Aug., Serm. in Mont. ii. 11: This number of petitions seems to answer to the seven-fold number of the beatitudes.
If it is the fear of God by which are made "blessed the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," let us ask that the name of God be hallowed among men, a reverent fear abiding for ever and ever.
If it be piety by which "the meek are blessed," let us pray that His kingdom may come, that we may become meek, and not resist Him.
If it be knowledge by which "they that mourn are blessed," let us pray that His will may be done as in heaven so in earth; for if the body consent with the spirit as does earth with heaven, we shall not mourn.
If fortitude be that by which "they that hunger are blessed," let us pray that our daily bread be this day given us, by which we may come to full saturity.
If it is counsel by which "blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," let us forgive debts, that our debts may be forgiven us.
If it be understanding by which they of "pure heart are blessed," let us pray that we be not led into temptation, lest we have a double heart in the pursuit of temporal and earthly things which are for our probation.
If it be wisdom by which "blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God," let us pray to be delivered from evil; for that very deliverance will make us free as sons of God.
Chrysostom: Having made us anxious by the mention of our enemy, in this that He has said, "Deliver us from evil," He again restores confidence by that which is added in some copies, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory," since if His be the kingdom, none need fear, since even he who fights against us, must be His subject. But since His power and glory are infinite, He can not only deliver from evil, but also make glorious.
Pseudo-Chrysostom: This is also connected with the foregoing. "Thine is the kingdom" has reference to "Thy kingdom come," that none should therefore say, "God has no kingdom on earth. The power," answers to "Thy will be done, as in earth so in heaven," that none should say thereon that God cannot perform whatever He would. "And the glory," answers to all that follows, in which God’s glory is shewn forth.
Ver. 14. "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:15. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
Rabanus: By the word, "Amen." He shews that without doubt the Lord will bestow all things that are rightly asked, and by those that do not fail in observing the annexed condition, "For if ye forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your sins."
Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 11: Here we should not overlook that of all the petitions enjoined by the Lord, He judged that most worthy of further enforcement, which relates to forgiveness of sins, in which He would have us merciful; which is the only means of escaping misery.
Pseudo-Chrysostom: He does not say that God will first forgive us, and that we should after forgive our debtors. For God knows how treacherous the heart of man is, and that though they should have received forgiveness themselves, yet they do not forgive their debtors; therefore He instructs us first to forgive, and we shall be forgiven after.
Aug., Enchir., 74: Whoever does not forgive him that in true sorrow seeks forgiveness, let him not suppose that his sins are by any means forgiven of the Lord.
Cyprian, Tr. vii, 16: For no excuse will abide you in the day of judgment, when you will be judged by your own sentence, and as you have dealt towards others, will be dealt with yourself.
Jerome: But if that which is written, "I said, Ye are gods, but ye shall die like men," [[Psa 82:6]-7 is said to those who for their sins deserve to become men instead of gods, then they to whom sins are forgiven are rightly called "men."
Chrysostom: He mentions heaven and the Father to claim our attention, for nothing so likens you to God, as to forgive him who has injured you. And it were indeed unmeet should the son of such a Father become a slave, and should one who has a heavenly vocation live as of this earth, and of this life only.
Ver. 16. "Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."
Pseudo-Chrysostom: Forasmuch as that prayer which is offered in a humble spirit and contrite heart, shews a mind already strong and disciplined; whereas he who is sunk in self-indulgence cannot have a humble spirit and contrite heart; it is plain that without fasting prayer must be faint and feeble; therefore, when any would pray for any need in which they might be, they joined fasting with prayer, because it is an aid thereof. Accordingly the Lord, after His doctrine respecting prayer, adds doctrine concerning fasting, saying, "When ye fast, be not ye as the hypocrites, of sad countenance." The Lord knew that vanity may spring from every good thing, and therefore bids us root out the bramble of vain-gloriousness which springs in the good soil, that it choke not the fruit of fasting. For though it cannot be that fasting should not be discovered in any one, yet is it better that fasting should shew you, than that you should shew your fasting.
But it is impossible that any in fasting should be gay, therefore He said not, Be not sad, but "Be not made sad;" for they who discover themselves by any false displays of their affliction, they are not sad, but make themselves; but he who is naturally sad in consequence of continued fasting, does not make himself sad, but is so.
Jerome: The word, "exterminare," so often used in the ecclesiastical Scriptures though a blunder of the translators, has a quite different meaning from that in which it is commonly understood. It is properly said of exiles who are sent beyond the boundry of their country. Instead of this word, it would seem better to use the word, "demoliri," ’to destroy,’ in translating the Greek . The hypocrite destroys his face, in order that he may feign sorrow, and with a heart full of joy wears sorrow in his countenance.
Greg., Mor., viii, 44: For by the pale countenance, the trembling limbs, and the bursting sighs, and by all so great toil and trouble, nothing is in the mind but the esteem of men.
Leo, Serm. in Epiph., iv, 5: But that fasting is not pure, that comes not of reasons of continence, but of the arts of deceit.
Pseudo-Chrysostom: If then he who fasts, and makes himself of sad countenance, is a hypocrite, how much more wicked is he who does not fast, yet assumes a fictitious paleness of face as a token of fasting.
Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 12: On this paragraph it is to be specially noted, that not only in outward splendor and pomp, but even in the dress of sorrow and mourning, is there room for display, and that the more dangerous, inasmuch as it deceives under the name of God’s services. For he who by inordinate pains taken with her person, or his apparel, or by the glitter of his other equipage, is distinguished, is easily proved by these very circumstances to be a follower of the pomps of this world, and no man is deceived by any semblance of a feigned sanctity in him. But when any one in the profession of Christianity draws men’s eyes upon him by unwonted beggary and slovenliness in dress, if this be voluntary and not compulsory, then by his other conduct may be seen whether he does this to be seen of men, or from contempt of the refinements of dress.
Remigius: The reward of the hypocrites’ fast is shewn, when it is added, "That they may seem to men to fast; verily I say unto you, They have their reward;" that is, that reward for which they looked.
Ver. 17. "But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;18. That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."
Gloss. ap. Anselm: The Lord having taught us what we ought not to do, now proceeds to teach us what we ought to do, saying, "When thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face."
Augustine: A question is here wont to be raised; for none surely would literally enjoin, that, as we wash our faces from daily habit, so we should have our heads anointed when we fast; a thing which all allow to be most disgraceful.
Pseudo-Chrysostom: Also if He bade us not to be of sad countenance that we might not seem to men to fast, yet if anointing of the head and washing of the face are always observed in fasting, they will become tokens of fasting.
Jerome: But He speaks in accordance with the manner of the province of Palestine, where it is the custom on festival days to anoint the head. What He enjoins then is, that when we are fasting we should wear the appearance of joy and gladness.
Pseudo-Chrysostom: Therefore the simple interpretation of this is, that is added as an hyperbolical explanation of the command; as though He had said, Yea, so far should ye be from any display of your fasting, that if it might be (which yet it may not be) so done, ye should even do such things as are tokens of luxury and feasting.
Chrys., Hom. xx: In almsgiving indeed, He did not say simply, ’Do not your alms before men,’ but added, ’to be seen of them.’ But in fasting and prayer He added nothing of this sort; because alms cannot be so done as to be altogether hid, fasting and prayer can be so done. The contempt of men’s praise is no small fruit, for thereby we are freed from the heavy slavery of human opinions, and become properly workers of virtue, loving it for itself and not for others. For as we esteem it an affront if we are loved not for ourselves but for others’ sake, so ought we not to follow virtue on the account of these men, nor to obey God for men’s sake but for His own.
Therefore it follows here, "But to thy Father which seeth in secret."
Gloss: That is, to thy heavenly Father, who is unseen, or who dwells in the heart through faith. He fasts to God who afflicts himself for the love of God, and bestows on others what he denies himself.
Remigius: For it is enough for you that He who sees your conscience should be your rewarder.
Pseudo-Chrysostom: Spiritually interpreted - the face may be understood to mean the mental conscience. And as in the eyes of man a fair face has grace, so in the eyes of God a pure conscience has favour. This face the hypocrites, fasting on man’s account, disfigure, seeking thereby to cheat both God and man; for the conscience of the sinner is always wounded. If then you have cast out all wickedness from your heart, you have washed your conscience, and fast well.
Leo, Serm. in Quadr., vi, 2: Fasting ought to be fulfilled not in abstinence of food only, but much more in cutting off vices. For when we submit ourselves to that discipline in order to withdraw that which is the nurse of carnal desires, there is no sort of good conscience more to be sought than that we should keep ourselves sober from unjust will, and abstinent from dishonourable action. This is an act of religion from which the sick are not excluded, seeing integrity of heart may be found in an infirm body.
Pseudo-Chrysostom: Spiritually again, "thy head" denotes Christ. Give the thirsty drink and feed the hungry, and therein you have anointed your head, that is, Christ, who cries out in the Gospel, "In that ye have done this to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me." [[Mat 25:40]]
Greg., Hom. in Ev., xvi, 6: For God approves that fasting, which before His eyes opens the hands of alms. This then that you deny yourself, bestow on another, that wherein your flesh is afflicted, that of your needy neighbour may be refreshed.
Augustine: Or; by the head we rightly understand the reason, because it is preeminent in the soul, and rules the other members of the man. Now anointing the head has some reference to rejoicing. Let him therefore joy within himself because of his fasting, who in fasting turns himself from doing the will of the world, that he may be subject to Christ.
Gloss. ord.: Behold how every thing in the New Testament is not to be taken literally. It were ridiculous to be smeared with oil when fasting; but it is behoveful for the mind to be anointed with the spirit of His love, in whose sufferings we ought to partake by afflicting ourselves.
Pseudo-Chrysostom: And truly we ought to wash our face, but to anoint, and not to wash, our head. For as long as we are in the body, our conscience is foul with sin. But Christ who is our head has done no sin.
Ver. 19. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."