THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
There is nothing better than such goodwill. Do not grieve, he says, that I am far from you. The Lord is with you. And he did not say, "with you," but, "with your spirit."
The help is twofold: from the grace of the Spirit and from God, who works together with it. Otherwise God cannot be with us if spiritual grace is not in us. If it leaves us, how will He be with us?
"Grace be with" us. "Amen." Finally he asks grace also for himself. That is, he asks that we may always be pleasing to God and have grace with its gifts. If it is present with us, nothing will be grievous.
A man who sees the king and enjoys his favor feels no grief. So also we, even if we lose friends or suffer some other calamity, will feel no grief if grace is with us and guards us.
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How, then, can one draw grace to oneself? By doing what is pleasing to God and obeying Him in all things. In great houses, do we not see which servants enjoy their masters' favor?
They are those who care with their whole soul and all zeal, not for their own needs, but for their masters'. They do everything well, not only under compulsion from their masters, but through their own zeal and fervor.
They are favored when they are constantly before their masters' eyes, when they attend to the house, when they are not anxious about their own affairs, and when they do not seek their own advantage, but count their master's affairs as their own.
Thus the man who has made his own things his master's has not made his own his master's, but has made his master's things his own. Like the master, he administers his property. Like him, he exercises authority.
Many of the other servants fear him more than the master. What he says, the master says. All the master's enemies fear him.
If, in worldly matters, the man who despises his own and cares for his master's does not lose his own, but receives more, how much more is this true in spiritual matters?
Despise your own things, and you will receive God's things. He Himself desires this. Despise the earth, and you will receive the kingdom of heaven. Dwell there, not here. Inspire fear from there, not here.
If you inspire fear from there, you will be fearsome not only to men, but also to demons and to the devil himself. If you inspire fear here by your wealth, you will be despised not only by them, but often by men.
The richer you become, the more you will be enslaved. But if you despise what belongs to slaves, you will become glorious in the royal house.
Such were the Apostles. They despised the dwelling of slaves and earthly wealth. See how they administered the Master's treasures.
Let this man, they said, be healed of illness. Let another be freed from evil spirits. Let that one be bound, and this one loosed. This took place on earth, yet it was accomplished as though in heaven.
"Whatever you bind on earth," the Lord said to them, "shall be bound in heaven" (Mt 18:18). He granted them even greater authority.
That I speak the truth, hear what He Himself said: "He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do" (Jn 14:12).
Why? Because in this case the honor returns to the Master. So it is in our affairs also.
When a servant is able to accomplish great things, his master is admired still more. If the servant can do so much, how much more can the one who has him in his power do?
But if someone abandons service to his master and cares only for his wife, son, or servant, and wishes to enrich them by stealing from his master's treasures or harming them, he will soon destroy both himself and his wealth.
Therefore, I exhort you, seeing such examples, let us not care for our own goods, so that we may care for ourselves. Let us despise them, so that we may receive them.
If we despise them, God Himself will care for them. If we care for them, God will despise them.
Let us care for God's things, not for our own, or rather also for our own, since what is His is also ours. I do not mean heaven, earth, or worldly things.
These are unworthy of Him. They belong not only to us, but also to unbelievers. What, then, do I call His property? Glory and the kingdom. These are both His and ours through Him.
How? "If we died with Him," says the Apostle, "we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Tim 2:11-12).
We have become fellow heirs and are called His brothers. Why, then, do we bend ourselves down to the ground when He draws us upward to Himself?
How long shall we so abase ourselves? How long shall we be so wretched? Heaven lies before us, and we crawl upon the earth.
The heavenly kingdom lies before us, and we choose the poverty found here. Eternal life lies before us, and we exhaust ourselves over trees, stones, and fields.
Become rich; I desire this too. But become rich only in that. Gather and acquire there. There this is not blameworthy. On the contrary, there it is blameworthy not to gather, and there it is shameful not to acquire.
How so? "The kingdom of heaven," says the Lord, "is taken by force, and the forceful seize it" (Mt 11:12). Be a forceful seeker there. Be a plunderer there. What is seized there does not diminish.
Virtue is not divided. Piety is not diminished, nor is the kingdom of heaven. On the contrary, virtue increases when you seize it. Material goods, however, diminish when you seize them.
This is clear from the following. Let there be countless people in a city. If all seize virtue and righteousness, they will increase them, because virtue will be in thousands of righteous people.
If they do not seize them, they will diminish them, because virtue will be visible nowhere. Do you see how spiritual goods increase still more when they are seized, while earthly goods diminish when they are seized?
Let us not be attached to this poverty, but let us choose that wealth. God's wealth consists in many enjoying His kingdom. "Rich," says the Apostle, "to all" and upon all "who call upon Him" (Rom 10:12).
Increase His wealth. You will increase it when you seize, acquire, and seek forcefully. Truly, forceful seeking is needed here.
Why? Because many obstacles appear here: wives, children, cares, worldly affairs, and besides these, demons and the very ruler of demons, the devil.
Therefore force is needed, and patience is needed. The man who uses force labors. How? He endures everything and struggles against necessity.
How? He resolves upon what is almost impossible. If forceful seekers act in this way, while we do not even undertake what is possible, when shall we attain and receive what we desire?
"The forceful," said the Lord, "seize" the kingdom of heaven. One must use force and seize it. It is not simply given, nor is it given all at once.
A man who wishes to seize something is always watchful, sober, careful, and anxious to approach the seizure at the proper moment.
Do you not see how, in war, the man who wishes to seize something does not sleep for a whole day and does not put off his armor all night?
If those who wish to seize worldly things stay awake all night and remain armed, how do we, who desire goods worthy of far greater care, spiritual goods, sleep carelessly even by day and remain always naked and unarmed?
Indeed, whoever lives in sins is unarmed and naked. By contrast, whoever lives according to righteousness is armed.
But we do not fortify ourselves with almsgiving. We do not prepare burning lamps for ourselves. We do not clothe ourselves in spiritual armor. We do not learn the road that leads to heaven. We are not sober, nor watchful.
Therefore we cannot seize anything. Does not the man who wishes to take a kingdom set before himself innumerable mortal dangers?
Does he not arm himself? Does he not learn the art of war? Does he not take every measure for this and thus hasten toward the goal?
We do not act in this way. We wish to seize the kingdom of heaven while giving ourselves to sleep. Therefore we go away empty-handed.
Do you not see how those who seize something run, how they hasten, how they overthrow every obstacle? One must run quickly.
Otherwise the devil will overtake you and command those ahead to hold you back. But if you are strong and vigilant, you will thrust one aside with your foot and push another away with your hand.
You will escape them all like a bird. When you depart from here and pass beyond the marketplace filled with great noise, which is this present life, you will reach what is above all this, the life to come.
There, as in a desert, there is no noise. There is no one to trouble you or hold you back.
Have you acquired some good thing? After acquiring it, you need only a little effort so as not to lose what you acquired.
If we run, if we look at none of the things before our eyes, and if we care for nothing except how to escape the one who holds us back, we will be able to keep safely what we acquired.
Have you acquired chastity? Then do not stand still. Run. Flee from the devil. If he sees that he cannot overtake you, he will not pursue you.
So it is with us. When those who have seized something disappear from our sight, we lose hope of anything further. We neither pursue them ourselves nor ask others to hold them back, but leave them to flee from us.
In the same way, you also must run quickly from the very beginning. When you are far from the devil, he will no longer pursue you. You will be safe and will enjoy the ineffable good things without fear.
May we all be counted worthy of them, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, dominion, honor, and worship, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.