Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 2

A monk who truly sets out to serve God, according to Wisdom, must prepare his soul against temptation lest he might at any time become separated from God or be overwhelmed by what happens to him. He must also believe that nothing happens without the providence of God. And since, in the providence of God, everything that happens is surely good and for the advantage of the soul, everything that happens is for our good and happens because God loves us and protects us. And we should, as the apostle says, “give thanks in all things for his goodness to us” and not drag ourselves down or lose heart about what happens to us but accept the events convinced, as I have said, that all those things that God does to us, he always does out of goodness because he loves us. And what he does is always right. Indeed, it would be impossible for things to go well otherwise except for this mercy of God.

Spiritual Instructions 13:138

But as soon as the soul begins to love heavenly things, as soon as it gathers itself with complete attention toward the vision of inner peace, that ancient adversary who fell from heaven grows envious, and begins to lay more snares, and brings on sharper temptations than he was accustomed to, so that often he tempts the resisting soul as he had never tempted it before when he possessed it. Hence it is written: "Son, when you come to the service of God, stand in justice and fear, and prepare your soul for temptation." Hence also the demoniac who is healed by the Lord is torn apart by the departing demon, as it is written: "And crying out and greatly tearing him, it went out from him." For what does it mean that the ancient enemy, who had not torn apart the possessed man while he held him, tore him apart as he was leaving, except that often when he is expelled from the heart, he generates sharper temptations in it than he had previously stirred up when he possessed it in peace? Hence also the Israelites say to Moses and Aaron: "May the Lord see and judge, because you have made our odor stink before Pharaoh and his servants, and you have given him a sword to kill us." For in Moses and Aaron the law and the prophets are prefigured. And often the weak soul murmurs within itself as if against the sacred utterances, because after it has begun to hear and follow heavenly words, the adversity of the Egyptian king, that is, the temptation of the evil spirit, increases.

Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1

When the merits of the elect increase, the envy of the ancient enemy also immediately increases. It seeks either imperceptibly by himself, or openly through people who are subjected to his wickedness, to suffocate the incipient seeds of piety. Therefore, after having promised to the disciples the courage to preach, the Lord reveals the persecutions that would come on the part of those who would resist their preaching. In fact, he adds, “I have said this so you will not be shocked. They will chase you out of the synagogues.” Their loving Master wanted his disciples to know in advance the future hostility of the wicked, so that when it appeared it would cause them less harm, given that usually we more easily endure the adversities that we can foresee. The evils that happen to one who is not prepared and does not know what is coming often cause a more precipitous fall from their state of security. Here is the warning Solomon provides: “Son, when you come to the service of God, stand firm in justice and in fear, and prepare your soul for temptations.” And our Savior reminds his disciples that not only will they be cast out from fellowship with their fellow citizens but also they will be confronted with mortal peril. In fact, he continues, “But the hour has come in which anyone who kills you will think he is doing something in service to God.” The Jews believed they were doing something in service to God when they, full of hatred, were persecuting the ministers of the New Testament to the death, according to the testimony of the apostle: “They desire to please God, but not in an illuminated way.” And, he says about himself: “I myself believed it was my duty to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, as I did in Jerusalem.” Therefore, after predicting the torments they would experience from their adversaries, in order to console his disciples, the Lord immediately adds, “But the hour has come in which each one who kills you will think he is doing something in service to God,” as if he were saying: accept the tribulations brought on you by your fellow citizens, but accept them even more so knowing that they are not so much inflicted on you out of hatred against you as out of zeal for the law of God.

Homilies on the Gospels 2:16

God often holds some kind of threat over our heads—not so that he may inflict it on us but so that he can draw us to himself. When we return to him, the fear quickly dissipates. Certainly, if we were the same person in temptations that we are when at ease, there would be no need for temptations.But why do I speak of us? Since even those saints of old learned a great lesson, as the prophet says, “It was good for me that you humbled me.” And Jesus likewise said to the apostles, “In the world you will have tribulation.” And Paul alludes to just this when he says, “A thorn in the flesh was given to me; the messenger of Satan to buffet me.” Therefore when he looked for deliverance from temptation, he did not obtain it, because of the greater benefit that would follow from it. And if we should rehearse the whole life of David, we would find him more glorious when he was in danger—both he and everyone else who was like him. For such was the case with Job, who shined more brightly during his troubles, and Joseph too in this way became the more approved, and Jacob also, and his father likewise and his father’s father. For all those who ever donned such crowns of peculiar glory, it was by tribulations and temptations that they first won their crowns. Only then did they have their names recited. Being conscious of all these things, according to the wise saying, let us “not be hasty in time of calamity.” Rather, let us teach ourselves only one thing: how to bear all nobly and not to be curious or inquisitive about any of the things that are happening. For to know when our tribulations will be over and done with belongs to God who permits them to happen to us. But to bear what is brought on us, with all thankfulness, is all the work of a good disposition on our part. And if this is the case, then all our blessings will follow.

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 10:8

Regarding the punishment God inflicts on us, we hear, “When we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” Regarding the just, however, he says, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” In yet again in another place, the blessed apostle Paul—after having mentioned that he had been taken up to the third heaven and to paradise where he had heard ineffable words—adds immediately, “And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ ” With even greater clarity another passage of the Scriptures that sounds quite similar says, “Gold and silver are refined in the fire, the just, however, in the furnace of humiliation.” This is because, after the just have felt the heat of temptation and been weighed down by the burden of tribulations, there will be not even the slightest rise in them of pride over the merits of the justice they have received for their past actions, knowing that they will soon be rewarded with the very price of immortality. Indeed, the just become even more commendable in Christ when in good will they persevere in humility as those who are rich in sacred virtue and humble in heart.

To Benivolus 51-53

We know that even the saints have been given over in the flesh to Satan and to great afflictions for some very slight faults, since the divine mercy will not suffer the very least spot or stain to be found in them on the day of judgment. He purges every spot of filth they have while in this world as the prophet, or rather God himself says, in order that he may commit them to eternity as gold or silver refined and needing no punishment for purification. “And,” he says, “I will entirely purge your dross, and I will take away all your tin. And after this you will be called the city of the just, a faithful city.” And again: “Just as silver and gold are tried in the furnace, so the Lord chooses the hearts.” And again, “The fire tries gold and silver, but human beings are tried in the furnace of humiliation.” And this also, “For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every child whom he receives.”

Conferences 1:7.25

“Listen, O God, to my prayer, while I am troubled; from fear of the enemy deliver my soul.” Enemies have raged against the martyrs. For what was that voice of Christ’s body praying? It was praying for this: to be delivered from enemies and praying that enemies might not have power to kill them. Were they not therefore listened to because they were killed, and has God forsaken his servants who have contrite hearts and despised those who hope in him? Certainly not. For “who has called on God and been forsaken; who has hoped in him and been deserted by him?” Therefore, they were heard, and they were killed—and yet, they were delivered from their enemies. Others who were afraid gave in and lived, and yet these same people were swallowed up by their enemies. The slain were delivered, the living were swallowed up. This is what that recognizable voice of the psalmist is referring to when it says, “Perhaps they would have devoured us alive.” Many, in fact, were devoured alive, but many others were devoured dead. The ones who considered Christianity as foolish were already dead, in fact, by the time they came to devour them.

Expositions of the Psalms 63:2

“And God conceded to Daniel to find compassion and mercy in the presence of the chief eunuch.” Divine providence is, in fact, a consequence of our free will. Thus, as soon as I choose the divine will, I will enjoy divine help. The same thing also happened in the life of Joseph, as it is said, “But the Lord was with Joseph. He was a successful man, and the Lord poured mercy on him, and he found favor in the eyes of the jailer.” And thus it is also taught in this case that God never abandons or neglects even one of those who confide in him. For this reason also another prophet cries out: “Consider the past generations, and reflect: who ever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame?”

Commentary on Daniel 1:9

Know that God is working in you both to will and to do, according to a good will. Therefore, attend to your salvation with fear and trembling. Humble yourself before the Lord so that he may exalt you. Ask him for the beginning of a good will, seek from him the effects of good works, ask him for the gift of perseverance. Do not believe that when his support has stopped you can want or do anything good. Ask him to turn your eyes somewhere else so that they do not see vanity; beseech him to show you the way you should go, pray, so that he may direct your steps according to his Word and so that you will not be dominated by sins; call on him so that he can direct the work of your hands for you. Therefore, “be strong and take heart.” “Entrust your concerns to the Lord, and he will provide for them.”As he told you, you must not ascribe anything to your own strength, for you must not distrust divine power and devotion in anything. For, “The Lord is faithful in his words and holy in all his works.” He will not deny you his help in this world, nor will he withhold your reward in that life which is to come. He has shown you the right way and is himself the guide that will lead you to your heavenly home. “Trust, therefore, in the Lord, and do good.” Do not believe you will fail if he has agreed to have you under his protection. It is indeed written, “Has anyone trusted in the Lord and been put to shame? Or, has anyone persevered in the Lord and been abandoned? Or, has anyone called upon him and been neglected by him?” Therefore, do not lose your confidence which will have a great reward. Be strong and steadfast, knowing that your work shall not prove fruitless in the Lord.

Letters 2:36.20-37:21

When we come to the grace of baptism, renouncing all the other gods and masters, we confess one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But confessing this, if “we do not love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul” and do not adhere to him “with all our strength,” we have not become the Lord’s portion. Rather, like those who sit on the fence, on the one side we allow to continue the very offenses we were fleeing to remain in our lives, while on the other we do not appease the Lord to whom we fled because we do not love him with a complete and honest heart. The prophet cries over us because of this, because he sees a similar fickleness in our fluctuating when he says, “Woe to the double-minded,” and again: “How long will you limp on both of your knees?” But the apostle James also says, “The double-minded person is inconsistent in all his ways.” So, we who do not follow our Lord with an upright and perfect soul and who are removed from foreign gods stand, as it were, on the fence. On the one hand, we are treated like deserters by those foreign gods who cut us down, on the other, we are not defended by our Lord because we are unstable and hesitant.

Homilies on Exodus 8:4

If … one dies to whom one of these superstitious remedies has been given—and how many have died with remedies, and how many have lived without them!—with what confidence does his spirit go forth to God? He has lost the sign of Christ, receiving instead the sign of the devil. Perhaps he may say that he has not lost the sign of Christ. Can you have, then, the sign of Christ along with the sign of the devil? Christ does not want cooperative ownership. He desires to have sole possession of what he has purchased. He bought it at such a high price in order that he alone may possess it. Would you make him the partner of that devil to whom you have sold yourself by your sin? “Woe to the double-hearted,” to those who in their hearts give a portion to God and a portion to the devil. Angered that the devil has a portion there, God leaves and the devil takes possession of the whole. There is a reason why the Apostle admonishes, “Allow no place for the devil.”

Tractates on the Gospel of John 7:7

The one whose spirit has been entrusted to God clings to God. God is faithful and will not allow him to be tempted above that which he is able but will make with the temptation a way of escape also, so that he may be able to endure and not be turned back in the day of battle. The one who, instead, glories in himself and not in God—even though he might make a big spectacle out of stretching and bending his bow—is the one who is destined to turn and run in the day of battle. His spirit is not faithful to God, and therefore the Spirit of God is not with him. And, as it is written, “Anyone who has not believed in God will not be protected.”

Expositions of the Psalms 77:10

Faith competes with human nature—something for which the Creator has taken a great deal of care in ensuring that even the very hairs on our head are counted—such that it is obvious that only when human nature senses that it is loved by God does it love God who loves it and then binds itself to him by means of pure-hearted faith. Faith is the way that carries us to blessedness; lack of faith brings great misery. Because of this you will be rightly punished when you do not believe in the Son of God, because your infidelity is your vice, just as faith is your strength—although it not the kind of strength one discovers in evil spirits but the kind God gives to his saints that triumphs over their wickedness. It is the same “faith that works through love.” In fact, “the evil spirits believe and tremble,” but they do not love him from whom they are far removed because of pride. The first man was made to fall in pride through the counsel of the devil, through which he lost humility, through which he lost faith. And when he lost his faith, he lost divine protection. It is in fact written, “The one who does not believe in God will not be protected by God.” From that moment the one who was earth and ashes began to be proud because he threw away what was innermost in his life. The Word of the Lord, thus, does not stop calling humanity to return to its most intimate longing, saying: “Return, you rebels, to the heart.”

Letters 17:44

One can read somewhere in the Gospel the following words of our Lord Jesus Christ: “With your patience you will save your souls.” And in another passage of the Scriptures it is said, “Woe to those who have lost patience.” Whether you call it patience or endurance or tolerance, the various terms allude to the same thing. Let us anchor in our hearts not so much the diversity of the words but the unique substance of the concept, and let us try to possess deep down what we express in words. The person who is conscious of the fact that the life he leads in this world is far away from his real home lives here in patience wherever he finds himself in the body, here on earth. He lives in patience when he knows that he possesses an eternal home in heaven, trusting that that place is where happiness is found that he cannot find here but can only long for here, and he burns with a such a good, holy and chaste desire for it. It is evident that patience is not necessary in prosperity but in adversity. One cannot say that one tolerates with patience that which is pleasing. That which we tolerate, that which we support patiently, is something hard, something bitter. Therefore, patience is not necessary in happiness but in unhappiness.

Sermon 359/A.2