For the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthy tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Solomon 9:15 Go To Wisdom of Solomon 9
Peter Chrysologus
AD 450
"How many of my father"s servants have bread in abundance, while here I am dying of hunger!" Hunger calls back those whom surfeit had scattered. Hunger made him recognize the father, whom abundance had led to see only the parent. And if involuntary hunger bore such fruit, find out for yourselves what voluntary fasting can produce. A full belly spurs the heart to vice, oppressing the mind so that it cannot taste heavenly piety. "The body," it says, "which decays, weighs down the soul and burdens the mind, which harbors many thoughts." Thus also the Lord says, "Do not let your hearts be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness." The stomach must therefore be kept empty with the temperance of fasting. The lightened soul can then tend upward, rising to virtues and freeing itself, winging toward the author of piety. This is confirmed by Elijah, who, purified by continual fasting, rose from the weight of the flesh toward heaven, conquering death.
