115. Слово в неделю двадцать шестую по Пятидесятнице 536

(Printed in the 1844 and 1848 collections) Collect this for yourself, and not for God’s sake. (Luke 12:21). The Gospel in the parable presents us with a rich and covetous man, who, having received a bountiful harvest of grain, did not think about gratitude to God, nor about philanthropy towards his neighbors in need of food, but made a plan for himself where to put a lot of bread and how to save it for many years, intending further from being covetous to become luxurious and lazy. Providence had no reason to protect someone who decided to live without benefit to others and to the detriment of his own soul: and therefore, the plan drawn up many years ago on the very day of its preparation was destroyed by the determination of God’s fate: “in this night your soul will be taken from You” (Luke 12:20). The Lord concluded this parable with the following proclamation: “Gather for yourself, and not for God’s sake.” So he is deceived in his assumptions, so he fails in his intentions, so beyond fear he loses both his treasures and himself, a person who accumulates wealth for himself only out of his greed, in order to make it the food of his greed, luxury, laziness; who does not grow rich in God. The teaching of the parable about the absurdity of greedy, self-interested and arrogant love of wealth, I hope, to each of you, brethren, is both intelligible and convincing, without further explanation and evidence. Who would want to get rich so madly and so unhappily as the one depicted in the parable? I hope, therefore, that your thought is looking for a more correct and more reliable relationship that would be possible between a person and wealth. Notice this attitude in the final words of the parable: it is to “grow rich in God.” But what does it mean to “be rich in God?” This rule, at first glance, is not as clear as its opposite incorrectness - “gather for yourself.” They collect for themselves, in the granary, in the pantry, in the bosom: but how to become rich in God, Who does not take earthly, material wealth to Himself into heaven, and has no need for it 537? For the briefest explanation of the rule: “get rich in God,” you can most likely point to a similar example here. To God in the church, for its creation or renewal, or for maintaining it in the necessary order and in decent splendor, some bring part of their wealth, and others devote selfless labor 538, which is also property, often highly valued among people, and the original wealth through which the poor become rich. Do those who thus give their wealth and their labor to God become poorer or richer? In the Word of the Lord I say: “they become rich,” both because in this way their other wealth, honestly acquired, and well-intentioned labor 539 are blessed, and because what they brought does not cease to be their property, since God does not need to appropriate it 540, is not lost, since it cannot be stolen from God, but is preserved intact in the eyes of God, for their future reward. Here is one way to “grow rich in God” 541. Jesus Christ Himself sets out another way to “grow rich in God” in the following words: “sell your possessions and give alms, create for yourself a treasure that will not grow old, a treasure in heaven that will not fail” (Luke 12:33). If your thought does not rest on simple trust in the faithful and infallible word of Christ, and desires another explanation of how something you gave to a beggar could end up in the heavenly treasury; and the Lord explains this to you with another of His sayings: “Before you have made one of these least of my brethren, you have created for me” (Matthew 25:40). You can look at these words written in the Gospel as a loan letter, with which the Lord recognized Himself as owing you for everything that you have given, or that you have done in charity to your neighbor in need. The owner of the world, without a doubt, had no need for this insignificant loan, not only for Himself, but also for those for whom he does it: but such is His wondrous goodness that He humbles Himself to the image of your debtor in order to attract you to goodness and through goodness to bliss; He borrows from you trifles, dust, decay, which you call earthly goods, in order to have the opportunity, without offending His justice, to pay you with true good, incorruptibility, bliss, with such a surplus that you will never be able to calculate. Against this method: “getting rich in God,” some may argue that they cannot sell their property and turn it into alms: since they need it to feed themselves and their family. Let us respect this excuse as much as it deserves to be respected. We recognize that the same can be said about complete, arbitrary poverty as the Lord said about complete virginity: “not all can bear this word, but to them it has been given to eat” (Matthew 19:11). Let us condemn negligence about those at home, and insensitive coldness towards relatives, which, of course, no longer promises philanthropy towards strangers; – we will condemn with the severity of the Apostle’s word: “If anyone does not provide for his own, much less for those close to him, he has denied the faith, and he is a greater believer than an infidel” (1 Tim. 5:8). If you have not been given from above the desire for perfect, voluntary poverty: remain rich as long as God pleases, meanwhile humbling yourself with the thought of your imperfection in the spirit, and not exalting yourself through carnal wisdom. Take care of your relatives, your family, out of duty, out of natural love; but do not forget that this degree of love is posited in order to ascend to the highest degree of spiritual love for humanity, and to the highest degree of love for God. “Get rich in God,” although part of your wealth is dedicated to God-pleasing and humane deeds; the rest, beware, at least, so as not to “gather for yourself” only out of covetousness, so as not to multiply by unrighteousness, so as not to rely on luxury and vanity. Sanctify your acquisition, not appropriating it for yourself, but recognizing it as a gift of God's Providence, thanking the All-Bountiful Giver God for it, not attaching your heart to the gift, but constantly lifting it up to the Giver, with the readiness to return it to Him when His all-wise fate demands it. After this, we can still expect on the real subject of the question from those who did not sacrifice wealth to God, because they did not have it. But they will say that the inoffensive God really didn’t give us a way to become rich, at least as some replacement for the poverty we endure for ourselves? - Don't complain. I will also show you your wealth, which if you know how to wield, you will not envy any of those who are considered rich. Look: here the Holy Apostle James opens your unstealable treasury: “Hear,” he says, “my beloved brethren, has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and the heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him” (James 2:5)? Do you see? - The wealth of faith, the inheritance of the kingdom of God - what more do you need? Without this wealth, no other will bring any benefit: with this wealth, no loss, no deprivation is important, because they are both short-lived and immeasurably small in comparison with the treasures of faith, with the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. Let us be especially concerned about the wealth of faith, brethren, both rich and poor, in order to acquire and multiply it, and to preserve it not lost in an immaculate life: then, without poverty, without envy of one another, without exhausting worries, in peaceful hope, we will await the inheritance of the kingdom, which God has prepared for those who love Him. Amen. According to Jew. collection: Homily on the 26th week after Pentecost, after the consecration of the Church of St. Mitrofan, on Drops, spoken on December 9, 1834. The word in this collection begins like this: “By the mysterious grace of God, this church has now been consecrated, erected and decorated with pious zeal, and entrusted to the patronage of St. Mitrophan, in whom, to the consolation of faith, the Lord has in our days revealed a new miraculous servant of grace. The Holy Church, following in its orders the instructions of the Apostle, who says that everything must be sanctified by the word of God and prayer, announced to us on this occasion with special significance the following word of Jesus Christ Himself: “I will build My Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The thought and spirit of the order here is to direct the creative and protective power of this word of Christ to this very church, as if created in the image of the Church of Christ not made by hands, built spiritually from the souls of believers, and thus to instill in us the belief and hope that this hand-made Church, by the action of the construction of the mysteries, is henceforth the building of Christ, and that there are no hostile forces the grace given to this sanctuary will not prevail in its saving effect on the souls of believers. Having noticed this to strengthen the faith and hope of those entering the church, I turn to the ordinary Gospel reading of this week, so that it does not remain without its due attention. In the parable it represents to us a rich man...” According to Jew. collection: not the slightest need. According to Jew. collection: In this case, to explain the rule: “get rich in God,” you can point to a close example. To build this church, some brought part of their wealth, and others used selfless labor... According to Jew. collection simple: wealth and labor... According to Jew. collection: because God does not appropriate anything... According to Jew. collection: Here is an obvious experience of one of the ways you can “get rich in God.” You might be interested in: