_Father, hallowed be thy name, &c. See Matthew vi. In the ordinary Greek copies here are all the seven petitions, as in St. Matthew: and so they are in the Protestant Testament. Yet St. Augustine in his Enchiridion, (chap. i. tom. 6, p. 240,) says there were read seven petitions in St. Matthew and o... [ Continue Reading ]
In the Greek it is called _epiousion; i.e. supersubstantial. This is not the bread that goeth into the body, but the bread of eternal life, that supports the life of the soul. It is here called daily bread. Receive then daily, what will daily profit you; and continue so to live, that you may be dail... [ Continue Reading ]
Christ does not teach us to pray for afflictions of the body, but always enjoins us to pray, that we may not enter into temptation. When, therefore, temptation attacks us, we must beg of God grace to withstand it, that the promise in St. Matthew (chap. x.) may be fulfilled in us, he _who perseveres... [ Continue Reading ]
This parable is not found in any one of the evangelists, except St. Luke. Our Saviour having taught his disciples the aforesaid form of prayer, now shews them the utility and efficacy of prayer in general. He wishes to inculcate the necessity of perseverance in prayer. A friend comes to borrow of an... [ Continue Reading ]
After our Saviour had given his apostles this form of prayer, knowing that men would recite it with remissness and negligence, and then on account of not being heard, would desist, he teaches here to avoid this pusillanimity in prayer; perseverance in our petitions being the most advantageous. (St.... [ Continue Reading ]
Our petitions are frequently not immediately granted, that our earnestness and assiduity may be increased; that we may learn to esteem the gifts of God, and preserve them with care, for whatever we procure with labour, we preserve with care, lest by losing it we lose our labour also. (St. Basil in C... [ Continue Reading ]
How comes it to pass then, that many pray, and receive not? To this we answer, that if they approach in a proper manner, and observe the necessary conditions of the petition, they will undoubtedly receive what they ask for; but if, on the contrary, they deviate from this rule, and ask not, as they o... [ Continue Reading ]
This possessed person is said in St. Matthew to have been also blind. Upon him, therefore, were wrought three wonders: the blind saw, the dumb spoke, the possessed was delivered; which daily takes place in the persons of such as are converted to the number of true believers: the devil is expelled, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_And house upon house shall fall. He speaks of a house or family divided, which thereby shall fall to ruin. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your judges. They will condemn you of injustice, envy, and hatred against me, and blasphemy against God; because when they performed any exorcisms, though they appear but little more than human in their actions, yet you ascribe them to the virtue of God; but when I perform any miracle, though there... [ Continue Reading ]
Man, &c. By this one man is meant the whole Jewish people, out of whom the unclean spirit had been driven by the law. (St. Ambrose) --- For as long as they were in Egypt, they lived after the manner of the Egyptians, and were the habitation of the unclean spirit; but it was expelled from them, when... [ Continue Reading ]
_The last state, &c. But these words are also addressed to us Christians, who may often, and with reason, fear lest the vice we think extinguished in us, again return and seize on our slothful and careless souls, finding them cleansed indeed from the filth of sin by the grace of baptism, but destitu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Greek: Menounge, imo vero, yes indeed. Our Saviour does not here wish to deny what the woman had said, but rather to confirm it: indeed how could he deny, as Calvin impiously maintained, that his mother was blessed? By these words, he only wishes to tell his auditors what great advantage they might... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the sign of Jonas. Instead of a prodigy in the heavens or in the air, I will give you one in the bosom of the earth, more wonderful than that of the prophet Jonas, who came out alive from the belly of the fish, which had swallowed him. Thus I will return alive from the bosom of the earth three... [ Continue Reading ]
_Queen of the South shall condemn this generation, not by exercising the power of judgment against them, but by having performed an action which, when put in competition with theirs, will be found superior to them. (Ven. Bede)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thy eye be single. As when the eyes of the body are pure, and free from the mixture of bad humours, the whole body is lightsome; so if the eyes of the mind, viz. reason, faith and understanding, are not infected with the pestiferous humours of envy, avarice, and other vices, the whole mind will... [ Continue Reading ]
_The whole shall be lightsome. Not only all thy body, but all about thee; all thy ways and actions. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Washed, &c. There was nothing ordained by the law concerning this washing of the hands, which the Pharisees observed before taking meat. Christ and his apostles washed their hands when they pleased, without looking for any mystery in such things, or making to themselves vain obligations in frivolou... [ Continue Reading ]
But yet that which remaineth, give alms. [1] The sense seems not to be of what remaineth, give alms, as some expound it; but by the Greek, the sense is, give alms of what you have, i.e. of your goods, according to your abilities; and as Tobias said to his son, If thou hast much, give much; if little... [ Continue Reading ]
_Salutations in the market-place, &c. Such as wish to be saluted, and have the first places, that they may appear great, are likened to sepulchres, which are covered externally with ornaments, but are filled inwardly with rottenness. (St. Cyril in St. Thomas Aquinas)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sepulchres that appear not. This comparison is partly different from that of Matthew xxiii. 27. For there Christ compares hypocrites to whitened sepulchres, which may be seen and avoided; here he compares them to sepulchres covered with grass, which appear not: yet the comparison, in the main, is t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then one of the lawyers, &c. Correction, which turns to the advantage of the meek, appears always more intolerable to the wicked. Christ denounces woes against the Pharisees for deviating from the right path, and the doctors of the law found them equally applicable to themselves. (St. Cyril in St.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Woe to you who build, &c. Not that the building of the monuments of the prophets was in itself blameworthy, but only the intention of these unhappy men, who made use of this outward shew of religion and piety, as a means to carry on their wicked designs against the prince of prophets. (Challoner)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Build, &c. See the notes Matthew xxiii. 29. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_The wisdom of God said. In St. Matthew it is, Behold I send to you prophets and wise men; and in this passage of St. Luke, the wisdom of God saith, I will send, &c.: thus is Christ truly the wisdom of the Almighty God. (St. Ambrose)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blood of Zacharias, &c. This Zacharias was, according to some Zacharias the son of Joiada, whom the Jews slew between the temple and the altar. (Theophylactus, --- also St. Jerome, who moreover mentions that some editions had Zacharias, son of Joiada.) --- This generation. Not that this generation... [ Continue Reading ]
_You have taken away the key of knowledge. A comparison of a master that locks others out. As if Christ said: you pretend, as masters and teachers, to open and expound the law and the prophets; and by your false doctrine and interpretations, you neither observe the law, nor permit others to observe... [ Continue Reading ]
_And to oppress (i.e. stop) his mouth about many things. [2] This is the literal signification of the Greek: they started one question upon another, to raise confusion and confound the answers. (Witham)_ [BIBLIOGRAPHY] Et os ejus opprimere de multis: _Greek: apostomatizein auton peri pleionon._... [ Continue Reading ]