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Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10: 6-13

6 Now these things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things as they also coveted.

    Commentary on Verse 6 In a figure of us. That is, this was done and written to teach us, what we may expect, if we imitate the murmurs, infidelities, ingratitude, and disobedience of the Hebrew people. Unless we renounce our irregular desires, unless we mortify our passions, baptism and communion will prove our greater condemnation. The greatest graces are but subjects of alarm, unless our life correspond with them.

7 Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

9 Neither let us tempt Christ: as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents.

    Commentary on Verse 9 As some of them tempted Christ. This cannot but be understood of Christ, as God. (Witham)

10 Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

11 Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

    Commentary on Verse 11 Upon whom the ends of the world are come. The last age of the world, which Saint John calls the last hour. (W)

12 Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall.

    Commentary on Verse 12 Take heed lest he fall. This regards the doctors and teachers in the new Church of Corinth; who, relying upon their own learning, did not think themselves weak, and presuming too much upon their own strength, exposed themselves to the danger of falling. See Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Augustine, de dono. Persey. Self-diffidence is the foundation of our strength. We prevent many dangerous falls when we keep close to the earth by humility.

13 Let no temptation take hold on you, but such as is human. And God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it.

    Commentary on Verse 13 Let no temptation take hold on you. Or, no temptation hath taken hold of you, or come upon you a yet, but what is human, or incident to man. (C) - The sense of these words is obscure: we may expound them by way of prayer, let no temptation, but such as are of human frailty, and not hard to be overcome, happen to you. See the Greek text. Will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it. The literal signification of the Latin, compared with the Greek is, that God will bring you off, and make you escape out of those dangers, when you are tempted. (W) The most violent temptations are occasions of merit and triumph to such as are in the hands of God; whilst the lightest are snares and a deep abyss to such as are in their own hands.


Gospel: St. Luke 19: 41-47

41 At that time, when Jesus drew near, seeing the city, He wept over it, saying:

    Commentary on Verse 41 He wept. Saint Epiphanius tells us, that some of the orthodox of his time, offended at these words, omitted them in their copies, as if to shed tears, were a weakness unworthy of Christ: but this true reading of the evangelist is found in all copies, and received by all the faithful; and the liberty which those who changed them took, was too dangerous ever to be approved of by the Church. Neither do these tears argue in Jesus Christ anything unworthy of His supreme majesty or wisdom. Our Savior possessed all the human passions, but not the defects of them. The Stoics, who condemned the passions in their sages, laboured to make statues or automata of man, not philosophers. The true philosopher moderates and governs his passions; the Stoic labors to destroy them, but cannot effect his purpose. And when he labors to overcome one passion, he is forced to have recourse to another for help. (C) Our Savior is said to have wept six times, during His life on earth: 1st, At His birth, according to many holy doctors; 2ndly, at His circuмcision, according to Saint Bernard and others; 3rdly, when He raised Lazarus to life, as is related in Saint John, chapter 11; 4thly, in His entry into Jerusalem, described in this place; 5thly, during His agony in the garden, just before His apprehension, when, as Saint Luke remarks, (Chapter 22) His sweat was as drops of blood trickling down upon the ground; and 6thly, during His passion, when He often wept, on account of His great distress of mind, occasioned principally by the knowledge He had of the grievousness of men's sins, and the bad use they would make of the redemption He was, through so many sufferings, procuring for them. (Dion.)

42 If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes.

    Commentary on Verse 42 If thou also hadst known. It is a broken sentence, as it were in a transport of grief; and we may understand, thou wouldst also weep. Didst thou know, even at this day, that peace and reconciliation which God still offers to thee? (W) What can be more tender than the apostrophe here made use of by our Savior!? Hadst thou but known, & c. that is, didst thou but know how severe a punishment is about to be inflicted upon thee, for the numberless transgressions of thy people, thou likewise wouldst weep; but, alas! hardness in iniquity, thou still rejoicest, ignorant of the punishment hanging over thy head.? Just men have daily occasion to bewail, like our blessed Redeemer, the blindness of the wicked, unable to see, through their own perversity, the miserable state of their souls, and the imminent danger they are every moment exposed to, of losing themselves for ever. Of these, Solomon cries out; (Proverbs 2:13) They leave the right way, and walk through dark ways. We ought to imitate this compassion of our blessed Redeemer; and, as He wept over the calamities of the unfortunate Jerusalem, though determined on his destruction; so we ought to bewail the sins not only of our friends, but likewise of our enemies, and daily offer up our prayers for their conversion. (Dion.)

43 For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side,

    Commentary on Verse 43 And compass thee, & c. Christ's prophecy is a literal description of what happened to Jerusalem, under Titus. (W)

44 And beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation.

45 And entering into the temple, He began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought.

46 Saying to them: It is written: My house is the house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves.

47 And He was teaching daily in the temple. And the chief priests and the scribes and the rulers of the people sought to destroy Him: