Loading…
VRSZ
This sets the art on your cards and whose commentary you read on each verse. You can change it later in settings.
Translation
Loading…
What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
Cyril of Alexandria
Feeble indeed unto understanding is the nobleman, for he is a child in his petition for grace, and almost dotes without perceiving it. For by believing that Christ had power not only when present, but that He would surely avail even absent, he would have had a most worthy conception of Him. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
Since the nobleman was unsteady in his thoughts and insisted that the Lord come to heal his son, the Savior shows him that He can heal him even from a distance, and says: "Go, your son lives." Thus, in one stroke He healed the son of his fever and the father of his unbelief. Know also that a miracle is one thing, and a sign is another. A miracle is that which is beyond nature, for example, to open the eyes of one born blind, to raise the dead; while a sign is that which is not outside of nature, for example, to heal the sick. …
Western Saints
Gregory the Dialogist
But remember what he asked for, and you will clearly recognize that he wavered in faith. For he asked that the Lord would come down and heal his son. Therefore he was seeking the bodily presence of the Lord, who through the Spirit was absent nowhere. Thus he believed less in him whom he did not think able to give health unless he were present in body. For if he had believed perfectly, he would undoubtedly have known that there is no place where God is not. …
Thomas Aquinas
Now we see the official's persistence, for he does not give up after the Lord's criticism, but insists, saying, Lord, come down before my child dies: "We should pray always, and not lose heart" (Lk 18:1). This shows an improvement in his faith in one respect, that is, in that he calls him "Lord." But there is not a total improvement, for he still thought that Christ had to be physically present to heal his son; so he asked Christ to come.
Bonaventure
Here is touched upon the obtaining of the miracle, which, even though it did not come about on account of perfect faith, was nevertheless done on account of the father's insistence. Whence the royal official again asks: "Lord, come down before my son dies." Because he asked insistently, he obtained; Matthew 7: "Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened"; and Luke 11: "And if he will not give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as …
Translation