Fifth Sunday of Easter

Although our class is on its summer break until the fall, I will continue to post the Catenas for the Sunday Gospels (and more besides).

This Sunday's Gospel from St. John hides a profundity of theological wisdom in its brevity. Only four verses long, this passage receives one of the lengthiest chain of commentaries. One can imagine St. Thomas reveling in the depths which just a few chosen Fathers reach in their reflections.

Much of the discussion is about the Son being glorified in the Father and the Father in the Son. Although Origen discusses guides us away from a mistaken sense of glory and toward a correct sense of the glory we hope to receive, there is no definition of the divine glory itself. So, here for your consideration is St. Thomas's definition as given in his Commentary on John's Gospel:

To be glorified is to be made illustrious. For glory is said to be a kind of brilliance. Thus, according to Ambrose, "glory is clear and manifest recognition with praise". This is why the Greek word for "make famous" is translated "glorify", and vice versa.

The divine glory therefore is that blessed, eternal and infinitely joyful recognition of divinity within the Holy Trinity.

Today's Catena: PDF for single-sided printing; for double-sided booklet printing.