And after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain apart,
All Commentaries on Matthew 17:1 Go To Matthew 17
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
ily I say unto you, &c.; this mountain—viz, Tabor, from which I am coming down. This is miraculous faith, which is not different from justifying faith, as the heretics maintain, but the same; for there is only one faith ( Ephesians 4:5). This faith, however, is united with a sure confidence in God"s assistance to perform the miracle which is aimed at. This confidence arises, first from the liberty of a holy conscience, which is familiar with God, which makes use of God as a friend, and penetrates into the treasures of His grace, that it may enjoy them; according to those words of S. John ( 1 John 3:21): "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him."
2. From an interior instigation of God, as it were animating men, and stirring them up to such a miraculous work, and tacitly promising them His help to effect it. Vide Franc. Saurez, Tract. de Fide disp8 , sect1 , where he teaches that the faith of miracles, as regards its substance and essence, is an act of the Catholic faith by which we believe that God is omnipotent and faithful to His promises, and which is so drawn out and applied to the particular action, that it is able to beget the confidence which is necessary for working the miracle. From whence you may gather, that as this faith and confidence are in our own will and power, with the grace of God which He is wont to give, so also there is to some extent in our power the faculty of working miracles; and the more any one increases in faith and confidence, the more does he increase in this faculty. The more familiar any one is with God, the more gifts does he obtain from Him, and Christ here signifies this; and the same is plan from the lives and actions of the saints. Thus S. Bernard teaches, that we may gain the gift of prophecy, so that we may know the secret things of God, if in truth we cause ourselves to enter into most intimate friendship with God. For of this Christ speaks (John xv15): "I have called you friends, for all things which I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you."
Faith, as a grain of mustard seed, i.e, faith small in appearance, but of great virtue and efficacy; humble faith, which boasteth not itself, and therefore small in man"s judgment, but verily quick, perfect burning like mustard seed. For when such faith is united to humility, it takes away every shadow of unbelief. It works miracles and removes mountains. This faith shone brightly in S. Gregory, Bishop of Neocæsarea; for Hebrews , when a mountain stood in the way of his building a church, by his prayers removed it to another place. (See Nyssen in his Life: and Eusebius, H. E7 , 25.) He performed many other miracles, from which he received the name of Thaumaturgus, i.e, wonder-worker. In like manner, a mountain in Tartary was removed by Christians, when a tyrant required such a miracle of them in accordance with this promise of Christ. (See Marco Polo, On Tartary) S. Jerome gives a similar instance in his Life of S. Hilarion. For Hebrews , when the sea, through an earthquake, raised vast masses of waters upon the shore—which threatened the city of Epidaurus with destruction—was placed by its citizens upon the shore as a bulwark against the waves. "He drew three figures of the cross on the sand, and stretched forth his hands against the sea when it was swelling to a vast height before him, when it stood still; and roaring for a long time, and (as it w
