Sunday, October 4 : Saint Thomas Aquinas

The Savior, having previously described the circumstances surrounding the coming of the Antichrist, now sets before us the signs of his own coming. Just as lightning needs neither a forerunner nor a herald, but flashes in a single instant throughout the whole world, even before those who are inside their homes, so the splendor of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will appear throughout the whole world at once. He also gives us another sign of his coming when he adds: “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will gather,” meaning the multitude of angels, martyrs, and all the saints. The mystery of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is made perceptible to us through a natural phenomenon that we can observe every day. Eagles and vultures are said to detect the scent of carcasses even beyond the seas and to gather around them from such a great distance. If irrational birds, by their natural instinct and from afar, can detect the place where a carcass lies, how much more eagerly will the multitude of the faithful hasten to gather around the Lord Jesus Christ, whose lightning comes from the East and shines at the same moment as far as the West? By the word “body”—the term used in Greek, whereas Latin expresses it more clearly with the word cadaver, because the body falls beneath the blows of death—we may understand the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that we may not remain ignorant of the place where he will appear, he says: “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will gather” He calls the saints eagles because of the swift flight of their spiritual bodies and shows them gathering, under the guidance of the angels, at the very place of his Passion; for it is fitting that the Savior should reveal the glory of his coming in the very place where, through his humility and sufferings, he obtained for us glorious eternity. And notice that he does not say: Where the body is, there the vultures and ravens will gather, but rather: “the eagles will gather,” thus expressing the majesty and royal dignity of all those who have believed in the Passion of the Savior.

maronite readings – rosary,team