Chrysostom
Beloved of All
The threats surrounding you are indeed fierce, yet they are like the rushing torrent of which the prophet speaks: unstable, fleeting, and soon to pass away. The rich man is poor tomorrow, and the violent man’s power is but for a moment. Do not fix your gaze on the terror of your former husband nor on the poverty that presses you; these are external waves. The true danger lies not in what can harm the body but in the neglect of the soul. Therefore, while you cry out for a safe dwelling and daily bread, I urge you to seek first a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. In the midst of this affliction, lift up your heart to Him who changes our weak and water like wills into wine, stable and full of gladness. For God often accomplishes His greatest works through what seems contrary: the flight of His own mother into Egypt became the salvation of the world. So too this trial, if you embrace it with faith, will become the very means of your deliverance.
You feel alone and long for genuine Christian friends. That longing is good, but beware of seeking company merely to ease loneliness, for the gathering of many can increase folly if not rooted in virtue. Better to stand with a few who fear the Lord than to dwell among a multitude of the careless. Pray that God will send you companions who bear the fruit of good works, stable and enduring riches, not the fleeting wealth of this world. And do not despise the solitude that drives you to your knees; there, in the secret place, you are never alone, for the Lord is a stronghold to those who fear Him.
I join my prayers to yours: that the wicked man’s eyes be blinded to your hiding place, that your children be shielded from every harm, and that your present poverty teach you the mother of health, which is a sober and thankful spirit. But my chief prayer is that this tribulation may work within you the patient endurance of which Paul speaks, an endurance that produces comfort and salvation. Whether we are afflicted, he says, it is for your comfort and salvation. So let not your heart be troubled; rather, let it be awakened. The Lord who delivered the Apostle from deadly peril hears the cry of the humble. Cease striving after the impermanent; cling to the Rock that never fails. And may the God of mercies, who hears the prayers of His people, grant you swift deliverance and, above all, the salvation of your soul.
You feel alone and long for genuine Christian friends. That longing is good, but beware of seeking company merely to ease loneliness, for the gathering of many can increase folly if not rooted in virtue. Better to stand with a few who fear the Lord than to dwell among a multitude of the careless. Pray that God will send you companions who bear the fruit of good works, stable and enduring riches, not the fleeting wealth of this world. And do not despise the solitude that drives you to your knees; there, in the secret place, you are never alone, for the Lord is a stronghold to those who fear Him.
I join my prayers to yours: that the wicked man’s eyes be blinded to your hiding place, that your children be shielded from every harm, and that your present poverty teach you the mother of health, which is a sober and thankful spirit. But my chief prayer is that this tribulation may work within you the patient endurance of which Paul speaks, an endurance that produces comfort and salvation. Whether we are afflicted, he says, it is for your comfort and salvation. So let not your heart be troubled; rather, let it be awakened. The Lord who delivered the Apostle from deadly peril hears the cry of the humble. Cease striving after the impermanent; cling to the Rock that never fails. And may the God of mercies, who hears the prayers of His people, grant you swift deliverance and, above all, the salvation of your soul.
