Caput XXXIII. De tristitia
Two Kinds of Sadness
The chapter opens by distinguishing two forms of sadness: one that heals and one that destroys.
There are two kinds of sadness: one is salutary, the other pestiferous.
The Sadness That Heals
Salutary sadness moves the sinner to grief over sin, confession, penance, and longing for God.
Salutary sadness is when the sinner's mind is grieved over his own sins, and grieved in such a way that he seeks to make confession and do penance, and longs to turn back to God.
The Sadness That Kills
Worldly sadness brings spiritual death, paralyzes good works, unsettles the mind, breeds despair, and robs life of all delight.
The other is the sadness of this world, which brings death to the soul, which can make no headway in any good work, which unsettles the mind and often plunges it into despair, so that it strips away all hope for the good things to come. From this sadness spring malice, rancor, faintness of spirit, bitterness, and despair. Often it leaves no delight even in this present life.
Overcoming Deadly Sorrow
Spiritual joy, hope in the things to come, scriptural consolation, and brotherly gladness overcome worldly sadness.
It's overcome through spiritual joy, through hope in the things to come, through the consolation of the Scriptures, and through brotherly conversation in spiritual gladness.
Read the original Latin
Tristitiae duo sunt genera: unum salutiferum, alterum pestiferum. Tristitia salutaris est, quando de peccatis suis animus contristatur peccatoris, et ita contristatur, ut confessionem et poenitentiam agere quaerat, et converti se ad Deum desideret. Alia est tristitia hujus saeculi, quae mortem operatur animae, quae nihil in bono opere proficere valet, quae animum perturbat, et saepe in desperationem mittit, ut futurorum spem abstollat bonorum. Ex ipsa nascitur malitia, rancor, animi pusillanimitas, amaritudo, desperatio. Saepe etiam et praesentis vitae nulla delectatio. Quae vincitur per laetitiam spiritualem, et spem futurorum, et consolationem Scripturarum, et fraternum in spirituali jucunditate colloquium.
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