Weariness And The Good

Bonum autem facientes, non deficiamus: tempore enim suo metemus, non deficientes. Cohortatur eos ad studium perseverantiae, qui in hac vita mercedem boni operis exspectant, nescientes quia sicut in semine aliud sationis, aliud messis est tempus: sic et in praesenti vita, sementem esse opera, quae vel in spiritu, vel in carne metantur, messem vero futurum judicium, et pro qualitate vel diversitate sementis, diversas nos facere messuras, centesimum et sexagesimum, et tricesimum fructum, quam segetem nemo potest metere deficiens. Qui enim perseveraverit usque in finem, hic salvus erit. Sicut et in alio loco praecipitur: Esto non deficiens . Quale est autem, ut cum peccatores quotidie in malis operibus augeantur, nos in bono opere lassemur? Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Galatas, Liber III, Cap VI Source: Migne PL 26.432a

But in the doing of good, let us not become weary. We will reap in time if we do not become weary. 1 He exhorts them to have an eagerness for endurance, they who in this life hope for the reward of good works, not knowing that as there is one sort of satisfaction in sowing, there is another at the harvest, and so in this present life the works sown, whether reaped in the spirit or in the flesh, shall have the harvest of future judgement, and the type and difference of the sowing make different harvests for us, a hundred fold and sixty fold and thirty fold, 2 which crop no one is able to harvest if he wearies. 'He who endures until the end, he shall be saved.' 3 As in another place it is commanded: 'Do not become weary.' 4 Why is it that when every day sinners increase in wicked works, we should grow tired of good works? Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians, Book 3, Chapter 6 1 Galat 6.9 2 Mt 13.8 3 Mt 24.13 4 Isaiah 5.27