John Chrysostom

For were He distant from us in place, thou mightest well doubt, but if He is present everywhere, to him that strives and is in earnest He is near. Wherefore also the prophet said, "I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me;" and God Himself again, "I am a God nigh at hand, and not a God afar off." Then as our sins separate us from Him, so do our righteousnesses draw us nigh unto Him. "For while thou art yet speaking," it is said, "I will say, Here I am." What father would ever be thus obedient to his offspring? …

Homilies On The Gospel Of Matthew 54:8 ↗

Athanasius of Alexandria

God is always one and the same; but people have come to be afterwards through the Word, when the Father himself willed it; and God is invisible and inaccessible to originated things, especially to people on earth. When then people in infirmity invoke him, when in persecution they ask help, when they pray as they endure injuries, then the Invisible, being a lover of people, shines forth on them with his beneficence, which he exercises through and in his proper Word. …

Discourses Against the Arians 1.63 ↗

Jerome

It is difficult to find someone who is not bound by these chains. It is rarely found a soul that does not have this heavy burden encircling its neck, weighing it down with earthly pursuits, so that it does not look to the heavens but only to the earth. This is also reflected in the Gospel story of the woman whom Satan had bound for eighteen years, so that she was bent over and could not see the heavenly things. …

Commentary on Isaiah ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Then as to intercessions of prayer: then shall you call, above: at the voice of your cry, as soon as he shall hear, he will answer you (Isa 30:19). 1029. Second, as to the attainment of goods. And first, he returns to the meritorious work: if you will take away the chain, by which you oppress the poor, and cease to stretch out the finger, disparaging and threatening. 1035. …

Commentary on Isaiah ↗