1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Matthew 9:14 | Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, *Why do we, and the Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples do not fast? Mark 2:18.; Luke 5:33. | Then came. When the Pharisees in the prior question had been discomfited. By St. Mark, (Mark 2:18.) we learn that the Pharisees joined with the disciples of the Baptist, and thus is reconciled what we read in St. Luke 5:33, who only mentions the Pharisees. (Bible de Vence) --- Why do we, and the Pharisees fast. It is not without reason that the disciples of St. John should ask this question, fasting being always esteemed a great virtue, witness Moses and Elias; the fasts which Samuel made the people observe in Masphat, the tears, prayers, and fasting of Ezechias, of Judith, of Achab, of the Ninivites, of Anna, the wife of Eleana, of Daniel, of David, after he had fallen into the sin of adultery. Aaron, and the other priests, also fasted before they entered into the temple. Witness also the fasts of Anna, the prophetess, of St. John the Baptist, of Christ himself, of Cornelius the centurion, etc. etc. etc. (St. Jerome) --- This haughty interrogation of St. John's disciples was highly blameable, not only for uniting with the Pharisees, whom they knew their master so much condemned, but also for calumniating him, who, they knew was foretold by John's own testimony. (St. Jerome) --- St. Augustine is likewise of opinion, that John's disciples were not the only persons that said this, since St. Mark rather indicates that it was spoken by others. (St. Thomas Aquinas) |