Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 141:2

Eastern Fathers

Cyprian

Does any one perchance flatter himself with this notion, that although in the morning, water alone is seen to be offered, yet when we come to supper we offer the mingled cup? But when we sup, we cannot call the people together to our banquet, so as to celebrate the truth of the sacrament in the presence of all the brotherhood. But still it was not in the morning, but after supper, that the Lord offered the mingled cup. …

Epistle LXII.16 ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Let my prayer be set forth in Your sight as incense, and the lifting up of my hands an evening sacrifice" [Psalm 141:2]. That this is wont to be understood of the Head Himself, every Christian acknowledges. For when the day was now sinking towards evening, the Lord upon the Cross "laid down His life to take it again," [John 10:17] did not lose it against His will. Still we too are figured there. For what of Him hung upon the tree, save what He took of us? …

Exposition on Psalm 141 ↗

Jerome

Let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight. That is, let my prayer come straight to you, having no filth or faults or diabolical thoughts. Now incense is the prayers of the saints. And this we know from the Apocalypse, when the twenty-four elders held censers and said: 'These are the prayers of the saints.' The lifting up of my hands an evening sacrifice. The lifting up of the hands points to the Lord, and in the lifting up of the hands we behold the Creator. But notice that he did not say, the stretching out of my hands. …

Homily 51, on Psalm 140 ↗