You pray for this man's health and strength, and rightly so, for these are good things. Yet consider what produces true health and a cheerful countenance. A body enfeebled by luxury, or a mind weighed down by ten thousand worldly anxieties, cannot sustain either bloom of complexion or peace of soul. You know that as when the air is smiling it makes a beautiful house look splendid, so cheerfulness of mind added to a fair countenance makes it better. But diseases and pains produce low spirits, and these are often born from a body too delicate through great luxury, or a soul exhausted by the cares of this life. So even for the sake of the health you desire, flee the excess and the anxious fretting that ruin it. True strength comes not from fat, which is flabbiness, but from a disciplined life and, above all, a good conscience.
For what is the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace. This is the mother of all good things, the foundation of joy. If we have peace with God through a holy life, and if our thoughts are at rest in Him, then good spirits and joy will be ours, not from greatness of power or abundance of wealth, but from spiritual success alone. He that is conscious of wicked deeds, even if he were mounted upon the king's throne, is the most wretched of men. But the one who holds on in adoption and keeps an exact watch upon holiness is brighter and happier, having the delight of abundant peace and nurtured with goodly hopes, with no ground for worry and disturbance.
You ask for this man's peace. Then urge him, and yourself also, to be a peacemaker, for they are called the sons of God. And remember, each believer has an Angel who always beholds the face of the Father. If we have Angels, let us live soberly, as in the presence of tutors. This mystery of our faith is a mystery of peace; it allows no clinging to the anxiety of wealth or the fear of want. Let him, and you, transfer your riches to heaven now, through care for the poor and the keeping of a good conscience, sending them ahead to that inviolate and safe place where no death or plotting can take them. There is the true storehouse of health and strength. A man at peace with God is of better spirits than those who live softly, and the body will follow the soul's tranquility. Pray, then, but let that prayer be joined to a life of virtue and a heart set free from the inordinate stress of this world, for there is nothing equal to peace.