Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 78:13

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

For He that "did burst asunder the sea and made them go through, did confine the waters as it were in bottles" [Psalm 78:13], in order that the water might stand up first as if it were shut in, is able by His grace to restrain the flowing and ebbing tides of carnal desires, when we renounce this world, so that all sins having been thoroughly washed away, as if they were enemies, the people of the faithful may be made to pass through by means of the Sacrament of Baptism.

Exposition on Psalm 78 ↗

Jerome

"He split the sea and led them through." The Lord walked upon the sea, and calmed the waves of the sea, and led us through. "He split the sea and led them through." To this day, O faithful monk, when you are led out of Egypt, the sea is split, and thus you are led out. "He set the waters as if in a wineskin." In the Hebrew it does not have "wineskin," but "heap."

Homily 11, on Psalm 77 ↗