Mark 3:1
_He entered again into the synagogue, viz. of Capharnaum. The man was there either, of course, on account of the sabbath, or to be cured by Jesus Christ._... [ Continue Reading ]
_He entered again into the synagogue, viz. of Capharnaum. The man was there either, of course, on account of the sabbath, or to be cured by Jesus Christ._... [ Continue Reading ]
A difficulty here arises, how to reconcile St. Mark with St. Matthew. St. Mark puts the words into the mouth of Jesus Christ: _Is it lawful? When St. Matthew says, that they interrogated him: Is it lawful? To cut the knot of this apparent difficulty, we must understand that they first put the questi... [ Continue Reading ]
What is to be understood by Idumea, see Rutter's Evangelical Harmony, Vol. i. p. 286.... [ Continue Reading ]
The unclean spirits being obliged by the Divine Power, not only to come and worship, but also to declare his majesty, exclaimed: _Thou art the Son of God. How astonishing then is the blindness of the Arians, who even after his resurrection denied him to be the Son of God, whom the devils confessed a... [ Continue Reading ]
He spent here the whole night in prayer, not that he who had all things to bestow, stood in need of prayer, or had any thing to ask; but to teach us that we must undertake nothing without previously recommending the affair to heaven, in humble and fervent prayer.... [ Continue Reading ]
The number twelve is mystical, as appeareth by choosing Mathias to full up the place of Judas: they are the twelve foundations, under Christ, of the heavenly Jerusalem. (Apocalypse xxi.)... [ Continue Reading ]
He gave his apostles the power of curing maladies both of soul and body, and of expelling devils, that they might prove the truth of their doctrines by the authority of miracles. (Bible de Vence)... [ Continue Reading ]
The evangelist here gives the names of the twelve. First, Simon, to whom he gave the name of Peter, in Greek, _Petron, which signifies a rock; thus shewing that upon him his Church should be founded, as on a rock, never to be overturned. (Tirinus) --- Polus, in his Synopsis Criticorum on this verse... [ Continue Reading ]
And he called James, &c. The words, he called, are no addition, as they only express the literal sense: they are included in what is said, ver. 13, that he called to him whom he would. --- Boanerges, the sons of thunder, or thunderers, is only to express their great zeal. (Witham) --- He gave also t... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when his friends had heard of it; [1] literally, his own. We cannot here understand his apostles, for they were in the house with him; but either some of his kindred and friends, or some that were of the same country and town of Nazareth, though perhaps enemies to him. --- For they said. It is... [ Continue Reading ]
From St. Matthew xii. 22. et dein. we learn that it was on the occasion of the delivery of a possessed person, this blasphemy was uttered.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Kingdom against kingdom. As this is true in all kingdoms and states where civil dissensions obtaineth, so it is especially verified in heresies and heretics which have always divisions among themselves, as a punishment for their abandoning the Church, the pillar and ground of truth, the only centre... [ Continue Reading ]
See St. Matthew xii. 32. --- _Of an everlasting sin; i.e. of eternal punishment. (Witham) --- What is here called everlasting offence, is (as St. Matthew expresseth it) that which shall neither be remitted in this life, nor in the life to come; which words would not be true, says St. Augustine, if s... [ Continue Reading ]
The brethren of our Lord were not the children of the blessed Virgin: nor were they the sons of St. Joseph by a former wife, as some pretend; but in the Scripture language, and in this place, we understand by brethren the relatives of Mary and Joseph. (Ven. Bede)... [ Continue Reading ]
Our Lord does not refuse to go out through any, the least, inattention to his mother; he wishes hereby, to teach us the preference we should give to the business of our heavenly Father, before that of our earthly parents. Neither does he consider his brethren as beneath his attention, but prefers sp... [ Continue Reading ]
The Pharisees were afraid lest the greatness of Christ's miracles, and the excellence of his doctrines, should put an end to their credit and authority among the people. Hence their calumnies against him.... [ Continue Reading ]