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HOMILY
4
Christians ought to run the race in the
arena of this world with alertness and exactitude so as to receive the heavenly
reward from God and the angels.
1.
Those who strive to live the Christian life with great zeal must above all else
develop with greatest care their soul’s faculty of understanding and
discerning so that, having acquired an exact discernment between good and evil,
always distinguishing those things with which nature has been unnaturally
tainted, we may conduct ourselves properly and without offense. By using this
faculty of discerning as an eye, we may avoid any depravity and binding union
with evil. And thus we may receive the divine gift and become worthy of the
Lord. Let us take an example from the visible world. There is indeed a
similarity between the body and the soul, between the things of the body and
those that pertain to the soul, between those things that are visible and those
that remain hidden.
2.
In a similar way the body has the eye as a guide. The eye, by seeing, keeps the
whole body on the right path. Imagine a certain traveler going through a wooded
area, full of thorns and very swampy, with fires all around and swords stuck
into the ground and precipices all about with flooding waters everywhere. The
agile, attentive, unswerving traveler, guided by the eye, goes through those
difficult places with great alertness, pulling up his cloak on all sides with
his hands and feet to avoid tearing in the thickets and thorns or being dirtied
by mud or being rent by a sword. And his eye directs the whole body, being his
light, saving him from falling over the precipices or drowning in the waters or
being injured by some dangerous happening. Such a person, alert and cautious in
his travels, who pulls his garment tightly around himself, with maximum
vigilance of mind, is guided straightway by his eye and keeps not only himself
from injury but also his own cloak from burning and tearing.
But
if anyone is less alert, idle, lazy, careless, sluggish, and cowardly and passes
through such places, his cloak, floating about him, is torn off by the thickets
and thorns, or is burnt by fire because he does not hold it tightly around
himself. Or else it is tattered and torn by the swords stuck into the ground or
is dirtied by the mud. The point is that in one way or another he quickly ruins
his elegant and new garment because of his negligence, inattention, and slothful
spirit. Moreover, if he does not attend with diligence and alertness to where
his eye leads him, he will fall into a ravine or be drowned in the waters.
3.
In the same way also the soul, which is clothed with the attractive garment,
namely, the body, possesses the faculty of discernment which directs the whole
soul along with the body as it passes through the brush and thorns of life,
through the mud, fire, and precipices, that is, the lusts and sensuous pleasures
and the other vanities of this world. It also should wrap around itself
vigilance, courage, diligence, and attentiveness, and control itself and the
vesture of the body in such a way so as not to be torn by the thickets and
thorns of this world, which are the anxieties, busyness, and earthly worries.
And it should not be burned by the fire of lust.
Clothed
in such a way, it turns the eye from seeing evil, likewise the ears from hearing
slanders, the tongue from speaking vanities, the hands and feet from unbecoming
acts and pursuits. Indeed the soul has a will to turn away and prevent the
members of the body from participating in unseemly spectacles, from its hearing
what is evil and base, from indecent conversation and worldly, perverse
preoccupations.
4.
The soul also turns itself away from unbecoming mental distractions, keeping the
heart from being dispersed by worldly thoughts. And thus with struggle and
labor, it attentively disciplines the members of the body from evil. It
preserves the attractive vesture of the body, freed from all tearing, burning,
and staining. It will preserve itself, finally, through its will, which is
endued by the ability to know, understand, and discern, a gift completely of the
Lord. It holds itself with all its strength by turning away from all worldly
lust. It is thus helped by the Lord to be truly protected from evils, those
which we have enumerated above. For whenever the Lord sees anyone courageously
turning away from the pleasures, distractions, the crass cares and worldly ties,
from the preoccupation of vain reveries, he gives him his special help of grace
and protects the soul that unwaveringly journeys courageously through the
present corrupt world.
And
thus the soul gains heavenly praise from its God and the angels for having kept
unstained the garment of its body as well as itself. This is because it has
turned away, as far as it was in its power to do so, from all worldly lust and
with God’s help has completed victoriously the race of this life’s course.
5.
But if anyone journeys through this life with sluggishness and carelessness, not
attentive, but seeking his own will by refusing to turn away from all worldly
lust and seeking after the Lord and only him, he is thrown into the thorns and
thickets of this world. His garment, the body, is burned by the fire of
concupiscence and soiled by the muck of sensuous pleasures. And the soul without
such confidence is found lacking all “boldness in the day of judgment” (1
John 4:17), because it did not preserve its raiment unsoiled, but rather soiled
it by the deceits of this world. And for this reason it is cast out from the
kingdom.
What
will God do with one who freely has given himself over to the world and, blinded
by pleasures, has been led astray by earthly preoccupations? God indeed gives
help to one who turns away from sordid pleasures and from his former habits, who
centers with might and main all his thoughts always on the Lord and who denies
himself and seeks ardently only the Lord. This is the one God takes care of, he
who ever guards himself from the snares and enticements of the forest of this
world, who “works out his own salvation with fear and trembling”
(Philippians 2:12), who passes with every caution through the snares,
enticements, and concupiscences of this world, and who seeks the Lord’s help
and through the grace of his mercy hopes to be saved.
6.
Take, for example, the five prudent and vigilant virgins (Matthew 25:1ff.). They
enthusiastically had taken in the vessels of their heart the oil of the
supernatural grace of the Spirit—a thing not conformable to their nature. For
this reason they were able to enter together with the Bridegroom into the
heavenly bridal chamber. The other foolish ones, however, content with their own
nature, did not watch nor did they betake themselves to receive “the oil of
gladness” (Psalm 45:7) in their vessels. But still in the flesh, they fell
into a deep sleep through negligence, inattentiveness, laziness, and ignorance
or even through considering themselves justified. Because of this they were
excluded from the bridal chamber of the kingdom because they were unable to
please the heavenly Bridegroom. Bound by ties of the world and by earthly love,
they did not offer all their love and devotion to the heavenly Spouse nor did
they carry with them the oil. But the souls who seek the sanctification of the
Spirit, which is a thing that lies beyond natural power, are completely bound
with their whole love to the Lord. There they walk; there they pray; there they
focus their thoughts, ignoring all other things. For this reason they are
considered worthy to receive the oil of divine grace and without any failure
they succeed in passing to life for they have been accepted by and found greatly
pleasing to the spiritual Bridegroom. But other souls, who remain on the level
of their own nature, crawl along the ground with their earthly thoughts. They
think only in a human way.
Their
mind lives only on the earthly level. And still they are convinced in their own
thought that they look to the Bridegroom and that they are adorned with the
perfections of a carnal justification. But in reality they have not been born of
the Spirit from above (John 3:3) and have not accepted the oil of gladness.
7.
The five rational senses of the soul, if they have received grace from above and
the sanctification of the Spirit, truly are the prudent virgins. They have
received from above the wisdom of grace. But if they continue depending solely
on their own nature, they class themselves with the foolish virgins and show
themselves to be children of this world. They have not put off the spirit of the
world, even though, in their false thinking by some exterior word, opinion, or
form, they believe themselves to be brides of the Bridegroom.
Just
as the souls who have completely given themselves totally to the Lord have their
thoughts there, their prayers directed there, walk there, and are bound there by
the desire of the love of God, so, on the contrary, the souls who have given
themselves to the love of the world and wish to live completely on this earth
walk there, have their thoughts there, and it is there where their minds live
(Luke 12:34). For this reason they are unable to turn themselves over to the
kind, prudential guidance of the Spirit. Something that is foreign to our basic
nature, I mean, heavenly grace, necessarily demands being joined and drawn into
our nature in order that we can enter into the heavenly bridal chamber of the
kingdom and obtain eternal salvation.
8.
We have received into ourselves something that is foreign to our nature, namely,
the corruption of our passions through the disobedience of the first man, which
has strongly taken over in us, as though it were a certain part of our nature by
custom and long habit. This must be expelled again by that which is also foreign
to our nature, namely, the heavenly gift of the Spirit, and so the original
purity must be restored. And unless we will now receive the heavenly love of the
Spirit through ardent petition and asking by faith and prayer and a turning away
from the world, and unless our nature will be joined to love, which is the Lord,
and we are sanctified from the corrupting power of evil by means of that love of
the Spirit, and unless we will persevere to the end unshaken, walking with
diligence according to all of his commands, we will be unable to obtain the
heavenly kingdom.
9.
I would wish to speak about a more subtle and profound topic to the best of my
ability. Therefore, listen attentively to me. The infinite, inaccessible, and
uncreated God has assumed a body, and on account of his immense and ineffable
kindness, if I may so say it, he diminished himself (Philippians 2:6), lessening
his inaccessible glory so as to be able to be united with his visible creatures,
as with the souls of the saints and angels, so they can be made participators of
divine life (2 Peter 1:4). For each of these is a body, each according to his
own nature, namely, an angel, a human soul, and a demon.
Although
they are subtle in substance, form, and figure according to the subtlety of
their nature, so too are their bodies subtle. So too with this body of ours,
although it is in substance heavy and solid. And so the soul, which is subtle,
is aided by the eye by which it sees, by the ear through which it hears,
likewise the tongue by which it can communicate in words, the hand, and, in a
word, the whole body. The soul blends with these and through them accomplishes
all of its actions or performs all of its works.
10.
In the same way God, who transcends all limitations and far exceeds the grasp of
our human understanding, through his goodness has diminished himself and has
taken the members of our human body. He withdrew himself from the inaccessible
glory. And through his compassion and love for mankind he transformed his nature
(Philippians 2:6), taking upon himself a body. He mingled himself totally with
the body and thus he takes to himself holy souls acceptable and faithful. He
becomes “one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17) with them according to Paul’s
statement—a soul, if I may so put it, in a soul, substance in substance, so
that the soul may live in newness of immortal life and become a participator of
eternal glory, that is, I say, if it be a soul worthy and pleasing to God.
How,
indeed, could God have created this visible creature out of what was not
existing, with such great difference and variety? He willed and with no effort
created from the nonexistent things solid and hard, as the earth, mountains,
trees (you see what hardness such nature is) and also waters that course between
such creatures. He commanded birds to be brought forth from them, and he created
even more subtle creatures as fire and winds and so forth which are too subtle
and escape the bodily eye.
11.
How could the infinite and ineffable ability “of the manifold wisdom of God”
(Ephesians 3:10) create out of those things that did not exist bodies that are
grosser and more subtle and more simple which subsist by his will? And how much
more can he who is as he himself wishes and is what he wishes, through his
ineffable compassion and incomprehensible goodness, not change and diminish and
assimilate to himself holy, worthy, and faithful souls by means of an assumed
body? By such a body he, the invisible, is able to be seen by such souls, He,
the untouchable one, may thus be felt according to the subtlety of the soul’s
nature. In this way also such souls may taste his sweetness and enjoy in actual
experience the goodness of the light of inexpressible pleasure.
When
God wishes, he becomes fire, burning up every coarse passion that has taken root
in the soul. “For our God is a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews
12:29). When he wishes, he becomes an inexpressible and mysterious rest so that
the soul may find rest in God’s rest. When he wishes, he becomes joy and
peace, cherishing and protecting the soul.
12.
If God also should wish to make himself similar to one of his creatures for the
exultation and happiness of his intelligent creatures, as, for example,
Jerusalem, the city of light, or the heavenly Mount Sion, he can do all things
as he wishes, as it is said: “You come to Mount Sion and to the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22). All things are easy and
possible for him who can transform himself into any form that he wishes for the
benefit of those souls who are worthy of and faithful to him. Should anyone only
strive to be pleasing to him and be acceptable, he certainly will see the
heavenly good things in actual experience. He will have an experience of the
unspeakable delights and truly immense riches of God which “eye has not seen
nor ear heard nor has it entered into the mind of man to conceive” (1
Corinthians 2:9).
The
Spirit of the Lord also becomes the rest of worthy souls and their joy and
delight and eternal life. For the Lord transforms himself into bread and drink
as it is written in the Gospel: “whoever eats of this bread will live
forever” (John 6:58). In this ineffable way he recreates the soul and fills it
with spiritual happiness. For he says: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:3
5). Similarly he transforms himself into the drink of a heavenly fountain as he
says: “Whoever will drink of the water which I shall give him, it shall be in
him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life” (John 4:14). And it is
also said: “And we have all drunk of the same drink” (1 Corinthians 12:13,
10:4).
13.
Thus he appeared to each of the holy fathers, exactly as he wished and as it
seemed helpful to them. In one manner he appeared to Abraham, in another to
Isaac, in another to Jacob, in another to Noah, Daniel, David, Solomon, Isaiah,
and to each of the holy prophets. Still in another way to Elijah and again
differently to Moses. Indeed, I hold that Moses, when he was on the mountaintop,
fasting for forty days, approached the spiritual table and feasted on many
delights. To each of the saints, likewise, God appeared as he wished so as to
refresh them, to save and lead them into a knowledge of God. For all things are
easy for him, whatever he only desires to do. And when it pleases him, he
diminishes himself by taking on a bodily form. He transforms himself to become
present to the eyes of those who love him, showing himself in an unapproachable
glory of light. He shows himself out of his immense and ineffable love for those
who are worthy according to his power.
For
the soul that has been considered worthy through its consuming desire,
expectation, faith, and love to receive from on high that power, the heavenly
love of the Spirit, and has obtained the heavenly fire of eternal life, is one
that is being stripped of every worldly affection and freed from every bond of
evil.
14.
Just as iron or lead or gold or silver, if thrown into fire, will melt and be
transformed from its natural hardness to a soft substance, and as long as it
remains in the fire becomes all the more a molten liquid, losing its natural
hardness because of the powerful heat of the fire, the same is true for the soul
that has turned away from the world in its desire for the Lord alone. It
perseveres in much searching of the mind, in struggle and labor. It awaits God,
unflagging in hope and faith. It has received that heavenly fire of the Godhead
and the love of the Spirit. It is then truly freed from all attachment to the
world and liberated from every evil affection. It rejects everything in its life
and corrects all of its natural habit and hardness of sin. It considers all
other things superfluous compared to the heavenly Bridegroom alone. It rests in
his fervent and ineffable love.
15.
I tell you that even those brothers, loved in God, whom the soul thinks so
highly of, if they are a source of leading it away from that love for God, it, I
would say, would reject such. For that is its life and rest, namely, the
mystical and ineffable participation of the heavenly kingdom. For if an earthly,
loving participation of spouses can separate the pair from their fathers,
brothers, mothers, and all other things become for them rather extrinsic in
their way because of their deep conjugal love for each other—for it is said:
“For this reason, let a man leave his father and mother and adhere to his wife
and they will be two in one flesh” (Genesis 2:24)—if, therefore, I say,
earthly love can detach one from all other loves, how much more in the case of
those who have been made worthy to enter into a true fellowship with that Holy
Spirit, the heavenly and loving Spirit? They shall be freed from all worldly
love. All other things will seem indifferent to them since they have been
conquered by a heavenly yearning and have become totally one in that surrendered
state.
16.
Therefore, O beloved brethren, since such good things have been offered to us
and such wonderful promises have been made to us by the Lord, let us get rid of
all obstacles. Let us renounce all love for the world and devote ourselves to
that one good by a thorough seeking and yearning so that we may become sharers
in that ineffable love of the Spirit about which St. Paul urged us to hasten
after: “Seek after charity,” he says (1 Corinthians 14:1), so that we may be
considered worthy to be converted from our hardness by the right hand of the
Most High and reach that spiritual sweetness and rest, having been wounded by
the love of the Divine Spirit.
The
Lord, indeed, is the Lover of mankind, so full of tender compassion whenever we
turn completely toward him and are freed from all things contrary. Even though
we, in our supreme ignorance, childishness, and tendency toward evil, turn away
from true life and place many impediments along our path because we really do
not like to repent, nevertheless, he has great mercy on us. He patiently waits
for us until we will be converted and return to him and be enlightened in our
inner selves that our faces may not be ashamed in the day of judgment.
17.
If that seems difficult and troublesome to us because practicing virtue is hard,
but, more so, because of the insidious suggesting of the adversary, still he is
very full of compassion, long-suffering and patient as he waits for our
conversion. And when we do sin, he is ready to lift us up for he desires our
repentance. And when we fall, he is not ashamed to take us back, as the Prophet
said: “When men fall, do they not rise again? Or if one turns away, does he
not return?” (Jeremiah 8:4). We only have to have a sincere heart and live in
vigilance and be converted immediately after seeking his help and he himself is
most ready to save us. For he looks for our ardent will, as best we can, to turn
toward him. When we show good faith and promptness glowing from our desiring,
then he works in us a true conversion.
Let
us then, O beloved, show, as children of God, diligence and be prompt to follow
him, by casting aside all preoccupation, carelessness, and laziness. Let us not
postpone day after day this work of preventing evil from controlling us. For we
do not know the hour when we will have to leave this life. Great and ineffable
are the promises held out to Christians, so great, indeed, that all the glory
and beauty of heaven and earth and all the other attractions in such variety,
the riches and comeliness, the delights of visible scenes, cannot measure up to
the faith and riches of a single soul.
18.
How is it possible that in the face of so many exhortations and promises, we
still refuse to accept totally to go to him and surrender ourselves completely
to him? How can we refuse, as the Gospel says, to deny all other things, even
our own soul (Luke 14:26), and to seek him alone with our love and give it to
nothing else? But, look, all these things and such glory given! Look at all the
loving dispositions of God manifested in the times of the fathers and the
prophets! What promises! And what exhortations! What great
mercy of the Lord has been shown us from the very beginning!
Finally,
in his own coming on this earth he has shown to us an ineffable kindness through
his crucifixion in order to convert us and bring us into life. And yet, we do
not will to give up our love for the world nor our evil tendencies and habits.
In this way we show ourselves persons of little or absolutely no good faith. And
in spite of all this, he still shows himself kind to us. He protects and
cherishes us invisibly, not turning us over (according to our sinful deserts) to
the deceits of evil and the world. He, in his great compassion and long
suffering, watches from above, waiting for the time we shall return to him.
19.
I fear lest the saying of the Apostle should be fulfilled in us as we live
prejudiced according to our own evil ideas and are carried about by our
preconceived thinking: “Do you despise the riches of his kindness and
forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the kindness of God calls you
to repentance?” (Romans 2:4). But if we abuse his long suffering and kindness
and forbearance and we add still more sins, and by our carelessness and contempt
we store up for ourselves still more serious judgments, that saying will be
fulfilled: “But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart, you store up
for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just
judgment of God” (Romans 2:5). God uses great and ineffable goodness and
long-suffering toward mankind, if only we would be willing to be vigilant toward
ourselves and strive to be totally converted to him so that we may receive the
gift of salvation.
20.
But if you wish to know God’s long-suffering and great goodness, let us learn
it from holy Scripture. Look at the Israelite fathers to whom the promises were
made, from whom Christ in the flesh came, to whom “pertained the services and
the Covenant” (Romans 9:5). How much have they sinned? How many times turned
away? Nevertheless, God himself did not abandon them forever, but at certain
times for their own good he subjected them to chastisements. Desiring to soften
the hardness of their heart through affliction, he converted and admonished
them. He sent them the prophets. How long, above all, did he show himself
magnanimous toward sinners and those who offended him and nevertheless he
received those with joy who turned back to him. And when they again turned
themselves away, he did not give up on them but he called them back through the
prophets to conversion. And when they, over and over again, turned away from him
and later converted back again to him, he gently bore with them and kindly
received them back, until finally they committed the great sin of laying hands
on their very own Lord whom they were expecting according to the tradition of
the fathers and the holy prophets, namely, the Redeemer, the Savior, King, and
Prophet.
For
when he came, they did not receive him, but on the contrary they treated him
with great ignominy and shame. Finally they inflicted upon him the punishment of
the cross. And in this so great an offense, this terrifying transgression, their
sins reached the limit and fullness of crime. And thus finally they were
deserted. The Holy Spirit left them when the veil of the Temple was rent in two.
And so their Temple was handed over to the Gentiles, destroyed and made desolate
according to the Lord’s saying: “There shall not be left one stone upon
another which shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2). And thus they finally
were given over to the Gentiles and dispersed throughout the whole earth by the
kings who led them into captivity, and so they were forbidden ever to return to
their own homes.
21.
And so, even now, God is good and kind. He shows himself long-suffering toward
each one of us. He sees how much each of us offends him and yet he tranquilly
waits until man is converted from sin, and then he is filled with great love and
joy. For this is what it means: “There is joy over one sinner that repents”
(Luke 15:15), and again: “It is no part of your heavenly Father’s plan that
a single one of these little ones shall ever come to grief” (Matthew 18:14).
If
anyone, receiving such immense goodness and gentleness of God shown him, would
not accept the remission of his every offense, hidden or manifest, while God
regards him without a word as he holds out to him repentance, such a person, I
say, would be abusing God’s kindness by remaining hardened in his sins. In
fact, he would add sin to sin. He would join sloth to sloth, heaping one offense
upon another. Such a one reaches the limits of his sinning by coming finally to
such wickedness that he can no longer extricate himself from its burden. He is
crushed, and,
delivered over externally to the evil one, he perishes.
22.
This is what happened to those of Sodom. They committed many sins and refused to
be converted until they committed, by their wicked design upon the angels, that
crime of sodomy. They fell so terribly that they could no longer repent, and
they were finally rejected for good. For they filled up the limits of sins and
even exceeded them. For this reason they were consumed with fire by divine
judgment. And so also it was in the days of Noah when the people committed such
great sins.
They
did not repent. They fell into such enormous sins that finally the whole earth
perished. So with the Egyptians. They offended God greatly, committing sins
against God’s people. Still God showed them his mercy by not inflicting upon
them such punishments that would have totally destroyed them. Rather, for their
chastisement, conversion, and repentance, he inflicted upon them smaller plagues
as a flagellation. He bore them patiently, waiting for their repentance. But,
after they sinned in so many ways against God’s people, they did show some
repentance. But then they changed their minds and fell back into their willful
evil ways. They oppressed the people of God with many hardships until, finally,
when God with great miracles led his people out of Egypt through Moses, they
committed the serious sin of pursuing God’s people. Because of this, God’s
judgment completely decimated and destroyed them. They were drowned in the
waters since God judged them unworthy even of remaining in life.
23.
In the same way, as we said above, the people of Israel corrupted themselves by
many crimes and sins. They killed God’s prophets and perpetrated other crimes,
infinitely worse, while God quietly waited for their repentance. He used much
gentleness. But finally they committed such a sin that they were so crushed that
they did not rise again. They laid their hands on the dignity of the Lord. For
this reason they were completely deserted and rejected. They lost prophecy,
priesthood, and the cult of God. These were given to the believing Gentiles as
the Lord says: “The Kingdom shall be taken from you and will be given to a
nation that will bring forth its fruits” (Matthew 21:43). Up to that time God
bore with them. He did not forsake but showed compassion toward them. However,
when they reached the limit of their sinning by laying hands on the majesty of
the Lord, then they were completely abandoned by God.
24.
We have dealt with these things, beloved, at some length, showing from Sacred
Scripture the necessity for us to turn in conversion quickly and hasten to the
Lord who gently awaits us to set aside completely all wickedness and evil
preoccupation. He receives us with great joy for he does not wish to see us
increasing day after day our contempt toward him nor for us to increase our
accumulated sins so as to incur the wrath of God upon us. Let us, therefore,
strive to approach him with a truly converted heart, not despairing that we will
ever attain salvation (for such a thought itself is evil and depraved). The
remembrance of our past sins can easily lead us to despair, to sloth,
negligence, and resignation that we may not be converted to the Lord and ever
attain salvation, even though the great goodness of the Lord covers the whole
human race.
25.
But if it truly seems difficult and impossible to us that we can ever be
converted from such a great multitude of sins because we are caught in their
grasp, a temptation, as we described above, of evil and a sure obstacle to our
salvation, let us recall and seriously consider how our Lord, while on this
earth, restored sight to the blind, cured the paralytics, healed every sickness.
He raised the dead, already decaying and disintegrating. He made the deaf to
hear and drove out a legion of devils from one man and restored him to full
mental health after such madness. How much more, therefore, will he not convert
a soul that turns back to him, seeking from him mercy and in need of his help?
Will he not bring such a soul into a freedom from passions and a permanence in
all virtues with a renewed mind? Will he not lead it to health and inner
insight, to thoughts of peace, freed from the blindness, deafness, and death of
unbelief, ignorance, and rashness, bringing such a soul to a virtuous moderation
and to purity of heart? For he, who created the body, made also the soul and
when he walked this earth, he gave help and health to those who approached and
begged him for such favors. He granted with generosity and kindness such
healings for he was the good and only true physician. So it is with spiritual
matters.
26.
If, then, he was moved with such great mercy toward bodies which were to
dissolve and die again and if he provided promptly and kindly for each one
whatever he asked, how much more when it is a question of an immortal,
imperishable, and incorruptible soul, overwhelmed by the sickness of ignorance,
wickedness, unfaithfulness, rashness, and all the other passions of sin? When it
comes, nevertheless, to the Lord, seeking of him help and fixing its gaze on his
mercy, desiring to receive of him the grace of the Spirit for its redemption and
salvation and freedom from all evil and passion, will he not give more quickly
and promptly his healing liberation according to his word: “How much more
shall your heavenly Father avenge those who cry unto him day and night?” (Luke
18:7). And he adds, saying: “Yes, I say unto you, he will avenge them
speedily” (Luke 18:8). And in another place he exhorts: “Ask and you will
receive. For all who ask receive, and whoever seeks, finds, and whoever knocks,
it will be opened unto him” (Matthew 7:78). And a little farther he adds:
“How much more your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask
him” (Luke 11:9). “Truly, I say to you, even though he will not give it to
him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and
give him as much as he needs” (Luke 11:8).
27.
In all that has been said in these pages he has exhorted us to seek from him
without shame, incessantly and unflaggingly, his gift of grace. It was indeed
for sinners that he came in order to convert them to himself and to bring
healing to all who would believe in him. We need only to get rid in our lives of
all evil pursuits, as best we can, and despise evil works. Let us have nothing
to do with wicked and vain talk and in all things let us with all our might
cling to him.
He
certainly is ready to give us his help. We have proof of this in the fact that
he is merciful and comes to bring life. He heals incurable passions and gives
redemption to those who call upon him, to those who turn away from all worldly
attachment as best they can, freely wishing to do so by forcing their mind away
from earthly cares and holding fast to him with eager desire.
To
such a soul he gives his strength provided such a person values all other things
as unnecessary. He clings to nothing of this world but hopefully seeks to find
rest and happiness in the tranquility of his kindness. And thus through such
faith he obtains the heavenly gift. All his desires are satisfied in perfect
assurance through grace. Consequently, he serves the Holy Spirit with pleasing
constancy.
He
daily makes progress in goodness and persevering to the end in the way of
righteousness; he never yields to any shape or form of evil. He never offends
grace in any matter. He is deemed worthy to enter into eternal salvation with
all the saints with whom he has lived in the world as a friend and companion in
imitation of their lives. Amen.
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