Peter Chrysologus

“Our Father.” No one should be astonished that one not yet born calls God Father. With God, beings who will be born are already born; with God future beings have been made. “The things that shall be,” Scripture says, “have already been.” [Thus] it is that while John was still in the womb he perceived his creator, and he who was unaware of his own life served as a messenger to his mother. [Thus] too we read that Jacob waged war before he was born and triumphed before he lived. [Thus] too, those who do not yet exist themselves are existent for God, that is, those who were chosen before the foundation of the world.

“And he began to send them forth two by two.” He sent them two by two that no one of them, being abandoned and alone, might fall into a denial, like Peter, or flee, like John. Human frailty quickly falls if it proudly relies on itself, despises companions and is unwilling to have a colleague. As Scripture says, “Woe to him that is alone, for when he falls, he has none to lift him up.” The same Scripture testifies how much one is strengthened by another’s aid, when it states, “A brother that is helped by his brother is like a strong city.”