Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 141:1

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hear Thou me" (ver. 1). This we all can say. This not I alone say: whole Christ saith it. But it is said rather in the name of the Body: for He too, when He was here and bore our flesh, prayed; and when He prayed, drops of blood streamed down from His whole Body. So is it written in the Gospel: "Jesus prayed earnestly, and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood." What is this flowing of sweat from His whole Body, but the suffering of martyrs from the whole Church? …

Exposition on Psalm 141 ↗

Jerome

O Lord, I have cried to you, hear me. Moses was standing with the people, and Pharaoh was pursuing behind his back, and on every side there was distress for him. At that time he wept to God, and immediately God said to him: 'Why do you cry out to me?' While he was praying in silence, he was heard; yet Scripture does not record that he spoke, but only that he wept. And the blood of the martyrs always cries out to the Lord, and it is heard. …

Homily 51, on Psalm 140 ↗