ДЕНЬГИ

There are many rich people today who do not want to despise money, but despise the soul. I am surprised when I see how often they ask God for mercy, but are merciless to themselves, do not spare their soul, as if it were their enemy. Let us not joke, beloved, let us not mock and deceive ourselves, asking God for mercy, but ourselves preferring money, satiety and everything else to this mercy. If someone brought before you the case of a person and said that he, being exposed to mortal dangers and being able to free himself from destruction with a small amount of money, decided to die rather than lose any of his property, then you, of course, would recognize him as unworthy of any mercy or forgiveness. So judge yourself: we do the same, we neglect our salvation and value money. How can you ask God for mercy when you do not spare yourself and prefer money to your soul? I am extremely surprised at what kind of deception is hidden in money, or, better yet, not in money, but in the souls of those being deceived. And there are, indeed, people who laugh at this seduction. In fact, what about money can deceive us? Are they not both soulless and perishable matter? Isn't it deceptive to have them? Is it not associated with fear and dangers, with murders and intrigues, with enmity and hatred, with laziness and many vices? Are they not dust and ashes? What madness! What a disease! But, you say, it is not only necessary to condemn those infected with the disease, but to exterminate this passion. How else can one destroy it, if not by proving that it is vicious and filled with countless evils? However, it is not easy to convince someone who is addicted to these children's toys. He needs to point out another, opposite beauty. But, as a sick person, he still cannot see incorporeal beauty. Therefore, let us imagine bodily beauty and say to him: imagine meadows and flowers on them, which are more beautiful than any gold, more pleasant and brighter than any precious stones; imagine the transparent streams of streams and rivers that flow quietly, like oil, across the earth; turn to the sky and look at the beauty of the sun, the beauty of the moon, the radiance of the stars. But what of this? We can’t, you say, use it like money? On the contrary, more than money, because its use is more necessary and its enjoyment is more reliable; you do not need to fear that anyone will steal them, just like money, but you can always be confident in them, and without worries and worries (12). You might be interested in: