Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
2 Corinthians 12:10
There are 26 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 13, footnote 8 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
The Pastor of Hermas (HTML)
Book First.—Visions (HTML)
Vision Third. Concerning the Building of the Triumphant Church, and the Various Classes of Reprobate Men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 90 (In-Text, Margin)
... I may tell it to my brethren, that, hearing this, they may know the Lord in much glory.” And she said, “Many indeed shall hear, and hearing, some shall be glad, and some shall weep. But even these, if they hear and repent, shall also rejoice. Hear, then, the parables of the tower; for I will reveal all to you, and give me no more trouble in regard to revelation: for these revelations have an end, for they have been completed. But you will not cease praying for revelations, for you are shameless.[2 Corinthians 12:1-11] The tower which you see building is myself, the Church, who have appeared to you now and on the former occasion. Ask, then, whatever you like in regard to the tower, and I will reveal it to you, that you may rejoice with the saints.” I said unto ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 14, footnote 4 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
The Pastor of Hermas (HTML)
Book First.—Visions (HTML)
Vision Third. Concerning the Building of the Triumphant Church, and the Various Classes of Reprobate Men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 95 (In-Text, Margin)
... finished.” “But who are the other persons who are engaged in carrying the stones?” “These also are holy angels of the Lord, but the former six are more excellent than these. The building of the tower will be finished, and all will rejoice together around the tower, and they will glorify God, because the tower is finished.” I asked her, saying, “Lady, I should like to know what became of the stones, and what was meant by the various kinds of stones?” In reply she said to me, “Not because you are[2 Corinthians 12:1-11] more deserving than all others that this revelation should be made to you—for there are others before you, and better than you, to whom these visions should have been revealed—but that the name of God may be glorified, has the revelation been made ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 647, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
Scorpiace. (HTML)
Chapter XIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8312 (In-Text, Margin)
... sufferings to the Corinthians, he certainly decided that suffering must be borne: “In labours, (he says,) more abundant, in prisons very frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, save one; thrice was I beaten with rods; once was I stoned,” and the rest. And if these severities will seem to be more grievous than martyrdoms, yet once more he says: “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake.”[2 Corinthians 12:10] He also says, in verses occurring in a previous part of the epistle: “Our condition is such, that we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; and are in need, but not in utter want; since we are harassed by persecutions, but not forsaken; it ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 20, footnote 9 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On the Apparel of Women. (HTML)
II (HTML)
Grant that Beauty Be Not to Be Feared: Still It is to Be Shunned as Unnecessary and Vainglorious. (HTML)
... (glory) in the flesh, especially to us? For even if “glorying” is (allowable), we ought to wish our sphere of pleasing to lie in the graces of the Spirit, not in the flesh; because we are “suitors” of things spiritual. In those things wherein our sphere of labour lies, let our joy lie. From the sources whence we hope for salvation, let us cull our “glory.” Plainly, a Christian will “glory” even in the flesh; but (it will be) when it has endured laceration for Christ’s sake,[2 Corinthians 12:10] in order that the spirit may be crowned in it, not in order that it may draw the eyes and sighs of youths after it. Thus (a thing) which, from whatever point you look at it, is in your case superfluous, you may justly disdain if you have it ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 87, footnote 4 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
Of St. Paul, and the Person Whom He Urges the Corinthians to Forgive. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 832 (In-Text, Margin)
... incestuous person rather—having been delivered by the apostle to Satan, not with a view to “perdition,” but with a view to “emendation,” on the hypothesis that subsequently he would, on account of the “destruction” (that is, the general affliction) “of the flesh,” attain pardon, therefore did actually attain it. Plainly, the selfsame apostle delivered to Satan Hymenæus and Alexander, “that they might be emended into not blaspheming,” as he writes to his Timotheus. “But withal himself says that ‘a stake[2 Corinthians 12:7-10] was given him, an angel of Satan,’ by which he was to be buffeted, lest he should exalt himself.” If they touch upon this (instance) withal, in order to lead us to understand that such as were “delivered to Satan” by him (were so delivered) with a ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 143, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
He Who Confesseth Rightly Unto God Best Knoweth Himself. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 825 (In-Text, Margin)
4. But yet do Thou, my most secret Physician, make clear to me what fruit I may reap by doing it. For the confessions of my past sins,—which Thou hast “forgiven” and “covered,” that Thou mightest make me happy in Thee, changing my soul by faith and Thy sacrament,—when they are read and heard, stir up the heart, that it sleep not in despair and say, “I cannot;” but that it may awake in the love of Thy mercy and the sweetness of Thy grace, by which he that is weak is strong,[2 Corinthians 12:10] if by it he is made conscious of his own weakness. As for the good, they take delight in hearing of the past errors of such as are now freed from them; and they delight, not because they are errors, but because they have been and are so no longer. For what ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 56, footnote 13 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 578 (In-Text, Margin)
... that the Lord will raise up His Christ again. “He will hear Him from His holy heaven.” He will hear Him not from earth only, where He prayed to be glorified; but from heaven also, where interceding for us at the Right Hand of the Father, He hath from thence shed abroad the Holy Spirit on them that believe on Him. “In strength is the safety of His right hand.” Our strength is in the safety of His favour, when even out of tribulation He giveth help, that “when we are weak, then we may be strong.”[2 Corinthians 12:10] “For vain is” that “safety of man,” which comes not of His right hand but of His left: for thereby are they lifted up to great pride, whosoever in their sins have secured a temporal safety.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 117, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1081 (In-Text, Margin)
... devil is proud, as not having a mortal body, as being an angel. But as for you, who have received a mortal body, and to whom even this does no good, so as to humble you by so great weakness, you shall “fall like one of the princes.” This then is the first grace of God’s gift, to bring us to the confession of our infirmity, that whatever good we can do, whatever ability we have, we may be that in Him; that “He that glorieth, may glory in the Lord.” “When I am weak,” saith he, “then am I strong.”[2 Corinthians 12:10]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 242, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LIX (HTML)
Part 2 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2267 (In-Text, Margin)
... to be punished. Certes he is the chief of all sinners: certes he is the tempter to sin: to him is not ascribed adultery, not wine-bibbing, not fornication, not the robbing of others’ goods: by pride alone he fell. And since pride’s companion is envy, it must needs be that a proud man should envy.…In a word, all vices in evil-doings are to be feared, pride in well-doings is more to be feared. It is no wonder, then, that so humble is the Apostle, as to say, “When I am made weak, then I am strong.”[2 Corinthians 12:10] For lest he should himself be tempted by this sin, what sort of medicine doth he say was applied to him against swelling by the Physician, who knew what He was healing? “Lest by the greatness,” he saith, “of the revelations I should be exalted, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 318, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3104 (In-Text, Margin)
10. My hope from my youth, “cast me not away in time of old age” (ver. 9). What is this time of old age? “When my strength shall fail, forsake Thou not me.” Here God maketh this answer to thee, yea indeed let thy strength fail, in order that in thee mine may abide: in order that thou mayest say with the Apostle, “When I am made weak, then I am mighty.”[2 Corinthians 12:10] Fear not, that thou be cast away in that weakness, in that old age. But why? Was not thy Lord made weak on the Cross? Did not most mighty men and fat bulls before Him, as though a man of no strength, made captive and oppressed, shake the head and say, “If Son of God He is, let Him come down from the Cross”? Has he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 482, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XCVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4503 (In-Text, Margin)
... we not receive evil?” O courageous, O sweet sound! whom will not that sound awake from sleep? whom will not confidence in God awake, to march to battle fearlessly against the devil; not to struggle with his own strength, but His who proveth him. For He it is who hammereth: for the hammer could not do so of itself.…See how (I dare so speak, my brethren) even the Apostle was beaten with this very hammer: he saith, “there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me.”[2 Corinthians 12:7-10] Behold he is under the hammer: let us hear how he speaketh of it: “For this thing,” he saith, “I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 207, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Homily on the Passage (Matt. xxvi. 19), 'Father If It Be Possible Let This Cup Pass from Me,' Etc., and Against Marcionists and Manichæans. (HTML)
Against Marcionists and Manichæans. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 698 (In-Text, Margin)
... distress and trembling, even if danger came upon them, and they were unwilling to be torn from present life, nevertheless to postpone their own will to the will of God: even as Paul also when he had been instructed practically exhibited both these principles; for he besought that temptations might be removed from him, thus saying “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice:” and yet since it did not please God to remove it, he says “Wherefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in insults, in persecutions.”[2 Corinthians 12:10] But perhaps what I have said is not quite clear: therefore I will make it clearer. Paul incurred many dangers and prayed that he might not be exposed to them. Then he heard Christ saying “my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 449, footnote 6 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)
Homily XVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1678 (In-Text, Margin)
... also glory in tribulations.” Wherefore, if he rejoices and glories in this, and calls it a gift of grace, it is manifest that when he was addressing the judge, he spoke to him as he did, for the reason assigned. Moreover, also in a different passage, when he happened to find a necessity for glorying, he shews the very same by saying, “Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities……in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”[2 Corinthians 12:9-10] And again; “If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.” And elsewhere, comparing himself with others, and exhibiting to us his superiority in the comparison, he thus speaks; “Are they ministers of Christ? (I ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 198, footnote 1 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
Details of his life at this time (271-285?) (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1008 (In-Text, Margin)
... sometimes once in two days, and often even in four. His food was bread and salt, his drink, water only. Of flesh and wine it is superfluous even to speak, since no such thing was found with the other earnest men. A rush mat served him to sleep upon, but for the most part he lay upon the bare ground. He would not anoint himself with oil, saying it behoved young men to be earnest in training and not to seek what would enervate the body; but they must accustom it to labour, mindful of the Apostle’s words[2 Corinthians 12:10], ‘when I am weak, then am I strong.’ ‘For,’ said he, ‘the fibre of the soul is then sound when the pleasures of the body are diminished.’ And he had come to this truly wonderful conclusion, ‘that progress in virtue, and retirement from the world for ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 540, footnote 7 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)
The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)
Festal Letters. (HTML)
(For 341.) Coss. Marcellinus, Probinus; Præf. Longinus; Indict. xiv; Easter-day, xiii Kal. Maii, xxiv Pharmuthi; Æra Dioclet. 57. (HTML)
... those whose actions are not restrained by law, who know of nothing beyond eating and drinking and dying, account trials as danger. They soon stumble at them, so that, being untried in the faith, they are given over to a reprobate mind, and do those things which are not seemly. Therefore the blessed Paul, when urging us to such exercises as these, and having before measured himself by them, says, ‘Therefore I take pleasure in afflictions, in infirmities.’ And again, ‘Exercise thyself unto godliness[2 Corinthians 12:10].’ For since he knew the persecutions that befel those who chose to live in godliness, he wished his disciples to meditate beforehand on the difficulties connected with godliness; that when trials should come, and affliction arise, they might be able ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 6, footnote 7 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rufinus the Monk. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 55 (In-Text, Margin)
... Bonosus with hunger. But he has been answered already: “Man shall not live by bread alone.” Perchance he will lay before him wealth and fame. But it shall be said to him: “They that desire to be rich fall into a trap and temptations,” and “For me all glorying is in Christ.” He will come, it may be, when the limbs are weary with fasting, and rack them with the pangs of disease; but the cry of the apostle will repel him: “When I am weak, then am I strong,” and “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”[2 Corinthians 12:10] He will hold out threats of death; but the reply will be: “I desire to depart and to be with Christ.” He will brandish his fiery darts, but they will be received on the shield of faith. In a word, Satan will assail him, but Christ will defend. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 20, footnote 12 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pope Damasus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 303 (In-Text, Margin)
... show that repentance is never too late, He turned a murderer’s death into a martyrdom. Gladly does Christ embrace the prodigal son when he returns to Him; and, leaving the ninety and nine, the good shepherd carries home on His shoulders the one poor sheep that is left. From a persecutor Paul becomes a preacher. His bodily eyes are blinded to clear the eyes of his soul, and he who once haled Christ’s servants in chains before the council of the Jews, lives afterwards to glory in the bonds of Christ.[2 Corinthians 12:10]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 36, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 586 (In-Text, Margin)
... the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.” Should clothing fail you, set the lilies before your eyes. Should hunger seize you, think of the words in which the poor and hungry are blessed. Should pain afflict you, read “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities,” and “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”[2 Corinthians 12:10] Rejoice in all God’s judgments; for does not the psalmist say: “The daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O Lord”? Let the words be ever on your lips: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither;” and “We ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 50, footnote 16 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Paula. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 811 (In-Text, Margin)
... confesses its faith, he who claims to believe in Christ must rejoice in all Christ’s judgments. Am I in health? I thank my Creator. Am I sick? In this case, too, I praise God’s will. For “when I am weak, then am I strong;” and the strength of the spirit is made perfect in the weakness of the flesh. Even an apostle must bear what he dislikes, that ailment for the removal of which he besought the Lord thrice. God’s reply was: “My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”[2 Corinthians 12:8-10] Lest he should be unduly elated by his revelations, a reminder of his human weakness was given to him, just as in the triumphal car of the victorious general there was always a slave to whisper constantly, amid the cheerings of the multitude, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 205, footnote 7 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2917 (In-Text, Margin)
19. In her frequent sicknesses and infirmities she used to say, “when I am weak, then am I strong:”[2 Corinthians 12:10] “we have our treasure in earthen vessels” until “this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality” and again “as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ:” and then as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. In sorrow she used to sing: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 216, footnote 29 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2693 (In-Text, Margin)
55. He glories in his infirmities and distresses. He takes pleasure in the dying of Jesus,[2 Corinthians 12:9-10] as if it were a kind of ornament. He is lofty in carnal things, he rejoices in things spiritual; he is not rude in knowledge, and claims to see in a mirror, darkly. He is bold in spirit, and buffets his body, throwing it as an antagonist. What is the lesson and instruction he would thus impress upon us? Not to be proud of earthly things, or puffed up by knowledge, or excite the flesh against the spirit. He fights for all, prays for all, is jealous ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 299, footnote 2 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To Optimus the bishop. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3161 (In-Text, Margin)
7. My view is, that the Lord is for falling and rising again, not because some fall and others rise again, but because in us the worst falls and the better is set up. The advent of the Lord is destructive of our bodily affections and it rouses the proper qualities of the soul. As when Paul says, “When I am weak, then I am strong,”[2 Corinthians 12:10] the same man is weak and is strong, but he is weak in the flesh and strong in the spirit. Thus the Lord does not give to some occasions of falling and to others occasions of rising. Those who fall, fall from the station in which they once were, but it is plain that the faithless man never stands, but is always dragged along the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 426, footnote 1 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose. (HTML)
Epistle XX: To Marcellina as to the Arian Party. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3457 (In-Text, Margin)
... in the Name of Christ, that I had the power of offering my own body. Why, I said, did he delay to strike, if he thought me a tyrant? That by ancient right imperial power had been given by bishops, never assumed, and it was commonly said that emperors had desired the priesthood, rather than priests the imperial power. That Christ withdrew lest He should be made a king. That we had our own power; for the power of a bishop was his weakness. “When I am weak,” says the Apostle, “then I become strong.”[2 Corinthians 12:10] But let him against whom God has not stirred up an adversary beware lest he make a tyrant for himself. That Maximus did not say that I was the tyrant of Valentinian, he complained that by the intervention of my legation he had been unable to cross ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 353, footnote 8 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)
Conference VI. Conference of Abbot Theodore. On the Death of the Saints. (HTML)
Chapter III. Of the three kinds of things there are in the world; viz., good, bad, and indifferent. (HTML)
... necessary they are is clearly proved by this fact; viz., that the saints not only never tried to avoid them, but actually either sought them with all their powers or bravely endured them, and thus became the friends of God, and obtained the reward of eternal life, as the blessed Apostle chants: “For which cause I delight myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong, for power is made perfect in infirmity.”[2 Corinthians 12:9-10] And therefore those who are exalted with the greatest riches and honours and powers of this world, should not be deemed to have secured their chief good out of them (for this is shown to consist only in virtue) but only something indifferent, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 364, footnote 11 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)
Conference VII. First Conference of Abbot Serenus. On Inconstancy of Mind, and Spiritual Wickedness. (HTML)
Chapter V. On the perfection of the soul, as drawn from the comparison of the Centurion in the gospel. (HTML)
... the selection by which the King himself marks and approves brave men when he summons them to the spiritual combat. “Let,” says He, “the weak say that I am strong;” and: “Let him who is the sufferer become a warrior.” You see then that none but sufferers and weak people can fight the Lord’s battles, weak indeed with that weakness, founded on which that centurion of ours in the gospel said with confidence: “For when I am weak, then am I strong,” and again, “for strength is made perfect in weakness.”[2 Corinthians 12:9-10] Of which weakness one of the prophets says: “And he that is weak among them shall be as the house of David.” For the patient sufferer shall fight these wars, with that patience of which it is said “patience is necessary for you that doing the will ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 541, footnote 5 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV. (HTML)
Conference XXIV. Conference of Abbot Abraham. On Mortification. (HTML)
Chapter XXIII. The answer with the explanation of the saying. (HTML)
... truly make our own the Apostle’s words: “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” For what can be burdensome, or hard to one who has embraced with his whole heart the yoke of Christ, who is established in true humility and ever fixes his eye on the Lord’s sufferings and rejoices in all the wrongs that are offered to him, saying: “For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ: for when I am weak, then am I strong”?[2 Corinthians 12:10] By what loss of any common thing, I ask, will he be injured, who boasts of perfect renunciation, and voluntarily rejects for Christ’s sake all the pomp of this world, and considers all and every of its desires as dung, so that he may gain Christ, ...