Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Christ declares that the widow who gave two small coins gave more than all the rest. Then, at verse 7, He gives the signs preceding the destruction both of the city (Jerusalem) and of the world. Matthew narrated the same signs in chapter XXIV, where I explained them. Therefore, at verse 34, He exhorts all to be vigilant in prayer, and to live soberly, piously, and justly, and to prepare themselves for the day of judgment.
Vulgate Text: Luke 21:1-38
1. And looking up, He saw the rich casting their gifts into the treasury. 2. And He saw also a certain poor widow casting in two small coins. 3. And He said: Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4. For all these have cast in gifts to God out of their abundance, but she out of her want has cast in all the living that she had. 5. And as some were saying about the temple, that it was adorned with fine stones and gifts, He said: 6. As for these things which you see, the days will come in which there shall not be left a stone upon a stone that shall not be thrown down. 7. And they asked Him, saying: Master, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when they begin to come to pass? 8. And He said: Take heed that you be not led astray; for many will come in My name, saying that I am He; and the time has drawn near: do not therefore go after them. 9. And when you hear of wars and tumults, be not terrified; these things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet at once. 10. Then He said to them: Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from heaven, and great signs will appear. 12. But before all these things they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, dragging you before kings and governors for My name's sake: 13. and it shall turn out for you as a testimony. 14. Settle it therefore in your hearts not to premeditate how you shall answer. 15. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist or contradict. 16. And you shall be betrayed by parents, and brothers, and kinsfolk, and friends; and some of you they will put to death; 17. and you shall be hated by all for My name's sake; 18. and not a hair of your head shall perish. 19. In your patience you shall possess your souls. 20. And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by an army, then know that its desolation has drawn near; 21. then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let those who are in its midst depart; and let not those in the surrounding regions enter into it. 22. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23. But woe to those who are with child and to those who give suck in those days; for there shall be great distress upon the land, and wrath upon this people. 24. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword; and they shall be led captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the nations are fulfilled. 25. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26. men fainting with fear and with expectation of what is coming upon the whole world; for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; 27. and then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty. 28. But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. 29. And He spoke to them a parable: Behold the fig tree and all the trees: 30. when they now put forth their fruit, you know that summer is near. 31. So you also, when you see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is near. 32. Amen I say to you, this generation shall not pass away until all things come to pass. 33. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. 34. But take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be weighed down with self-indulgence, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly: 35. for as a snare it shall come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. 36. Watch therefore, praying at all times, that you may be deemed worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of Man. 37. And during the days He was teaching in the temple: but at night, going out, He lodged on the mount called Olivet. 38. And all the people came early in the morning to Him in the temple to hear Him.
Verse 18: Not a Hair of Your Head Shall Perish
AND NOT A HAIR OF YOUR HEAD SHALL PERISH. — "Because the things foretold about the affliction of death are harsh, says Gregory, homily 35, immediately consolation is added concerning the joy of the resurrection, when it says: Not a hair of your head shall perish. We know, brethren, that flesh when cut feels pain, but hair when cut does not feel pain. Therefore He says to His martyrs: Not a hair of your head shall perish — that is, saying plainly: Why do you fear that what feels pain when cut may perish, when even that which does not feel pain when cut cannot perish in you?"
From these words of Christ, gather that we shall rise again not only with the four humors, namely blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile, which certain learned men denied; but also with hair, beards, and nails. So teaches St. Augustine, book XXII of The City of God, chapters XIX and XX; St. Bonaventure, in IV, distinction 44, article 1, Question II ad 3; St. Thomas, in the Supplement, Question LXXX, article 2; Richard, in IV, distinction 44, article 1, Question III; the Master, in IV, distinction 44; Dominicus Soto, in IV, distinction 44, article 2. They prove it from Matthew 10: "The very hairs of your head are all numbered;" and from this passage in Luke: "Not a hair of your head shall perish" — "not in length, but in number," says Augustine.
Secondly, by reason, because bodies will rise without deformity, with their own adornment and beauty; now the adornment of the head is hair, of the mouth the beard, and of the fingers the nails; and if anyone lacked these, he would be deformed.
You will object that these are excretions of the members, and that such things will be removed, as is evident from urine, sweat, etc. I reply: Urine and sweat are mere excretions; but hair and nails, although they may be called excretions insofar as they are secreted from the members, nevertheless since they are secreted for their protection and adornment, they should rather be called ornaments than excretions. In a similar way the pores and skin are separated from the flesh; phlegm and bile from the blood — yet these cannot be called excretions.
Verse 19: In Your Patience You Shall Possess Your Souls
IN YOUR PATIENCE YOU SHALL POSSESS YOUR SOULS. — Patience, therefore, is the possession of the soul: first, because the patient man rules his spirit and governs it in peace, bending and directing it wherever he wishes; secondly, because no one can guard the hope of the future life, says St. Augustine, except one who has had patience in the labors of this life; thirdly, St. Gregory, homily 35 on the Gospels: "Therefore, he says, the possession of the soul is placed in the virtue of patience, because patience is the root and guardian of all virtues. Through patience we truly possess our souls, because when we learn to rule ourselves, we begin to possess that very thing which we are. Now patience is to bear the evils of others with equanimity — and not to be stung by any grief even against him who inflicts the evils. For he who bears his neighbor's wrongs yet silently grieves and seeks a time for fitting retribution, does not practice patience but merely displays it." And further: "Proverbs chapter XVI: Solomon says: Better is the patient man than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes cities. Therefore the victory of taking cities is lesser, because what is conquered lies outside. But what is conquered through patience is greater, because the mind itself is conquered by itself, and subjects itself to itself, when patience lays it low in the humility of endurance." St. Gregory adds the example of Abbot Stephen, "who returned thanks for insults, considered loss to be gain, and regarded his adversaries as helpers." Hence at his death angels were seen, who carried his soul to heaven.
The impatient man does not possess his soul, but is possessed by the vice of anger and revenge, and consequently by Satan. Moreover, none but those who love ardently can obtain true patience, as the fervent Martyrs obtained it — St. Ignatius, St. Lawrence, St. Sebastian, St. Vincent, etc. Wherefore the Emperor Trajan, who by his sentence gave cause to the martyrdom of St. Ignatius, said: "No nation endures so much for its God as the Christian." Hear St. Gregory, book V of the Morals, chapter XIII: "For what is it to possess souls, if not to live perfectly in all things, and to rule over all the motions of the mind from the citadel of virtue? He who holds to patience, therefore, possesses his soul, because through it he is made strong against all adversities; hence he rules both himself and dominates by conquering himself. And the more laudably he breaks himself, the more strongly he shows himself unbroken; because when he overcomes himself in his own pleasures, he prepares himself unconquered for the opposite." The same, book IX, epistle 39 to Theoctista: "In your patience, he says, you shall possess your souls. Consider, I ask, where patience will be if there is nothing to be endured. I do not think he can be Abel who has not had a Cain. For if good men exist without evil men, they cannot be perfectly good, because they are not at all purified; for the very association with evil is the purification of the good."
Wherefore Theodore the Studite, Catechetical sermon 19: "Endurance, he says, is the highest perfection of the virtues." Hence, as Lucan says, book IX:
Serpents, thirst, heat, and sand
Are sweet to virtue. Patience delights in hardships.
Finally, the whole chorus of virtues flows into patience, so that patience itself seems to be the sum total of all virtues. Hear Seneca, epistle 67 and following: "Moreover, there is fortitude, whose branches are patience, endurance, and tolerance. There is prudence, without which no counsel is taken, which persuades us to bear most bravely what we cannot escape. There is constancy, which cannot be dislodged from its place and does not abandon its purpose though any force compel it. There is that inseparable company of virtues." See what was said on James 1:4, on the words: "Patience has a perfect work."
Verse 34: Lest Your Hearts Be Weighed Down
BUT TAKE HEED TO YOURSELVES, LEST PERHAPS YOUR HEARTS BE WEIGHED DOWN WITH SELF-INDULGENCE, AND DRUNKENNESS, AND THE CARES OF THIS LIFE; AND THAT DAY COME UPON YOU SUDDENLY. — Crapula (hangover/surfeit) is when from excessive drinking or drunkenness the head trembles, is tossed by dizziness, is weighed down, struggles, wavers, aches, belches, vomits, etc. For all the injuries of wine and drink are signified by crapula. Hence Galen, in the Aphorisms, writes that every harm caused by wine is called by the Greeks kraipale, that is, crapula; from kare, that is, the head; and pallesthai, that is, to be shaken. Properly, however, crapula refers to the heaviness and the aforementioned harms resulting from the previous day's drunkenness. Whence Plato in the Symposium: Feeling the effects of a hangover, he says, from the previous day's drinking bout.
Hence the Arabic version translates crapula as satiety; and St. Basil, in the Catena: Drunkenness, he says, is the excessive use of wine; but crapula is the anxiety and nausea that accompanies drunkenness.
AND DRUNKENNESS — Drunkenness is intemperance in drink, especially when it is so great as to deprive a man of the use of reason. For then one is properly and perfectly called drunk, when by drinking he deprives himself of the use of reason, and therefore sins mortally, as St. Thomas, Angelus, Sylvester, Navarre, Toledo, Lessius, Bonacina, and the other Doctors of cases teach. Christ therefore here forbids intemperance in drink, because it submerges the mind in drink, so that it thinks of nothing but wine, renders one drowsy, stupid, and insensible, so that the drunkard cannot weigh the things that pertain to salvation; and thus he seems to be not so much a rational man as an irrational beast and brute.
AND THE CARES OF THIS LIFE — which absorb the mind and submerge the intellect, says Euthymius, and do not allow a man to think about the salvation of his soul. "The cares of this life, says Titus, as well as self-indulgence and drunkenness, deprive a man of understanding, obscure his faith, and bring about forgetfulness of those things that are useful and necessary." For they plainly distract the mind, occupy it, and snatch it away to attend to earthly things; hence the Arabic version translates it: and with anxiety over the things of the world.
Verse 35: As a Snare It Shall Come Upon All
FOR AS A SNARE IT SHALL COME UPON (shall ensnare) ALL WHO DWELL (inhabit, reside) UPON THE FACE OF THE WHOLE EARTH. — First, just as careless birds are caught by a snare as if by ambush, so also in the day of judgment pleasure-seeking men will be caught. Secondly, just as a snare strangles birds, so also the day of judgment will suffocate sinners. Thirdly, just as a snare always holds what it has once caught, says the Interlinear Gloss, so also the sentence given by Christ the Judge will be perpetual, and will forever either glorify the judged person in heaven or burn him in hell.
Verse 36: Watch Therefore, Praying at All Times
WATCH THEREFORE, PRAYING AT ALL TIMES (at every opportune time, that is, diligently, frequently, perseveringly), THAT YOU MAY BE DEEMED WORTHY (the Arabic: that you may be strengthened in flight) TO ESCAPE (Greek ekphygein, that is, to flee from) ALL THESE THINGS THAT ARE TO COME, AND TO STAND (secure, confident, joyful) BEFORE THE SON OF MAN — according to that saying of Wisdom 5: "The just shall stand with great constancy." Those therefore who continually devote themselves to vigils, prayers, and good works — for them that day will not be a snare, but a festival, says Theophylactus.
Verse 37: Teaching in the Temple by Day
AND DURING THE DAYS HE WAS TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE, BUT AT NIGHT, GOING OUT, HE LODGED (the Arabic: He dwelt) ON THE MOUNT CALLED OLIVET — because it abounded in olive groves and olive trees. Christ therefore gave the day to preaching and to His neighbor; but the night to prayer, to Himself, and to God: and so He gave little time to rest and sleep. St. Paul did the same, as did St. Dominic, St. Francis, our Xavier, and others like them. "At night, says Theophylactus, He withdrew to the mountain, showing us that at night we ought to converse with God in quiet, but during the day to serve and benefit men." Whence Bede says: "What He teaches by words, He confirms by examples; for with the time of His passion at hand, He devotes Himself to teaching, vigils, and prayers — either calling to faith by His word those for whom He was about to suffer, or commending them to the Father by prayer."
Verse 38: All the People Came Early in the Morning
AND ALL THE PEOPLE CAME EARLY IN THE MORNING TO HIM IN THE TEMPLE TO HEAR HIM. — Manicabat (Greek orthrize, that is, he came early, he went at dawn; hence Emmanuel Sa thinks it should be read manitabat; but the Romans here and elsewhere read manicabat). For just as from the Greek orthron, one says orthrizon, so from the Latin mane one says manicare; for the ancients called the morning "clear" (clarum), says Nonius. Servius, however, says: "The ancients, he says, called manum good; hence mane is also derived from it: for what is better?" For in the morning the senses are vigorous; and therefore the morning, as the best and first part of the day, should be given to God.