Friday, November 1 (October 19), 2024
Philip. 1:27-2:4;  Lk.6:17-23                                              

The Lord calls blessed those who are poor, hungry, weeping, hated and reproached, under the condition that it is happening to them for the Son of man’s sake [Lk.6:21-22]; therefore, blessed is the life full of hardships and privation.

Material pleasures, affluence, honors, according to this word of the Lord, are of no value ─ and that is indeed so.  However, as long as we enjoy them, we cannot understand that; only when we escape their charm we realize that there were no good in them, but only apparition of good.  Our soul cannot live without joy, but real joys are not material; she cannot live without treasures, but real treasures are not in gold and silver, neither in fancy mansions and garment, nor in any other kind of externals; she cannot live without honor either, but the honors she needs have nothing to do with obsequiousness.

There are other joys, other riches, other honors ─ spiritual in essence, common to our soul by her very nature.  Whosoever finds them, he turns his back to those external, material things; and not only that ─ he will despise them, for they obscure the spiritual treasures, eclipse them from sight, enslave, intoxicate the soul, deceive her by their apparitions.  Therefore, he would wholeheartedly prefer living in need, hardships and oblivion, feeling himself quite well among them, as if inside a fortress, protected from delusions of this world.

Now, those who have material wealth coming their way at no effort, as if by itself, ─ what should they do?   With respect to those possessions let them be, as the Apostle said, “as though they possessed not” [1Cor. 7:30].

Read more about the author