Augustine of Hippo, on Ps 145:5

“Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God:”

“Indeed God is able, both to give salvation in this life, to remove poverty, and to grant sufficiency to the Christian. And yet, if this were not so, what would you choose? To be that poor man, or to be that rich man? Do not be deceived. Hear the end, and observe the bad choice. For without a doubt, that poor man, because he was pious, placed in temporal troubles, thought someday that life would end, and eternal rest would be attained. Both died, but the thoughts of that poor man did not perish on that day. For it came to pass that the poor man died, and was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. On that day all his thoughts were healed. And since Lazarus is interpreted in Latin as "helped" - in Latin "helped" is said who in Hebrew is Lazarus - the Psalm well reminded: Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob. When his spirit departs, and his flesh returns to his own dust, his thoughts will not perish, because his hope is in the Lord his God. This is learned in the school of Christ the teacher, this is hoped for by the faithful listener's soul, this is the truest reward of the Savior.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.