2 Corinthians 7:4–11

Verse 5. Our flesh, that is, I myself, had no rest, because of the concern I was in about you, after I had written my last letter. Witham.—Combats without, fears within. Openly persecuted by the pagans, by the Jews, and by false brethren, I was tormented in my interior, by the apprehensions and fears I have just related to you. I was under continual apprehension, that my letter had been written in too severe a tone. I was in doubt whether the incestuous man would submit to the sentence of excommunication, and censure pronounced against him. And I said with myself, will not false teachers undo, and render fruitless all my endeavours to benefit the Church? Will not my letter alienate their minds from me? Calmet.—Our body had no ease, assailed with a deluge of evils from without, by the enemies of the gospel from within, by fears of new persecutions. Menochius.

Verse 6–7, and so forth God.… comforted us by the coming of Titus, and with the joyful news he brought me, of the submission and repentance of the incestuous man, and of the good state you are in, of your earnest desire to see me. Now I have no reason to repent, that I wrote to you pretty sharply; though my letter troubled you, through the concern you were in on account of the incestuous man, yet both his sorrow, and yours for his sake, will turn to his, and your greater advantage, with a lasting repentance, such as a true sorrow produces, when it is from God. I see the good effects, by the apology or defence you make for yourselves, by your zealous indignation, [2] and, as it were, revenge against sin, and so forth Witham.

Verse 6–7, and so forth God.… comforted us by the coming of Titus, and with the joyful news he brought me, of the submission and repentance of the incestuous man, and of the good state you are in, of your earnest desire to see me. Now I have no reason to repent, that I wrote to you pretty sharply; though my letter troubled you, through the concern you were in on account of the incestuous man, yet both his sorrow, and yours for his sake, will turn to his, and your greater advantage, with a lasting repentance, such as a true sorrow produces, when it is from God. I see the good effects, by the apology or defence you make for yourselves, by your zealous indignation, [2] and, as it were, revenge against sin, and so forth Witham.

Verse 9. Now I rejoice, and so forth I should have been inconsolable, had my letter made you sad, without producing the salutary effect intended by it; but I now rejoice that it caused a sorrow and sadness productive of the great advantages you have reaped from it. Thus in every sentence Saint Paul shews the solicitude of a father, seeking nothing but the advancement of his spiritual children. Calmet.

Verse 10. For the sorrow, and so forth Sorrow for the loss of temporal goods, such as friends, riches, honours, and so forth is productive of no good effects; but on the contrary, it ruins the constitution, exciting in the soul emotions of anger, murmuring, revenge, and brooding melancholy. It moreover betrays an inordinate attachment to creatures. But sorrow for our own sins, and for those of others, sufferings which we endure for the glory of God, work penance unto salvation, which is lasting; or, as the Greek has it, worketh penance unto salvation, of which we shall never repent. For tears shed in prayer unto God are sweeter, says Saint Augustine, (Ps. cxxvii) than any pleasure that can be procured from the stage, and so forth The tears of the saints are like sweet wine, which inebriate those who love God. Saint Augustine Ps. lxxxiii.—Contrition, or a hearty sorrow for sin, and not faith alone, as some pretend, is essential to salvation.