Fathers And Harmony

Et ibant filii ejus, et faciebant convivia, etc. Quum pro divisione haereditariae sortis frequenter soleat esse zelus et aemulatio inter fratres; patet prudentia Job, qui sic vitam instituerat filiorum, ut se mutua caritate diligerent, et sese ad amica convivia per vicissitudines invitarent. Bonum siquidem est et jucundum, habitare fratres in unum. Quia quanto gratior est in conspectu Dei et hominum amor fraternus, tanto enormius est, si inter eos dissensiones et schismata nutriantur. Propter hoc dicit apostolus: Obsecro vos fratres, per nomen Domini nostri Jesu Christi, ut idipsum sentiatis, et non sint in vobis schismata. Erat itaque plena concordia inter filios et filias ad patrem, ut secundum apostolum servarent invicem unitatem spiritus in vinculo pacis. Si enim a patre filii dissentirent, jam non esset inter eos caritas, quia non observarent patri debitam caritatem. Avelle a Sole Solis radium, et non lucet: praecide rivum a fonte, et arescit : abscinde ramum ab arbore, et siccatur; et membrum a corpore, et putrescit. Separa filium a devotione paterna, et jam non est illius, sed frater et collega illorum, quibus dicitur: Vos ex patre diabolo estis. In principio Isaiae legitur: Filios enutrivi et exaltavi: ipsi autem spreverunt me. Ultimum autem verbum ejusdem prophetae est: Vermis eorum non morietur, et ignis eorum non extinguetur. In veteri testamento praecipiebatur Agnus Paschalis comedi in una domo, ut in habitantibus consonantia morum et affectuum notaretur identitas, sicut scriptum est: Qui inhabitare facit unius moris in domo. Idipsum itaque beato Job ad aliarum virtutum cumulum accedebat, quod filios suos nutrierat in amore, et vagos adolescentiae motus sub censura cohibuerat disciplinae. Heli enim, licet in aliis justus esset, ideo visus est reprobatus a Domino, sellaque in qua sedebat eversa, collo fracto, cecidit, quia filios non correxit. Dilexisti, dicit ei Dominus, magis filios tuos quam me. Periit igitur, quia circa filiorum correctionem negligens fuit. Uxor etiam ejus abortiendo mortua est, et filii ejus Ophni et Phinees sunt occisi. Caveant patres spirituales, qui in cathedris sedent, ne ob negligentiam ipsorum sui filli occidantur, ne destruatur Ecclesia, ne in ipsorum confusionem et perniciem cathedrae subvertantur. Petrus Blenensis, Compendium In Job: Ad Henericum II Illustrissimum Anglorum Regem, Caput I Source: Migne PL 207.801b-802a

And his sons would hold feasts... 1 Among whom, because of the division of inheritance by which there is frequently accustomed to be jealously and envy among brothers, the prudence of Job is made manifest, who so established the life of his sons, that they love one another with mutual love, and through vicissitudes invite one another to friendly feasts. 'How good and joyful it is for brothers to dwell in unity.' 2 Because as much as the fraternal love of men is pleasing in the sight of God, so much more the worse it is if dissensions and divisions are nourished among them. On account of which the Apostle says: 'I beg you brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you agree, so that there are no schisms among you.' 3 Thus there was complete harmony among the sons and daughters for the father, so that according to the Apostle they serve one another in a spirit of unity and in the bond of peace. 4 For if sons are in dispute with the father, there is no love among them, because they do not observe the wanted love of the father. Take the rays from the sun, and it does not shine. Cut off the river from the spring and it dries up. Cut the branch from the tree and it withers, the limb from the body and it rots. Separate a son from paternal devotion, and now he is not his, but a brother and associate of them to whom it is said: 'You are of your father the devil.' 5 In the beginning of Isaiah it reads: 'Sons I nourished and lifted up, but they spurned me.' At the end the words of the same prophet say: 'Their worm will not die, and their fire shall not be quenched.' 6 In the Old Testament it was commanded that the Paschal Lamb should be eaten in one house, that in the harmonious conduct of the dwellers might be noted the same affection, as it has been written: 'He who makes to dwell of one mind in the house.' 7 Therefore the height of virtues approached the blessed Job through others, because he nourished his sons in love, and restrained the unstable variances of youth beneath the censure of discipline. But Eli, who was righteous among other men, was seen to be reproved by the Lord and the seat in which he sat was overturned, and his neck was broken, because he did not correct his sons. 'You have loved your sons more than me,' the Lord said to him. Therefore he perished because he neglected to correct his sons. Indeed his wife died in giving birth, and his sons Ophni and Phinehas were slain. 8 Let spiritual fathers beware, who sit in their seats, lest because of negligence they slay their own sons, lest they destroy the Church, lest in their disorder and wickedness their seats are overthrown. Peter of Blois, Compendium On Job, To Henry II Most Illustrious King Of The English, Chapter 1 1 Job 1.4 2 Ps 132.1 3 1 Cor 1.10 4 Ephes 4.3 5 Jn 8.44 6 Isaiah 1.2, 66.24 7 Ps 67.7 8 1 Kings 1-4