Augustine of Hippo

Dearly beloved, as I have already said, the devil is always either raging or lying in ambush. So, it behooves us to be always prepared by keeping our hearts fixed on the Lord. It behooves us to exert ourselves to the utmost in beseeching the Lord for fortitude in the midst of those harassing trials and tribulations, for of ourselves we are nothing but little children. What should we say with regard to ourselves? You have heard the answer from the apostle Paul during the reading of the epistle, in which he says, "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also through Christ does our comfort abound." In the psalm, it is expressed in this way: "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your encouragements have given joy to my soul." The psalmist expresses it one way, the apostle expresses it in another, but each of them tells us that if the Comforter were not with us we would yield to the persecutor.