Part I, section 12 of 20

Why does the Lord allow there to be poor? For your good, so that you may be cleansed from your sins and expiate them, "for alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin"; so that you may win suppliants who will pray for you in the persons of those upon whom you bestow your charity, so that the Lord may be merciful to you. " Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."

Why does the Lord allow people to be poor? For the same reason, amongst others, that He does not make you righteous all at once according to your wish. God might have made all men well off, even rich; but then a great forgetfulness of God would have arisen, and pride, envy, etc., would have increased. And you would have thought too highly of yourself had the Lord made you soon righteous. But as sin humbles you, showing you your great infirmity, impurity, and constant need of God and His grace, so likewise the poor man is humbled by poverty and his need of other people. If the poor were to be enriched, many of them would forget God and their benefactors, would ruin their souls in the luxury of this world. So destructive are riches, and so do they blind the spiritual vision! They make the heart gross and ungrateful!

Thoughts in the street, during a walk, at the sight of the rising moon. I gratify you in everything, says the Lord: I have created you after Mine own image and likeness; I have made the sun, the moon, and the stars shine for you; I have created the earth with all its fruits for you; I have diffused the air for you to breathe; I have given you fire to light and warm you, and to cook your food; I have given you various kinds of sweet food and drink; I have taught you how to make many and various tissues for your clothing, and have given you materials for this purpose; I have given you gold, silver, copper, and other metals in the bosom of the earth, for money and other objects; I have gathered you together in well-organised communities; I have given you a sovereign after Mine own heart, Mine anointed, My likeness upon earth; lastly, I have given you Mine only Begotten Son—have given Him to die for you; have given Him, by His own will, to you for food and drink. I have founded the Church upon earth under His supremacy; what have you done and what are you doing for Me? How do you recompense Me for all My goodness? By forgetting Me, by ingratitude towards Me, by denying Me, by despising My laws! "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?

Thy name, Lord, is Almighty, because Thou holdest not only heaven and earth, but also all mankind, the life of every man, the hearts of all in Thy Hand; and not only the life of every man, but also of every beast, bird, fish, insect, worm, reptile, and of every infusoria invisible to the eye. Glory to Thine infinite Omnipotence, Lord! Glory to Thine All-merciful, Most-wise, and All-powerful Providence! Lord of heaven and earth! Almighty Sovereign! Thou likewise holdest in Thy Hand all hell, with Satan and his innumerable hordes; and it is only by Thy permission, for our instruction and punishment, that Satan and his angels can lay their snares for us. As soon as we pray to Thee our Saviour, as soon as we unfeignedly repent before Thee of our sins, Thou, having taught us, sendest away our enemies from us, saying: " You have done enough evil to My servants; they belong to Me again." Thus, Lord, if Thine unceasing benefits and mercies to us do not teach us, what remains to be done? It only remains for Thee to teach us by chastisement, by bitterness, by oppression, by fire, and by our own wickedness—we sensual men, who love space, freedom, vain carnal freshness; who are slothful, negligent, and evil by nature.

The world is in a state of slumber, of sinful sleep. It sleeps. God rouses it by wars, by deadly epidemics, fires, destructive storms, earthquakes, inundations, bad harvests.

"We sing the angelic hymn to Thee, O Mighty One! Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O God! Through the Mother of God have mercy upon us." You thus praise God together with the angels. You are one assembly, one church, one family of God's with them by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore you ought also to live like the angels, in constant watchfulness over yourself and the souls of the spiritual children entrusted to your care. You must unceasingly praise and thank the Lord; you must be always striving after holiness; you must live in abstinence and fasting, in all humble-mindedness, obedience, and patience. May it be thus with you, by the Lord's grace!

What shall I bring to Thee, Lord, for all Thy mercies which Thou continually bestowest so bountifully upon me? My faith alone, for I have no works that shall justify me; I have done no good thing before Thee. But even my faith is also Thy gift. Receive Thine own of Thine own offered Thee, for everything is Thine, and we are all Thine. Thou art our most perfect Prototype. "Of Thine unspeakable glory I an image am, and though I bear offences' scars, compassionate Thy creature, Lord, and cleanse me in Thy tenderness, and the desired Fatherland give Thou to me, a citizen of Paradise me making once again." Take from us carnal passions, " so that we, trampling upon all carnal lusts, may follow a spiritual manner of life, both thinking and doing always such things as shall well please Thee."

Lord! as it is natural to the Prototype to attach, to assimilate to Itself Its images, to abide and to live in them, so, likewise, it ought to be natural to those who are created after Thine image to yearn with all their love, with all their ardour, after their Prototype, and to attach themselves to It. But our greedy, sensual flesh, gross and inert, withdraws us from Thee. Fasting and abstinence are necessary for us whilst we crave after sensual gratifications. Strengthen us in abstinence.

When Christ is in our heart, we are contented with everything: what has been discomfort to us becomes the greatest comfort, what was bitter to us becomes sweet, poverty becomes wealth, our hunger is satisfied, and our sorrow turns into joy! But when Christ is not in the heart, then the man is not contented with anything, he does not find happiness in anything: neither in health nor in comfort, nor in ranks and honours, nor in amusements, nor in rich palaces, nor in a luxuriously served table covered with all kinds of viands and drinks, nor in rich attire—in nothing. Ah! how necessary for the man is Christ, the Life-giver and Saviour of our souls! How necessary it is for Christ's sake—in order that He should dwell within us—for us to hunger and thirst, to sleep less, to dress more simply, and to bear everything with a quiet, peaceful, patient, meek spirit. The wicked fowler of our souls—the Devil, seeks at every moment to ensnare our souls; trying how he can wound us by some sin, by some passion; how he can implant some sinful habit or passion more firmly within us, so as to make the salvation of our soul as difficult as possible, so as to produce in us a coldness towards God, towards holy things, towards the Church, towards eternity, and towards mankind.

The Lord has created me, has brought me from nonentity into being, and after I had fallen, has restored me through His sufferings and death; He has cleansed me, a sinner, has made me His son by adoption; He has promised me the inheritance of eternal bliss; He has enlightened me through the light of His Gospel; He punishes and forgives me like a father; He lights me with the sun; He gives me daily food and drink; and above all He gives me His sweetest and life-giving food—His Body and Blood; He has diffused air for me to breathe, and above all He has poured upon me His Holy Spirit. He clothes me in beauteous garments; above all, He inwardly clothes me with Himself, as it is said: "For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ." He gives me rest in a spacious and clean dwelling, and promises me an eternal, resplendent abode in the heavens; He endows me with health: above all, He gives me spiritual health in abundance, through prayer and especially through the Holy Sacraments and other means. What shall I render to Him for all this? What can I do for Him in return? I cannot do anything, except to be faithful to Him with all my might, through fulfilling His Commandments and by offering a firm and unchanging resistance to sin and the Devil.

If it were not for Thy salvation, Lord, if it were not for Thy beneficence, we should have burned in the furnace of our own passions, Satan would have finally corrupted and tormented us, and we should not have found any comfort or joy in life. "If the Lord were not with us, we none could have withstood the enemy's attacks " "For they that overcome are thereby exalted."

But now we are comforted by Thy mercy, by Thy grace, which Thou hast won for us by Thy sufferings, by Thy Blood, by Thy death for us. Glory to Thee for this, Lover of men! But how will it be with those Christians who do not wish to know Thee, Thy Commandments, Thy teaching? Woe unto them!

What would it be, my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, if the light of Thy Godhead were to shine forth from Thy most pure Mysteries, when they rest upon the Holy Altar, or on the holy disk during the Liturgy, or in the tabernacle, or in the pyx, when the priest carries them upon his breast going to or coming from a sick person? Before such a light, all those who saw it would prostrate themselves to earth in fear, for even the angels cover their faces from fear of Thine inaccessible glory! But meanwhile, how indifferently some people behave towards these most heavenly Mysteries! How carelessly some persons celebrate the terrible service of the Holy Mysteries!

I must always remember my relation to God, on one side, as that of a creature to the Creator, as that of a work of art to the Artist, of a potter's vessel to the Potter; on the other side, as that of an image to its Prototype, that of a child to its Father, of one saved to the Saviour, of one loaded with benefits to the Benefactor, of one who is under the law to the Law-Giver, of one who has entered into the Testament to the Giver of the Testament, of one who is betrothed to the Bridegroom, or of a bride to the Bridegroom, of a member, of a citizen of the great city to its Chief, of one looking for the ages to come to the Father of those ages, of an accused to the Judge.

In everything and at every time strive to please God and think of the salvation of your soul from sin and from the Devil, and of its adoption by God. On rising from your bed, make the sign of the Cross and say: " In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost," and also: " Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin and teach me to do Thy Will." While washing, either at home or at the baths, say: " Purge me with hyssop, Lord, and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." When putting on your linen, think of the cleanliness of the heart, and ask the Lord for a clean heart: "Create in me a clean heart, O God!" If you have made new clothes and are putting them on, think of the renewal of the spirit and say: "Renew a right spirit within me"; laying aside old clothes, and disdaining them, think with still greater disdain of laying aside the old man, the sinful, passionate, carnal man; tasting the sweetness of bread, think of the true Bread, which gives eternal life to the soul—the Body and Blood of Christ—and hunger after this bread—that is long to communicate of it oftener; drinking water, tea, sweet-tasted mead or any other drink, think of the true drink that quenches the thirst of the soul inflamed by passions—of the most-pure and life-giving Blood of the Saviour; resting during the day, think of the eternal rest, prepared for those who wrestle and struggle against sin, against the subcelestial spirits of evil, against human injustice or rudeness and ignorance; lying down to sleep at night, think of the sleep of death, which sooner or later will unfailingly come to all of us, of that dark, eternal, terrible night, into which all impenitent sinners will be cast; meeting the day, think of the nightless day, eternal, most bright—brighter than the sunniest earthly day—the day of the kingdom of Heaven, at which all those will rejoice who have striven to please God, or who have repented before God from their whole life during this temporary life; when you are going anywhere, think of the righteousness of spiritually walking before God and say: "Order my steps in Thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me;" when doing anything, strive to do it with the thought of God, the Creator, who has made everything by His infinite wisdom, grace, and omnipotence, and has created you after His image and likeness; when you receive or have any money or treasure, think, that our inexhaustible Treasury, from which we derive all the treasures of our soul and body, the ever-flowing Source of every blessing is—God, thank Him with all your soul and do not shut up your treasures within yourself, lest you shut the entrance of your heart to the priceless and living treasure—God, but distribute part of your property amongst those who are in want to the needy, to your poor brethren, who are left in this life so that you may prove upon them your love, your gratitude to God and be rewarded for this by God in eternity; when you see the white glitter of silver, do not be allured by it, but think that your soul should be white and should shine with Christ's virtues; when you see the glitter of gold, do not be allured by it, but remember that your soul ought to be purified as gold is, by fire, and that the Lord desires to make you yourself shine like the sun, in the eternal, bright kingdom of His Father, that you will see the Sun of Righteousness—God, the Trinity, the Most-Holy Virgin, the Mother of God, and all the heavenly powers and Saints, filled with ineffable light and shining with the light poured upon them.

Lord! what shall I bring Thee? How shall I thank Thee for Thy continual great mercies to me and the rest of Thy people? For I am at every moment vivified by Thy Holy Spirit. Each moment I breathe the air Thou hast diffused—the soft, pleasant, healthful, strengthening air—I am lighted by Thy life-giving and joyful light, both spiritual and material; I am nourished and my thirst is quenched by the sweetest life-giving spiritual food and drink, by the Sacrament of Thy Body and Blood, and with the sweetness of material food and drink besides. Thou clothest me with the brightest, most splendid royal garment—with Thyself—according to the Scripture—"As many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ" —and with earthly garments also. Thou cleansest me from my transgressions, healing and cleansing me also from my evil, sinful passions. Thou takest away my spiritual corruption, through the power of Thy immeasurable holiness, wisdom, and might. Thou fillest me with Thy Holy Spirit, the Spirit of holiness and grace. Thou givest righteousness, peace and joy, expansion, power, boldness, courage, and strength to my soul. Thou bestowest precious health upon my body. Thou teachest "my hands to war and my fingers to fight" against the invisible enemies of my salvation and blessedness; against the enemies of holiness and of the power of Thy glory; against the subcelestial spirits of evil. Thou crownest me with success in my works accomplished in Thy name. For all this I thank, glorify, and bless Thy most gracious, fatherly, almighty power, God, our Saviour, our Benefactor. May the rest of Thy people know Thee as Thou hast revealed Thyself unto me, Lover of men. May they know Thee, Thy grace, Thy providence, Thy wisdom and power, and glorify Thee, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen.

"The unspeakable bliss of them that behold the infinite goodness of Thy countenance." Earthly bliss all passes away by itself, and also through vicissitudes of human life; whilst joys of heavenly bliss will never end—will be infinite. Is it not worth while, therefore, to despise all the enjoyments of this transitory world, and of this still more fleeting life, in order to strive with the whole heart after spiritual and unchangeable joys.

It is madness for a Christian to be envious. In Christ we have all received infinitely great blessings; are all made godly; are all made inheritors of the unspeakable and eternal blessings of the kingdom of heaven. And we are also promised a sufficiency of earthly blessings, upon the condition of seeking the righteousness of God and the Kingdom of God. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." We are commended to be contented with what we have, and not to be covetous. "Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have." And it is added, "For He" (the Lord) "hath said, 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.'" Is it not, therefore, madness, after this, to envy your neighbour anything—for instance, his honours, his wealth, his luxurious table, beautiful clothing, his fine house, etc.? Is not all this mere dross in comparison to that which has been given us in the image and likeness of God, according to which we were created, in our redemption by the Son of God from our sins, from the curse and from death, in the bestowal upon us again of the blessing of our Heavenly Father, and in the eternal heavenly joys united with it? Therefore let us strive to acquire mutual love, goodwill, and contentedness with what we have; friendship, hospitality, love for the poor, for the stranger, "and to attain to the summit of virtues," humility, meekness, gentleness, and holiness. Let us respect the image of God in each other, the members of Christ, our God, His Body, God's sons by adoption, the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, the dwellers with, and companions of, the angels in praising God. "That they may be one," as our God, worshipped in the Holy Trinity, is Himself one, and has created our hearts "as one" for unity—that is, simple, single.

All present things are but a shadow of the future. The present light is a shadow of the future ineffable light. Earthly bliss is a faint shadow of future unspeakable, eternal bliss; fire a faint shadow of the fire of Gehenna, which will burn sinners unto ages of ages; pure earthly joy a shadow of unspeakable future joys; the magnificent royal palaces a faint shadow of the resplendent mansions of Paradise prepared for those who love God and fulfil His commandments. The glorious attire of the sons and daughters of men cannot be compared with that glorious garment with which the elect shall be clothed, for they will put on Christ. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of the Father," according to the Saviour's sure promise.

As a child is indifferent to whatever clothes are put on it, so also the Christian, an infant in Christ, should be indifferent to the variety, richness, and beauty of his earthly garments, considering Christ, our God, his best and incorruptible garment; for an attachment to expensive, fine clothes is peculiar to the children of this world and to the heathen, as the Lord says, "For after all these things"—that is, food and fine raiment —"do the Gentiles seek"; for dress is the idol of the children of this world. O, how vain and frivolous are we, we who are called to communion with God, to whom is promised the inheritance of incorruptible and eternal blessings! How obscure is our understanding of corruptible and incorruptible blessings! How unwise we are in valuing worthless things and not prizing incorruptible blessings: our immortal soul, peace, joy, boldness before God, holiness, obedience, patience in general—all the qualities of a true Christian. "For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ." Therefore we must value spiritual blessings and valour, and despise material things as corruptible and worthless.

The sin of inattention is one to which we are, in a great degree subjected; we must not disregard it, but must repent of it; we give ourselves up to inattention, not only at home, but also in church. "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." The causes of inattention are—the Devil, and our manifold attachment to worldly, earthly things; its reason is—want of faith; the means to overcome it—fervent prayer.

There is no happiness for me on earth save the Lord Jesus Christ, with His Father and the Holy Ghost. He is my sole blessedness upon earth. After God, there is nothing on earth dearer to me (as it should be, than the human soul—it is dearer than anything else. Man is a precious being. God Himself came down from heaven upon earth for his salvation. To man He gives for food and drink His most pure Body and Blood (all Himself), only that he may become blessed, that he may not be lost. AH the fruits of the earth, the treasures of all the three kingdoms of the earth, He has given into the dominion for the use and pleasure of man. By all these immeasurable bounties the Lord has shown, and still shows, that He infinitely loves mankind, and every man separately. Let us, too, imitate God's love and bountifulness; let us be, as far as possible, merciful and bountiful, as our Heavenly Father is merciful.

Wherever I look with my spiritual vision, whether within me or upon me, or outside of me—everywhere, I see powerful reasons for thanking and praising the Lord. Especially when I look only within myself: then I see the strongest reason for doing so. The whole strength of my heart, all my spiritual light, comes from God; all my bodily strength, everything that serves to maintain my bodily life, comes from God. Everywhere I see the glory the sole glory, of my God, and see nothing in myself of which I could boast as of my own. Glory to Him Who gives me strength! Glory to Him Who works through me, and within me. As I have nothing of my own, and have everything from God, down to the smallest good inclination of my heart, down to every holy and bright thought, whilst without God I am nothing—worse than this, I am all evil; therefore I have the strongest reasons to have recourse to God in prayer for everything. I have especially powerful reasons to thank God for His most pure and life-giving Sacrament—His Body and Blood; it is everything to me. I fervently praise the Lord Jesus Christ, our God, for His unspeakable love to us mortals, revealed in the Holy Sacrament.

What an immeasurably great honour it is to mankind that they can open their lips before God; that they can converse with Him, and are able to make request to Him of their needs; to thank Him for His benefits, to praise His unspeakable magnificence, and to be assured that this sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise is agreeable to God; that our highest spiritual requests to Him relating to the salvation of our souls are always fulfilled! How immeasurably high is man exalted in this respect above all other sentient and animate creatures! No other creature has received such honour from God, though they, too, have tongues, expressing the needs of their nature; for it is said that young ravens call upon Him. Let us, therefore, make use of this great honour, in order to be worthy of a still higher honour from the Lord—of the heavenly calling. There, in heaven, shall be our full glory; whilst here its beginning only is revealed to true Christians.

On account of our corporeity and spirituality, the Lord unites His grace, even Himself, to everything visible and material, and works through everything: thus He transforms bread and wine into His own Body and Blood, or into His visible tabernacle. He changes the temple into His own house; upon the altar in the temple He invisibly sits, enthroned as a king; upon the cross He manifests Himself, as though in the same body in which He was crucified, and works miracles by means of the cross, showing His life-giving power through it. He is everywhere throughout the universe, as in a temple, and, at the same time being wholly everywhere, is not limited by any space, being always above every space and time. You marvel that He can unite His own self, or His power and His saving grace, to matter. Marvel, first of all, how He has united in man His Godly image with matter, with earth and dust; how this dust can think, speak, and diffuse around itself the fragrance of goodness, righteousness, truth, and love, and can accomplish in the common life so many wonderful, truly wonderful, deeds. Marvel also at how many various kinds of speechless souls are enclosed in the dust, gifted with some kind of sense, with a thirst after life and joy, with a feeling of self-protection, a capacity for finding themselves food, for constructing what is necessary for their safety, and for bringing their children into the world, and understanding how to defend themselves cleverly. Marvel how nearly all inanimate bodies are united with invisible, intangible powers, which sometimes move their enormous masses (as with the heavenly bodies), sometimes turn them into beautiful, and always identical, unchangeable forms (as in plants). Marvel that so many different powers are created by God; for all powers are derived from the one Single Power, and the Almighty Himself works through every power. Truly, everything appertaining to God the Creator, as to the God of wonders, is wonderful; likewise in faith—everything is wonderful, though invisible, but true and real! "The pure in heart shall see God." God is an all-seeing Eye, a spiritual Sun, standing above the world, penetrating with His spiritual eyes into the thoughts and hearts of men, enlightening every creature. Our soul is an eye from the Eye, sight from the Sight, light from the Light. But now, since our fall into sin, our eye, our soul, is diseased through sins. Take the cataract off your eye, and you will see the spiritual Sun, the everlasting Eye, ten thousand times brighter than the material sun.

How often it happens in life that a man has one thing in his heart and another upon his lips, and wears two faces at one and the same time! It is thus also during prayer, before God Himself, Who knows the secrets of the heart; a man also frequently wears two faces, saying one thing and having another in his heart and thoughts. If, which happens still oftener, when saying a prayer, although he understands it and thinks about it, he does not sympathise in his heart with that which he is saying—being dead, and thus throwing the words to the air—then he deceives himself if he believes that he can please God by such a prayer. This is strange, sinful duplicity! It is a bitter fruit and evidence of our fall into sin. It seems habitual to our heart to lie in prayer and in our intercourse with other men. The heart is a pillar of falsehood. "All men are liars." The Christian must make use of every means in order to eradicate every falsehood from his heart, and to implant pure truth within it. We must begin with prayer, as with a matter in which truth is indispensable before everything, in accordance with the Lord's own words: "Worship Him in spirit and in truth." Speak the truth from your heart. When we have learnt to speak the truth from our heart during prayer, we shall not allow ourselves to lie in our everyday life: sincere, true prayer, having cleansed our heart from falsehood, will protect it against falsehood in our relations with other men in worldly matters. How can we teach ourselves to speak the truth from our heart during prayer? We must bring every word of the prayer down to our heart, lay it to heart, feel its truth in our heart, be convinced of all our need of that for which we ask God in prayer, or of the need of hearty gratitude for His great and innumerable benefits to us, and of most heartfelt praise for His great, most wise works in His creation.

Everything that constitutes me man (the soul), lives solely by God, and only in union with Him, whilst when the soul separates itself from God, then it experiences extreme distress. But the life of my soul consists in the peace of my spiritual powers, and this peace proceeds exclusively from God. There is, it is true, carnal peace also, but it is a delusive one —the forerunner of spiritual storm—of which the Lord says: "When they shall say (to men), Peace and safety, then suddenly destruction cometh upon them "; but spiritual peace, which proceeds from the Spirit of God differs, as heaven from earth, from such carnal peace. It is heavenly blissgiving. "Peace I give you," often said the Lord to His disciples, giving them His peace, and the Apostles also gave "peace to believers," and wished them God's peace as the highest blessing, because God's peace constitutes the life of our soul, and witnesses to the union of our soul with God. The absence of peace in the soul—disturbance, by which all the passionate conditions of our soul are distinguished—is spiritual death and the sign of the action of the enemy of our salvation in our hearts.

Faith is the key of God's treasury. She dwells in simple, kind, loving hearts. "All things are possible to him that believeth." Faith is a spiritual mouth, the more freely it opens the greater the stream by which the Divine springs enter into it; let this mouth freely open, as your bodily one does; do not let your lips be compressed by doubt and unbelief: if you compress them by doubt and unbelief, the treasury of God's blessings will be closed to you. The more openly, the more heartily you believe in God's omnipotence, the more bountifully will God's heart be opened to you. "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them."

All men are the breath and the creation of the One God—from God they have come forth, and to God, as to their origin, they will return: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." "That by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." As the breath of the One God, and as having proceeded from one man, men ought, naturally, to live in mutual love, mutually caring for one another, and ought not to be divided from each other by selfishness, pride, malice, envy, avarice, or unsociability of character, "that they may be one." Look at the ants, how friendly they are; look at the bees, how friendly they are; look at the flights of pigeons, daws, rooks, crows, geese, ducks, swans, sparrows, how friendly they all are; look at a flock of sheep, and in general at any horned cattle, how friendly they all are. Think of the innumerable shoals of some sorts of fishes in the seas and rivers, which always like to move in shoals, how friendly they are. Think also how zealously they all take care of each other, help each other, love each other—and be shamed by the dumb creatures, you who do not live in love with others and flee from the obligation of bearing one another's burdens.

God is long-suffering and merciful to you: this you experience many times every day. Be long-suffering and merciful to your brethren, also fulfilling the words of the Apostle, who thus speaks of charity before everything: "Charity suffereth long, and is kind." You desire that the Lord should rejoice you by His love, rejoice on your part the hearts of others by your tender love and kindness.

God is love, a most-gracious, all-wise and omnipotent Being. Therefore, those who pray must believe that the Lord will give all things needful, bountifully, as He is loving, and bountiful wisely, as He is All-wise; and as He is omnipotent, there and then, when we do not expect.

During Divine service, during the celebration of all the sacraments and prayers, be trustful, as a child in relation to his parents. Remember what great Fathers of the Church, what inspired luminaries, enlightened by the Holy Ghost, are guiding you! Be simple, trustful, undoubting as a child in godly matters. Cast all your care upon the Lord, and be entirely free from sorrow. "Take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father, which speaketh in you." The Lord has long ago freed us from this care, this sorrow, having taught our God-fearing Fathers by His Spirit, what to say and how to pray to the Lord at Divine service, at the celebration of the sacraments and upon various other occasions and circumstances of human life, requiring prayer to bring down a blessing from above. It ought to be easy for us to pray. Only the enemy troubles us. But what matters his troubling if our heart is firmly established in the Lord! It is only a misfortune if we do not rest in God; if there is no firm faith in us, if we have bound ourselves by worldly attachments, if our intellect is proud and presumptuous, then, even in the most holy, most pure matter of service, at the celebration and communion of the Holy Mysteries, the enemy will greatly hinder us.

Be as kind, meek, humble, and simple as possible in your intercourse with all, considering yourself not hypocritically inferior to all in respect to your spiritual condition; that is, more sinful and weaker than all. Say to yourself, "Of all sinners I am the first." From pride proceeds self-sufficiency, coldness, and insincerity in our behaviour to our inferiors, or to those from whom we do not expect to obtain any advantage.