TRV
Bede
Late Patristic · AD 500–800
6,271 passages across 45 books of the Bible · Who was this?
On Acts
20 of 520-
Acts 9:31
And it was filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit, or it was multiplied, as it is written in Greek. For what we say as "consolation," in Greek it is παρακλήσει: whence it is clearly evident that the Holy Spirit is called the Paraclete because, enlightening the hearts of the faithful, He multiplies the Church throughout the whole world and fills it with His grace.
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Acts 9:31
Indeed, the Church had peace throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria. Where it is said in Latin "throughout all," in Greek it is καθ' ὅλης. Hence, it should be noted that the Church is called Catholic because it is spread throughout the whole world and abides in one peace.
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Acts 9:33
He found there a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years. This Aeneas signifies the human race, languishing previously in the pleasure of infirmities, but healed by the work and word of the apostles. For since the world itself is raised up by four directions, and the course of the age is varied by four yearly seasons, anyone who embraces present and fleeting joys is laid out powerless on a bed, counting, as it were, the twice four years in number. Indeed, the bed itself is sloth, where the sick and weak mind rests, that is, in the pleasure of the body and all worldly delight.
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Acts 9:34
Aeneas, the Lord Jesus Christ heals you. Rise and make your own bed. He who had been cured of paralysis was immediately commanded to rise and make his bed, spiritually suggesting that whoever perceives the foundation of faith in their heart should not only shake off the torpor in which they previously lay fatigued, but also prepare good works in which they can rest.
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Acts 9:36
In Joppa, there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is interpreted as Dorcas. That is, gazelle or doe. It signifies souls elevated by the pursuit of virtues but contemptible in the opinion of men. For indeed, blessed Luke would not enhance the interpretation of the name unless he recognized that there was a great mystery in it. For a gazelle or doe are animals similar in nature but differing in size, residing in high mountains, and though seen from afar, they can be discerned by all who come. Hence, they are called dorcades in Greek from the sharpness of their sight. Thus, undoubtedly, the saints dwelling high in the merits of their works, sharply focus their minds on heavenly contemplation, and always vigilantly guard themselves with cautious circumspection. For although these animals are clean according to the law, they are timid and unwarlike, as Martial, expressing their nature, says: The boar is feared for its tusk, the stag defends with its antlers; the harmless does, what are we but prey? Does it not clearly signify those who strive to live simply and walk with a disce…
In Joppa, there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is interpreted as Dorcas. That is, gazelle or doe. It signifies souls elevated by the pursuit of virtues but contemptible in the opinion of men. For indeed, blessed Luke would not enhance the interpretation of the name unless he recognized that there was a great mystery in it. For a gazelle or doe are animals similar in nature but differing in size, residing in high mountains, and though seen from afar, they can be discerned by all who come. Hence, they are called dorcades in Greek from the sharpness of their sight. Thus, undoubtedly, the saints dwelling high in the merits of their works, sharply focus their minds on heavenly contemplation, and always vigilantly guard themselves with cautious circumspection. For although these animals are clean according to the law, they are timid and unwarlike, as Martial, expressing their nature, says: The boar is feared for its tusk, the stag defends with its antlers; the harmless does, what are we but prey? Does it not clearly signify those who strive to live simply and walk with a discerning step in action, as if advancing with a cloven hoof and continuously meditating on the word of God? If perchance, through ignorance or weakness, they incur spiritual death, they merit to be revived for the integrity of their sound intention, as it is proved to have happened with Peter himself, to whom what is written about Dorcas can most rightly be applied. -
Acts 9:37
And it happened that in those days she became sick and died. For when the saints, through the frailty of mortal nature, commit some wrong, they fall, as it were, into sudden infirmity in the days of their good works. But when they immediately take to tears, they ascend with hope of recovering their virtue, invoking the help of the saints, recalling their good deeds which they had interrupted, they indeed do what follows.
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Acts 9:37
After they washed her, they laid her in an upper chamber. And other things, which are narrated about Peter’s summoning and the showing of Dorcas's alms.
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Acts 9:39
And all the widows stood around him weeping. Widows are the pious thoughts of the penitent soul, which for a time had abandoned the strength of their previous senses, as a wife’s governance, and who must most humbly intercede for the sinning soul.
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Acts 9:39
And showing him the tunics and garments, which Dorcas used to make for them. They did not entreat for the deceased with their voices, but by her own works, for almsgiving delivers not only from the second, but also from the first death.
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Acts 9:40
He said: Tabitha, rise. She opened her eyes, and upon seeing Peter, she sat up. The most just order of the one arising is that she first opens the eyes of the mind, and then, upon hearing Peter's voice, she sits up, reclaiming the light of her circumspection which she had lost and lives according to the teaching of those who had helped her.
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Acts 9:41
Giving her his hand, he raised her. Tabitha rises at the touch of Peter's hand because a soul languishing in sins recovers in no better way than by the examples of the saints.
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Acts 10:1
Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, named Cornelius, etc. One attains virtues not through virtues to faith, but through faith to virtues, as blessed Pope Gregory explains. For Cornelius (he says), whose alms were praised by an angel's witness before baptism, came not to faith through works, but to works through faith. For he had believed in the true God even before baptism, whom was he praying to? Or how had almighty God heard him, if he had not revealed himself to be perfected in goodness? Therefore, he knew the creator God of all, but he was ignorant that His almighty Son had been incarnated. He had the faith whose prayers and alms could be pleasing. By his good actions, he merited to know God perfectly, and to believe in the mystery of the Incarnation of His Only Begotten Son, so that he might come to the sacrament of baptism. Therefore, through faith, he came to works, but through works, he was solidified in faith.
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Acts 10:3
He clearly saw in a vision at about the ninth hour of the day, etc. He rightly receives the oracle to seek baptism at the ninth hour because in the death of Him, who surrendered His spirit at the ninth hour, he was to be baptized.
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Acts 10:5-6
And summon Simon, who is called Peter; he lodges with a certain Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. All things in the Holy Scriptures are filled with spiritual figures, even the names and the location of places. Peter lodges in the house of Simon, that is, the obedient one; and he himself is a tanner, because he is a teacher of the Church; there he has a pleasing dwelling and beloved lodging, where he finds obedient listeners, where those who chastise their body and bring it into subjection (I Cor. IX); who, strengthened by God, stand on the height of virtues, so that having crossed all the waves of the fleeting world, they despise them with the tranquil liberty of mind. For this is to have Simon the tanner’s house, in which Peter is received in a part of the city which is by the sea, that is, to have perfect listeners of the word in the holy Church, who with unfaltering constancy of true faith, either despise the fleeting glory of the world or the temporary and changing terrors of it.
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Acts 10:5
And now send men to Joppa. When alms and prayers had been accepted, immediately the teacher of salvation is ordered to be summoned, clearly implying that through those alms and prayers, he sought from the Lord the full knowledge of his salvation.
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Acts 10:7
He called two of his domestic servants and a soldier who feared the Lord. Cornelius sent three to Peter, because the Gentiles destined to believe overcame Europe, Asia, and Africa with apostolic faith, partly by military efforts, that is, the urgency of preaching, partly by attending to domestic affairs. Note that one soldier and two domestics were sent. The stronger they are, the fewer you will find among the members of the Church; there are more who know how to hear the word than those who know how to speak it.
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Acts 10:9
To pray about the sixth hour. At the sixth hour, Peter hungered amidst the prayers, certainly for the salvation of the world, which the Lord in the sixth age of the world came to seek and save. He also wished to indicate this when at the same hour of the day, he thirsted by the well of the Samaritan woman.
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Acts 10:9
Peter went up to the housetop. This signifies that the Church, leaving behind earthly desires, will have its conversation in the heavens.
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Acts 10:10
A trance fell upon him, and he saw heaven opened. The opening of heaven designates the future imminent revelation of heavenly mysteries to the Gentiles, and the very entrance of the heavenly kingdom being opened.
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Acts 10:11
And a certain vessel descended as it were a great sheet. That vessel signifies the Church endowed with incorruptible faith. For a moth does not consume linen, which corrupts other garments. Therefore, whoever wishes to belong to the mystery of the Catholic Church, let him exclude from his heart the corruption of evil thoughts, and thus be incorruptibly firm in faith, so that he is not gnawed in mind by wicked thoughts as if by moths. Alternatively: The moth is a heretic, wishing to corrupt the garment of the Lord but not being able by the dispensation of the Lord. This was also prefigured in the tunic of the Lord which the soldiers did not dare to tear.