Baptism of the Lord

A beautiful catena for this feast of our Lord. It includes, as it were, a discussion among the Fathers about the need for Christ to be baptized, not of course on account of any sin of His. As Ambrose puts it: "Like a wise master teaching His doctrines as much by His own deeds as by His words, He Himself did what He commanded all His disciples to do." And the Fathers, both of the East and West, are all of one mind that Christ in hearing "You are my Son, the beloved," did not learn of His divinity then. As Augustine puts it, "Not that Christ was taught what He knew before, but they who stood by heard it, for whose sake the voice came."

Epiphany

This Catena is the longest yet by far and probably the richest in literal exegesis. Questions raised in the course of the commentary include, Were there only three in the Magis' company or is that a symbolic number? Where were they from? How did they get to Bethlehem so quickly if they were from far away? And many more.