Peter Chrysologus

In his own words on Matthew

• Matthew 1:18

  (Serm. 148.) If you are not confounded when you hear of the birth of God, let not His conception disturb you, seeing the pure virginity of the mother removes all that might shock human reverence. And what offence against our awe and reverence is there, when the Deity entered into union with purity that was always dear to Him, where an Angel is mediator, faith is bridemaid, where chastity is the giving away, virtue the gift, conscience the judge, God the cause; where the conception is inviolateness, the birth virginity, and the mother a virginq.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 1:20

  As her betrothed husband also he is admonished not to be afraid; for the mind that compassionates has most fear; as though he were to say, Here is no cause of death, but of life; she that brings forth life, does not deserve death.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 1:21

  Let them approach to hear this, who ask, Who is He that Mary bare? He shall save His people; not any other man's people; from what? from their sins. That it is God that forgives sins, if you do not believe the Christians so affirming, believe the infidels, or the Jews who say, None can forgive sins but God only. (Luke 5:1.)

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 1:22-23

  Let them approach to hear this, who ask, Who is He that Mary bare? He shall save His people; not any other man's people; from what? from their sins. That it is God that forgives sins, if you do not believe the Christians so affirming, believe the infidels, or the Jews who say, None can forgive sins but God only. (Luke 5:1.)

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 1:25

  Where are they who think that the Virgin's conception and giving birth to her child are to be likened to those of other women... The Virgin conceives, the Virgin brings forth her child, and she remains a virgin.

  SERMON 117: The First Adam, and the Last Adam, Born of a Virgin

• Matthew 2:1

  What does this mean, that it was in the time of a very malevolent king that God descended to earth, divinity entered into flesh, a heavenly union occurred with an earthly body? What does this mean? How could it happen that a tyrant could then be driven out by one who was not a king, who would free his people, renew the face of the earth and restore freedom? Herod, an apostate, had wrongly invaded the kingdom of the Jews, taken away their liberty, profaned their holy places, disrupted the established order, abolished whatever there was of discipline and religious worship. It was fitting therefore that God's own aid would come to succor that holy race without any human help. Rightly did God emancipate the race that no human hand could free. In just this way will Christ come again, to undo the antichrist, free the world, restore the original land of paradise, uphold the liberty of the world and take away all its slavery.

  SERMONS 156.5

• Matthew 2:8

  "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word." Appropriately did Herod say, "Bring me word," for the one who hastens to come to Christ always brings a word of renunciation to the devil. When the priest says to the future Christian, "Do you renounce the devil?" the latter will answer, "I do renounce him." Properly therefore are the magi instructed to bring word to Herod, who realized he was taking the place of the devil. Satan knew how to corrupt a person."That I may come and worship him." He wants to lie but he cannot. He who feigned adoration will come that he might bow to abuse, kneel to inflict punishment, recline to do harm.… But when the clouds of treachery have passed, in the fair weather of emerging Christian faith, the magi behold again the star they had seen, preceding and leading them on. Finally they arrive at the most holy place of the Lord's birth.

  SERMONS 158.8-9

• Matthew 2:13

  Was it Herod seeking the child, or the devil working through Herod? When Herod saw the magi for himself, he imagined in his fantasy that they had fled their governors. For Christ, though bound in swaddling clothes, though busy at his mother's breast, though keeping quiet, concealing his words, unable to walk, nevertheless transformed the magi (who had been standard-bearers of the devil) into his most faithful servants. The devil instantly realized what Christ could do when he came of age. So he spurred the Jews against him and, clever contriver that he was, impelled Herod that he might get the jump on Christ in his infancy. He hoped to deprive him of the coming emblem of his virtue, the cross, the banner of the greatest victory for us. The devil perceived that Christ would soon be restoring life to all the world with his teaching and his virtue. Even while still whimpering as a baby, Jesus was taking possession of this world from top to bottom. It was as the prophet said: "Before the child knows to cry to his father and mother he shall take the pride of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria." The Jews themselves attest to this when they say, "You see how the whole world hastens after him."

  SERMONS 150.9

• Matthew 2:13

  His flight then was not occasioned by fear but by what had come through the mystery of prophecy. The Evangelist planted the seed when he thus spoke: "Take the boy and his mother and flee into Egypt." And later, "that what was written might be fulfilled: 'From Egypt have I summoned my son.' " Christ fled so that he might establish the truth of the law, faith in prophecy and the testimony of the psalter. The Lord himself says, "It was needful that what was written in the law and the prophets and the psalms be fulfilled by me." Christ fled for us, not for himself. Christ fled so that at the right time he might serve as a steward of the sacraments [the divine mysteries]. Christ fled so that by granting absolution he might take away the source of abuses to come and that he might give proof of faith to those who would believe. And finally, Christ fled so that he might bestow on us faith even when we have to flee, because in the face of persecution it is better to flee than to deny the faith. For Peter, because he was unwilling to flee, denied the Lord. John, lest he deny the Lord, fled.

  SERMONS 150.11

• Matthew 2:14

  Christ promised that he would come incarnate, that he would go through the phases of life, that he would announce the glory of the kingdom of heaven, that he would proclaim the way of faith and that by the power of his word alone he would put demons to flight. He promised that he would give sight to the blind, gait to the lame, speech to the mute, hearing to the deaf, remission for sinners and life to the dead. All these things he promised through the law and the prophets. Thus it was that Christ, when he was to become a man, was not to flee the death he escaped as an infant.

  SERMONS 150.10

• Matthew 2:16

  Why did Christ do this? Christ is the judge of thoughts and the examiner of minds. Why did he desert those whom he knew were being sought because of himself and whom he knew would be killed for his sake? He was born a king, the king of heaven—why did he neglect the standard-bearers of his own innocence? Why did he disdain an army of the same age as himself? Why did he thus abandon those who were cut down as plunder from the same cradle as himself? Was it so that he, who would become the one king, might proceed against the forces of all his enemies? Brothers, Christ did not despise his own soldiers but promoted them and granted that they might walk in victory before they lived. He enabled them to participate in a victory without struggle. He gave to them the gift of the crown even before their bodies had grown. It was Christ's will that they pass over vice for virtue, attain heaven before earth and share in the divine life immediately. Thus it was that Christ sent his soldiers ahead. He did not abandon them. He gathered up his ranks. He did not leave them behind.

  SERMONS 152.7

• Matthew 3:4

  Locusts intended for sinners worthy of chastisement are rightly considered to be food for repentance, so that bounding from the place of sin to the place of repentance the sinner may fly to heaven on the wings of forgiveness. The prophet was aware of this when he said, "I am gone, like a shadow at evening. I am shaken off like a locust. My knees are weak through fasting; my body has become gaunt … Save me according to your steadfast law." You have heard how John was shaken off like a locust from sin to repentance. He bent his knees that he might bear the burden of repentance. His food was mixed with honey, so that tender mercy might temper the bitterness of repentance.

  SERMONS 167.9.25

• Matthew 3:4

  He could have made use of goat's hair, but there was no need for it. Rather, he wore a garment of camel's hair with nothing refined about it, nothing graceful, nothing comely. By nature it was intended for hard work and heavy burdens and consigned to utter subjection. The teacher of repentance ought to be vested with such a garment, so that those who had turned away from virtue in their education and given themselves shamelessly over to sin might be subdued by the great burden of penance, might be consigned to the rigors of reparation and experience the heavy sighs of contrition. Thus refashioned and reshaped into the form of a needle, they might obtain ample remission through the narrow opening of penance. And the Lord's words would then be fulfilled concerning a camel passing through the eye of a needle.

  SERMONS 167.8

• Matthew 4:2

  So you see, my friends, the fact that we fast during Lent is not of human invention. The authority is divine and mystical and not taken for granted. Nor is it based on an earthly custom but on heavenly secrets. Lent [Quadragesima] contains the four-sided teaching of four decades of faith, because perfection is always four-sided. The number forty [quadragesimus] and the number ten [denarius], which hold sacraments both in heaven and on earth because a square is not free to open, are used to explain the undertaking of the Lord's fast.

  SERMONS 11.4

• Matthew 5:22

  "Whoever says to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be liable to the council." The word raca, my brothers, is not simply an expression but the visceral reaction of a ridiculer as well as an insult. It usually manifests itself by a sidelong glance or a flaring of the nostrils or a rattle in the throat, so that one's will concocts insults and the extent of the harm done is unknown. But God, who looks at a person's intentions, sees his desires and judges his feelings, brings the one who is guilty of ridiculing his brother to the council of the holy, because ridicule aimed at one person redounds to the insulting of everyone; the condition of one limb spreads to the body, and the suffering of the body goes up to the head. Thus, as to what a ridiculer has inflicted on his brother, he will realize and regret in the heavenly council that his insight reached up to God."Whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire." What the angry man concealed in his heart, what the ridiculer held in his throat, the backbiter has put into words. Thus the expressed insult will be reckoned with in the fire of hell. The judgment for hidden faults depends on the Savior's decision, so that based on an examination of causes a just judgment is rendered. Clearly then a manifest crime will produce a punishment. But someone may ask, "Just how great is the force of a word, that whoever says to his brother, 'You fool!' will be accorded severe punishment?" Very great, my brothers, very great, for Christ is in your brother, and Christ is the wisdom of God. Therefore whoever says to his brother "You fool!" has ridiculed God's wisdom.

  SERMONS 177.6-7

• Matthew 8:8

  (Serm. 102.) Mystically, his house was the body which contained his soul, which contains within it the freedom of the mind by a heavenly vision. But God disdains neither to inhabit flesh, nor to enter the roof of our body.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 8:24

  The sea offered its heaving back for Christ to walk upon. Now it leveled its crests to a plain, checked its swelling and bound up its billows. It provided rocklike firmness, so he could walk across the waterway. Why did the seas heave so, and toss and pitch, even as if threatening its Creator? And why did Christ himself, who knows all the future, seem so unaware of the present that he gave no thought to the onrushing storm, the moment of its height and the time of its peril? While all the rest were awake, he alone was fast asleep even with utter doom threatening both himself and his dear ones. Why? It is not a calm sky, beloved, but the storm which tests a pilot's skill. When the breeze is mild even the poorest sailor can manage the ship. But in the crosswinds of a tempest, we want the best pilot with all his skill.

  SERMONS 20.1

• Matthew 8:25

  The disciples' efforts as seamen had failed, as they could see. The seas attempted to spend their fury against them, and the waves were ready to swallow them. The twisting winds had conspired against them. So they ran in fear to the very Pilot of the world, the Ruler of the universe, the Master of the elements. They begged him to check the billows, banish the danger, save them in their despair.

  SERMONS 20.1

• Matthew 8:26

  Christ gets into the vessel of his church, always ready to calm the waves of the world. He leads those who believe in him through safe sailing to the heavenly homeland and makes those whom he made to share in his humanity citizens of his land. Christ does not need the vessel, therefore, but the vessel needs Christ. Without the heavenly helmsman the vessel of the church is unable to sail over the sea of the world and, against critical odds, arrive at the heavenly harbor.

  SERMONS 50.2

• Matthew 8:27

  Finally it was by Christ's mere command that he controlled the sea, struck back the winds, stopped the whirlwinds, brought back the calm. Then those who were crossing the sea perceived, believed and acknowledged that he is the very Creator of all.

  SERMONS 20.1

• Matthew 8:31

  Slaves ask for suitable indignities: "Send us into the swine." Foulness begs to be sent from the tombs into the swine, so that it does not think of getting rid of its bad odors but of changing odors. "Send us into the swine." Plunging from the sky, they seek filth. After living in the upper world, they look for the sloughs of pigs. "Send us into the herd." A herd is sent into the herd, so that a gang of demons is brought forth, and it seems that two men have caused what a great number of pigs could not endure.

  SERMONS 16.7

• Matthew 8:32

  "He said to them, 'Go!' " The foul-smelling animals are delivered up, not at the will of the demons but to show how savage the demons can become against humans. They ardently seek to destroy and dispossess all that is, acts, moves and lives. They seek the death of people. The ancient enmity of deep-rooted wrath and malice is in store for the human race. Demons do not give up easily unless they are forcibly overcome. They are doing the harm they are ordered to do. Therefore the foul-smelling animals are delivered up that it may be made clear to the demons that they have permission to enter the swine but not to enter humans. It is by our vices that we empower them to do harm. Similarly, by our power of faith we tread on the necks of demons. They become subject to us under Christ who is triumphant.

  SERMONS 16.8

• Matthew 9:1

  (Serm. 50.) The Creator of all things, the Lord of the world, when He had for our sakes straitened Himself in the bonds of our flesh, began to have His own country as a man, began to be a citizen of Judæa, and to have parents, though Himself the parent of all, that affection might attach those whom fear had separated. (ubi sup.) Christ has no need of the vessel, but the vessel of Christ; for without heavenly pilotage the bark of the Church cannot pass over the sea of the world to the heavenly harbour.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 9:2

  (ubi sup.) Of how great power with God must a man's own faith be, when that of others here availed to heal a man both within and without. The paralytic hears his pardon pronounced, in silence uttering no thanks, for he was more anxious for the cure of his body than his soul. Christ therefore with good reason accepts the faith of those that bare him, rather than his own hardness of heart. (ubi sup.) The Lord requires not in this world the will of those who are without understanding, but looks to the faith of others; as the physician does not consult the wishes of the patient, when his malady requires other things.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 9:2

  Note in this regard, my brothers, that God does not inquire into the wants of those who are deliriously ill. He does not wait to see the faith of the ignorant or probe the senseless wishes of the sick. Yet he does not refuse to help the faith of another, so that by grace alone he confers whatever is proper of the divine will. In fact, my brothers, when does a doctor ever inquire into or examine the wishes of those who are ailing, for a patient is prone to be of a contrary mind in his wishes and demands?

  SERMONS 50.4

• Matthew 9:6

  (ubi sup.) That that which had been proof of his sickness, should now become proof of his recovered health. And go to thy house, that having been healed by Christian faith, you may not die in the faithlessness of the Jews.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 9:10

  Jesus' sitting at table has more significance for Matthew than just dining. Jesus will be feasting not on food but on the return of sinners. He will call them back through feasting, collegiality and human affection, enjoying himself with their pleasant conversation while reclining at table. He knew that if they recognized him as a powerful judge they would be shattered by the terror of his majesty and overwhelmed by the sheer presence of God unveiled (nuda). Thus, veiled in a human body he was able to communicate with humans. He who wanted to assist the guilty hides the fact that he was a judge. He who did not deny dignity to faithful servants conceals his lordship. He who desired the weak to be embraced by a parent's love covers his majesty.

  SERMONS 29:4

• Matthew 9:14

  What did John's disciples have in common with the Pharisees if not a bond of ill will uniting those whom discipline had separated? In this case jealousy loses its bearings: Accustomed to separating people, it united them. The Jews were not disposed to esteem Moses less than the Lord, and John's disciples were by no means willing to prefer Christ to John. Thus they grumbled in common spite against Christ. "Why do we and the Pharisees often fast, whereas your disciples do not fast?" Why? Because with you, fasting is a matter of the law and not of the will. Fasting does not reflect the one who fasts but the one who orders the fast. And what is the fruit of fasting to you who fast unwillingly?

  SERMONS 31.2

• Matthew 9:16

  He says that the fabric of the old law was worn away by Judaic zealousness, corrupted by the senses, split apart by factions and worn out by impure actions. The shrunk cloth of the gospel he calls a garment. But make note of the cloth, not simply the tear but the beginning of the weave. First of all, the fabric of Christ's royal garment was woven out of wool that came from a lamb: "The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." The royal vestment was a woven vestment, which the blood of his passion tinged with purple splendor.

  SERMONS 31.4.12

• Matthew 9:23-24

  Christ reaches the house and sees the girl who appears to be dead. In order to move faithless hearts to faith, he says that the ruler's daughter is sleeping and is not dead. Ostensibly it is not easier to rise from death than to rise from sleep. So he says, "The girl is asleep, not dead." With God, indeed, death is sleep, for God can bring a dead person back to life sooner than a sleeping person can be wakened from sleep by humans; and God can sooner restore life-giving warmth to limbs frozen in death than humans can infuse vigor in bodies immersed in sleep. Hear the words of the apostle: "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye the dead shall rise." Because the blessed apostle was unable to refer to the speed of the resurrection in words, he opted for examples. How could he touch upon rapidity when divine power anticipates rapidity itself? And how does time enter the picture when something eternal is given outside of time? Even as time applies to temporality, so does eternity exclude time.

  SERMONS 34.5.21

• Matthew 13:45-46

  Let no one who hears this take offense at the name merchant. Here Christ is speaking of a merchant who shows mercy, not of one who is always usuriously investing his profits from capital. This merchant is the one who provides for the adornment of virtues, not the incentive of vices. He weighs the dignity of morals, not the weight of jewels. He wears necklaces of integrity, not of luxury. He flaunts not a display of sensual pleasure but the earmarks of discipline. Therefore this merchant exhibits pearls of heart and body, not in human trading but in heavenly commerce. He displays them not to trade for a present advantage but for a future one. He trades in order to gain not earthly but heavenly glory. He seeks to procure the kingdom of heaven as the reward of his virtues and to buy, at the price of innumerable other goods, the one pearl of everlasting life.

  SERMONS 47.2

• Matthew 13:54

  "So that they were astonished, and said, 'Where did he get this wisdom?' " The one who speaks this way does not know God, from whom is wisdom and from whom are mighty works. Solomon points to that source of wisdom. While still young, he accepted the highest honor of the kingdom so he might rule the people entrusted to him with virtue and not with arrogance, with wisdom and not with pride, with his heart and not with his head. He wanted wisdom from God, earnestly asked for it and received it. "Where did he get this wisdom and these mighty works?" The mighty power that gives eyesight denied by nature, that restores hearing to those drowned in silence, that unscrambles the words of those who are mute, that enables the lame to walk again and that orders souls headed for the realm of the dead to return to their bodies is from God, unless someone envious of salvation should deny it.

  SERMONS 48.2

• Matthew 13:54

  The synagogues could not be his. A malicious and disbelieving crowd gathered there. A people full of hate rather than love came together. A group of ill-disposed and ill-mannered people assembled. "He began to teach in their synagogues, so that they were astonished." They were astonished because of indignation and not because of grace. They were amazed because of envy and not because of praise. They raged because what the proud seated on the floor were unable to discern, humility on its feet was thoroughly teaching.

  SERMONS 48.2

• Matthew 13:58

  Christ indeed came to his own country, because it was written, "He came among his own, and his own did not receive him." In plain fact, when he says, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country," he is teaching that it is a painful situation to have influence among his own. To stand out among the local denizens is similar to an inflammation. A near relation's glory burns the near relations. If neighbors have to pay homage to a neighbor, they consider it servitude. "And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief." Power has no effect where unbelief does not deserve it. And while Christ does not demand a reward when he heals, he becomes indignant when injustice is shown to him instead of honor.

  SERMONS 48.6.26

• Matthew 14:4

  John aroused Herod by his moral admonitions, not by any formal accusation. He wanted to correct, not to suppress. Herod, however, preferred to suppress rather than be reconciled. To those who are held captive, the freedom of the one innocent of wrongdoing becomes hateful. Virtue is undesirable to those who are immoral; holiness is abhorrent to those who are impious; chastity is an enemy to those who are impure; integrity is a hardship for those who are corrupt; frugality runs counter to those who are self-indulgent; mercy is intolerable to those who are cruel, as is loving-kindness to those who are pitiless and justice to those who are unjust. The Evangelist indicates this when he says, "John said to him, 'It is not lawful for you to have the wife of your brother Philip.' " This is where John runs into trouble. He who admonishes those who are evil gives offense. He who repudiates wrongdoers runs into trouble. John was saying what was proper of the law, what was proper of justice, what was proper of salvation and what was proper certainly not of hatred but of love. And look at the reward he received from the ungodly for his loving concern!

  SERMONS 127.6-7

• Matthew 14:5

  "And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people." That person readily turns away from justice who, in matters at issue, fears not God but people. Such fear can restrain the power to sin but is unable to remove the will to sin. Hence, those whom it has restrained from crime, it makes all the more eager to return to crime. It is only the fear of God that can set minds straight, repel criminal actions, preserve innocence and give steadfast power. But let us focus on the passionate intensity of blessed John.

  SERMONS 127.7

• Matthew 14:6

  You have heard, brothers, that sensual pleasure may give birth to great cruelty. "And his head was brought on a platter."The house is converted into an arena, the table changes into a stall at the amphitheater, the birthday guests turn into spectators, the feast grows into a furor, the food ripens into carnage, the wine transforms into blood, the birthday changes into a funeral, sunrise evolves into sunset, the banquet is altered into a bloody killing, and musical instruments perform the tragedy of the ages. A creature enters the room, not a girl; a lynx, not a maiden, moves to the music. She has the mane of an animal, not hair, sprouting up from the crown of her head. She spreads out her limbs with twists and turns; she steadily grows in ferocity. She becomes cunning in cruelty, not in body. And this extraordinarily wild animal lets out a growl. She gnashes her teeth. She does not take up a sword but produces one. "Prompted by her mother," the Evangelist says, and taking an arrow from her mother's heart, this uncanny creature, with contempt for the prize of John's body, slithers through the hall to have his head cut off.

  SERMONS 127.9

• Matthew 18:20

  There are those who presume that the congregation of the church can be disregarded. They assert that private prayers should be preferred to those of an honorable assembly. But if Jesus denies nothing to so small a group as two or three, will he refuse those who ask for it in the assemblies and congregation of the church? This is what the prophet believed and what he exults over having obtained when he states, "I will confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart, in the council and congregation of the righteous." A man "confesses with his whole heart" when in the council of the saints he hears that everything which he has asked will be granted him.Some, however, endeavor to excuse under an appearance of faith the idleness that prompts their contempt for assemblies. They omit participation in the fervor of the assembled congregation and pretend that they have devoted to prayer the time they have expended upon their household cares. While they give themselves up to their own desires, they scorn and despise the divine service. These are the people who destroy the body of Christ. They scatter its members. They do not permit the full form of its Christ-like appearance to develop to its abundant beauty—that form which the prophet saw and then sang about: "You are beautiful in form above the sons of men." Individual members do indeed have their own duty of personal prayer, but they will not be able to fulfill it if they come to the beauty of that perfect body wrapped up in themselves. There is this difference between the glorious fullness of the congregation and the vanity of separation that springs out of ignorance or negligence: in salvation and honor the beauty of the whole body is found in the unity of the members. But from the separation of the viscera there is a foul, fatal and fearful aroma.

  SERMON 132.4-5

• Matthew 28:1

  "In the evening toward the dawn." Behold, with the Lord's resurrection the evening does not grow dark, it becomes light. What was normally the beginning of night now becomes the break of day. "In the evening of the sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week." Even as mortality is transformed into immortality, corruption into incorruption and flesh into the Word of God, the darkness is transformed into light, so that the night itself rejoices that it did not die but is transmuted.…"In the evening of the sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week." The sabbath rejoices that it now has a subservient effect. Under the yoke of the law the sabbath had become smugly apathetic and alienated from life-giving power. Through the primacy of the Lord's Day the sabbath is now wonderfully awakened to works of divine power. To paraphrase the Lord: Is it not permitted to heal the sick on the sabbath, to give aid to the afflicted, sight to the blind and life to the dead?

  SERMONS 77.2-3

• Matthew 28:1

  (Serm. 75.)g. Because the sabbath is illuminated, not taken away, by Christ, Who said, I am not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it. (Matt. 5:17.) It is illuminated that it may lighten into the Lord's day, and shine forth in the Church, when it had hitherto burnt dim, and been obscured by the Jews in the Synagogue. It follows, Came Mary Magdalen, and the other Mary, &c. Late runs woman for pardon, who had run early to sin; in paradise she had taken up unbelief, from the sepulchre she hastes to take up faith; she now hastens to snatch life from death, who had before snatched death from life. And it is not, They come, but came, (in the singular,) for in mystery and not by accident, the two came under one name. She came, but altered; a woman, changed in life, not in name; in virtue, not in sex. The women go before the Apostles, bearing to the Lord's sepulchre a type of the Churches; the two Marys, to wit. For Mary is the name of Christ's mother; and one name is twice repeated for two women, because herein is figured the Church coming out of the two nations, the Gentiles and the Jews, and being yet one. Mary came to the sepulchre, as to the womb of the resurrection, that Christ might be the second time born out of the sepulchre of faith, who after the flesh had been born of her womb; and that as a virgin had borne Him into this life present, so a sealed sepulchre might bring Him forth into life eternal. It is proof of Deity to have left a womb virgin after birth, and no less to have come forth in the body from a closed sepulchre.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:1

  The apostles are preceded in ministry by women, who follow the men by gender and the disciples by order. The apostles are not thereby made masters by these women. These women are bringing to the sepulcher the form and appearance of women, but they together symbolize the wholeness of the Lord's churches. Mary and Mary: one as herself, and herself as the other. Mary, the single maternal name of Christ, is duplicated in two women. Here is symbolized the church coming from two peoples yet made into one from two peoples—that is, from the Gentiles and the Jews. For "the first shall be last and the last shall be first."

  SERMONS 75.3.12

• Matthew 28:2-3

  "His appearance," says the Evangelist, "was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow." The brightness of his countenance is distinguished from the brilliance of his clothing. His face is compared with lightning from heaven and his garment to snow falling upon the earth. Listen to the prophet as he says, "Praise the Lord from the earth, you fire, hail and snow!" In the angel's face, then, heaven's brilliance adapts to nature. His clothing symbolizes the grace of human fellowship, and the appearance of this angel as he speaks is so tempered that physical eyes can withstand the peaceful brilliance of his raiment. As they look upon the lightning of his appearance, they tremble and revere the messenger of their Maker.

  SERMONS 75.6

• Matthew 28:2

  An angel descended and rolled back the stone. He did not roll back the stone to provide a way of escape for the Lord but to show the world that the Lord had already risen. He rolled back the stone to help his fellow servants believe, not to help the Lord rise from the dead. He rolled back the stone for the sake of faith, because it had been rolled over the tomb for the sake of unbelief. He rolled back the stone so that he who took death captive might hold the title of Life. Pray, brothers, that the angel would descend now and roll away all the hardness of our hearts and open up our closed senses and declare to our minds that Christ has risen, for just as the heart in which Christ lives and reigns is heaven, so also the heart in which Christ remains dead and buried is a grave. May it be believed that just as he died, so was he transformed. Christ the man suffered, died and was buried; as God, he lives, reigns, is and will be forever.

• Matthew 28:2

  (Serm. 77 et 74.) If the earth thus quaked when the Lord rose again to the pardon of the Saints, how will it quake when He shall rise again to the punishment of the wicked? As the Prophet speaks, The earth trembled when the Lord rose again to judgment. (Ps. 76:8.) And how will it endure the Lord's presence, when it was unable to endure the presence of His Angel? And the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven. For when Christ arose, death was destroyed, commerce with heaven is restored to things on the earth; and woman, who had of old held communication to death with the Devil, now holds communication to life with the Angel. (Serm. 74.) He said not 'rolled,' but rolled back; because the rolling to of the stone was a proof of death; the rolling it back asserted the resurrection. The order of things is changed; The Tomb devours death, and not the dead; the house of death becomes the mansion of life; a new law is imposed upon it, it receives a dead, and renders up a living, man. It follows, And sat thereon. He sat down, who was incapable of weariness; but sat as a teacher of the faith, a master of the Resurrection; upon the stone, that the firmness of his seat might assure the sted fastness of the believers; the Angel rested the foundations of the Faith upon that rock, on which Christ was to found His Church. Or, by the stone of the sepulchre may be denoted death, under which we all lay; and by the Angel sitting thereon, is shown that Christ hath by His might subdued death.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:3

  (Serm. 75.) The splendour of his countenance is distinct from the shining of his raiment; his countenance is compared to lightning, his raiment to snow; for the lightning is in heaven, snow on the earth; as the Prophet saith, Praise the Lord from the earth; fire and hail, snow and vapours. (Ps. 148:7.) Thus in the Angel's countenance is preserved the splendour of his heavenly nature; in his raiment is shown the grace of human communion. For the appearance of the Angel that talked with them is so ordered, that eyes of flesh might endure the still splendour of his robes, and by reason of his shining countenance they might tremble before the messenger of their Maker. (Serm. 77.) But what means this raiment where there is no need of a covering? The Angel figures our dress, our shape, our likeness in the Resurrection, when man is sufficiently clothed by the splendour of his own body.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:4

  (Serm. 75.) For they kept watch over Him with a purpose of cruelty, not with the solicitude of affection. And no man can stand who is forsaken by his own conscience, or troubled with a sense of guilt. Hence the Angel confounds the wicked, and comforts the good.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:4-5

  The angel mentions the name of Jesus, alludes to his cross, speaks about his Passion and refers to his death. He then proclaims his resurrection and confesses his lordship. After all the punishment and after the sepulcher, the angel heralds the Lord, speaks of his subjection and sees that the full offense of the Passion has been transmuted into the glory of the resurrection. How could anyone judge that God was lessened by becoming human? Or believe that his power was demeaned by the Passion? Or think that his sovereignty was diminished by his servanthood? The angel speaks worthily of the crucified one. He shows the very place where the Lord's body was laid, lest someone else and not he is believed to have risen from the dead.

  SERMONS 76.1

• Matthew 28:5

  (Serm. 77.) For their faith had been bowed by the cruel storm of His Passion, so that they sought Him yet as crucified and dead; I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified; the weight of the trial had bent them to look for the Lord of heaven in the tomb, but, He is not here.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:6

  (Serm. 76.) Thus the Angel first announces His name, declares His Cross, and confesses His Passion; but straightway proclaims Him risen and their Lord. An Angel after such sufferings, after the grave acknowledges Him Lord; how then shall man judge that the Godhead was diminished by the flesh, or that His Might failed in His Passion. He says, Which was crucified, and points out the place where the Lord was laid, that they should not think that it was another, and not the same, who had risen from the dead. And if the Lord reappears in the same flesh, and gives evidence of His resurrection, why should man suppose that he himself shall reappear in other flesh? Or why should a slave disdain his own flesh, seeing the Lord did not change ours?

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:6

  The Lord rises in the same flesh. He brings back the wounds, takes on again the holes from the nails and bears witness by his very body with the signs of his resurrection, which were the ravages of his suffering. If so, how could anyone imagine that he might return in some other body? How could anyone fail to believe that he will return in his own flesh? It is fanciful to think that the servant would by chance disdain his own flesh. Rest assured, my friend, when you arise from the dead it will be you in your own body. Otherwise it would not be you if you should rise in the flesh of another.

  SERMONS 76.1

• Matthew 28:7

  (Serm. 77.) As much as to say, Woman, now thou art healed, return to the man, and persuade him! to faith, whom thou didst once persuade to treachery. Carry to man the proof of the Resurrection, to whom thou didst once carry counsel of destruction.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:7-8

  The angel goes on to say, "Go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen; and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; you will see him there." The angel here sends not merely the women but the church in the two women. He sends the one so that by sending her he may spread the news far and wide. Here the angel is sending the bride to the bridegroom.

  SERMONS 76.2

• Matthew 28:9

  (Serm. 76.) That in these women is contained a full figure of the Church is shown hereby, that Christ convinces His disciples when in doubt concerning the Resurrection, and confirms them when in fear; and when He meets them He does not terrify them by His power, but prevents them with the ardour of love. And Christ in His Church salutes Himself, for He has taken it into His own Body. (ubi sup.) Then Mary was not suffered to touch Him; now she has permission not only to touch, but to hold Him altogether; they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. (ubi sup.) They hold Christ's feet, who in the Church present the type of Evangelic preaching, and merit this privilege by their running to Him; and by faith so detain their Saviour's footsteps, that they may come to the honour of His perfect Godhead. She is deservedly bid to touch me not, who mourns her Lord upon earth, and so seeks Him dead in the tomb, as not to know that He reigns in heaven with the Father. This, that the same Mary, one while exalted to the summit of faith, touches Christ, and holds Him with entire and holy affection; and again, cast down in weakness of flesh, and womanly infirmity, doubts, undeserving to touch her Lord, causes us no difficulty. For that is of mystery, this of her sex; that is of divine grace, this of human nature. And so also we, when we have knowledge of divine things, live unto God; when we are wise in human things, we are blinded by our own selves. (Serm. 80.) They held His feet to show that the head of Christ is the man, but that the woman is in Christ's feet, and that it was given to them through Christ, not to go before, but to follow the man.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:9-10

  While they were going, the Lord "met them" and said, "Hail!" When he meets them, he does not frighten them with his power but comes before them with the ardor of his love. He does not startle them with his authority but greets them warmly. He binds them by the covenant of the bridegroom, not by the right of the ruler. He honors them with the love of a brother. He greets them with a gracious salutation. At one time he had said to his disciples, "Salute no one on the road." So why is it that here along the way this visitor is so quick to salute them? He does not wait to be recognized. He does not demand to be understood. He does not allow himself to be questioned. Rather, he extends this greeting immediately, enthusiastically. He did this because the force of his love overcomes and surpasses all. Furthermore, by doing so Christ himself greets the church. He makes its very heart to be his own and thus receives its body into his own, as the apostle says, "And he is the head of the body, the church." This greeting itself evidently shows that the full figure of the church abides in these women. They are contrasted with those disciples whom Christ scolds who were wavering over the resurrection. He quells their fears by showing his side and the deep holes from the nails. By taking food, he now restores their faith.

  SERMONS 75.2

• Matthew 28:10

  (Serm. 80.) Christ also repeats what the Angel had said, that what an Angel had made sure, Christ might make yet more sure. It follows, Then saith Jesus unto them, Fear not. (ubi sup.) He calls them brethren whom He has made akin to His own body; brethren whom the generous Heir has made His co-heirs; brethren, whom He has adopted to be sons of His own Father.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:13

  (ubi sup.) Not content to have put the Master to death, they plot how they may destroy the disciples, and make the Master's power matter of charge against His disciples. The soldiers indeed lost Him, the Jews missed Him, but the disciples crimed Him away, not by theft, but by faith; by virtue, and not by fraud; by holiness, and not by wickedness; alive, and not dead.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:14

  Among these misdeeds, we find the priests bribing people and, what is worse, deceiving them by pointing falsely to the misdeeds of others. Meanwhile they were putting a price on sin. They paid money to cover up their manipulations. They buy out Judas who betrayed his Lord. They compensate with money the blood of the Savior of the world. They try to shut up faith in the empty tomb by purchasing silence. With petty theft they deal in the greater crime of denying the resurrection. "They gave a sum of money to the soldiers and said, 'Tell people, "His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep." And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.' So they took the money and did as they were directed; and this story has been spread among the Jews to this day." Among the Christians too. What they covered up with gold in Judea would shine brightly and intensely over the whole world. The disciples received Christ; they did not steal him. You purchased treachery, but you did not steal the truth. Christ rose from the dead. You lost money.

  SERMONS 76.4

• Matthew 28:15

  (ubi sup.) Among the Jews, not among the Christians; what in Judæa the Jew concealed by his gold, is by faith blazed abroad throughout the world.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:18

  (Serm. 80.) The Son of God conveyed to the Son of the Virgin, the God to the Man, the Deity to the Flesh, that which He had ever together with the Father.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas

• Matthew 28:19

  (Serm. 80.) Thus all nations are created a second time to salvation by that one and the same Power, which created them to being.

  Catena Aurea by Aquinas