Trouble And Thanks

Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit... Job mel miscet absynthio; persecutioni gratiam et benedictionem, ut in gratiarum actione persecutionis amaritudo dulcescat: nec tantum fiat potus cum lacrymis in mensura, sed afflictionis absynthio, et melle gratiarum nectar acceptabile condiatur. Potasti nos, dicit propheta, vino compunctionis, sive tribulationis: sed huic vino Job de torrente voluptatis apponit: et quasi utatur verbis apostoli dicentis: Libenter gloriabor in infirmitatibus meis. Et: Quando infirmor, tunc fortior sum. Firmat animum suum ad omnium malorum tolerantiam, et de suis angustiis gloriatur. Legitur quod Aod filius Gera, ambidexter utraque manu pugnabat, cujus expressam similitudinem Job gerit, quia non minus sinistra pugnabat, quam dextra: fortis in prosperis, fortior in adversis. Talis erat Apostolus, sciens abundare, et penuriam pati, glorians in infirmitatibus suis, incedens medius per infamiam et bonam famam, per gloriam et ignobilitatem, adversa sine murmuratione sustinens, et faciens in omnibus de necessitate virtutem. Petrus Blenensis, Compendium In Job: Ad Henericum II Illustrissimum Anglorum Regem, Caput I Source: Migne PL 207.812c-813b

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away... 1 Job mixes honey with wormwood, thanks and blessing with persecution, that by thanksgiving he might sweeten the bitterness of blows. Not only is there that cup measured out with tears, 2 but with the wormwood of affliction and with the honey of thanks an acceptable nectar may be made. 'You have given us,' the Prophet says, 'the wine of compunction to drink,' or 'of tribulation,' 3 but to this wine Job has added a flood of delight; and this is in harmony with the words of the Apostle: 'Happily I glory in my infirmities.' And: 'When I am weak, then I am strong.' 4 He strengthens his soul for the endurance of all evils, and he glories in his own limitations. It is written that Aod, the son of Gera, fought with both hands, 5 and Job bears a certain likeness to him, because he fought no less on his left as on his right, strong in prosperity, stronger in adversity. So also was the Apostle, knowing how to live in abundance and how to suffer poverty, 6 glorying in his infirmities, walking the middle path amid abuse and praise, 7 through glory and disgrace, enduring opposition without murmuring, and from necessity making virtue in everything. Peter of Blois, Compendium On Job, To Henry II Most Illustrious King Of The English, Chapter 1 1 Job 1.21 2 Ps 76.6 3 Ps 59.5 4 2 Cor 12.5,10 5 Judges 3.15-30 6 Phillip 4.11-12 7 2 Cor 6. 3-10