Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 144:4

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Man is made like unto vanity: his days pass away like a shadow." What vanity? Time, which passeth on, and floweth by. For this "vanity" is said in comparison of the Truth, which ever abideth, and never faileth: for it too is a work of His Hand, in its degree. "For," as it is written, "God filled the earth with His good things." What is "His"? That accord with Him. …

Exposition on Psalm 144 ↗

Jerome

Man is made like to vanity: his days pass away like a shadow. Truly our days are like a shadow. I was a little infant, I was a boy, I was a young lad, I was a youth, I was a man, that is, of perfect age, I was of middle age. While I know it not, I am an old man. Death creeps up upon old age. I am changed daily, and I do not perceive that I am nothing. Not for even a single moment of an hour do we stand in our own state, but we are always either growing or diminishing. …

Homily 54, on Psalm 143 ↗