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What the Fathers say

Luke 12:23

Eastern Fathers

Theophylact of Ohrid

He Who gave the greater thing, namely the soul, will He not also give food? He Who gave the body, will He not also give clothing? Then He proves this by the example of the ravens.

Commentary on Luke ↗

Western Saints

Bede

The soul is more than food, and the body more than clothing. It reminds us to remember that God has given us much more in creating and composing us from soul and body than food and clothing, so that you understand that he who gave the soul will much more easily give food. Likewise, he who gave the body will much more easily give clothing. In this place, it is usually asked whether this food reaches the soul, since the soul is incorporeal, but this food is corporeal. …

On the Gospel of Luke ↗

Bonaventure

Then he adds the proof, when he says: The life is more than food, and the body more than clothing: from which it follows: he who gave what is greater will also supply what is less. Ambrose: "It is absurd that we should think an abundance of sustenance will be lacking to us, who obtain from God the enduring substance of living." For the soul and the body are the constitutive parts of man, on whose account the other creatures were made, according to that passage in Genesis 1: "Let us make man in our image and likeness, and let him have …

Commentary on Luke, Chapter 12 ↗