ACC ~ 2 Corinthians 5 v8

EAGER TO DEPART. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul has put the greatest thing of all last, for to be with Christ is greater than having an incorruptible body. By avoiding direct mention of painful things like death and the end, Paul has dealt with them in such a way as to make his hearers long for them by calling them “presence with God.” Similarly, he has passed over the sweet things of this life and expressed them in painful terms, calling them “absence from the Lord.” He did this in order that we should not fondly linger among what we now have but be prepared to depart for something much better. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 10.4.

THE COURAGE OF THE PILGRIM. ORIGEN: I pray that our souls may never be disquieted, and even more that in the presence of the tribunals and of the naked swords drawn against our necks they may be guarded by the peace of God, which passes all understanding, and may be quieted when they consider that those who are foreigners from the body are at home with the Lord of all. AN EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 4.

2 Cor