http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/12Apr/3eastsun.htm#haydock

Epistle: 1 Peter 2: 11 - 19

11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, to refrain yourselves from carnal desires, which war against the soul,

    Commentary on Verse 11 I beseech you....to refrain, &c. from all unlawful and disorderly passions, that the Gentiles not yet converted may have nothing to blame in your lives and conversation, but may be edified and induced to praise God. (Witham)

12 Having your conversation good among the Gentiles: that whereas they speak against you as evil doers, by your good works, they may glorify God in the day of visitation.

    Commentary on Verse 12 In the day of visitation. God is said to visit his people, sometimes by afflictions and punishments, and sometimes by graces and favours. Some think St. Peter here, by the day of visitation, means the approaching destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and that the sense is, that the heathen Romans seeing your peaceable dispositions and pious conversations, may have a favourable opinion of the Christian religion, and be converted. Others, that you and they to whom the gospel is preached, may glorify God when he visits them with graces and favours, whether exterior or interior. (Witham) --- Be careful not to give occasion to scandal. Detraction is the life of the world, and piety is most exposed to its shafts, because it most condemns the maxims of its followers.

13 Be ye subject, therefore, to every human creature for God's sake: whether it be to the king as excelling:

    Commentary on Verse 13 To every human creature, to every one whom the order of Providence has placed over you, whether it be to emperors or kings, who have the supreme power in kingdoms, or to governors of provinces; obey your temporal princes, though heathens and idolaters, (as the Roman emperors were at that time enemies to the Christian religion) in all that is not sinful and against the law of God: for this is the will of God, and all power is from God. See Romans xiii. In like manner (ver. 18.) servants must be subject and obey their masters, though they be infidels. See 1 Corinthians vii. By this you will silence the ignorance and calumnies of foolish men, who pretended that the Christian religion taught them to be disobedient to princes, and to be subjects of Christ only, their supreme spiritual king. (Witham)

14 Or to governors, as sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of the good:

15 For so is the will of God, that by doing well you may silence the ignorance of foolish men:

16 As free, and not as making liberty a cloak for malice, but as the servants of God.

    Commentary on Verse 16 As free; to wit, from the slavery of sin, but take care not to make this Christian freedom and liberty a cloak for malice, as they do, who pretend that this makes subjects free from their obedience to temporal princes and magistrates; or servants free from the obedience due to their masters, even when they are froward, ill-humoured, or cross to them. (Witham) --- There were some heretics in the days of St. Peter, as there are at present, who under pretext of evangelical liberty seek to be free from all even lawful subjection, and thus set themselves above the ordinances of both civil and ecclesiastical power.

17 Honour all men: love the brotherhood: fear God: honour the king:

18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good, and gentle, but also to the froward.

19 For this is praiseworthy, if for conscience towards God, a man endure sorrows, suffering wrongfully.

    Commentary on Verse 19 Take notice that this is praiseworthy, an effect of God's grace, a thing acceptable to God, when you suffer injuries patiently; whereas it is no glory, nothing that deserves commendation or reward, either before God or man, to suffer for doing ill, as a malefactor, who deserves punishments. But it is glorious and meritorious for you to suffer as Christians, and for the Christian faith: be not then ashamed to suffer in this manner. These sufferings are marks of God's favour towards you, and you have the example of Christ, which you must imitate. (Witham)


Gospel: John 16: 16-22

16 At that time Jesus said to His disciples: A little while, and now you shall not see Me, and again a little while, and you shall see Me: because I go to the Father.

    Commentary on Verse 16 A little while, and now you shall not see Me, &c. Many expound these words in this manner: that after a little while, you shall not see me, because even to-morrow, I shall be taken from you by death: and again, after a little while, you shall see me, because the third day I shall rise again, and converse with you, till My ascension. St. Augustine gives another interpretation, (tract. 101.) that by the first little while, may be understood, the short time till Christ's Ascension, and by the latter little while, the short time that the apostles were to live in this world; after which they should see, and enjoy Christ for ever in the kingdom of Heaven. And this exposition seems to agree better with the following promise. (Witham) --- In a few hours, I shall be separated from you, to be delivered up to My enemies, and put to the cruel death of the cross; and after a short time, I shall rise again; then you shall see Me in My new state of glory. St. Chrysostom, both Sts. Cyrils, Theophylactus, Euthymius, St. Augustine, and others, interpret this verse differently; thus: Not long hence, I shall be entirely separated from you; you shall not see Me, because I shall go to the Father, by My Ascension; but you shall see Me again, after a short time, at My second coming, to judge the living and the dead. All the time, that shall pass between My Ascension, and My second coming, is in the eyes of God only as a moment. For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday, which is past and gone. (Psalm lxxxix. ver. 4.) And the apostle calls all time a moment, a time that soon passes. (1 Corinthians vii. and 2 Corinthians iv.)

17 Then some of the disciples said one to another, What is this that He saith to us: A little while, and you shall not see Me, and again a little while, and you shall see Me: and because I go to the Father?

18 They said therefore, What is this that He saith, A little while? we know not what He speaketh.

19 And Jesus knew that they wished to ask Him: and He said to them: Of this do you inquire among yourselves, because I said, A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me.

20 Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

    Commentary on Verse 20 Your sorrow shall be turned into joy, chiefly at the end of your mortal life; then you shall have a joy, never to be taken from you. (Witham)

21 A woman, when she is in labor, hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

22 So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice: and your joy no man shall take from you.

    Commentary on Verse 22 The joy you will feel at my resurrection, shall ever be unalterable, and unremitting, because there I shall give you assurances and proofs of your future resurrection, and immortality. As you have been partakers in my labours, in my ignominies, and in my sorrows, so also shall you have a share in my glory, in my resurrection, and immortal bliss. Behold, these will rise to your ever unalterable and permanent joy. This is the opinion of St. Chrysostom, St. Cyril, Theophylactus, and others.

 http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1114.htm#article2


Article 2. Whether to tempt is proper to the devil?


Objection 1. It would seem that to tempt is not proper to the devil. For God is said to tempt, according to Genesis 22:1, "God tempted Abraham." Moreover man is tempted by the flesh and the world. Again, man is said to tempt God, and to tempt man. Therefore it is not proper to the devil to tempt.

Objection 2. Further, to tempt is a sign of ignorance. But the demons know what happens among men. Therefore the demons do not tempt.

Objection 3. Further, temptation is the road to sin. Now sin dwells in the will. Since therefore the demons cannot change man's will, as appears from what has been said above (Question 111, Article 2), it seems that it is not in their province to tempt.

On the contrary, It is written (1 Thessalonians 3:5): "Lest perhaps he that tempteth should have tempted you": to which the gloss adds, "that is, the devil, whose office it is to tempt."

I answer that, To tempt is, properly speaking, to make trial of something. Now we make trial of something in order to know something about it: hence the immediate end of every tempter is knowledge. But sometimes another end, either good or bad, is sought to be acquired through that knowledge; a good end, when, for instance, one desires to know of someone, what sort of a man he is as to knowledge, or virtue, with a view to his promotion; a bad end, when that knowledge is sought with the purpose of deceiving or ruining him.

From this we can gather how various beings are said to tempt in various ways. For man is said to tempt, sometimes indeed merely for the sake of knowing something; and for this reason it is a sin to tempt God; for man, being uncertain as it were, presumes to make an experiment of God's power. Sometimes too he tempts in order to help, sometimes in order to hurt. The devil, however, always tempts in order to hurt by urging man into sin. In this sense it is said to be his proper office to tempt: for thought at times man tempts thus, he does this as minister of the devil. God is said to tempt that He may know, in the same sense as that is said to know which makes others to know. Hence it is written (Deuteronomy 13:3): "The Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love him."

The flesh and the world are said to tempt as the instruments or matter of temptations; inasmuch as one can know what sort of man someone is, according as he follows or resists the desires of the flesh, and according as he despises worldly advantages and adversity: of which things the devil also makes use in tempting.

Thus the reply to the first objection is clear.

Reply to Objection 2. The demons know what happens outwardly among men; but the inward disposition of man God alone knows, Who is the "weigher of spirits" (Proverbs 16:2). It is this disposition that makes man more prone to one vice than to another: hence the devil tempts, in order to explore this inward disposition of man, so that he may tempt him to that vice to which he is most prone.

Reply to Objection 3. Although a demon cannot change the will, yet, as stated above (Question 111, Article 3), he can change the inferior powers of man, in a certain degree: by which powers, though the will cannot be forced, it can nevertheless be inclined.