Wealth And Rest

Ait illi Jesus: Vulpes foveas habent et volucres coeli nidos; Filius autem hominis non habet ubi etc... Ac si dixisset: Quid me propter divitias saeculi vis sequi, cum tante sim paupertatis, ut nec proprio utar tecto? Possumus juxta allegoriam per vulpes haereticos accipere significatos, qui nihil in virtutibus Christi, sed in sua confidentes astutia, velut vulpis callida seducere satagunt, per volucres, malignos Spiritus, qui in cordibus Judaeorum domicilia habent, ubi habitaculum non invenit caput Christi Deus Sanctus Beda, In Matthaei Evangelium Expositio, Liber II, Caput VIII Source: Migne PL 92 42

And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have their holes and the birds of heaven their nests but the Son of Man has no place where...' 1 As if He had said, 'Why for worldly riches would you follow me, when I am so poor that I do not even have a roof for my head?' By allegory we can understand the foxes to signify heretics who have none of the virtues of Christ, but are yet confident in their own cleverness, just as the fox has the cunning to seduce; and we understand the birds as wicked spirits which have their dwelling in the hearts of those Jews where the head of Jesus does not find a resting place. Saint Bede, from the Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Book 2, Chapter 8 1 Mt 8.20