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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"Being therefore always of good courage, and knowing." The word "of good courage" is used with reference to the persecutions, the plottings, and the continual deaths: as if he had said, 'Doth any vex and persecute and slay thee? Be not cast down, for thy good all is done. Be not afraid: but of good courage. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
He continues to confirm what was said above, namely that one should not be troubled by dangers. For dangers and deaths, he says, bring us the desired acquisition — incorruption, for which we groan, and they lead us more quickly to our Master. "We are always of good courage," that is, fearing neither persecutions, nor plots, nor deaths. …
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
Man indeed brought death to himself and to the Son of Man, but the Son of Man, by dying and rising again, brought life to man.… He wished to suffer this in the sight of his enemies, that they might think him, as it were, forsaken, and that the grace of the New Testament might be entrusted to us, to make us learn to seek another happiness, which we now possess by faith, but then we shall behold it. …
Thomas Aquinas
But is it hindered? No, but grace's desire conquers. Hence, he says, so we are always of good courage, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. As if to say: there are two desires in holy men, one by which they desire a heavenly dwelling, the other by which they do not wish to be despoiled. If these were compatible, they would not be contrary, and one would not be delayed by the other. But the Apostle shows that they are incompatible and that one must prevail over the other. …
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