Fathers

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What the Fathers say

1 Corinthians 12:23

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

Then when he says, and those parts of the body, he compares the members as far as external adornment is concerned: first, he mentions the different things applied to different members; secondly, he assigns the cause of the difference (v. 24b). The external adornment applied to members pertains to two things, namely, to honor, as things used for decoration, such as necklaces and ear rings, and to modesty, as something used for clothing, such as trousers and the like. …

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗

Bernard of Clairvaux

For actual charity prefers inferior things, affectual prefers superior things. For indeed in a well-affected mind there is no doubt, for example, that the love of God is set before the love of man; and among men themselves, the more perfect before the weaker, heaven before earth, eternity before time, the soul before the flesh. Yet in a well-ordered action, the opposite order is often, or even always, found. …

Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 50 ↗