I know mine, and mine know me. St John Chapter x. 12-18

St John Chapter x : Verses 12-18

Contents

• St John Chapter x : Verses Verses 12-18. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter x : Verses Verses 12-18

I am the good shepherd. 
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

12 But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth: and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep:  

13 And the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling: and he hath no care for the sheep.  

14 I am the good shepherd; and I know mine, and mine know me.  

15 As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep.

16 And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.  

17 Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.  

18 No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of myself, and I have power to lay it down: and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

12 ὁ ⸀μισθωτὸς καὶ οὐκ ὢν ποιμήν, οὗ οὐκ ⸀ἔστιν τὰ πρόβατα ἴδια, θεωρεῖ τὸν λύκον ἐρχόμενον καὶ ἀφίησιν τὰ πρόβατα καὶ φεύγει— καὶ ὁ λύκος ἁρπάζει αὐτὰ καὶ ⸀σκορπίζει—

12 Mercenarius autem, et qui non est pastor, cujus non sunt oves propriae, videt lupum venientem, et dimittit oves, et fugit : et lupus rapit, et dispergit oves;  

13 ⸀ὅτι μισθωτός ἐστιν καὶ οὐ μέλει αὐτῷ περὶ τῶν προβάτων.

13 mercenarius autem fugit, quia mercenarius est, et non pertinet ad eum de ovibus.  

14 ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός, καὶ γινώσκω τὰ ἐμὰ καὶ ⸂γινώσκουσί με τὰ ἐμά⸃,

14 Ego sum pastor bonus : et cognosco meas, et cognoscunt me meae.  

15 καθὼς γινώσκει με ὁ πατὴρ κἀγὼ γινώσκω τὸν πατέρα, καὶ τὴν ψυχήν μου τίθημι ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων.

15 Sicut novit me Pater, et ego agnosco Patrem : et animam meam pono pro ovibus meis.  

16 καὶ ἄλλα πρόβατα ἔχω ἃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τῆς αὐλῆς ταύτης· κἀκεῖνα ⸂δεῖ με⸃ ἀγαγεῖν, καὶ τῆς φωνῆς μου ἀκούσουσιν, καὶ ⸀γενήσονται μία ποίμνη, εἷς ποιμήν.

16 Et alias oves habeo, quae non sunt ex hoc ovili : et illas oportet me adducere, et vocem meam audient, et fiet unum ovile et unus pastor.  

17 διὰ τοῦτό ⸂με ὁ πατὴρ⸃ ἀγαπᾷ ὅτι ἐγὼ τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν μου, ἵνα πάλιν λάβω αὐτήν.

17 Propterea me diligit Pater : quia ego pono animam meam, ut iterum sumam eam.  

18 οὐδεὶς ⸀αἴρει αὐτὴν ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ, ἀλλ’ ἐγὼ τίθημι αὐτὴν ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ. ἐξουσίαν ἔχω θεῖναι αὐτήν, καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω πάλιν λαβεῖν αὐτήν· ταύτην τὴν ἐντολὴν ἔλαβον παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου.

18 Nemo tollit eam a me : sed ego pono eam a meipso, et potestatem habeo ponendi eam, et potestatem habeo iterum sumendi eam. Hoc mandatum accepi a Patre meo. 

Annotations

    12. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth: and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep:  An hireling seeks not the good of the sheep but merely his own profit. “Hirelings are they,” says S. Augustine, “who seek their own things, and not the things of Christ and of the sheep.” So too S. Basil. But the apostles, though they fed not their own sheep, but the sheep of Christ, were not hirelings, because they sought not their own temporal gain, but the spiritual and eternal gain of the faithful. “He is called a hireling, and not a shepherd,” says S. Gregory (Hom. xiv.), “who feeds the Lord’s sheep, not from deepest love, but for worldly gain. The hireling is he who holds the post of a shepherd, but seeks not to gain souls; is eager for earthly advantages, rejoices in the honour of the prelacy, feeds on temporal gains, delights in the reverence paid to him by men.”

    seeth the wolf coming. “For in a time of tranquillity,” says S. Gregory, “very often the hireling, as well as the true shepherd, stands on guard over the flock. But the approach of the wolf shows the temper of mind with which they did so. The wolf attacks the sheep when the violent and the spoiler oppress those who are faithful and humble. But he who seemed to be a shepherd and was not, leaves the sheep and runs away, because through fear for himself he does not venture to withstand his injustice.”

    and leaveth the sheep, and flieth “Not by change of place,” says S. Gregory, “but by withdrawing support. He flies, because he saw injustice and held his peace: he flies, because he conceals himself by silence. To whom the prophet well says, “Ye have not gone up against him, nor raised up a wall for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord” (Ezek. xiii. 5).

    and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep, i.e. A heretic, or any wicked man, who strives to pervert the faithful by word or example, or (as S. Gregory says) “the devil, who seizes them when he draws away this man to luxury, inflames another with avarice, puffs up another with pride, parts asunder others through anger, stimulates another with envy, supplants another by deceit. The devil therefore scatters the flock when he kills the faithful by temptations. But the hireling is not inflamed by zeal against such attacks, is not enkindled by any warmth of love. Because by looking after mere outward advantages, he carelessly takes no account of the inward injury which is done to the flock.”

    And hence, Christ leaves it to be gathered by contrast that 👉the good shepherd when he sees the wolf coming neither flies nor forsakes his sheep, but stands firm and fights for them even to death, and in this way lays down his life for them. But when it is allowable for a pastor to fly when persecuted, and when not, see notes on S. Matt. x.23. Also S. Augustine (Epis. clxxx. ad Honoratum). I use on this matter the words of S. Gregory the more freely, because he had full experience of those things in his own person.

    13. And the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling: and he hath no care for the sheep. As though it were said directly, he who loves not the sheep, but worldly gain, cannot stand firm when the sheep are in danger. For while he is aiming at honour, and rejoicing in worldly gain, he is afraid of exposing himself to danger, lest he should lose that which he loves. For no one takes such diligent care for that which is another’s as he does for his own. And therefore the hireling cares more for his own life than for the sheep which are not his; and flies when the wolf comes, as caring more for his own life than for the sheep.

    14. I am the good shepherd; and I know mine, and mine know me. Christ knows His sheep not merely with the watchful and tender eyes of His Godhead (as S. Cyril says), but also with the eyes of His manhood (for it is as man that He is the Pastor of His Church). He knows who are His faithful ones, what are their gifts, and also what are their weaknesses, that He may increase the one, and heal the other. He knows them therefore not merely speculatively, but practically, and heaps on them all His gifts, benefits, and graces.

    and mine know me., with the eyes of faith, hope, and charity, because they believe in Me, hope in Me, and love Me above all things. 👉“Because I love them, they love Me in return, for love is the loadstone of love: if thou wishest to be loved, thou thyself must love. Love is the powerful allurement of love.” So Theophylact. And besides this His love of us, He inspires in us love for Him in return. And this love is our highest good, leading us to heaven and making us blessed.

    15. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep. By this comparison Christ points out both the origin and also the greatness of the love which He bestows on His sheep. 👉The boundless knowledge and love which exists between the Father and Myself, is the source of the love which exists between Myself and My faithful ones. Both because divine and uncreated love is the source of all human and created love; and also because it is the Father’s will that I should love My faithful ones with great and special love, as He loves Me, and I love Him with boundless affection; for He wishes to adopt My faithful ones through Me who am His Son by nature, and He therefore loves them supremely as His children. And I do the same, because I submit in all things to the love and will of the Father; nay more, My love is the same as the Father’s, as our will, our nature, and our Godhead is the same.

    But here note the word “As” signifies similarity, not equality. For the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father with uncreated, and therefore infinite love. But the Son, as man, loves His own with a created and finite love, and is loved with a like love by them in return. But there will be here also a kind of equality, if with Maldonatus you explain it thus: “When Christ says, I know My sheep, He speaks as God; but when He says, The Father knoweth Me. and I know My Father, He speaks of Himself as man. For just as Christ (as God) knows His sheep, and His sheep as men know Him in return; so the Father, as God, knows the Son as man, and the Son, as man, acknowledges His Father, and calls Him Father, as we do ourselves. ‘I ascend to My Father, and your Father’ ” (John xx.17).

    and I lay down my life for my sheep. This refers back to verse 14. “I know My sheep,” I love them, i.e., most ardently, and therefore I lay down, i.e., I will shortly lay down, My life for them. He put in the words, “as the Father knoweth Me,” to represent the source and the intensity of His love for His people, by His love for the Father, for it was this love which urged Him to lay down His life for His sheep. But the words “I lay down” signify that the death of Christ was not compulsory, but voluntary, self-chosen, and even loved for their salvation. So Leontius. And Christ thus expresses Himself below (ver. 18). “No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.” And the words also signify, “I lay it down for a time, in order to take it again.” The death of Christ therefore was not so much a death as the placing His soul for three days in Limbus.

    16. And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.  Other sheep, i.e., those who will be My sheep. This is spoken by anticipation. He means the Gentiles, and thus predicts their call and conversion, to show that 👉He was to be the King and Shepherd of all nations, just as up to this time He had been of the Jews: and that, consequently, He did not care (comparatively) whether the Jews (few as they were in number) would be unbelieving and rebellious, since He was about to put countless Gentiles in their place. So Rupertus, who adds, “and they will hear My voice,” striking quietly at the Jews.

    and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Some suppose that in the end of the world, God will convert all the Jews by Elias, and all the Gentiles by Enoch, and thus there will become one Church, made up of them both, and one Pastor, Christ, and His Vicar the Supreme Pontiff, who will be called the Angelic Pastor. (See the list of Popes, described symbolically, in the life of S. Malachi.) But they are in error. For neither will Elias convert all the Jews, nor Enoch all the Gentiles. For there will be then many unbelievers and followers of antichrist. But this is far from being the meaning of Christ. It was, that after His death and resurrection His apostles would be dispersed among all nations, and convert them, so that both Jews and Gentiles would be gathered into one Church of believers, under one Shepherd, Christ, and His Vicar, the Roman Pontiff. This is not to be looked forward to as something future, for it took place in the time of Constantine the first Christian emperor, who christianised nearly all the nations which were subject to him. The Apostle graphically sets this before us (Eph. ii.)

    17. Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. Lest the Jews should despise Him as a mere man who would die on the Cross, He meets the objection by saying that His death would be glorious, and an object of desire, because He could of His own accord submit to it from love of, and obedience to the Father, and therefore to be loved, honoured, and exalted, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, &c. (Phil. ii. 10).

    I lay down my life, i.e. My soul. So S. Augustine and others, who from this passage prove that Christ had a human soul, in opposition to Apollinarius, who maintained that His Divinity was in the place of a soul. But others understand by it “life,” which is caused by the union of soul and body. It comes to the same thing. 

    that I may take it again. I do not destroy it but only lay it aside for a short time, that I may rise and take it again. S. Cyril refers back to the words “My Father loveth Me.” He loves Me not merely because I set My sheep free by My death, but also because I quicken them by My rising again. As S. Paul says, Rom. iv. 25.

    18. No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of myself, and I have power to lay it down: and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received of my Father. For though the Jews are about to slay Me by force, yet this force of theirs would not avail against Me, unless I allow it of My own accord. And again, “Though I allow it, yet it is still in My power to die, or not to die. For by My Godhead I can impart such strength to My manhood, that it cannot be destroyed by any nails, blows, scourgings, or wounds which I suffer by My own will; just as I support the bodies of the beatified, and render them impassible.” So Toletus. And hence Christ on the Cross cried aloud and gave up the ghost to show that He died without compulsion, and of His own accord, when He might, had He so willed, have lived on. For He who had strength to cry aloud, had strength also to live, so that the centurion beholding this said, “Indeed this was the Son of God.” (Matt. xxvii. 54).

    and I have power to take it up again. By My mighty and glorious Resurrection, which My sold will effect through the Power of My Divinity, hypostatically united to it. He here signifies that He is God as well as man; is man He lays down His life, as God He resumes it. So S. Cyril.

    This commandment have I received of my Father. This was the reason for laying down His life. He was so ordered by the Father, lest the Jews should object, “You have taken this duty on yourself, that Thou mightest be worshipped, as the Mediator, Messiah, and Saviour of the world.” It is hence clear that it was a weighty commandment He received, that of suffering and dying on the Cross. “He became obedient” (to the commandment of the Father, for obedience properly so called presupposes a command, and is in fact its correlative; for obedience is that which is ordered, and a command implies obedience, for it is the formal object of obedience) “even to the death of the cross.” So S. Cyril, S. Ambrose (de Fide, v. 5), S. Thomas, Suarez and others. But this command did not physically compel the will of Christ to obey it. It left it free. But it pertained to the Person of the Word to “prevent” the will of Jesus by supplies of grace, to which It foresaw it would willingly consent, and obey the command. And it was in this respect, that is in consequence of the continual keeping (custodiam) of the Word, that the manhood of Christ was said to be extrinsically impeccable, not because the Word predetermined It, but because It supplied It with fitting aids, with which It foresaw it would freely obey the command. For by this foreknowledge of future conditional events the freedom of Christ’s will is fully preserved (see Suarez. part iii. Quest. xviii.) And by this generous obedience in so difficult a matter, Christ obtained salvation for us, and glory for Himself. Set then, O Religious, this command of the Father, and this obedience of Christ before thine eyes, when any difficult task is imposed on thee by thy Superior. R. Juda says admirably (Pirke Avoth. cap. v.), “Be daring as a leopard, swift as an eagle, nimble as a deer, courageous as a lion, to do the will of thy Father which is in heaven.”

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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. 

I am the good shepherd. St John Chapter x. 7-11

St John Chapter x : Verses 7-11

Contents

• St John Chapter x : Verses Verses 7-11. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter x : Verses Verses 7-11

I am the good shepherd. 
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

7 Jesus therefore said to them again: Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  

8 All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not.  

9 I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures.  

10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly.

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.

7 Εἶπεν οὖν πάλιν ⸀αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ⸀ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα τῶν προβάτων.

7 Dixit ergo eis iterum Jesus : Amen, amen dico vobis, quia ego sum ostium ovium.  

8 πάντες ὅσοι ἦλθον ⸂πρὸ ἐμοῦ⸃ κλέπται εἰσὶν καὶ λῃσταί· ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἤκουσαν αὐτῶν τὰ πρόβατα.

8 Omnes quotquot venerunt, fures sunt, et latrones, et non audierunt eos oves.  

9 ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα· δι’ ἐμοῦ ἐάν τις εἰσέλθῃ σωθήσεται καὶ εἰσελεύσεται καὶ ἐξελεύσεται καὶ νομὴν εὑρήσει.

9 Ego sum ostium. Per me si quis introierit, salvabitur : et ingredietur, et egredietur, et pascua inveniet.  

10 ὁ κλέπτης οὐκ ἔρχεται εἰ μὴ ἵνα κλέψῃ καὶ θύσῃ καὶ ἀπολέσῃ· ἐγὼ ἦλθον ἵνα ζωὴν ἔχωσιν καὶ περισσὸν ἔχωσιν.

10 Fur non venit nisi ut furetur, et mactet, et perdat. Ego veni ut vitam habeant, et abundantius habeant.

11 Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός· ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων·

11 Ego sum pastor bonus. Bonus pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus suis. 

Annotations

    7. Jesus therefore said to them again: Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Maldonatus thinks that Christ here speaks of two doors, the door of the house, i.e., Holy Scriptures, and the door of the sheepfold, which is Christ. He believes that the word door is used in two senses, one by which the shepherds themselves, and the other by which the sheep enter. But this distinction is more subtil than solid. For Christ speaks in both cases of one and the same door, that is of the sheepfold. What He said obscurely and parabolically (ver. 1) He explained in the parable. “He opened,” says S. Augustine, “that which was closed. He is the door. Let us enter that we may rejoice in having so done.” This distinction evades indeed one difficulty, i.e., how Christ enters as a shepherd through the door; that is, how He enters the door of the Church by Scripture witnessing to Him. But it does not escape the other difficulty—how the same person is both the shepherd and the door. We must say, therefore, that He united together two parables (as was said above, ver. 2). For Christ intended to teach two things. 👉First, that no one could enter into the Church, and afterwards into heaven, that is be justified and sanctified, except through Him. This He shows by the parable of the door. For as there is no ingress into the fold except through the door, so there is no entrance into the Church, militant and triumphant, except through Christ; and secondly, that 👉He is the true Shepherd, as laying down His life for the sheep; but that the others were hirelings, whom the sheep ought not to follow. This He sets forth by the parable of the shepherd. But because this latter subject is connected with the former, He mixes up the two parables together.

    8. All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not.  What then! were all the prophets thieves and robbers? S. Augustine (contra Faustum xvi. 12, and S. Jerome, lib. ii. contra Pelag.) replies that the prophets came not of their own accord, but were sent by God. And again they were not sent in addition to Christ, but with Christ, as His precursors, and announcing His advent. They were therefore not contrary to Christ, but counted as one with Him, as having come for His sake, and by His order and guidance. “They came with the Word of God. He sent them as the heralds of Him who was to come, and He possessed the hearts of those whom He had sent.” Euthymius adds, “They came indeed before Christ, but they entered through the door.” ➤He speaks specially of those impostors who claimed to be the long-expected Messiah. They were thieves and robbers, such as ➤Judas of Galilee, Theudas, and afterwards Simon Magus. Barchochebas, and many others, who claimed for themselves the name and title of the Christ. So S. Cyril, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius, and others.

 and the sheep heard them not. Because they discovered that they did not bring the token of the Messiah, as predicted by the prophets, but wished to steal away the faithful from Christ, to claim them for themselves, and to cast them into hell.

    9. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures. Rupertus thinks that this relates to a different door and a different sheepfold from the other, according to what is said (ver. 16), “Other sheep I have,” &c. But there is only one fold of Christ; one Church, that is. As He subjoins, “There shall be one fold and one shepherd.” The meaning of the door already spoken of, Christ partly confirms, partly explains when He adds, “By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” That is, if any man believe in Me, and therefore through faith in Me and by My grace enters the Church, “he shall be saved,” i.e., shall be justified and blessed, if he continues, that is, in My faith, grace and charity even unto death. So S. Gregory (Epist. lib. vii. 49). 

👉“He enters through the door into the sheepfold who enters through Christ. But he enters through Christ who believes and teaches the truth concerning Him—the Creator and Redeemer of mankind, and abides by what he preached.”

    and he shall go in, and go out. Will go out to the pastures, and after having fed will return to the resting-place, as sheep do. For the faithful will, when well fed, enter the fold of the Church, and again when hungry will go forth to the pastures of the soul, without any peril, for I will guide them to and fro. So Maldonatus.

    But to go in and out signifies among the Hebrews to act with freedom, do one’s own work, &c., and is connected with what follows. It means, the faithful man will move about everywhere without fear; will do his duty, and whatever he does, whether at home or abroad, will everywhere find food for his soul. 

👉The phrase denotes security, confidence, and freedom of converse; and of doing everything, everywhere, for and through Christ. So Cyril, Chrysostom.

    Symbolically and tropologically, S. Gregory (Hom. xiv.) “The faithful withdraws within himself by contemplation, and comes forth in action to do good works.” “He will enter in,” says S. Augustine, “for inward meditation, he will go forth for outward action.” The author of De spiritu et anima, says, “He will enter within to contemplate My Godhead, he will go forth to contemplate My Manhood, and in either case will find wondrous pastures.” And in another place S. Gregory writes, “Within, they have the pastures of contemplation; without, the pastures of good works; inwardly they enrich their mind with devotions, outwardly they satiate themselves with good works.” And lastly, Theophylact says, “He will enter in who has a care for the inward man; he will go out who mortifies his members upon earth.”

    Anagogically, Rupertus says, “He enters the Church by faith, to find therein pastures; he will go out when at death he migrates therefrom into heaven.” “He enters,” says S. Augustine “into the Church through the door of faith, and goes forth through the same door of living faith into eternal life, where he will find pasture.” And S. Gregory, “He will enter into faith, he will go forth to hope, and will find pasture in eternal satiety.”

    10. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly. He shows what is the end and aim of him whom before He called a thief, and what on the contrary was His own. ➤The thief and robber of the sheep,—as for instance a heretic or schismatic, a Scribe or Pharisee, or especially a false Christ,—comes to carry off the sheep (i.e., the faithful) from God and the Church, whose property they are, to hand them over to the synagogue of Satan, and there kill them by heresy and sin, and cast them into hell. 👉But I who am the true Shepherd of the sheep (i.e., of the faithful) came down from heaven, not for My own sake, but for that of the faithful, that being freed by Me, they may have the life of grace, even yet more abundantly. The word περισσὸν may be taken either as an adverb (abundantly), or as an adjective (abundant), that is, surpassing, exceeding all measure, that is, that they may abound in My doctrine and grace, and may live thereby, quick in spirit, enriched with spiritual gifts both in this world by grace, and in the world to come by glory. So S. Cyril and others. Rupertus adds, “that Christians may have more abundant grace than the Jews under the old law.” This abounding life of the spirit, inspired by Christ, you may see in S. Peter and the other Apostles, in Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, &c. Hence the glowing language of S. Paul, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ,” &c. (Rom. viii.)

    11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. I, the one only Prince of Shepherds, who will lay down My life for My sheep, to redeem them by My death from death, and confer on them both present and eternal life. Neither prophets, nor apostles, nor any one else could do this. For though they were slain for the sake of the faithful, yet they did not redeem them, sanctify, or beatify them. So Rupertus, Chrysostom, &c. S. Augustine adds that the prophets and apostles are counted as one and the same shepherd with Christ, as being under Him, sent also and guided and protected by Him. Christ therefore is that special and singular Pastor foretold by Ezekiel xxxiv. 23.

    Christ passes from the parable of the door to the more striking parable of the Shepherd. He is the door by which the sheep enter, and also the Shepherd of the sheep: that is not any ordinary one, but the chief, special, and Divine Shepherd. And He enters through the door, that is, by Himself and His own authority.

    Besides this Christ rejoices in the title of Shepherd, as being most appropriate and most sweet. He used to be thus represented in very ancient pictures, at Rome, as carrying a sheep on His shoulders. Many of the patriarchs, who were types and ancestors of Christ, were shepherds, learning thereby (says Philo) to be shepherds of men, &c. “If therefore thou wishest to know and to discharge the office of a true Pastor, see how a shepherd treats his sheep. Be so eminent in doctrine and sanctity among thy faithful ones, as to appear like a rational pastor among the irrational sheep, and as an angel among men” (S. Chrysostom). 

👉He attends to his sheep one by one; let him lead them into richer pastures. 

👉He goes before them by his virtuous example, as S. Paul exhorts Titus (Tit. ii. 7). 

👉As a parish priest he drives away all heretics and hurtful persons. 

👉And let him feed his flock with sound doctrines and sacraments, ➤and not fatten himself on the milk of his flock (Ezek. xxxiv. 2). 

➤Let him not be mercenary, seeking his own profit, paying court to the well-to-do and noble, and despising the rustics and mean of his flock. 

    For Christ went about villages and towns, preaching the Gospel to the poor (Matt. xi.) Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, was a noble example of this; he refused to exchange his poor bishoprick for a wealthier one, saying that he could render a better account at the day of judgment for his few sheep and small gains than he could for greater ones. For he said, “If men did but know how exact an account would be required, they would not seek to obtain great and wealthy bishoprics” (Sanders in Schism. Angl.) A good shepherd tenderly feeds and fosters the lambs and delicate ones of his flock (see Ezek. xxxiv. 4). And so does a parish priest and a bishop. (See the life of S. Abraham written by S. Ephrem.) He came from being an anchoret to be the pastor of a wild and barbarous people, and though cruelly entreated by them, brought them by his indomitable patience, gentleness, and charity, to submit to the laws of Christ.

    Jacob, like a true shepherd, watched over his flock by day and night (Gen. xxxi. 40); and shepherds were watching over their flocks by night when Christ was born. So too should a parish priest or a bishop vigilantly watch over his flock, as his first duty. A shepherd risks his own life in guarding his sheep. So should a parish priest, when persecution or pestilence threatens; as did SS. Athanasius, Chrysostom, Basil, Ambrose. Lastly, S. Peter, the chief pastor of the Church, lays down notes for the pastors under him (1 Pet. v. 2). See also S. Gregory (in Pastorali), S. Bernard (de Consider. ad Eugenium), and S. Augustine (Tract de Pastoribus et Ovibus).

    All these duties are summed up in charity, for charity supremely loves God, and for His sake the faithful committed to its care by God.

    The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. This does not relate so much to the parable itself, as to that which is signified by it. For the natural Shepherd ought to count his own life of greater value than the lives of his sheep. And yet he ought to protect his sheep even at the risk of his life. But the shepherd of souls is bound, by his duty, to expose his bodily life to danger, for the spiritual life of the faithful committed to his charge. And hence he is bound to stand by them in the time of the plague, or provide some other qualified person to administer the sacraments to the sick, as did S. Charles Borromeo: and for this reason was canonised. And so also all the apostles, excepting S. John, suffered martyrdom for the sake of the faithful committed to their care. And so also nearly all the Roman Pontiffs down to S. Sylvester. But the leader of them all was Christ, who alone, as the best of Shepherds, laid down His life as a ransom, while all the others did so merely to manifest their faith, and as a pattern of virtue.

+       +        +

 

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. 

The shepherd of the sheep. St John Chapter x. 1-6

St John Chapter x : Verses 1-6

Contents

• St John Chapter x : Verses Verses 1-6. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter x : Verses Verses 1-6

The shepherd of the sheep.  
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

1 Amen, amen I say to you: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber.  

2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.  

3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.  

4 And when he hath let out his own sheep, he goeth before them: and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice.  

5 But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers. 

6 This proverb Jesus spoke to them. But they understood not what he spoke to them.

1 Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὁ μὴ εἰσερχόμενος διὰ τῆς θύρας εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν τῶν προβάτων ἀλλὰ ἀναβαίνων ἀλλαχόθεν ἐκεῖνος κλέπτης ἐστὶν καὶ λῃστής·

1 Amen, amen dico vobis : qui non intrat per ostium in ovile ovium, sed ascendit aliunde, ille fur est et latro.  

2 ὁ δὲ εἰσερχόμενος διὰ τῆς θύρας ποιμήν ἐστιν τῶν προβάτων.

2 Qui autem intrat per ostium, pastor est ovium.  

3 τούτῳ ὁ θυρωρὸς ἀνοίγει, καὶ τὰ πρόβατα τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούει καὶ τὰ ἴδια πρόβατα ⸀φωνεῖ κατ’ ὄνομα καὶ ἐξάγει αὐτά.

3 Huic ostiarius aperit, et oves vocem ejus audiunt, et proprias ovas vocat nominatim, et educit eas.  

4 ⸀ὅταν τὰ ἴδια ⸀πάντα ἐκβάλῃ, ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν πορεύεται, καὶ τὰ πρόβατα αὐτῷ ἀκολουθεῖ, ὅτι οἴδασιν τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ·

4 Et cum proprias oves emiserit, ante eas vadit : et oves illum sequuntur, quia sciunt vocem ejus. 

5 ἀλλοτρίῳ δὲ οὐ μὴ ⸀ἀκολουθήσουσιν ἀλλὰ φεύξονται ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι οὐκ οἴδασι τῶν ἀλλοτρίων τὴν φωνήν.

5 Alienum autem non sequuntur, sed fugiunt ab eo : quia non noverunt vocem alienorum. 

6 ταύτην τὴν παροιμίαν εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἐκεῖνοι δὲ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν τίνα ⸀ἦν ἃ ἐλάλει αὐτοῖς.

6 Hoc proverbium dixit eis Jesus : illi autem non cognoverunt quid loqueretur eis.

Annotations

    1. Amen, amen I say to you: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber. He puts forth this parable to show who He is, and who are His rivals and adversaries.

    The occasion for it was because the Pharisees had cast out of the synagogue for his confession of Christ the blind man whom He had healed. By doing this they signified that Jesus was not the Messiah, but a false prophet; and consequently that they who believed in Him, as the blind man who had been cured did, erred in their belief, and wandered away from the synagogue, and were apostates from their own Church. Christ therefore puts forth the parable of the door of the sheepfold; to show by it, that so far from His being a false prophet, all others who enter not by Him as the door of the sheepfold into the Church of God, are deceivers and counterfeits. And that consequently the synagogue of the Pharisees was not the synagogue of God, but of Satan. Whereas the true Church of God is the Christian Church which Christ founded and substituted for the Jewish Church, and consequently the blind man when excommunicated from the synagogue, entered by faith in Christ into the true, i.e., the Christian Church.

    In order that the reader may easily comprehend the whole parable, I will here give a summary of it. 

(1.) The sheepfold is the Church of God. 

(2.) The owner is God the Father. 

(3.) 👉The door is Christ, or faith in Him, who is inclosed by the Scriptures of the Law and the Prophets as by a door firm-fastened with its bolts. 

(4.) The porter is the Holy Spirit. 

(5.) The sheep are not merely the pre-destinated, as S. Augustine held, but all the faithful that are within the Church. 

(6.) The true Pastors and Prelates are those who enter through Christ. 

(7.) To these the porter, i.e., the Holy Spirit, openeth, because faith in Christ, by the which they enter, is the gift of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit gives them true and lawful power, so that what they do is ratified by God. 

(8.) They lead out the sheep, i.e., the faithful, into the pastures of sound doctrine, grace, and virtues, go before them by their own example of a good life, and call them by their names, because they have a care for them severally, and exhort, stimulate, and compel them one by one to better things. 

(9.) ➤He who enters not into the sheepfold through Christ, but by leaping over the wall, or breaking through a window or wall, is a thief and robber of the sheep, that is, of the faithful: for he is busy in killing and destroying them. The other matters are mere ornamental additions, and are not to be applied in illustration of the subject.

    Let us consider these points one by one, and review them again.

    He that entereth not by the door, &c. Such were ➤Judas of Galilee and Theudas (Acts v. 36, 37), and others who pretended that they were the Messiah, or endeavoured to arrogate to themselves that which specially belonged to the Messiah. And such, too, ➤the Scribes and Pharisees were beginning to be, who before this had received legitimate authority from God through the merits of Christ, to teach and govern His people; and were therefore His true Pastors and Teachers. But by opposing themselves to Christ, now present among them, and by turning away the people from Him, ➤they became wolves, nay thieves and robbers of the faithful. So S. Augustine, and from him the Gloss. Against the arrogance of the Pharisees, who boasted they could see, He brings forward this similitude, which shows that neither wisdom nor a good life can avail aught except through Him. And S. Chrysostom says: “By the phrase, another way, He signifies the Scribes who taught the doctrines and commandments of men, and transgressed the law.” Such were the false prophets of old, and heretics now, of whom Jeremiah writes (xxiii. 21). Hear S. Augustine, “Let pagans, or heretics, or Jews say, ‘We live well;’ if they enter not by the door, what does it profit them? And they are to be said not to live well who either know not the end of good living through blindness, or else contemn it through pride of heart.”

    Tropologically;—S. Augustine, 

👉“Lowly is the door, even Christ. He who enters by this door must needs be humble, in order that he may be able to enter without hurting his head by striking it against the lintel. ➤But he who humbleth not himself, but wishes to climb up by the wall, is exalted only that he may fall.” 

    And the same S. Augustine (Serm. xlix., de Verb. Dom.) says, 

➤“He enters by the door who imitates Christ and His humility. He is a ‘thief’ who strives to steal away the sheep from Christ, and claim them for himself. He is also a ‘robber,’ because he kills the souls of the faithful, and hands them over to hell.” 

    And so S. Augustine (in loc.), “He is a thief who calls ‘his own’ that which is another’s.” “By making the sheep of God his own,” says the Gloss. “He is a ‘robber’ because he kills what he has stolen,” says S. Augustine.

    Tropologically;—Salmeron says humorously (Tract, p. 88), “Men enter ecclesiastical benefices by various means. (1.) By the royal gate, courtiers as recommended by great men. (2.) By the golden gate. (3.) By the gate of consanguinity. (4.) By the gate of gifts (simony). (5.) By the gate of doing service, those who by their obsequiousness are promoted by bishops to benefices. They lie in sickness and wait for the moving of the waters, that is for the vacant post. For he who is first gains favour with the successor, and obtains the benefice.”

    2. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. By the door S. Chrysostom understands the Holy Scriptures. “For these,” he says, “lay open the knowledge of God, protect the sheep, drive away wolves, by precluding access to heretics.” So also Theophylact, Leontius, and Euthymius. And also Theodorus of Heraclea (in Cat.), who gives also a further reason. “Scripture is the door, because he is a true pastor to whom the door gives ingress, that is on whom Scripture confers authority, and thus secures his acceptance.” 

    Other fathers regard Christ as the door, as He Himself says expressly. But you will say, Christ is the shepherd of the sheep, therefore He cannot be a door. For the shepherd enters by the door, therefore He cannot Himself be the door. S. Augustine replies; “The Lord Himself is the pastor and the door. He opens Himself who expounds Himself, and the porter is the Holy Spirit, of whom the Lord says, ‘He will teach you all truth.’ Christ therefore, who is the truth, is the door, and He who teacheth the truth openeth the door.” And the Gloss says, “All who hold and teach the truth are one shepherd in Christ the Shepherd.” Christ retained for Himself alone the name of door, [Ed. Ego sum ostium. John x. 7 & 9] for the sheep to enter in to God. But the shepherd entereth the door. For Christ Himself and other preachers preach Christ. But you may say more simply with Maldonatus, that Christ the shepherd enters by the door, i.e., by Himself, into the Church, because He enters by His own authority, but others by authority derived from Him. But it is not possible in a parable to make all expressions fit in exactly. Moreover, Syrians and Hebrews delight in parables, heaping them up one on another, and running them into each other. As Christ in this place mixes the similes of the door and the shepherd.

    3. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 

    (1.) That is Moses, as bearing testimony to Christ, says S. Chrysostom and others. (See chap. v. 46.) 

    (2.) S. Cyril thinks that it means the angel who presides over the whole Church (S. Michael, as is supposed). 

    (3.) The genuine meaning (according to S. Augustine, Chrysostom, and many others) is, that it means the Holy Ghost, “for the Scriptures opened by Him point out Christ as the Shepherd,” says Theophylact.     Or rather the Holy Ghost opened a door for Christ into the Church, when He constituted Him the Pastor of the Church, confirmed His authority by His testimony, His grace, and miracles, as when He descended on Him in the form of a dove at His baptism, and afterwards through Him gave sight to the blind, healed the sick, and raised the dead. And He also places over the Church all other Pastors whatsoever, the lawful successors of Christ, and causes them to be acknowledged and accepted, and by them brings in all the other faithful into the Church. He also exposes the frauds of heretics, and causes them to be expelled from the Church.

    and the sheep hear his voice: Just as sheep when they hear the call of the shepherd, so do Christian people acknowledge the true pastor (and those whom He substitutes as His deputies), listen to His voice, and follow Him in all things. S. Augustine, and Bede after him, understand by the sheep only the pre-destinated, for they are called sheep, and are distinguished from the goats (Matt. xxiii. 33). But this relates to the judgment when the elect and saved are separated from the reprobate But the present passage relates to the Church militant, where the elect are mingled with the reprobate, and cannot be separated. Both then are called sheep. The sheep then are all the faithful. For they are all of them in the Church, and acknowledge, love, and worship Christ as their Shepherd.

    and he calleth his own sheep by name, i.e., one by one. For the shepherd looks after them singly, and calls them, both in a body and separately, to follow Him to the pasture. And if any of them be sick He takes it out by itself, gives remedies, and if necessary carries it on His shoulders. Moreover, skilful shepherds commonly give names to their sheep and other animals, and call to them by their names. And in like manner Christ and 👉every pastor give names to Christians at their baptism, and call them by their name. He also takes care of them one by one, so as to feed them by His example and the Holy Sacraments, and thus leads them to salvation and heavenly glory.

    Leontius observes that Christ here sets forth eight signs and duties of a true pastor; that he enters by the door, that the Porter opens to him, that he can address his sheep by their several names, that he leads forth his sheep, that he goes before them, that his sheep follow him, and that he lays down his life for the sheep. Such was S. Chrysostom, who, speaking on his banishment, thus addresses his people (Hom. xi.), 

“Ye are my father, ye are my mother, ye are my life, ye are my grace. If ye make progress, I am delighted. Ye are my crown, my riches, my treasure. I am prepared to be offered a thousand times for you; nor need you thank me for this. I am only discharging a debt. For a good pastor ought to lay down his life for his sheep. For to such an one death brings immortal life.”

    and leadeth them out to the pastures, which are not without, but within the fold, that is in the Church itself. For in the Church the pastor teaches the people, celebrates Mass, baptizes, administers the Sacraments, &c. Besides, the Church is the assembly of the faithful, and therefore where the faithful are there also is the Church, or a part thereof.

    4. And when he hath let out his own sheep, he goeth before them: and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. To lead the way, to defend them from the wolf and the spoiler, and to lead those that follow him by a direct and convenient road to better pastures. And so in like manner Christ and every true pastor (1) go before the faithful in their way to heaven by the example of a holy life. Let a pastor therefore consider that he ought to be the leader and guide of the faithful in sanctity, to surpass them all, to give to all a bright pattern of virtues, so that looking on him, they may follow him to greater heights, as S. Peter says (1 Epist. chap. v. 3). (2.) 👉A pastor by his vigilance and energy protects the faithful from heretics, scandals, and other evils. (3.) 👉 He points out the straight way to heaven, and feeds and nurtures them with the best advice he can.

    Anagogically. St. Augustine says, He who went before the sheep is He who being raised from the dead, dieth no more, and who said to the Father, “Father, I will that where I am, they also whom thou hast given me may be with me; that they may see my glory which thou hast given me, because thou hast loved me before the creation of the world.” (John xvii. 24).

    and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. They distinguish his voice from that of others, and therefore follow it.

    5. But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers, i.e., of ➤ heretics, Jews, heathen, and all wicked and deceitful men, for the genuine sheep of Christ fly from them as from wolves.

    6. This proverb Jesus spoke to them. But they understood not what he spoke to them. In the Greek παροιμίαν, a similitude, proverb. (See note on Prov. 1:5.) The Pharisees and Jews, against whom He launched it (and the apostles also), did not understand it, as being involved and obscure.

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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. 

I believe, Lord. St John Chapter ix. 35-41

St John Chapter ix : Verses 35-41

Contents

• St John Chapter ix : Verses 35-41. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter ix : Verses 35-41

I believe, Lord. And falling down, he adored him. 
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out: and when he had found him, he said to him: Dost thou believe in the Son of God?

36 He answered, and said: Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?  

37 And Jesus said to him: Thou hast both seen him; and it is he that talketh with thee.  

38 And he said: I believe, Lord. And falling down, he adored him.  

39 And Jesus said: For judgment I am come into this world; that they who see not, may see; and they who see, may become blind.  

40 And some of the Pharisees, who were with him, heard: and they said unto him: Are we also blind?

41 Jesus said to them: If you were blind, you should not have sin: but now you say: We see. Your sin remaineth.

35 ⸀Ἤκουσεν Ἰησοῦς ὅτι ἐξέβαλον αὐτὸν ἔξω, καὶ εὑρὼν αὐτὸν ⸀εἶπεν· Σὺ πιστεύεις εἰς τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ⸀ἀνθρώπου;

35 Audivit Jesus quia ejecerunt eum foras : et cum invenisset eum, dixit ei : Tu credis in Filium Dei? 

36 ἀπεκρίθη ἐκεῖνος καὶ εἶπεν· Καὶ τίς ἐστιν, κύριε, ἵνα πιστεύσω εἰς αὐτόν;

36 Respondit ille, et dixit : Quis est, Domine, ut credam in eum?  

37 ⸀εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Καὶ ἑώρακας αὐτὸν καὶ ὁ λαλῶν μετὰ σοῦ ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν.

37 Et dixit ei Jesus : Et vidisti eum, et qui loquitur tecum, ipse est.  

38 ὁ δὲ ἔφη· Πιστεύω, κύριε· καὶ προσεκύνησεν αὐτῷ.

38 At ille ait : Credo, Domine. Et procidens adoravit eum.  

39 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Εἰς κρίμα ἐγὼ εἰς τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον ἦλθον, ἵνα οἱ μὴ βλέποντες βλέπωσιν καὶ οἱ βλέποντες τυφλοὶ γένωνται.

39 Et dixit Jesus : In judicium ego in hunc mundum veni : ut qui non vident videant, et qui vident caeci fiant.  

40 ⸀ἤκουσαν ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων ταῦτα οἱ ⸂μετ’ αὐτοῦ ὄντες⸃, καὶ εἶπον αὐτῷ· Μὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς τυφλοί ἐσμεν;

40 Et audierunt quidam ex pharisaeis qui cum ipso erant, et dixerunt ei : Numquid et nos caeci sumus? 

41 εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Εἰ τυφλοὶ ἦτε, οὐκ ἂν εἴχετε ἁμαρτίαν· νῦν δὲ λέγετε ὅτι Βλέπομεν· ⸀ἡ ἁμαρτία ὑμῶν μένει.

41 Dixit eis Jesus : Si caeci essetis, non haberetis peccatum. Nunc vero dicitis, Quia videmus : peccatum vestrum manet.

Annotations

    35. Jesus heard that they had cast him out: and when he had found him, he said to him:  Christ received him kindly, and rewards his constancy. Having given sight to his body, He now enlightens his mind. In giving him bodily sight, He had cast in some scattered seeds of faith, which He now particularly forms into perfect shape: so as to make him believe, that He whom he looked upon as a mere prophet, for having given him sight, was God also, and the Son of God. The Gloss says, “The blind man had already a heart prepared to believe, but knew not in whom he had to believe.” This, in answer to his question, he learns from Christ.

    Christ took trouble to find him in the place, where He knew he was. 

👉 It is the part of a good shepherd to seek for a wandering sheep, who cannot by itself come back into the right way. 

“They expel,” says S. Augustine (in loc.), “the Lord receives, and he becomes a Christian, even the more because he was expelled.”

    Dost thou believe in the Son of God? Christ did not demand faith from the blind man for the healing of his body, but He does for the healing of his soul: for, as S. Augustine says (Serm. xv. de Verb. Apost.), “He who made thee without thyself, doth not justify thee without thyself: He made thee without thy knowledge, He justifies thee through thy will.”

    37. And Jesus said to him: Thou hast both seen him; and it is he that talketh with thee. Thou seest him now for the first time, for he had been healed in the pool of Siloam, when Christ was not there. Christ therefore points out to him that it was He who restored his sight. He recalls his healing to his remembrance, says Theophylact, and that he had received the gift of sight from Him, so as to make him believe that He was not only the Son of man, but the Son of God.

    38. And he said: I believe, Lord. And falling down, he adored him. And he worshipped Him, as the Son of God, and very God, to be worshipped as God with the worship due to Him (latria). Moreover, the blind man, inwardly enlightened (and moved to it by Christ), by saying, “I believe,” brought out acts of hope, contrition, charity, devotion, and adoration towards Christ, and was by them cleansed from his sins and justified. 

👉He consequently became a holy and apostolic man. He was said to have been one of the seventy disciples, and to have become Bishop of Aix, in Provence, where he died and was buried by the side of Maximinus, to whom he had been coadjutor (see Peter de Natalis in Cat. Sanctorum, lib. v. cap. 102).

    39. And Jesus said: For judgment I am come into this world; that they who see not, may see; and they who see, may become blind.   “That is for condemnation,” says S. Cyril, “to convict and condemn the proud and worldly Pharisees of blindness who seem in their own sight to be wise.”

    But others explain it better, not of condemnation, but of inquiry and discrimination. I have come into the world to discriminate and separate believers from unbelievers, good from evil, godly from ungodly; in order that the people, who before had lived in ignorance of God and of salvation, and in darkness of mind, like this blind man, might by believing in Me be enlightened with the knowledge of God, and of things which concern their salvation; and that I might suffer the proud who refuse to believe in Me (like the Pharisees who are puffed up by their knowledge of the law) to be blinded, and might convict them of their blindness.

    (2.) But judgment might possibly here mean the secret counsel and mysterious decree of God, determined and fixed by His righteous decree, whereby God ordained that the Gentiles who knew not God, and consequently were blind, might behold the Light of Faith in Christ, and humbly and eagerly accept it; while the Scribes and Pharisees and wise men of the world, puffed up by their own knowledge, might become darkened in unbelief, and reject the faith and enlightenment of Christ. Humility, therefore, enlightened by faith the unlearned Gentiles, who submitted themselves to Christ, while pride darkened with unbelief the learned Scribes who rejected Him. So S. Cyril, or rather Clictoveus, who filled up what was wanting in his commentary. (See Rom. xi. 33.) “His judgments are a great deep.” Theodoret applies this to Paul and Judas. For 👉S. Paul having been blind received his sight, and ➤Judas, after seeing, became blind. The words “that,” “therefore,” &c., frequently signify not the cause, but the result or consequence. For Christ came not in order that the Scribes should be made blind; but their blindness was a result of Christ’s preaching, not from anything on His part, but from their own pride and fault. So Cyril and others.

    40. And some of the Pharisees, who were with him, heard: and they said unto him: Are we also blind? The Pharisees felt themselves sharply touched by our Lord’s words, which they understood to speak not of the blindness of the body, but of the mind. They knew that they were not bodily blind, and therefore if He had said this, they would have hooted Him down as a fool. They said, Are we blind also? Hast thou come to give sight to those who are blind in body, and to make out that we who spiritually see, and are doctors of the law, are blind and foolish? Show us our blindness and foolishness.

    41. Jesus said to them: If you were blind, you should not have sin: but now you say: We see. Your sin remaineth. (1.) S. Chrysostom. Theophylact, and Euthymius explain this of bodily blindness; meaning, If ye were blind in your bodies, ye would be less proud and sinful. For bodily blindness would humble your mind. (2.) S. Augustine (in loc.) is more to the point. If ye were blind in your own opinion, if ye would acknowledge yourselves to be blind (i.e., ignorant and foolish) in things which concern your salvation, ye would not have sin, for ye would seek a remedy for it, and would obtain it from Me.

(3.) Accurately and scholastically, If ye were blind through ignorance of Scripture and the law of nature, ye would not have sin, by acting according to this ignorance and not acknowledging Me as your Messiah. That is to say, If your ignorance were clearly without blame and invincible, ye would have some sin, but one which was less serious, and more excusable, and therefore ye might easily be enlightened and cured by Me, since My doctrine would dispel your ignorance. But now ye say to yourselves, “We see,” that is, ye think ye see, and are so wise as to be excellent judges of Christ’s advent and person. And therefore ye from your arrogant and evil thoughts continue in the sin of unbelief against Me; ye obstinately set your mind against Me, and thus refuse to believe in Me as the Messiah, though I have demonstrated that I am by very many signs and miracles. And therefore, ye cannot by any possibility be enlightened and healed by Me, because ye obstinately refuse to hear Me. So Jansen and others.

+       +        +

 

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. 

Whereas I was blind, now I see. St John Chapter ix. 23-34

St John Chapter ix : Verses 23-34

Contents

• St John Chapter ix : Verses 23-34. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter ix : Verses 23-34

Whereas I was blind, now I see.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

23 Therefore did his parents say: He is of age, ask himself.  

24 They therefore called the man again that had been blind, and said to him: Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.  

25 He said therefore to them: If he be a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.

26 They said then to him: What did he to thee? How did he open thy eyes?  

27 He answered them: I have told you already, and you have heard: why would you hear it again? will you also become his disciples?  

28 They reviled him therefore, and said: Be thou his disciple; but we are the disciples of Moses.  

29 We know that God spoke to Moses: but as to this man, we know not from whence he is.  

30 The man answered, and said to them: Why, herein is a wonderful thing, that you know not from whence he is, and he hath opened my eyes.

31 Now we know that God doth not hear sinners: but if a man be a server of God, and doth his will, him he heareth.  

32 From the beginning of the world it hath not been heard, that any man hath opened the eyes of one born blind.  

33 Unless this man were of God, he could not do any thing.  

34 They answered, and said to him: Thou wast wholly born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out

23 διὰ τοῦτο οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ εἶπαν ὅτι Ἡλικίαν ἔχει, αὐτὸν ⸀ἐπερωτήσατε.

23 Propterea parentes ejus dixerunt : Quia aetatem habet, ipsum interrogate.  

24 Ἐφώνησαν οὖν ⸂τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ δευτέρου⸃ ὃς ἦν τυφλὸς καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· Δὸς δόξαν τῷ θεῷ· ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν ὅτι ⸂οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος⸃ ἁμαρτωλός ἐστιν.

24 Vocaverunt ergo rursum hominem qui fuerat caecus, et dixerunt ei : Da gloriam Deo : nos scimus quia hic homo peccator est.  

25 ἀπεκρίθη οὖν ⸀ἐκεῖνος· Εἰ ἁμαρτωλός ἐστιν οὐκ οἶδα· ἓν οἶδα ὅτι τυφλὸς ὢν ἄρτι βλέπω.

25 Dixit ergo eis ille : si peccator est, nescio; unum scio, quia caecus cum essem, modo video. 

26 εἶπον ⸂οὖν αὐτῷ⸃· Τί ἐποίησέν σοι; πῶς ἤνοιξέν σου τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς;

26 Dixerunt ergo illi : Quid fecit tibi? quomodo aperuit tibi oculos?  

27 ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς· Εἶπον ὑμῖν ἤδη καὶ οὐκ ἠκούσατε· τί πάλιν θέλετε ἀκούειν; μὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς θέλετε αὐτοῦ μαθηταὶ γενέσθαι;

27 Respondit eis : Dixi vobis jam, et audistis : quod iterum vultis audire? numquid et vos vultis discipuli ejus fieri?  

28 ⸀ἐλοιδόρησαν αὐτὸν καὶ εἶπον· Σὺ ⸂μαθητὴς εἶ⸃ ἐκείνου, ἡμεῖς δὲ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἐσμὲν μαθηταί·

28 Maledixerunt ergo ei, et dixerunt : Tu discipulus illius sis : nos autem Moysi discipuli sumus.  

29 ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν ὅτι Μωϋσεῖ λελάληκεν ὁ θεός, τοῦτον δὲ οὐκ οἴδαμεν πόθεν ἐστίν.

29 Nos scimus quia Moysi locutus est Deus; hunc autem nescimus unde sit.  

30 ἀπεκρίθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Ἐν ⸂τούτῳ γὰρ τὸ⸃ θαυμαστόν ἐστιν ὅτι ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε πόθεν ἐστίν, καὶ ἤνοιξέν μου τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς.

30 Respondit ille homo, et dixit eis : In hoc enim mirabile est quia vos nescitis unde sit, et aperuit meos oculos : 

31 ⸀οἴδαμεν ὅτι ⸂ἁμαρτωλῶν ὁ θεὸς⸃ οὐκ ἀκούει, ἀλλ’ ἐάν τις θεοσεβὴς ᾖ καὶ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιῇ τούτου ἀκούει.

31 scimus autem quia peccatores Deus non audit : sed si quis Dei cultor est, et voluntatem ejus facit, hunc exaudit.  

32 ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος οὐκ ἠκούσθη ὅτι ἠνέῳξέν τις ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλοῦ γεγεννημένου·

32 A saeculo non est auditum quia quis aperuit oculos caeci nati.  

33 εἰ μὴ ἦν οὗτος παρὰ θεοῦ, οὐκ ἠδύνατο ποιεῖν οὐδέν.

33 Nisi esset hic a Deo, non poterat facere quidquam.  

34 ἀπεκρίθησαν καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· Ἐν ἁμαρτίαις σὺ ἐγεννήθης ὅλος, καὶ σὺ διδάσκεις ἡμᾶς; καὶ ἐξέβαλον αὐτὸν ἔξω.

34 Responderunt, et dixerunt ei : In peccatis natus es totus, et tu doces nos? Et ejecerunt eum foras.

Annotations

    24. They therefore called the man again that had been blind, and said to him: Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. To give God the glory, is a form of obtestation or oath among the Jews (see Josh. vii. 19). Confess that this man is a sinner, and so wilt thou by this confession of the truth give glory to God, who is the chief and eternal truth. “To give glory to God” (says the Gloss) “is to speak the truth as in the presence of God.” They wished to persuade him under the pretext of religion (says S. Chrysostom), to deny that he was cured by Christ, or if he were, it was by magic and sleight of hand. “Deny,” says the Interlinear Gloss, “the benefit thou hast received by Christ. But this were to blaspheme, and not to give glory to God.”

    25. He said therefore to them: If he be a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. “He answers prudently and cautiously, neither laying himself open to the charge, nor yet concealing the truth,” says the Interlinear Gloss. But S. Chrysostom objects, “How was it that just before he called Him a Prophet, and now he says, ‘Whether he be a sinner I know not?’ ” He does not say this by way of assertion, or through fear, but because he wished Jesus to be acquitted of the charges by the evidence of the fact. “I do not wish to argue the point with you. But I know for certain, that though once blind, now I see.”

    26. They said then to him: What did he to thee? How did he open thy eyes? Just like hounds, says S. Chrysostom, who track their prey now here, now there. Wherefore would ye hear it again? “Ye do not wish to learn, but merely to cavil,” says S. Chrysostom.

    27. He answered them: I have told you already, and you have heard: why would you hear it again? will you also become his disciples?  “As I now see and envy not,” says the Gloss, “nay, I profess myself to be Jesus’ disciple, even so I wish you to become His disciples also.” “He speaks thus,” says S. Augustine, “as indignant at the hardness of the Jews, and as having been restored to sight, not enduring those who were blind (in heart).” Note here the heroic constancy and nobleness of the blind man in defending Jesus before the Pharisees, His sworn enemies. And hence he deserved to be taken up and exalted by Christ.

    28. They reviled him therefore, and said: Be thou his disciple; but we are the disciples of Moses. They cursed him, saying, Be thou accursed, or at all events heaped maledictions and reproaches upon him. But their curse was without effect, and was turned by Christ into a blessing. 👉For it is an honour to the godly, to be cursed by the wicked. Whence S. Augustine says, “It is a curse if thou look into the heart of the speakers, but not if thou weighest the words themselves. May such a curse be on us, and on our children.”

    29. We know that God spoke to Moses: but as to this man, we know not from whence he is.

But we know not this man whence he is, whether sent by God, as was Moses, or by the devil. So Euthymius.

    30. The man answered, and said to them: Why, herein is a wonderful thing, that you know not from whence he is, and he hath opened my eyes. It was your business, as doctors and learned in the Law, to know that Jesus, who works so many miracles, must have been sent by God only. For it is God who works miracles by Him. “He brings in everywhere the miracle of his recovery of sight,” says S. Chrysostom, “because they could not gainsay that, but were convinced thereby.”

    31. Now we know that God doth not hear sinners: but if a man be a server of God, and doth his will, him he heareth.  How can this be? For 👉if sinners penitently ask pardon God vouchsafes it, and frequently bestows on sinners temporal blessings, and spiritual blessings also, if they ask for them. But I reply (1.) God ordinarily does not hear sinners; sinners, I mean, persisting in their sin. Yet sometimes, though rarely, He hears even them. So Jansen. This is plain from Scripture (see Ps. LVIII. 1, 2; Prov. xxviiii. 9; Ps. XLIX. 16; Mal. ii. 2). But of the just it is said, “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers” (Ps. XXXIII. 16). And, “The eyes of the Lord are on them that fear Him” (Ecclus. xv. 20).

(2.) Secondly, and more befittingly to the case in point, He hears not sinners, so as to work miracles to establish their sanctity as He did by Jesus, to testify that He was the Messiah. So Maldonatus on this passage. (See also Suarez, tom. ii. de Relig., lib. de Orat. cap. xxv.) “God heareth not sinners if they pray with an evil intention,” as e.g., to confirm their hypocrisy or lies.

(3.) S. Augustine (De Bapt. contr. Don. iii. 20) replies that this blind man spoke only generally, being still a catechumen, and not yet sufficiently instructed in the Faith. For generally it is not true, nor the view of Scripture, which in this place only states what was said by the blind man.

    Hear S. Augustine, “He speaks as one not yet anointed (i.e., a catechumen). For God does hear sinners also. For else the publican would say in vain, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner,’ from which confession he obtained justification, as this blind man obtained enlightenment.”

    From this passage S. Cyprian (Ep. 64 and 80) and the Donatists who followed his teaching inferred that Baptism by an heretical minister was invalid, and ought to be repeated; because a heretic is a great sinner whom God hears not. But quite wrongly. For in like manner, Baptism administered by a Catholic Priest living in sin would be void, and would require to be repeated. I say therefore that the efficacy of the Sacrament is one thing, the efficacy of prayer is another. For a sacrament derives its efficacy ex opere operato, but prayer ex opere operantis, from the sanctity and character of him who prays. And therefore if a sinner (a heretic, e.g.) baptizes, this sacrament is valid, and derives its efficacy from the institution of Christ, who confers grace by the Sacrament. For Christ is the original author of Baptism, who baptizes by His ministers as by instruments. Besides, though God hears not the prayers of a sinner, as a private person, yet He hears the prayers of the same person, in his public capacity, because he is a minister of the Church. For the Church is holy, as having Christ as its holy Head, and as having many faithful and holy members, to whose prayers God hearkens.

    32. From the beginning of the world it hath not been heard, that any man hath opened the eyes of one born blind.  Granted that Moses and the Prophets wrought many miracles, yet they never restored sight to one who was born blind. Jesus who has restored my sight must needs be a greater Prophet than they. He retorted the words of the Pharisees on themselves, “Ye prefer Moses to Christ, but I prefer Christ. Ye choose to be Moses’ disciples, I am Christ’s.”

    33. Unless this man were of God, he could not do any thing, i.e., for curing my blindness. “He says this freely, stedfastly, and truly” (S. Augustine), “for to enlighten the blind is supernatural work, and specially belongs to God.”

    34. They answered, and said to him: Thou wast wholly born in sins, and dost thou teach us? In sins, both in mind and body, for thou wast born blind by reason of thy sin. For they held the tenet of Pythagoras that the soul existed before the body, and that it was in consequence of its sins thrust down into a deformed (i.e., a blind) body. So Cyril, Leontius, and others. Maldonatus explains, “Thou hast done nothing but sin from thy birth.” So S. Chrysostom and Theophylact. And dost thou teach us? Thou blind sinner, wilt thou teach us who have our sight, and are wise and righteous?

    And they cast him out: And they cast him out of the private house in which they were, as not deserving to be disputed with by such just teachers, says Maldonatus. Or out of the temple, as says S. Chrysostom, and consequently out of the synagogue, adds Leontius. That is, they excommunicated him. “But the Lord of the temple found him,” says Chrysostom, “and took him up.” Both statements are credible: that they drove him out of the house, and also excommunicated him, for this latter they had decided to do. As if they said, “Begone, thou apostate, and go to thine own Jesus.” But this leads us to suppose that all this took place in the House of Judgment, a public place (see on verse 31). And that he was expelled from the synagogue appears more plainly from our Lord’s own words in the next chapter, I am the door.

+       +        +

 

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.