Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Since you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.
Read Chapter 25
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
City of God, book xx, ch. 24: He shall come down with the Angels whom He shall call from heavenly places to hold judgment.
Serm. 351, 8: Or, by Angels here He means men who shall judge with Christ; for Angels are messengers, and such we rightly understand all who have brought tidings of heavenly salvation to men.
City of God, book xx, ch 24: This gathering shall be executed by the ministry of Angels, as it is said in the Psalm, “Gather to him his saints.” .
City of God, book xx, ch. 9: Besides that kingdom of which He will say in the end, “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you,” though in a very inferior manner, the present Church is also called His kingdom, in the which we are yet in conflict with the enemy until we come to that kingdom of peace, where we shall reign without an enemy.
Then He shall answer them, saying, &c. Learn from hence how greatly to be esteemed are the mean and poor, especially Saints and Religious, whom Christ here calls His own property, as it were. Wherefore S. Francis sharply rebuked one of his Friars for finding fault with a certain beggar, and saying that, perchance, he was proud in his mind, and ordered him to ask his pardon on his knees. And he gave his reason. "My Song of Solomon ," he said, "thou hast not sinned against the beggar so much as against Christ. Forasmuch as Christ is offered to us in the person of the poor, as it were in a glass. As often therefore as the poor and infirm meet thee, think of and humbly venerate the poverty and infirmities which Christ deigned to endure for us."
You see, my beloved, there is no excuse for it. They knew what they had to do in this world. But greed and illwill prevented them, so they laid up for themselves not treasures for the future but the world of the dead. Neither were they condemned because of the active wrong they did, nor did the Lord say to them, Depart from me, you wicked, because you committed murder or adultery or theft. But instead: because I was hungry and thirsty in my servants, and you did not minister to me. If those who did no wrong are thus condemned, what must be said of those who do the works of the devil? Will not the prophecy of blessed David come upon them: “The wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous?” Not that they will not rise, but that neither in judgment [nor in] the congregation of the righteous do they deserve to enter. They will stand, however, so that from punishment they may enter into punishment. “And they will go into eternal punishment, but the...
Non occ.: Under the figure of a sheep in Scripture is signified simplicity and innocence. Beautifully then in this place are the elect denoted by sheep.
Mor. xxvi, 27: These, to whom as they stand on His right hand the Judge at His coming shall say, “I was an hungred” are they who are judged on the side of the elect, and who reign; who wash away the stains of their life with tears; who redeem former sins by good deeds following; who, whatever unlawful thing they have at any time done, have covered it from the Judge’s eyes by acloak of alms. Others indeed there are who are not judged, yet reign, who have gone even beyond the precepts of the Law in the perfection of their virtue.
They to whom this is said are the wicked believers, who are judged and perish; others, being unbelievers, are not judged and perish; for there is no examination of the condition of such as appear before the face of an impartial Judge already condemned by their unbelief; but those who hold the profession of the faith, but have not the works of their profession, are convicted that they may be condemned. These at least bear the words of their Judge, because they ha...
He who was within two days to celebrate the passover, to be delivered to the cross, and mocked by men, fitly now holds out the glory of His triumph, that He may overbalance the offences that were to follow by the promise of reward. And it is to be noted, that He who shall be seen in majesty is the Son of Man.
Also the goat is a salacious animal, and was the offering for sins in the Law; and He says not ‘the goats’ which can produce young, and come up shorn from the washing.
This “prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” is to be understood as of the foreknowledge of God, with whom things to come are as already done.
Hom. lxxix: To this most sweet section of Scripture which we cease not continually to ponder, let us now listen with all attention and compunction of spirit, for Christ does indeed clothe this discourse with more terrors and vividness. He does not accordingly say of this as of the others, “The kingdom of heaven is like,” but shows of Himself by direct revelation, saying, “When the Son of man shall come in his majesty.”
“For all his Angels shall be with him” to bear witness to the things wherein they have administered to men’s salvation at His bidding.
Or, He calls the one sheep and the other goats, to denote the unprofitableness of the one, and the fruitfulness of the other, for sheep are greatly productive in fleece, milk, and lambs.
Then He separates them in place.
Observe that He says not ‘Receive,’ but “possess,” or “inherit,” as due to you from of old.
For what the Saints obtain the boon of this heavenly kingdom He shows when He adds, “I was an hungred, and ye gave me to eat.”
But...
After the parables concerning the end of the world the Lord proceeds to describe the manner of the judgment to come.
Or, they are called “blessed,” to whom an eternal blessing is due for their good deserts. He calls it the kingdom of His Father, ascribing the dominion of the kingdom to Him by whom Himself the King was begotten. For by His royal power, with which He shall be exalted alone in that day, He shall pronounce the sentence of judgment, “Then shall the King say.”.
Mystically, He who with the bread of the word and the drink of wisdom refreshes the soul hungering and thirsting after righteousness, or admits into the home of our mother the Church him who is wandering in heresy or sin, or who strengthens the weak in faith, such an one discharges the obligations of truelove.
“Lord, when saw we thee” This they say not because they distrust the Lord's words, but they are in amaze at so great exaltation, and at the greatness of their own glory; or because the good which they have done ...
These words overthrow the error of those who said that the Lord should not continue in the same form of a servant. By “his majesty,” He means His divinity, in which He is equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit.
“And all nations shall be gathered before Him.” These words prove that the resurrection of men shall be real.
And it is to be noted, that the Lord here enumerates six works of mercy which who so shall study to accomplish shall be entitled to the kingdom prepared for the chosen from the foundation of the world.
