Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, He teaches that those who in their own eyes are little and humble are the greatest in heaven. Second, in verse 7, He teaches that little ones are not to be scandalized, because their Angels always behold the face of God the Father. Third, in verse 12, to prove this He introduces the parable of the straying sheep. Fourth, in verse 15, He assigns the order to be observed in fraternal correction, and gives the Apostles the power of binding and loosing. Fifth, in verse 23, He shows that mutual injuries are to be forgiven from the heart, through the parable of the servant-debtor from whom the debt of ten thousand talents, though already remitted, was again exacted, because he himself had refused to forgive his fellow-servant a debt of a hundred denarii.
Vulgate Text: Matthew 18:1-35
1. At that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying: Who, thinkest thou, is the greater in the kingdom of heaven? 2. And Jesus, calling a little child unto Him, set him in the midst of them, 3. and said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven. 5. And he that shall receive one such little child in My name, receiveth Me. 6. But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7. Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh. 8. And if thy hand, or thy foot, scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9. And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell-fire. 10. See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their Angels in heaven always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. 11. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. 12. What think you? If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go to seek that which is gone astray? 13. And if it so be that he find it, amen I say to you, he rejoiceth more for that one than for the ninety-nine that went not astray. 14. Even so it is not the will of your Father, who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. 15. But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother; 16. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. 17. And if he will not hear them, tell the Church; and if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. 18. Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven. 19. Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by My Father, who is in heaven. 20. For where there are two or three gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. 21. Then came Peter unto Him and said: Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22. Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. 23. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. 24. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents. 25. And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27. And the lord of that servant, being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt. 28. But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow-servants that owed him a hundred denarii: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: Pay what thou owest. 29. And his fellow-servant falling down besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt. 31. Now his fellow-servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. 32. Then his lord called him; and said to him: Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me: 33. shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow-servant, even as I had compassion on thee? 34. And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt. 35. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.
Verse 1: At That Hour the Disciples Came to Jesus, Saying: Who, Thinkest Thou, Is the Greater in the Kingdom of Heaven?
1. At That Hour (at that time) the Disciples Came to Jesus, Saying: Who, Thinkest Thou, Is the Greater in the Kingdom of Heaven? — The phrase "came" seems to be contradicted by Mark, chap. IX, verse 31, where he says the disciples disputed this question on the way, and that then at home Christ anticipated them and asked what they had been discussing on the way. S. Chrysostom and Euthymius reply that the Apostles often stirred this question among themselves, and at length Christ anticipated them with the aforesaid interrogation: wherefore, when they saw that their thoughts were known to Christ and laid bare, they opened the matter of their own accord, and proposed the question they had been debating for Christ to resolve. The occasion of the question was varied, but the nearest was this — that Christ had paid the didrachma only for Peter; whence they saw him preferred to themselves, and they envied him, and each one began to be anxious about advancing himself among the first. For so it is in groups: if one is set before the rest, rivalry and ambition at once arise among the others. Thus S. Jerome, Origen, Chrysostom, and Euthymius.
Hear S. Jerome: "Because they had seen the same tribute paid for Peter and for the Lord, they judged from the equality of the price that Peter had been preferred to all the Apostles, since in the payment of the tribute he had been put on a level with the Lord; therefore they ask, who is the greater in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus, seeing their thoughts and understanding the causes of their error, wishes to heal their longing for glory by the contention of humility." Again, they had seen Peter, James, and John led apart by Christ onto Tabor: they grieved, therefore, that they themselves had not been taken along. Finally, they had heard Christ say that He would soon die, and after His death would rise again and enter the kingdom of His glory: they therefore anticipate the matter betimes and ask in what way they may become the first in it. Thus Maldonatus.
Who, Thinkest Thou, Is the Greater (Syriac: the greatest) in the Kingdom of Heaven? — Understand, in the kingdom of the Messiah, which the Apostles expected Christ to establish on earth, but as a heavenly and divine kingdom — that is, in the Church (for in the Church, as in His own kingdom, Christ the King reigns), and consequently in the very kingdom of heaven; for to this Christ draws them up at verse 3, because the Church militant on earth tends toward the Church triumphant in heaven, as toward the kingdom promised her by Christ. Maldonatus takes "kingdom of heaven" to mean the Church, as if He said: Whoever is less, that is, more humble, in the Church, this same is the greater in the Church, and therefore will be greater in heaven. For Christ plays on the phrase "kingdom of heaven." He proves this first, because the occasion of this question was that the Apostles, from the fact that Christ had paid the didrachma only for Peter, had concluded that Peter was to be the head of the Church. Second, because Christ censures this question as ambitious; and it is ambitious to seek the first places in the Church, but not in heaven — for charity persuades one to desire the first places in heaven. This opinion is probable. But you may more simply take "kingdom of heaven" properly, as is clear from what He says: "Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." Moreover, the Apostles are censured by Christ for ambition, because they supposed the kingdom of heaven to be like an earthly and pompous kingdom, which is often sought through pride, and through proud self-exaltation, indeed is seized by force and arms: while therefore they suspected that Peter would obtain the first place, they from rivalry and a certain ambition seek these first places, whereas they ought to strive after the first place in that kingdom by humility, as Christ, rebuking them, here teaches.
Verse 2: And Jesus Calling Unto Him a Little Child, Set Him in the Midst of Them
2. And Jesus Calling Unto Him a Little Child (in Greek παιδίον, that is, a little boy; the Syriac says a very little boy), Set Him in the Midst of Them. — Mark IX, 36, adds that Christ took him up in His arms. This little boy, Jansenius says, is thought to have been S. Martial, who afterward, becoming a disciple of S. Peter, was sent by him into Gaul to preach the Gospel, and converted the people of Limoges, Bordeaux, and Toulouse — concerning whom see the Gloss on the single chapter De Sacra Unctione. But because others reckon S. Martial one of Christ's seventy-two disciples, and therefore no longer a boy at that time but an adult, this tradition is not sufficiently certain. Others think that S. Martial was that boy or youth of whom Andrew said to Christ: "Behold, there is a boy here that hath five barley loaves and two fishes," John VI, 9.
More briefly, S. Hilary succinctly sketches the endowments of children which every believer should imitate: "These," he says, "follow their father, love their mother, know not how to wish evil to their neighbor, neglect the care of wealth; they are not haughty, they hate not, they lie not, they believe what is told them, and hold as true what they hear. We must therefore return to the simplicity of children, because, established in it, we shall bear about us the likeness of the Lord's humility."
The way to heaven, therefore, is humility; the access and the door of heaven is humility, because the entrance into heaven is open only through it. S. Anthony saw in spirit that the whole world was full of snares, and that souls eager to fly up to heaven were caught in them, and, ensnared, were dragged down by the demons into hell. Whereupon, groaning, he exclaimed: "Lord, who shall escape so many and so great snares?" and he heard the answer: "Humility shall escape all these snares." So S. Athanasius relates in his Life.
Christ, to heal the zeal of the Apostles' ambition by zeal for humility, uses three reasons to persuade them to it. The first is in this verse — that whoever is destitute of humility cannot enter heaven. The second is in the next verse — that humility exalts; so that if you wish to become greater in heaven, you must be less and more humble on earth. The third, at verse 5, is that humility is conformity with Christ, who humbled Himself below all angels and men, even unto death; and therefore whoever receives a humble man receives Christ. The first reason therefore is drawn from the punishment of the proud, the second from the reward of the humble, and the third from the humble man's conformity with Christ.
Verse 3: Unless You Be Converted and Become as Little Children, You Shall Not Enter Into the Kingdom of Heaven
And He Said: Amen I Say to You, Unless You Be Converted and Become as Little Children (Syriac: as very little boys), You Shall Not Enter Into the Kingdom of Heaven. — "Converted," namely from this rivalry and ambition of yours, which is at least a venial sin, and therefore hinders entrance into the kingdom of heaven, and must first be expiated in purgatory.
As Little Children. — Who commonly do not envy others, nor seek the first places, but are simple, humble, innocent, and pure. I say commonly; for S. Augustine, book I of the Confessions, chap. VII, testifies that he had seen an infant sucking at its mother's breast turn pale with envy because it saw its foster-brother suckling at the same breasts of the mother: "I myself," he says, "have seen and experienced an envious little one; he could not yet speak, and he gazed pale with bitter look upon his foster-brother." But no "little child" aims at a kingdom, or at the first places in a kingdom, as the Apostles here were doing.
Christ therefore commands us to become like little children, not in folly and imprudence, but in simplicity and innocence, and properly and directly in humility. So too the Apostle, I Corinthians XIV, 20: "Brethren, do not become children in sense, but in malice be children, and in sense be perfect." Origen gives the reason: "For no great pretension to wisdom, nor boasting of birth or riches, befalls a boy. Whence we see that infants up to the third or fourth year, though they be of noble birth, show themselves like ignoble children, and love rich children no more than poor ones."
Origen says here: "That as children are free from the passions, so also should we be: just as," he says, "a little boy knows no sorrow — who sometimes, at the very moment of his father's or mother's death, laughs and plays — so let a man become, changing the childlike habit of repelling sorrows through the more perfect reasoning of the soul. Similarly may you speak concerning the boastings with which men who are not of God are irrationally puffed up, which children do not endure, nor do those who have been converted as children. And almost no passion befalls children before they absolutely begin to speak. But if none, it is clear that not even fear does, except perhaps a slight and passing one: for children do not suffer evil fear; so that if one threatens a child, that it may not ask for the breast or cry, he is indeed frightened, but his fear is not steady. Yet if one terrifies a child and says, 'Unless you do this I will kill you,' does the child fear at all?"
Verse 4: Whosoever Therefore Shall Humble Himself as This Little Child, He Is the Greater in the Kingdom of Heaven
4. Whosoever Therefore Shall Humble Himself as This Little Child, He Is the Greater (Syriac: as this very little boy, he is the greatest) in the Kingdom of Heaven. — "Shall humble himself," that is, so that he may be humble by virtue, just as this child is by age; or so that he may be little in soul, just as this child is little in body.
Morally: learn here the paradox of Christian wisdom, namely that the way to excellence is contrary to the way of the world — which is this: to aim not at lofty things, but at lowly and humble ones. If then you wish to be great in heaven, love on earth to be unknown, and to be little among men, to be despised by them, neglected and reckoned vile. If you desire to be raised to the first thrones in the Empyrean, cast yourself down to the lowest depths of hell, and place yourself beneath the feet of Judas, as Blessed Francis Borgia used to do; for the humbler you are on earth, the greater and more glorious you will be in heaven, because humility alone exalts. For it is fixed and holy by the eternal law of God: "Everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted," Luke XVIII, 14. Once there was seen a lofty and glorious seat among the Seraphim, and a voice was heard: "This seat is reserved for the humble Francis." So S. Bonaventure in his Life. The a priori reason is that the humble man, by sinking himself most deeply, reveres, honors, and worships God most highly; wherefore he deserves to be most highly exalted by Him. Whence Ecclesiasticus III, 21: "Great," he says, "is the power of God alone, and He is honored by men" (the Greek has "by the humble"). See what is said there, and on Isaiah LXVI, 2, on the words: "To whom shall I have respect, but to him that is poor and little, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My words?"
Humility therefore is pleasing and honored by God, by the Angels, and by men. Indeed, even if one acts politically, humility is to be cultivated, because it is revered by all, while pride is abased by all. Hence courtiers, though ambitious, nevertheless humble themselves wonderfully in word and gesture; but because they are inwardly troubled by hidden arrogance, it is difficult for them not to betray the state of their mind in the face, without its breaking out through signs and gestures. Wherefore S. Jerome (or rather S. Paulinus), epistle 14 to Celantius: "You can have nothing more excellent than humility, nothing more lovable — for it is the chief preserver and, as it were, a guardian of all the virtues; and there is nothing that makes us so pleasing both to men and to God as if, while great by the merit of our life, we are yet lowest by humility. Wherefore Scripture says: 'The greater thou art, humble thyself in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God.'"
Moreover S. Jerome, epistle 45 to Antony: "Our Lord," he says, "the master of humility, when His disciples were disputing about rank, took one of the little children and said: Whosoever among you shall not be converted as an infant, cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. And lest He should seem only to teach this and not to do it, He fulfilled it by example, when He washes the feet of His disciples; when He receives His betrayer with a kiss; when He speaks with the Samaritan woman; when, with Mary sitting at His feet, He discourses about the kingdom of heaven; when, rising from the dead, He appears first to the women. But Satan fell from his archangelic height for no other cause than pride, which is the contrary of humility."
Humility therefore makes an Angel out of a man, just as pride makes a devil — indeed, a Lucifer — out of an Angel. The first gift which is given to a man from the sight of the divine light is the knowledge of himself, says S. Dionysius, epistle 7 to Titus — that is, humility. For humility is the virtue by which one becomes vile in his own eyes through self-knowledge, and reckons himself inferior to all: either because he esteems himself viler, weaker, and more wretched than all; or because he piously considers others endowed with greater grace and the other gifts of God above himself. Golden is the maxim of blessed Nilus: "Blessed is he whose life is lofty, but whose spirit is humble." And that of S. Chrysostom: "Nothing so pleases God as to number oneself among the lowest." And that of [John] Climacus, Step XXVI: "The stag is the slayer of all the poisonous beasts of sense; but humility is the slayer of the spiritual ones." And that of Caesarius, homily 30: "Just as no one can drink from an earthly spring or from a bodily river unless he is willing to stoop down, so from the living fount Christ and from the river of the Holy Spirit no one will be able to draw the living water, unless he is willing to bow himself down in humility — because of what is written: God resisteth the proud."
Finally S. Jerome sets forth S. Paula as a mirror of humility, of whom he writes thus in her Epitaph: "She, as the most precious jewel shines forth amid many gems, and as the bright light of the sun overwhelms and obscures the tiny fires of the stars, so by her humility surpassed the virtues and capacities of all, and was the least of all, that she might be the greatest of all; and the more she cast herself down, the more was she raised up by Christ. She lay hid, and was not hid; by fleeing glory, she deserved glory, which follows virtue as a shadow, and, deserting those who seek it, itself seeks those who despise it."
Verse 5: And He That Shall Receive One Such Little Child in My Name, Receiveth Me
5. And He That Shall Receive One Such Little Child in My Name, Receiveth Me. — "Shall receive," that is, by hospitality, table, patronage, or any other help or favor; for by "receiving" here is signified every kind of good deed, charity, and kindness. "One such little child," that is, one who is such in character — namely, in simplicity, innocence, and above all humility — as this little child is in age and stature. Hence the Syriac, at Luke IX, 48, renders it "a boy such as this," that is, like to this child, namely in humility and character. This is clear from the antithesis of the following verse; for there the "little ones" are called, not so much those little in faith, as S. Jerome holds, but rather the truly simple and humble, and therefore the despised and abject. So Jansenius and others. Note: Luke has "this boy." Whence it is clear that Christ speaks first of a boy really little, and secondly of one who is "little" mystically — namely, the humble and abject man; for from the former He rises to the latter, playing on the word "little." See Canon 23.
The sense therefore is, as if He said: Humility, which is the foundation and measure of spiritual perfection, pleases Me so much that I delight even in little children, because they bear humility in their very stature, age, and innocence — even as, for the same reason (just as with lambs, which represent Me, Christ the Lamb of God), S. Francis used to delight in them; and I wish all My disciples to become little children, to imitate little children, so that they will deserve to be looked up to by all — for men will think that in them they are receiving Me, because they receive them for My sake. For of Me Isaiah foretold, chap. IX: "A little child is born to us, and a son is given to us." Similar is Christ's word about little children in the following chapter, verse 14, where He says: "Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And when He had laid His hands upon them" (blessing them), "He departed from thence."
S. Jerome notes that the word "little one" is used: "Because," he says, "he who is scandalized is a little one: for the greater do not admit scandals." Mark and Luke add: "And he that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me." Finally Luke adds the reason, saying: For "he that is least among you all, he that is the humblest of you all, he is the greater." The Greek here has μέγας, that is, "he is great" — namely by excellence, that is, he is the greatest, namely in the sight of Me and of My Father in the kingdom of heaven. "He is humble," says S. Augustine in the treatise On Penance, "who chooses to be cast down in the house of the Lord rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners."
This saying of Christ had S. Elizabeth, daughter of the king of Hungary, engraved to the very marrow of her soul; she daily fed nine hundred poor people and served them, and washed with her own hands the sick who were loathsome, scabby, ulcerous, and leprous, wiped away the pus, kissed their sores, and in these offices she exulted, saying: "How well and blessedly it goes with us, to whom it is permitted to wash the Lord, to wipe Him clean, to recline Him and to cover Him." So says her Life, chap. XXVI. And she added that she was resolved to perform the vilest offices of humility and charity toward the poor and the sick, so that, if she knew of any viler office or mode of life, she would forthwith embrace it for the love of Christ. The equal and match of S. Elizabeth was her maternal aunt S. Hedwig, Duchess of Poland, concerning whose zeal for the poor, the wretched, and the abject you will find wonderful things in her Life in Surius, on the 13th of October.
Verse 6: But He That Shall Scandalize One of These Little Ones Who Believe in Me
6. But He That Shall Scandalize One (Syriac: shall be a stumbling block to one) of These Little Ones, Who Believe in Me, It Were Better for Him That a Millstone Be Hanged In (upon) His Neck, and That He Be Drowned in the Depth of the Sea. — "Shall scandalize," that is, according to Theophylact, "shall injure," and, according to Chrysostom, "shall despise." For it is set against "receiveth" in verse 5. So Maldonatus. But it is better, with Jansenius, to take "scandal" here in its proper sense; for so it is plainly taken in what follows, and even so the antithesis with "receiveth" stands sufficiently. As if He said: He that shall receive a little child in My name — that is, shall cherish and foster him in My faith, piety, love, and worship — this man receives Me; but he that shall scandalize one of these little ones — that is, shall turn him away from Me and from My love and worship by a wicked word or example — it were better for him to be drowned in the sea.
It Were Better for Him. — That is, as Luke XVII, 2, has it: "It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones." As if He said: It is better to be drowned in the sea than to scandalize little ones on earth; because drowning is the death of the body, but scandal is the death of the soul — of one's own soul, and also of those whom one scandalizes and leads into sin. Matthew therefore leaves the apodosis, or the response, or the other part of the comparison, unsaid — which Luke expresses, saying: "Than that he should scandalize one of these little ones." S. Jerome takes it differently: "It is better for him," he says, "because it is far better to receive a brief punishment for the fault than to be kept for eternal torments; for the Lord will not punish twice for the same thing."
You will ask how this verse is connected with the preceding, and what this scandal has to do with the Apostles. S. Jerome answers: "Although the sentence might be general, against all who scandalize anyone, yet according to the sequence of the discourse it can also be understood as spoken against the Apostles, who by asking who was the greater in the kingdom of heaven seemed to be contending among themselves about dignity; and if they had remained in this vice, they could have destroyed, through their own scandal, those whom they were calling to the faith, when they saw the Apostles fighting among themselves for honor. And as for what He said, 'It were better for him that a millstone be hanged about his neck,' He speaks according to the custom of the province, by which this was the penalty for greater crimes among the ancient Jews: that they should be drowned in the deep, with a stone tied to them."
The ass's millstone, as S. Hilary and S. Ambrose say, is that which in Palestine the asses turn and roll by going around a wheel; whence the Syriac renders it "an ass's mill." Mola means a millstone, as the interpreter renders it in Luke; this is called asinaria, that is, heavy and large — that is, one which must not be turned by a man (as is done with the smaller, push-mill kind), but by a horse or an ass; or, to be sure, it refers here to the lower millstone, which is larger than the upper, inasmuch as the upper stone rotates around it while it is fixed. For this lower stone is in Greek called ὄνος, that is, "ass," because like an ass it bears all the weight and burden of the upper one. So the Hebrews call the upper millstone רכב (recheb), that is, "rider," because it rides upon the lower stone as upon a horse. This upper stone in Latin is called catillus, the lower meta. Let those clerics and religious take note who contend ambitiously with one another over honor and the first place; for this contention scandalizes seculars and laymen, and is a great disgrace and reproach to the clerical and religious state: it were therefore better for them to be drowned in the sea with a millstone than so to contend with scandal to the people, as Christ here says. This kind of punishment is found not infrequently among the ancients: the Germans used to throw women caught in adultery into the river; at Rome, by order of Tarquin, Herennius, accused of treason, was thus put to death; and the emperor Augustus inflicted this punishment on his son's tutor and on his slaves.
Verse 7: Woe to the World Because of Scandals
7. Woe to the World Because of Scandals. — The Arabic has "through scandals," as if He said: "Woe," that is, great and supreme evils, both present and future, threaten the men of the world from the wrath and vengeance of God, on account of scandals both active and passive. For those who scandalize others by their ambition and evil example of life, and silently entice others to follow it, are guilty of hell; and those who are scandalized and follow the evil examples of others, are condemned as it were as followers and accomplices of the guilty; and so both are punished and perish. Moreover, the world is full of scandals, because it is full of wicked men, or by the libertine, the shameless, and the covetous, who scandalize everyone in order to satisfy their own lusts: for this reason the greater and better part of mankind is condemned on account of scandals. Hence follows, "it is necessary," etc. Moreover, the scandals about which Christ here properly speaks are persecutions, mockeries, and injuries against the righteous; likewise bad examples, erroneous doctrines, things imprudently said or done; for many things are in themselves good and lawful, but because they are done indiscreetly at an inopportune place and time before the uneducated, they produce offense and scandal in them.
For It Must Needs Be That Scandals Come; but Nevertheless, Woe to That Man by Whom the Scandal Cometh. — "It is necessary," not absolutely and of itself, but by supposition. For presupposing the various character and corruption of so many men, their curious levity, ambition, and covetousness, their perversity and free malice, it cannot but happen that sometimes from a few, indeed often from many, scandals arise — at least indeterminately and confusedly — that is, crimes, or things such as scandalize others, especially the little ones. So Paul says, 1 Corinthians 11:18: "There must be heresies." Thus it is necessary in general and confusedly, that even a just man sometimes sins venially, although his individual particular acts are free and not necessary, and therefore he can individually avoid each venial sin, but not all together; because although he may apply that attention and care in each particular act so as not to sin, yet it is impossible that he apply it in all acts taken together without at some point relaxing, failing, slipping, and stumbling. For this is the weakness of the human mind after the Fall. So it is necessary that even the most skilled archer, who certainly hits the target whenever he pleases, will at some point miss it, if he shoots arrows at it again and again. For this is human fragility, that the eyes, hands, and mind cannot long sustain the rigor of their attention so as to hit the target a hundred consecutive times, but must necessarily miss it at some point.
But Nevertheless, Woe to That Man by Whom the Scandal Cometh, — because he, determinately and freely in this or that particular wicked or indiscreet act, gives scandal to the little ones, and thus gravely sins and makes himself guilty of hell. St. Jerome and Bede attribute these words to Judas, who gave the greatest scandal to the world when he betrayed Christ. But this statement of Christ is general, because He threatens woe of eternal damnation to all who give scandal. Christ teaches three things here concerning scandals: first, how great their importance, weight, and gravity is; secondly, how great their frequency and necessity at least in general is; thirdly, with how much diligence they must be avoided — whence concerning this third point He adds:
Verse 8: And If Thy Hand, or Thy Foot Scandalize Thee, Cut It Off
8. And If Thy Hand, or Thy Foot Scandalize Thee, Cut It Off and Cast It From Thee: It Is Better for Thee to Go Into Life Maimed or Lame, Than Having Two Hands or Two Feet to Be Cast Into Everlasting Fire.
Verse 9: And If Thy Eye Scandalize Thee, Pluck It Out
9. And If Thy Eye Scandalize Thee, Pluck It Out, and Cast It From Thee: It Is Better for Thee With One Eye to Enter Into Life, Than Having Two Eyes to Be Cast Into the Hell of Fire. — We heard both of these verses in chapter 5:30, where I explained them.
Verse 10: See That You Despise Not One of These Little Ones
10. See That You Despise Not One of These Little Ones, — the humble and abject, whom the world despises as worthless, powerless and helpless, miserable and poor; because although they themselves are powerless, yet they have powerful guardian Angels, who, as His intimate familiars before God the Father, whom they always behold, may accuse you and at His command sharply chastise and avenge the scandals and injuries inflicted on those whom God has committed to their care. This is the first reason by which He proves that the little ones and the abject are not to be despised.
For I Say to You, That Their Angels in Heaven Always See the Face of My Father Who Is in Heaven. — From this passage and from Genesis 48:16, and Acts 12:15, and from the common tradition of the Fathers, the doctors teach that all Christians, indeed all men, have an Angel assigned by God for their custody from birth until death. Hear St. Jerome: "Great is the dignity of souls, that each one has from the origin of its birth an Angel delegated for its custody." And further: "The Angels therefore daily offer the prayers of those to be saved through Christ; therefore he is despised with peril whose desires are borne up to the eternal and invisible God by the service and ministry of Angels." The other ancient and more recent doctors teach the same, whom Suarez cites in Book VI On the Angels, chapter 17, number 8 and following, where against Calvin and the Magdeburgians he shows it to be rash and erroneous to deny that a guardian Angel is given by God to each individual man — not only to the faithful and just, as Origen and the Author of the Imperfect Work here seem to think, but also to the unbelieving, the impious, and the reprobate. Hence Antichrist will also have his own guardian Angel, as St. Thomas teaches, Part I, Question 113, Article 4, ad 3. The same Suarez, chapter 18, number 7, teaches that the Angels guarding individual men are ordinarily from the ninth and lowest order, which is called by the common name of Angels; but to some eminent persons, either by dignity or by public office — such as Apostles, Prophets, Patriarchs, Popes, Bishops, and Kings — guardians are given from the eighth order, which is called that of the Archangels. Hence the guardian of the Blessed Virgin was Gabriel, whom many think to be of the order of the Seraphim, as I have shown in Daniel, chapter 9:21. Therefore all men whatsoever (even the Blessed Virgin) have had, or have, a guardian Angel. I except Christ, because He needed no Angel, since His own divinity was a sufficient guardian of His humanity. Nevertheless, Christ always had several Angels at hand, whom He could use as ministers for whatever purposes He pleased. So Suarez. Origen must be read cautiously here, who says that the guardian Angels occasionally sin through negligence in this custody, and therefore are sometimes deprived of the vision of God and their beatitude; but that the Angels of the little ones always guard them diligently, and therefore always enjoy the vision of God and beatitude, and that Christ here means this. But this is an error. For all the Angels are blessed, and therefore unchangeable and impeccable. For constancy, continuation, and perpetuity belong to the nature of beatitude. For "beatitude," as Boethius defines it, "is a state made perfect by the aggregation of all goods": now the constancy, certitude, and security of beatitude is a great good; therefore it is included in the very nature of beatitude.
Furthermore, the duties and actions of the guardian Angels are: first, to avert dangers both of body and of soul; second, to enlighten, instruct, and impel their client to good works; third, to restrain the devil, lest he suggest evil thoughts to him or offer him occasions of sinning; fourth, to offer his prayers to God; fifth, to pray for him; sixth, to correct him if he sins; seventh, to assist the dying man, to comfort him in his final struggle and help him in various ways; eighth, after death to lead the soul to heaven, or if it needs purgation, to accompany it to Purgatory, and from time to time to console it there, until, that being completed, he bears it up to heaven. See Suarez in the place cited, chapter 19. Finally, all the offices and benefits conferred by the Angels upon men which are contained in Sacred Scripture I have collected and reviewed at Exodus 23:20 and following. See further in Andreas Victorellus, Book II On the Custody of the Angels, where he holds that the Supreme Pontiff has the chief angels, namely Michael and Gabriel, as his guardians.
You will ask, what does the phrase τὸ "their Angels" connote — namely of the little ones who believe in Me, as preceded — equally with all other men? St. Chrysostom answers that it denotes not just any Angels, but the most eminent ones, as though the care of the little ones had been committed to the supreme Angels. St. Thomas, Part I, Question 113, article 3, ad 1, interprets this of the supreme ones — not in the first and highest order of Seraphim, but in the ninth and lowest order of Angels, so that in that order the highest are the guardians of men, the middle are the guardians of animals, and the lowest are the guardians of trees, fruits, and plants. To this Maldonatus adds that the Angels of the little ones are greater than those of other men; and by "little ones" he understands not children, but the humble and just, of whom all Scripture testifies that God takes greater care than of other men. He proves that the Angels of the little ones are greater and more honorable than those of other men from the effect, because they always see the face of God — not that the other Angels do not see it, but because by that phrase the Hebrews signify that someone is near and familiar to God. For the metaphor is taken from the custom of a royal court, where the more honored a person is, the nearer he is to the king, and the more frequently he is accustomed to appear in his sight. Thus the Queen of Sheba speaks of the servants of Solomon, 3 Kings 10:8: "Blessed are thy servants, who stand before thee always and hear thy wisdom."
Secondly, the phrase τὸ "their Angels" indicates that the Angels of the little ones have a particular care for them, more than the Angels of other men and elders — of the little ones, I say, both those who are little in age, and those who are little in faith, and those who are little in fortune and condition, that is, the weak, the worthless, the humble, and the abject. For these, being less strong in judgment and prudence, on that account need the greater care and custody of the Angels. There is a common saying: "Infants and the mentally weak are more guarded by the Angels." Truly, unless the Angels had a singular care of infants, they would more often fall into fire or water, and be injured by pigs and beasts, and be trampled by horses and carriages.
Thirdly, they are called "their Angels," as though the proper, familiar, and peculiar friends of the little ones; for the Angels wonderfully love the little ones and the humble as their own and as very like themselves — for the Angels are most humble, and by their humility they overcame the pride of Lucifer, saying with their leader St. Michael: מיכאל, mi-ka-el, that is, "Who is like God?" Our Philip Berlemont demonstrates this by many examples in his Paradise of Children.
Morally: learn here first that the dignity of souls is great, as St. Jerome says, inasmuch as they have Angels as their guardians; and correspondingly that great is the condescension of God, who assigns us such noble tutors. For these are they of whom it is said in Psalm 103: "Who makest thy Angels spirits, and thy ministers a burning fire"; and finally that great is the humility and charity of the Angels, who so care for and direct us as children, and do not disdain this but love it and eagerly desire it, because they behold their God and Lord made man, as St. Bernard says. Hence the same St. Bernard in his commentary on Psalm "He that dwelleth," sermon 12, on those words: "For he hath given his Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways": "How much," he says, "ought this word to inspire in thee reverence, to call forth devotion, to impart confidence! Reverence for their presence, devotion for their benevolence, confidence for their custody. Walk cautiously, as one to whom the Angels (as they have been commanded) are present in all thy ways. In whatever inn, in whatever corner, show reverence to thy Angel: do not dare in his presence what you would not dare if I were watching."
Again, since the Angels labor to purge, enlighten, and perfect us, it is fitting that we, being obedient to them, should strive with all our might toward great sanctity and perfection; that we should emulate the life and manners of the Angels, that we should live in the flesh as heavenly men and earthly Angels, as being soon about to be their companions and fellow-citizens in heaven. For, as the Apostle says, Ephesians 2: "Now you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and the domestics of God." And Hebrews 12: "You are come to the city of the living God, and to the company of many thousands of Angels." Wherefore let us banish far from us every uncleanness of flesh and spirit, and especially pride and quarrels. Nothing so provokes the Angels to indignation as dissensions and scandals (as Christ teaches here): for they are themselves Angels of peace and edification, says St. Bernard. "For the Angels show forth justice to God, peace among themselves, joy in themselves," says the same, sermon 2 On the Words of the Apostle. "The kingdom of God is not food. As smoke drives away bees and a foul odor drives out doves, so sin, worthy of much sprinkling of tears and evil-smelling, drives away the guardian Angel of our life," says St. Basil on Psalm 33. Again: "Virginity is plainly the angelic life, and those who will neither marry nor be given in marriage will be like the Angels of God," says St. Bernard, sermon On the Nativity. Finally, let us frequently converse and speak in spirit with our Angels. Hence St. Bernard, sermon 12 on Psalm "He that dwelleth": "Have," he says, "familiar Angels, my brethren, and frequent them with diligent thought and devout adoration — Angels who are always present to you for custody and consolation."
Always See the Face of My Father, — that is, the shining essence of God. The Angels always see clearly without a veil, as it were face to face. "The Angels," says St. Augustine, Book IX On the City of God, chapter 22, "burn with holy love for the unchangeable and ineffable beauty of God, and despise all things that are beneath them, and even themselves among those things, so that from all that they are good, they may fully enjoy that good by which they are good." The face of God, therefore, is the beauty and splendor of the divinity itself clearly manifesting itself and presenting itself to be seen by the Angels, and so making them blessed; otherwise God, properly speaking, has no face, just as He has no body.
Who Is in Heaven. — St. Gregory, Book II of the Morals, chapter 2, and St. Bernard, sermon 5 On the Dedication of the Church, note that the Angels, even when they go forth from heaven, always see the face of God, because God is everywhere; for they are blessed wherever they are, and therefore wherever they are, they are said to be in heaven: for where the vision and glory of God is, there is heaven and paradise. Hence St. Gregory infers: "They are therefore both sent and present with us, because through the fact that they are assigned to us, they go forth; and through the fact that they are present within, they never depart. And so they always see the face of the Father, and yet come to us; because they go forth to us by spiritual presence, and yet keep themselves there by inner contemplation." And a little before: "For what of the things that ought to be known do they not know, who know Him who knows all things?" Therefore they are not called back from the custody of the humble by a desire to return to God, because they are never distracted from God nor do they depart from Him, but they have and see Him present everywhere, and on account of God and in God they do all things and guard the little ones. For, as a learned man says: "Thus they outwardly fulfill their ministry in such a way that inwardly they never fail through contemplation: for wherever they are sent, they come, and they run within Him who is everywhere."
Verse 11: For the Son of Man Is Come to Save That Which Was Lost
11. For the Son of Man Is Come to Save That Which Was Lost. — In Greek, τὸ ἀπολωλός, that is, as the Arabic has it, "what had been lost," namely the whole human race lost through the sin of its father Adam. This is Christ's second reason why the little ones and humble are not to be despised nor scandalized; for the first was drawn from the offense of the Angels who guard the little ones. The sense then is, as if to say: I, who am Christ and the Son of God, esteem the little ones and the humble so highly that for their salvation I humbled Myself to the uttermost and stooped from heaven to earth, and there took their flesh upon Myself. Therefore their salvation brought to Me, equally as to My Father, a singular joy, as will be clear from the parable of the sheep which I shall add in the following verse. Take heed therefore, diligently, lest by your scandal you destroy the little ones whom I have redeemed and saved at the cost of so much of My sweat and blood; otherwise you will find not only the Angels, but also Me and My Father, to be your foes and avengers, because the injury and harm which you inflict on the little ones through scandal, you inflict upon Me. For I love the little ones as My children, indeed as My intimate ones, singularly chosen and beloved. They are therefore as it were My own private possession; and if you take that from Me through scandal and hand it over to Satan, I will demand from you this loss as My own and I will rise up as a grave avenger of what has been destroyed.
Verse 12: If a Man Have a Hundred Sheep, and One of Them Should Go Astray
12. What Think You? If a Man Have a Hundred Sheep, and One of Them Should Go Astray, Doth He Not Leave the Ninety-Nine in the Mountains (where they customarily pasture, according to that saying of Virgil: "A thousand of my lambs stray on the Sicilian mountains"), 13. And if It So Be That He Find It: Amen I Say to You, He Rejoices More Over It Than Over the Ninety-Nine That Did Not Go Astray.
Verse 14: Even So It Is Not the Will of Your Father That One of These Little Ones Should Perish
14. Even So It Is Not the Will of Your Father, Who Is in Heaven, That One of These Little Ones Should Perish. — A parable has three parts, namely the promythium, the mythus, and the epimythium — that is, the pre-narration, the narration, and the post-narration; or the pre-parable, the parable, and the post-parable. These three parts are to be seen here. For the pre-parable, or the title and theme of the parable, is that of verse 11: "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost." The parable itself is verses 12 and 13. The post-parable is verse 14, where He says: "Even so it is not the will of your Father, who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." See Canon 27.
This parable can be applied and explained in three ways: first, generally of the Angels and men; second, particularly of men alone; third, specifically of the little ones alone.
First therefore many, taking it generally, understand by the ninety-nine sheep pasturing in the mountains the holy Angels in heaven enjoying God, who have never sinned; and by the hundredth sheep, which went astray, they understand the whole human race, which sinned in Adam; and in order to redeem it and lead it back to the way of salvation, Christ, having as it were left the Angels, descended from heaven to earth, being made man. So St. Hilary, Theophylact, Anselm here, and Gregory, homily 34 on the Gospels; Cyril, Catechesis 15; St. Ambrose in the Apology of David, chapter 5; Irenaeus, Book III, chapter 21; Origen, homily 2 on Genesis; and many others. Hence gather how great is the multitude of the Angels, which exceeds the number of all men who have been, are, and will be, as much as ninety-nine exceeds unity.
You will object: These sheep are the sheep of the Son of man; but Christ as man did not pasture the Angels, but men only; indeed Christ was not yet man when He, about to seek the hundredth sheep — that is, man — descended into the world and into our flesh.
The answer is that the Angels are the sheep of the Son of man: First materially, because they are the sheep of the Son of God, who is the same as the Son of man. Hence in the post-parable it is not the Son of man who is named, but God the Father, when He says: "Even so it is not the will of your Father, etc., that one of these little ones should perish."
Secondly also formally; for Christ as man is also the savior of the Angels, but not the redeemer, as He is of men: for He merited for the Angels every grace and glory — that is, election, predestination, vocation, all exciting, assisting, sufficient, and efficacious aids, and finally every merit and increase of grace and glory. Thus Christ was the meritorious cause of the grace and glory of the Angels, and in turn the Angels had living faith in Christ incarnate, and were justified through it. So Richard, Albert, Catharinus, Galanitus, and others, whom Francis Suarez cites and follows in Part III, Question 19, disputation 42, section 1; although Paludanus, Durandus, Bonaventure, and Alensis hold the contrary, namely that Christ merited grace and glory only for men, not for Angels. Thus therefore Christ, as it were a shepherd, pastured the Angels.
Secondly, taken particularly, the sheep can be understood as men alone, but in such a way that the whole parable is applied to them at once, not its individual parts separately, according to Canons 28 and 29. For one must look only at Christ's aim, or that in which He sets up His comparison and applies the parable, as if to say: Just as a shepherd of sheep seeks even a single straying sheep, and when he finds it rejoices, so too did Christ seek the human race, and rejoiced when it had been brought back. Yet at the same time He properly and directly intends, as is clear from the post-parable at verse 14, to signify His zeal as the best shepherd, namely that if there were only a hundred men, of whom only one strayed, He would leave the ninety-nine in order to seek that one straying sheep. About this there exists a beautiful vision of St. Carpus in Dionysius the Areopagite, epistle 8 to Demophilus. And thus Christ explains this parable in Luke 15:4. So Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others.
Thirdly, this parable is specifically to be applied to the little ones — that is, to the poor, the worthless, the uneducated, the simple, the humble, those who are little in wisdom, honor and resources, virtue and prudence. For Christ applies it to these in verse 14, and to the little ones pertain all the preceding words; wherefore He contrasts the little ones, as a little straying sheep, with the ninety-nine sheep that did not go astray — that is, those who are great in resources, prudence, virtue, authority, or who esteem themselves great: for these are reckoned to err and sin less; for little sheep, e.g. lambs, as being simple and inexperienced, are accustomed to stray more easily than the large sheep, which are wont to watch and follow the shepherd and their companions. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Just as a shepherd who has ninety-nine sheep, if the hundredth, a little one — say, some lamb — has strayed from the flock, leaves the ninety-nine and seeks the straying lamb: so Christ leaves to themselves and to the care of their own those who by His grace are already great in faith and virtue, or who reckon themselves great, of whom the number is immense. But if someone little in faith, virtue, and prudence strays from the way of salvation, Him He seeks by Himself and by His own Angels, doctors, and preachers, in order to lead him back to the way: for He has a singular care, love, and providence for the little ones, as being abandoned by others and left to themselves. That this is the genuine sense is clear from what has been said and from the fact that Christ, repeating this parable in Luke 15:4, explains it so — except that by the ninety-nine sheep He understands the just, and by the hundredth straying one the sinner, whereas here by the ninety-nine He understands the great and by the hundredth straying one the little, as I have said. But it comes to the same thing: for the great ones are the just, and the little ones are the sinners. So more or less Francis Lucas.
He Rejoices Over It More Than Over the Ninety-Nine That Did Not Go Astray. — Habitually the shepherd rejoices more over the ninety-nine sheep, as being more numerous, than over the one. Hence if he were asked: "Would you rather lose the ninety-nine sheep than that one straying sheep alone?" he would say: "By no means! For I would rather lose the one than the ninety-nine." Yet actually, here and now, he rejoices more over the one that had strayed, now found and led back to the way of safety: both because this new recovery brings new and immense joy, and because it drives out the sadness conceived from losing the one, for the joy which suddenly succeeds sadness is more deeply felt, when the very sadness itself is turned into joy. This is clear from daily experience. Roman histories relate of a mother who was mourning the death of her son, who was said to have been slain in the battle of Cannae, that when suddenly she saw him alive again, she died of joy. So if some city or province is converted from heresy or paganism to the faith, we rejoice more on that account than over the other cities or provinces long since converted. For the novelty of a great and difficult matter, especially an unexpected one, stirs up great joy in the mind. "For there is no passion from things familiar," as the Philosopher says. This is, as it were, the third reason by which Christ through the parable proves that the little ones are not to be despised.
Even So It Is Not the Will of Your Father, — that is, so it is not pleasing before God, so God does not will, nor does it please Him. This is the application of the comparison or parable, as if to say: Just as the shepherd does not will nor permit one of his little sheep to perish — however small, e.g. one little lamb — and cares for and seeks after it more than the ninety-nine great and strong ones, so too God does not will that one of the little ones should perish, but cares for him more than for many great ones.
Verse 15: If Thy Brother Shall Sin Against Thee, Go, and Rebuke Him
15. But If Thy Brother Shall Sin (the Syriac has "err," so as to allude to the straying sheep of which the previous discourse spoke) Against Thee, Go, and Rebuke Him Between Thee and Him Alone; If He Shall Hear Thee, Thou Shalt Have Gained Thy Brother. — Christ fittingly passes from the little ones to sinners, because these are little ones, that is, worthless and abject: for what is more worthless than sin and the sinner? Just as then He taught that the little ones who are scandalized are not to be despised, so now He teaches equally that sinners who scandalize and injure others are not to be despised, nor to be avenged because of the injury inflicted, but corrected out of charity, so that they may be restored to the grace of God and to their own salvation. So Chrysostom and Theophylact. Christ therefore gives this remedy by which the scandal may be removed, namely the correction of the one who gave the scandal, and by it injured others.
15. But If He Shall Sin Against Thee. — The Innovators [i.e. Protestants] indeed expound the phrase "against thee" as "with only thyself knowing," as if to say: If someone has sinned secretly and privately, correct him secretly; for one sinning publicly must be rebuked publicly as an example to others. But nowhere is "against thee" taken for "with only thyself conscious of it." And Luke expounds "against thee" as "towards thee." For he says in chapter 17:3: "If thy brother sin against thee, rebuke him: and if he do penance, forgive him," namely for that which he sinned "against thee," that is, towards thee. So too St. Peter understood it, who at verse 21 infers from this saying of Christ and asks: "How often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him?" Christ alludes to that passage of Leviticus 19:17: "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly," as if to say: Do not nurse a hidden hatred and vindictiveness against your neighbor who has injured you, but openly and plainly make known to him that you have been injured by him, so that he may amend himself, remove the injury, and make satisfaction by penance both to you and to God. Hence Tertullian, Book IV Against Marcion, chapter 35, takes this passage of Leviticus as referring to fraternal correction, as though it were commanded to the Jews.
You will object: Then only in the case of injuries done to us is the neighbor to be corrected, and not in other sins committed against God. I answer: I deny the consequence, because by synecdoche Christ under the injuries done to us understands all other sins; for the reasoning is the same, indeed greater, concerning other sins. For if the neighbor is to be corrected in the case of injuries done to us, therefore much more in the other offenses by which he has injured God, as far as lies in him. For we ought to love God more than ourselves, and consequently we ought to avert His injuries more than our own. Christ, however, mentions only the sin committed against us, in order to put a curb on vengeance and to substitute charity for it, and from charity fraternal correction — as if to say: If your brother, that is your neighbor, has committed something against you, has offended and injured you, do not in a spirit of anger publish this and take vengeance for it, but first correct him lovingly and in secret. Understand: If there is hope of amendment, namely that, privately admonished by you, he will amend and correct himself; otherwise, if this hope is not present, having omitted the private correction, one must proceed to correction before witnesses; and if not in this either there is hope, he must be denounced to the Church, that is, to the pastor or prelate; and if there is no hope of amendment even in that, this correction must be entirely omitted and left to God. The a priori reason is that, just as charity obliges me to come to the aid of my neighbor set in a grave bodily necessity, so it obliges me more to come to his aid in a spiritual necessity, such as the state of sin and damnation; for the latter is far worse than the state of hunger, imprisonment, or death. Furthermore, Suarez rightly says, II II, Question 33: "Besides hope of fruit," he says, "for this precept to bind, it is necessary that the neighbor needs my correction — namely because I reasonably fear that, unless I correct him, my neighbor will commit similar sins, or will certainly remain for a long time and with grave harm to himself in that sin." It is proved because this is an affirmative precept of mercy; therefore it does not bind except according to the rules of like precepts, therefore only in a moment of necessity. Wherefore St. Augustine, Chrysostom, Jerome, Basil, Theophylact, whom Salmeron cites and follows here, vol. IV, tract. 11, page 3, who take this precept of correction as referring only to the correction of him who has offended us, are to be understood as meaning that this only is expressly named and commanded here by Christ; but they do not deny that implicitly, under one species of sin, the whole remaining genus of sin is to be understood. St. Chrysostom gives the reason: "More easily," he says, "does one who has done an injury bear correction from one who has suffered it, when he sees him seeking his salvation and not vengeance, especially if he corrects him alone." That this may be more fully understood, it is asked whether this correction is a matter of precept, or only of counsel; and again whether it obliges all the faithful, or only priests and superiors. First, St. Augustine, Chrysostom, Hilary, Basil, Theophylact, Michael Medina, Bonaventure, and from them Salmeron, just cited, hold that the correction of which Christ here speaks concerns only those who have sinned against us, as if to say: "Do not avenge yourself on him who has injured you, but correct him lovingly," and thus that this correction is a matter of counsel rather than of precept. By many reasons Salmeron proves this here, who cautiously and must be read here with a keen eye, nay must be read through entirely. For in tract 11, he seems to overthrow this manner of correction sanctioned by Christ, and to reject it as useless, obscure, and often pernicious. But he is speaking not from his own opinion, but from that of others cited, as he himself expressly declares at the beginning of chapter 11. Again, he does not overthrow the opinion of Christ, but that of the Interpreters and Scholastics, who extend Christ's statement to every possible case, so as to wish this order of correction to be observed in all sins and sinners whatsoever, whereas Christ expressly enjoins it only in the correction of those who have sinned against us. For he himself shows that this order often cannot be observed without harm to the commonwealth, as is clear in the case of heresy, which creeps like a cancer. Gregorius de Valentia shows the same, II II, Question 33, where he recounts six cases in which this order sanctioned by Christ in correction cannot be observed. And Suarez, vol. IV On Religion, Book X, chapter 7, where he uses nearly the arguments of Salmeron, and from them teaches that the opinion of those is probable who say that Christ here sanctions only that we should not avenge ourselves on those who have injured us, but should correct them fraternally. Finally, Salmeron in tract 10 follows the common explanation and teaching of the Interpreters concerning the correction of any sinners whatsoever, and confirms it with many reasons.
Secondly, John Andreæ in Panormitanus on the chapter "Novit," On Judgments, and Armacanus in Questions of the Armenians, hold that correction is enjoined only upon priests and prelates, but only counseled, not enjoined, upon laymen and subjects. The chapter "Sed illud," distinction 45, favors this, and the Gloss on the chapter "Si quis peccaverit," II, Question 1, where it is said to be harsh that all be bound by this precept, because it would make all men transgressors of it, since scarcely anyone keeps it, except prelates. This is favored by the fact that Christ immediately after speaks only to the Apostles: "Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth," etc. Here also enters Francis Major (it seems should be read Mayronis, who was called Doctor Illuminatus by the Parisians), cited by Salmeron, who commenting on Book I of the City of God, chapter 9, says: "The omission of correction is never a mortal sin, unless the one omitting it consents to or cooperates with another's sin. But if he merely conceals another's evil, or delights in it apart from consent, it is venial." But this is too lax.
Thirdly, others hold that this correction is enjoined only upon the just, because it is not fitting that one who is himself liable to the same or similar sin should correct a sinner. Abulensis seems to favor this opinion. But I say that the correction here sanctioned by Christ is not only a matter of counsel, but also of precept, and that it obliges all the faithful; for although Christ expressly says only that those who have sinned against us are to be corrected, yet by parity of reasoning He wills it to be extended to all sinners whatsoever. So everywhere all the Interpreters and Scholastics with St. Thomas, II II, Question 33, and extensively Suarez, vol. IV On Religion, Book X, chapter 7, number 11. It is clear from the word "brother": for "brother" signifies any believer and Christian, and rather an equal than a superior. For although unbelievers must also sometimes be corrected, yet Christ here deals only with the faithful, as being subjects of Himself and His Church: for unbelievers cannot be punished or excommunicated by the Church, since they are not subject to it.
The a priori reason is, that this precept of correction, both as to its substance and as to its manner and order, is not so much positive and of divine right (being here sanctioned by Christ who is God), as it is of natural right, namely connatural to charity and grace. For charity demands that we, by correcting him, lead back our sinning neighbor into the way of salvation, and that we take care of his modesty ("lest, if he once lose shame and modesty, he remain in sin," says St. Jerome) and his good name: first in secret, then, if that does not help, let us correct him before one or two witnesses. For here the discussion is not about public and judicial correction, which refers to the just punishment of crimes and to the reparation and satisfaction of the damage inflicted on the commonwealth by them, but about private correction, which is directed and tends to the amendment and salvation of the sinning neighbor. St. Augustine gives and urges this reason in sermon 16 On the Words of the Apostle: "Correct him," he says, "between thee and him alone, aiming at correction, sparing his shame. For perhaps out of embarrassment he begins to defend his sin, and him whom you want to make better, you make worse." And with a few things interposed: "Forget your own injury, but not your brother's wound; nor let him perish through your silence. If you alone know and wish to denounce him before many, you are not a corrector, but a betrayer."
Wherefore, in order that this correction, which of itself is odious, may be fruitful and efficacious, two things especially are required, namely charity and prudence, or discretion. Charity, so that the one who sins may perceive that the correction proceeds not from hatred or arrogance, but from love and compassion. Prudence, so that it be done modestly, gently, and in that place, time, and manner in which the one who has sinned is thought likely to receive it with a grateful mind and to amend himself, according to that saying of the Apostle, Galatians 6:1: "Instruct in the spirit of meekness," etc. Wisely St. Gregory Nazianzen in his oration On Maintaining Modesty in the Heat of Disputation: "Hold this rule," he says, "that you partly correct him, and that gently and humanely, not as an enemy, nor as a harsh and rigid physician, nor as one who knows how to proceed against disease only by incisions and cauteries; and partly that you accuse yourself, being conscious of your own infirmity." And St. Leo, epistle 84 to Anastasius, Bishop of Thessalonica, chapter 1: "Let benevolence," he says, "avail more with the one being corrected than severity; exhortation more than commotion; charity more than power."
Furthermore, so great is the necessity of our correcting one another, that a certain Holy Father used to say that the world perishes from no other cause more than from the omission of fraternal correction and from the violation of the commandment to avoid fornication. And Saint Augustine, in Book I of The City of God, chapter IX, testifies that, on account of the omission of this fraternal correction, in this world the good are afflicted along with the wicked by the gravest calamities; so Saint Gregory, Book VII, epistle 117, and it is cited in Distinction 8, chapter V: "He seems to consent to one who errs," he says, "who does not move against matters that ought to be cut off." Whence the Gloss: "He sins in the same way," it says, "who, seeing his brother sin, keeps silent, just as one who does not indulge a penitent."
Saint Augustine, in Book I of The City of God, chapter IX, gives the causes which accuse or excuse us from correction: "For often," he says, "instructing, admonishing, and sometimes even rebuking and correcting evil men is wrongly neglected, either because the labor is irksome, or because we wish to avoid their enmities, lest they hinder and harm us in these temporal matters, whether such things as our greed still desires to acquire, or such things as our weakness still dreads to lose. But if anyone spares rebuking and correcting evil-doers because a more opportune time is sought, or because he fears for those very men lest they should be made worse by it, or lest they should impede other weak persons who are being instructed for a good and holy life, or crush them and turn them away from the faith — this does not seem to be an occasion of greed, but rather a counsel of charity. Those however who are set over the Churches and constituted in them have a far weightier reason not to spare in rebuking sins."
The very nature of the elements teaches us this correction: for fire chastises the air and purges it by burning; the air, by the blasts of the winds, chastises and purges the water; and water likewise purges the earth. There is also the etymology of the word: for "to correct" (corrigere) is to rule (regere) together with another; for he who cannot be ruled by himself alone must necessarily be ruled by another who assists and corrects him. Outstanding in correcting were Moses, who struck down the idolatrous people by the sword; Phinees, Elijah, John the Baptist, and Christ the Lord, who twice, with a scourge made of little cords, cast out of the temple those who were selling and buying: nor can Christian charity exist in any man, unless he applies the medicine of correction to his sinning brother.
Finally, ordinarily fraternal correction obliges only when the sin is grave and mortal: for although Cajetan, Valentia, and Dominic Soto hold that we are bound to correct even when the sin is venial, yet this does not seem commonly true, nor is it the practice, unless some grave harm or scandal follows from the venial sin: otherwise, to correct and to be corrected for every single venial fault would be a burden as intolerable to the corrector as to the corrected, indeed morally impossible. So Abulensis, Adrianus, Paludanus, Gabriel, Sylvester, whom Suarez cites and follows (II II, tract. On Charity, disput. 8, sect. 2), and Dominicus Bannes, II II, Question XXXIII, article 2.
If He Shall Hear Thee, Thou Shalt Gain Thy Brother. — As if to say: You have saved him who was perishing, and you have gained for God and heaven one who was liable to Gehenna and to Satan; indeed, you have gained him for yourself, because both you and he had been suffering loss from the discord, says Saint Chrysostom; "For through the salvation of another, salvation is acquired for us also," says Saint Jerome.
Verse 16: If He Shall Not Hear Thee, Take With Thee One or Two More
16. But If He Shall Not Hear Thee, Take With Thee Besides One or Two More (either separately and by turns, now one, now another, as Saint Jerome says, or rather both at once), That in the Mouth of Two or Three Witnesses May Stand (Syriac: may be established) Every Word. — Christ commands that if the one corrected rejects the secret admonition, he be corrected in the presence of one or two, for two reasons. The first is that he who did not blush before one, may blush before several, and that more witnesses may more easily and effectively convict him of his sin and persuade him to amendment. So Saint Chrysostom, Theophylactus, and Saint Augustine, sermon 16 On the Words of the Lord. The second is that, if he will not listen to them either and correct himself, they may be witnesses who will attest the same to the Church.
That in the Mouth of Two, etc. — He cites Deuteronomy chapter XIX, verse 15. See what is said there. The law required two witnesses; since therefore He here says "three," He counts in the corrector himself.
Verse 17: And If He Will Not Hear Them, Tell the Church
17. And If He Will Not Hear Them, Tell the Church. — This is the third degree to be observed in the order of correction, namely, that he who would not listen either to the one admonishing him or to the witnesses, is to be referred to the Church — that is, to the pastor and superior, or the prelate — as to a spiritual father, and also as to a judge, so that fatherly but with greater authority and weight he may correct and strike the sin and so bring amendment: and if that man will not be corrected, he may as judge exclude him from the assembly of the faithful and cut him off. Suarez says that five acts are to be noted in this order from Matthew XVIII: The first is the secret admonition: "Rebuke him between thee and him alone." The second, correction: "In the presence of one or two brought along." The third, denunciation: "Tell the Church." The fourth, correction by the Prelate: "If he will not hear the Church." The fifth, coercion by excommunication: "Let him be to thee as the heathen." All of these acts individually fall, without doubt, under the precept, because they are all proposed in the same tenor, and all are founded upon charity and mercy.
Further, for various reasons this order may — and sometimes must — be omitted or inverted, so that he who has sinned is at once referred to the superior, as Salmeron shows here, and Gregory of Valencia, II II, Question XXXIII. The first cause and case is when the sin is public, so that the reputation of the sinner cannot be protected by secret admonition, much less the public scandal that the sinner has given by his sin. The second is when the sin is injurious to a third party or to the commonwealth, as is heresy, which creeps like a cancer, and therefore must at once be checked and cut off with the utmost force by the pastor and the bishop. The third, if it is clear that secret admonition, or admonition before witnesses, will not be of profit; for, as Adrianus says: "To strive in vain, and by one's labor to obtain nothing but hatred, is the height of folly." The fourth case is if the one corrected yields his own right and his own reputation, and is content that his sin be at once referred to the superior, as is done in the Society of Jesus: those who enter it are expressly asked about this matter in the examination, and when asked, answer that they are content for this to be done. Therefore in the Society and in other similar religious orders rightly and perfectly ordered throughout, another order of correcting is prescribed, namely, that the matter be immediately referred to the superior, because this rule is set before religious at their entrance; whence they themselves yield the right to their own reputation: so no injury is done them. The first reason is that this is expedient for the public good, lest the sin infect others, so that the superior may immediately meet it: for a defect harmful to religion can scarcely be effectively corrected without the superior, indeed scarcely is there hope of perfect amendment without the superior. The second is that religion is the school of humility, mortification, and contempt of honor and reputation. The third is that religious are brothers: but he who corrects seems to act as the superior of the other, for he teaches, corrects, and instructs him. Hence these corrections among equals in religion are often odious and wound charity. Hence our Rule enjoins that no one reprove another. The fourth is that in our Society each one is bound to render an account of conscience and to expose his own defects to the superior: therefore also to suffer that others, if they see those defects, should disclose them to him. The fifth is that the direction of the religious life is spiritual and paternal: so that the superior may be able to direct each and all in spirit and peace, it is expedient that he know all the defects of each. So teaches Saint Bonaventure on Luke chapter XVII, and in the Rules of Saint Francis, who was the general master of the Order of Friars Minor: indeed under him a general chapter was celebrated in which it is commanded that whoever teaches otherwise is to be imprisoned. And Saint Augustine, epistle 109, in the Rule for nuns, ordains that if a nun sees another's wanton glance of the eye, she should admonish her secretly; if she repeats the wanton act, and indeed if from a venial sin it perhaps becomes mortal, she should refer it to the superior. Saint Basil has similar things in his longer exposition of the Rules, Reg. XLVI. Some, therefore, have rashly disparaged this statute of the religious orders, for these statutes have been approved by the Apostolic See. The statutes of the Order of Preachers, dist. I, chap. XVIII, decree the same clearly. So Saint Thomas, Richardus, Angelus, Salmeron, Suarez, and others. See Suarez, tom. IV On Religion, chap. VII, where he adds that in the Society and the other religious orders this order of Christ is also preserved: namely, that if there is a sure hope that secret admonition will amend the neighbor's defect, the matter is not to be referred to the superior. Further, in the visitations of Bishops and Abbots, still another order is observed. For they command, under censures, that sins be denounced to them. But they proceed not by way of fraternal correction, but of judicial inquiry or accusation, concerning which Christ here does not treat. See Lessius, On Justice and Right.
Finally, three canons are to be noted here, which, if observed, will prevent one from sinning in the order of fraternal correction. The first is that the public good — for example, of the commonwealth or of the community — has precedence, and is therefore to be preferred to the private good. The second is that the good of the soul and salvation of the neighbor has precedence and is to be preferred to his good reputation. The third is that the neighbor's reputation is also to be consulted, as far as can be done while preserving the common good and the good of the neighbor's soul.
Tell the Church, — properly, that is, the proper pastor who is set over your Church. That this may be more fully understood, it is asked what here the word "Church" signifies. Saint Jerome and Saint Anselm here, and Saint Gregory, Book IV, epistle 38, understand the assembly and multitude of the faithful; as though Christ would here have such a one rebuked in the presence of that assembly, so that he might be shamed and thereby amend. Zwingli and the Novatians eagerly follow this interpretation, in order to establish a democratic and popular government of the Church, and thus to flatter the people. Hence Castalio, in place of "tell the Church," profanely translates "tell the commonwealth." Others, "tell the community."
But Saint Chrysostom, Theophylactus, Euthymius, and others commonly understand "the Church" as the Pastors and Prelates of the Church, who represent the Church either individually or gathered in synod and council; just as the magistrate represents the commonwealth, and the king his kingdom. And this is proved first: because Christ here commands that the Church be heard, that is, that the Church be obeyed by the accused, otherwise he is for that very reason to be held as excommunicated, indeed as a heathen. But this obedience is rendered only to the Prelates of the Church, as is evident; indeed this reason persuaded even Calvin of what we are saying. Secondly, because Christ in explaining "the Church" subjoins: "Whatsoever ye shall bind," addressing you, namely, O Apostles, princes of the Church, and those who shall succeed you, the Bishops and Pastors. Thirdly, because the perpetual practice of the Church has always been that such a man is referred to Pastors, Bishops, the Pope, or a general Council of Bishops, not to the people. Fourthly, because to do the contrary would be against the law of nature and would be a grave injury to the neighbor: for it would be to defame him, if his crime is hidden. Therefore those Calvinists who publicly proclaim and expose in church their adulterers, their adulteries, and other crimes, as though Christ had here commanded this very thing, err gravely, and sin against charity, and consequently against justice when the crime is secret; because they take away the reputation of the faithful and expose them to public shame and contumely.
The sense therefore is, as if to say: If the brother who has been corrected is unwilling to listen to the one correcting him in secret, or even in the presence of two witnesses, let him be referred to the Prelate of the Church, who as rector represents the Church, so that he who has despised private persons may at least revere the Prelate and obey him when he corrects him; and if he refuses to do this, then the Prelate, who has the care not only of the private one to be corrected but also of the whole Church, in order to provide for it lest the contumacy and crime of the corrected one should creep forth among the faithful of the Church, let him, putting off the person of a father, assume the person of a judge, and separate the man from the Church as a contagious sheep from the flock, excommunicate him, and drive him out. From this it is clear, against these same Novatians, that the Church is visible, inasmuch as it must be approached by the one correcting, and seen and heard by the one being corrected.
You will say: If therefore the Prelates themselves sin, and above all the Pope himself, he too will likewise have to be referred to the Church, that is, to a general Council: therefore the Pope is subject to it, and consequently the government of the Church is aristocratic, not monarchic. So Abulensis here, Question CVIII, Panormitanus, Gerson, Almainus, and others, who on the basis of this opinion, in the Council of Basel, deposed Pope Eugene IV from the papacy. But this rash act of theirs was shortly afterwards reproved and retracted by the Council of Florence. I answer therefore by denying the inference with regard to the Pope (for Bishops, if they sin, are to be referred to the Pope and corrected by him). For these things do not pertain to the Pope, but to all others who have superiors; for the Pope has no superior on earth, not even the Church, nor a general Council, since he himself is the head of the whole Church, as together with the Lateran Council under Leo X, session 11, the perpetual use and sense of the Church holds. Whence once upon a time, by a Council of 180 Bishops at Sinuessa, this was acclaimed to Saint Marcellinus the Pope, after his lapse and his penitence: "By your own mouth, not by our judgment, do you judge yourself, for the first see is judged by no one," as Saint Damascene and Platina in his Life testify, and it is found in Distinction 21, canon 7, Nunc autem. For the Pope in the Church is more than a king in his kingdom: for the king receives his power from the commonwealth, but the Pope does not receive his power from the Church, but immediately from Christ: wherefore in no case can he be deposed by the Church, but can only be declared to have fallen from the pontificate if, for example, he should fall (which God forbid) into public heresy, and thus by that very fact would cease to be pontiff, and indeed faithful and Christian.
But If He Will Not Hear the Church, Let Him Be to Thee as the Heathen and Publican. — For he who despises the Prelate of the Church when he admonishes him, despises the whole Church, which that prelate represents and rules; and by that very fact he shows that he is unwilling to be a son and citizen of the Church. Wherefore he is to be held, not as faithful and Christian, but as a heathen and a publican, that is, a public sinner. For the publicans among the Jews, because of their robberies, perjuries, as Saint Jerome says, and oppressions of the poor, were regarded as infamous and wicked; and from the company of the heathen, as of idolaters, the Jews utterly abstained.
Again, "let him be to thee as the heathen" — that is, let him be cast out of the Church by its Prelate, excommunicated and separated, lest he rub off his wickedness and contumacy upon the faithful by his contagion, but let him be held as a heathen, that is, as one unfaithful and pagan, deprived of the faith, knowledge, religion, and law of God, that he may be led to penance and confession, and by it absolved from his sin, that he may thus be amended and justified; and if he is unwilling to do this, as an impenitent and contumacious man, let him be excommunicated by the same. Thus Saint Chrysostom, Hilary, Augustine, the Gloss, and others everywhere. Hence the Theologians rightly gather and establish from this passage the power of excommunicating, and also the Sacrament of Penance as a form of judgment and absolution. See Bellarmine and Suarez, treatise On the Sacrament of Penance.
Hence the Emperor Theodosius understood this, who, on account of the massacre at Thessalonica, was expelled from the temple by Saint Ambrose and groaned: "To slaves," he said, "and to beggars the entrance to the temple lies open, but to me it is barred. For I know that the Lord said: Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven." Wherefore, becoming a suppliant to Saint Ambrose, he asked for absolution, which he obtained, and fulfilled the penance enjoined by him. So the Life of Saint Ambrose written by Cardinal Baronius has it.
Again, the Council of Basel, in the oration of Henry against the three articles of the Bohemians, on that text of Matthew XVIII: "Whatsoever you shall bind," etc., notes from Saint Thomas that three powers of binding and loosing are acknowledged by Catholics: the first is of authority, which belongs to God alone; the second of excellence, which is proper to Christ; the third of ministry, which has been granted by Christ to priests alone.
Furthermore, the power of binding and loosing is most ample and contains many things, as I have shown in chapter XVI, verse 19. For from this general power which Christ confers upon the Apostles, He deduces a special one, namely, that of excommunicating and of absolving from sins as well as from excommunication. For analogically each power is similar, and each arises from one and the same generic root. For sin binds the soul, just as excommunication, which is imposed on account of sin, binds it: for both deprive a man of the use of the Eucharist and the Sacraments. Wherefore to bind a sin and not to absolve is in fact the same as to excommunicate a sinner, as it were, that is, to deprive him of the communion of the Sacraments; and conversely to absolve from sins is the same as to absolve, as it were, from excommunication, and to restore the sinner to the communion of the Sacraments. The internal and sacramental binding and loosing of sins in the Sacrament of Penance, therefore, is analogically similar to the external excommunication and the absolution from it; and so Christ here understands both under the metaphor of binding and loosing. So Maldonatus.
Note here the beautiful order of Christ's discourse. For when the Apostles at the beginning of the chapter were contending about greatness and primacy, He sets before them, as a kind of bridle, the humility of little children, and admonishes them lest by their ambition they should offend the simple people, still little in the faith of Christ, and warns them against scandal; then, at verse 15, He gives the remedy for scandal — fraternal correction; and He said all these things to the Apostles insofar as they themselves represented the person of all the faithful. But since in correction He sets as the final step that the matter should be told to the Church, that is, to the Prelate of the Church, He adds, in order to secure authority for him: "Whatsoever you shall bind upon the earth shall be bound also in heaven," etc.: where He addresses the Apostles insofar as they are the Prelates of the Church, and thus insofar as they represented prelates, not the faithful subjects; for it belongs to prelates to bind and to loose, not to the rest of the faithful.
Verse 19: If Two of You Shall Consent Upon Earth, Concerning Any Thing Whatsoever They Shall Ask
19. Again I Say to You, That if Two of You Shall Consent Upon Earth, Concerning Any Thing Whatsoever They Shall Ask, It Shall Be Done to Them by My Father Who Is in Heaven. — The connection of these words with what precedes is difficult; and so it is variously assigned by various writers. First, some think that these words pertain to the two witnesses whom, in verse 16, Christ commanded to be employed for correcting the sinner. Hence the Gloss expounds: as if to say, If two of you shall agree upon earth, either in receiving a penitent, or in casting out a proud man, or about any other thing which they shall have asked, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. Secondly, Jansenius joins it thus: as if to say, If whatever two ask of God, God would grant it to them, how much more will He Himself confirm the judgment of the Church binding or loosing! Again Maldonatus thus: as if to say, That you may not err in the judgment of binding and loosing, send up prayer first; because if you judge in My Name, whatsoever you shall ask in My Father's Name, you shall obtain, according to that saying: "If you shall ask the Father anything in My Name, He will give it to you," John 14:13 and 16:23. Thirdly, Franciscus Lucas thus: as if to say, To you, O Apostles, I give not only the power of binding and loosing, but also another great gift, namely, that if two of you agree and ask something from God, they shall obtain the very thing. Fourthly, plainly and genuinely, Saint Jerome, Hilary, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius refer these words to the good of concord, of which He made mention at verse 15, where for this reason He instituted the precept of fraternal correction; as if to say, For this reason I have decreed that if anyone shall have sinned against you, you should not pursue him with hatred, but kindly correct him and be reconciled to him in grace, because the good of concord is so great and so dear to God's care and heart that if two persons (especially those previously disagreeing and discordant) consent and are in harmony, and together ask something from God, they shall obtain it. Hear Saint Jerome: "All the preceding discourse had called us to concord: therefore He also promises a reward, that we may hasten more earnestly to peace, since He declares He will be the midst between two or three." So Christ stood Himself in the midst of the two disciples going to Emmaus, when they were speaking of Him, Luke 24, and in the midst of the disciples on the very day of the resurrection, John 20. So the Apostles, persevering unanimously in prayer, obtained the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Acts 1:14.
If Two. — Saint Chrysostom and Euthymius limit this to the Apostles alone. Anastasius of Nicaea, in Question LXXIV, applies it to the corrector and the corrected. Origen applies it to husband and wife, as if to say: If a husband and wife agree to abstain from the use of marriage in order to be free for prayer, whatever they shall pray for, they shall obtain. But I say that these words pertain to any faithful Christians whatsoever: for here the Apostles, who alone were then standing by Christ, sustain the person of these.
Shall Consent in My Name (of which in the next verse) Upon Earth. — As if to say: So powerful and so pleasing to God is concord, and the concordant prayer of those in agreement, that if those dwelling on earth, where they are farthest removed from heaven, ask anything, God nevertheless in heaven will hear their petitions and will fulfill them; for God, although He is in heaven, yet applies His eye and His ear to those praying in concord on earth.
Concerning Any Thing — [any] honest [thing], whether it be small or great, easy or difficult: understand, provided they ask with the faith, hope, humility, and perseverance which is fitting, and provided the thing is expedient for them: for if it is not expedient for them, God will give not what they ask, but something better and more wholesome for them.
Verse 20: For Where There Are Two or Three Agreeing Together in My Name, There Am I in the Midst of Them
20. For Where There Are Two or Three Agreeing Together in My Name, There Am I in the Midst of Them. — "In My Name," that is, for My sake, with regard to Me, with an eye toward Me, for My cause, out of love of Me, seeking nothing but Me and My glory. So Saint Chrysostom and Euthymius.
There Am I in the Midst of Them. — As if to say: There I am present, I cooperate and direct their desires and wishes, and fulfill them: therefore I am in their midst, just as the Holy Spirit is in the midst of the Father and the Son, as the love and bond of both. Saint Hilary gives the reason: "For He Himself," he says, "who is peace and charity, will establish His seat and dwelling in good and peaceful wills." And Origen, saying that we are often not heard by God because we are in discord among ourselves, adds the cause: "For as in music, unless there be harmony and agreement of voices, it does not delight the hearer; so in the Church, unless there be consent, God is not delighted in it, nor does He hear their voices." Christ alludes to that passage of Ecclesiasticus 25:1: "In three things my spirit is pleased, which are approved before God and men: the concord of brethren, and the love of neighbors, and husband and wife who agree well together." See what is said there.
From this passage some not incorrectly prove, by an argument from the greater to the less, the authority of Councils. For this statement is general, and holds proportionately more in their case than in others. For if Christ is in the midst of two, then much more is He in the midst of the whole Church gathered in His Name, which a Council of Prelates and Bishops represents. For Councils are properly gathered in the Name of Christ, that is, by the authority and power of Christ, to increase, propagate, and make illustrious the name, faith, and glory of Christ everywhere: wherefore what they ask in the Name of Christ — that they may not err in the faith, that they may reform the morals of the faithful, that they may have the Holy Spirit assisting them — that indeed they obtain. This is most true in Ecumenical Councils; yet the same is also extended to provincial councils, when they are lawfully held and approved by the Pope.
Mystically, Saint Jerome: "We can," he says, "understand this spiritually, that where the spirit and the soul and the body agree and do not have a war of wills within themselves, concerning whatever thing they shall ask, they obtain it from the Father: for no one doubts that it is the petition of good things, when the body wants to have those things which the spirit wants."
Who Is in Heaven. — The Gloss: "By this," it says, "He shows that God is above all things, and that by this He is able to fulfill what is asked." Or, "He is in heaven," that is, in the saints: which serves to prove that whatever they ask that is worthy will be done for them, because they have with them Him from whom they ask.
Verse 21: Lord, How Often Shall My Brother Offend Against Me, and I Forgive Him?
21. Then Came Peter Unto Him and Said: Lord, How Often Shall My Brother Offend Against Me, and I Forgive Him? Till Seven Times? — Peter asks this on the occasion of what he had heard from Christ in verse 15: "If thy brother shall offend against thee, go and rebuke him," as Matthew has it; or rather on the occasion of what Luke 17:4 says Christ then added: "If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him; and if he do penance, forgive him. And if he shall sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying: I repent, forgive him;" where "seven times" is the same as "many times" and "always," as if to say: As often as the sinner says "I repent," so often forgive him. Peter, therefore, hearing "seven times," did not sufficiently understand whether "seven times" was to be taken definitely and precisely, or indefinitely for "as often as." He therefore urges and asks Christ to explain "seven times," and to say precisely how often an offense is to be forgiven a brother. Or at any rate, marvelling, he asks this, as if to say: Is it so, Lord, that to one sinning seven times in one day and seven times repenting, I shall forgive seven times? For it seems that one sinning so often is unworthy of so manifold a pardon, and such easy pardon seems to be an enticement to new fault and to provoke it. Surely the heart of Peter, still narrow and confined and fleshly within the flesh, could not contain the immense abyss of the clemency of the divine nature in Christ. Whence, expanding that, Christ subjoins:
Verse 22: I Say Not to Thee, Till Seven Times, But Till Seventy Times Seven Times
22. Jesus Saith to Him: I Say Not to Thee, Till Seven Times, But Till Seventy Times Seven Times, — that is, innumerably, and on innumerable occasions, forgive your brother the offense which he has committed, if he repents. For this is what I meant when I said in Luke 17:4, "Seven times, etc., forgive him," namely, by "seven times" I meant "seventy times seven times," that is, always and on countless occasions. For since the number seven is the symbol of totality, and the number seventy so exceeds the number seven as to contain it ten times (for ten times seven makes seventy), hence it signifies far more, and, as it were, something infinite and innumerable. So Saint Chrysostom and Saint Augustine in his 15th Sermon On the Words of the Lord according to Matthew, whom hear: "I dare to say: Even if he shall have sinned seventy-eight times, forgive; and if a hundred times, and in general as often as he shall have sinned, forgive. For if Christ found thousands of sins and yet pardoned them all, do not withhold your mercy. For the Apostle says: 'Forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another, even as God in Christ hath forgiven you.'"
Symbolically: Saint Augustine in Sermon 15 On the Words of the Lord according to Matthew, and Saint Gregory in Book XXXII of the Morals, chapter XII, teach that "eleven" is the symbol of sin, because this number by a unit transgresses the ten of the Decalogue, or of the divine law. But seven is the symbol of the whole; because in the first seven days of the world God created and adorned this whole universe, and again by seven days the whole and every period of time continually turns round: now seven times eleven makes 77, therefore 77 signifies that absolutely all sins are to be remitted. This number, then, is the symbol of the full and total remission of all sins, as often as the sinner repents.
Christ alludes, says Saint Hilary, to Lamech, who, confessing his homicide, says: "Sevenfold vengeance shall be given for Cain, but for Lamech seventy times seven," Genesis 4:24. See what is said there. Namely, just as Lamech was punished in 77 generations (for Josephus teaches that Lamech had 77 sons, all of whom perished in the flood), so Christ our Savior, by whom every sin has been abolished, was born in the 77th generation: for in the genealogy of Christ which Luke sets forth in chapter III verse 23, from God and Adam up to Christ inclusive 77 generations are counted. So Saint Augustine, sermon 13 On the Words of the Lord according to Matthew, and Julianus Pomerius, Book III Against the Jews, near the beginning.
Morally: learn here the breadth of heart and the abyss of the charity of Christ, by which He wishes that we, 77 times — that is, in countless instances, and thus as often as necessary — forgive our brother who sins and repents. For if He wishes us, poor little men, to be of such charity and generosity, what abyss of the same shall we reckon to be contained in Him Himself! Fittingly Saint Augustine, in the already cited sermon 43: "He sinned once, I forgave; he sinned a second and a third time, I forgave; the fourth time, let him be chastised. Let us correct with words, and if need be, with blows; but let us forgive the offense, let us cast the fault from our heart, so that, if discipline is imposed through charity, gentleness may not withdraw from the heart."
Further, this number will be much greater if with Origen we press the precise figures themselves; for Christ does not say "seventy and seven," but "seventy times seven," and more clearly in Greek ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά, that is, seventy times seven, that is, 490 times: for multiply 70 by seven, and the result will be 490. So often then does Christ want the offense to be forgiven a penitent. Thus there will be an allusion to the 70 weeks of Daniel: for these make 490 years, as many as flowed from the decree for the rebuilding of Jerusalem up to Christ, through whom is effected the full remission of all sins. See what is said on Daniel 9:24.
Verse 23: The Kingdom of Heaven Is Likened to a King, Who Would Take an Account of His Servants
23. Therefore Is the Kingdom of Heaven Likened to a King, Who Would Take an Account of His Servants. — As if to say: The like is done in the heavens, just as if a king were to take account with his servants who are his debtors. For the whole parable is compared to the whole reality signified, not parts to parts: for otherwise the kingdom is not rightly compared to a king, but rather the king of earth to the King of heaven. See what is said on chapter XI verse 16, and on Canon 28.
Note: the scope and meaning of this parable is clear from its postparable at verse 35, where it is said: "So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your hearts." For to this the whole parable is referred, and those things which bear upon this are to be applied to the reality signified; the other elements are ornaments pertaining to the decoration and adornment of the parable, which therefore do not belong to the reality signified and are not to be applied to it, according to Canon 29. The ornaments here therefore are those things said in verse 25 about the selling of the wife and children, and in verse 31 about the fellow servants accusing the cruel servant. Further, the scope is indicated by the word "therefore," which looks back to the preceding verse, and sets it, as it were, as the proparable or title of the parable. Its force therefore is this, as if to say: That you may know how pleasing to God it is, and by Him ordained, that we forgive our brother sinning against us as often as he repents of the sin, therefore I add a parable, by which I liken the kingdom of heaven to a king taking account with his servants.
Verse 24: One Was Brought to Him, That Owed Him Ten Thousand Talents
24. And When He Had Begun to Take the Account, One Was Brought to Him, That Owed Him Ten Thousand Talents. — The Attic talent, according to Budæus in his book On the As, was worth six hundred gold pieces, or crowns. Hence a hundred talents are worth a hundred times six hundred gold pieces, that is sixty thousand gold pieces; a thousand talents are worth six hundred thousand gold pieces; finally, ten thousand talents make the sum of sixty times a hundred thousand gold pieces, that is six million gold pieces, say Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others: which sum is huge and immense, and for a commoner or poor man impossible to pay. But the sum will be far, indeed twenty times, greater if we follow the calculation and value of the Hebrew talent: for this contained three thousand shekels, that is twelve thousand drachmas of gold, that is, twelve thousand gold pieces or French crowns, as I have shown from the Septuagint on Exodus 38:23; for the French gold piece is of one drachma, and is worth 12 Roman julios, or 12 Spanish reals. Therefore ten thousand talents of gold are one hundred and twenty million French gold pieces (or drachmas). For Christ speaks not to Greeks but to Hebrews: He therefore uses the Hebrew talent, not the Greek. Consider therefore God here demanding more from a sinner who has committed even one mortal sin than if a master were to demand 120 million gold pieces from a poor servant or beggar, because one mortal sin, inasmuch as it is committed against God and is injurious to God — nay, as far as it lies in itself it despoils God of His divinity — is a far greater injury to God than would be every injury committed against all kings; and it is a far greater debt than are all the debts of all men which are owed by men to other men. For just as God far surpasses all men — nay, infinite men — so too an injury against God surpasses all injuries committed against men, and it incurs a liability and debt of infinite punishment. Therefore so great a sum of debt pertains rather to the thing signified, namely mortal sin, than to the parable of the servant itself. For what servant would contract a debt of 120 millions, unless he either stole the king's treasury to set it on fire, or lost or betrayed an entire kingdom?
Indeed, if a single mortal sin is a debt of 120 millions, of how many millions will be the debt of him who has committed a hundred, a thousand — nay, many thousands of mortal sins! Now this fits aptly with the "seventy times seven." As if to say: If God remits to you so great a multitude and magnitude of sins, which far exceeds ten thousand talents, then much more ought we to remit to our neighbours all the offences they commit against us, which are both fewer and of far less moment; especially because God forgives us our greatest and most numerous faults on this law and condition, that we too should forgive our neighbours their small and few offences, Matthew VI, 14.
The reason a priori is that, just as God is the highest good, so sin, which is opposed to the divine goodness, is the highest evil. Wherefore, just as God is an infinite good, so sin is likewise a certain immense evil. For the magnitude of an offence grows from the magnitude of the person offended: for the more worthy the person offended, the graver the injury. If, therefore, the person be of infinite dignity, sin too will have in some manner an infinite malice. Hence it comes that no mere creature can make equal satisfaction for a deadly sin; nay, not all the works of the Saints are of equal value to compensate for a single sin; and therefore, in order to make satisfaction in equal measure for sin, it was necessary that the Son of God be incarnate and suffer, as the Fathers teach. Finally, sin is rightly compared to a talent, because like a talent or a mass of lead it weighs a man down and presses him into the depths. See the remarks on Zachariah V, 6.
Verse 25: His Lord Commanded That He Should Be Sold, and His Wife and Children
25. But as He Had Nothing Wherewith to Pay, His Lord Commanded That He Should Be Sold, and His Wife and Children and All That He Had, and Payment to Be Made. — It was a matter of law and custom among some peoples that, if a debtor could not pay, the creditor might sell him together with his wife and children, so that from the price he might recover the debt. That this was in use among the Jews is clear from 4 Kings IV, 1, where the wife of a certain dead prophet says to Elisha: "Behold, the creditor cometh to take my sons to serve him."
Mystically, St. Jerome says: "As the wife of the just man is called wisdom, so too the wife of the unjust man and sinner is called folly, whose sons are evil thoughts." And Remigius: "The wife of the fool, he says, is folly and the pleasure of the flesh, or desire."
Verse 26: That Servant Falling Down, Besought Him, Saying: Have Patience With Me, and I Will Pay Thee All
26. And That Servant, Falling Down (on his knee or on his face), Besought Him (the Interpreter reads παρεκάλει, as even now some codices have; yet more now read προσεκύνει αὐτῷ, that is, he was adoring him. So also the Syriac), Saying: Have Patience With Me, and I Will Pay Thee All. — The Syriac: Be long-suffering toward me, and I will restore all to thee. The Arabic: Be patient, and I will give thee what is thine. This servant, to escape the slavery and sale of himself and his, promises golden mountains: All things, he says, that I owe to thee, O master, I will render to thee. This was for him impossible: for how should a poor servant, reduced to want, pay 120 millions of gold? But doubtless he is drawing out time, so that, gaining a delay, by his services and by the prayers of friends he may bend the mind of the king, whom he knew to be liberal and magnanimous in forgiving the debt owed him. Nor did his judgment deceive him. Whence there follows:
Verse 27: And the Lord of That Servant, Being Moved With Pity, Let Him Go and Forgave Him the Debt
27. And the Lord of That Servant, Being Moved With Pity, Let Him Go and Forgave Him the Debt. — These things are said parabolically, in order to signify how pleasing to God humility is, and the humble confession of sin and petition for pardon: for the servant, humbling himself, straightway obtained it. Again, they signify how great and how immense is the mercy and clemency of God, which at once forgave this vast debt of sins to the servant who entreated Him, that He might teach us and spur us on to forgive the lesser offences of our neighbours who sin against us. For this is the aim of the parable. The reason a priori is that God is by essence good and kindly, and so is Himself the uncreated and immense goodness and kindness, to whom it is proper to do good to all, to indulge, to spare, just as it is proper to fire to warm and to the sun to illuminate. Whence the Church prays: "O God, whose property is to have mercy," etc.
Verse 28: That Servant Found One of His Fellow-Servants That Owed Him a Hundred Pence
28. And That Servant, Going Out, Found One of His Fellow-Servants That Owed Him a Hundred Pence; and Laying Hold of Him, He Throttled Him, Saying: Pay What Thou Owest. — The denarius is the Spanish julius or royal, so called because it was worth ten asses, that is, smaller coins, namely ten baiocchi; for these make a julius. A hundred denarii therefore make ten Roman gold pieces, for each of these contains ten julii; and ten times ten make a hundred. Wherefore ten Roman gold pieces make and are worth a hundred denarii, that is, julii. But what are ten gold pieces compared with ten thousand talents, or with 120 millions of French gold pieces, which he himself owed his own master? See here the narrowness and avarice of the human heart compared with the breadth and generosity of the divine heart; for the former harshly and cruelly demands back ten gold pieces owed to himself, while the latter freely remits 120 millions.
Verse 29: His Fellow-Servant, Falling Down, Besought Him, Saying: Have Patience With Me
29. And His Fellow-Servant, Falling Down, Besought Him, Saying: Have Patience With Me, and I Will Pay Thee All. — The servant humbles himself before his fellow-servant, and in the same words asks him to forgive him a hundred denarii — the very words by which he himself had asked and obtained from his Lord the remission of 120 millions — so as silently to remind him of this forgiveness and admonish him to imitate it. But in vain does he beat upon the servile and cruel breast of his fellow-servant, from whom he did not even obtain the remission of a single denarius or farthing.
Verse 30: But He Would Not, but Went Away and Cast Him Into Prison
30. But He Would Not, but Went Away and Cast Him Into Prison Till He Should Pay the Debt. — This servant uses his right avariciously and harshly, and therefore abuses it, forgetful of the mercy and clemency shown him by his master; and so he called down upon himself the rigour of that same justice and the lack of mercy, and in fact endured it.
Verse 31: His Fellow-Servants, Seeing What Was Done, Were Very Much Grieved
31. Now His Fellow-Servants, Seeing What Was Done, Were Very Much Grieved, and They Came and Told Their Lord All That Had Been Done. — This pertains to the imagery and ornament of the parable; for thus servants do in the houses of masters and the halls of princes. It does not, however, fit the reality signified by the parable: for the Saints and Blessed do not denounce and accuse men's cruelty and crimes before God, but rather cover them over and excuse them and entreat on their behalf.
Verse 32: Thou Wicked Servant, I Forgave Thee All Thy Debt, Because Thou Besoughtest Me
32. Then His Lord Called Him, and Said to Him: Thou Wicked Servant, I Forgave Thee All Thy Debt, Because Thou Besoughtest Me. 33. Shouldest Not Thou Then Have Had Compassion Also on Thy Fellow-Servant, Even as I Had Compassion on Thee? — Arabic: according to my mercy toward thee? As if to say: The mercy shown by Me to thee ought to have been for thee the spur and measure of the mercy to be shown to thy fellow-servant. A measure, I say, not equal, but proportional, and Mine far greater, because I remitted to thee ten thousand talents, whereas thine was only to remit a hundred denarii; yet thus far I require equality, that as I forgave thee the whole debt, so thou shouldest forgive thy neighbour the whole (though far less).
Verse 34: His Lord, Being Angry, Delivered Him to the Torturers, Until He Should Pay All the Debt
34. And His Lord, Being Angry (with the highest and implacable anger — the Syriac: he blazed up), Delivered Him to the Torturers Until He Should Pay All the Debt. — It is clear from histories and from the civil law among the pagan Romans, to whom the Jews in the time of Christ were subject, that debtors used to be handed over by creditors to torturers to be thrust into prison and flogged with whips: for the emperor Constantine first, out of Christian kindness, freed debtors from the leaded whips. Moreover, the torturers are demons, says Remigius, who torment and torture the souls of sinners in a thousand ways most grievously in Gehenna. "Until he should pay," that is, to be tormented forever: for he will never be able to pay so great a debt of 120 millions. So St. Chrysostom, Theophylactus, Euthymius.
It is asked here whether, therefore, the whole guilt and penalty which has already been forgiven by God to a penitent and suppliant sinner, is revoked by God and restored on account of flagrant lack of mercy and ingratitude, and in some manner charged again to the torturers. For this seems to be asserted in this parable.
Response. I say first: this parable is true in the human court, and in that court it is to be taken juridically, as it sounds parabolically — especially because by civil law a donation and promise already made can be rescinded by the donor on account of the ingratitude of the recipient. For the pride and cruelty of such a wicked and ungrateful servant is so greatly esteemed among men that all judge him to deserve to pay the guilt and punishment even of the preceding debts — not as though those things already forgiven were to live again, but because they are contained virtually in that subsequent cruelty, which is so impious and so hated by men. For that servant ought, if for no other reason, at least on account of the mercy shown him, to have had pity also on other poor men and to have forgiven them their debts. And so we see that princes demand from those who have offended them and whom they have spared, if afterward these behave ungratefully and arrogantly contrary to custom, the penalties of all their even preceding offences as well: whence they are deemed to have forgiven only as if conditionally, that is, provided the others amend themselves and are grateful and behave moderately.
I say secondly: the same is not true in the divine court and in the reality signified by the parable. For God does not, if a sinner to whom He has forgiven all his sins afterward refuses to forgive another man an offence committed against himself, revoke the sins forgiven and charge and impose them again. The reason is that God, according to His infinite clemency, forgives the penitent his sins not conditionally, but altogether absolutely and irrevocably, according to that saying: "The gifts and the calling of God are without repentance," Romans XI, 29. Wherefore, though a sinner, having received pardon and grace, should fall back into the same or other crimes, and refuse to forgive his neighbour an injury, and thus be ungrateful to God, nevertheless this circumstance of ingratitude does not aggravate sin to such a degree that on account of it all the sins already forgiven are revoked and charged again to the sinner by God. For God, being the highest goodness and sanctity, cannot revoke and restore a sin that has been abolished; for thus He would be the author and maker of sin. Add that this ingratitude is not a special sin, but only a general circumstance and one only indirectly willed by the sinner: general, I say, because every single sin is a certain ingratitude toward God. Wherefore, in the court of the most good and most merciful God, this ingratitude does not aggravate the sin to which it is joined, as it does aggravate [sin] in the earthly court among men. Wherefore the likeness and comparison of the parable should not be placed here, but rather where Christ places and applies it, verse 35, namely that God will not, by the law of retaliation, remit to those who do not forgive their neighbours the offences committed even against Himself: offences, I say, which they still hold, or which they have contracted elsewhere, or which they incur by the very fact that they refuse to forgive their penitent brother an offence and instead rage against him in various and atrocious ways. Wherefore the Theologians, with St. Thomas (III part., Quest. LXXXVIII, art. 1 and 3), teach that sins once forgiven by God are forgiven forever, and are in no case revoked by God.
I say thirdly: these things are true, but they are not sufficient, nor do they exhaust the depth, force and nerve of this parable; for in it is expressly said: "And his lord, being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he should pay the whole debt," namely the ten thousand talents already forgiven (verses 24 and 27), and He adds: "So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts," that is, He will revoke all your past sins already remitted, just as the lord revoked the servant's past debt which had been forgiven. This debt and guilt already remitted, then, is said to be revoked and to return through this unmercifulness and subsequent ingratitude: First, because this unmercifulness is a mortal sin; for to be unwilling to forgive an offence to one's neighbour is to foster hatred, wrath and vengeance against one's neighbour — which is clearly a deadly sin — and hence through the same there returns that state of sin and liability to Gehenna which existed before: for he who refuses to forgive becomes guilty of the wrath of God and of Gehenna, just as he was before because of other crimes. For when one is damned, it makes no difference for what sin he is damned. But this sin is irremissible, because so long as anyone is unwilling to forgive his neighbour an offence, so long will God not forgive him his own guilt. Therefore, by the very fact that a like new sin of unmercifulness is committed, by it the past offences against God are in some manner seen to revive and be recalled, because the state of sin and liability to Gehenna revives.
Secondly, because this ingratitude greatly aggravates the sin, and even mortally, if we believe D. Soto (on Sentences IV, dist. XXXII, art. 3), who therefore asserts that it must necessarily be expressed by the penitent in confession. Others, however, more mildly judge that the circumstance of ingratitude aggravates only venially the sin to which it is joined: for this ingratitude is not as great as the benefit itself, nor as great as the sin to which it is attached. For this ingratitude is attached to any and every sin; yet its malice and guilt grow proportionally, so that the greater the benefit, or the sin forgiven, the greater the subsequent ingratitude — but within the limits just stated. Therefore ingratitude for pardon received does in some manner revoke past sins, by the very fact that it aggravates the subsequent sin. Moreover, theologians teach that it is especially discerned and reckoned in four kinds of sin, namely hatred, apostasy, obstinacy, and impenitence: for these four directly oppose the principle of the remission of sins, namely faith, charity, or penance.
He hates his brothers, becomes an apostate, spurns confession, repents of having repented — and the former guilt returns.
So St. Thomas, III part., Quest. LXXXVIII, art. 1 and 3.
Thirdly, although this ingratitude in itself is not always a mortal sin, nevertheless it is often the cause of mortal sins. For God, on account of this ingratitude, withdraws greater helps of grace from the sinner, and permits man to be more seriously tempted by the flesh and the devil: whence it comes about that he slips into many and grievous mortal sins, through which there returns that earlier multitude of guilt and punishments, signified by the ten thousand talents. For these are, as it were, virtually contained in the others. For God will demand from him just as much as was the earlier debt, as if it had never been remitted: for by this very remission he has shown himself ungrateful and unworthy, and has made himself worthy to fall back into the old debts, albeit through other crimes — so that in him may be fulfilled that saying: "Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy," James II, 13. So Francisco Suárez and others with St. Thomas, III part., Quest. LXXXVIII, art. 1 and 3. Ecclesiasticus XXVIII, 1 and following treats of this matter at length, where by many arguments he proves that offences against one's neighbour must be forgiven, just as God forgives ours to us. See the remarks there.
Verse 35: So Also Shall My Heavenly Father Do to You, if You Forgive Not Every One His Brother From Your Hearts
35. So Also Shall My Heavenly Father Do to You, if You Forgive Not Every One His Brother From Your Hearts, — namely, offences and sins; the Syriac: his errors. "So," that is, just as that master who from the servant demands back not only the cruelty that followed his debts, but even those debts already forgiven which preceded — as I have already shown. "From your hearts," as if to say: from the deepest ground of the heart; for many forgive with their mouth but not with their heart. With the gall of rancour cast out from the depths of the heart, Christ commands the honey of love to be put in its place. Therefore this parable teaches how grievous and hateful to God it is to keep in one's mind anger, rancour and vengeance against a neighbour who has offended us; and on the other hand, how pious and pleasing to God it is to lay these aside and convert them into love — even as God receives the penitent sinner into grace and into the bowels of His charity, and forgets all his past offences as if they had never been committed. Moreover, this must be done not once, but seventy times seven, that is, always and as often as the neighbour repents of his offence. To prove this, Christ brought forward the parable of the ten thousand talents, that is, of a very great and very large debt. Let us therefore, who are little men and homunculi, imitate God, who our daily offences against Him, and those grave and many, every day, and as often as we repent — forgives them from the heart; and therefore every day, nay often throughout the day, He commands us to pray: "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." See the remarks on chapter VI, 12 and 14.