Saturday, April 21, 2018

Dominica III post Pascha: "I go to the Father"

From the Holy Gospel according to John
John 16:16-22
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: A little while, and now you shall not see me; and again a little while, and you shall see me: because I go to the Father. And so on.

Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.
Tract 101 of John
This little while is the whole duration of this present world. In the same sense this same Evangelist saith in his Epistle ii. 18: It is the last time. The words, because I go to the Father, refer to the first clause of the text, namely, A little while and ye shall not see Me, and not to the latter clause, that is, and again a little while, and ye shall see Me. By His going to the Father He was about to bring it to pass that they should see Him no more. And thus it was that He said, not that He was about to die, and that after His death they should not see Him until He rose again, but that He was going to the Father, which He did when, after that He was risen again and had manifested Himself to them for forty days, He ascended up into heaven. 

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