Grief And Hope

Nolumus autem vos ignorare, fratres, de iis qui dormiunt; ne contristemini, sicut et caeteri qui spem non habent. Nam si credimus quod Jesus mortuus est et resurrexit, sic et Deus illos, qui dormierunt per Jesum adducet cum eo. Manifesta est ratio, quia si resurrectio creditur mortuorum futura, non sunt lugendi, qui cum signo crucis exeunt. Lugendi autem vere sunt infideles, qui hinc transeunt in gehennam; ut ediscant verum esse, quod credere noluerunt. Fideles autem resurgent ad gloriam, ut qui in saeculo stulti habiti sunt propter fidem, videantur prudentes; providerunt enim sibi gloriam. Hi sunt qui per Jesum, id est, sub spe fidei hujus exeuntes, adducentur cum eo in adventu ejus; ut ab hominibus videantur. Cum tamen ipse defuncti excessum lugendum prohibeat, ipse alibi dicit: Ne tristitiam haberem. Sed jam suo loco solutum est. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam ad Thessalonicenses Primam Caput IV Source: Migne PL 17.449d-450a

We do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, so that you are not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so God will bring with Him even those who have slept through Jesus. 1 The reason is obvious, because if there is belief in the future resurrection of the dead, then they who depart with the sign of the cross should not be mourned. In truth mourning is for the faithless, who pass from here into hell, that there they learn the truth they refused to believe in here. But the faithful shall rise to glory, so that those who in the world lived as fools on account of faith, shall appear wise, for they foresaw glory for themselves. These who depart through Jesus, in the hope of faith in Him, shall attend Him in His coming, so that they will be seen by men. However when here he prohibits them to mourn excessively for the dead, he says elsewhere: 'Lest I be sorrowful.' 2 And now in this passage the matter is resolved. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The First Letter of Saint Paul To The Thessalonians, Chapter 4 1 1 Thes 4.12-13 2 Phil 2.27