Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Isaiah 58:4

Western Saints

Jerome

Do not fast as you do to this day, to make your voice heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? LXX: Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? …

Commentary on Isaiah ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Also, the fault of vanity, do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry to be heard, for the sake of the praise of men: but you when you shall pray, enter into your chamber, and having shut the door, pray to your Father (Matt 6:6). Or to make your cry to be heard, that is, if you wish that your prayer would be heard by God: hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to you (Ps 101:2).

Commentary on Isaiah ↗