And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
All Commentaries on Matthew 24:31 Go To Matthew 24
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And He shall send His angels, &c. There is an inversion of order in this passage; for Christ shall previously send His angels with a trumpet, or rather with many trumpets, throughout all the world, to wake the dead and summon them to judgment. For when this trumpet sounds very many angels shall gather together the ashes of every one of the dead, and from them form the semblance of human bodies, which God shall organize and animate. And after life has been restored to those bodies, He shall, if they be those of the holy and elect, glorify and bless them. Wherefore also the Blessed themselves shall, by the gift of swiftness, with which they shall be endowed, immediately transfer themselves in the company of the angels from all parts of the world to the Valley of Jehoshaphat to judgment. But the reprobate, because they shall lack the gift of swiftness, shall be dragged thither by the devils, or rather by the angels.
From the four winds, i.e, from the four quarters of the world, from whence the four chief winds blow. Whence he adds by way of explanation, from one end of heaven to the other.
The Greek is α̉π άκÏων Îως άκÏων, i.e, from extremity to extremity, from one terminus of heaven and earth to their other terminus, from the east to the west. For άκζα signifies any extreme limit, whether above or below, whether to the right or to the left. Mark has ( Mark 13:27), from the height of earth to the height of heaven (Vulg.), by which is meant the same thing as in S. Matthew , from one extreme of earth to the other extremity of heaven and earth. For the earth at its extremities seems to be joined to the sky. This is at the horizon. There is no reason why extremity of heaven (Vulg.) in this place should not be taken literally, meaning that the angels shall gather together the elect wherever they may be, whether in heaven or earth. For the bodies of the Patriarchs, who rose again with Christ, are in Heaven. Wherefore they shall descend from Heaven to the valley of Jehoshaphat at the time of the Last Judgment.
But the former sense seems to be the best.
Learn a parable. Take a similitude from the fig-tree. Learn from the analogy of the fig-tree what I have spoken concerning the signs of the destruction of the world, when it is nigh at hand. Christ makes mention of the fig rather than of other trees, because the fig-tree only puts forth its leaves and fruit under the influence of heat, because its sap is exceedingly sweet, and therefore concocted; and for that there is need of the heat of summer. Hence Aristotle (lib9 , Histor. Animal) says that the fig is the food of bees, which only fly and make honey in summer. They make honey from the fig, for it is indeed a purse of honey. Again, he says that cattle grow fat upon figs. Again, the fig does not flower, but produces fruit immediately from the leaves, and brings it to maturity. Whence Pliny says (1518), "Wonderful is the haste of this fruit, one in all things hastening to maturity by the art of nature." Again, "the fig is the sweetest of all fruits, devoid of all acidity, and therefore most tasty and wholesome. Moreover, the fig-tree is extremely fruitful, so much so that there are fig-trees in Hyrcania, each yielding a yearly produce of70 bushels," as Pliny affirms in the same book. He adds that Romulus and Remus were suckled by the she-wolf under a fig-tree, and therefore that the fig was worshipped at Rome in the forum.
Symbolically, therefore, Christ would intimate that His Saints and elect ought to bring forth most sweet and abundant fruits of good works, that so they may deserve to taste in the summer of the Resurrection the abundant sweetness of celestial glory.
Lastly, a fig was the cause of the destruction of Carthage. For when Cato, as Pliny tells us, was exclaiming in the Senate that Carthage must be destroyed, he brought one day into the Senate house a very ripe fig which had been grown in Africa. Showing it to the Senators, "I ask you," said be, "to guess how long ago it is since this fig was plucked from the tree." All allowed that it must have been but recently gathered. "Yes," he said, "I would have you know that it is but three days since it was plucked at Carthage; so near is the enemy to your walls." Immediately afterwards the third Punic War, in which Carthage was destroyed, was begun.
In like manner those signs which Christ compares to a fig-tree shall be the cause of the destruction of the world.
When her branch, &c. For the reason already mentioned, inasmuch as the sap of the fig-tree is most sweet, it lies dormant during the winter in the root, but being drawn out by the heat of summer, it rises into the branches, and comes out in leaves and fruit. It is like the mulberry tree (morus), which does not germinate until the cold is all gone. The mulberry is called for that reason μω̃ζος, or "a fool," because it is anything but foolish, but the wisest of trees.
