My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for testing. Set your heart right and be steadfast, and do not be impetuous in time of calamity. Cling to him and do not depart, so that your last days may be prosperous. Accept whatever befalls you, and in times of humiliation be patient. For gold is tested in the fire, and those found acceptable, in the furnace of humiliation. Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight, and hope in him.
You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; do not stray, or else you may fall. You who fear the Lord, trust in him, and your reward will not be lost. You who fear the Lord, hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy. Consider the generations of old and see: has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed? Or has anyone persevered in the fear of the Lord and been forsaken? Or has anyone called upon him and been neglected? For the Lord is compassionate and merciful; he forgives sins and saves in time of distress.
Woe to timid hearts and to slack hands, and to the sinner who walks a double path! Woe to the faint-hearted who have no trust! Therefore they will have no shelter. Woe to you who have lost your nerve! What will you do when the Lord’s reckoning comes?
Those who fear the Lord do not disobey his words, and those who love him keep his ways. Those who fear the Lord seek to please him, and those who love him are filled with his law. Those who fear the Lord prepare their hearts, and humble themselves before him. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, but not into the hands of mortals; for equal to his majesty is his mercy, and equal to his name are his works.
Commentary
Let us put our trust in God, my brethren. This is the first commandment, the first principle of religion and of our life: to have our heart anchored in faith and thus to live uprightly, to hold ourselves aloof from mere pleasure, to endure temporal misfortune. What is it that we hear in the canticle? My son, if you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal. Be sincere of heart, be steadfast. Cling to him and do not leave him, so that your life may abound at the latter day. How ‘abound’? That you may abound eternally, I think. Certainly not now! Our human life is on the wane now, rather than otherwise. A man is born into the world. God allots him seventy years, say. As he grows up, we say that life is before him. But is it? Is his life increasing or decreasing? When he has lived sixty of his seventy years, ten years only remain. His span is diminished, and the longer he lives the less remains to him. While we live, then, life is not increasing but rather ebbing away. So hold fast to what God has promised you, that you may abound at the latter day.
Whatever happens to you, accept it, and in changes that humble you be patient, for gold is tested in the fire, and chosen men in the furnace of humiliation. The way may seem hard, but would you not lose an indefectible good by defecting from it? There are many who endure great hardship in order to acquire perishable wealth, and would you not suffer for the sake of an imperishable life? You have taken on the yoke of wisdom. Is it going to be difficult? Yes, surely, but look up towards your goal, towards your reward. He who has promised is faithful. He has not shown it to you, because it is not yet time. Nevertheless, he has already shown you a great deal. He promised the Messiah, and he sent him; he promised he would rise again, and he did; he promised the gospel, and he gave it; he promised that the Church would spread throughout the world, and it has. Why do you not believe that he will keep his other promises?
Beloved brethren, let us cleanse our hearts and not lose the will to endure. Let us keep wisdom before us and hold fast to self-discipline. Our striving lasts for but an instant, rest awaits us. Empty enjoyments pass away, but the good, longed for by the man of faith, the good to which every pilgrim in the world aspires, is at hand: the good country, the heavenly country, the country where we shall see the angels, where no citizen dies, no enemy finds admittance, where you shall fear no foe but have God forever as your friend.(St. Augustine of Hippo)
Musical Selection
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best Thought, by day or by night, Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word; I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord; Thou my great Father, I Thy true son; Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise, Thou mine Inheritance, now and always: Thou and Thou only, first in my heart, High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won, May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun! Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Collect
Direct our actions, Lord, by your holy inspiration and carry them forward by your gracious help, that all our works may begin in you and by you be happily ended. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.