Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Read Chapter 28
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
De Cons. Ev., iii, 25: But it is to be considered, how the Lord could be seen bodily in Galilee. For that it was not the day of the Resurrection is manifest; for He was seen that day in Jerusalem in the beginning of the night, as Luke and John evidently agree. Nor was it in the eight following days, after which John says that the Lord appeared to His disciples, and when Thomas first saw Him, who had not seen Him on the day of the Resurrection. For if within these eight days the eleven had seen Him on a mountain in Galilee, Thomas, who was one of the eleven, could not have seen Him first after the eight days. Unless it be said, that the eleven there spoken of were eleven out of the general body of the disciples, and not the eleven Apostles. So that if we understand the Lord to have been seen within those eight days by eleven of the disciples, this manifestation at the sea of Tiberias will be the fourth, and not the third, appearance. Indeed, to understand John’s account at all it must b...
Hom. Aest. in Fer., vi., Pasch. And they that are Christ’s follow Him, and pass in their order from death to life, contemplating Him as He appears with His proper Divinity. And it agrees with this that Galilee is interpreted ‘revelation.’.
This He speaks not from the Deity coeternal with the Father, but from the Humanity which He took upon Him, according to which “He was made a little lower than the Angels.” .
Beda in Hom. non occ.: He who before His Passion had said, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles,” now, when ris ing from the dead, says, “Go and teach, all nations. "Hereby let the Jews be put to silence, whosay that Christ’s coming is to be for their salvation only. Let the Donatistsalso blush, who, desiring to confine Christ to one place, have said that He is in Africa only, and not in other countries.
Beda in Hom., non occ.: It is made a question how He says here, “I am with you,” when we read elsewhere that He said, “I go unto him that sent me.” What is said of His human natu...
Behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the world, embraces two points necessary for the Church; viz. integrity of doctrine, and sanctity of life; for, if either of these should be wanting to the Church, it might then be justly said, that she had been left and abandoned by Christ, her Spouse. (Estius)
Jesus Christ will make good his promise: 1. by always dwelling in the hearts of the faithful; 2. by his sacramental presence in the holy Eucharist; 3. by his providential care, and constant protection to his holy Catholic Church. These last six lines of St. Matthew's gospel, says the bright luminary of France, Bossuet, most clearly demonstrate the infallibility and indefectibility of the one, holy, Catholic Church, which all are commanded to hear and obey. _
All who abuse to other purposes the money of the Temple, and the contributions for the use of the Church, purchasing with them their own pleasure, are like the Scribes and Priests who bought this lie, and the blood of the Saviour. For when coming to His Passion the Lord had said to His disciples, “After I am risen I will go before you into Galilee;” and the Angel said the same to the women. Therefore the disciples obey the command of their Master. Eleven only go, for one had already perished.
After His Resurrection, Jesus is seen and worshipped in the mountain in Galilee; though some doubt, their doubting confirms our faith.
Power is given to Him, Who but a little before was crucified, Who was buried, but Who afterwards rose again.
They first then teach all nations, and when taught dip them in water. For it may not be that the body receive the sacrament of Baptism, unless the soul first receive the truth of the Faith. “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” that they...
Serm. 80: The Son of God conveyed to the Son of the Virgin, the God to the Man, the Deity to the Flesh, that which He had ever together with the Father.
Serm. 80: Thus all nations are created a second time to salvation by that one and the same Power, which created them to being.
He brings before them the end of the world, that He may the more draw them on, and that they may not look merely to present inconveniences, but to the infinite goods to come. As much as to say, The grievous things which you shall undergo, terminate with this present life, seeing that even this world shall come to an end, but the good things which ye shall enjoy endure for ever.
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” .
Hence we understand that to the end of the world shall not be wanting those who shall be worthy of the Divine indwelling.
This is more fully told by Luke; how when the Lord after the Resurrection appeared to the disciples, in their terror they thought they saw a spirit.
The disciples then, when they saw Him, knew the Lord; and worshipped Him, bowing their faces to the ground. And He their affectionate and merciful Master, that He might take away all doubtfulness from their hearts, coming to the m, strengthened them in their belief; as it follows, “And Jesus came andspake to them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”.
What the Psalmist says of the Lord at His rising again, “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands,” this the Lord now says of Himself, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. "And here it is to be noted, that even before His resurrection the Angels knew that they were subjected to the man Christ. Christ then desiring that it should be also known to men that all power was committed to Him in heaven and in earth, sent preachers to make know...
According to John, Jesus was first seen by His disciples on the same day of the Resurrection, when the doors were closed; then eight days later when Thomas also believed. Then, since He intended to meet them in Galilee, they no longer assembled all together, but He next appeared only to those seven who were fishing on the sea of Tiberias. So the events Matthew described here occurred later, while the events in John’s account occurred earlier. For forty days Jesus appeared to the disciples many times, coming to them and then withdrawing, but not remaining continually with them. Therefore the eleven foremost disciples, together with all the others who followed Christ, worshipped Him; "but some doubted." In all likelihood this should be understood in the following sense: the eleven disciples went to Galilee and the eleven worshipped Him. "But some" of the seventy, perhaps, had doubts concerning Christ; but later they also were assured. Some understand it in this manner: Matthew omitted to...
