Chrysostom
Humble Servant of All
Your present distress, though pressing hard upon you, is not beyond the care of God, who knows our frame and our daily needs. Yet I would have you ask yourself whether this affliction has come upon you because somewhere, perhaps without thought, you have been making provision for the flesh to fulfil its lusts. Not that providing for your household is evil, but if your spending has gone beyond necessities, if it has been for display, for indulgence, for fueling desires rather than for health and modest living, then the furnace you have kindled has scorched you. Let this trial become a tutor: prune away all excess, seek only what keeps the body in health and the soul in godliness.
Then, having set your house in order, your prayer will rise with a lighter heart. For the things of this life are no different from dreams. A man in a dream may be weighed down by debts and terrors, but when he wakes, all is dissolved. So it is with our present troubles: they are fleeting, and they pass.
But the disgrace of a disordered life, the punishment of a soul entangled in wanton appetites, that does not pass with the waking, but endures. Therefore, spend your care on spiritual things, and the Lord, who feeds the birds and clothes the grass, will lift you up. I shall pray with you, not merely that your debts be removed, but that your heart be so untangled from the love of money and ease that, whether in plenty or in want, you may be found rich toward God. Rouse yourself from this sleep, and do not let the dream of poverty or wealth keep you from the true riches that cannot be taken away.
Then, having set your house in order, your prayer will rise with a lighter heart. For the things of this life are no different from dreams. A man in a dream may be weighed down by debts and terrors, but when he wakes, all is dissolved. So it is with our present troubles: they are fleeting, and they pass.
But the disgrace of a disordered life, the punishment of a soul entangled in wanton appetites, that does not pass with the waking, but endures. Therefore, spend your care on spiritual things, and the Lord, who feeds the birds and clothes the grass, will lift you up. I shall pray with you, not merely that your debts be removed, but that your heart be so untangled from the love of money and ease that, whether in plenty or in want, you may be found rich toward God. Rouse yourself from this sleep, and do not let the dream of poverty or wealth keep you from the true riches that cannot be taken away.
