ACC ~ Mark 10 v17 - 22

OVERVIEW:

The text portrays Jesus not merely as teacher of the law but as Lord of the law (HILARY OF POITIERS). The proximate goodness of any creature is best grasped in relation to the incomparable goodness of the triune God (ORIGEN). Where the incarnation is misunderstood, the human scales of goodness are likely to be misleading. Jesus would not have rejected the designation of goodness if it had been addressed to him as incarnate Lord. The young man questioned the giver of eternal life on a false premise, that of neglecting that he is indeed God incarnate (HILARY OF POITIERS, JEROME). This skewed assumption of the questioner colored the reply (HILARY OF POITIERS). One who does not receive Christ as Lord is not in any proper position to address him as merely a good teacher (JEROME). He is none other than the source and ground of all good who asks, “Why do you call me, in human terms, ‘good’?” (ORIGEN). The term good is here applied absolutely to God and only derivatively to created goods (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS). God is uniquely good, being good in a way that cannot be diminished (AUGUSTINE). Temporal beings are good only by participation in the eternal goodness of God (BEDE). The wholeness of God’s goodness cannot be ascribed directly to some partial good in creation (PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS). The incarnate Lord himself enacts the good in an incomparably complete way by offering himself as veritable mediator of divine goodness to human history (HILARY OF POITIERS). Grace does not coerce the will but cooperates with human willing (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA). Those not yet ready to follow the command to radical responsiveness to grace do well at least to follow the command of the law that is addressed to those struggling at preliminary levels of responsiveness to the divine command (CAESARIUS OF ARLES). The young man went away sad because he remained trapped in his own earthly desires (AUGUSTINE).

10:17 | What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?

THE FALSE PREMISE OF THE QUESTION

HILARY OF POITIERS: The young man became arrogant through the observance of the law. He did not recognize that the consummation of the law is Christ. [1] He assumed he could be justified by works. [2] He was not aware that Jesus had come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, [3] and that the law could not save except through justifying faith. [4] He questioned the Lord of the law and the only begotten God as if he were an ordinary teacher of precepts that were written down in the law. Hence, the Lord rejected this declaration of a spurious faith, because the question was put to him as if he were merely a teacher of the law. He replied: “Why do you call me good?” [5] In order to make known how much he was to be recognized and acknowledged as good, he declared: “No one is good but God only.” [6] He would not have rejected the attribute of goodness if it had been attributed to him as God. ON THE TRINITY 9.16. [7]

[1] Cf. Rom 10:4; Gal 3:13.

[2] Cf. Rom 4:5; Gal 2:16.

[3] Cf. Mt 10:6; 15:24.

[4] Cf. Acts 13:39; Rom 3:20; Gal 2:16;.

[5] Mk 10:18; Lk 18:19.

[6] Mk 10:18; Lk 18:19.

[7] Cetedoc 0433, 62A.9.16.7; FC 236-37**.

10:18a | Why Do You Call Me Good?

ON RIGHTLY NAMING THE GOOD

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: The rich man called Jesus “good,” [1] as if he were offering him a favor, just as some favor others with honorary titles. [The Lord] fled from that by which people favored him, so that he might show that he had received this goodness from the Father through nature and generation, and not [merely] in name. “Only one is good,” [2] [he said], and did not remain silent, but added, “the Father,” so that he might show that the Son is good in just the way that the Father is good. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON. [3]

[1] Mk 10:17; Lk 18:18.

[2] Mt 19:17; cf. Mk 10:18; Lk 18:19.

[3] Leloir 1963:140; JSSS 2:229-30**.

LATER ERRORS ECHO THE SAME FALSE PREMISE

HILARY OF POITIERS: He who is by nature God of God must possess the nature of his origin, which God possesses. The indistinguishable unity of a living nature cannot be divided by the birth of a living nature. [1] But the troublers of church unity, under cover of the saving confession of the gospel faith, are subversively trying to take captive the truth by undermining it. By forcing their own interpretations on words spoken with other meanings and intentions, they are robbing the Son of his distinctive unity [with the Father]. [2] ON THE TRINITY 9.2. [3]

[1] Cf. Mt 16:15-16; Jn 1:1-18; Gal 4:4.

[2] Cf. 2 Pet 2—3.

[3] Cetedoc 0433, 62A.9.2.1; NPNF 2 9:155**. This false premise is analogous to misleading theories of heretics, among them the Arians and the Modalists.

HOW THE SKEWED PREMISE SHAPES THE REPLY

HILARY OF POITIERS: A complete understanding of the reply must come from the reason that prompted the question, for the answer will be directed to the matter that led to the inquiry. … He voiced his objection to the title of “good master” in such a way as to challenge the faith of the questioner rather than the designation of himself as a master or as good. ON THE TRINITY 9.2. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 0433, 62A.9.15.12 and 62A.9.16.5; FC 25:335**. The motivation of the questioner is what is in question.

THE OVERTURNING OF THE PREMISE IN THE QUESTION

JEROME: The question is something like a priest who, while inwardly despising his bishop, yet continues to address him openly as “bishop.” Whereupon the bishop answers, “To you I am not the bishop; you may leave my presence.” HOMILY 53. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 0592, 142.66; FC 48:379**.

10:18b | No One Is Good but God Alone

THE INCOMPARABLE GOODNESS OF THE SON

ORIGEN: There is no other secondary goodness existing in the Son than that which is in the Father. So the Savior himself rightly says in the Gospel that “none is good save one, God the Father.” [1] The purpose of this statement is to make it understood that the Son is not of some other ancillary “goodness,” but of that alone which is in the Father; whose image he is rightly called. For he neither springs from any other source than from original goodness itself (if that were so, there would seem to be a different goodness in the Son from that which is in the Father), nor has the goodness that is in him any dissimilarity or divergence from that of the Father. [2] Accordingly we ought not to imagine that there is some kind of blasphemy in the saying that “none is good save one, God the Father.” [3] These words are not to be taken as a denial that either Christ or the Holy Spirit is good. But, as we said before, the original goodness must be believed to reside in God the Father, and from him both the Son and Holy Spirit undoubtedly draw into themselves the nature of that goodness existing in the font from which the one is born and the other proceeds. [4] If then there are any other things called good in the Scriptures such as an angel, [5] or a man, [6] or a servant, [7] or a treasure, [8] or a good heart, [9] or a good tree, [10] all these are so called by an inexact use of the word, since the goodness contained in them is accidental and not essential. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.2.13. [11]

[1] Mk 10:18; Lk 18:19.

[2] Cf. Jn 10:30.

[3] Mk 10:18; Lk 19:19.

[4] Cf. Jn 3:16; 15:16.

[5] Cf. Tob 5:21; 2 Macc 11:6; 15:23.

[6] Cf. Ps 37:23; 112:5; Prov 12:2; Mt 12:35; Acts 11:24.

[7] Cf. Sir 7:21; Lk 19:17.

[8] Cf. Tob 4:9; Lk 6:45.

[9] Cf. Jdt 8:28; Wis 1:1; Sir 26:4; Lk 8:15.

[10] Cf. 2 Kings 3:19; Mt 7:17-19; Lk 6:43.

[11] OBP 154-57; OFP 27-28**.

DEFINING THE GOOD

ORIGEN: The good, then, is the same as the one who incomparably is. Over against good is evil or wickedness. Over against the one who incomparably is, is merely that which is not. So it follows that evil and corruption are, finally, that which becomes nothing. [1] This, perhaps, is what has led some to affirm that the devil is not created by God. [2] In respect that he is the devil he is not the work of God, but he who is the devil is a created being, and as a creature nonetheless remains a work of God, since there is nothing created that is not created by God. Think of it this way: A murderer is not a work of God insofar as he murders, while we may still say that insofar as he is a human being, God made him. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.7. [3]

[1] In the sense that their evil depends upon something good and is a deprivation of that good.

[2] Cf. Eph 3:9.

[3] ANF 9:330*, TLG 2042.005, 2.13.96.3-97.7. To view the greatest good, God incarnate, only by the measurements of creaturely goods is to miss the good. The wickedness of the devil must not be linked to his creatureliness as such but to his will to do evil.

COMPLETE GOODNESS BELONGS TO GOD ALONE

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: The words, “None is good” [1] are a reply to the young ruler who was testing him and had borne witness to his goodness as a human being. Consummate goodness, he meant, belongs to God alone, though the word “good” can be derivatively applied to human beings. [2] ORATION 30, ON THE SON 13. [3]

[1] Mk 10:18; Lk 18:19.

[2] Cf. Ps 37:23; 112:5; Prov 31:10-31; Acts 11:24.

[3] TLG 2022.010, 13.15-18; FGFR 271*. Good can be derivatively applied to human beings only by primarily being applied to God.

GOD’S GOODNESS DISTINGUISHED FROM OTHER GOODS

AUGUSTINE: God, therefore, is uniquely good, and this he cannot lose. He is good. He is not good by sharing in any other good, because the good by which he is good is himself. But, when a finite human being is good, his goodness derives from God, because he cannot be his own good. All who become good do so through his Spirit. Our nature has been created to attain to him through acts of its own will. If we are to become good, it is important for us to receive and hold what he gives, who is good in himself. LETTER 153, TO MACEDONIUS. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 0262, 153.44.5.409.6; FC 20:289*. God is good in a way that cannot be diminished or lost, while human willing participates proximately in God’s goodness through divine grace.

NO PART IS WHOLLY GOOD

PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS: It is the entire divine reality which is adored in Scripture, as that absolute goodness defines and reveals itself to be. [1] How else are we to understand the sacred Word of God when it declares that the deity, speaking of itself, had this to say: “Why do you ask me about what is good? No one is good but God alone.” [2] I have discussed all this elsewhere, how in Scripture all the names appropriate to God are praised regarding the whole, entire, full, and complete divinity rather than any aspect of it. They all refer indivisibly, absolutely, unreservedly and totally to God in his entirety. THE DIVINE NAMES 2.1. [3]

[1] The issue is whether the term good is applied to God according to the wholeness of divine goodness or some particular aspect of it.

[2] Mk 10:18; Lk 18:19.

[3] TLG 2798.004, 122.1-10; CWS 58*. The wholeness of God’s goodness cannot be ascribed directly to some partial good in creation.

GOOD BY PARTICIPATION

BEDE: It is only by participation in the divine goodness that a rational creature is capable of becoming good. [1] EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 11.4. [2]

[1] Cf. Phil 2:13; Heb 13:20-21.

[2] Cetedoc 1367, 2.14.233; HOG 2:132. Humans are good by participation in the eternal goodness of God.

10:19 | You Know the Commandments

COMMANDS THAT LEAD TO LIFE

AUGUSTINE: The rich man asked the good teacher what he should do to gain eternal life. [1] He regarded the good teacher as a man and nothing more (as distinct from the assumption that He is good as God incarnate). Hear the good teacher respond to him: if he wishes to enter into life, he should keep the commandments; that he should remove from himself the bitterness of malice and wickedness; that he should not kill, or commit adultery, or steal, or bear false witness, in order that dry land [2] may appear and bring forth the honor of mother and father and the love of our neighbor. [3] CONFESSIONS 13.19. [4]

[1] Cf. Mt 19:16; Mk 10:17; Lk 18:18.

[2] The allusion is to the dry land of the exodus (cf. Ex 14:29). Augustine’s reference to dry land is illumined by his earlier comment in the Confessions: “before the Lord says to us: Wash yourselves clean, spare me the sight of your busy wickedness, of your wrong-doing take farewell [Is 1:16-18], so that the dry land may appear.” See Augustine, Confessions (New York: Penguin, 1961), 326 (13.19). Cf. Neh 9:11; Ps 66:6; Heb 11:29.

[3] Cf. Mt 19:17-19; Mk 10:19; Lk 18:20.

[4] Cetedoc 0251, 13.19.6; FC 21:429**.

10:20 | All These I Have Observed from My Youth

RATIONALIZING OBSERVANCE

JEROME: He who declared that he had observed all the commandments had already yielded to the power of riches from the very outset. LETTER 118, TO JULIAN. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 0620, 118.55.4.439.17; NPNF 2 6:222**. He was not ready to observe the commands he said he observed.

FEIGNED RESPONSIVENESS

AUGUSTINE: But the young man went away sad, so anyone can see how far he kept those commandments of the law. I think he spoke with more pride than truth when he answered that he had kept them. LETTER 157, TO HILARIUS. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 0262, 157.44.4.474.21; FC 20:342.

10:21a | Go, Sell What You Have and Give to the Poor

HOW WEALTH OBSTRUCTS DISCIPLESHIP

JEROME: This is why those who are rich find it hard to enter the kingdom of heaven. [1] For it is a kingdom which desires for its citizens a soul that soars aloft free from all ties and hindrances. “Go your way,” the Lord said, “and sell” not a part of your substance but “all that you have, and give to the poor”; [2] not to your friends or kinsfolk or relatives, nor to your wife or to your children. … When once you have put your hand to the plough, you must not look back. [3] When once you stand on the housetop, you must think no more of your clothes within. To escape your Egyptian mistress, [4] you must abandon the cloak that belongs to this world. Even Elijah, in his quick translation to heaven could not take his mantle with him, but left in the world the garments of the world. [5] LETTER 118, TO JULIAN. [6]

[1] Cf. Mt 19:24; Mk 10:25; Lk 18:25.

[2] Mt 19:21; Mk 10:21; Lk 18:22.

[3] Lk 9:62.

[4] Gen 39:12.

[5] 2 Kings 2:11, 13.

[6] Cetedoc 0620, 118.55.4.439.18; NPNF 2 6:222*. The call to discipleship is simple and unconditional.

INWARD INTENT

AUGUSTINE: I who write this have greatly loved the total devotion of which the Lord spoke when he once said to the rich young man: “Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and come, follow me.” [1] I have so loved it that I have indeed acted upon it myself, not by my own strength but by his assisting grace. The apostles were the first to follow in the practice of this complete self-giving. [2] One who gives up both what one owns and what one desires to own, gives up the whole world. LETTER 157, TO HILARIUS. [3]

[1] Mt 19:21; Mk 10:21; Lk 18:22.

[2] They had no riches to give up, but the value of their response did not depend quantitatively upon how much wealth they gave up. The quantity of how much one gives up does not determine the worthiness of the act. One who having nothing gives up little is not less worthy than one who having much gives up all. Cf. Mt 4:18-22; Mk 2:14.

[3] Cetedoc 0262, 157.44.4.485.15; FC 20:352**. Note that the command is to give up not only what one has but also what one desires to have.

FULL OBEDIENCE

CAESARIUS OF ARLES: What that man heard, most beloved, we, too, have heard. The gospel of Christ is in heaven, but it does not cease to speak on earth. Let us not be dead to him, for he thunders. Let us not be deaf, for he shouts. If you are unwilling to commit to full obedience, do what you can. But here is the radical divine requirement: “Sell all that you have, and give to the poor; and come, follow me.” [1] The lesser road of the law says: You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not seek false witness, you shall not steal, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.” [2] SERMONS 153.1. [3]

[1] Mt 19:21; Mk 10:21; Lk 18:22.

[2] Mt 19:18-19; Mk 10:19; Lk 18:20.

[3] Cetedoc 1008, 104.153.1.12; FC 47:337**. Greater and lesser commands are distinguishable.

10:21b | Follow Me

PERFORMING THE GOOD

HILARY OF POITIERS: He exercises the duties of goodness when he opens the treasures of heaven [1] and becomes himself a guide to them. He abhors whatever is offered to him merely as a man. Yet he makes it clear that he is no stranger to those qualities attributed to God. While recognizing the one God as good, he himself speaks of and performs those very actions which are characteristic of the incomparable power, goodness and nature of God. ON THE TRINITY 9.17. [2]

[1] Cf. Mt 19:21; Lk 18:22.

[2] Cetedoc 0433, 62A.9.17.10; FC 25:337**. The incarnate Lord himself enacts the good in an incomparably good way by offering himself as mediator of goodness.

10:22 | He Went Away Sorrowful

GOD SAVES ONLY THE WILLING

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: God provides a fairer wind [1] for more willing souls. But if they early abandon their eagerness, the wind which God provides is thereby obstructed. For to save the unwilling is an act of compulsion. But to save the willing is the act of one showing grace. SALVATION OF THE RICH MAN 21. [2]

[1] Cooperates spiritually.

[2] TLG 0555.006, 21.1.2-3.1; cf. ANF 2:597. God’s grace is not another form of compulsion.

WHETHER JESUS WAS HARSH TOWARD RICHES

TERTULLIAN: The rich man followed his own counsel, having rejected the precept of dividing his resources with the needy. He was abandoned by the Lord to his own opinion. [1] There is no justification for applying the term “harshness” on this account to describe Christ. For each individual free will is able to choose to defile itself. “Behold, I have set before you good and evil.” [2] Choose that which is good. If you cannot because you will not (for he has shown that you can if you will, because he has proposed each to your free will) you ought to depart from him whose will you elect not to do. ON MONOGAMY 14. [3]

[1] Mt 19:16-22; Mk 10:17-22; Lk 18:18-27.

[2] Deut 11:26-28; 30:1, 15, 19; Josh 24:15.

[3] Cetedoc 0028, 14.45; ANF 4:71*

THE BURDEN OF CHOICE

AUGUSTINE: He did not follow. He just wanted a good teacher, but he questioned who the teacher was, and scorned the identity of the One [1] who was teaching. “He went away sad,” bound up in his desires. “He went away sad,” carrying a great burden of possessiveness upon his shoulders. [2] TRACTATE ON JOHN 34.8. [3]

ON RICHES MARK 10:23-31

[1] The uniquely good one.

[2] Mt 19:22; Mk 10:22.

[3] Cetedoc 0278, 34.8.11; FC 88:66-67**.

OVERVIEW:

By merely having wealth one tends to love it inordinately. Hence the rich find faith exceptionally hard (AUGUSTINE). Yet Christianity does not leave the wealthy in despair (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA). If one is able in the midst of wealth to turn from its powerful mystique so as to exercise self-control, seeking God alone, one may yet remain unwounded by it (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA). The poor do not thereby have an absolutely privileged position over the rich with respect to salvation (CAESARIUS OF ARLES). Richness in virtue is greater than richness in worldly goods (SALVIAN THE PRESBYTER). Just as readiness to give up wealth is required, so is readiness to give up those most dear to us, our family, insofar as they may be an obstacle to our salvation (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA). Those who seek to live the life of faith are blessed with the gift of a worldwide family beyond that natural family from which they came (JOHN CASSIAN). Nothing is impossible to God except that which is contrary to God’s nature (THEODORET OF CYR).

10:23 | For Those Who Have Riches

THE RICH NEED NOT DESPAIR

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Let this teach the prosperous that they are not to neglect their own salvation, as if they had been already foredoomed, nor, on the other hand, to cast wealth into the sea, or condemn it as a traitor and an enemy to life, but learn in what way and how to use wealth and obtain life. SALVATION OF THE RICH MAN 27. [1]

[1] ANF 2:599*; TLG 0555.006, 27.1.2-2.1.

WHETHER IN MERELY HAVING WEALTH ONE TENDS TO LOVE IT INORDINATELY

AUGUSTINE: Such, O my soul, are the miseries that attend on riches. They are gained with toil and kept with fear. They are enjoyed with danger and lost with grief. It is hard to be saved if we have them; and impossible if we love them; and scarcely can we have them, but we shall love them inordinately. Teach us, O Lord, this difficult lesson: to manage conscientiously the goods we possess, and not covetously desire more than you give to us. LETTER 203. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 0262, 203.57.316.1; GMI 247-48.

WHETHER THE POOR HAVE A DECISIVE ADVANTAGE OVER THE RICH

CAESARIUS OF ARLES: The rich man “went away sad,” as you have heard, and the Lord says: “With what difficulty will they who have riches enter the kingdom of God!” [1] At length the disciples became very sad when they heard this and they said: “If this is so, who then can be saved?” [2] Rich and poor, listen to Christ: I am speaking to God’s people. Most of you are poor, but you too must listen carefully to understand. And you had best listen even more intently if you glory in your poverty. Beware of pride, lest the humble rich surpass you. Beware of wickedness, lest the pious rich confound you. Beware of drunkenness, lest the sober excel you. SERMONS 153.2. [3]

[1] Mt 19:22-23; Mk 10:22-23.

[2] Mt 19:25; Mk 10:26; Lk 18:26.

[3] Cetedoc 1008, 104.153.2.1; FC 47:338*.

THE RICHES MOST TO BE DESIRED

SALVIAN THE PRESBYTER: Note what kind of riches it is that God loves. Note what wealth does he demand that we should store up for children. Note what possessions he especially orders us to guard: faith, fear of God, modesty, holiness, and discipline. Nothing earthly, nothing base, nothing perishable or transitory. THE FOUR BOOKS OF TIMOTHY TO THE CHURCH 1.4. [1]

[1] SC 176:152; FC 3:276**. Richness in virtue is greater than richness in worldly goods.

10:25 | Eye of a Needle

WHETHER THE RICH CAN BE SAVED

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The Savior by no means has excluded the rich on account of wealth itself, and the possession of property, nor fenced off salvation against them, if they are able and willing to submit their life to God’s commandments, and prefer them to transitory things. Let them look to the Lord with steady eye, as those who look toward the slightest nod of a good helmsman, what he wishes, what he orders, what he indicates, what signal he gives his mariners, where and when he directs the ship’s course. … If one is able in the midst of wealth to turn from its mystique, to entertain moderate desires, to exercise self-control, to seek God alone, and to breathe God and walk with God, such a man submits to the commandments, being free, unsubdued, free of disease, unwounded by wealth. But if not, “sooner shall a camel enter through a needle’s eye, than such a rich man reach the kingdom of God.” [1] SALVATION OF THE RICH MAN 26. [2]

[1] Mt 19:24; Mk 10:25; Lk 18:25.

[2] ANF 2:598-99*; TLG 0555.006, 26.2.1-3.1, 6.1-8.1.

ON PASSING WEALTH TO CHILDREN

SALVIAN THE PRESBYTER: There is no compelling necessity for you to store up large earthly treasures for your children. You would do better to make your offspring treasures of God than make them richer in worldly goods. [1] THE FOUR BOOKS OF TIMOTHY TO THE CHURCH 1.4. [2]

[1] Cf. Mt 6:19-21.

[2] SC 176:154; FC 3:277**. Offering children wealth without salvation is not a good economy.

10:27 | All Things Are Possible with God

WHETHER ANYTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD

Theodoret of Cyr:

10:29 | There Is No One Who Has Left House or Brothers

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF LEAVING THE FAMILY

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Do not let this passage trouble you. Put it side by side with the still harder saying Jesus delivered in another place in the words, “Whoever hates not father, and mother, and children, and his own life besides, cannot be my disciple.” [1] Note that the God of peace, who exhorts us to love our enemies, does not arbitrarily require us literally to hate or abandon those dearest to us. But if we are to love our enemies, it must be in accordance with right reason that, by analogy we should also love our nearest relatives. … But insofar as one’s father, or son, or brother, becomes for you a hindrance to faith or an impediment to godly life, one should then not collude with that temptation. Attend to the spiritual, rather than the fleshly, meaning of the command. SALVATION OF THE RICH MAN 22. [2]

[1] Lk 14:26; “hate” must be understood spiritually, not literally, in relation to the ordering of one’s earthly values so as not to make an idolatry of them.

[2] TLG 0555.006, 22.2.1-4.2, 7.1-4; cf. ANF 2:597. Resist whatever is detrimental to salvation even if it means resisting one’s natural family.

10:30 | Receive a Hundredfold

BLESSINGS WITHIN OF THE NEW FAMILY OF GOD

JOHN CASSIAN: For he who for the sake of Christ’s name distances himself from his particular beloved father or mother or child, and gives himself over to the purest love of all who serve Christ, will receive a hundred times the measure of brothers and kinsfolk. [1] Instead of but one he will begin to have so many fathers and brothers bound to him by a still more fervent and admirable affection. That this is so you can prove by your own experience, since you have each left but one father and mother and home, and as you have done so you have gained without any effort or care countless fathers and mothers and brothers, as well as houses and lands and most faithful servants, in any part of the world to which you go, who receive you as their own family, and welcome, and respect, and take care of you with the utmost attention. CONFERENCES 3.24.26. [2]

[1] Cf. Mt 19:29; Mk 10:29-30; Lk 18:29-30.

[2] Cetedoc 0512, 24.26.707.21; NPNF 2 11:544*.