The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the Second Epistle to the Corinthians
S. Bernard (Serm. 17 in Ps. xci.) says: “ He did not say, ‘ Shall be rewarded,’ but, ‘ Worketh in us an eternal weight of glory.’ Glory lies hidden in our tribulation ; in this momentary act eternity is involved, in this imponderable there is an exceeding weight. One is contained in the other, as the harvest is contained in the seed. When the seed puts forth its strength it is already producing the harvest. S. Bernard goes on to say : “ Meanwhile let us hasten then to buy for ourselves that field, that treasure hidden in the field ; let us count it all joy when we fall into divers tribulations . Let us learn to say with all our heart, ‘ It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting.’”
It may be asked, How can these sufferings be called light, when in another place they are said to be not worthy to be compared ? I answer that they are not worthy so far as they are sufferings, or natural penal works, because in this sense they have no proportion to so great glory ; yet they are “ worthy ” in so far as they are borne from grace or charity. They then become works of grace, which is the seed whence glory springs. As the seed has a certain worthy proportion to the harvest, so has grace to glory. Again, they are “worthy” in so far as they are sufferings of Christ, springing from His merits and subordinated to them. For Christ merited for us this endurance of sufferings and afflictions, and also merited that we should merit eternal glory by this suffering of ours, as though it were His own, flowing from Him and His merits.
S. Bernard (Serm. i de Diversis) presses well each word of the Apostle here ; he says : “ Go on, then ; murmur and say, ‘ It is too long, it is too heavy : I cannot endure sufferings so great and protracted.’ The Apostle declares that what He suffered was light and but for a moment. Certainly you have not yet received of the Jews five times forty stripes save one ; you have not yet laboured more than all; you have not yet resisted unto blood. Let us see, then, if sufferings are not worthy to be compared with glory . (1.) Why do you uncertainly count up days and hours ? The hour flieth by and with it punishment ; they do not attach themselves to you, nay, they give place and are succeeded by others. It is not so with glory, it is not so with our reward, with the recompense of our toil. It knows no change, no end ; we enjoy it wholly and all at once, and it abides for ever. (2.) Punishment is sipped drop by drop, it is easily swallowed, and soon done with. But in our reward there is a torrent of pleasure , and an overpowering current, an overflowing torrent of joy , a river of glory and of peace. (3.) It is not a glorious robe, or a glorious abode, but glory itself that is promised us. In truth, the expectation of the just is not of something joyful but of joy itself. It is not the honeycomb , but the most pure , liquid honey, that God has laid up for us; it is very joy , life , peace, pleasure, delight, felicity , happiness, and exultation that the Lord our God has treasured up for us; and all these things are one, that Jerusalem may share it equally in all her citizens. And this one Thing is nothing save Himself, according to the words of the Apostle, ‘ God shall be all in all.’ This is our reward, this is our crown and prize . Would God that we may so run that we may obtain it.
The author (perhaps Hugh of S. Victor) of the treatise, de Anima et Spiritu, which is found in the works of S. Augustine (but evidently not his, for it quotes Boethius), graphically describes this weight of glory and these joys of the Blessed (c. lvii et seq.). (1.) He describes the mutual love of all the Blessed, and their consequent mutual joy ; for no one rejoices in his own glory alone, but in that of every one else, and hence he is not once blessed, but a hundred thousand times. (2.) He describes the rapture of the Blessed flowing from the Beatific Vision. (3.) He sets before our eyes their perfect peace and happiness. (4.) He vividly describes (c. lxiv.) the greatness of their wealth, which is God Himself. (5.) He relates the abundant fulness of the beauty, good health, wisdom, melody, honour, riches, and of all good things more than we can taste here, or even conceive of. “ In heaven,” he says, “is whatever you love, whatever you desire. If you are delighted with beauty, the just shall shine as the sun ; if swiftness or strength, they shall be as the angels of God ; if a long and healthy life, there is eternal health and a healthy eternity ; if it is fulness, they shall be filled when the glory of the Lord shall appear ; if it is intoxication, they shall be intoxicated from the richness of the house of God; if it is melody , there the angels endlessly sing sweet strains to God; if any worldly pleasure, the Lord shall give them to drink of the torrent of His Godhead ; if wisdom, they shall be all taught of God ; if concord , their food will be the will of God ; if power, they will enter into the power of God, and they will be allpowerful over their own will, as God is over His . As God can do what He will by Himself, so by Him will they be able to do what they will. If honour and riches, God will set His good and faithful servants over many things ; if true security , they will have sure certainty that their good will never fail them, for they will know that of their own accord they will not lose it, and that God , who loves them , will not take it against their will from them that love Him.” From all which Gregory (Horn. 32 in Evang.) rightly infers that “ no one can come to great rewards but by great labours . Hence that excellent preacher, Paul, said that no one is crowned except he strive lawfully . Let, then, the mind be delighted at the greatness of the prize, but not terrified by the laborious conflict.” The present time, as one of the Saints says, is a time of penitence and toil ; the future will be a time of rest and gladness.
Ver. 18. — The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. S. Augustine ( Sentent. No. 270) says well : “ There is this difference between things temporal and things eternal, that the former are loved more before they are obtained, but seem worthless when they arrive . Nothing satisfies the mind but a true and certain eternity of incorruptible joy . But eternal joy is more ardently loved when obtained than when longed for. No one can value it above its true worth, so that when he attains it it seems vile in his eyes through having been too ardently longed for . But so great is the excellency of heaven that charity will obtain far more than faith has believed or hope desired.” See also S. Gregory, Horn. 36 in Evang, where he draws out at length this distinction between carnal and spiritual pleasures.
CHAPTER V i. The Apostle goes on to remind the Corinthians of the glories of heaven, saying that in exile here and in the tabernacle of the flesh he longs for them, and wishes to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.
ii. He shows (ver. 9) that it is his endeavour to please not men but Christ alone, who shall come to judgment.
iii. He declares (ver. 14) that he is constrained to do this by the love of Christ, who has reconciled us by His death ; and therefore that he no longer knows any one according to the flesh, but only him who is a new creature in Christ.
iv. He professes himself (ver. 18) to be a minister and ambassador of Christ, and he prays them to be reconciled to God for Christ's sake.
Ver. 1. — For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved. If this mortal body, which is as it were a tent in which we tarry for a brief space while travelling here, be dissolved, we have a firm and lasting house in the glory of the soul and eternal life. This is the interpretation of Photius, Anselm, S. Thomas, Lyranus, and it is supported by vers. 6 and 8. From this and the explanation of the Fathers, and especially from ver. 8, we gather, against Tertullian, the Greeks, Armenians, Luther, and Calvin, that souls immediately at death are beatified, and do not sleep under the altar till the resurrection.