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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"In whatsoever state I am," saith he, "therein to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound. In everything and in all things have I learned the secret." That is, I know how to use little, to bear hunger and want. "Both to abound, and to suffer need." "But, says one, there is no need of wisdom or of virtue in order to abound." There is great need of virtue, not less than in the other case. For as want inclines us to do many evil things, so too doth plenty. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
That is, I know how to use little, I know how to endure both hunger and thirst, and I also know how to live in abundance. But what kind of virtue is it to know how to live in abundance? Truly this is a great virtue. Because it is not need, but abundance that ruins many, since it arouses very many and absurd desires. How then did Paul know how to abound? He spent his surplus on others, and did not rejoice in abundance, but was the same both in abundance and in need, neither puffed up by the former nor embarrassed by the latter. …
Western Saints
Thomas Aquinas
He explains himself, saying: I know how to be abased. Now, abasement sometimes denotes a virtue: "He who humbles himself will be exalted" (Lk. 18:14); and sometimes a low condition: "His feet were hurt with fetters, his neck was put in a collar of iron" (Ps. 105:18). This is what he means when he says, I know how to be abased, i.e., how to endure a lowly condition with equanimity, as is becoming. …
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