St. Thomas Aquinas (compiler)
Catena Aurea
John › 11:41–46 · Part 2 of 2
Compiled by St. Thomas Aquinas from attributed patristic excerpts. Speaker labels identify the quoted authors; not every statement is Aquinas’s own wording. English edition edited by John Henry Newman (1841–1845). John 11:41–46
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xlix) Or thus: When thou despisest, thou liest dead; when thou confessest, thou comest forth. For what is to come forth, but to go out, as it were, of thy hiding place, and shew thyself? But thou canst not make this confession, except God move thee to it, by crying with a loud voice, i. e. calling thee with great grace. But even after the dead man has come forth, he remains bound for some time, i. e. is as yet only a penitent. Then our Lord says to His ministers, Loose him, and let him go, i. e. remit his sins: Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matt. 18:18)
ALCUIN. Christ awakes, because His power it is which quickens us inwardly: the disciples loose, because by the ministry of the priesthood, they who are quickened are absolved.
BEDE. By those who went and told the Pharisees, are meant those who seeing the good works of God’s servants, hate them on that very account, persecute, and calumniate them.
Source: Catena Aurea (eCatholic2000)