Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 34:8

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

Now will He speak openly of the same Sacrament, whereby He was carried in His Own Hands. "O taste and see that the Lord is good" [Psalm 34:8]. Does not the Psalm now open itself, and show you that seeming insanity and constant madness, the same insanity and sober inebriety of that David, who in a figure showed I know not what, when in the person of king Achis they said to him, How is it? When the Lord said, "Except a man eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, he shall have no life in him"? …

Exposition on Psalm 34 ↗

Ambrose of Milan

In Christ we possess everything. Let every soul approach him, whether it is sick with the sins of the flesh, infixed by the nails of worldly desires, admittedly still imperfect, progressing by intense medication or already perfect in its many virtues. Everyone is in the Lord's power, and Christ is all things to us. …

Concerning Virginity 16:99 ↗

Gregory the Dialogist

Spiritual delights, when not possessed, are treated with disgust, but when possessed they are desired; and the more they are hungered for by the one eating, the more they are also consumed by the one hungering. For spiritual delights increase desire in the mind while they satisfy, because the more their flavor is perceived, the more one recognizes what should be loved more eagerly. And therefore, when not possessed, they cannot be loved, because their flavor is unknown. For who is able to love what he does not know? …

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 36 ↗