Lamentações 4
Jerome · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Lamentações 4:4
What good will marriage be to me if it is to end in slavery to the haughtiest of kings? What good will little ones be to me if their lot is to be that which the prophet sadly describes: "The tongue of the sucking child cleaves to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the young children ask for bread and no one breaks it unto them"? In those days, as I have said, the virtue of continence was found only in men: Eve still continued to travail with children. But now that a virgin has conceived in the womb and has borne to us a child of whom the prophet says that "government shall be on his shoulder, and his name shall be called the mighty God, the everlasting Father," now the chain of the curse is broken. Death came through Eve, but life has come through Mary. And thus the gift of virginity has been bestowed most richly on women, seeing that it has had its beginning from a woman. As soon as the Son of God set foot on the earth, he formed for himself a new household there; that, as he was adored by angels in heaven, angels might serve him also on earth. — LETTER 22.21
Lamentações 4:6
Need we be surprised that, when saints are compared, some are better, some worse, since the same holds good in the comparison of sins? To Jerusalem, pierced and wounded with many sins, it is said, "Sodom is justified by you." It is not because Sodom, which has sunk forever into ashes, is just in itself, that it is said by Ezekiel, "Sodom shall be restored to its former estate," but that, in comparison with the more accursed Jerusalem, it appears just. For Jerusalem killed the Son of God; Sodom through fullness of bread and excessive luxury carried its lust beyond all bounds. The publican in the Gospel who struck his breast as though it were a collection of his worst thoughts and, conscious of his offenses, dared not lift up his eyes, is justified rather than the proud Pharisee. And Tamar in the guise of a harlot deceived Judah, and in the estimation of this man himself who was deceived, was worthy of the words, "Tamar is more righteous than I." All this goes to prove that not only in comparison with divine majesty are people far from perfection, but also when compared with angels and other people who have climbed the heights of virtue. You may be superior to someone whom you have shown to be imperfect and yet be outstripped by another; and consequently you may not have true perfection, which, if it is perfect, is absolute. — Against the Pelagians 1.17