The Douay-Rheims with the Glossa Ordinaria

¹And when great multitudes stood about him, so that they trod one upon another, he began to say to his disciples: Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

²For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed: nor hidden that shall not be known.

v.2

VERS. 2.-- *Nor hidden, that shall not be known.* Therefore do not emulate dissemblers, because assuredly the time will come, in the day of judgment, in which both your virtue and their hypocrisy shall be revealed to all; whence there follows. *For the things which you have spoken in darkness shall be said in the light.* Not only in the world to come shall all things lie open, but even in the present time they shall be publicly preached in the whole Church throughout the world: the things which in darkness, that is, in the shadow of oppressions and of prisons, you have spoken, when your acts shall be read on high. *For the things which you have spoken in darkness shall be said in the light.* What you have spoken in darkness, that is, in fear, shall be said in the light, that is, in the confidence of truth when the Holy Ghost has been received. And what you have spoken in the ear, that is, in secret, shall be preached upon the housetops, that is, when the dwelling-place of the flesh has been trodden underfoot.

³For whatsoever things you have spoken in darkness shall be published in the light: and that which you have spoken in the ear in the chambers shall be preached on the housetops.

⁴And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.

⁵But I will shew you whom you shall fear: Fear ye him who, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you: Fear him.

⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

⁷Yea, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows.

⁸And I say to you: Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God.

⁹But he that shall deny me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

¹⁰And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but to him that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven.

¹¹And when they shall bring you into the synagogues and to magistrates and powers, be not solicitous how or what you shall answer, or what you shall say.

¹²For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you must say.

¹³And one of the multitude said to him: Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.

¹⁴But he said to him: Man, who hath appointed me judge or divider over you?

¹⁵And he said to them: Take heed and beware of all covetousness: for a man's life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth.

¹⁶And he spoke a similitude to them, saying: The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits.

¹⁷And he thought within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

¹⁸And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns and will build greater: and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me and my goods.

¹⁹And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thy rest: eat, drink, make good cheer.

²⁰But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee. And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?

²¹So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.

²²And he said to his disciples: Therefore I say to you: Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on.

²³The life is more than the meat: and the body is more than the raiment.

²⁴Consider the ravens, for they sow not, neither do they reap, neither have they storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much are you more valuable than they?

²⁵And which of you by taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?

²⁶If then ye be not able to do so much as the least thing, why are you solicitous for the rest?

²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these.

²⁸Now, if God clothe in this manner the grass that is to-day in the field and to-morrow is cast into the oven: how much more you, O ye of little faith?

²⁹And seek not what you shall eat or what you shall drink: and be not lifted up on high.

³⁰For all these things do the nations of the world seek. But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things.

³¹But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice: and all these things shall be added unto you.

³²Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom.

³³Sell what you possess and give alms. Make to yourselves bags which grow not old, a treasure in heaven which faileth not: where no thief approacheth, nor moth corrupteth.

v.33

VERS. 33.-- *Sell.* Not only should you not fear that the necessaries of life may be lacking to those who fight for the kingdom's sake, but sell also what you possess for the sake of alms, which is the way to the kingdom, since through it sins are redeemed. Not only share your food with the poor, but sell also your possessions, so that, when all that is yours has once been despised for the Lord's sake, you may afterwards work with the labour of your hands, whence you may live or may give alms. *Give alms.* He who for heaven's sake despises all worldly things, let him sell what he has and distribute it; he who is not of so great virtue, let him give alms out of what he has. *That faileth not.* Temporal things either fail of their own frailty, or, if anything solid remains, such as precious stones, it can be taken away by thieves. But things given for Christ's sake bring an eternal fruit in the heavens.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

³⁵Let your loins be girt and lamps burning in your hands.

³⁶And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately.

³⁷Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen I say to you that he will gird himself and make them sit down to meat and passing will minister unto them.

³⁸And if he shall come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants.

v.38–39

VERS. 38, 39.-- *And if he shall come in the second,* etc. He calls them watches from the likeness of men keeping guard. In the night of this world we ought always to be solicitous against the enemy, and to await the light that is to come, that is, the coming of the judge. The first watch, therefore, is the guarding of boyhood, the second of youth, the third of old age. But if anyone has neglected to watch in boyhood, let him not despair, but let him come to himself even in youth, or at least at last in old age, because the merciful judge patiently awaits our delays. He, to shake out the sloth of the mind, brings in the likeness of outward condemned men, that by this the soul may be roused to the guarding of itself. Whence, *But this know ye, that if the householder knew.* While the householder knows not, the thief digs through the house, because, while the spirit sleeps from the guarding of itself, unforeseen death bursts into the dwelling of the flesh and drags it to punishments. But he would withstand the thief if he watched, because, taking precaution against the coming of the judge who comes secretly, he would meet him by repenting.

³⁹But this know ye, that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch and would not suffer his house to be broken open.

⁴⁰Be you then also ready: for at what hour you think not the Son of man will come.

⁴¹And Peter said to him: Lord, dost thou speak this parable to us, or likewise to all?

⁴²And the Lord said: Who thinkest thou is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord setteth over his family, to give them their measure of wheat in due season?

v.42

VERS. 42.-- *And the Lord said.* Answering the things asked, the Lord says that the first and the second judgment will be present to all, and that each severally is to be rewarded or condemned according to his merits. Then he adds what he had chiefly asked, namely that the grace of the virtues which he had brought to the world is to be followed by each as far as he can, which is in that place: *I came to send fire upon the earth. Who dost thou think to be the faithful steward?* As if he said: To you, who have been appointed stewards, this more especially belongs concerning watchfulness and preparation, that you may prepare both yourselves and others for the coming of the judge, because few are they who well administer the stewardship committed to them. *And prudent, whom the Lord hath set over his household, that,* etc. How rare is he that serves the Lord for the Lord's sake, feeding the sheep of Christ not for gain but out of love of Christ, prudent for what is to come, providing for himself, whom he hath appointed; that is, how rare is he who is called by God as Aaron was, and has not rather thrust himself forward, and who feeds not himself more than the sheep!

⁴³Blessed is that servant whom, when his lord shall come, he shall find so doing.

⁴⁴Verily I say to you, he will set him over all that he possesseth.

⁴⁵But if that servant shall say in his heart: My Lord is long a coming; and shall begin to strike the men-servants and maid-servants, and to eat and to drink and be drunk:

⁴⁶The lord of that servant will come in the day that he hopeth not, and at the hour that he knoweth not: and shall separate him and shall appoint him his portion with unbelievers.

⁴⁷And that servant, who knew the will of his lord and prepared not himself and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

⁴⁸But he that knew not and did things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more.

⁴⁹I am come to cast fire on the earth. And what will I, but that it be kindled?

v.49

VERS. 49.-- *Fire,* etc. As if he said: Thou wast asking whether I admonish all men, with loins girt and lamps burning, to await the coming of the Lord? But I, who came into the world only for this, that I might kindle men from the desires of the world to heavenly things, will nothing else save that the radiance of this burning may light up all the parts of the world as far as the end of the age, and that it may so blaze in the hearts of the faithful that it be not quenched by any onset of waves or of blasts. *But I have a baptism,* etc. And that this fire may be able to be kindled in the hearts of the faithful, so that they may be able perfectly to despise all temporal things and themselves also, I must first be baptized with a baptism, that is, be steeped in the anointing of my own blood: for the Spirit would not be given unless Jesus were first glorified. *And how.* So great is the condescension of the Lord that he testifies there to be in him an eagerness for devotion to be poured into us, and for perfection to be consummated in us, and for the passion to be hastened for us: he who, though he had in himself nothing whereat to grieve, was yet straitened by our troubles, and at the time of death put forward a sadness which he had taken on not from the fear of his own death, but from the delay of our redemption. *Until it be accomplished.* He who is straitened as far as the accomplishment is untroubled about the accomplishment, nor is he straitened about it; but rather the death of the body is the loosing of anxiety, not the heaping up of grief.

⁵⁰And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized. And how am I straitened until it be accomplished?

⁵¹Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.

⁵²For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three.

v.52

VERS. 52.-- *In one house.* Each single man is one house, either God's or the devil's. And so a spiritual man is a spiritual house. *Divided.* The first cause is that of religion toward God, the second that of dutifulness toward one's neighbour. For thou oughtest to set human things after divine. Kindred pledges are not therefore to be renounced, but God is to be preferred to all. For indeed the pledges of nature are God's benefits, nor ought the benefit that is received to be loved more than God, by whom the benefit received is preserved. *Three against two.* That is, the son and the daughter and the daughter-in-law, against the father and the mother; and two against three, that is, the father and the mother, where the mother-in-law also is understood, against the son and the daughter and the daughter-in-law.

⁵³The father shall be divided against the son and the son against his father: the mother against the daughter and the daughter against her mother: the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

⁵⁴And he said also to the multitudes: When you see a cloud rising from the west, presently you say: A shower is coming. And so it happeneth.

v.54

VERS. 54.-- *And he said.* When he had instructed the apostles also concerning his first coming, intimating what was done in it, and had admonished them concerning the coming to be, how they ought to await it, he turned his discourse to the crowds, among whom were the Pharisees, as Matthew indicates: because, neither believing the first coming to have taken place nor rightly awaiting the second, they were seeking a sign from heaven, tempting him. These therefore he reproves, because if they were willing to attend, they could have from the words of the prophets a sure sign of both comings. *When you see.* Mystically. The cloud rising from the west signifies the flesh of Christ rising again from death, from which time the shower of the Gospel preaching has been poured out upon all lands. The south wind blowing before the heat signifies the lighter tribulations before the judgment. *A shower cometh.* Literally the sense is plain: they who from the changing of the elements can foreknow the state of the breezes could also know the time of both comings, both from the sayings of the prophets and from the magnificence of his works.

⁵⁵And when ye see the south wind blow, you say: There will heat. And it cometh to pass.

⁵⁶You hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the heaven and of the earth: but how is it that you do not discern this time?

⁵⁷And why, even of yourselves, do you not judge that which is just?

⁵⁸And when thou goest with thy adversary to the prince, whilst thou art in the way, endeavour to be delivered from him: lest perhaps he draw thee to he judge, and the judge deliver thee to the exacter, and the exacter cast thee into prison.

v.58

VERS. 58.-- *And when thou goest.* When in this life thou preparest thyself to see the appeased face of the judge, although the word of God be contrary to thy flesh, yet use it as a guard given thee on this journey, lest, being despised, it accuse thee. *With the adversary.* Our adversary in the way is the word of God, contrary to our carnal desires in the present life, from which he is set free who is humbly subject to its precepts: otherwise the sinner, guilty from his contempt of the word, will be held at the judge's examination, and the judge will deliver him to the exactor, that is, to the devil; because he will permit the devil to drag his soul to punishment, and the exactor himself, who exacts the punishment for the guilt which he suggested, will thrust it back into hell. *Give diligence,* etc. These things too pertain to the treading down of the world's enticements and to the awaiting of the judge's coming. As if he said: Since it is certain that a strict judge will come, live therefore here in such wise that you be not condemned in that judgment.

⁵⁹I say to thee, thou shalt not go out thence until thou pay the very last mite.