No man lighting a candle covereth it with a vessel

St Luke Chapter VIII : Verses 16-21

Contents

• Luke viii. 16-21.  Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Douay-Rheims 1582 text
• Annotations based on the Catena Aurea of St Thomas Aquinas

Luke viii. 16-21.

My mother and my brethren are they who hear the word of God.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

16 Now no man lighting a candle covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it upon a candlestick, that they who come in may see the light.

Nemo autem lucernam accendens, operit eam vase, aut subtus lectum ponit : sed supra candelabrum ponit, ut intrantes videant lumen.

17 For there is not any thing secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known and come abroad.

Non est enim occultum, quod non manifestetur : nec absconditum, quod non cognoscatur, et in palam veniat.

18 Take heed therefore how you hear. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given: and whosoever hath not, that also which he thinketh he hath, shall be taken away from him.

Videte ergo quomodo audiatis? Qui enim habet, dabitur illi : et quicumque non habet, etiam quod putat se habere, auferetur ab illo.

19 And his mother and brethren came unto him; and they could not come at him for the crowd.

Venerunt autem ad illum mater et fratres ejus, et non poterant adire eum prae turba.

20 And it was told him: Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.

Et nuntiatum est illi : Mater tua et fratres tui stant foris, volentes te videre.

21 Who answering, said to them: My mother and my brethren are they who hear the word of God, and do it.

Qui respondens, dixit ad eos : Mater mea et fratres mei hi sunt, qui verbum Dei audiunt et faciunt.

Douay-Rheims : 1582 text

16. And no man lighting a candel doth couer it with a veſſel, or put it vnder a bed; but ſetteth it vpon a candelſticke, that they enter in, may ſee the light.

17. For there is not any thing ſecret, that ſhal not be made manifeſt; nor hid, that ſhal not be knowen, & come abrode.

18. See therfore how you heare. For he that hath, to him ſhal be giuen; and whoſoeuer hath not, that alſo which he thinketh he hath, ſhal be taken away from him.

19. And his mother and brethren came vnto him; and they could not come at him for the multitude.

20. And it was told him: Thy mother and thy brethren ſtand without, deſirous to ſee thee.

21. Who anſwering ſaid to them: My mother and my brethren, they that heare the Word of God and doe it.

 

Annotations

    16. Now no man lighting a candle covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it upon a candlestick, that they who come in may see the light.

    Or else in these words He typically sets forth the boldness of preaching, that no one should, through fear of fleshly ills, conceal the light of knowledge. For under the names of vessel and bed, he represents the flesh, but of that of candle, the word, which whosoever keeps hid through fear of the troubles of the flesh, sets the flesh itself before the manifestation of the truth, and by it he as it were covers the word, who fears to preach it. But he places a candle upon a candlestick who so submits his body to the service of God, that the preaching of the truth stands highest in his estimation, the service of the body lowest. AUGUSTINE. (de Quæst. Ev. lib. ii. q. 12.)

    Or perhaps the Lord calls Himself a light shining to all who inhabit the house, that is, the world, since He is by nature God, but by the dispensation made flesh. And so like the light of the candle He abides in the vessel of the flesh by means of the soul. But by the candlestick he describes the Church over which the divine word shines, illuminating the house as it were by the rays of truth. But under the similitude of a vessel or bed he referred to the observance of the law, under which the word will not be contained. MAXIMUS. (Quæst. in Script. 63.)

    18. Take heed therefore how you hear. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given: and whosoever hath not, that also which he thinketh he hath, shall be taken away from him.

    But the Lord ceases not to teach us to hearken to His word, that we may be able both to constantly meditate on it in our own minds, and to bring it forth for the instruction of others. Hence it follows, Take heed therefore how ye hear; for whosoever hath, to him shall be given. As if he says, Give heed with all your mind to the word which ye hear, for to him who has a love of the word, shall be given also the sense of understanding what he loves; but whoso hath no love of hearing the word, though he deems himself skilful either from natural genius, or the exercise of learning, will have no delight in the sweetness of wisdom; for oftentimes the slothful man is gifted with capacities, that if he neglect them he may be the more justly punished for his negligence, since that which he can obtain without labour he disdains to know, and sometimes the studious man is oppressed with slowness of apprehension, in order that the more he labours in his inquiries, the greater may be the recompense of his reward. BEDE. 

    19. And his mother and brethren came unto him;

    But those who are said to be our Lord’s brethren according to the flesh, you must not imagine to be the children of the blessed Mary, the mother of God, as Helvidius thinks, nor the children of Joseph by another wife, as some say, but rather believe to be their kinsfolk. BEDE.

    20. And it was told him: Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.

    His brethren thought that when He heard of their presence He would send away the people, from respect to His mother’s name, and from His affection towards her, as it follows, And it was told him, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without. TITUS BOSTRENSIS. 

    21. Who answering, said to them: My mother and my brethren are they who hear the word of God, and do it.

    Think what it was, when the whole people stood by, and were hanging upon His mouth, (for His teaching had already begun,) to withdraw Him away from them. Our Lord accordingly answers as it were rebuking them. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 44. in Matt.)

    The moral teacher who gives himself an example to others, when about to enjoin upon others, that he who has not left father and mother, is not worthy of the Son of God, first submits Himself to this precept, not that He denies the claims of filial piety, but because He knows that He is more bound to obey His Father’s mysteries than the feelings of His mother. Nor however are His parents harshly rejected, but the bonds of the mind are shewn to be more sacred than those of the body. Therefore in this place He does not disown His mother, (as some heretics say, eagerly catching at His speech,) since she is also acknowledged from the cross; but the law of heavenly ordinances is preferred to earthly affection. AMBROSE. 

    They then who hear the word of God and do it, are called the mother of our Lord, because they daily in their actions or words bring Him forth as it were in their inmost hearts; they also are His brethren where they do the will of His Father, Who is in heaven. BEDE. 

     In a mystical sense he ought not to stand without, who was seeking Christ. Hence also that saying, Come ye to him and be enlightened: and your faces shall not be confounded. (Ps. xxxiv. 6. Vulg.). For if they stand without, not even parents themselves are acknowledged; and perhaps for our example they are not. How are we acknowledged by Him if we stand without? That meaning also is not unreasonable, because by the figure of parents He points to the Jews of whom Christ was born, (Rom. ix. 5.) and thought the Church to be preferred to the synagogue. AMBROSE.

     For they cannot enter within when He is teaching whose words they refuse to understand spiritually. But the multitude went before and entered into the house, because when the Jews rejected Christ the Gentiles flocked to Him. But those who stand without, wishing to see Christ, are they, who not seeking a spiritual sense in the law, have placed themselves without to guard the letter of it, and as it were rather compel Christ to go out, to teach them earthly things, than consent to enter in themselves to learn spiritual things. BEDE.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen. 

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.