Commentaria in Numeros
Verse 15. THEY SHALL NOT TOUCH THE VESSELS—uncovered, that is, and not wrapped. St. Thomas adds that the Levites touched not even the vessels themselves, though wrapped, but only the bars laid on them.
Tropologically Origen, homily 4: “The Christian people,” he says, “carry the Holies of Holies veiled on their shoulders, when they receive the Sacraments and fulfil the precepts, the reason of which they do not understand.”
Verse 16. OVER WHOM (the Caathites) SHALL BE ELEAZAR—since he was sprung from Caath. But over the Gersonites and Merarites was Ithamar, the younger son of Aaron, yet in such a way that Eleazar had superintendence over all and exercised a general providence.
TO WHOSE (Eleazar’s) CHARGE PERTAINS THE OIL, THE INCENSE, AND THE (perpetual) SACRIFICE WHICH IS ALWAYS OFFERED.—Not that Eleazar alone sacrificed or burned incense, but that it was his to take care and provide that this material, namely oil, fine flour and incense, should not be lacking. This charge, as to some things, was afterwards divided among the Levites, namely the care of fine flour, wine, frankincense, oil and spices, as is plain from 1 Paralipomenon …
Verse 18. DESTROY NOT THE PEOPLE OF CAATH—do not suffer the Caathites to be destroyed and slain by me, which will happen if they touch the Holies of Holies, that is the most holy vessels of the tabernacle.
Verse 28. THIS IS THE SERVICE—that is, the ministry of the Gersonites. For the Hebrew abodah signifies work, service, ministry, and because this was sacred here, it is therefore called by our Interpreter worship (cultus).
Verse 37. THESE MOSES AND AARON NUMBERED ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD BY THE HAND OF MOSES.—Refer “by the hand of Moses” not to “numbered” but to “the word of the Lord,” as if to say: They were all numbered according to the word and command of the Lord, who commanded that it be done “by the hand of Moses,” that is by Moses his minister and instrument. For this is what hand signifies, being in man the organ of organs.
Verse 49. MOSES NUMBERED THEM, EVERY ONE ACCORDING TO HIS OFFICE AND BURDENS—saying, namely, and commanding each: Let these Gersonites carry the curtains of the tabernacle, those the hair-cloth, others the veil of the door, and likewise to the Merarites and Caathites, assigning to each their several duties. And this seems to have been the whole function and ordinary office of the Levites down to David, namely to carry and guard the vessels of the tabernacle, as is indicated in 1 Paralipomenon 23:26. But David, as is said in the same place, assigned to them the office of singing, or psalmody, and other duties, and distributed them among themselves.
I say ordinary: for extraordinarily the Levites helped the priests in flaying, cutting up and burning the victims, when the priests themselves were not sufficient for these things, as is plain from 2 Paralipomenon 29:34.
From these ministers of the old law the ministers of the new law took their origin, that is, were appointed in the Church after their example; namely from the Levites the deacons, from the priests sons of Aaron the presbyters, from the pontiffs the Bishops, from the singers of the temple the singers of the Church, from Aaron and his sons, who trimmed the lamps, Exodus 26:21, the acolytes, whom they call candle-bearers; from the Nathineans, of whom something must be said on Josue chapter 9, last verse, the subdeacons; from the Nazarites, of whom chapter 6, the Religious. So teaches Innocent III, book 1 On the Sacred Mystery of the Altar, from chapter 3 to chapter 7. Now if the office of the ancient Levites, who served the priests only about the tabernacle, was so great that God here assigns their duties to each laboriously and one by one, how great will be the office of the Deacons and ministers of the new Testament, who serve the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ! It is surely angelic, and often exercised by angels.
When on a certain Easter Day Pope Gregory I was celebrating in the church of St. Mary Major, and had said, “The peace of the Lord be always with you,” an angel of the Lord answered with a loud voice: “And with thy spirit.” On this account on that very day, as John the Deacon says in the Life of St. Gregory, when the Pope celebrates there and says “The peace of the Lord,” etc., no answer is made.
Proculus, Bishop and Martyr, came from Syria to Rome in the time of the Emperor Justin, and ranging through the whole Roman province he preached, shining with miracles and holiness of life. When one day he was offering the sacred rite in the presence of Valentine, Bishop of Interamna, an angel of the Lord took the chalice from the altar and lifted it into the air before all who saw, and then placed it again on the altar with the blood consecrated, and the holy priest by the angel’s command drank the consecrated blood. So relates Peter, Bishop of Aquila, book 1 of the Catalogue of Saints, chapter 15.
In the Life of St. Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, who lived in the year of the Lord 1170, it is related that an angel served him dutifully as he sacrificed, and answered at each point.
Brother John of Parma, General of the Franciscans, came at the appointed hour to sacrifice, and the brother who was to serve did not appear: presently an angel is present, and becomes the server, in countenance and dress resembling a Religious. When the sacrifice was finished the brother came and asked: Does it please you, my father, to say Mass? Then the man of God knew that an angel, not a Religious, had served at the Mass. So have their Chronicles, tome 2, book 1, chapter 58.
St. Nilus the Abbot, in his letter to Anastasius, Bishop writes of St. John Chrysostom that he saw angels almost every time he celebrated: “When he began,” he says, “the holy sacrifice, immediately very many of those Virtues descended from heaven, clothed in most splendid robes, barefoot, with eyes intent, bowed toward the altar, and stood about with great silence and reverence until that venerable mystery was finished. Then, spread hither and thither through the whole house, they attached themselves to the priests and deacons who were dispensing the body and precious blood, busily and zealously assisting.”
Hear something more wonderful. Christ the Lord gave holy communion to St. Dionysius the Areopagite. For when he was shut up in prison with Rusticus and Eleutherius, and could not celebrate, Christ appeared to him with a multitude of angels, and taking holy bread gave it to him saying: “Take this, my dear, which I shall presently complete for thee together with the Father; act bravely, and thy memory shall be in praise.” So Hilduin in the Life of St. Dionysius.
St. Bonaventure, abstaining from holy communion out of humility, as unworthy, received a particle of a consecrated host from the hand of the celebrant by an angel, who put it into his mouth, signifying that he should remove every scruple about celebrating often, and converse familiarly with his Creator, by whom he was loved. So has his Life.
The same happened to a certain holy matron named Bertranda, as is had in the Life of St. Elzear, chapter 17.
In the Life of the holy Martyrs Faustinus and Jovita we read that when they had baptized the soldier Secundus at Milan, and wished to give him holy communion but had no bread of which to make it, they received bread brought by a dove, and offered it to him to take. The dove, which is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, signified that in the Eucharist the Spirit is also present. For where the Son is, there is also the Father, and the Holy Spirit.
… for with me is thy exceeding great reward, and to those who shall hear thee, salvation in my kingdom. Now