ЖЕЛАНИЯ

Do not worry about many things, lest you chase after what cannot be achieved, contract an incurable disease, and thereby become the most unhappy of all. Tell me who is more tormented and tormented: the one who desires expensive foods and drinks and is unable to satisfy his desire, or the one who does not have such a desire? Obviously, one who strongly desires and cannot get what he wants. The state of one who desires and does not receive, who thirsts and does not quench his thirst, is so painful that Christ, wanting to give us the concept of Gehenna, depicts it in the same way, representing in it the rich man among the flames; the latter, wanting a drop of water and not receiving it, suffered severely. So, whoever despises wealth only suppresses his passion for it; on the contrary, whoever wants to get rich and increase his wealth inflames it even more and is never able to suppress it. The latter, even if he has collected countless wealth, wants to receive the same amount; at least he managed to get this, and then he will wish to have twice as much; and thus, desiring more and more, he falls into some new, terrible and never curable kind of madness, which makes him wish that the mountains, and the earth, and the sea, and in general everything would turn into gold for him. So, know that it is not by increasing wealth, but by destroying the passion for it that evil ceases. In fact: if you ever had a stupid passion to fly through the air, how would you destroy it? Whether by constructing wings and other necessary tools, or by reasoning that this desire is impossible to fulfill and that one should not even try to fulfill it. Obviously, the latter way. But flying, you say, is impossible. But it is even more impossible to put a limit to the passion of covetousness; It is easier for people to fly than to stop their passion for it by increasing wealth. If you desire the possible, then you can be consoled by the hope that you will one day receive it; if it is impossible, then you must try for only one thing, that is, to destroy such a desire, because otherwise it is impossible to bring peace to the soul. So, so that we do not worry in vain, for this purpose, having rejected the love of wealth that constantly torments us and never calms down, let us rush to another, which can much more easily make us blessed, and let us desire heavenly treasures. Here the work is not great, but the benefits are countless: he who is always awake, sober and despises earthly goods can never lose the blessings of heaven; on the contrary, he who is enslaved and completely devoted to these latter will necessarily lose the former (7). Those who approach divine preaching and are attentive to faith must show the affection of those who are thirsty and kindle in themselves the same desire as theirs. Through this they will be able to more accurately retain within themselves what is preached. Those who are thirsty, having taken the cup, drink it with great desire and only then calm down. Likewise, those who listen to divine words, if they receive them with thirst, will never leave them before they are completely satisfied. And what one should always thirst and hunger for, it is said about this: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). And here Christ says: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). These words mean: I do not attract anyone by coercion or violence; but whoever has great zeal, whoever is burning with desire, him I call (8). Of the wishes, some are necessary, others are natural, and others are neither one nor the other. Thus, all those desires from dissatisfaction with which an animal dies are natural and necessary, such as, for example, the desire for food, drink and sleep. Carnal lust is natural, but not necessary, since many have overcome it and yet did not perish. But the desire for wealth is neither natural nor necessary, but unnecessary: ​​if we want it, we will not obey it. After all, Christ, speaking about virginity, said: “Whoever can contain, let him contain” (Matthew 19:12), but not so about wealth, but how? “Whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33) (9). You might be interested in: