ACC ~ James 5 v11

THE EXAMPLE OF JOB. CHRYSOSTOM: It is a great thing if we can give thanks with great joy. But there is such a thing as giving thanks out of fear, and also such a thing as giving thanks in grief. This is what Job did when, in great suffering, he thanked God, saying: “The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away.” Let no one say that he was not grieving over what had happened to him or that he did not feel it deeply. Do not take away the great praise due to the righteous. … How great is this praise? Tell me, in what circumstances do you bless Job? Is it when he had all those camels and flocks and herds? Or is it when he says: “The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away”? For the devil also harms us not in order to take our possessions away so that we have nothing left but so that when that happens he can force us to curse God because of it. CATENA.

HOPE FOR ETERNAL REWARDS. AUGUSTINE: James means: “Bear your temporal misfortunes as Job did, but do not hope for temporal goods as a reward for your patience, such as were returned to him double. Rather hope for the eternal goods which the Lord went before us to secure.” LETTERS 140.10.

THE CROWN AFTER DEATH. BEDE: God shows his compassion toward us by setting us free from our temptations in this life and by glorifying the living before others because of the constancy of their faith. After their deaths he crowns them in secret, so that the memory which they deserve will not be taken away from them by other people. CONCERNING THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES.