Cornelius a Lapide

John XXI

Table of Contents

Synopsis of the Chapter

Christ appears to Peter and six of his companions at the catch of fish. Secondly, at verse 15, to Peter, who loved Him more than the others, He entrusts His sheep to be fed and all the faithful to be governed, and predicts to him the death of the cross. Hence thirdly, at verse 22, when Peter asks what will become of John, Christ replies: What is that to you? You, follow Me.

Vulgate Text: John 21:1-25

1. Afterwards Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. And He manifested Himself thus: 2. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas who is called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples. 3. Simon Peter said to them: I go fishing. They said to him: We also come with you. And they went out, and entered into the ship: and that night they caught nothing. 4. But when morning was come, Jesus stood on the shore: yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5. Jesus therefore said to them: Children, have you any food? They answered Him: No. 6. He said to them: Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find. They cast therefore; and now they were not able to draw it, for the multitude of fishes. 7. That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved said to Peter: It is the Lord. Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, girt his coat about him (for he was naked), and cast himself into the sea. 8. But the other disciples came in the ship (for they were not far from the land, but as it were two hundred cubits), drawing the net with the fishes. 9. As soon then as they came to land, they saw hot coals lying, and a fish laid thereon, and bread. 10. Jesus said to them: Bring hither of the fishes which you have now caught. 11. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred fifty-three. And although there were so many, the net was not broken. 12. Jesus said to them: Come, and dine. And none of them who were at meat, durst ask Him: Who are you? knowing that it was the Lord. 13. And Jesus came and took bread, and gave them, and fish in like manner. 14. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to His disciples, after He was risen from the dead. 15. When therefore they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter: Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him: Yea, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him: Feed My lambs. 16. He says to him again: Simon, son of John, do you love Me? He says to Him: Yea, Lord, You know that I love You. He says to him: Feed My lambs. 17. He says to him the third time: Simon, son of John, do you love Me? Peter was grieved, because He said to him the third time: Do you love Me? And he said to Him: Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. He said to him: Feed My sheep. 18. Amen, amen I say to you: when you were younger, you girded yourself, and walked where you would; but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and lead you where you would not. 19. And this He said, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when He had said this, He says to him: Follow Me. 20. Peter turning about, saw that disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also leaned on His breast at supper, and said: Lord, who is he that shall betray You? 21. Him therefore when Peter had seen, he says to Jesus: Lord, and what shall this man do? 22. Jesus says to him: So I will have him to remain till I come, what is it to you? Follow Me. 23. This saying therefore went abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. And Jesus did not say to him: He should not die; but: So I will have him to remain till I come, what is it to you? 24. This is that disciple who gives testimony of these things, and has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true. 25. But there are also many other things which Jesus did: which, if they were written every one, not even the world itself, I think, could contain the books that should be written.

Verse 1: Afterwards Jesus Manifested Himself Again to the Disciples at the Sea of Tiberias

1. After this, Jesus showed Himself again at the sea of Tiberias — which was also called the sea of Galilee: for on it was a city called Tiberias, so named because it had been built in honor of Tiberius Caesar by Herod. From this it is clear that Peter and the other Apostles had gone from Jerusalem and Judea into Galilee, as Christ had commanded (Matt. xxviii, 10); for in Galilee this appearance of Christ took place, in which Christ, about to go to heaven, in order to provide for the government of the faithful, designated Peter as head of the Church and His vicar on earth. And therefore John adds these things, and thus concludes his Gospel.

AGAIN. — This appearance of Christ was the second with respect to Thomas, but the third with respect to the other Apostles; in which, by the huge catch of fishes, He signified beforehand the huge conversion of the Gentiles that was to come.

Verse 2: There Were Together Simon Peter, and Thomas Who Is Called Didymus, and Nathanael

2. AND HE SHOWED HIMSELF AFTER THIS MANNER: THERE WERE TOGETHER SIMON PETER, AND THOMAS WHO IS CALLED DIDYMUS, AND NATHANAEL WHO WAS OF CANA OF GALILEE, AND THE SONS OF ZEBEDEE, AND TWO OTHERS OF HIS DISCIPLES. — Christ willed that more and more honored of the disciples should be gathered together, so that His appearance would be the more glorious, and so that in the presence of these, as it were leading men, He might declare Peter His vicar on earth, whom accordingly the other Apostles and the faithful would acknowledge and revere as such.

Verse 3: Simon Peter Said to Them: I Go A Fishing. They Say to Him: We Also Come With Thee

3. SIMON PETER SAYS TO THEM: I GO A FISHING (Greek ὑπάγω, "I go to hunt fishes"; for as we hunt hares on land and birds in the air, so also we hunt fishes in the sea). THEY SAY TO HIM: WE ALSO COME WITH YOU. AND THEY WENT FORTH, AND ENTERED INTO A SHIP: AND THAT NIGHT THEY CAUGHT NOTHING. — Writers give various reasons for this fishing. St. Chrysostom: "Because the Lord, he says, was not continually with them, nor was anything yet committed to them, they engaged in the fishing trade." St. Gregory, hom. 24: "A business which before conversion existed without sin, was not blameworthy to resume after conversion. So Peter returned to fishing; Matthew did not return to the tax-booth. For there are many things which can be practiced without sin with difficulty or not at all, to which one must not return after conversion." St. Augustine: "The Apostles were not forbidden on their part to seek lawful necessary sustenance, when they had nothing else to live on. Thus Paul, lest he should offend the Gentiles by using the authority he had along with the other preachers, learned a trade he had not known, so that while the teacher worked with his own hands, no hearer might be burdened. How much more then did Blessed Peter, who had been a fisherman, do what he knew, if he had nothing else to live on! And if any one should say: Why did not the Lord fulfill what He had promised them — namely, that all these things would be added unto them if they sought the kingdom of God? — it must be answered that He did fulfill it: for who else provided the fishes that were caught? Nor can it be believed that He brought them into want for any other reason, by which they were compelled to go fishing, except because He wished in His arrangement to show a miracle." Add that this fishing took place before Pentecost and before the coming of the Holy Spirit, by whom they were commanded to evangelize. Hence, since the Apostles had not yet anything to do by way of evangelizing, and were poor and fishermen by trade, they rightly returned to their art of fishing to get a living from it. But after the coming of the Holy Spirit, they are not recorded to have exercised fishing, because they were wholly engaged in preaching the Gospel and directing the faithful to all perfection; who, accordingly, studious of Evangelical poverty, laid all their property at the feet of the Apostles, that they might distribute it among themselves and the other faithful. Yet in necessity and want they could lawfully have returned to their fishing, just as Paul returned to his tent-making, lest he should be burdensome to others in seeking his living. For this is of greater perfection, and therefore an Evangelical counsel: that one should evangelize gratis and provide himself a living by the labor of his hands. Lastly, the disciples went fishing to avoid idleness and for the relaxation of the mind. To this end belongs what Cassian writes, Conferences Bk. XXIV, ch. XXI: a certain hunter went to visit St. John for the sake of seeing him, and found him gently stroking a partridge with his hand; and when the hunter marveled at this, he heard from John: "What is that which you carry in your hand?" He replied: "A bow." "And why," said John, "do you not carry it strung all the time?" The hunter answered: "I must not, lest by the constant bending the strength of its stiffness be loosened and grow weak and perish, and when there is need to send sharp arrows at some wild beast, the rigor having been lost through excess of continual tension, a more powerful shot cannot be delivered." "Neither then," says St. John, "let this short and slight relaxation of our mind offend you, O young man; for unless it now and then be relieved and relaxed from the rigor of its intentness by some remission, it cannot, when necessity requires, obey the vigor of the spirit, grown slack by unremitting effort." Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, has the same in the Life of St. Remigius, in Surius, January 13.

BY NIGHT. — For night is most suitable for fishing, because by day the fish, timid, are frightened by the sight and noise of men, and flee, and hide themselves in the deep. Mystically Theophylactus: "At night, that is, before the presence of Christ the Sun, the Prophets caught nothing; because, although they strove to correct the one nation of Israel, yet it fell all the more often into idolatry."

THEY CAUGHT NOTHING — because they were fishing without Jesus, so that they might learn that the entire usefulness of their fishing of souls (to which they were being directed by Christ) and its fruit depend upon Christ, and therefore it must be earnestly asked from Him, according to Psalm CXXVI: "Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."

Verse 4: But When Morning Was Come, Jesus Stood on the Shore: Yet the Disciples Knew Not That It Was Jesus

4. BUT WHEN MORNING WAS COME, JESUS STOOD ON THE SHORE: YET THE DISCIPLES KNEW NOT THAT IT WAS JESUS, — in order to show that this catch of fish would be the work of His grace, not of their own effort. For in the morning the fish flee the light and the noise, and plunge themselves into the depths.

They did not recognize Him, — because He appeared to them in another form, just as to Magdalene, chap. xx, v. 14. For Christ willed rather to be recognized from His work and the miracle of the catch of fishes than from His form; for this befitted God incarnate.

Verse 5: Jesus Therefore Said to Them: Children, Have You Any Meat? They Answered Him: No

5. JESUS THEREFORE SAID TO THEM: CHILDREN, HAVE YOU ANY MEAT? — as if to say: O fishermen, have you any fishes you might sell to me? For here Christ appeared to the disciples in an unknown guise, like some serious man and merchant who wished to buy fishes from them. So Chrysostom. Whence He calls them "children," as if workmen and inferiors, in the Hebrew manner. Or He names them "children," Greek παιδία, that is, little boys, as sons, with the endearments of love: for "boy" (puer) among the Hebrews signifies sometimes a son, sometimes a servant and a workman.

PULMENTARIUM. — Greek προσφάγιον, that is, relish, namely food which is used with bread and eaten with bread. For thus Pliny, bk. XVIII, ch. viii; Horace, Persius, and others use pulmentum for any food which is added to porridge or bread. For the ancient Hebrews and Latins, being very frugal and temperate, used porridge instead of bread, as Pliny testifies. Whence the Romans were also called pultiphagi. So Plautus in Mostellaria: "For not, he says, did this porridge-eating barbarian craftsman do these works" — as if to say: A Roman or Italian did not do this, who feeds on porridge.

Pulmentarium therefore is the same as opsonium, or ὄψον, as John says here at v. 9 and 13. This word, according to Eustathius on Iliad λ, p. 814, is derived ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀψέ, that is, from "late," either because the ancients took this food late in the day, or rather because, being content at first with plainer food, late on they began to use these sorts of delicate relishes for pleasure's sake. Others think it is said from ὀπτᾶν, that is, "to roast," because the ancients fed more on roasted than on boiled meats and fish; and ὀπτᾶν they will have to be derived, as it were ὀπτᾶν, from ὄμμα, or ὄψις, that is, sight, look, gaze; because roasting requires frequent inspection and attention to what is being roasted.

Furthermore, by "pulmentarium" or opsarium Christ means fishes, because, as Plutarch says, Symposiacs Bk. IV, ch. IV, although there are many relishes, yet fish is called either the only or the chief relish, because it surpasses the rest in virtue, simplicity, and ease of cooking. And because most of the ancients — indeed all before the flood — fed not on flesh but on fishes, as I have shown at Gen. ix. Wherefore John here, vv. 9 and 13, as also at chap. vi, ix, and xi, by opsonium or opsarium means nothing but fishes, as does also Athenaeus, Bk. IX On the Suppers of the Wise.

THEY ANSWERED HIM: NO. — By His question Christ compels the disciples to confess their poverty and need, so that they might look for His help and relief from Him.

Verse 6: He Saith to Them: Cast the Net on the Right Side of the Ship, and You Shall Find

6. HE SAYS TO THEM: CAST THE NET ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SHIP, AND YOU SHALL FIND, — because Jesus by hidden power had gathered this multitude of fishes on the right side of the ship, so that the Apostles, fishing on the left, had caught nothing all night. Hence we learn morally that we often labor and toil in vain because we fish and work on the left without Jesus, not on the right with Jesus.

Anagogically, by the fishes on the right are signified the elect, to be placed at Christ's right on the day of judgment; but the reprobate at the left; Matt. xxv. See the symbols of the right hand which I recounted at Prov. iii, 16, and iv, 27; Eccles. x, 2; Cant. ii, 6.

Now hear St. Augustine, Tract 122: "In the catch of fishes is set forth to us the sacrament of the Church, such as it will be in the last resurrection. And it serves for setting this forth that it is placed as it were at the end of the book, as a kind of preface to the narrative that was to follow. The seven disciples by their number signify the end of time; for all time runs through seven days; and the shore signifies the end of the world: for the shore is the end of the sea. And as here is signified the Church such as it will be at the end of the world, so by another fishing is signified what it is now. For there Jesus did not stand on the shore, but went up into the ship; there the nets are not cast on the right hand, lest only the good be signified, nor on the left, lest only the bad; but indiscriminately, that the good and bad mingled together may be signified. But here the net is cast on the right hand, that only the good may be signified, who belong to the resurrection of life; and on the shore, that is, at the end of the world, when they shall have risen, they will appear. For the Church has these after the end of this life in the sleep of peace, as though hidden in the deep, until the net reaches the shore; and what in the first fishing was figured by two little ships, in this place is figured by one hundred and one hundred cubits — namely, the elect of both kinds, of the circumcision and of the uncircumcision."

THEY CAST THEREFORE; AND NOW THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO DRAW IT FOR THE MULTITUDE OF FISHES. — Behold the reward and fruit of prompt obedience, especially to a man seemingly a stranger and unknown; yet Christ inclined their hearts inwardly to it. This multitude of fishes mystically represented the multitude of the faithful whom Peter and the Apostles afterwards caught in the net of Gospel preaching and converted to Christ. So St. Augustine, St. Gregory, St. Chrysostom, Cyril, and the rest.

Verse 7: That Disciple Whom Jesus Loved Said to Peter: It Is the Lord. Simon Peter Girt His Coat About Him

7. THAT DISCIPLE THEREFORE WHOM JESUS LOVED (John, who by this title indicates himself and glories in it, and rightly) SAID TO PETER: IT IS THE LORD (Jesus). — You will ask, how did John first recognize Jesus? Cyril attributes this to John's sharpness and quickness of wit. So also Chrysostom: Peter, he says, was more fervent, but John more perceptive, and therefore he first knew Christ. But I answer that John, while Peter was occupied in drawing the net full of so many fishes, looked more closely at Jesus; and that Jesus first presented His former appearance to St. John, because He loved him most and because John himself was most pure. Whence rightly St. Jerome, Epistle to Pammachius against the errors of John of Jerusalem: "The prior virginity (of John) recognizes the virginal body (of Christ): blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God."

Furthermore, Bede: John, he says, first recognized the Lord, either by the miracle of the fishing, or by the sound of His foreknown voice. And like to like, and therefore those who love one another, are wont to recognize each other by a certain sympathy and by similarity of face and gesture. Hence we commonly say: Craftsman knows craftsman, thief knows thief, saint knows saint. Now John was intimate with Christ, whence also at the Supper he reclined on His breast; and therefore he perceived Christ's manner and gestures better than the others.

Mystically: The more familiar, inward, and like to God anyone becomes through prayer, the more he perceives, penetrates, contemplates, and admires God and His attributes. And, just as John was loved by Christ because of his virginity, so he in turn wondrously loves the chaste and virgins. Hear what Abbot Aelred writes in the Life of King St. Edward (in Surius, Jan. 5). St. Edward refused nothing to anyone who asked in the name of St. John the Evangelist; for after the Prince of the Apostles, he loved him most dearly. Whence it happened that a certain pilgrim, when the chamberlain was absent, insistently begged alms of the king in the name of St. John the Evangelist. To him the king, having nothing else at hand, gave a precious ring. After this it happened that two Englishmen set out for Jerusalem to worship at the sepulchre of the Savior. One day, turning aside from the public road, they followed byways, and as the sun was setting dark night came on. And when they knew not what to do or which way to turn, a venerable old man appeared to them, who led them back to the city. Taken in as guests, a table was prepared, and after being most lavishly refreshed, they laid their limbs to rest. But when morning came, as they left the city, the old man said: "Brothers, do not doubt that you will return home with the greatest prosperity, for God will make your journey prosperous; and I, for the love of your king, will set my eyes upon you all along the way. For I am the Apostle of Christ, John, who for the merit of your king's chastity embrace with the highest love. Take back therefore this ring, which he gave to me when I appeared in a pilgrim's garb, and announce to him that the day of his death is at hand; within six months I will visit him with a visitation, that with me he may follow the Lamb wherever He goes." When he had said this, he disappeared. For this reason those zealous for virginity and chastity are wont to take St. John as their patron and to invoke him, especially when troubled by the temptations of the flesh, and they experience his help. To mention one out of many: St. Colette, a virgin of marvelous austerity and sanctity, reformer of the Order of St. Clare, chose St. John as her patron in order to preserve her virginity unspoiled — and not in vain; for St. John appeared to her and espoused her to himself by a golden ring as his bride and virgin. This ring many afterwards who were zealous for chastity sought after, as the author of the Life of St. Colette recounts, chap. 20, in Surius, tom. VII, for March 6.

SIMON PETER, WHEN HE HAD HEARD THAT IT WAS THE LORD, GIRT HIS COAT ABOUT HIM: FOR HE WAS NAKED. — In Greek τὸν ἐπενδύτην διεζώσατο, that is, he put on or girded himself with an outer garment — in other words, he put on a tunic. So the Syriac and Arabic. Hence it is clear that he had not been altogether naked before (for this would be indecent and unusual), but in the manner in which workmen strip themselves of outer garments, so that they remain in a shirt or inner tunic. So Bede. Furthermore Theophylactus: "That he girt himself," he says, "is a sign of modesty; and he girt himself with a linen wrap, such as Phoenician and Tyrian fishermen wrap around themselves when they are naked."

AND CAST HIMSELF INTO THE SEA, — in order, as Chrysostom, Leontius, Theophylactus, and Toletus say, by swimming, or, as Bede and Maldonatus say, by walking through the sea on foot, to come to Jesus; for they were near the land. Peter was more fervent, and therefore came to Christ more promptly than the others, says Chrysostom. Wherefore it is improbable that Peter here walked upon the waters. For this would have been rash, since he was not commanded by Christ to do so, as he was on another occasion, Matt. xiv, 28.

Verse 8: But the Other Disciples Came in the Ship, Drawing the Net With the Fishes

8. BUT THE OTHER DISCIPLES CAME IN THE SHIP (FOR THEY WERE NOT FAR FROM THE LAND, BUT AS IT WERE TWO HUNDRED CUBITS), drawing the net with the fishes. — "Two hundred cubits," that is, sixty paces or three hundred feet: for a cubit is a foot and a half, and a pace contains five feet. Mystically Bede: "By the two hundred cubits," he says, "is expressed the twofold virtue of charity; for through love of God and neighbor we approach Christ."

Verse 9: As Soon Then as They Came to Land, They Saw Hot Coals Lying, and a Fish Laid Thereon, and Bread

9. AS SOON THEN AS THEY CAME TO LAND, THEY SAW HOT COALS LYING, AND A FISH LAID THEREON, AND BREAD. — This was another miracle of Christ, by which He suddenly, as the disciples were coming, roasted a fish and prepared the meal. Cyril thinks this fish was drawn out by Christ from the sea secretly and very quickly; Chrysostom, on the other hand, judges that it was created out of nothing. More probably Leontius, Theophylactus, Euthymius, Toletus, and Maldonatus assert that Christ produced the fish, as also the coals, the fire, and the bread, suddenly from the neighboring air or some other matter, just as He produced the loaves when He multiplied them, John vi, 11. Christ did this, first, to show that so great a catch of fishes was His work, and that He had gathered all those fishes on the right side of the ship so that they might there be caught by Peter and his companions. Secondly, to show that He did not need them, but had sought and done this for the Apostles' sake. Mystically, from St. Augustine, Bede says: "The roasted fish is Christ who suffered; He deigned to lie hidden in the waters of the human race; He willed to be caught in the snare of our death; and He who was made for us a fish by His humanity, stood forth as bread refreshing us by His divinity."

Verse 10: Jesus Saith to Them: Bring Hither of the Fishes Which You Have Now Caught

10. JESUS SAYS TO THEM: BRING HITHER OF THE FISHES WHICH YOU HAVE NOW CAUGHT, — namely, that before all you may behold and appreciate the multitude of fishes and the greatness of the miracle wrought by Me, and so may more certainly recognize Me, more reverently worship Me, and more ardently love Me in return.

Mystically, St. Augustine, Tract 123: "The roasted fish," he says, "is Christ who suffered; He is the bread which came down from heaven; to Him is incorporated the Church to partake of eternal blessedness. On account of which it is said: Bring of the fishes which you have caught; so that all of us who bear this hope, through that sevenfold number of disciples by whom our whole body is figured, may know that we commune in so great a Sacrament and are associated unto the same blessedness."

Verse 11: Simon Peter Went Up, and Drew the Net to Land, Full of Great Fishes, One Hundred Fifty-Three

11. SIMON PETER WENT UP (into the ship in which was the net with the fishes), AND DREW THE NET TO LAND, FULL OF GREAT FISHES, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE. — "Peter," as leader, yet joined with the others, as is gathered from v. 6; for he could not alone have drawn the net loaded with so great a mass of fishes — although St. Gregory and Rupert think that Peter alone drew the net, not by his own strength but by divine help. Everywhere here Peter's primacy is hinted at: for he is the first to call his companions to fishing; first to come to Christ; he too drew the net, to signify that all the fishes — that is, all the faithful — would be drawn and ruled by him. John therefore was more loved, but Peter was more honored by Christ and set above the others. Thus sometimes subjects are holier than their rulers, but rulers are more dignified than their subjects and more eminent in authority.

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE FISHES. — Why so many? Why precisely one hundred and fifty-three? The literal cause is given by St. Jerome on Ezekiel xlvii, 9: that there are just so many species of fishes, namely 153, as if from each species Peter had caught one. Hear him: "Those who have written on the natures of animals — among whom Oppian the Cilician is the most learned poet — say there are one hundred and fifty-three kinds of fish, all of which were caught by the Apostles, and nothing remained uncaught; while both noble and obscure, rich and poor, and every kind of man is drawn out of the sea of this world unto salvation." Understand this in the sense that the chief and principal species of fish are 153. For otherwise Guillaume Rondelet, in his book On Fishes, enumerates far more in absolute terms. By this number, therefore, as by a symbol, Christ signified that all nations were to be enclosed in the net of the Church and of Gospel preaching, whose head and prince is Peter and his successor, the Roman Pontiff.

Symbolically, Cyril, Bk. XII, ch. LXIII: "The hundred," he says, "signifies the fullness of the Gentiles who will enter into the net of Peter and of the Church; the fifty, the fewer Jews who will be saved; and the three, finally, represent the mystery of the Holy Trinity, in whose faith and worship both these and those are gathered and saved." But St. Augustine, Tract 122: "The number 153," he says, "contains the number fifty three times, and besides the three themselves, on account of the mystery of the Trinity. Fifty is the jubilee, in which the whole people rested from every work." The jubilee represented the state of the Gospel and of grace.

St. Gregory adds in homily 14 that the denarius (ten) is a symbol of the Decalogue of the old law, the septenary of the sevenfold Spirit and grace in the new law, the ternary a symbol of the Holy Trinity and the faith in it. Now multiply 17 by three, you will have fifty-one; multiply this again by three, you will have 153, to signify that absolutely all the faithful are to be gathered into the net of the Church through Peter and the Apostles, by faith in the one and triune God, in whom alone is the true rest of men. Eusebius of Emesa adds in his homily on this Gospel for the fourth day after the Resurrection: There are three parts of the world, signified by the three fifties of fish, namely Asia, Africa, Europe, which are all united in the faith of the Holy Trinity in the Church.

More particularly and plainly Rupert and Maldonatus: By these three numbers, they say, is signified a threefold class of men who are saved; by the hundred the married, whose multitude is the greatest; by the fifty the widowed and continent, whose number is smaller; by the three virgins, whose number is the smallest. Peter Bongus has more on this in his book On the Mysteries of Numbers, at no. 153.

AND ALTHOUGH THEY WERE SO MANY (in number and size, that is, so many and so great: so St. Augustine) THE NET WAS NOT BROKEN. — Chrysostom attributes this to a miracle, so that Christ performed three miracles here, by which He proved His resurrection and omnipotence. The first was in the catch of so many fish; the second, in the production of His fish, bread, and coals; the third here, in the wholeness of the net, which signifies the unity and wholeness of the Church, which can be torn and divided by no schism; for those who make a schism thereby separate themselves from the Church, and consequently leave the Church in its unity and wholeness.

Verse 12: Jesus Saith to Them: Come, and Dine. And None of Them Durst Ask Him: Who Art Thou?

12. JESUS SAID TO THEM: COME, DINE. Note first: It is probable that from the fish which the Apostles had caught, some were also placed on the coals together with Christ's fish (for that alone would not have sufficed for the refreshment of eight men), by the command of Christ saying: "Bring of the fish which you have now caught," namely that we may roast some of them for a common meal. Christ did this, both that the truth as well as the use and benefit of so great a miracle, namely the multiplication of the fish, might be certainly established for all; and that the fish might be sufficient for all for the common meal. So St. Augustine, Tractate 123, Euthymius, and Maldonatus.

Note secondly: It is likely that for the same reasons Christ here dined with His disciples, as He was accustomed to do, in order to confirm the truth of His resurrection. So Leontius and Theophylact here, and St. Gregory in homily 24, and this is gathered from the following verse. How a glorified body eats food, and what it makes of it, I have explained on Luke 24:43 and Acts 1:4.

Christ will prepare a heavenly banquet in which we shall feast with Him forever in divine delights, according to that saying: "That you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom," Luke 22:30.

AND NONE OF THOSE SITTING DOWN DARED. — In Greek μαθητῶν, that is, of the disciples. So also the Syriac and the Arabic. Hence Jansenius and Emmanuel Sa think that here we should read discentium, that is, of the disciples; but the Romans read discumbentium (those sitting at table), and this better suits the place. Hence it seems that the Greek here is more likely faulty than the Latin. So Toletus.

TO ASK HIM: WHO ARE YOU? KNOWING THAT IT IS THE LORD. — Because, as Chrysostom notes in homily 86, Christ was not yet presenting Himself to them in His proper shape and form, but in a more august one, from which they might doubt whether it truly was Jesus Himself, and wanted to ask Him: "Who are You?" But from the features of His countenance and His actions they recognized that it was Jesus, so that they no longer doubted about it. Therefore, partly out of reverence for Christ, partly from the certainty of their recognition, they did not dare to question Him about this.

Less genuinely, St. Augustine (Tractate 123) interprets "to ask" as "to doubt": for these differ as effect and cause.

Verse 13: And Jesus Cometh, and Taketh Bread, and Giveth Them, and Fish in Like Manner

13. AND JESUS CAME, AND TOOK BREAD, AND GAVE TO THEM, AND LIKEWISE THE FISH. — That is to say, when the disciples at Jesus' command had reclined at the table, He Himself also came and reclined with them, and distributed among them both His own bread and fish and the fish they had caught (says St. Augustine, Tractate 123. Hence for "fish" in Greek it is ὀψάριον, that is, a relish, namely of fish), now roasted; and He likewise ate some of them Himself, in order to show them that He had truly risen.

Verse 14: This Is Now the Third Time That Jesus Was Manifested to His Disciples, After He Was Risen From the Dead

14. THIS IS NOW THE THIRD TIME JESUS WAS MANIFESTED TO HIS DISCIPLES, AFTER HE HAD RISEN FROM THE DEAD. — "The third time," namely counting those appearances which were made to several Apostles together, which alone John here commemorates: for thus this was third in order; otherwise, counting all the other appearances which the other Evangelists narrate, this was seventh in order, as I showed on Matthew 28:10, where I listed them all in their order.

Verse 15: Simon, Son of John, Lovest Thou Me More Than These? Feed My Lambs

15. WHEN THEREFORE THEY HAD DINED, JESUS SAID TO SIMON PETER: SIMON, SON OF JOHN (namely son; see what has been said on chap. 1, v. 42; He adds this to distinguish him from Simon the Canaanite), DO YOU LOVE ME MORE THAN THESE? — Christ, about to depart into heaven, here designates His Vicar on earth, and creates Peter supreme Pontiff, so that the one Church may be ruled by one shepherd. Christ had promised this very thing to Peter in Matthew 16:18, but in this place He fulfills it, and constitutes him the chief and ruler of the whole Church, lest anyone, because of Peter's threefold denial, should suppose that Christ had changed His mind about him. So Cyril.

Mystically, Alcuin here says: Simon in Hebrew is the same as "obedient"; John is the same as "grace." So Peter is called, as one obedient to God's grace: for that he embraces Him with a more ardent charity is not the work of human merit, but a gift of divine grace.

Anagogically, Cyril: In like manner, he says, after the labor of this life, by which we fish souls for God, Christ will prepare a heavenly banquet in which we shall feast with Him forever in divine delights, according to that saying: "That you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom," Luke 22:30.

DO YOU LOVE ME MORE THAN THESE? — First, because this office of feeding and ruling all the faithful, which I intend to lay upon you, demands the greatest love of Christ and of the faithful. "Love is asked about," says St. Augustine, "and labor is commanded," because where there is love, there is no labor.

Second, so that Christ may show how greatly He loves His sheep, inasmuch as He is unwilling to entrust them except to one who loves both Him and consequently His sheep supremely. So Chrysostom, homily 87. Hear him: "That which most of all procures for us the divine favor is the care of our neighbors. Passing over the others, the Lord speaks to Peter of such things: for he was the chief of the Apostles, the mouth of the disciples, and the head of the college. Hence He commits to him the headship of his brethren, as if to say: The life which you said you would lay down for Me, give it for My sheep."

Third, because Peter had a short time before denied Christ three times, and this threefold denial had been forgiven him by Christ upon his repentance; hence rightly from him to whom He had granted the greater indulgence, He demands the greater love: "For to whom less is forgiven, he loves less," Luke 7:47. So Cyril.

Moreover Jesus asks, knowing that Peter loved Him more than all, says St. Augustine; for although John loved Jesus more tenderly, yet Peter loved Him more robustly and ardently, as is clear from all his deeds and words about Jesus. So parents love their little children more tenderly, but those who are already young men or men more strongly and solidly: and hence they give greater things to them than to little ones. Hear St. Augustine in his sermon On the Passion: "When the Lord was dying, he feared and denied Him: when the Lord rose, He infused love and drove out fear. He denied fearing to die: but when the Lord rose, what should he fear in Him in whom he found death itself dead?"

HE SAID TO HIM (Peter): YES, LORD, YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU. — Hence it is clear, says St. Augustine, that amo and diligo here signify the same thing, even though in Latin amo signifies more than diligo. Peter does not dare to say: I love You more than the others; but, I love You: both because he did not know the hearts of the others; and because his fall had made him more modest and cautious. For he had preferred himself to the others saying, Matthew 26: "Lord, though all shall be scandalized in You, yet will I never be scandalized"; and yet a little later he fell more shamefully than the others and denied Christ, which the others did not do.

HE SAID TO HIM: FEED MY LAMBS. — "Feed," as a shepherd feeds his sheep by leading them to pasture, and by feeding rules and directs them, lest they stray from the flock, lest they approach harmful pastures, lest they be seized by a wolf. Hence "to feed" in Scripture signifies "to rule," and princes are called shepherds, because if they wish to rule their subjects rightly, they must do what shepherds do while they feed their sheep. Hence in Psalm 22:1, where our version renders: "The Lord rules me," in Hebrew it is יהוה רועי Adonai roi, that is, the Lord is my shepherd, or feeds me, wherefore it is added: "In a place of pasture He has set me." Thus David from being a shepherd of sheep was made by God king of men, "to feed (that is, rule) Jacob His servant, and Israel His inheritance," Ps. 77:71. Thus Cyrus is called shepherd, that is, prince and king appointed by God, Isaiah 44:28: "Who say to Cyrus: You are My shepherd." And Psalm 2:9: "You shall rule them with a rod of iron," Hebrew תרעם tirem, that is, you shall feed them. And frequently elsewhere the Hebrew רעה raa, the Greek ποιμαίνω, and the Latin pasco signify to rule, as may be seen in Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:6; Acts 20:28; Apocalypse 2:7; 12:5; 14:15. So Homer calls Agamemnon, king of the Greeks, ποιμένα λαῶν, that is, shepherd of peoples.

MY LAMBS. — Christ, as it were the first Shepherd of the Church, here calls His faithful now sheep, now more tenderly lambs; both because of the newness of their life — for by baptism they have been regenerated as new lambs of God; and because of the lamb-like innocence which they obtained in baptism; and because of their following of Christ, who was called by John the Baptist "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world," John 1. Therefore the word "sheep" signifies that Christ is the shepherd of Christians, but the word "lambs" signifies that Christ is their father, nay, their mother, inasmuch as He begot them to God through baptism and adopted them as sons to Himself. So lambs and sheep are the same, says Jansenius. Hence the Ethiopic has "sheep" for "lambs," and repeats "sheep" the third time. Euthymius, Theophylact and Ribera add that "lambs" are called, as the name itself indicates, those recently converted to the faith and more tender in faith, whose number would be great as the Apostles began to preach; and these needed greater care, since with greater labor they were to be raised and sustained: therefore the Lord says twice: "Feed My lambs," so that by this repetition He might show that He desired Peter to have the greatest care of them; but He now calls "sheep" those stronger in faith, why He calls them so we have said in chapter 10.

Again, by "lambs" he understands the simple faithful; by "sheep" the teachers, pastors, Bishops and Apostles, who are as it were mothers of the faithful. So Bellarmine, De Pontifice, Book I, ch. 16.

From this passage, therefore, it is clear that St. Peter and his successor the Roman Pontiff is the head and prince of the Church, and that all the faithful, even Bishops, Patriarchs, and Apostles, must be subject to him and be fed and ruled by him. This is gathered first from the fact that Christ here questions Peter alone, and that thrice, as the prince and mouth of the Apostles, say St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius. Moreover, Christ here tacitly signifies that Peter loves Him more than the other Apostles, and therefore that he is worthy to succeed Him in the love and care of the flock, that is, of the Church and of the faithful. For the power falls that is not supported by charity.

Second, this is clear from the word "feed," that is, rule, as I have said, and from the words "lambs" and "sheep": for by this word, by "sheep" are signified all the faithful, even the Apostles and the whole Church: all of which Calvin, Luther, and the heretics deny.

From this passage the Theologians and Suarez (Treatise On Indulgences) teach that the power of granting Indulgences was given by Christ to Peter and the Pontiffs succeeding him, and they prove it thus. For under that word "feed" is included every act of jurisdiction which can contribute to closing or opening the kingdom of heaven, so that in this way the grant is equal to the promise; but the remission of punishments through Indulgences is one of the acts by which the kingdom of heaven is opened: therefore that also is comprehended under the universal office of feeding Christ's sheep.

Verse 16: He Saith to Him Again: Simon, Son of John, Lovest Thou Me? Feed My Lambs

16. HE SAID TO HIM AGAIN: SIMON, SON OF JOHN, DO YOU LOVE ME? HE SAID TO HIM: YES, LORD, YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU. — Hear Chrysostom: "He again fears his former lapses, lest perhaps, thinking himself to love, if he does not love, he should be rebuked, as before he was rebuked while thinking himself strong; and so he takes refuge in Christ Himself."

HE SAID TO HIM AGAIN: FEED MY LAMBS. — So also the Arabic has. But the Greek and Syriac have πρόβατα, that is "sheep" for "lambs," yet it is very likely that our version along with the Arabic read in Greek προβάτια with an inserted iota, that is "little sheep," such as lambs are: for care of these especially belongs to the shepherd, and therefore by repeating and doubling the saying here Christ urges it home, as St. Augustine says: "Let it be the duty of love to feed the Lord's flock, just as it was the sign of fear to deny the Shepherd."

Hence St. Gregory, Pastoral Rule, Part I, ch. 5: "He who, being strong in virtues, refuses to feed the flock of God, is shown not to love his Shepherd."

Verse 17: He Saith to Him the Third Time: Simon, Son of John, Lovest Thou Me? Feed My Sheep

17. HE SAID TO HIM A THIRD TIME: SIMON, SON OF JOHN, DO YOU LOVE ME? PETER WAS GRIEVED, BECAUSE HE SAID TO HIM THE THIRD TIME, DO YOU LOVE ME? AND HE SAID: LORD, YOU KNOW ALL THINGS; YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU. HE SAID TO HIM: FEED MY SHEEP (the Syriac: My little sheep). — Why does Christ question Peter three times about love, and repeat three times: "Feed My sheep"? I reply: The first reason is that Peter should expiate, redeem, and enlarge his threefold denial of Christ by a threefold and constant profession of the same singular love. So Cyril, Leontius, Theophylactus, Bede, and St. Augustine, Tractate 123, whom hear: "A threefold confession is rendered for the threefold denial, lest the tongue serve love less than it served fear, and lest imminent death should seem to have drawn forth more of the voice than present life. Let it be the duty of love to feed the Lord's flock, just as it was the sign of fear to deny the Shepherd. Those who feed Christ's sheep with this mind — that they want them to be theirs, not Christ's — are shown to love themselves, not Christ, out of desire for glory, or dominion, or gain, not out of the charity of obedience and relief and pleasing God; against such, therefore, watches the voice of Christ so often urged, over whom the Apostle groans as seeking their own things, not those of Jesus Christ. For what else is it: If you love Me, feed My sheep, than if it were said:

Christ signifies all the faithful of the Church, subject to Himself as it were to their first Shepherd; for He excepts none. Those, therefore, who are Christ's sheep, these are also Peter's sheep; for Christ here commits them to him to be fed and ruled. But those who are not Peter's sheep, as are the heretics, these also are not Christ's sheep. The other Apostles, therefore, because they were Christ's sheep, were likewise Peter's sheep. Hence Peter had to direct them, and wherever they erred to correct them, to reconcile their disagreements, and to govern them in all things: for Christ instituted the best form of government in the Church, which is monarchical: both that the Church might be one; and to remove schisms, as St. Cyprian teaches, De Unitate Ecclesiae, Book I: "The primacy," he says, "is given to Peter, so that one Church of Christ and one chair may be shown forth." And St. Jerome, epistle 57 to Damasus: "Among the twelve," he says, "one is chosen, so that a head being constituted, the occasion of schism might be removed." Hear St. Leo, Sermon 3 On his Assumption to the Pontificate: "Out of the whole world one Peter is chosen, to be set over the vocation of all nations and over all the Apostles and over all the Fathers of the Church: so that, although in the people of God there are many priests and many shepherds, yet Peter properly rules them all, over whom Christ principally reigns. A great and wonderful thing, dearly beloved, is the fellowship of His power which the divine condescension has bestowed upon this man; and if He willed that anything should be common with him to the other princes, He never gave it except through him whatever He did not deny to others."

Hear likewise St. Bernard, De Consideratione, Book III, to Eugene the Pope, toward the end: "They, that is the Bishops, each have flocks assigned to them; to you all are committed: one to one, and you are the one Shepherd, not only of sheep, but of shepherds, the one Shepherd of all. How should I prove this, you ask? From the word of the Lord. To whom, I say — not of Bishops, but of Apostles — were flocks so absolutely and indiscriminately and wholly committed? If you love Me, Peter, feed My sheep; which? the peoples of this or that city or region, or certainly of a kingdom? 'My sheep,' He says: to whom is it not plain that He did not designate some but assigned all? Nothing is excepted where nothing is distinguished." And Innocent III, in the chapter Solitae De Majoritate et Obedientia, says: "To us, however, in blessed Peter the sheep of Christ have been committed, the Lord saying: Feed My sheep; not distinguishing between these sheep and others, so that He might show to be outside His fold whoever does not recognize Peter and his successors as masters and shepherds." See the comments on Matthew 16:18. See also Bellarmine, De Pontifice, Book I, chapter 16, sections 14, 15 and 16, where he teaches that Christ by this command given to Peter, saying: "Feed My sheep," at the same time instituted the Pontificate as it were the Ecclesiastical primacy, and handed it over to St. Peter and his successors the Roman Pontiffs; and in chapter 14 he proves that these words were spoken by Christ to Peter alone; in chapter 15, that by the word "feed" is signified rule and the power of ruling.

Verse 18: Amen, Amen, I Say to You

Amen, amen I say to you: when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you would: but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you (the Arabic and Syriac: "shall gird your loins"), and shall lead you where you would not, — namely according to the natural and sensitive will: for by his rational will Peter desired this supremely. The sense is, as if to say: When you are grown old, O Peter, you will be crucified at Rome by Nero, says St. Augustine, as a preacher of the new Christian sect, and as the overturner and slayer of Simon Magus, who was deranging Nero by his magical illusions. Hence St. Chrysostom: "He foretells to him his martyrdom," he says, "showing how and how much it is right to love Christ and His sheep, namely even unto the cross."

When you were younger. — By this it is shown, says Chrysostom, that Peter was neither young nor old, but a mature man. For such it was fitting that the Pontiff and Prince of the Apostles should be, that his age might procure authority for him, and yet he should be fit and vigorous for Apostolic labors. And he adds the reason: "In secular things a young man is indeed useful, an old man useless; but in divine things it is not so: rather when old age comes upon one, then virtue is brighter: and because Peter always desired to undergo dangers for Christ, He says that He will fulfill his desire, that the things he did not suffer as a young man, he may suffer as an old man."

The sense is, as if to say: When you were younger, and were more vigorous in bodily strength for enduring labors, you girded yourself, that is, you were free, and rose from bed at your own pleasure when you willed, and clothed yourself, and went wherever you wished; but when you shall be old, at that time when men seek rest and repose, you will not rest at all, but will labor the more; for they will bind you and lead you to the cross, where you shall stretch forth your hands, that is, be crucified.

Less correctly, therefore, Lyranus explains "another shall gird you," as if to say: another will bind you to the cross with ropes, not fasten you with nails. For it will gird you not at the cross, but at the loins, as the Arabic and Syriac render it, [this explanation] pertains to Peter's arms and hands, as if to say: "Another," namely the lictor or executioner, will bind with a rope your loins and arms, so as to lead you and drag you as a condemned man where you do not wish, namely to the cross. Moreover, that St. Peter was fastened to the cross not with ropes but with nails is clearly taught by St. Chrysostom, in his homily on the Prince of the Apostles: "Rejoice, Peter," he says, "who didst enjoy the wood of the cross, and didst refuse to be crucified after the likeness of your Master in an upright posture, like our Lord, but rather with head inverted, as if preparing a journey from earth to heaven. O those blessed nails, which passed through those most holy members!" The same is taught by Prudentius, Peristephanon, hymn 12; St. Maximus, Sermon 1 on the Birthday of the Apostles; Theodoret, Sermon on Charity.

Excellently St. Augustine, Tractate 123: "That denier and lover," he says, "lifted up by presumption, prostrated by denying, purged by weeping, proved by confessing, crowned by suffering, found this end, that he died for His name in perfect love, with whom he had promised by a wrong-headed haste that he would die: being strengthened by His Resurrection, he does what, weak, he rashly promised: now he fears not the end of this life, because, the Lord having risen, an example of the other life has gone before."

Verse 19: This He Said, Signifying by What Death He Would Glorify God

19. This he said, signifying by what death he would glorify God. — In Greek doxasei, that is, he would glorify. So also the Syriac and Arabic. Peter therefore by dying on the cross glorified God, and so this death on the cross was not ignominious, as Nero and the Romans considered it, but a praise and glory both of God and of Peter. First, because Peter was crucified and died for the truth of the faith: but this is glorious; for by this very thing he became a martyr, and by his death sealed and confirmed the faith which he had preached.

Second, he glorified God; because he was crucified for God, and for God's Son Jesus Christ, whom he preached; and what is more glorious than to die for God?

Third, because in the death of the cross he was like the crucified Christ, so that he to whom he had been like in life and in the pontificate, should also be like in cross and death: for "it is great glory to follow the Lord," says Ecclesiasticus 23:38. So Chrysostom: "He did not say 'about to die,'" he says, "but 'about to glorify,' because to suffer for Christ is honor and glory." Hence the martyrdom of the cross is more noble than other martyrdoms, and therefore was desired by many who were crucified. For Christ by dying upon it ennobled the cross; and therefore St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter, so ardently desired the cross, and when dying upon it exulted and rejoiced. For this reason St. Peter himself did not want to be crucified in the same manner as Christ, lest he should be made equal to Christ in the glory of the cross; but in the opposite manner, namely with his head downward and his feet raised on high, as St. Augustine teaches, Sermon 28 On the Saints. And St. Maximus, Sermon 1 On the Birthday of the Apostles: "This is," he says, "Peter, who when he was led to the cross as a disciple of Christ, asking to be crucified with his body inverted, did not fear the passion, but declined the equality of the Lord's cross, that he might show to all the virtue of his admirable humility and might preserve the discipline and understanding of the new mystery in his sufferings."

Theodoret also gives another reason, saying thus: "When he had been condemned to death on the cross by Nero, he begged the executioners that he should not be fastened to the beam in the same manner as the Lord, but in the opposite way: fearing (which is likely) that the same passion might procure for him the same honor from foolish men; therefore he asked that his hands should be fixed below, and his feet above." So also Theodoret, Oration On Charity.

Fourth, because Peter dying on the cross for Christ obtained great glory from Him, both in heaven and on earth, because he glorified God as the source and author of this his glory. Hence the faithful throughout the whole world, and even kings and princes, flock to Rome that they may visit and venerate the place of the cross and burial of Blessed Peter and his basilica on the Vatican, which is the marvel of the world. So St. Augustine, Sermon 28 On the Saints: "Now," he says, "at the memorial of the fisherman the knees of the Emperor are bent: there the gems of the diadem shine where the benefits of the fisherman flash forth." And elsewhere, writing to the Madaurenses: "You see also the most eminent summit of the noblest Empire, with diadem lowered, offering supplication at the sepulchre of Peter the fisherman." And Chrysostom, in his homily That Christ is God: "Leaving all things," he says, "kings and magistrates and soldiers run to the sepulchres of the fisherman and the tent-maker. And at Constantinople our kings consider it a great favor if their bodies be buried not near the Apostles, but even outside their vestibules, and the kings become doorkeepers to the fishermen." The same Chrysostom on Psalm 48: "How many kings have overthrown cities, built gates and departed with their names inscribed; yet nothing of this profited them, but they were consigned to silence and oblivion. But the fisherman Peter, who did none of these things, because he followed virtue and occupied the greatest royal city, even after death shines brighter than the sun." That the city is fortified by their sepulchres he elsewhere says: "This body fortifies this people more than any tower or countless walls and ramparts; and with it the body also of blessed Peter," etc. See the same Chrysostom, homily 32 on the Epistle to the Romans. Rightly therefore Prudentius, in the passage already cited, speaking of the death of St. Peter on the cross, says: "Behold him crowned with a proud death." Proud then is the death of the cross, in which a Christian may piously glory, according to that of Isaiah 60:15: "I will make you the pride of generations." And chapter 61:6: "You shall eat the strength of the nations, and in their glory you shall glory."

Morally, learn here, with Saints Peter and Paul, to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to rejoice when Christ makes you a sharer in it and sends into you some little particle of His cross, whether through sickness, or through persecution, or through contempt, or through any other affliction. For in no thing is God more glorified than in martyrdom and the cross, if it be borne patiently and cheerfully. The cross, therefore, of Christ and of the Christian is an honor and glory, not a disgrace and shame.

And when he had said this, he said to him: Follow me. — Note with Cyril, Chrysostom, Toletus, Jansenius, Maldonatus, Ribera, and others, that Christ here signifies by deed to Peter the same thing which He had said in word. Therefore He Himself, rising and leaving the place of the banquet, invites Peter to follow Him walking ahead on foot, and this in order to signify that he would follow Him as lawful Vicar in those things which He had just foretold him, namely in the pastoral care of the sheep and in the suffering of the cross. He therefore says: "Follow Me," first, as if to say: "Follow Me," as in going, so also in succeeding Me in the government of the Church: succeed Me therefore as shepherd and ruler of My whole Church.

Second, "Follow Me," that as I went ahead to the cross, so you also may follow Me to it. Nor let the cross to be undergone for Me seem hard to you, because I first underwent it for you and went before you and the other faithful to it and leveled the way. For it is fitting that you follow Me, as in life and in the pastoral office, so also in death and on the cross, so that you may lay down your life for the sheep and be a leader for the other faithful to the cross and to martyrdom. Hence the Gloss: "If the Shepherd," it says, "was sacrificed as a sheep, let those who are made shepherds out of sheep not fear to be sacrificed." Hence when Peter had been shut up by Nero at Rome in the Mamertine prison, and the Christians urged him to flee and almost compelled him to it by their prayers, he, in order to satisfy them, fled; but outside the gate which is now called St. Sebastian's, Christ met him, and being asked by Peter, "Lord, where are You going?" He answered, "I come to be crucified at Rome again." Peter understood that Christ wished to be crucified not in His own body, but in the body of Peter, His Vicar. Immediately, therefore, he returned to the prison and shortly afterwards underwent the cross. This place of the meeting and conversation of Christ with Peter still exists today near Rome, and adorned with a chapel is devoutly visited and commonly called: Domine, quo vadis? So from St. Ambrose, St. Gregory, Hegesippus, and others, Baronius, volume I, year of Christ 69, chapter 6.

Third, "Follow Me" in the pastoral care, and in the manner of feeding and ruling the faithful, so that you may feed them as much by word as by example, and especially with outstanding charity, just as I fed them; and that in all things you may follow the footsteps of My doctrine and My life. For My life is the idea and exemplar of the perfect shepherd, which therefore I wish you and your successors always to have before your eyes and to imitate.

Hear Theophylact: In that He says, "Follow Me," He appoints him Prelate of all the faithful, and at the same time wills that he follow Him in all words and works. Finally, He shows His affection toward him: for those who are more closely bound to us, we desire to follow.

Excellently St. Irenaeus, Book IV, chapter 28: "To follow the Savior," he says, "is to share in salvation, and to follow the light is to share in the light: those who are in the light do not themselves illumine the light, but are illumined and enlightened by it."

Verse 20: Peter Turning Around Saw That Disciple Whom Jesus Loved

20. Peter turning around saw that disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also leaned on his breast at supper, and said: Lord, who is it that shall betray you? 21. When therefore Peter had seen him, he said to Jesus: Lord, and what shall this man do? — Peter, obeying Christ, was beginning to follow Him; soon John and the rest of his companions were following too. Peter, therefore, being concerned about John and the companions, turned around and looked back and saw them following; and, leaving the others aside, asks Christ what was to become of John; namely, whether John was to follow Christ in the same way as he himself, and to die on the cross. Peter asked this, both because he loved John above the others; and because he knew him to be loved by Christ above the others, and therefore to have reclined on His breast. He wondered, therefore, that Christ should here pass over John whom He loved so much; hence he calls him to His remembrance, as if to say: What will happen to John, so beloved of You? Surely, as you preferred him to me at supper, so now in the pastoral office you could rightly have preferred him to me, and have subjected me to him as to a shepherd; but since it seemed otherwise to you, at least I should like to know what his fate and death will be. Then finally, because Peter here returns the favor to John in asking: for as John at the supper, at Peter's urging, had asked Jesus who was to betray Him, so here in turn Peter asks Jesus about John, thinking that John desired to know what was to become of himself, and yet did not dare to ask Christ. Hear Chrysostom: "Because the Lord had foretold great things to him, and had committed the world to him, and had predicted his martyrdom, and had testified a greater love for him, wishing also to receive John as a participant, he said: 'And what of this man?' as if to say: Will he not come the same way with us? For Peter greatly loved John, and thinking that he wanted to ask about himself but did not dare, took the questioning upon himself for him."

Hence let prelates learn not to follow their own affections, nor to indulge love, but to follow reason in all things, so as to appoint as pastors not those who are dearer to them, but those who are more fit for that office: just as Christ here appointed not John, although a beloved kinsman, but Peter as His Vicar, successor, and Pontiff of the Church.

Verse 22: So I Will Have Him to Remain Until I Come

22. Jesus said to him: So I will have him to remain until I come, what is it to you? — There are here three readings: The first, that of the Greeks, and thence of the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic: "If I will to have him remain." The second, of St. Jerome, Book II, from that passage of Luke 9:27: "There are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God." So also St. Ambrose understands it, book VII on Luke, at the beginning, and Georgius Trapezuntius; a treatise on this "thus I will him to remain"; Catharinus, on chapter II of Genesis. Toward this also incline Theophylact, Salmeron and Barradius here, and Euthymius at chapter XLIII on Matthew.

Others, however, whom St. Augustine mentions and refutes here, tract. 124, think that St. John lives within his tomb, because the earth of his sepulchre is said to bubble continually, and they suppose this happens from St. John's breathing and panting.

On the contrary, Theophylact holds that St. John was slain by the Emperor Trajan, and he proves this by that text Matthew 20:23: "You shall drink My chalice."

But I say truly: It is far more true, and certain to me, that St. John died a natural death. For this the Fathers everywhere hand down, such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, Eusebius, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, Bede and others, from whom Baronius teaches that St. John died in the year of Christ 101, the 9th of Pope Clement, the 2nd of the Emperor Trajan, in his 93rd year, 68 years from the Passion of Christ; he died, I say, at Ephesus, and was buried near that city, Onesimus, St. Paul's disciple, succeeding him in the episcopacy of Ephesus. The tradition of the Church confirms this same thing, which celebrates the feast of St. John as one who has completed life, and is now blessed, and reigning with Christ in heaven. For this happens to no one except after death.

Moreover, the manner in which John died Gregory of Tours describes, book I History of the Franks, chap. 26: "John," he says, "the Evangelist, an old man and full of days, laid himself down in the sepulchre"; and book I On the Glory of the Martyrs, chap. XXX: "John, descending alive into the tomb, commanded that he should be covered with earth. From his sepulchre even today manna in the manner of flour bubbles forth, from which blessed relics, carried through the whole world, bestow health upon the sick." Peter Damian, in sermon 2 On St. John the Apostle: "Now indeed," he says, "whom does that wondrous novelty of his blessed departure not move? Who is not astonished at the glory of his most happy consummation? For because he lived wondrously, he died wondrously; and because he did not lead a life common with men, he did not pass away by the common death of men. For, as histories record, he commanded a square pit to be made in the church, and forthwith descending into it, with hands extended, after the words of a long outpoured prayer, he passed away." Then he adds a new miracle: "But presently so great a light from heaven was let down upon him, that no sight could endure it. Afterwards, however, the pit was found, containing nothing else in itself but manna, which, as is said, ceases not to gush forth even to this day. Thus indeed, thus was it fitting that the disciple beloved of the Author of life should pass from the world, that he should become as foreign to the color of death as he had been alien from the corruption of the flesh."

Note: From that phrase "thus I will him to remain until I come," many have judged that St. John is not dead, but will come with Elijah and Enoch to contend against Antichrist. For the angel seems to assert this, Apocalypse 10:11, saying to John: "You must prophesy again to the nations." Thus held St. Hippolytus, treatise On the Consummation of the Age; Dorotheus and Metaphrastes in the Life of St. John; Damascenus, oration On the Transfiguration, and this is confirmed by Nicephorus, book II, chapter XLII, that the body of St. John, as also that of the Blessed Virgin, was not found after burial; wherefore he rose again and was reanimated and endowed with glory and brought by Christ into the heavens. Of this opinion St. Ambrose also makes mention, sermon 20 on Psalm 118, and St. Jerome (or whoever is the author), sermon On the Assumption, nor do they reject it. That John has risen, D. Thomas here and B. Peter Damian, sermon 2 On John the Apostle, also piously hold. Damian gives the reason: "It is pious," he says, "to think that, just as is believed concerning the blessed Mother of God, so also blessed John is probably asserted to have risen already: inasmuch as just as they were sharers in virginal integrity, so no less in anticipated resurrection they may deservedly seem equal; nor let there be in the resurrection any diversity between those who had such unanimity of conversation in life. For if these most blessed virgins, namely John and Mary, had by no means risen, why do their corpses not lie buried in their tombs, whereas the bodies of the blessed Peter and Paul and of the other Apostles and Martyrs are known each to be entombed in its own mausoleum."

The same is held by Dionysius the Carthusian, Hugh of St. Victor, Albert the Great, Luis of Granada, sermon 3 On St. John, and many more recent writers; although this opinion has a certain foundation neither in Scripture, nor in the tradition of the ancients; indeed, it is also opposed by the fact that in the Council of Ephesus the relics of the Martyrs are commanded to be venerated, and especially those of St. John. And Pope Celestine, in his epistle to the Council of Ephesus: "Above all," he says, "it behooves you to consider especially, and again and again to call to mind, to whom John the Apostle preached, whose relics you now honor." Almost the same is held in the VIIth General Synod, act. 5, near the end. If the relics of St. John are at Ephesus, therefore he has not yet risen; unless someone say that the relics there are understood not of the body, but of the garments, books, and similar utensils which John used; or certainly of hair, beard, or blood emitted in bloodletting. Hence now there are no relics of the body of St. John to be found. See Baronius and Suarez, III p., Quaest. LIX, disp. LV, art. 6, sect. 3.

You will say: How then is St. John called a martyr by the Fathers and by the Church, if he died a natural death? I answer with St. Jerome, on chapter XX of Matthew, that St. John is a martyr, because he was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil at Rome before the Latin Gate, by the Emperor Domitian because of his preaching of Christ, as Tertullian teaches, chapter XXXVI De Praescriptione, and the most ancient tradition of the Roman Church confirms, where in memory of this event a church is seen erected on the same spot: moreover, the event is celebrated yearly by the Church on May 6. For although St. John was not killed then, but came out unharmed; nevertheless, because he voluntarily offered himself to so bitter a death for Christ, and because that boiling oil was a sufficient cause to inflict death upon him; indeed, it would have inflicted it naturally and necessarily; had it not been impeded, by God miraculously preserving St. John unharmed and restraining the force of the boiling oil: hence John is rightly a martyr, and is called a martyr.

Moreover this passage (like that of Luke 9:27, and the other of Apocalypse 10:11, as I have shown there) does not favor the contrary opinion. For the sense is, first, as if He said: I will you, Peter, to follow Me through the cross, but I will John to remain thus, that is, without the cross and violent death, "until I come," that is, so that when he has died a natural death I may take him to Myself in heaven. So St. Augustine, Bede, St. Thomas, Rupert and Maldonatus.

Secondly, as if He said: I will John to remain in life, until I come to the public destruction of Jerusalem and Judea, which slew Me. For I shall come through Titus and the Romans to avenge My slaughter, that is, of the Messiah, by the common ruin and slaughter of the whole Jewish nation. For St. Peter and the other Apostles were slain before the destruction of Jerusalem, but John alone survived it: and so these two brothers, James and John, gave the beginning and the end of the martyrdom of the Apostles: for among them the first to fall was James, the last, John. So Theophylact, Toletus, Ribera, Suarez and others. Some add, in Theophylact, that John remained in Judea until its destruction, and that this is signified here by Christ. So D. Thomas and Ribera: as if He said, I will John to remain in Judea until its destruction, and then I will lead him out to preach in Asia.

Christ willed John to remain as a survivor for so long, for four reasons. The first is, that John might be the base and column of the Church against the heretics already springing up, and might testify to all that the sayings and deeds of Christ written here by the Evangelists, as also by himself, are most true; nay more, that he had seen them with his own eyes and heard them with his own ears. The second, that this longevity might be to him in place of martyrdom: for John greatly desired to die, that he might enjoy Christ, saying: "Come, Lord Jesus," Apocalypse 22. The third, that when the destruction of Judea was imminent, he might warn Christians to depart from it, as Eusebius testifies that they did depart, book III Hist., chap. IV. The fourth, that he might testify to all that the destruction of Judea was inflicted on account of Christ slain by it, and that this had been foretold by Christ, Matthew 23:37; and in this way he might confirm the faithful in the faith of Christ, and convert the unbelieving Jews to it.

Finally, whether you read si or sic, the sense will be the same, if you say that the si is understood. Hence some read si sic, so that Christ speaks by concession, as if He said: "Thus I will him to remain," that is, I grant, or let it be that I will John to remain thus; or, if I will him to remain thus, what is that to you? For Christ seems only to wish to check Peter's curiosity, as I said above from Cyril and Chrysostom. And in this way the sense and agreement of all three readings will be the same.

Moreover, St. Caesarius, brother of St. Gregory Nazianzen, Dialogue 5, thus newly expounds it: "Thus I will him to remain," that is, he says, I will John to remain by the Sea of Tiberias, in which a little before he had caught with Peter 153 fishes; for they were standing there fishing: but you, O Peter, I will to withdraw from the sea and to follow Me. This seems too literal and grammatical, and therefore cold, unless you join to it some one of the senses already given, as it were the signified to the signifying. Hence some in Theophylact add, "until I come," that is, until willing I shall direct him to preach; for you, O Peter, I now direct to the Pontificate of the world.

Anagogically, there is here represented in John the contemplative and blessed life, triumphant in the heavens; but in Peter, the active, laborious life, militant on earth. Hear St. Augustine, tract. 124: "Why did the Lord love John more, when Peter loved the Lord more? As I understand it, he is better who loves Christ more; he is happier, whom Christ loves more. I think therefore that two lives are here signified, one which is in faith, through the Apostle Peter, on account of the primacy of his apostolate; and so to him it is said: Follow Me, namely by imitation in enduring temporal evils. But the other, which is in hope, through John, of whom it is said: Thus I will him to remain until I come; namely, to render everlasting goods. As if He said: Let perfect action follow Me, formed by the example of My passion; but let contemplation begun remain, that is, let it await being perfected when I shall come. In the active life, the more we love Christ, the more easily we are freed from evil; but He loves us less such as we are, and therefore frees us that we may not always be such; there He loves us more, where we shall not have what displeases Him, and what He takes from us. Let Peter love Him, that we may be freed from this mortality; let John be loved, that we may be preserved in that immortality. John loves less, because he remains, that is, waits; not yet having that love which then will be much greater. This therefore has been signified through Peter loving more, but loved less; for Christ loves us less when miserable than when blessed. And we love less the contemplation of truth, such as shall then be, because we do not yet know nor possess it."

The Gloss embraces both more briefly when it says: "That He loves [one] more is manifest mercy, but hidden justice; here are commended the two lives of the Church; to the stormy [one] the helm is given the keys, for binding and loosing sins; for the other, a quiet rest is had reclining on the breast of Jesus, from whence truth is drunk, and that John is a virgin, befits the future life, where neither shall they marry nor be given in marriage."

Tropologically, there is here represented the incorruption, integrity and immortality of virginity and of virgins, so that they may be said always to remain alive and vigorous in the same state, as St. John remained for a very long time. Whence the Wise Man, Wisdom 4:1, exclaims: "O how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory: for its memory is immortal, etc., and crowned forever it triumphs." He gives the reason in chapter VI, saying: "Incorruption makes [one] to be near to God." See what is said there. For because the chaste imitate the chastity and purity of God, hence they are assimilated to God, and therefore are loved by Him, and they draw a wondrous wisdom, holiness and long-lasting soundness here, and in the heavens eternal [soundness], as St. John drew. For this cause B. Peter Damian, sermon On the Excellence of St. John, calls him "an instrument of divine mysteries, the radiance of heaven, a heavenly eagle," etc.

Verse 23: This Saying Therefore Went Abroad Among the Brethren

23. This saying therefore went abroad among the brethren, that that disciple does not die. — As if he said: From this a rumor was spread among the Apostles and disciples, that John was not to die, but was to remain in life, until Christ would come at the day of judgment, and then would take him alive with Himself into heaven. Nor is this to be wondered at; for, as I said a little before, many of the Fathers held the same opinion.

And Jesus did not say to him: He does not die; but: So I will have him to remain until I come, what is that to you? It is a correction: for John corrects the false suspicion of the disciples about himself, that he was not to die. Whence it is gathered that there was another sense to Christ's words, and that John truly died, as I showed in verse 22.

Verse 24: This Is That Disciple Who Bears Witness of These Things

24. This is that disciple who bears witness of these things, and has written these things (namely John, who is accustomed out of modesty to speak of himself in the third person), and we know that (his) testimony is true, — as if he said: This is not the testimony of me alone; but I and all who have lived with Christ, or have been their hearers and disciples, know that this disciple testifies and writes true things. So Euthymius, Toletus, Ribera, Maldonatus. For few were then surviving of those who had lived with Christ, but many had heard the same things from them. For John wrote this Gospel against Cerinthus, Menander, Ebion and other heretics then already springing up, who denied that Christ is God, and therefore disparaged his preaching and Gospel, as though false and feigned.

Hence St. Irenaeus relates, book III, chap. III, and St. Epiphanius, heresy 30, that St. John, led by the Holy Spirit, went to a bath and asked who was bathing in it, and having heard that Ebion was there, wept and said to his companions: "Hasten, brethren, let us go out from here, lest the bath fall, and we perish with Ebion, who is inside in the bath, because of his impiety."

Verse 25: And There Are Also Many Other Things Which Jesus Did

25. And there are also many other things which Jesus did: which, if they were written every one, not even the world itself, I think, could contain the books which would be written (that is, which would be written down). — The Syriac: which, if they were written one by one, not even the world itself, as I think, would suffice for those books which would be written; the Arabic: the world would not contain them in written books.

First, St. Augustine, tract. 124, Bede, Rupert, St. Thomas, Lyra and others, take the phrase "nor could the world contain the books" expounding not of the space of places, but of the capacity of readers, as if he said: The whole world would not contain, that is, would not understand, would not penetrate the mysteries of the doctrine and life of Christ, because they are deep and divine. But in this way, no one could grasp, that is penetrate, even one of Christ's sayings concerning the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the Eucharist, etc.

Secondly, St. Jerome, on chapter XX of Matthew; Nicephorus, book I Histor., chap. XXIV, and Ribera here, interpret the word "contain" as meaning by faith, that is to believe, as if he said: If so many and such unheard-of and stupendous miracles of Christ were narrated, worldly men would not be able to bear them; but they would suppose either that the eyes of men had been deluded by magic arts, or that they were dreams or fables, and that so many and such great things could not be done by anyone; therefore the Evangelists say few things about the most marvelous. But this is opposed by the fact that the unbelieving world does not believe even one sign of Christ: whereas the faithful would have believed all. Add that the text says "books," not "signs."

Thirdly therefore and genuinely, it is a hyperbole, as if he said: If the individual acts and sayings of Christ were written, so many and great things would have to be written, that the world would be filled with books, so that most numerous and almost innumerable books would be written. So in common speech we say: In a library there are innumerable books, that is very many; and: The whole world says this, that is, very many say this; "behold the whole world has gone after Him," John 12:19, that is, very many follow Jesus. So Cyril, Augustine, Chrysostom, Leontius, Bede, Theophylact, Euthymius, Cajetan, Jansenius, Toletus and others. Hence it is clear that the Evangelists omitted very many of Christ's sayings and deeds, and wrote only a few, so that from them we might recognize Christ as God and man, and as it were estimate the lion from its claw.

You will say: This hyperbole seems to be too great; for the whole world would contain innumerable myriads of books. I reply, that it is not too great, but rather less than it should be, if it were compared with the greatness, excellence and majesty of the things to be written. For this, note that in Christ there were two natures, divine and human, and thence two, indeed three kinds of actions; namely, first, divine, such as knowing and comprehending all things, loving the Father with infinite love, breathing forth the Holy Spirit, etc., concerning which, if one were to write worthily, there would have to be infinite books, which the world would not contain; for however many would be written by men, they would never equal, much less exhaust, even one of Christ's action, inasmuch as it is divine and in every way infinite. Thus Christ by a single word and concept of His mind knows, comprehends, says and speaks all things; and yet this single word is so fruitful and sublime, and contains so many things, that all angels and men cannot equal it or fully express it by infinite words and books. Indeed one Seraph angel knows, says and does more by one act than the lowest angels and men do by many acts; much more does Christ Himself do the same, who far surpasses all Seraphim.

The second actions of Christ were human, such as speaking, making, eating, walking, etc.; these, if considered bare, could be written in a few books; but if they be considered as they were done by Christ, and were directed by the inner spirit of prudence, charity and the other virtues, they could be worthily described by no human pen, because no one in writing can attain to and equally express the spirit and virtues of Christ; for Christ did all His things so integrally, so heroically, so angelically, with all their circumstances, that no writers could write them worthily and set them before the eyes. For the individual actions of Christ contained in themselves very many virtues, excellences, and perfections, and therefore cannot be equaled by very many of ours, just as no heap and abundance of stones can equal the excellence of the diamond.

The third actions of Christ were mixed, that is partly human, partly divine, which therefore are called by St. Dionysius theandric, that is God-manly, such as to preach the Gospel, to raise the dead, to work miracles, to institute the Eucharist and the other Sacraments, etc., which Christ did as man, but directed by the deity hypostatically united to Himself. These actions far less can be worthily explained and represented by all the writers of the world, who are, have been and shall be, because they are actions flowing immediately from God, and therefore containing in themselves divine force and excellence, which far surpass and transcend all human genius, all pen and hand of writers, according to that saying of Job 11:7: "Perhaps you will comprehend the footsteps of God, and find out the Almighty to perfection? He is higher than heaven, and what will you do? deeper than hell, and how will you know? the measure of Him is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea."

Finally, the truth of this hyperbole is clear from the outcome and experience. For we see that about the life and deeds of Christ so many sermons, lectures, discourses are held yearly; so many books are written; so many commentaries, that it is impossible to count them; and so if the world should last forever, the same thing would always be done yearly, which, if you gather all into one, the world could not contain. Hence St. Leo, sermon 9 On the Nativity: "The magnitude of the divine work," he says, "exceeds the faculty of human eloquence; and thence arises the difficulty of speaking, whence is present the reason for not being silent, etc. And here the matter of praise never fails, because the abundance of the praiser is never sufficient."

Conclusion

Tropologically, from this learn from Christ that saying: "Fill your souls with virtues," namely, that you diligently produce many great and heroic works of virtue, and go on from virtue to virtue, until you see the God of gods in Sion. For Christ, in the three years and three months in which He preached, said and did so many and such great things that they cannot be worthily written down in any number of books. Say therefore to yourself that saying of the distinguished painter Zeuxis: "I paint for eternity, I live for eternity." I paint the image, nay rather the idea, of a holy life, which I shall display in heaven to God and to the angels, that it may constantly strike their eyes, that the blessed through all eternity may admire and celebrate it. Imitate therefore Christ, follow His orthodox faith and life. The truth is hoary, the faith is ancient, which Christ handed over to Peter, and Peter to his successors the Popes and to the Roman Church as it were a deposit to be kept inviolate. Flee therefore every new and novel faith, which the Innovators fabricated by themselves thrust upon us; for a new faith is unfaithful, fallacious and false; not faith, but perfidy. Paul writing to the Romans, chapter 1:8, assigns to them this praise, this glory: "Your faith is announced in the whole world." The Roman Church, St. Irenaeus, disciple of St. Polycarp and thence of John, book III, chap. III and IV, calls "a rich repository of Ecclesiastical traditions, because the Apostles most fully placed in her all things which are of truth, so that anyone who wishes may take from her the drink of life." St. Cyprian, epistle 45, calls her the matrix of the Churches. "For to this Church," says Irenaeus, "because of its more powerful principality, it is necessary that every Church agree, that is, those who are faithful everywhere; in which always by those who preside, that which is the tradition from the Apostles is preserved from every side." Tertullian, book On Prescription against Heretics, chap. XXXVI: "You have Rome," he says, "from where authority also is at hand for us. Happy is the Church in her standing, on which the Apostles poured out all their doctrine with their blood; where Peter is made equal to the Lord's passion (crucified like Christ), where Paul is crowned with the death of John (the Baptist, who was beheaded with a sword), where the Apostle John, after being plunged in burning oil, suffered nothing, and was banished to an island." Jerome, preface in book II of his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians: "Do you wish to know, O Paula and Eustochium," he says, "how the Apostle distinguished each province by its own characteristics? To this day the same traces either of virtues or of errors remain. The faith of the Roman people is praised. Where is the concourse to the churches and to the tombs of the martyrs so great in zeal and frequency? where does the Amen so resound after the likeness of heavenly thunder, and the empty temples of idols are shaken? not that the Romans have another faith than this which all the Churches of Christ have, but because the devotion in them is greater and [their] simplicity in believing."

Learn therefore the Gospel and the faith of Christ from the Roman Church, and express it in life and morals, and in this very thing daily advance and profit by great strides of virtues: so shall you follow Christ and attain Him in heavenly glory. The work which you do here in a moment, will remain forever and delight you; the work which you do not do here, will perish for you forever, nor will you ever be able to recover it. This He Himself will demand of you on the last and decisive day of the world, when with all the angels as judge He will sit and judge the living and the dead, and will examine you sincerely and severely concerning the faith and Christian life, so that, if you have followed it on the straight path, He will adjudge you to heaven; but if not, to hell, and that forever. Here you cast the die concerning your eternity; see that you cast it securely: for the cast is irrevocable.

Pinge Vive, Stude, Crede, Aeternitati. — Paint, live, study, believe — for eternity.

O how long, how deep, how immense, how blessed or miserable is the mistress of all ages, the boundless and ever-living Aeternitas! O human fragility, small is whatever you do in hope of things eternal!

(Eusebius Emesenus, homily on St. Maximus.)