterious union which binds Christians together is caused by the action of the Holy Spirit who acts in them; on the other, that this same Holy Spirit, inseparable from the Son (and from the Father) because they constitute the same divine nature, is always present and continually active in the Church, the mystical body of Christ. "When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth (cf. In 17:4) was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that he might continually sanctify the Church, and that, consequently, those who believe might have access through Christ in one Spirit to the Father (cf. Eph 2:18). [...] Hence the universal Church is seen to be 'a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit' (cf. St Cyprian, De Oratione Dominica, 23)" (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 4).
Christ has brought about salvation, and, to enable all to appropriate that salvations he calls them to form part of his body, which is the Church. The Holy Spirit is, as it were, the soul of this mystical body; it is he who gives it life and unites all its members. "If Christ is the head of the Church, the Holy Spirit is its soul: 'As the soul is in our body, so the Holy Spirit is in the body of Christ, that is, the Church' (St Augustine, Sermon 187)" (Leo XIII, Divinum Illud Munus, 8). The Holy Spirit is inseparably united to the Church, for St Irenaeus says, "where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and the fullness of grace" (Against Heresies, III, 24).
19. After describing the Redemption wrought by Christ and applied in the Church by the Holy Spirit, St Paul arrives at this conclusion: the Gentiles are no longer strangers; they belong to Christ's Church.
In the new Israel (the Church) privileges based on race, culture or nationality cease to apply. No baptized person, be he Jew or Greek, slave or free man, can be regarded as an outsider or stranger in the new people of God. All have proper citizenship papers. The Apostle explains this by using two images: The Church is the city of saints, and God's family or household (cf. 1 Tim 3:15). The two images are complementary: everyone has a family, and everyone is a citizen. In the family context, the members are united by paternal, filial and fraternal links, and love presides; family life has a special privacy. But as a citizen one is acting in a public capacity; public affairs and business must be conducted in a manner that is in keeping with laws designed to ensure that justice is respected. The Church has some of the characteristics of a family, and some of those of a polity (cf. St Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Eph, ad loc.).
The head of the Church is Christ himself, and in his Church are assembled the children of God, who are to live as brothers and sisters, united by love. Grace, faith, hope, charity and the action of the Holy Spirit are invisible realities which forge the links bringing together all the members of the Church, which is moreover something very visible, ruled by the successor of Peter and by the other bishops (cf. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 8), and governed by laws--divine and ecclesiastical--which are to be obeyed.
20-22. To better explain the Church, the Apostle links the image of "the household of God" to that of God's temple and "building" (cf. 1 Cor. 3:9). Up to this he has spoken of the Church mainly as the body of Christ (v. 16). This image and that of a building are connected: our Lord said, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up" (Jn 2:19), and St John goes on to explain that he was speaking "of the temple of his body" (Jn 2:21). If the physical body of Christ is the true temple of God because Christ is the Son of God, the Church can also be seen as God's true temple, because it is the mystical body of Christ.
The Church is the temple of God. "Jesus Christ is, then, the foundation stone of the new temple of God. Rejected, discarded, left to one side, and done to death--then as now--the Father made him and continues to make him the firm immovable basis of the new work of building. This he does through his glorious resurrection [...].
"The new temple, Christ's body, which is spiritual and invisible, is constructed by each and every baptized person on the living cornerstone, Christ, to the degree that they adhere to him and 'grow' in him towards 'the fullness of Christ'. In this temple and by means of it, the 'dwelling place of God in the Spirit', he is glorified, by virtue of the 'holy priesthood' which offers spiritual sacrifices (1 Pet 2:5), and his kingdom is established in the world.
"The apex of the new temple reaches into heaven, while, on earth, Christ, the cornerstone, sustains it by means of the foundation he himself has chosen and laid down--'the apostles and prophets' (Eph 2:20) and their successors, that is, in the first place, the college of bishops and the 'rock', Peter (Mt 16: 18)" (John Paul II, Homily at Orcasitas, Madrid, 3 November 1981).
Christ Jesus is the stone: this indicates his strength; and he is the cornerstone because in him the two peoples, Jews and Gentiles, are joined together (cf. St Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Eph, ad loc.). The Church is founded on this strong, stable bedrock; this cornerstone is what gives it its solidity. St Augustine expresses his faith in the perennial endurance of the Church in these words: "The Church will shake if its foundation shakes, but can Christ shake? As long as Christ does not shake, so shall the Church never weaken until the end of time" (Enarrationes in Psalmos, 103).
Every faithful Christian, every living stone of this temple of God, must stay fixed on the solid cornerstone of Christ by cooperating in his or her own sanctification. The Church grows "when Christ is, after a manner, built into the souls of men and grows in them, and when souls also are built into Christ and grow in him; so that on this earth of our exile a great temple is daily in course of building, in which the divine majesty receives due and acceptable worship" (Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 6).
