1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Mark 13:1 | And *as he was going out of the temple, one of his disciples saith to him: Master, behold what manner of stones, and what buildings are here. Matthew 24:1. | |
| Mark 13:2 | And Jesus answering, said to him: Seest thou all these great buildings? *There shall not be left a stone upon a stone, that shall not be thrown down. Luke 19:44.; Luke 21:6. | As Christ had frequently denounced the destruction of the temple, his disciples, surprised that so beautiful an edifice should be reduced to nothing, wish on that account to shew him the grandeur and magnificence of it; upon which Christ exclaimed: There shall not remain a stone upon a stone. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 13:3 | And as he sat on the mount of Olives, over-against the temple, Peter and James, and John and Andrew, asked him apart: | |
| Mark 13:4 | Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall begin to be fulfilled. | When shall these things be? The miseries that took place previously to the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, were a figure of the extreme calamity that will happen before the last day, in the reign of Antichrist: hence Jesus Christ speaketh indifferently of both. (Bristow) |
| Mark 13:5 | And Jesus answering, began to say to them: *Take heed, lest any man deceive you. Ephesians 5:6.; 2 Thessalonians 2:3. | |
| Mark 13:6 | For many shall come in my name, saying: I am he; and they shall deceive many. | At the destruction of Jerusalem there appeared many impostors, many who professed themselves to be the Christ, and assured the populace that their delivery was at hand. And in the Church many heresiarchs started up, and many came in the name of Christ; the first of these was Simon Magus, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, whom the people of Samaria received as the power and virtue of God. But it is remarkable from the time of our Saviour's passion, when they preferred the robber Barabbas to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, they had no peace or quiet in the city, but constant tumult and dissension succeeded, to the very time of its destruction. (Ven. Bede) --- So shall many seducers come towards the end of the world, who shall make themselves authors of sects, and shall gain many disciples: as followeth in plain words, ver. 22. of this chapter. (Bristow) |
| Mark 13:7 | And when you shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars, fear ye not: for such things must needs be: but the end is not yet. | |
| Mark 13:8 | For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in places, and famines. These are the beginning of sorrows. | |
| Mark 13:9 | But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony unto them. | In the synagogues, or assemblies. The word is here taken for assemblies of judges, and of justice. --- For a testimony to them; that is that you may bear witness of me and my doctrine, and also against them. (Witham) --- Some solicitude perhaps had seized upon the minds of the disciples, when they were informed by their divine Master, that they should stand accused before kings, and princes of the earth, for fear they should not be able, for want of human learning, to make a proper defence. Our Saviour therefore says: be not thoughtful beforehand; for when we are brought to the bar in defence of our holy faith, it is only necessary for us, under such circumstances, to make an offer of our will; Christ himself will speak for us: and in our answers will be infused the grace of the Holy Ghost: for it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 13:10 | And unto all nations the gospel must first be preached. | |
| Mark 13:11 | *And when they shall lead you, delivering you up, be not thoughtful beforehand what you shall speak; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye. For it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost. Matthew 10:19.; Luke 12:11.; Luke 21:14. | |
| Mark 13:12 | And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall put them to death. | |
| Mark 13:13 | And you shall be hated by all men for my name's sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved. | |
| Mark 13:14 | *And when you shall see the abomination of desolation, standing where it ought not: let him that readeth, understand: then let them that are in Judea, flee to the mountains: Daniel 9:27.; Matthew 24:15.; Luke 21:20. | Ven. Bede here gives a beautiful illustration of this passage in a spiritual sense. When, says he, we see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, that is, when we behold heresies and crimes reigning where we ought to see truth and virtue flourish, then let those who are in Judea, such as have kept the true faith unpolluted, flee to the mountains; that is, rise to the height of perfection; and let those who are on the house-top, those who crucifying the works of the flesh, live according to the spirit, not descend any more to their former way of living according to the flesh. (Ven. Bede) --- If all heresies tend to the abomination of desolation, that more particularly does which taketh away with other sacrament, and the external worship of God, the very sacrifice of Christ's body and blood; which being taken away, as St. Cyprian remarketh, no religion can remain. (St. Cyprian, on the supper of our Lord. Num. ii.) |
| Mark 13:15 | And let him that is on the house-top, not go down into the house, nor enter therein to take any thing out of his house: | |
| Mark 13:16 | And let him that shall be in the field, not turn back to take up his garment. | |
| Mark 13:17 | And wo to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. | |
| Mark 13:18 | But pray ye, that these things happen not in winter. | |
| Mark 13:19 | For in those days, shall be such tribulations as were not from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, neither shall be. | Jospehus, the Jewish historian, relates the calamities that befell unhappy Jerusalem, about thirty-seven years after the death of Jesus Christ, which verified to the very letter the prediction: there shall be such tribulations as were not from the beginning. (St. Augustine) |
| Mark 13:20 | And unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect which he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. | This may be explained in a more general sense of the persecution of Antichrist, which will be dreadful beyond description, and executed in every part of the world. The time however allowed to him and his wicked agents to tread under foot the holy city, (Apocalypse 11:2.) that is the Church of Christ, will not extend beyond forty-two months, or three years and a half. This space of time Christ has set apart to purify his Church, and try his servants; and therefore he allows them to fall under the power of this merciless tyrant; and it was given unto him, says St. John, speaking of this event, to make war with the saints, and overcome them. (Apocalypse 13:7.) We are admonished of the same by the prophet Daniel 7:21. I beheld, says he, and lo that horn (Antichrist) made war against the saints, and prevailed against them; and he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall crush the saints of the Most High ... and they shall be delivered into his hand until a time, and times, and half a time, (Daniel 7:25.) that is a year, two years, and half a year, or three years and a half, the same with St. John. (Pastorini, p. 327 and 8.) --- St. Augustine, speaking of this dreadful period, says: this persecution will be the last; it will happen towards the approach of the last judgment, and will fall upon the Church in every part of the world; that is, the whole city of Christ will be persecuted by the whole city of the devil, as far as both are extended upon earth. (De civit. lib. XX. ch. XI.) But our Saviour will put a stop to these calamities on account of his elect, unwilling that they should be tempted above their strength; for he will descend himself from heaven, and, as St. Paul tells us, will kill the wicked man, Antichrist, with the breath of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming. |
| Mark 13:21 | *And then if any man shall say to you: Lo, here is Christ; lo, he is there: do not believe. Matthew 24:23.; Luke 17:23.; Luke 21:8. | |
| Mark 13:22 | For there will rise up false Christs, and false prophets; and they shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. | |
| Mark 13:23 | Take you heed, therefore: behold, I have foretold you all things. | |
| Mark 13:24 | *But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. Isaias 13:10.; Ezechiel 32:7.; Joel 2:10. | In the day of judgment the luminaries of heaven shall be darkened, not by the privation of their light, but by the approach of the true light of the world, that is the great Judge. And what cause for wonder can there be, that man should be terrified at the thoughts of the last day, when the angelic powers shall tremble; or, how will these mortal habitations of ours stand the shock, when the very pillars of heaven shall be moved? what will the tender osier suffer, when the lofty cedars of Paradise bend their head! (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 13:25 | And the stars of heaven shall be falling down, and the powers that are in heaven, shall be moved. | |
| Mark 13:26 | And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds, with great power and glory. | |
| Mark 13:27 | *And then shall he send his Angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Matthew 24:31. | |
| Mark 13:28 | Now of the fig-tree learn ye a parable. When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves are come forth, you know that summer is very near: | |
| Mark 13:29 | So you also, when you shall see these things come to pass, know ye that it is very nigh, even at the doors. | |
| Mark 13:30 | Amen, I say to you, that this generation shall not pass, until all these things be done. | |
| Mark 13:31 | Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. | |
| Mark 13:32 | But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the Angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father. | But how can the Son be ignorant of that last day? Were this the case, we must thence conclude that his nature was imperfect: since he was under the necessity of a second coming, and yet was ignorant when that time should be. But we must remember, that the meaning of this sentence is not, that Christ was really ignorant of this circumstance, but only that it was not then a convenient time to disclose the secret. (St. Augustine) --- Not as if Christ were ignorant himself, as certain Eutychian heretics, called Agnoitae, held; but because he knew it not as our teacher, to teach it others, as being not expedient. (St. Ambrose, de fide, lib. V. ch. VIII.) --- The Son of God is ignorant of this day, not according to his divinity, which sees and knows all things; but according to his humanity, which does not know it of itself, of its own light, but by revelation which is made to it by the divinity, which is intimately united to it. In natura quidem divinitatis novit, says St. Gregory, non ex natura humanitatis. See St. Matthew 24:36. |
| Mark 13:33 | *Take ye heed, watch, and pray: for ye know not when the time is. Matthew 24:42. | Some will perhaps think, that it would have been much better, if the Almighty had not left the hour of death uncertain; as in that case, they would not have been so solicitous with regard to its arrival. But St. Augustine, St. Gregory, and other saints assure us, on the contrary, that it is a very great mercy of God to keep us in this ignorance, that we may always be prepared for it. For, if we knew the precise period, this assurance would give occasion of living more unguardedly, and of sinning more freely. If, with this uncertainty of the hour of our death, we live notwithstanding, so very remissly; what should we do, were we assured that we were not to die for some years? Sts. Gregory, Augustine, and Bonaventure say, that God chose to leave us in this uncertainty, purposely to prevent all attachment to temporal things; that, seeing every hour, nay every moment, we may lose them, we may not be tied to them, but aspire to those we shall always possess, when once we have obtained them. Fool, says the Son of God to the rich covetous man, (Luke 12:20.) this night thy soul shall be required of thee, and what then will become of all these riches thou hast amassed. (St. Bonaventure) |
| Mark 13:34 | Even as a man who, going into a far country, left his house, and gave authority to his servants over every work, and commanded the porter to watch. | |
| Mark 13:35 | Watch ye, therefore, (for you know not when the lord of the house cometh: at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning.) | At even, at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning. These are generally referred to the different ages of man's life; infancy, youth, manhood, and old age. We are exhorted to be always in readiness, for we know not at what hour the Judge will come. (Nicholas of Lyra) --- We are taught to watch, because we are charged with the care of our soul, which is the temple or house of God, and which is to be his temple for all eternity. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 13:36 | Lest coming on a sudden, he find you sleeping. | |
| Mark 13:37 | And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch. |