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Saint Thomas Aquinas, Carlo Crivelli

John 15

Carlo Crivelli, Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1476 · National Gallery, London · Public domainCarlo Crivelli, Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1476, National Gallery, London

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Thomas Aquinas · Catena Aurea · Chapter 15

Passages · 76

John 15:1–3

  • Hilary of Poitiers on John 15:1–3 — He rises in haste to perform the sacrament of His final passion in the flesh, (such is His desire to fulfil His Father’s commandment:) and therefore takes occasion to unfold the mystery of His assumption of His…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:1–3 — He says this as being the Head of the Church, of which we are the members, the Man Christ Jesus; for the vine and the branches are of the same nature. When He says, I am the true vine, He does not mean really a vine;…vatican.va
  • Hilary of Poitiers on John 15:1–3 (2) — But He wholly separates this humiliation in the flesh from the form of the Paternal Majesty, by setting forth the Father as the diligent Husbandman of this vine: And My Father is the Husbandman.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:1–3 (2) — For we cultivate God, and God cultivates us. But our culture of God does not make Him better: our culture is that of adoration, not of ploughing: His culture of us makes us better. His culture consists in extirpating…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:1–3 — And forasmuch as Christ was sufficient for Himself, but His disciples needed the help of the Husbandman, of the vine He says nothing, but adds concerning the branches, Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He…vatican.va
  • Hilary of Poitiers on John 15:1–3 (3) — The useless and deceitful branches He cuts down for burning.vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:1–3 (2) — And inasmuch as even the best of men require the work of the husbandman, He adds, And every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. He alludes here to the tribulations and trials…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:1–3 (3) — And who is there in this world so clean, that he cannot be more and more changed? Here, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. (1 John 1:8) He cleanseth then the clean, i. e. the fruitful, that the…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:1–3 (3) — Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you, i. e. ye have been enlightened by My doctrine, and been delivered from Jewish error.vatican.va

John 15:4–7

  • John Chrysostom on John 15:4–7 — Having said that they were clean through the word which He had spoken unto them, He now teaches them that they must do their part.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:4–7 — Abide in Me, and I in you: not they in Him, as He in them; for both are for the profit not of Him, but them. The branches do not confer any advantage upon the vine, but receive their support from it: the vine…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 15:4–7 — All the fruit of good works proceeds from this root. He who hath delivered us by His grace, also carries us onward by his help, so that we bring forth more fruit. Wherefore He repeats, and explains what He has said:…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:4–7 (2) — But lest any should suppose that a branch could bring forth a little fruit of itself, He adds, For without Me ye can do nothing. He does not say, ye can do little. Unless the branch abides in the vine, and lives from…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:4–7 (2) — The Son then contributes no less than the Father to the help of the disciples. The Father changeth, but the Son keepeth them in Him, which is that which makes the branches fruitful. And again, the cleansing is…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 15:4–7 (2) — And men gather them, i. e. the reapers, the Angels, and cast them into the fire, everlasting fire, and they are burned.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:4–7 (3) — For the branches of the vine are as contemptible, if they abide not in the vine, as they are glorious, if they abide. One of the two the branch must be in, either the vine, or the fire: if it is not in the vine, it…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:4–7 (3) — Then He shews what it is to abide in Him. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. It is to be shewn by their works.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:4–7 (4) — For then may His words be said to abide in us, when we do what He has commanded, and love what He has promised. But when His words abide in the memory, and are not found in the life, the branch is not accounted to be…vatican.va

John 15:8–11

  • John Chrysostom on John 15:8–11 — Our Lord shewed above, that those who plotted against them should be burned, inasmuch as they abode not in Christ: now He shews that they themselves would be invincible, bringing forth much fruit; Herein is My Father…vatican.va
  • Theophylact of Ohrid on John 15:8–11 — The fruit of the Apostles are the Gentiles, who through their teaching were converted to the faith, and brought into subjection to the glory of God.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:8–11 — Made bright or glorified; the Greek word may be translated in either way. Δόξα signifies glory; not our own glory, we must remember, as if we had it of ourselves: it is of His grace that we have it; and therefore it…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:8–11 (2) — If then I love you, be of good cheer; if it is the Father’s glory that ye bring forth good fruit, bear no evil. Then to rouse them to exertion, He adds, Continue ye in My love; and then shews how this is to be done:…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:8–11 (2) — Who doubts that love precedes the observance of the commandments? For who loves not, has not that whereby to keep the commandments. These words then do not declare whence love arises, but how it is shewn, that no one…vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 15:8–11 — Even as I have kept My Father’s commandments. The Apostle explains what these commandments were: Christ became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Phil. 2:8)vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:8–11 (3) — Then because the Passion was now approaching to interrupt their joy, He adds, These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may remain in you: as if He said, And if sorrow fall upon you, I will take it away; so…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:8–11 (3) — And what is Christ’s joy in us, but that He deigns to rejoice on our account? And what is our joy, which He says shall be full, but to have fellowship with Him? He had perfect joy on our account, when He rejoiced in…vatican.va

John 15:12–16

  • Theophylact of Ohrid on John 15:12–16 — Having said, If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, He shews what commandments they are to keep: This is My commandment, That ye love one another.vatican.va
  • Gregory the Great on John 15:12–16 — But when all our Lord’s sacred discourses are full of His commandments, why does He give this special commandment respecting love, if it is not that every commandment teaches love, and all precepts are one? Love and…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:12–16 — Where then love is, what can be wanting? where it is not, what can profit? But this love is distinguished from men’s love to each other as men, by adding, As I have loved you. To what end did Christ love us, but that…vatican.va
  • Gregory the Great on John 15:12–16 (2) — The highest, the only proof of love, is to love our adversary; as did the Truth Himself, who while He suffered on the cross, shewed His love for His persecutors: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:12–16 (2) — Having said, This is My commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you, it follows, as John saith in his Epistle, that as Christ laid down His life for us, so we should lay down our lives for the…vatican.va
  • Gregory the Great on John 15:12–16 (3) — But whoso in time of tranquillity will not give up his time to God, how in persecution will he give up his soul? Let the virtue of love then, that it may be victorious in tribulation, be nourished in tranquillity by…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:12–16 (3) — From one and the same love, we love God and our neighbour; but God for His own sake, our neighbour for God’s. So that, there being two precepts of love, on which hang all the Law and the Prophets, to love God, and to…vatican.va
  • Gregory the Great on John 15:12–16 (4) — A friend is as it were a keeper of the soul. He who keeps God’s commandments, is rightly called His friend.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:12–16 (4) — Great condescension! Though to keep his Lord’s commandments, is only what a good servant is obliged to do, yet, if they do so, He calls them His friends. The good servant is both the servant, and the friend. But how…vatican.va
  • Theophylact of Ohrid on John 15:12–16 (2) — As if He said, The servant knoweth not the counsels of his lord; but since I esteem you friends, I have communicated my secrets to you.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:12–16 (5) — But how did He make known to His disciples all things that He had heard from the Father, when He forebore saying many things, because He knew they as yet could not bear them? He made all things known to His…vatican.va
  • Gregory the Great on John 15:12–16 (5) — Or all things which He heard from the Father, which He wished to be made known to His servants; the joys of spiritual love, the pleasures of our heavenly country, which He impresses daily on our minds by the…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:12–16 — All things, i. e. all things that they ought to hear. I have heard, shews that what He had taught was no strange doctrine, but received from the Father.vatican.va
  • Gregory the Great on John 15:12–16 (6) — But let no one who has attained to this dignity of being called the friend of God, attribute this superhuman gift1 to his own merits: Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:12–16 (6) — Ineffable grace! For what were we before Christ had chosen us, but wicked, and lost? We did not believe in Him, so as to be chosen by Him: for had He chosen us believing, He would have chosen us choosing. This…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:12–16 (7) — They are chosen then before the foundation of the world, according to that predestination by which God foreknew His future acts. They are chosen out of the world by that call whereby God fulfills what He has…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:12–16 (8) — Observe, He does not choose the good; but those, whom He hath chosen, He makes good: And I have ordained you that ye should go, and bring forth fruit. This is the fruit which He meant, when He said, Without Me ye can…vatican.va
  • Gregory the Great on John 15:12–16 (7) — I have set you,i. e. have planted you by grace, that ye should go by will (volendo not in Vulg.); to will being to go in mind, and bring forth fruit, by works. What kind of fruit they should bring forth He then…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:12–16 (9) — Love then is one fruit, now existing in desire only, not yet in fulness. Yet even with this desire whatever we ask in the name of the Only-Begotten Son, the Father giveth us: That whatsoever ye shall ask the Father…vatican.va

John 15:17–21

John 15:22–25

  • John Chrysostom on John 15:22–25 — Then by way of another consolation, He declares the injustice of these persecutions both towards Him and them: If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:22–25 — Christ spoke to the Jews only, not to any other nation. In them then was that world which hated Christ and His disciples; and not only in them, but in us also. Were the Jews then without sin before Christ came in the…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:22–25 (2) — As the Jews persecuted Him out of professed regard for the Father, He takes away this excuse: He that hateth Me, hateth My Father also.vatican.va
  • Alcuin of York on John 15:22–25 — For as he who loves the Son, loves the Father also, the love of the Father being one with that of the Son, even as their nature is one: so he who hateth the Son, hateth the Father also.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:22–25 (2) — But He has just said, Because they know not Him that sent Me. How could they hate one whom they did not know? For if they hated God, believing Him to be something else, and not God, this was not hatred of God. In the…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:22–25 (3) — Thus then they have no excuse, He says; I gave them doctrine, I added miracles, which, according to Moses’ law, should convince all if the doctrine itself is good also: If I had not done among them the works that…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:22–25 (3) — The sin of not believing Him, notwithstanding His doctrine and His miracles. But why does He add, Which none other man did? Christ did no work greater than the raising of the dead, which we know the ancient Prophets…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:22–25 (4) — And that the disciples may not say, Why then hast Thou brought us into such difficulties? Couldest not thou foresee the resistance and hatred we should meet with, He quotes the prophecy: But this cometh to pass, that…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:22–25 (4) — Under the name of the Law, the whole of the Old Testament is included: and therefore our Lord says here, That is written in their law; the passage being in the Psalms.vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:22–25 (5) — Their law, He says, not as made by them, but as given to them. A man hates without a cause, who seeks no advantage from his hatred. Thus the ungodly hate God; the righteous love Him, i. e. looking for no other good…vatican.va
  • Gregory the Great on John 15:22–25 — It is one thing not to do good, another to hate the teacher of goodness; as there is a difference between sudden and deliberate sins. Our state generally is that we love what is good, but from infirmity cannot…vatican.va

John 15:26–27

  • John Chrysostom on John 15:26–27 — The disciples might say, If they have heard words from Thee, such as none other hath spoken, if they have seen works of Him, such as none other hath done, and yet have not been convinced, but have hated Thy Father,…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:26–27 — As if He said, Seeing Me, they hated and killed Me: but the Comforter shall give such testimony concerning Me, as shall make them believe, though they see Me not. And because He shall testify, ye shall testify also:…vatican.va
  • Didymus the Blind on John 15:26–27 — The Holy Spirit He calls the Comforter, a name taken from His office, which is not only to relieve the sorrows of the faithful, but to fill them with unspeakable joy. Everlasting gladness is in those hearts, in which…vatican.va
  • John Chrysostom on John 15:26–27 (2) — He calls Him not the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit of truth, to shew the perfect faith that was due to Him. He knew that He proceedeth from the Father, for He knew all things; He knew where He Himself came from, as He…vatican.va
  • Didymus the Blind on John 15:26–27 (2) — He does not say, from God, or, from the Almighty, but, from the Father: because though the Father and God Almighty are the same, yet the Spirit of truth properly proceeds from God, as the Father, the Begetter. The…vatican.va
  • Theophylact of Ohrid on John 15:26–27 — Elsewhere He says that the Father sends the Spirit; now He says He does: Whom I will send unto you; thus declaring the equality of the Father and the Son. That He might not be thought however to be opposed to the…vatican.va
  • Augustine of Hippo on John 15:26–27 (2) — If it be asked here whether the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son also, we may answer thus: The Son is the Son of the Father alone, and the Father is the Father of the Son only; but the Holy Spirit is not the Spirit…vatican.va

Scripture cited · 15 verses

Wisdom 15:3 · Jeremiah 11:21 · Matthew 10:20 · Matthew 25:21 · Mark 6:56 · Luke 23:34 · John 8:14 · John 20:29 · Romans 8:30 · 1 Corinthians 13:12 · 2 Corinthians 5:19 · Galatians 4:6 · Galatians 5:22 · Philippians 2:8 · 1 John 1:8

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