Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Ecclesiastes 7:4

Western Saints

Jerome

"Anger is better than laughter, for through a sad face the heart is improved. "Laughter weakens the mind, anger reproves and corrects it. Both let us become angry with ourselves when we sin, and let us get angry with others. Through the sadness of the face, even the spirit becomes better, as Symmachus saw it. And therefore "woe now to those who laugh, since they will mourn." [Luc. 6, 25.]

Commentary on Ecclesiastes ↗

Bonaventure

And he confirms this lesson by the judgment of the wise: whence he says: "The heart of the wise is where sadness is": but on the contrary: "The heart of fools is where merriment is": the former seek sorrowful things in the present, the latter pleasant things: John 16: "You shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice." And that the former act wisely, and the latter foolishly, is clear from the outcome, because it is said to the sorrowful in Luke 6: "Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh"; and on the contrary to …

Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 7 ↗