Trials And Rewards

Qui in virtute Dei custodimini per fidem, etc. Et Dominus ait in Evangelio: In domo Patris mei mansiones multae sunt. Et iterum: Non est meum dare vobis, sed quibus paratum est a Patre meo. Paratae ergo sunt sedes in regno Dei, paratae mansiones in domo Patris, parata salus in coelis, tantum faciat se dignum qui accipere desiderat. Sed quia nemo suo tantum conamine dignus fieri, suisque viribus ad aeternam potest venire salutem, recte praemittitur: Qui in virtute Dei custodimini per fidem. Neque enim quisquam suae libertatis potentia custodiri valet in bonis, sed illius per omnia quaerendum est auxilium, ut perficiamur, a quo initium bonae actionis accepimus. In quo exsultabitis, etc. Quod dicit In quo, significat in eo quod tempore novissimo salus parata revelabitur, ac dignis dabitur. De quo et Dominus ait: Iterum autem videbo vos, et gaudebit cor vestrum, et gaudium vestrum nemo tollet a vobis. Modicum nunc, si oportet, contristari. Oportet, inquit, contristari, quia non nisi per tristitiam saeculi labentis et afflictiones potest ad gaudia aeterna perveniri. Modicum autem dicit, quia ubi merces aeterna retribuetur, breve videbitur ac leve totum fuisse quod in saeculi tribulationibus grave videbatur et acerbum. Ut probatio fidei vestrae multo pretiosior sit auro, etc. Et Sapientiae liber passiones sanctorum auro quod per ignem examinatur comparat, dicens de Domino: Tanquam aurum in fornace probavit illos, et quasi holocausti hostiam accepit illos. Quia nimirum quos in camino tribulationis fideles probaverit, hos in gaudio retributionis quasi placabilem sibi hostiam assumet. Et bene patientia sanctorum auro assimilatur, quia sicut in metallis pretiosius auro aliquid non est, ita haec apud Deum omni est laude dignissima. Hinc etenim scriptum est: Pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus. Sicut enim aurum in fornace clausum ignibus examinatur, prolatum vero foras cujus sit fulgoris apparebit, ita fidelium constantia inter infidelium quidem pressuras contemptibilis videtur ac stulta; sed ubi tempus retributionis, finito certamine tribulationum, adfuerit, tunc quantae fuerit gloriae quantum flammis passionum profecerit, eorum virtus ostenditur. Sancta Beda, In Primam Epistolam Sancti Petri, Caput I Source: Migne PL 93.43b-44a

You who by the virtue of God are guarded through faith...1 And the Lord says in the Gospel: 'In the house of my Father there are many dwelling places.' 2 And again: 'It is not for me to give this to you, but they are for whom my Father has prepared it.' 3 Thus the seats are prepared in the kingdom of God, and rooms are prepared in the house of the Father, and salvation is prepared in heaven, only let him make himself worthy of it who desires to be received. But because no one is made worthy to come to eternal salvation by his own exertions and strength, rightly it is set down first: 'You who by the virtue of God are guarded through faith.' For no one is able to guard himself in good things by the power of his own will, but it is from Him whose help must be sought in everything, that we be perfected, from whom we receive the beginning of every good deed. In which you shall exult... By 'in which' he signifies that last time when the salvation that has been prepared shall be revealed and given to those who are worthy. Concerning which the Lord says: 'But again I shall see you, and your hearts shall rejoice, and no one shall take your joy from you.' 4 If now it is necessary to suffer a little... It is necessary to suffer, he says, because only through the sorrows and afflictions of a fallen word is it possible to come to eternal joy. And he says 'a little,' because when the eternal reward shall be given, brief and light shall seem all of that which amid the tribulations of the world seemed so burdensome and bitter. That the trial of your faith, much more precious than gold... The book of Wisdom compares the passions of the saints to the examination of gold by fire, saying of the Lord: 'As gold in the furnace He tired them, and as the sacrifice of a holocaust He received them.' 5 Because certainly those who are proved faithful in the way of tribulation are those who are taken up as a pleasing sacrifice in the joy of the reward. And rightly is the endurance of the saints likened to gold, because as among metals there is nothing more precious than gold, thus with God these are most worthy of all praise. Hence indeed it has been written: 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.' 6 For as gold set in the furnace is examined with fire, and when it is drawn out its splendour appears, so the constancy of the saints amid the impositions of the godless seem contemplible and foolish, but come the time of reward, with the end of the struggle of tribulations, then with as much glory as were produced by the flames of passion, so their virtue will be shown. Saint Bede, Commentary on the First Letter of Peter, Chapter 1 1 1 Pet 1.5 2 Jn 14.2 3 Mk 10.40 4 Jn 16.22 5 Wisd 3.6 6 Ps 115.15