Pride, ambition, despair, and impatience

Meaning

Pride and ambition, despair of mercy, and murmuring impatience are differentiated failures in the main allegory. Pride and ambition correspond to harmful ascent or premature redness; despair follows grave sins, while impatience reacts against the heat of tribulation. They are not interchangeable descriptions of ordinary sadness or effort.

The passage does not leave correction at an inward change of mood. It specifies recognition of error, absolution through the office of keys, and refreshment in the holy Supper, entrusted to the Church. The English retains these concrete means and the contrast between repentance and persistence in sin. The material comparisons organize the account but do not make a chemical correction the cure of a human spiritual crisis.