НЕДЕЛЯ 3-Я ПО ПЯТИДЕСЯТНИЦЕ

Seek heavenly treasures, not earthly ones The Lord said: the lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is simple, your whole body will be bright; If your eye be evil, your whole body will be dark (Matthew 6:22–23). Before this, the Savior gave His servants a lesson - to seek for themselves not earthly, but heavenly treasures, and on this occasion he noted: where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21). And then he adds: the lamp of the body is the eye, etc. Just as this remark refers to the inner life of our heart, so, obviously, these last words must be understood as applied to the inner state of the soul. The eye of the soul, its lamp, is the mind or rational consciousness of a person, and just as the sensory eye is of great importance for our body, because through it light is given to the body, so our mind serves as an internal instrument for the enlightenment of the soul. Those whose eyes are damaged see objects incorrectly; Those whose eyes are completely closed see neither themselves nor others at all, and even walking in the middle of a clear day remain entirely in darkness. Thus, if someone’s mind is darkened, then, turning among the bright indications of the truth, he has erroneous ideas about things or does not see the truth at all; both his mind and his whole soul remain in darkness. Even if there is darkness in you, the Savior continues, then there is darkness (Matthew 6:23). If, he says, the light that is in you becomes darkness, then what can we say about the darkness itself - about the entire soul, which is illuminated through the medium of reason? This serves as an incentive for us to take care of enlightening our minds; but even at a time when we work on developing our rational consciousness and are consoled by the successes of the mind, we need to keep in mind the Savior’s remark every time, and even more so. What if the very light of education, which we are proud of, for the acquisition of which we spend so much time and effort, turns out to be darkness in the end?.. And following the testimony of the Gospel, we must conclude that such a phenomenon is possible. We have been given a pure and unclouded source of mental enlightenment - in the word of Divine Revelation: in its instructions, when excited by the Spirit of Truth, our mind must draw the beginning of true sanity and, using them diligently, refine and strengthen our gaze; This is also where we need to direct natural means of mental education, which in any case have their own importance in the eyes of a person who thinks God. But in order for us to successfully, through his medium, be able to assimilate the suggestions of the truth of God, it is necessary that he himself be illuminated with purity and abundantly by its light. And his gaze can become crafty, that is, thin, when instead of the real truth that is given to him, he will convey to us incorrect and self-made ideas about it, as happens with a diseased eye; He may even become completely blind when he stubbornly begins to close himself off from her living impressions. But in order for our mind to avoid all these shortcomings and acquire a living receptivity to the suggestions of heavenly truth, for this we must first cleanse it of passionate thoughts, because passions and vices are the first darkness of the mind. It is necessary that his bright view in us is expressed, first of all, in the pure and sublime aspirations of the heart, which is always in close connection with our convictions: otherwise, here our mind is in danger of leading ourselves into endless darkness. “If rational consciousness, which is the light of the soul,” says Blessed Jerome, “is darkened in you by spiritual vices, then how dark must the darkness itself be in you?” It is necessary that this rational consciousness reveals itself in a healthy, if possible, and thorough distinction between good and holy inclinations from sin and sinful desires; Moral and practical sanity is a necessary condition for the integrity and purity of the mind in all its rational activities. Speaking about this here, we want to point out that the Gospel says the same thing. When the Savior teaches us to turn our hearts to heavenly blessings, and after this directly inspires us to take care of the purity of our views, it is not in vain, without a doubt, that He puts both of them in line with one another. And even earlier, in another place, He directly assimilates the vision of God through purity of heart, which constitutes the crown of mental perfection: blessed are the pure in heart, He says, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8). Therefore, when a person’s heart is separated from earthly impure desires, this means that his mental eye is also pure. But this is not enough: then the Savior again turns to the doctrine of impartiality to earthly acquisitions, which He began to talk about earlier. No one can work as two masters: either he will love one and hate the other, or he will stick to one and begin to be careless about his friend. You cannot work for God and mammon (cf. Matt. 6:24). The word “mammon” means wealth, which is what the Sirians called the god of wealth. A person cannot work for God and mammon at the same time, because serving one and serving the other are not reconciled with one another: one is for heaven, and the other for earth; one turns to the benefit of the soul, and the other only to the benefits of the body and to the detriment of the soul. Here, in a prudent choice between them, in preferring God and heavenly blessings to wealth, the Christian has the opportunity to reveal his sanity and show that the lamp of his mind has not been darkened. Human attachment to wealth can find a plausible basis for itself in the needs of our bodily life, for the provision of which we ourselves have to seek out the means. Therefore, the Savior turns His word to this subject and here, at the very foundation, undermines our unreasonable attachment to material acquisitions. For this reason I say to you: do not worry about your soul, what you eat or what you drink, nor about your body, what you put on. Isn't it the soul that eats food and the body clothing? Look at the birds of the air, how they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you better at eating them? Whoever took care of you can add one lick to his age? (Matt. 6:25–27). Thus, even in the most extreme needs, He limits our love of acquisitions; after that there is no longer any plausible excuse left for her. What then? Is it really moving towards us abandoning all concerns about earthly property, even those that are called for by crying need? Yes, we know glorious ascetics of piety who literally carried out the commandment of Christ in their lives, renouncing all property, not thinking today about what they will eat tomorrow, where they will lay their heads, eating what God sent, and taking refuge wherever necessary; and God visibly showed them traces of His Providence - miraculously sending food to many in the desert through the Angels. But the question is: is it possible to completely give up caring about earthly things, when through this the correct order of life would be upset, the generally useful works of industry that bring us together would be destroyed? True, the indicated example of holy ascetics is not a universal example, they were extraordinary manifestations of faith. Just by saying this, it seems that we must name here not the main reason that we just mentioned, but another. We do not yet know what would happen to our earthly life if suddenly everyone came to such an age of faith that they would completely abandon all worldly cares for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, because we should not lose sight of the fact that one day a state will come when all worthy participants in salvation will live like the Angels of God in heaven (Matthew 22:30). Better yet, let us ask this: are we all now capable of the kind of faith in God’s Providence that was sometimes revealed among those holy chosen ones? Here lies a more important reason than the first: as a result of it, it also receives its legal force; both of them, in combination with one another, encourage us to look in the words of Christ for a more lenient application to life, which could be accessible to everyone, and together, for everyone, already constitute a direct duty. And indeed, they apply to all of us. Let us note that the Savior does not free us from honest work for the benefit of external life and does not bless us to surrender to laziness and inaction, in idle anticipation of the benefits of Providence. No, what was said to Adam - by the sweat of your brow you shall bear your bread (Gen. 3:19) - remains an unchangeable law for us as long as we live here. And the holy hermits, abandoning everything worldly, nevertheless worked in their distance from people and even often helped others with the labor of their hands. But Christ tells us: don’t worry, that is, don’t allow yourself unnecessary worries, don’t fuss. “We must work,” says one Church teacher, “but we must not worry.” That we have the right to explain the words of the Gospel in this way can be deduced from the following words: which of you, by caring, can add even one cubit to his height? (Matthew 6:27). Obviously, here we are eliminated from precisely those concerns that are incompatible with our limitations and should be left to Providence itself, which alone belongs to the final distribution of the means of life among us and its organization, the final overcoming of all its difficulties, the provision of all its contingencies. Despite all the obligatory nature of honest work in life, we will still have a lot of things that we ourselves cannot accurately determine in advance or arrange on our own, and that are in the hands of the Supreme Ruler of all, just as the very existence of our soul and body is in His hands every minute. And this last circumstance serves for us as a constant provision for hope in God’s Providence; Christ also points out this to us: does not the soul eat more food, and the body eat clothing? (cf. Matthew 6:25). That is, if God has given us a soul and a body in which such a richness of life is discovered, all the more He will not find it difficult to help us in secondary, external means of life. Let only this strong confidence in God’s Providence appear in us and turn into a constant habit of the soul, then we ourselves will each time find out without difficulty where we will need to use our own efforts, where we should surrender directly to the will of God. The main thing is that we have no right to deny that the traces of her providential actions in our fate are undeniable, and we notice the same in the visible nature around us. The Savior brings this last point to our attention when he points to the birds of the air, and then to the lilies of the field (Matthew 6:26,28), which God takes care of in a way that we are never able to take care of ourselves. The general conclusion of the Gospel reading is this: seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). That is, we must adhere to such a rule that not the external prosperity of life, but the Kingdom of God with its holiness and truth constitutes our direct and inseparable task in life, then God Himself, who is always pleased to help us in this matter, will not deprive us of the slightest of earthly gifts, if only they turn out to be suitable for our main goal. Against luxury in clothing and decoration What are clothes? In the natural order - a means to protect the human body from the destructive effects of the elements; in the order of morality - the defense of modesty; in civil order, it is an artificial covering of the members of the body, adapted to the implementation of one or another social title, and at the same time a distinctive feature of the titles and degrees assigned to them. From these concepts one can immediately see that care for clothing should be governed by necessity, modesty, and constancy. God in some way sanctified what is in clothing, the simplest and at the same time the most necessary. And the Lord God made Adam and his wife garments of leather, and clothed them (Gen. 3:21). But through this very thing, reckless care for decorating the body is condemned. If the substance, according to the instructions of God Himself, used to make up the garment was leather, then why do some imagine those who wear simple linen and coarse woolen cloth to be either unfortunate or despicable? Why is it unpleasant for us if the silkworm does not spin for us? Is it not for us that the earth gives birth to gold and the sea to pearls? Why such childish whims? What is better and more splendid for you than the clothes that God Himself prepares for us! For we can say that He creates the necessary garments for each of us, as for Adam and his wife. In which country of the world He predetermines us to be born, in the same country He produces everything that, according to the characteristics of this country, is needed for our body; and in order to obtain what we need, His all-wise Providence almost always puts quite a lot of resources into our hands. Why do we still often want our clothing to exceed not only the requirements of necessity, but also the decency of our condition? Why are we sometimes dissatisfied with our jewelry just because it was not stolen from our most distant brethren? Look - this is how the Wisdom of God puts to shame not only vain worries about what is superfluous, but also about unnecessary needs: look at the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin (Matthew 6:28), and you, of little faith, torment yourselves arbitrarily with exquisite cares about your clothing, as if Providence is less concerned with you than with the past, now blooming, and tomorrow fading, and as if it had forgotten to produce near you everything you need! If, looking at wild flowers, you do not gain the wisdom of bees in yourself in order to collect subtle spiritual honey from them, if the spectacle of nature does not bring you instruction that would turn into strength and life in you, choose another, higher spectacle; elevate your spirit and look not at the image and shadow of truth, but at its very face, at uncreated beauty, at the color of perfection - look, members of the Body of Christ, at your Head - and look closely to see if your favorite jewelry will suit Him. What an incongruity! The head is in a manger, on straw, and the members want to rest on their seats and drown in their beds! The head is in humiliation, in poverty, and the members only think about wealth and splendor! The head is watered with bloody sweat, and the members are anointed and doused with incense! Tears fall from the Head, and pearls overshadow the members! The head is covered with thorns, and the members are covered in roses! The head turns purple from the flowing blood and is filled with deathly pallor, and the limbs, with crafty art, complement their lack of natural liveliness and, thinking of themselves to give themselves the beauty that nature has denied them, transform a living human image into an artistic image! The head is sometimes naked, sometimes in the clothes of reproach, and the members love to rest under silver linen, under the golden fleece, or, instead of the nakedness of the Crucified One, with contempt for shame and modesty, they invent for themselves clothes that would not so much cover as expose! But must everyone really reject all splendor and put on rags? No, the essence of wisdom is to do evil, but to do good without knowing it (Jer. 4:22)! Nobody demands this. Our Divine Teacher denounces only worries about clothing, and especially unnecessary, vain, partial ones. Why are you worrying about clothes? However, it is known that He Himself (no doubt, so as not to deprive the people who served His bodily needs of consolation and reward) wore a precious unsewn tunic, which those who shared His garments were sorry to tear apart. There is a type and degree of splendor and even splendor in clothing, which does not indicate partiality, but decency, not vanity, but state, not vanity, but duty and obligation. But care without end, pomp without measure, waste without purpose, daily changes of attire, only because there are people who have the recklessness to engage in inventions of this kind, and that there are too many who try to imitate such inventions - incredible recklessness! Recklessness is all the more absurd because, without a doubt, many who are guilty of it admit it and, however, do not cease to become guilty of it again! And let it remain recklessness: the disastrous thing is that lawlessness is generated and fed by it. Let's see, for example, how sometimes in a market place they pass by a beggar asking for a small coin for their daily bread without paying attention, and thousands are given away for an unnecessary decoration. Who would dare to say that love for one’s neighbor is not violated here? Who does not see from this and many other examples how easily vanity, excused by the world, can make a person guilty before both tablets of the law of God? The admonition of a young man who doubted God's providence Is there Divine Providence in private human affairs? So, in various cases of life, one young man often asked himself, by nature lively and fiery, but at the same time irritable and impatient, whom the inquisitiveness of a quick, but still immature mind involved in some doubts regarding the Providence of God; arrogance of mind without measure and experience, irritability of imagination without patience and humility, under the influence of frivolity characteristic of youth, almost led the young man to the pitiful conviction that what happens to us in life is accidental. In such a pitiful state of anxious doubt, a young man with rich powers of mind and heart was, by his own admission, like a ship with a rich cargo, which, without sails and a helmsman, rushes along the waves of a stormy sea; To save the young man, both the peace of his restless mind and the experience of a leader were needed. And the Providence of God, in which the young man doubted, did not leave his wavering mind without admonishment. The events of his life, which he himself told us with deep contrition, served as an intelligible lesson for him about the Providence of God and for changing his way of life. One day this young man, having gone out of town, was late there and stayed overnight in the forest with a sheep shepherd. At night, wolves attacked the flock and tore the sheep to pieces. When the shepherd announced this to the owners of the flock, they did not believe it and accused the young man, as if he had brought thieves at night, who stole the sheep. The young man was sent to the judge. Following him, another was brought before the judge, allegedly convicted of adultery. The judge, postponing the investigation of the case, sent both accused to prison, where they found another innocent farmer accused of murder. All three did not know their guilt. Convinced of their innocence, as of his own, the young man in such circumstances became even more agitated by thoughts regarding the participation of God’s Providence in private human affairs, but this excitement was no longer so much the cold doubt of a mind rejecting the truth, but rather the restless desire of a heart seeking it. After spending seven days in prison, under the influence of the thought of God’s Providence, the young man sees in a dream a man who tells him: “Be pious, and you will understand Providence; go over in your thoughts what you were thinking about and what you were doing, and you will realize for yourself that these people are not suffering unjustly.” Having awakened, the young man began to reflect on the vision and, searching for his guilt, suddenly remembered that once before, having been in the same village in the field at night, with evil intentions he had driven the cow of one poor villager out of the corral, and it was torn to pieces by a running beast. As soon as the young man told about his dream and his guilt to his cell mates, they, excited by his example, also began to blame themselves and admitted: the farmer - that he saw a man drowning in the river and did not save him, although he could have done it. This means that he really was responsible for the death of a person. Accused of adultery - having once joined the people who slandered a widow - the brothers accused her of adultery in order to deprive her of their father's inheritance. These bitter stories of the prisoners completed the young man’s conviction in the existence of God’s Providence: in the personal circumstances of his fellow prisoners, the young man could not help but see the obvious action of Divine Providence, apparently rewarding people for secret untruths; he repented of his destructive doubt and, while still in prison, made a vow to wash away his sin with repentance. On the eve of his liberation, he again saw his husband in a dream, who now told him: “Return to your place and repent of unrighteousness, making sure that there is an Eye that watches over everything.” The young man was faithful to his vow and the instructions of the one who appeared: leaving the world, among the hermits he did not cease to repent of the sins of his youth and told his brethren about the wondrous ways of God's Providence, secretly and openly operating in all circumstances of human life. This young man was the Monk Ephraim the Syrian. One tailor was working in a room where his child was sleeping in a cradle. Suddenly, without any apparent reason, he was overcome by some incomprehensible fear, his heart sank, some vague feeling told him that the life of the child sleeping in the cradle was in danger. Moreover, he quite clearly heard an inner voice briefly and definitely telling him: “Get up quickly, take the child from the cradle!” The tailor did not listen to this unknown voice. He even tried to calm himself down with various considerations. The child was still sleeping soundly in his bed; nothing bothered him in the room; and everything was quiet on the street. Where could his life be in danger? It must be just imagination that created such mental unrest; we need to drive it away, the tailor decided and, taking the needle again to work, even tried to start a song. Indeed, he managed to calm down, but for a few moments; Suddenly, fear still gripped him, but this time much stronger than before, and again he heard an inner voice, almost threatening: “Get up quickly, take the child from the cradle!” The father stops working again, and the song itself seems to die on his lips. He carefully looks around, examines the entire room, starting from his desk to the very last, remote corner of it. Since he absolutely nowhere found any reason to fear for the child, and the latter was still fast asleep in his bed, it seemed unreasonable to him, because of some imaginary danger, to disturb the child and take him out of his warm bed. Without listening to the voice in this way, he again took his place at the table and began to work, but his former gaiety had already disappeared: he no longer hummed the song. In vain he made every effort to overcome his fear by any means. A few moments later the fear returned again, and much stronger than before; in his heart, with the force of a thunderclap, a voice again rang out: “Get up quickly, take the child from the cradle!” Now, at last, he did what the warning voice demanded. An instant - he was already at the child’s cradle, hastily picked him up and carried him to his place where he himself had been sitting before. As soon as he had time to take his place, a strong roar was heard in the corner of the room where the cradle stood. The ceiling instantly collapsed, falling onto the cradle and covering it with debris and fallen pieces of plaster. The child woke up from a loud noise and began to cry, but he was safe and sound in the arms of his father, who, deeply touched by what had happened, pressed him to his heart. How joyful the poor mother was when, hearing a loud noise, deathly pale, she ran into the room. She was afraid that her husband and child had died, but they both remained safe and sound! Filled with deep piety, her heart, as well as that of her husband, poured out the most sincere prayer to the Lord when her husband told her how miraculously their dear child had been saved. Miraculous rescue from fire This is what happened in 1868 in the city of Maloyaroslavets. In the summer, a fire started here in hot weather and strong winds. The wind carried the flames throughout all the streets, and the heat helped the fire. Residents rushed to their friends to help save their property, but, returning to their homes, they found them already in flames. During this memorable fire for Maloyaroslavl residents, up to eighty houses burned down, and two streets were completely burned out. On one of them lived a pious old woman named Malutina. When the alarm sounded, she took the icon of the Savior from the shrine and walked with it around her house, sprinkling it with Holy Epiphany water, which she always kept behind the shrine. So what? The entire street burned out on both sides; A lot of other neighboring streets burned down, but the old woman’s house with all its outbuildings was not touched by the fire. Everything contributed to his burning down. How did he survive? The answer is possible only in the light of revealed faith and Divine Providence. It should be noted that the old woman mentioned was distinguished by deep piety all her life. God also extended her days: she died only in 1886, in the ninety-fourth year of her life, perfectly remembering the events of 1812. Don't worry about the next day We have a lot of concern about tomorrow and little hope in the Providence of the Almighty and His care for us. Each of us dreams of arranging our own lives, trying to foresee everything, provide for and protect ourselves from various vicissitudes of fate. In these worries about the urgent needs of earthly life, a person spends precious time without benefit to the soul, becomes hardened in heart and falls into selfishness. The founder of one ancient monastery (near Constantinople), in which there was a church in honor of the holy martyr Eustratius and his companions, wanting to protect the monks of his monastery from this inclination and make them think more about heavenly blessings than earthly ones, he decreed that the monastery should not make any supplies or preparations for itself, but would be content with the offerings of zealous pilgrims. Knowing the rules of this monastery, indeed, many of the faithful supplied those living in it with various products, and even the patriarch himself and the persons of the reigning house sent them every holiday or gold, or some other offering, so that they did not suffer a great shortage. But one day it happened that on the eve of the feast of the holy martyrs a strong storm began with rain and wind, which prevented the townspeople from gathering at the monastery. The monks served Vespers alone and began to grieve and murmur against God and the patron saints of their monastery because for the sake of such a great holiday no one brought them even a piece of bread for dinner, and nothing was foreseen for the next day either. The Lord was pleased to take advantage of this opportunity to admonish cowardly people and to glorify his holy saints. At dusk, the monastery gatekeeper entered the abbot of the monastery and reported that an ambassador had arrived from the sovereign with wine and various food supplies brought on two camels. This ambassador not only delivered dinner to the grumbling monks, but they also had some leftovers for the next day. Before the monks had finished their meal, another messenger appeared, bringing a lot of fish and ten gold coins. Give us our daily bread today! So we pray to our Heavenly Father! With these words we ask the Lord to give us bread. What then? Shouldn't we earn our own food? Yes, ourselves. Even at the beginning, after the creation of man, God said: “By the sweat of your brow, eat your bread” (Gen. 3:19). Therefore, a person himself must work and buy his own bread. But can he do this only on his own, without God? Man only plants, but God grows. Without God, all our labors will be fruitless. Therefore, we pray to our Heavenly Father to give us bread. How long do we ask God for bread for ourselves? Today, today, i.e. on this day. Why is this so? And so that we do not worry much about temporary things, but expect everything from our Heavenly Father, Who knows all our needs and always cares about us. The message is that your Heavenly Father demands these all (Matthew 6:32), said the Savior. He, the Merciful and Most Caring, knows our needs and often grants them before our petition. And there are many examples of how the Lord miraculously sends food to His faithful servants. Let's turn to Old Testament history. Throughout their wanderings in the desert, the Israelites ate ready-made bread, manna, which came down from heaven every day, except Saturday. The holy prophet Elijah was once hiding from the persecution of the wicked king of Israel in the desert; there was no food there at all, and there was nowhere to find it, because there was famine. And so the ravens bring him bread and meat every day, and at certain hours, morning and evening. How could the birds know about the prophet’s hunger and how did they understand human eating hours, which they themselves do not observe? One possible explanation: the Lord Himself commanded the birds to feed the righteous. Another time, an Angel of God offered him unleavened bread and a jug of water to strengthen him during the forty-day desert journey. The Holy Prophet Daniel, thrown into a den to be devoured by lions, was brought food by the prophet Habakkuk, who was suddenly raptured and carried by the hand of an Angel from Judea to Babylon. And how many examples of God’s miraculous provision of righteous people are contained in the “Prologue” and the Four Menaions! In one area, it was noticed that crows fly to trees every day, break branches with fruits and take them away somewhere. It soon became clear that in one cleft of the desert mountains there were several women escaping - it was to them, through the birds of the air, that the Trustee and Nourisher, Who gives food to all flesh (Ps. 135:25), was sent, and the chick of the corvids calling on Him. And here is another touching example of how the Lord protects helpless people, and especially orphans. This is what is known about the birth and upbringing of the holy martyr Kodrat. During the persecution of Christians in the 2nd century, one pious woman named Rufina, hiding from her persecutors, left Corinth and wandered through impassable places. Rufina was not afraid of death, no, but she wanted to save the baby conceived in her womb. Finally, the time came and she gave birth to a son, but died a few days later. It is most natural to think that a helpless orphan will die of hunger or be eaten by animals. But “opening Your hand and doing good will to every animal” did not despise the wrapped Kodrat in swaddling clothes and replaced his father and mother. God commanded the clouds, and in response to the cry of the baby, descending from the heights and bending down, they poured sweet dew onto his lips and fed him with milk and honey until he grew up and could gather desert fruits for himself. The Monk Theodosius taught the brethren to despise everything carnal and not to worry about immediate needs. As he taught, so he did. For example, he organized all sorts of services at the monastery, but never agreed to build barns for storing grain. Moreover, while going around the monks’ cells, if he found anyone with food or clothing prepared in excess of the regulations, he took it away and threw it into the oven; at the same time, he always hoped in the Heavenly Father, recalling the words of the Savior: do not worry and do not say: what will we eat or what will we drink (cf. Matt. 6:31)... And the Lord did not disgrace the hope of His faithful servant. So, one day the food supplies in the monastery were exhausted, the cellarer Theodore (that’s what the senior servant in the bakery is called in monasteries) said to Saint Theodosius: “What are we going to do?” Theodosius tried to persuade him to rely on God and not think about tomorrow, but the caring cellarer kept repeating his thoughts: “What should we do tomorrow?” Suddenly three carts from one boyar with bread, fish, cheese, millet and honey arrive at the monastery. “You see, brother Theodore,” said the monk, “the Lord does not leave us if we trust in Him with all our hearts. Go quickly and prepare dinner for the brothers, this is a visit from God.” You see, Christians, how wonderfully the Lord nourishes His faithful servants. Don’t say that these are rare cases of Divine Providence. Isn’t the Almighty, Who illuminates and warms the whole world with one sun, able to give us all ready-made bread? Will the treasures of His goodness become scarce because of the multitude of those who demand? No. Impoverishment is on our side, not on God's. We do not get our daily needs without difficulty because we ourselves care too much about them. In fact, all we have is thoughts and worries: how to live? How to feed your family? Why raise children?.. And, despite all these worries, all the care, most of us complain about shortcomings, about the difficulty of life, as if the Lord had really forgotten them... But it is not the Lord who forgets us, but we forget Him. Do we pray? Do we ask the Lord: give us our daily bread this day? Don't we rely on our own strength, on our own mind more than on the Lord God? But no matter how much we fuss, no matter how much we care, we must remember one thing: without God we cannot reach the threshold, that without God’s blessing there will be no success in anything. And the blessing of God is given only to those who fulfill the commandments of God and care first of all about the Kingdom of God, according to the word of the Savior: seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these (bodily needs) will be added to you (cf. Matthew 6:33). Two people stood in the city square and waited to see if someone would hire them to serve. They were siblings, but very different from each other: the eldest was sensible and experienced; the younger one was flighty, frivolous and especially prone to fun and pleasure. Both of them were poor and therefore had to look for employment and food. In the same city, two gentlemen were looking for servants: one had an extensive farm, and by giving people work at his place, he wanted to give himself both pleasure and benefit through this; the other, although he did not do housework, was vain and always envied the first, and therefore gathered as many servants as possible in his house in order to shine with pomp and splendor. Those sent from the masters came to the square and began to call both brothers, each to his master. One said: “Come serve us: our master is rich and generous, he has a lot of work, but the reward is great - you just need to be diligent and faithful, and he will make you happy forever.” Another said: “No, better come to us: our master has no work at all, but he needs people for light services in the house, with us you will spend your time in pleasure, but there is nothing to say about maintenance and pay: you will see for yourself how generously he rewards his employees.” The brothers thought for a long time and did not decide where to go. The elder preferred the first gentleman, and the younger was captivated by the description of the cheerful and pleasant life of the second and decided to definitely go to him. Thus, the brothers, although with some regret, decided to separate. However, in order to know who made the better choice, they decided to see each other once every week and tell each other about their lives. After a week, the brothers met, as agreed. “How are you doing, brother? – asked the younger one. -What is your master like? How were you received? You’re somehow sad and despondent: apparently you’re not very lucky?” “I don’t know what to tell you to this: I’m both happy and not. Our gentleman, apparently, is a rich man and very kind. He received me both importantly and kindly, promised to reward me generously if I was efficient and faithful, and without delaying for long, immediately assigned me a task and ordered me to go to work. “Time is precious,” he said, “there is no need to waste a minute. He takes care of us well, takes care of everyone as if he were family, and makes sure that everyone is happy and healthy. It would be nice for us to live with him, but there is too much to do. I've lived a little, but I'm already tired of labor. How do you live?” - “Oh, I’m not living, but blissful. Our gentleman is the most kind man in the world. What a rich house he has! Everywhere there is gold and silver, or marble. And how he received me! This seems to be not a master, but a friend and comrade. My whole business is to either accompany the gentleman to the theater, to a hunt, to visit, or to receive guests at my place, to give them pleasure, to amuse them, and that’s all. A whole week passed and I didn’t see her. And what content! Not only is the food the same as what he himself consumes, but wine also allows us to consume as much as we want. Oh, I would advise you to come to us too.” “I’ll see what happens next,” said the elder brother, “if it doesn’t make it easier for me, then I think I’ll decide on it. I’ll tell you in a week what I’ll come up with.” A week passed, and the brothers saw each other again. “What, have you decided to leave your strict master?” – asked the younger brother. “No,” replied the elder. “Now I don’t think of ever leaving my master: I see that I live in a good place.” Our lord is the kindest and noblest man: what rich gifts he gives us!” - “But you said that things are difficult for him: do you really care less now?” - “No, no less, but now I’m used to work. Now it costs me nothing to get up at sunrise and study all day long. I can’t even understand how I could live before without occupation and labor, just as you live now. I think you must be bored." - “Oh, don’t worry about me. I don't even see how time flies. Our pleasures are so varied and so numerous that there can be no room for boredom.” - “But why are you languid and pale: are you really healthy?” - asked the elder. “Oh, nothing,” answered the younger one, “this, of course, is because I slept little at night, because I was having fun with the guests until dawn. And now it’s time for me to go home and prepare for the arrival of guests. Goodbye". Another week passed, and the brothers saw each other again. - “Are you healthy, dear brother? You’re pale and thin, you’re barely recognizable!” - “Oh, I can barely walk. It seems that I didn’t do anything difficult, I spent my time in nothing but games and amusements, but they also tired and tormented me so much that I’m starting to fear that something bad might happen to me.” “I foresaw that this would happen, but I just didn’t dare tell you, because then you wouldn’t listen to me. But listen now, dear brother, listen to sincere advice: change your lifestyle, leave your master. You served with him for a little while, but you were already so exhausted, what will happen after? What happens if he drives you away when you are unable to serve him? How will you live then? Think about it!” “I’m already thinking about this myself and getting ready to leave my master. But we can’t do this yet; we need to finish some things. I hope to be free next week." A week later, the older brother came to the meeting place, but the younger brother was not there. He waited for him for a long time and, without waiting, finally decided to go to him. “Isn’t he sick? I need to visit him,” thought the brother. Approaching the house, from a distance he sees a magnificent convention, hears loud music and, thinking that his brother, of course, is busy receiving guests, he wanted to go back. But to what amazement he came when he heard a groan not far from him, and then saw his brother lying on the bare ground! “What's wrong with you, brother? How did you end up here and in such a pitiful situation?” “Ah,” he answered, “how crazy I was to serve a master who has neither feelings nor conscience, but only seduces poor people with the lure of pleasant service, and then rewards them for it! Having heard about my illness, the owner immediately told me that he no longer needed me and that, therefore, I should look for another place. I presented to him my zeal for service, but he made a sign to the servants, and they forcibly took me out of the gate and left me here to die of illness and grief.” “Unhappy brother! - said the elder, - your frivolity has ruined you. But if you recover, do you hope to overcome your tendency to fun and bliss and work as hard as you can? In this case, I would tell my master about you, and he, out of his mercy for the poor, will surely not reject you, despite the fact that you served with his enemy, and will take care of you like a father. Just promise to serve him alone from now on, as much as your strength allows. You will feel good with us." The poor man had tears in his eyes. “Lead me to him,” he said, and immediately walked, albeit with difficulty, leaning on his brother’s shoulder, to the new master. The merciful gentleman graciously received him, caressed him, calmed him down, soon healed him of his illness, encouraged him to work and made him a happy person. The brothers in this parable are all of us. The master who at first received so kindly and then expelled his younger brother so contemptuously is a world that deceives people with the false appearance of its wealth, entices people with the lure of incessant amusements and pleasures, and then leaves them to obvious destruction. Another master, strict, but fair and good, whom the elder brother served, is God, Who, having given us a short time of life, demands that we all, without the slightest omission, spend it in labor. Serving God at first seems difficult and difficult, but then it is easy and pleasant and ends in the acquisition of the richest inheritance from Him - the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed is he who spends all the time of his life in serving God! Happy is the one who, although he served the world, saw its deception and came to God with sincere repentance and a willingness to henceforth serve Him alone! But woe to the one who served the world all his life and dies a servant of the world! One young man was distinguished by the art of forging various utensils from gold. A rich nobleman once called him to himself, gave him a lot of gold and ordered him to make a cross out of it for the church. Returning home from the nobleman, the young man thought and said to himself: “The nobleman will receive a great reward from the Lord for such a large donation of gold, but why shouldn’t I, along with him, become a participant in the reward from the Lord? I’ll take and put at least a little of my gold into the cross and hope that the Lord will accept my sacrifice, just as he accepted the two mites of the gospel widow.” And with these words he invested his ten gold coins into the construction of the cross. When the cross was ready, the young man brought it to the nobleman. He put the cross on the scales and, seeing that it weighed more than the gold he had given him, suspected the young man of theft and said: “Why did you steal my gold, replacing it in the cross with some other metal?” “God, the knower of the heart, sees that I didn’t take any of your gold for myself, but I was jealous of the reward that would be yours, and wanted to be a participant in it, and therefore, for my part, I put ten pieces of gold into the cross, believing that God would accept them in the same way as he accepted the two mites of the Gospel widow.” Hearing this, the nobleman was amazed and said to the young man: “So, if you truly, out of love for God, gave Him your goods, wanting to have from Him a share in the reward with me, then know that from this day on I am adopting you and making you heir to all my property.” And the nobleman did not hesitate to carry out his words... Having lived together in love and peace, they both received salvation. You might be interested in: