Loading…
VRSZ
This sets the art on your cards and whose commentary you read on each verse. You can change it later in settings.
Translation
Loading…
What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: and strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. and few there be that find it." And yet after this He said, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." And in what He hath lately said also, He intimated the same: how then doth He here say it is strait and confined? In the first place, if thou attend, even here He points to it as very light, and easy, and accessible. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
"Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat." The narrow gate means both trials that are voluntarily undertaken, such as fasting and the like, and trials that are involuntarily experienced, such as imprisonment and persecution. Just as a man who is fat, or who is carrying a great load, cannot go in through a narrow gate, neither can a gourmandizer or a rich man. These go in through the wide gate. …
Desert Fathers
A hermit was asked, 'What is meant by the text "Narrow and strait is the way" (Matt. 7:14)?' He answered, 'Narrow and strait is the way by which a man does violence to his thoughts and for God's sake breaks down his self-will. This is what was written about the apostles, "Lo, we have left all, and followed thee" (Matt. 19:27).'
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
Otherwise; Scripture does not mention the love of God, where it says, All things whatsoever ye would; because he who loves his neighbour must consequently love Love itself above all things; but God is Love; therefore he loves God above all things. (Serm. in Mont. ii. 22.) The Lord had warned us above to have a heart single and pure with which to seek God; but as this belongs to but few, He begins to speak of finding out wisdom. …
Jerome
Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and spacious is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. How narrow is the gate and confined is the way that leads to life! And few are those who find it. The wide path is the pleasure of the world, which people desire. The narrow path, which is opened through struggles and fasting, which even the Apostle entered (II Cor. VI, XI): and Timothy is encouraged to enter through it (I Tim. V). …
Thomas Aquinas
Enter by the narrow gate. Lest anyone conclude from the saying, ask and you shall receive, that man has everything from God without good works, he teaches that this, too, comes by good works. First, therefore, he presents the admonition; secondly the reason (v. 13b). He says, therefore, Enter, i.e., try to enter. Augustine explains this in two ways: Christ is the gate: "I am the door" (Jn 10:9). This gate is narrow through humility, because he humbled himself unto death. …
Translation