He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 39. He that findeth, and so forth Behold the great losses that befall such as love their souls above measure; and on the contrary, the advantages that follow from hating them as they ought. Saint John Chrysostom hom. xxxvi.—That is, he that findeth in this life pleasures and comforts, and places his affections upon them, will certainly soon lose them. For Isaias says, (Calmet. 40, verse 6,) All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field. The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen. So man’s glory seems to flourish and appears great, but falls away and dies before it has come to its full bloom; for what duration is there in the flesh? and what stability in the pleasures of this world? To-day you may behold a young man, strong, beautiful, healthy, admired, and flourishing in virtue; and to-morrow you will find him quite changed, oppressed with either sin, labour, want, or sickness. Saint Ambrose.—But if he continues moderately happy as to temporal concerns till death, and places his affections on them, he hath found life here, but shall lose it in the next world. But he that shall, for the sake of Christ, deprive himself of the pleasures of this life, shall receive the reward of a hundred fold in the next. A.