Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Luke 14:27

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

He means not that we should place a beam of wood on our shoulders, but that we should ever have death before our eyes. As also Paul died daily and despised death. (1 Cor. 15:31.)

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Basil of Caesarea

By bearing the cross also he announced the death of his Lord, saying, The world is crucified to me, and I to the world, (Gal. 6:14.) which we also anticipate at our very baptism, in which our old man is crucified, that the body of sin may be destroyed.

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Irenaeus

They show, further, that that Horos of theirs, whom they call by a variety of names, has two faculties,-the one of supporting, and the other of separating; and in so far as he supports and sustains, he is Stauros, while in so far as he divides and separates, he is Horos. …

Against Heresies Book I ↗

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

Or because the cross is so called from torturing. In two ways we bear our Lord's cross, either when by abstinence we afflict our bodies, or when through compassion of our neighbour we think all his necessities our own. But because some exercise abstinence of the flesh not for God's sake but for vain-glory, and show compassion, not spiritually but carnally, it is rightly added, And, cometh after me. …

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Bede

And he who does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For the cross is called so from torment. And we bear the cross of the Lord in two ways: either when we afflict the flesh through abstinence, or when we consider the need of our neighbor as our own through compassion. For he who shows sorrow for another's necessity bears the cross in his mind. …

On the Gospel of Luke ↗

Bonaventure

Third, with respect to the completion of the spiritual companionship, he adds: And he who does not carry his cross, through perfect mortification of the flesh; and comes after me, through right intention; cannot be my disciple, through true imitation. …

Commentary on Luke, Chapter 14 ↗