The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. Luke
And S. Gregory (Horn. 40) : “ He who was unwilling to give the suffering beggar the least crumb that fell from his table, in hell was fain to seek, if it were but the least drop of water.” And S. Basil says, “ The rich man is worthily recompensed : for the tuneful lyre, wailing ; for drink, the intense longing for a drop.”
You ask, How can the soul of the rich man be said to have a tongue, or the soul of Lazarus a finger; or how can the one feel thirst, and be tormented in the flames, or seek to be relieved by the finger of the other?
1. Tertullian erroneously thinks that the human soul is corporeal, and that it therefore has its tongue, finger, and other members.
2. Hugo Etherianus supposes that the disembodied soul has the semblance of a body, like the reflection of any object in a mirror ; and John Huartus, a physician, is of the same opinion.
3. But I hold that Christ was here speaking after the manner of a parable, and wished to place before the eyes of his hearers the punishments and rewards which men will receive at the day of judgment, because we only can form an opinion of the punishments of the soul through the punishments of the body ; and further, he wished to show that the rich man was punished suitably to his sin.
Some add that the fires of hell produce in the souls of the damned torments, similar to those which they would suffer if they were still in the body. For why should it be thought impossible for God to cause the soul to suffer without the body what it would have suffered if it had continued to be united with the body ? Especially as every feeling which affects the soul whilst it is in the body, is of the soul, and not of the body : for it is the soul and not the body which feels, and sees and hears. See 2 Cor. iv. 16. Hence Francis Lucas says, that we are to understand that the soul of the rich man suffered just as if his body had been actually given up to be tormented by the flames, for the soul is afflicted by imaginations derived from the body.
In short, all these things set forth, after the manner of a parable, the extreme misery and torment of the rich man ; and also that the blessed are not able to render any aid to the damned, nor indeed have they the wish to do so, inasmuch as they are persuaded that this would be contrary to the fixed purpose of God. Furthermore, the damned do not dare to ask this aid, for they on their part know that they are separated by a great and impassable gulf from those who have entered into rest.
Hence Abraham feels no compassion for the misery of the rich man, because he recognises in his punishment the justice of God. For the sight of the punishment of the wicked does not lessen the happiness of the just, because since they can feel no compassion for the sufferings which they see, their joy will not on this account be diminished. Gloss. And S. Gregory (horn. 40) says, The souls of the just, although in the goodness of their nature they feel compassion, yet after they have been united to the righteousness of their Author, are constrained by such great uprightness as not to be moved with compassion towards the reprobate.
Ver. 25. — But Abraham said , Son , remember, &c. “See,” says S. Chrysostom, “the kindness of the Patriarch. He calls him son, yet he gives no aid to him, who had deprived himself of cure.” “For,” adds S. Gregory of Nyssa, “because he had no pity, he is not heard. Neither Abraham nor God has compassion on his prayer.”
Remember that thou . . . receivedst thy good things . Thou, when thou wast faring sumptuously, wast unwilling to bestow a thought on Lazarus, or on God, or on heaven or hell ; but now call to mind thy feastings, which have led to thy condemnation.
“ For,” says S. Gregory (horn. 40), “ to increase his punishment, his knowledge and memory are preserved. He knows Lazarus, whom he had despised, and remembers his brethren whom he had left, that by the sight of the glory of one, whom he had despised, and by anxiety about the punishment of those whom he had loved to no purpose, he would be the more tormented.”
Thy good things. Thine, i.e. earthly things, which thou didst consider true riches, things for which alone thou didst live in utter neglect of higher concerns. “ Evil men,” says S. Gregory, “ receive in this life good things, for they consider transitory happiness to be their sole joy.”
2. Thine, i.e. the reward due to thy scanty deserts. “ For we are taught,” says S. Chrysostom, “ that the rich man was rewarded in this world for any good which he had done, and Lazarus punished for any evil which he might have committed. It follows therefore that Lazarus was comforted, because of his patience and goodness, which had not been regarded in this life, and the rich man tormented because of his sin and neglect of God, which had not been punished in this life.” “ So,” S. Gregory says, “ the fire of poverty purged the poor man’s sins, and this world’s fleeting happiness rewarded the rich man for any good which he had done.”
3. Thine. Thou in this life didst receive thy portion of good, therefore there was nothing in store for thee in the future; but Lazarus received evil things, therefore happiness in the next world was his due. For thus God in his justice apportions heavenly blessings to the elect, but earthly benefits to the wicked and those who know Him not. Wherefore, let him who abounds in earthly riches and earthly honour, fear lest he may be deprived of them in the life to come : and let him who has none of these enjoyments in this world, look for them in heaven.
This truth Christ revealed to S. Catherine of Sienna, in a vision of which mention has been already made. (See chap. vi. 24).
Behold an image of eternity, the cross leading to the crown, but pleasure to destruction.
On these words of Abraham, S. Bernard exclaims, “ Awake, ye drunken, and weep, for God is fearful in His judgments on the sons of men. Can it be that the rich man was in torment, solely because he received good things in his lifetime ? Clearly on this account alone. “ For we may not think that we were cast out of paradise because of God’s punishment of sin, in order that the wit of men might prepare for themselves another paradise here upon earth.
“ Man was born to labour ; if he refuses labour, he frustrates the purpose for which he was brought into the world, and how will he answer him who has ordained labour as the lot of man?”
He presses his argument yet further, and adds, “ What shall we say to this ? If in the final judgment misery takes the place of rejoicing, are not ills to be preferred to the good things of this life? For it is clear that the one are not really good nor the other actually evil. The truer then is the opinion of Solomon, ‘ It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting.’” Eccles. vii. 2.
And likewise Lazarus evil things . Sickness, poverty, and its attendant ills, which the worldly-minded consider evils, but which the followers of God account good, inasmuch as they conduce to holiness here, and happiness hereafter. S. Thomas, Chrysostom, and others.
But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. By many a misery, which in thy lifetime thou didst little regard.
Ver. 26. — And beside all this , between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, (Chaos, in the Vulgate). Perhaps the rich man, as an increase to his torment, was shown as in a vision the heavenly abode of the blessed, whither Abraham and Lazarus were to ascend a little after the death of Christ.
Hear S. Cyprian (De Ascens. Domini): “The wicked will for ever dwell amidst devouring fire. There the rich man will burn without any one to cool his tongue with even one drop of water. Every evil lust and passion will have its appropriate punishment, and despair will add to the miseries of the lost. God will then have no pity on the penitent. Too late will be their confession, for when the door is shut, in vain will those who are without oil seek to enter. From thence there is no release. Christ once descended into hell ; He will not go thither again. The condemned will not again see God in their dark dwelling. The sentence passed will be irrevocable, the judgment of condemnation stands changeless and fixed for all eternity.”
Hence S. Bernard says, “Thou in the midst of hell must be expecting that salvation, which is to be won in the midst of our earthly existence. But how canst thou imagine that thou wilt have in the midst of eternal burnings the power of obtaining pardon, when the time of pardon has passed away ? There is no offering for sin for thee, who art dead in sins. The Son of God will not be crucified again. He died, He does not die again. His blood, which was poured out on the earth, does not flow down to hell. All sinners have drunk thereof on earth. There is none which the devils and the wicked who are their companions can claim for the extinguishing of the flames which torment them.”
Mystically: S. Ambrose, Chrysostom, and Theophylact understand the gulf to mean the fixed and final separation of the just and unjust.