Cornelius à Lapide

“ Observe, He had before deprecated it as a very bitter cup of gall, but now, on knowing the Father’s will, He embraces it, as full of honeyed sweetness. For what is sweeter than for Him to obey God, to offer Himself as a holocaust to God, to make Himself a sacrifice to God for the salvation of men? “How sweetly,” says S. Bernard (Serm. ii. in Pent.) , “didst Thou hold converse with men! How abundantly didst Thou bestow on them many and great blessings! How boldly didst Thou suffer such indignities and cruelties for men, so as to draw honey from the rock, and oil from the hardest stone!” ”

“ Ye must not give credit to wanderers, who shall say, Messiah, the Saviour of the Jews from the Romans, is hidden in desert places, or in secret chambers in the Temple; for when He shall come the second time to judgment to bless the saints and condemn the wicked, He will appear publicly to the whole world. The judge of all will appear like the lightning, radiant with great glory and majesty, so as to dazzle the eyes of all, and turn them upon Himself, in such a manner that no one will be able to doubt that He is the Christ the Saviour of the world. ”

“ Confidence in God alone remains, and of this, His last stay, they try to deprive Him. Thou hast vainly put Thy trust in God. Thou hast said falsely that Thou art the Son of God. If He loved Thee, He would set Thee free. But as He will not, Thou art clearly not His Son, but an odious impostor. Thus do they revile and seek to drive Him to despair, as the devil who assails men in their last agony. But how fallacious was their argument! For God, as specially loving Christ, wished Him to die on the Cross, that He might afterwards glorify Him in His resurrection, and by Him save many souls. ”

“ Jesus was wearied by His journey, that He might refresh the wearied; He asks for drink, though about to give spiritual drink to those who thirsted for it; He is hungry, though about to give the food of life to the hungry; He dies, though about to quicken; He is buried, though about to rise again; He hangs on the trembling tree, though about to strengthen the trembling; He covers the heaven with darkness, that He may illuminate it; He shakes the earth, in order to make it firm; He lifteth up the sea, that He may calm it ”

“ S. Hilary says, “We are bound to render unto God the things of God, our body, soul, and will; for the coin of Cæsar is in gold, in which his image is engraven; but God’s coin is man, in whom is the image of God. Give your money then to Cæsar, but keep for God the consciousness of your innocence.” ”

“ But, forasmuch as punishment infinite in intensity can neither be given nor yet endured by man, there shall be given to the reprobate a punishment of infinite duration which shall last for ever and ever. The author of the book on the Spirit and the Soul, in the works of S. Augustine, forcibly depicts the dreadfulness of this punishment. He says, there is to these miserable beings death without death, end without end, consumption without being consumed. For death also shall always live, and the end shall always be beginning. Death shall destroy, and not annihilate. ”

“ The Lord looked on Peter, and though exposed to the revilings of the Priests, the falsehoods of the witnesses, and the insults of those who smote and spat upon Him, He met His troubled disciple with those eyes wherewith He foresaw he would be troubled. And the glance of truth was turned on him in whom amendment of heart was to be wrought, as though the voice of the Lord sounded within him, and said, What doest thou, Peter? Why dost thou withdraw into thine own conscience? ”

“ Besides this, all kinds of suffering concur in the Cross, and Christ embraced them all in His own, to set the martyrs an example of every kind of endurance. For the Cross wounds the hands and feet as a sword, it stretches out the body as a rack, lacerates it as a hoof, mangles it as a beast, burns and tortures it as a flame, and kills the whole man, as it were, with a slow fire. ”

“ Whilst Christ the Bridegroom delays to come, is the opportunity for repentance and good works, which He grants to every one in this life. Therefore does He delay the time of death and judgment. To slumber is to die. To sleep is to be dead. The meaning is, Whilst Christ defers the Day of Judgment, meanwhile the faithful begin to die one after another, and at length all are dead. Thus S. Hilary, “The delay of the Bridegroom is the time of repentance. The sleep of them that wait is the rest of believers. And in the time of repentance is the temporal death of all men.” ”

“ S. Basil adds that chastity makes us like not only to the angels, but to God Himself. “How great and glorious a thing,” saith he, “is virginity, which makes a corruptible man most like unto God, that he should receive the similitude of God in himself, as in a most clear mirror, from God Himself, with His favours flowing unto him after the manner of a most sweet ray (of light) !”
Elegantly and piously saith S. Bernard, “What is more beautiful than chastity, which makes clean what hath been conceived unclean, which makes a servant of an enemy, and, in short, an angel of a man? ”

“ Still more wisely says S. Augustine, “God has promised thee that in the day thou art converted, He will forget thy past sins; but He has never promised thee a to-morrow. God hath wisely made the day of death uncertain. Let every man, for his profit, think upon his last day. It is of the mercy of God that man knoweth not when he shall die. ”

“ I confidently make mention of His sorrow, for I preach the Cross. He was obliged to endure pain, that He might conquer. Insensibility wins not the praise of fortitude. But He wished to instruct us to overcome the sorrow of coming death, and perhaps He was sad because, after the fall of Adam, death was a necessity, and again because He knew that His persecutors would have to pay the penalty of their monstrous sacrilege.” And again, “Thou smartest not for Thine own wounds, but for ours; not for Thine own death, but for our infirmity.” ”

“ And Origen says, “They who, when they ought to have learned what was profitable, neglected to do so, at the close of life, when they wish to learn, are seized by death.” He adds that they who sell are Teachers; buying is receiving: the price is perseverance. Moreover, because marriage joy is, among men, the chief of all, the celestial happiness of the elect is here likened to it. Wherefore S. Hilary says, “Marriage is the putting on of immortality, when the soul is united to the Word of God as her Bridegroom.” ”

“ The sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light; but the Cross shall shine and shall obscure the heavenly luminaries. When the stars shall fall, it alone shall send forth radiance, that thou mayst learn how the Cross is more luminous than the moon and more glorious than the sun. ”

“ Origen says that oil or ointment is the work of virtue, especially of mercy. If this be shown out of natural compassion, as it is by infidels, not for God’s sake, God accepts it indeed, but not unto life eternal. But if it be done from love to God, it is an excellent ointment of a sweet-smelliing savour. Again, if a good work be done to relieve the wants of the poor, it is an anointing of the feet of the Lord. For the poor in the Church are the mystical feet of the Lord. ”

“ The virgins are all believers. The prudent are those who have faith together with works of mercy, charity, and other virtues: the foolish, who have faith alone without good works. So Origen, Hilary, Auctor Imperfecti.
Thus their lamps are dying out, yea, as the Syriac hath it, they have been extinguished; according to the words of S. James, “Faith without works is dead.” The lamp, therefore, is the faithful mind, or faith itself. The oil is good works, without which faith is dead, and, as it were, extinct; but with them, alive and burning. The light, or flame of the lamps, is charity. ”

“ Charity is exercised, because the Eucharist is a furnace of love, which Christ exhales, and breathes upon us, that we may love Him again. Religion is exercised, because we worship and invoke God with the highest form of worship, and sacrifice to Him Christ Himself. Humility is exercised, because we ignore our eyes and senses and natural judgment, which suggests to us that there is only bread and wine in the Eucharist, and humbly submit ourselves to the words of Christ, who says, This is My Body: This is My Blood. ”

“ Thus shall the reprobate be tormented without hope of pardon or mercy, which is the misery of miseries. For if, after as many thousands of years as they had hairs upon their heads, they might hope for an end of their punishment, they would sustain it with far greater ease; but because they neither have nor will have any hope, they will fall into despair, and will have no strength to support their torments. Hence S. Cyprian (Lib. de Laud. Martyr. cap. 5) , “Paradise flourishes by the witness of God; hell embraces, the eternal fire consumes those who deny it. ”

“ When they appear to themselves to enjoy the most perfect health, they should think that death is lying hid at the very threshold of their doors, and should believe that they are then about to die when thoughts and hopes of long life are suggested to them, either by the devil or their own concupiscence. So would the day of death never come upon them unawares, nor overtake them as a thief. ”

“ Dost thou wish, 0 Judas, to bind God, to seize the Almighty, to fight, 0 petty men, against your Creator, and compel Him to give Himself into your hands? “It was avarice,” says S. Chrysostom, “which inspired him with this madness, avarice which makes all its slaves cruel and fierce; for if the covetous man neglect his own salvation, what will he care for another? ”

“ It signified that the earthly and stony hearts of men would be moved to repentance by the death of Christ, since the earth, the sea, the sun, and the heavens, the darkened air, and the riven rocks, proclaimed their indignation at the death of their Creator. But see here how Christ, in His lowliest estate, manifested His supreme majesty and power, that He might not seem to be compelled to die, and that men, learning who and how mighty He was, who was suffering for them such vile indignities with such great dignity, might be astounded and awe-struck. ”

“ For Pompey, who first reduced the Jews under the Roman yoke, was only called in by Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, the grandsons of Simon the high priest, to decide between them which of the two was to succeed to the Jewish sovereignty and high-priesthood. By what right then did Pompey pass them over, and transfer the sovereign power over Judea to the Romans? For this is Turkish justice. For when the Turk is called in to aid them by Christian princes quarrelling between themselves, he seizes upon and enslaves both. ”

“ Observe here that Christ puts one sort of good works, by which the Saints will merit the eternal glory decreed to them by Christ in the judgment, instead of every kind of good works. He only speaks of works of mercy, both because they are, as it were, natural and everywhere at hand, and have to do with every one. For there are very many everywhere who are wretched. As also because the common people make most account of these works, since they themselves are less capable of giving themselves to fasting, prayers, and other lofty things. ”

“ Wherefore many of the Jews, being aroused by My preaching, are striving to enter in. But you, O ye Scribes, turn them away, and shut Heaven against them by your vain and perverse traditions, which ye instil into their minds.” For, as S. Chrysostom says, “The kingdom of Heaven is Holy Scripture; the door is the understanding of Scripture, or Christ; the bearers of the keys are the Scribes and Priests; the key is the word of knowledge; the opening of the door is interpretation. Ye also cause men to offend by your wickedness and evil example ”

“ For so great and so sudden shall be this destruction of Judæa and Jerusalem by the Romans, that it were better for a man to flee away naked, than, by wishing to save his goods, to expose himself to danger. ”

“ I offer My back to the scourger, My head to the crown of thorns, My hands and feet to the nails, and My entire body to the cross. Wound and crucify Me, that man may be spared and received back into Thy favour. ”

“ For as often as we commit this or that venial sin, we sin of free choice. Theologians, and Suarez in his treatise on Hope, teach us that if a man’s damnation were revealed to him, he could not possibly effectually hope for eternal life, as already apprehending it to be impossible (for no one can attempt what he thinks impossible) . But yet he both ought and can observe God’s commands, and that as often as he transgresses he would do so freely and sinfully, even though he is generally aware that he would fall into, and die in, some mortal sin. ”