Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Isaiah 40:6

Eastern Fathers

Athanasius of Alexandria

What advancement, then, was it to the Immortal to have assumed the mortal? Or what promotion is it to the Everlasting to have put on the temporal? What reward can be great to the everlasting God and King in the bosom of the Father? Do you not see that this too was done and written because of us and for us, that the Lord, having become a human being, might make immortal us who are mortal and temporal and bring us into the everlasting kingdom of heaven? Do you Arians not blush, speaking lies against the divine oracles? …

Discourses Against the Arians 1.12.48 ↗

Cyril of Alexandria

The Word of the Father dwells in our hearts through faith. When we receive the riches of his divine Spirit, then we have him in ourselves as that which is most worth having, since he is the giver of eternal life. For when the Word dwells in us, he remains there forever, sustaining and enlivening us. Now if anyone wishes to know from the Word of God his commandment, then we say that this is immeasurably useful. For God guards both the commandment and those who observe it for the life which is yet to come. …

Commentary On Isaiah 3:4.40:6-8 ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

So those flourishing, wicked people are like grass, sprouting in winter, drying up in summer. Take care that you, though, fix your roots in the Word of God, which abides forever, and that you are a tree living in a hidden way. "For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." That is where your root is; that is where you are alive. That, you see, is where you have placed your hope.… So do not let the winter time get you down. …

Sermon 25A.1 ↗

Jerome

The voice of one saying, Cry out. And I said, What shall I cry out? All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower falls; because the breath of the LORD blows upon it. Truly the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower falls; but the word of our God will stand forever. (LXX: The voice of one saying, Cry out. And I said, What shall I cry out? …

Commentary on Isaiah ↗

Bede

Let all who long to be refreshed by the sweetness of the living bread, all who love to be renewed by the banquet of heavenly grace, sit down on the grass. Let them trample on the bloom of the grass. Let them chastise the body and subject it to slavery.

Homilies on the Gospels 2:2 ↗