Mateus 3
Hilary of Poitiers · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Mateus 3:1
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] Or, he came to Judæa, desert by the absence of God, not of population, that the place of preaching might witness the few to whom the preaching was sent. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 3:2
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] He therefore preaches repentance when the Kingdom of Heaven approaches; by which we return from error, we escape from sin, and after shame for our faults, we make profession of forsaking them. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 3:4
A garment woven with camel's hair designates the peculiar clothing of this prophetic preacher. He is covered with the skins of an unclean animal. Whatever had been useless or shabby in us becomes sanctified by the prophet's clothes. — Commentary on Matthew 2.2
Mateus 3:4
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] For the preaching of John no place more suitable, no clothing more useful, no food more fitted. The preacher of Christ is clad in the skins of unclean beasts, to which the Gentiles are compared, and so by the Prophets' dress is sanctified whatever in them was useless or unclean. The girdle is a thing of much efficacy to every good work, that we may be girt for every ministry of Christ. For his food are chosen locusts, which fly the face of man, and escape from every approach, signifying ourselves who were borne away from every word or speech of good by a spontaneous motion of the body, weak in will, barren in works, fretful in speech, foreign in abode, are now become the food of the Saints, chosen to fill the Prophets' desire, furnishing our most sweet food not from the hives of the law, but from the trunks of wild trees. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 3:5-6
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] The preacher of Christ is clad in the skins of unclean beasts, to which the Gentiles are compared, and so by the Prophets' dress is sanctified whatever in them was useless or unclean. The girdle is a thing of much efficacy to every good work, that we may be girt for every ministry of Christ. For his food are chosen locusts, which fly the face of man, and escape from every approach, signifying ourselves who were borne away from every word or speech of good by a spontaneous motion of the body, weak in will, barren in works, fretful in speech, foreign in abode, are now become the food of the Saints, chosen to fill the Prophets' desire, furnishing our most sweet food not from the hives of the law, but from the trunks of wild trees. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 3:8
He advises them to "bring forth fruit that matches repentance" and not to boast that they have Abraham as their father, for God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of stones. Indeed, succession to Abraham in the flesh is not required, but the inheritance of Abraham's faith. In this context, dignity of origin consists in examples of works. The glory of one's race lies in the imitation of faith. The devil was faithless, but Abraham was faithful. The devil was treacherous in his treatment of humanity, whereas Abraham was justified by faith. Therefore the very life and character of each person is acquired by a close relationship, so that those who are faithful to Abraham are his posterity in faith. But those who are unfaithful are changed into the devil's offspring by their unfaithfulness. — Commentary on Matthew 2.3
Mateus 3:10
The axe laid at the roots of the trees witnesses to the power present in Christ. The cutting down and burning of the trees signifies the destruction of barren faithlessness that is being prepared for the fire of judgment. — Commentary on Matthew 2.4
Mateus 3:11
The work of the law is now ineffectual for salvation. John appeared as a messenger of repentance to those about to be baptized. It was the task of the prophets to call people away from their sins, but it was proper to Christ to save those who believe. Thus John said that he was baptizing them for repentance. He also said that a mightier one would come whose sandals he was not worthy to untie. And he left to the apostles the glory of spreading God's word. It would be their duty to go about with their trusty feet and proclaim God's peace. He therefore points ahead to the time of our salvation and judgment in the Lord, saying, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." — Commentary on Matthew 2.4
Mateus 3:11-12
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] Leaving to the Apostles the glory of bearing about the Gospel, to whose beautiful feet was due the carrying the tidings of God's peace. He marks the time of our salvation and judgment in the Lord; those who are baptized in the Holy Ghost it remains that they be consummated by the fire of judgment. The wheat, i. e. the full and perfect fruit of the believer, he declares, shall be laid up in heavenly barns; by the chaff he means the emptiness of the unfruitful. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 3:12
It remains for those who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit to be consumed with the fire of judgment, for "his winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire." The function of the fan is to separate the fruitful from the unfruitful. That the decision lies in God's hands is indicated by his splendid wheat, the ripened fruit of believers, to be stored in barns. But the chaff indicates the futility of the unprofitable and unfruitful who are fit for the fire of burning judgment. — Commentary on Matthew 2.4
Mateus 3:13
In Jesus Christ we behold a complete man. Thus in obedience to the Holy Spirit the body he assumed fulfilled in him every sacrament of our salvation. He came therefore to John, born of a woman, bound to the law and made flesh through the Word. Therefore there was no need for him to be baptized, because it was said of him: "He committed no sin." And where there is no sin, the remission of it is superfluous. It was not because Christ had a need that he took a body and a name from our creation. He had no need for baptism. Rather, through him the cleansing act was sanctified to become the waters of our immersion. — Commentary on Matthew 2.5
Mateus 3:14-15
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] John rejects Him from baptism as God; He teaches him, that it ought to be performed on Him as man. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 3:15
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] For by Him must all righteousness have been fulfilled, by whom alone the Law could be fulfilled. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 3:17
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] Or, that from these things thus fulfilled upon Christ, we might learn that after the washing of water the Holy Spirit also descends on us from the heavenly gates, on us also is shed an unction of heavenly glory, and an adoption to be the sons of God, pronounced by the Father's voice. (de Trin. iii. 11.) He witnesses that He is His Son not in name merely, but in very kindred. Sons of God are we many of us; but not as He is a Son, a proper and true Son, in verity, not in estimation, by birth, not adoption. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 3:17
A voice from heaven thus spoke: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." God's Son is manifested both by hearing and by sight. Both the witnesses of contemplation and the spoken word are sent from the Lord to an unfaithful people who disregard the prophets. At the same time, we knew from those who were immersed in Christ that after baptism with water the Holy Spirit would descend to us from the heavenly gates. Then we would be filled with the anointing of heavenly glory and become God's children through the adoption the Father's voice announced. Truth prefigured the image of the sacrament through these very happenings. — Commentary on Matthew 2.6