John Chrysostom

And He indeed spake it, in part to refresh the good, but I ever shudder at hearing it, for I am not of them that are crowned, and I suppose that others also share with us in our fear and anxiety. For whom is this saying not enough to startle, when he hath entered into his own conscience; and to make him shudder, and convince him that we have need of sackcloth, and of prolonged fasting, more than the people of the Ninevites? …

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 55 ↗

Jerome

For the Son of Man is coming in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will repay each according to his deeds. Peter, scandalized by the preaching of the Lord's death, was rebuked by the Lord's sentence. The disciples were provoked to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow their teacher with a willing heart. …

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Gregory the Dialogist

Often moreover we overcome greed, but there still remains this obstacle: that we hold to the ways of righteousness with too little guardianship of perfection. For often we despise all things that are passing away, yet we are still hindered by the custom of human respect, so that we are not yet able to express in voice the righteousness we preserve in mind; and we neglect the face of God in defense of justice as much as we fear human faces against justice. …

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 32 ↗