Gospel Reading :John 12:24-26
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honour him.
What do the Fathers say?
St AUGUSTINE. Listen to the voice of the corner stone: And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Did He think Himself glorified, because the Gentiles wished to see Him? No. But He saw that after His passion and resurrection, the Gentiles in all lands would believe on Him; and took occasion from this request of some Gentiles to see Him, to announce the approaching fulness of the Gentiles, for that the hour of His being glorified was now at hand, and that after He was glorified in the heavens, the Gentiles would believe; according to the passage in the Psalm, Set up Thyself, O God, above the heavens, and Thy glory above all the earth. (Ps. 56, and 107)
But it was necessary that His exaltation and glory should be preceded by His humiliation and passion; therefore He says, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit That grain was He; to be mortified in the unbelief of the Jews, to be multiplied in the faith of the Gentiles.
The Venerable BEDE. He Himself, of the seed of the Patriarchs, was sown in the field of this world, that by dying, He might rise again with increase. He died alone; He rose again with many.
St John CHRYSOSTOM. He loves his life in this world, who indulges its inordinate desires; he hates it, who resists them.
This present life is sweet to them who are given up to it. But he who looks heavenwards, and sees what good things are there, soon despises this life.
So then death will be followed by resurrection. Where I am, He says; for Christ was in heaven before His resurrection. Thither let us ascend in heart and in mind.
St AUGUSTINE. And what does it mean to serve Christ? They serve Christ who seek not their own things, but the things of Jesus Christ, i. e. who follow Him, walk in His, not their own, ways, do all good works for Christ’s sake.
But what fruit, what reward? you ask.
And where I am, there shall My servant be also. Love Him for His own sake, and think it a rich reward for your service, to be with Him.
Bible readings from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Second Catholic Edition, copyright © 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Quotes of the Fathers from :
Thomas Aquinas’ Catena Aurea Translated by St John Henry Newman
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