Chrysostom
Beloved Servant
You pour out many words before God, pleading for properties and possessions, for the downfall of your husband, for a new love and a child, and you mingle thanksgivings. This is not evil, for we must in all things give thanks. But listen carefully. Why do you heap up cares like this, adding tomorrow’s burden to today’s? Has not each day enough trouble of its own? Your body shakes, your chest aches, and you swallow medicines for panic, yet you increase the weight by grasping for land and money and vengeance. Where is your trust in Him who clothes the grass and feeds the sparrows? You want the jury to give you everything, because you say he has money and you have love, and it is easier for him to find another home. But is this love, or the mask of covetousness? The eyes of the greedy cannot endure to see another keep his own; they make enemies of all, fill the mind with plots and sleepless nights, and turn the soul into a wild beast. True safety is not in winning a lawsuit but in a conscience clear before God. The one who walks in righteousness fears no neighbor, no threat, no sudden terror. Examine yourself: if you have suffered wrong, that is grievous, but to demand beyond what justice mixed with mercy allows is to become the very thing you hate. Remember, if God dealt with us according to strict justice, we would have perished at once. Yet He shows kindness. Should you not also show a measure of mercy, even as you seek protection from abuse?
As for the secret whispers and sweet conversations you speak of, and your desire to have a rare baby with this man, flee from that path while you are still bound in marriage. God’s nuptial chamber is undefiled; love that hides in shadow and plans for a child outside lawful wedlock is not of Him. The beauty that never fades is a soul adorned with self-control, not stolen affections. If this man’s words are true, let him prove it by patience and chastity until you are truly free, and let all be done openly and honorably. Your body’s pains and panic are symptoms of a heart torn by worldly strivings and perhaps by desires that war against the soul. Lay them before the Physician of souls, and ask not merely for houses or a new husband, but for a cleansed heart and the peace that passes all understanding. Pray for your husband’s repentance, not his ruin. Commend the elderly woman to God, and pray for Jerusalem’s peace, these are good. But cast the whole burden of your life on the Lord, who knows your need before you ask. Then, though the earth shakes, you will sleep in safety.
As for the secret whispers and sweet conversations you speak of, and your desire to have a rare baby with this man, flee from that path while you are still bound in marriage. God’s nuptial chamber is undefiled; love that hides in shadow and plans for a child outside lawful wedlock is not of Him. The beauty that never fades is a soul adorned with self-control, not stolen affections. If this man’s words are true, let him prove it by patience and chastity until you are truly free, and let all be done openly and honorably. Your body’s pains and panic are symptoms of a heart torn by worldly strivings and perhaps by desires that war against the soul. Lay them before the Physician of souls, and ask not merely for houses or a new husband, but for a cleansed heart and the peace that passes all understanding. Pray for your husband’s repentance, not his ruin. Commend the elderly woman to God, and pray for Jerusalem’s peace, these are good. But cast the whole burden of your life on the Lord, who knows your need before you ask. Then, though the earth shakes, you will sleep in safety.
