Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
While we await the fullness of time, the souls await their due reward. Some await punishment and others glory. And yet in the meantime the one group is not without harm nor the other without gain. For the former will be dismayed upon seeing that the reward of glory has been stored up for those who keep the law of God, that the chambers of those souls are being preserved by the angels, that shame and ruin will be the punishments of their negligence and rebellion, so that they may gaze on the glory of the Most High and blush to come into his sight, for they have profaned his commandments.
I have received the letter of your Reverence in which you urge on us the great good of loving and longing for the coming of our Savior. In this you act like the good servant of the master of the household who is eager for his lord’s gain and who wishes to have many sharers in the love which burns so brightly and constantly in you. Examining, therefore, the passage you quoted from the apostle where he said that the Lord would render a crown of justice not only to him but to all who love his coming, we live as uprightly as he and we pass through this world as pilgrims while our heart constantly expands with this love, and whether he comes sooner or later than he is expected, his coming is loved with faithful charity and longed for with pious affection. .
The holy man demands judgment because he is certain of the Lord’s mercy. As Paul has it: “As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just Judge, will render to me in that day.” He walks in his innocence because … he puts his trust in the Lord. The presumption he shows is not in his own powers but in God’s generosity.
A crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me. These words confirm the Catholic doctrine, that good works performed with the assistance of God's grace, deserve and are meritorious of a reward in heaven: it is what is signified, 1. by a crown of justice, 2. from a just judge, 3. which he will render or give as a reward. Yet we own with St. Augustine that we have no merit, but what is also a gift of God from his grace and mercy, and grounded on his promises. (Witham)
"A crown of justice "which the Protestants translate, of righteousness; but let us see how the learned St. Augustine, 1400 years ago, expounds the apostle's meaning: "How should he repay as a just judge, unless he had first given as a merciful Father? "(De grat. et lib. arb. chap. vi.) See Hebrews vi. 10. God is not unjust, that he should forget your works; this the Protestants change into, God is not unrighteous.
These words I address to you as if alive, and with propriety. For ye hold already the crown of life and immortality which is laid up for you in heaven.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.
Here again he calls virtue in general righteousness. You should not grieve that I shall depart, to be invested with that crown which will by Christ be placed upon my head. But if I continued here, truly your might rather grieve, and fear lest I should fail and perish.
Which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but to all that love His appearing.
Here also he raises his mind. If to all, much more to Timothy. But he did not say, and to you, but to all; meaning, if to all, much more to him.
Moral. But how, it may be asked, is one to love the appearing (τὴν ἐπιφανειαν) of Christ? By rejoicing at His coming; and he who rejoices at His coming, will perform works worthy of His joy; he will throw away his substance if need be, and even his life, so that he may obtain future blessings, that he may be thought worthy to behold that second coming in a fitting state, in confidence, in brigh...
The martyr’s own struggles surpass our mortal nature. The prizes they won go beyond our powers and understanding. They laughed at the life lived on earth. They trampled underfoot the punishment of the rack. They scorned death and took wing to heaven. They escaped from the storms of temporal things and sailed into a calm harbor. They brought with them no gold or silver or expensive garments. They carried along no treasure which could be plundered but the riches of patience, courage and love. Now they belong to Paul’s choral band while they still await their crowns, because they have escaped henceforth the uncertainty of the future.
You should not grieve that I shall depart, to be invested with that crown which will by Christ be placed upon my head. But if I continued here, truly you might rather grieve and fear lest I should fail and perish.
, too, the good fight, whose crown the apostle.
And if he had wished to have his children also restored, he might again have been called father; but he preferred to have them restored him "in that day."
