Fathers

Loading…

What the Fathers say

Mark 3:32

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

It is he who said that no one belongs to his family except those who do the will of his Father. To be sure, he graciously included Mary herself in this number, for she was doing the will of his Father. Thus he spurned the earthly name of his mother in comparison to heavenly kinship.… Do not be ungrateful, pay your duty of gratitude to your mother, repay earthly favors by spiritual ones, temporal by eternal ones.

Letter 243, To Laetus ↗

Bede

And they say to him: Behold your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. And responding to them, he said: Who is my mother and my brothers? Inside is the word, inside is the light. Therefore elsewhere, he says, so that those who enter may see the light (Luke VIII). If then, those standing outside are not recognized even as parents, and perhaps they are not recognized for the sake of our example, how will we be recognized if we stand outside? …

On the Gospel of Mark ↗