Doctors of the Church 2:66 Aquinas Day

Job's Reactions from Aquinas, Part One

November 1936. “Daughter of migrant Tennessee coal miner. Living in American River camp near Sacramento, California.” http://theselvedgeyard.wordpress.com/2009/12/06/photography-of-dorothea-lange-an-american-archive-hard-times/

One must ask the question, what does it mean to persist in righteousness in the face of suffering?

20 Then Job arose and rent his robe; he shaved his head and he fell on the ground and worshipped. 21 He said: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there; The Lord gave; the Lord has taken away. As God pleased, so it has been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord! In all these things, Job did not sin with his lips, nor did he say anything foolish against God.

After the adversity of blessed Job has been narrated, the text treats the patience Job showed in adversity. As evidence of what is said here know that there was a difference of opinion among the ancients philosophers as to corporeal goods and the passions of the soul. For the Stoics said that exterior goods were not goods of man and that there could be no sorrow for their loss in the soul of the wise man. But, the opinion of the Peripatetics was that some of the goods of man are truly exterior goods, though these are certainly not the principal ones. Nevertheless, they are like instruments ordered to the principal good of man which is the good of the mind. Because of this, they conceded that the wise man is moderately sad in the losses of exterior goods, namely his reason is not so absorbed by sadness that he leaves righteousness. This opinion is the more true of the two and is in accord with the teaching of the Church as is clear from St. Augustine in his book, The City of God.

I think modern man forgets that reason is part of spiritual growth. There is immoderate grief and moderate grief. This sounds awful to some. But, grief can be absorbed into a quiet acceptance.

So Job followed this opinion and truly showed sorrow in adversity; yet this sadness was so moderated that it was subject to reason. The text therefore continues, “Then Job arose, and rent his robe,” which is usually an indication of sadness among men. Note however that the text says, “Then”, namely after he heard about the death of his children, so that he might seem more sad over their loss than the loss of his possessions. For it is characteristic of a hard and insensible heart to not grieve over dead friends, but it is characteristic of virtuous men to not have this grief in an immoderate way as St. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians, “But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” (4:13) This was true in the case of blessed Job and so the state of his mind appears in his exterior act. Since his reason stood upright, the text fittingly says that “Job arose” although men in grief usually prostrate themselves. For though he suffered grief, but not a grief which penetrated as far as disturbing the his interior reason, he showed a sign of his sadness in exterior actions in two ways: namely as to what is outside the nature of the body, and so the text says, “he rent his robe”; and as to those things which proceed from the nature of the body, “he shaved his head,” which among those who care for their hair, usually indicates grief. These two signs then fittingly correspond to the adversities mentioned, for the tearing of the robe corresponds to the loss of his possessions, and the cutting of the hair corresponds to the loss of his sons. Then the mind stands upright when it humbly is submitted to God. For each thing exists in a higher and more noble state to the extent that it stands firm in what perfects it more, like air when it is subject to light, and matter when it is subject to form. Therefore the fact that the mind of blessed Job was not dejected by sadness, but persisted in its righteousness, clearly shows that he humbly subjected himself to God. So the text continues, “and he fell on the ground, and worshipped,” to show evidence for his devotion and humility.

This section points to the Resurrection from the dead, which some commentators note may have not been the belief at the time Job was written. I disagree. As in the Book of Tobit, there is a constant awareness of the characters that this world is not ALL. 

Job revealed the state of his mind not only by deeds, but also by words. For he rationally demonstrated that although he suffered sadness, he did not have to yield to sadness. First, he demonstrated from the condition of nature so the text said, “He said: Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb,” namely, from the earth which is the common mother of everything, “and naked shall I return there,” i.e., to the earth. Sirach speaks in the same vein saying, “Great hardship has been created for man, and a heavy yoke lies on the sons of Adam from the day they come forth from their mother’s womb until the day they return to their burial in the mother of them all.” (40:1) This can also be interpreted in another way. The expression, “from my mother’s womb” can be literally taken as the womb of the mother who bore him. When he says next “naked I shall return there,” the term “there” establishes a simple relation. For a man cannot return a second time to the womb of his own mother, but he can return to the state which he had in the womb of his mother in a certain respect, namely in that he is removed from the company of men. In saying this he reasonably shows that a man should not be absorbed with sadness because of the loss of exterior goods, since exterior goods are not connatural to him, but come to him accidentally. This is evident since a man comes into this world without them and leaves this world without them. So when these accidental goods are taken away if the substantial ones remain man ought not to be overcome by sadness although sadness may touch him. http://dhspriory.org/thomas/SSJob.htm#182

To be continued....