Do you find yourself struggling with specific passages of the Gospels, and wondering how to understand them? Perhaps you wonder how Matthew 24 should be understood, for example. One of the most surefire ways of getting the interpretation right is to look at how centuries of early Christians understood the passage. But poring through hundreds of old documents looking for something on Matthew 24 isn’t very efficient.
Fortunately, folks like St. Thomas Aquinas exist. He compiled the Catena Aurea (“Golden Chain”), which is a passage-by-passage compilation of the writings of the Early Church Fathers on every section of the four Gospels. Want to know what Augustine wrote on John 3? Aquinas can tell you. He compiled lists for the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Fortunately, the Internet made a good thing even better. Now, the Litteral Christian Library (an already amazing resource, the product of the Baptist-turned-Catholic John Litteral) has built upon the Catena Aurea. In fact, it has:
Old Testament Bible Commentaries
Pentateuch: Genesis-Deuteronomy
Historical: Joshua-Macabees
Wisdom Books: Job-Sirach
Prophets: Isaiah- Malachi
New Testament Bible Commentaries
The Gospels
Acts
Letters of St. Paul
Catholic Letters
Revelation
As well as The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers. “The Gospels” section alone has all of the Catena Aurea sorted by hyperlinked chapters, as well as a lot of resources Aquinas didn’t include.
This resource is amazing. Draw upon the collective wisdom of the best Christian writers and thinkers for the last two thousand years. If that doesn’t enhance your study of the Bible, I don’t know what will!