Romans 9:2

And not only on their own account do they experience these emotions, but also on account of those whose deliverance they desire and whose perdition they fear, and whose loss or salvation affects them with grief or with joy. For if we who have come into the Church from among the Gentiles may suitably instance that noble and mighty hero who glories in his infirmities, the teacher ( doctor ) of the nations in faith and truth, who also labored more than all his fellow-apostles, and instructed the tribes of God’s people by his epistles, which edified not only those of his own time, but all those who were to be gathered in, that hero, I say, and athlete of Christ, instructed by Him, anointed of His Spirit, crucified with Him, glorious in Him, lawfully maintaining a great conflict on the theatre of this world, and being made a spectacle to angels and men, and pressing onwards for the prize of h …

“And I saw,” he says, “a great city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, but neither shall there be any more pain: because the former things have passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” This city is said to come down out of heaven, because the grace with which God formed it is of heaven. …

22. But the pleasure of the Creator, of which is written, “And from the river of Thy pleasure wilt Thou give them to drink,” is of far other kind, for it is not, like us, a creature. Unless then its love be given to us from thence there is no source whence it may be in us. And consequently, a good will, by which we love God, cannot be in man, save in whom God also worketh to will. This good will therefore, that is, a will faithfully subjected to God, a will set on fire by sanctity of that ardor which is above, a will which loves God and his neighbor for God’s sake; whether through love, of which the Apostle Peter makes answer, “Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee;” whether through fear, of which says the Apostle Paul, “In fear and trembling work out your own salvation;” whether through joy, of which he says, “In hope rejoicing, in tribulation patient;” whether through sorrow, with which …

3. "I speak the truth in Christ," says the apostle, "I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." Here is the most abundant and express testimony and the most solemn commendation. …

3. “For my soul is filled with evils, and my life draweth nigh unto hell” ( ver. 3 ). Dare we speak of the Soul of Christ as “filled with evils,” when the passion had strength as far as it had any, only over the body?…The soul therefore may feel pain without the body: but without the soul the body cannot. Why therefore should we not say that the Soul of Christ was full of the evils of humanity, though not of human sins? Another Prophet says of Him, that He grieved for us: and the Evangelist says, “And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy:” and our Lord Himself saith unto them of Himself, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” The Prophet who composed this Psalm, foreseeing that this would happen, introduces Him saying, “My soul is full of evils, and My life draweth nigh unto hell.” For the very same sense is here express …

8. “What then,” says some one, “used not the Saint to be in sadness? Do you not hear Paul saying, “I have great heaviness, and continual sorrow in my heart?” This, indeed, is the thing to wonder at, that sorrow brought a gain, and a pleasure that resulted from the gain; for as the scourge did not procure them anguish, but gladness; so also again the sorrow procured them those great crowns. And this is the paradox; that not only the sadness of the world, but also its joy, contains extreme loss; but in the case of spiritual things, it is exactly the reverse; and not the joy only, but the sadness too contains a rich treasure of good things! But how, I proceed to explain. In the world, a person often rejoices, on beholding an enemy in trouble; and by this joy he draws on himself a great punishment. …

Ver. 2, 3 . “That I have a great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ.”