Spirit of Hope

  1 Pet 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The most high and eternal God is called blessed ( benedictus ), because in Himself He is most truly holy, glorious, and perfect, most worthy of all praise and honor, and the bestower and preserver of all blessing—that is, of all grace and every good. Therefore, “Blessed be God” means that He is eternally holy in Himself, and that He ought to be blessed, praised, and honored by all. Concerning Him it is read in Daniel: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, worthy of praise and exalted above all forever.” Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: “Bless the Lord, exalt Him as much as you can, for He is above all praise; when you exalt Him, be filled with strength, and do not grow weary, for you cannot reach Him.” Moreover, when it says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” this can be referred to the same Person: so that the eternal Father is called the God of Christ according to His humani...

 Translated by Qwen. LITERAL COMMENTARY 1 Cor 5:6–7. “Your boasting is not good.” You have no reason to boast as though you were innocent and abounded in many gifts. “Do you not know that a little leaven corrupts the whole mass?” It infects it with its sour taste; so an evil man easily imbues and stains the whole society with his vice. “Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as indeed you are unleavened.” Eliminate everything by which the Church can be corrupted; exclude this incestuous man from your assembly by divine censure, lest he corrupt the morals of others. Be a people conspicuous for the newness of life, a holy people, as through baptism you have been made pure and holy from the leaven of sin. And by the very fact that you profess yourselves disciples of Christ, you ought to abstain from all those things by which morals are wont to be corrupted. The mystical sense refers to the law given in Exodus 12:18–20 concerning the eating of unleavened bread and th...

 Translated by Qwen. 1 Cor 5:6. Struck with horror and grief, the Apostle exclaims again: “Your boasting is not good” (by litotes for: it is bad, indeed your boasting is the worst ). Chrysostom and others wrongly suspect that here too the Apostle is reproving the Corinthians for having boasted about the wisdom of that sinner; rather, he speaks of that very pride which he had already reproved earlier (5:6 sqq., 18 sq.). Certainly they could not boast, who retained such a wicked man in their church. Whence now, of its own accord, flows the precept that they should cast him out; yet he first prefixes a certain proverb, by which they may recognize how great the danger is if they allow him to remain longer in their midst. “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (read: ferments ). The metaphor of leaven, which quickly imparts its sourness to the whole dough with which it is mixed and makes it like itself, is drawn by the Lord Himself both for good (Matt 13:33; L...

 Translated by Qwen. Father Noel Alexandre's Literal and Moral Commentary on John 20:1-9  LITERAL COMMENTARY 1–2. “But on the first day of the week,” that is, the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, together with the other pious women of whom she was the leader in this work of piety, came while it was still dark to the tomb. She set out on the journey while the darkness had not yet been dispelled, and they arrived at the tomb when the sun began to shine. And she saw the stone taken away from the tomb. She beheld the great stone, by which the mouth of the cave had been blocked, rolled away from it. Therefore she ran to her companions and to the chief disciples, quickly reporting what she had first seen and what had come to her mind, namely, that the body of the Lord had been taken away. And she came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, namely to John himself who wrote these things, and said to them: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb,” whether o...

  Father Augustus Bisping's Commentary on John 20:1-9 § 20. The Testimony to Jesus as the Risen One Before His Disciples and Women Disciples. Conclusion. 20:1–31. 1. Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene, Jn 20:1–18. See on Matt 28:1 ff.; Mark 16:1 ff.; Luke 24:1 ff. Jn 20:1 f.: "But on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene comes early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and sees the stone taken away from the tomb." Concerning μία τῶν σαββάτων ["one of the Sabbaths"], see on Matt 28:1. According to the first three Evangelists, several women went with Mary—who is here named alone—to the tomb, namely, Mary the mother of James, Salome, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza. John names only Mary Magdalene because it was precisely she who first brought the message to him and to Peter that the tomb was empty. That, however, she had companions is indirectly indicated in the plural οἴδαμεν ["we know"] in v. 2. Concerning σκοτίας ἔτι οὔσης ["while it was still d...

 Father Joseph Knabenbauer's Commentary on John 20:1-9 What is observed in the narrative of the Passion is also evident here. For John both presupposes and supplements the narrative of the Synoptics. John 20:1: “But on the first day of the week,” i.e., the first day of the week; for τὸ σάββατον and τὰ σάββατα also take on the notion of “week” (cf. Matt 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 18:12, etc.). “Mary Magdalene came early in the morning, while it was still dark, to the tomb.” She sets out at the break of dawn, which declares the fervor of her love. From the Synoptics it is clear that she did not set out for the tomb alone, but together with other women who had prepared spices so that, upon arriving, they might anoint Jesus. For, as Chrysostom says, although both the men, Joseph and Nicodemus, and the women showed great love for Jesus, it is clear they did not entertain any great expectation concerning Him; for they wished to pay Him honor as though He were to remain permanently in the to...