Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 5:6

"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." — Matthew 5:6 (ASV)

St. Ambrose of Milan: As soon as I have wept for my sins, I begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness. He who is afflicted with any sort of disease has no hunger.

St. Jerome: It is not enough that we desire righteousness unless we also suffer hunger for it. By this, we are to understand that we are never righteous enough, but always hunger for works of righteousness.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Any good that people do which does not come from a love for the good itself is unpleasing to God. He who hungers for righteousness desires to walk according to God’s righteousness; he who thirsts for righteousness desires to gain knowledge of it.

St. John Chrysostom: He may mean either general righteousness or that particular virtue which is the opposite of covetousness. As He was going on to speak of mercy, He shows beforehand what kind of mercy we should have, ensuring it does not come from the gains of plunder or covetousness. For this reason, He ascribes to righteousness that which is peculiar to avarice: namely, to hunger and thirst.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: The blessedness He assigns to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shows that the deep longing of the saints for God's doctrine will receive perfect fulfillment in heaven; then they shall be filled.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Such is the bounty of a rewarding God that His gifts are greater than the desires of the saints.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, He speaks of food with which they will be filled in this present life: namely, that food of which the Lord spoke, My food is to do the will of my Father (which is righteousness), and that water of which whoever drinks it will have in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, this is again a promise of a temporal reward. For while covetousness is thought to make many rich, He affirms on the contrary that righteousness, rather, makes one rich, since He who loves righteousness possesses all things in safety.