Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Matthew
Ver. 41. Two women. Slaves of both sexes were employed in grinding corn. Of these, one shall be carried up to heaven by angels, the other shall be left a prey to devils, on account of her bad life. (Bible de Vence) --- In many ancient manuscripts, both Greek and Latin, what we read in St. Luke, (xvii. 34.) of two men in the same bed, one shall be taken, and the other shall be left, is here added.
Ver. 42. Watch ye, therefore. That men might not be attentive for a time only, but preserve a continual vigilance, the Almighty conceals from them the hour of their dissolution: they ought therefore to be ever expecting it, and ever watchful. But to the eternal infamy of Christians be it said, much more diligence is used by the worldly wise for the preservation of their wealth, than by the former for the salvation of their immortal souls. Though they are fully aware that the Lord will come, and like a thief in the night, when they least expect him, they do not persevere watching, nor guard against the irreparable misfortune of quitting the present life without previous preparation. Therefore will the day come to the destruction of such as are reposed in sleep. (St. Chrysostom, hom. lxxviii. on S. Matt.) --- Of what importance is it then that we should be found watching, and properly attentive to the one thing necessary, the salvation of our immortal souls. For what will it avail us, if we have gained the whole world, which we must then leave, and lose our immortal souls, which, owing to our supine neglect to these admonitions of Jesus Christ, must suffer in hell-flames for all eternity? (Haydock)
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[1] Ver. 3. St. Jerome on this place, says, Interrogant tria: quo tempore Jerusalem destruenda sit: quo venturus Christus: quo consummatio sæculi futura sit.
[2] Ver. 15. Abominationem desolationis. Bdelugma tes eremoseos. The same words are in the Septuagint, Daniel ix. See St. Jerome on this place, and St. Chrysostom, hom. lxxvi. and lxxvii. in Matt.
[3] Ver. 28. Corpus; in most Greek copies, ptoma, cadaver. See again St. Jerome, and St. Chrysostom, hom. lxxvii, p. 492.
[4] Ver. 34. Generatio hæc. Theophylact, e genea ton christianon.
[5] Ver. 36. St. Augustine, lib. 83. QQ. quæst. 60. tom. 6, p. 33. Ed. Ben. dicitur nescire filius, quia facit nescire homines, i.e. non prodit eis, quod inutiliter scirent. See the same St. Augustine, lib. 1. de Trin. chap. xii. tom. 8, p. 764 and 765. and lib. de Gen. cont. Manich. chap. xxii. p. 659. tom. 1.
Bible Text & Cross-references:
Christ foretells the destruction of the temple: with the signs that shall come before it, and before the last judgment. We must always watch.
1 And *Jesus being come out of the temple went away. And his disciples came to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2 And he answering, said to them: Do you see all these things? Amen, I say to you, *there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he was sitting on Mount Olivet, the disciples came to him privately, saying: Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world?
4 And Jesus answering, said to them: *Take heed that no man seduce you:
5 For many will come in my name saying, I am Christ: and they will seduce many.
6 And you shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places.
8 Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows.
9 *Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
10 And then shall many be scandalized, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many.
12 And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold.
13 But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come.
15 *When therefore, you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by **Daniel, the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand.
16 Then let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains:
17 And let him that is on the house top, not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 And let him that is in the field, not go back to take his coat.
19 And wo to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days.
20 But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the *sabbath.
21 For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be.
22 And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect, those days shall be shortened.
23 *Then if any man shall say to you: Lo, here is Christ, or there: do not believe him.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if it were possible) even the elect.
25 Behold, I have told it to you before hand.
26 If therefore, they shall say to you: Behold he is in the desert: go ye not out: Behold he is in the closets, believe it not.
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth, even unto the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 *Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together.
29 *And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be moved:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn: *and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and majesty.
31 *And he shall send his Angels with a trumpet, and a great voice: and they shall gather together his elect, from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them.
32 Now learn a parable from the fig-tree: when its branch is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh.
33 So also you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Amen, I say to you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
35 *Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour no one knoweth, no not the Angels of heaven, but the Father alone.
37 *And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away: so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field: the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill: the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
42 Watch ye, therefore, because you know not at what hour your Lord will come.
43 But this know ye, *that if the master of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open.
44 Wherefore be ye also ready, because at what hour you know not, the Son of man will come.
45 Who, thinkest thou, is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath set over his family, to give them meat in season?
46 *Blessed is that servant, whom, when his lord shall come, he shall find so doing.
47 Amen, I say to you, he shall set him over all his goods.
48 But if that evil servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming:
49 And shall begin to strike his fellow-servants, and shall eat, and drink with drunkards:
50 The lord of that servant shall come, in a day that he expecteth not, and in an hour that he knoweth not:
51 And shall separate him, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. *There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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*
1: about the year A.D. 33.; Mark xiii. 1.; Luke xxi. 5.
2: Luke xix. 44.
4: Ephesians v. 6.; Colossians ii. 18.
9: Matthew x. 17.; Luke xxi. 12.; John xv. 20. and xvi. 2.
15: Mark xiii. 14.; Luke xxi. 20. --- ** Daniel ix. 27.
20: Acts i. 12.
23: Mark xiii. 21.; Luke xvii. 23.
28: Luke xvii. 37.
29: Isaias xiii. 10.; Ezechiel xxxii. 7.; Joel ii. 10. and iii. 15.; Mark xiii. 24.; Luke xxi. 25.
30: Apocalypse i. 7.
31: 1 Corinthians xv. 52.; 1 Thessalonians iv. 15.
35: Mark xiii. 31.
37: Genesis vii. 7.; Luke xvii. 26.
43: Mark xiii. 35.; Luke xii. 39.
46: Apocalypse xvi. 15.