Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Luke 14:20

Eastern Fathers

Basil of Caesarea

But he says, I cannot come, because that the human mind when it is degenerating to worldly pleasures, is feeble in attending to the things of God.

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

That is, the delight of the flesh which hinders many, I wish it were outward and not inward. For he who said, I have married a wife, taking pleasure in the delights of the flesh, excuses himself from the supper; let such a one take heed lest he die from inward hunger. (ubi sup.) Now John when he said, all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, (1 John 2:16.) began from the point where the Gospel ended. …

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Ambrose of Milan

Or marriage is not blamed; but purity is held up to greater honour, since the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and spirit, but she that is married careth for the things of the world. (1 Cor. 7:34.)

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Gregory the Dialogist

Another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. What is understood by a wife except the pleasure of the flesh? For although marriage is good, and established by divine providence for the propagation of offspring, nevertheless some seek through it not the fruitfulness of children, but the desires of pleasure, and therefore through a just thing an unjust thing can not inappropriately be signified. …

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 36 ↗