Saint Robert Bellarmine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely powerful? We don’t actually know what infinite looks like or is. Maybe you remember that from Math class – we tried to picture how big infinity is. The problem is that infinity doesn’t have any limits at all so we can’t even imagine it. The mountains are vast, but we can see their outline, space is vast but scientists still think there must be some kind of limit to it.

We human creatures are not infinite – we are limited. You weren’t always alive, you were born one day and you will die some day. Even the evil doers among us are limited in the amount of evil they can do – they can’t achieve infinite evil. God, on the other hand, can do something infinitely good – and that’s what He does when He saves us in Jesus. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is infinitely good – infinitely powerful. That’s why we should never be afraid of following Jesus, and receiving His infinite forgiveness.

CHRYSOSTOM:

The Corinthians did not need to learn the doctrine, which they already knew, but they had to be reminded of it and corrected from their errors in understanding it.¹

AMBROSIASTER:

The prophet Isaiah said: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter” [Is 53:7] and so on. Revelation [13:8] adds that he was slain from before the foundation of the world. And Deuteronomy [28:66] says: “You will see your life hanging before your eyes, yet you will not believe.” This is expressed in the future tense, to prevent the wicked from claiming that it does not apply to Christ.²

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM:

The iniquity of sinners was not as great as the justice of the One who died for them. The sins we committed were not as great as the justice he embodied, when he laid down his life for us.³

HILARY OF POITIERS:

Paul reminded us that we are to confess the manner of the death and resurrection not so much by literally naming these things but strictly according to the testimony of the Scriptures, so that our understanding of his death might be in accord with the apostles.… He did this in order that we might not become helpless or to be tossed about by the winds of useless disputes or hampered by the absurd subtleties of unsound opinions.⁴

CHRYSOSTOM:

Paul says this because he was a humble man and also because it is what he really thought about himself. He was forgiven for having persecuted the church, but it was a shame he never forgot. It taught him the greatness of God’s grace toward him.⁵

JEROME:

These words apply to those who complain: Why wasn’t I created such that I would be free from sin forever? Why was I fashioned such a vessel that I could not endure hard like metal instead of being fragile and easily broken whenever touched?… Let us blush and say what those say who have already obtained their rewards. Let us, who are sinners on earth and encased in this fragile and mortal body, say what we know the saints are saying in heaven.⁶

AUGUSTINE:

The Enemy is more completely vanquished in the case of a man over whom he holds fuller sway.⁷

BASIL:

He who spends his time in softness and all laxity because of his luxurious living, who is clothed in purple and fine linen and feasting every day in splendid fashion and who flees the labors imposed by virtue has neither labored in this life nor will live in the future, but he will see life afar off, while being racked in the fire of the furnace.⁸

AUGUSTINE:

Paul did not labor in order to receive grace, but he received grace so that he might labor.⁹

Footnotes

Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 38.2. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 149). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 149). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
CATECHETICAL LECTURES 13. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 149). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
ON THE TRINITY 10.67. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 150). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 38.6. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 152). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Against the Pelagians 2.25. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 152). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Confessions 8.4. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 152). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
UNTO THE END 19.5. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 152). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
PROCEEDINGS OF PELAGIUS 14.36. Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 153). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Daily Readings

Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
by USCCB on November 23, 2024 at 9:30 am
Reading Rv 11:4-12 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me: Here are my two witnesses: These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain. They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying. They also have power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them. Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city, which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,” where indeed their Lord was crucified. Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days, and they will not allow their corpses to be buried. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and be glad and exchange gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth. But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them. When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.” So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 144:1, 2, 9-10 R. (1b) Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!Blessed be the LORD, my rock,who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!My mercy and my fortress,my stronghold, my deliverer,My shield, in whom I trust,who subdues my people under me.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!O God, I will sing a new song to you;with a ten stringed lyre I will chant your praise,You who give victory to kings,and deliver David, your servant from the evil sword.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock! Alleluia See 2 Tm 1:10 R. Alleluia, alleluia. Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 20:27-40 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything. Readings for the Optional Memorial of Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, priest and martyrReadings for the Optional Memorial of Saint Columban, abbotReadings for the Optional Memorial of Saint Clement I, pope and martyr - - - Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Saint Robert Bellarmine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

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