Commentary on Lamentations
John Chrysostom (347–407)
For affliction is an unbroken bond, the increase of love, the occasion for reserve and piety. Hear the words of David, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn your statutes." And again another prophet, who says, "It is good for a person that he bears the yoke in his youth." And again, "Blessed is the one whom you chasten, O Lord." And another who says, "Despise not the chastening of the Lord." And "if you come near to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation. And Christ also said to his disciples, "In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer." And again, "You shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice." And again, "Narrow and straitened is the way." Do you see how tribulation is everywhere lauded, everywhere assumed as needful for us? For if in the contests of the world, no one without this receives the crown unless he fortifies himself by work, by abstinence from the finer things of life, by living according to rule, by being vigilant, and innumerable other things, much more so here. For whom will you name as an instance? The king? Not even he lives a life free from care, but one burdened with much tribulation and…
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