Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Now our Lord while He ever raises us to look to the future reward of virtue, and teaches us how good it is to despise worldly things, so also He supports the weakness of the human mind by a present recompense. For it is a hard thing to take up the cross, and expose your life to danger and your body to death; to give up what you are, when you wish to be what you are not; and even the loftiest virtue seldom exchanges things present for future. The good Master then, lest any man should be broken down by despair or weariness, straightway promises that He will be seen by the faithful, in these words, But I say unto you, There are some standing here who shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God.
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Commentary on Luke
Thus, if we wish not to fear death, let us stand where Christ is, so that he may say of us too, “There are some standing here that shall not taste death.” It is not enough to stand unless the standing is where Christ is, for only those who can stand with Christ cannot taste death. It is therein lawful through the quality of the very word to ponder that those who are seen to have deserved the fellowship with Christ will not have even the perception of death. Surely the death of the body may be tasted by dedication; the life of the soul may be held by possession.But what is it to taste death? Unless, perhaps, bread may be death, just as bread is life? For there are those who eat the bread of sorrow; there are also the Ethiopian peoples who received the dragon as food. May it be far from us to devour the dragon’s poison, for we have the true Bread, that Bread which came down from heaven. He who keeps what is written eats that Bread. Thus there are those who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.
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Catena Aurea by Aquinas
If then we also wish not to fear death, let us stand where Christ is. For they only cannot taste death who are able to stand with Christ, wherein we may consider from the nature of the very word, that they will not experience even the slightest perception of death, who are thought worthy to obtain union with Christ. At least let us suppose that the death of the body is tasted by touch, the life of the soul preserved by possession; for here not the death of the body, but of the soul, is denied.
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Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 32
He continues: "But I say to you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God, dearest brothers, is not always called the coming kingdom in sacred Scripture, but sometimes the present Church is so called. Hence it is written: "The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of scandal." In that kingdom, indeed, there will be no scandals, where certainly the reprobate are not admitted. By this example it is understood that in this passage the kingdom of God refers to the present Church. And because some of the disciples were going to live in the body long enough to see the Church of God built and raised up against the glory of this world, it is now said as a consoling promise: "There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." But when the Lord was giving such great precepts about the death that must be undergone, what need was there to come suddenly to this promise? If we consider carefully, we recognize with what great dispensation of love this is done. For to the inexperienced disciples something had to be promised even about the present life, so that they could be strengthened more firmly for the future. Thus to the Israelite people, about to be freed from the land of Egypt, the promised land was promised, and when they were to be called to heavenly gifts, they were persuaded by earthly promises. Why was this? So that while there was something they could receive nearby, they might then more faithfully believe what they could hear about from afar. For a carnal people, if they did not receive small things, would not believe in great things. Therefore Almighty God, by granting earthly things, persuades toward heavenly things, so that by receiving what they could see, they might learn to hope for what they could not see at all; and they would become all the more firm regarding invisible things, inasmuch as visible promises supported them toward certainty of hope. Hence rightly also it is said through the Psalmist: "He gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the labors of the peoples, that they might keep his statutes and observe his law." So therefore in this passage, Truth speaking to the inexperienced disciples promises that the kingdom of God will be seen on earth, so that it might be more faithfully hoped for by them in heaven. From that very kingdom which we now see exalted in the world, let us hope for the kingdom which we believe is to be received in heaven. For there are some who are counted by the name of Christianity, but do not have the faith of Christianity. They judge that only visible things exist, they do not desire invisible things, because they do not even suspect that they exist. We stand at the bodies of the holy martyrs, my brothers. Would they have given their flesh over to death unless they were most certainly convinced that there was a life for which they ought to die? And behold, those who so believed shine forth with miracles. For to their dead bodies the living sick come and are healed, perjurers come and are tormented by a demon, the demon-possessed come and are set free. How then do they live there where they live, if in so many miracles they live here where they are dead?
I will tell you, brothers, a story brief in words but not small in merit, which I learned from certain devout elders who narrated it. In the time of the Goths there was a certain very religious matron who frequently came to the church of these martyrs. One day when she had come to pray as was her custom, upon leaving she found two monks standing there in pilgrim's garb. She believed them to be pilgrims and ordered that something be given to them as alms. But before her almoner could approach them to distribute the alms, they came closer to her and said: "You visit us now; we will seek you out on the day of judgment, and whatever we can, we will provide for you." Having said this, they vanished from her sight. Terrified, she returned to pray and poured herself out at great length in tears. And after this she became all the more persistent in prayer, the more certain she was of the promise. But if, according to the words of Paul, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, we can no longer tell you to believe in the life to come, because behold, those who live in that life are visibly presented to human eyes. For what can be seen is better said to be known than believed. Therefore the Lord wished us to know the life to come rather than merely believe in it, since he visibly shows us that those whom he invisibly receives live with him.
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On the Gospel of Luke
But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God in this place is called the present Church; and because some of the disciples were to live in the body to such an extent that they would see the Church of God constructed and raised against the glory of this world, it is now said with a comforting promise: There are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God. But since the Lord was giving so many precepts of undergoing death, what was necessary that He suddenly came to this promise? Except that something also had to be promised to the unlearned disciples concerning the present life, so that they could be more firmly established in the future, for which He promised them to see the kingdom of God on earth, so that this might be more faithfully presumed by them in heaven. But if we wish to accept the kingdom of God in this sentence as the future blessedness in heaven, even this some of those standing there saw not many days later on the mountain, namely so that by the contemplation of enduring joy, even if briefly experienced, they might more modestly endure the adversities of the passing present age. With a most fitting word, indeed, He testifies that the saints taste death, by whom the death of the body is, of course, tasted by sipping, and the life of the soul is held by possessing.
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