Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
All Commentaries on Luke 3:17 Go To Luke 3
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
By the barn-floor is here prefigured the Church of Christ, in which many are called, but few are chosen. This perfect cleansing of the floor, as it is in the Greek, is performed both here when the wicked, on account of their open crimes, are excluded from the communion of the faithful by the Church; or, on account of their hidden sins, are after death by infinite justice chastised; but most especially at the end of the world, when the Son of man shall send his angels to gather from his kingdom all scandals. (Ven. Bede)