As a good spiritual father, St. Paul wrote to the faithful in Corinth: “Make room in your hearts for us … I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.” (2 Cor 7:2, 4)

Father Thomas Stegman, SJ, pointed out the profound pastoral insight of St. Paul, who “sincerely communicates great depth of love and warmth toward those to whom he is ministering. He also expresses his pride and confidence in them.”

St. Paul thus provided a good example for parents and “for those in positions of leadership who must inevitably deal with strained relationships. When a healthy foundation of love and right conduct has been laid, expressing these things can go a long way toward rebuilding the relationship, as do affirmations of pride and confidence in those being ministered to.”

Earlier in the Second Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul wrote, “my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.” (2 Cor 2:13)

In 7:5–16, St. Paul returned to the description of his meeting with Titus in Macedonia. He was greatly comforted by the good news brought by Titus regarding the repentance of the Corinthians.

St. Paul was greatly comforted that after reading his tearful letter (2 Cor 2:4), the Corinthians had a change of heart.

St. Augustine points out: “It can happen, and often does happen, that one’s brother is for a while saddened when he is reproached, and resists and argues. But later he reflects in silence, with no other witness than God and his conscience, and he is not afraid of what people think about his being corrected; he is afraid of displeasing God if he does not mend his ways. And then he no longer does the thing he was corrected about; and the more he detests his sin, the more he loves his brother for being the enemy of his sin.”

The “tearful letter” of St. Paul helped the Corinthians to examine their own conscience, which resulted in true sorrow for sins and repentance.

St. Paul wrote, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2 Cor 7:10)

Contrasting the two types of sorrows, St. John Chrysostom said, “Paul was regretful before he saw the fruit of repentance, but afterward he rejoiced. This is the nature of godly sorrow.”

“Worldly sorrow, in contrast to this, is regret for the loss of money, reputation and friends. That kind of sorrow merely leads to greater harm, because the regret is often a prelude to a thirst for revenge. Only sorrow for sin is really profitable.”

Godly grief is contrition. The Council of Trent defines contrition as “a deep sorrow and detestation for sin committed, with a resolution of sinning no more.”

St. John Cassian taught that godly sorrow “is obedient, civil, humble, kindly, gentle, and patient, as it springs from the love of God, and unweariedly extends itself from desire of perfection to every bodily grief and sorrow of spirit.”

But worldly or even diabolical sadness is the very opposite. It is “rough, impatient, hard, full of rancour and useless grief and penal despair, and breaks down the man on whom it has fastened, and hinders him from energy and wholesome sorrow, as it is unreasonable, and not only hampers the efficacy of his prayers, but actually destroys all those fruits of the Spirit of which we spoke, which that other sorrow knows how to produce.”

John Cassian stated: “Wherefore except that sorrow which is endured either for the sake of saving penitence, or for the sake of aiming at perfection, or for the desire of the future, all sorrow and dejection must equally be resisted, as belonging to this world, and being that which ‘produces death,’ and must be entirely expelled from our hearts like the spirit of fornication and covetousness and anger.”

According to John Cassian, the effective means to root out or expel worldly sorrow from our hearts is spiritual meditation. “By spiritual meditation we may keep our mind constantly occupied with hope of the future and contemplation of the promised blessedness. For in this way we shall be able to get the better of all those sorts of dejection.”

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按照天主聖意而來的憂苦，能產生再不反悔的悔改         

作為一位慈愛的神師神父，聖保祿宗徒對格林多的信友寫道：「容納我們罷！… 我對你們大可放心，我為了你們也很可誇耀；我充滿了安慰，在我們各樣的苦難中，我格外充滿喜樂。」(格後7:2,4)

耶穌會士Thomas Stegman神父指出，聖保祿展現了深刻的牧靈洞察力，他「真誠地向他所牧養的人表達深厚的愛與溫暖，也表達了他對他們感到驕傲與充滿信心」。

聖保祿為父母和「領導者樹立了良好的榜樣，尤其是在面對關係緊張時。他所建立的愛與正直德行的基礎，有助於修復關係，並透過對被牧養者的驕傲與信心的肯定，促進人關係的重建。」

在格林多後書前文中，聖保祿寫道：「但因我沒有遇到我的弟兄弟鐸，我的心神得不到安寧，遂辭別他們，到馬其頓去了。」(格後 2:13)，聖保祿在第7章第5至16節中回到他在馬其頓與弟鐸相遇的描述。他因弟鐸帶來關於格林多人悔改的好消息而深受安慰。

聖保祿對格林多人在閱讀他那封流着許多淚寫了的信（參見格後 2:4）後的悔改感到欣慰。

聖奧斯定指出：「有時候，當一個人被責備時，他會感到悲傷，甚至反抗和爭辯。但後來，他在沒有其他見證者的情況下，默默地反思，只有天主和他的良知作為見證。他不再害怕人們對他被糾正的看法，而是害怕如果不改正自己的行為，會得罪天主。然後，他不再做被糾正的事；他越憎恨自己的罪，就越愛那位因為他的罪而成為他敵人的人。」

聖保祿的「流着許多淚寫了的信」幫助格林多人反省自己的良知，從而產生了對罪的真正悲傷和悔改。

他寫道：「因為按照天主聖意而來的憂苦，能產生再不返悔的悔改，以致於得救；世間的憂苦卻產生死亡。」(格後7:10)

金口聖若望比較了兩種悔改後指出：「保祿在看到悔改的果實之前感到遺憾，但之後他喜樂。這就是按照天主聖意而來的憂苦。」

他補充說：「世俗的憂苦，與此相反，是對金錢、名譽和朋友的損失感到遺憾。這種憂苦只會帶來更大的傷害，因為這種遺憾往往是渴求報復的前奏。只有對罪的悲傷才是真正有益的。」

按照天主聖意而來的憂苦即是痛悔。特倫多大公會議將痛悔定義為「對所犯之罪的深切悲傷與厭惡，並決心不再犯罪」。

聖若望·格西安(St. John Cassian)教導說，按照天主聖意而來的憂苦「是順從的、溫和的、謙遜的、仁慈的、溫柔的和耐心的，因為是源於對天主的愛，並不懈地從追求完美的渴望延伸到身體的痛苦和精神的悲傷」。

相反，世俗甚至是魔鬼的悲傷則完全相反。它是「粗暴的、不耐煩的、堅硬的、充滿怨恨和無益的悲傷，以及懲罰性的絕望，它摧毀了被它纏住的人，阻礙了他從事有益的祈禱和健康的悲傷，因為它是不合理的，不僅阻礙了祈禱的效果，甚至摧毀了我們之前所談到的聖神的所有果實，而那種悲傷知道如何產生這些果實」。

若望·格西安指出：「因此，除了為了救贖的懺悔、或追求完美的願望或未來的渴望而忍受的悲傷之外，所有的悲傷和沮喪都必須同樣受到抵制，因為它屬於這個世界，並且是那種『導致死亡』的悲傷，必須像淫欲、貪婪和憤怒的邪念一樣，徹底從我們的心中驅除。

根據若望·格西安的說法，根除或驅逐我們心中世俗悲傷的有效方法是靈修默想。他說：「通過靈修默想，我們可以讓自己的心靈不斷地專注於對未來的希望和對預許的福樂的沉思。這樣，我們就能戰勝所有形式的沮喪。」

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