Discourse 61

His lovers. Silence. From the love by which the saints show God, instead of these who because of his name have suffered, while they are oppressed and do not escape from the abundance of loving her whom God loves, their heart becomes bold to approach him without shame, and to ask from him with confidence. Great is the power of the prayer of the bold one. And because of this, he allows his saints to be tested in every affliction, on the path to him, so that they may have boldness. And that they may also acquire the certainty of his help, how much he has toiled for them, in the confidence that they will find a deliverer. And because wisdom comes to them from trials, that they may not be empty and frivolous from the discipline of his lovers, as they are far from the trial of experiential knowledge of anything, that they may not be easily deceived by demons. For if he had taught them only by good things, they would be lacking the discipline of the final things, and would be blind in battles. And if a man says, "He who leads them without discipline and without knowledge of their own, what does he want them to be like oxen and asses, in whom there is no freedom at all? Nor is there any taste in goodness. When a man, by the trial of evils, is not first tested, and then encounters it, and not by knowledge and freely does he experience it as his own.

How much the knowledge that comes from the contest of trials and from the practice of labors is sweet. And how much strength it gives to the person who, through the abundance of many trials in his place, finds that knowledge which profits by the help that comes from this. Even the weakness of the victor and the help that comes from divine strength. Then they learn, when first they are deprived of strength, while they are within their trials. And they perceive the weakness of the victor, and the persistence of their trials, and the malice of the enemy. What enemy they have, and what nature they have put on, and how they are protected by divine strength. And how much they run and how much they are exalted, when divine strength is removed from them, how they tremble before every affliction. And from all these humiliations they rise, and to God they cling, and to his help they hold fast, and in prayer they entreat. All these, from where did they arise, if they had not received the abundance of the multitude of evils, through which God makes them to be tested? And how, as if not having been raised by the excess of revelations, I was delivered over completely to the flesh of the angel of Satan. Even a firm faith stands in a person from trials, through the practice of divine help, by whose abundance he takes many victories.

And from here, it is without fear, and it gives boldness in trials because of the contest of truth. And for every person, trials are necessary. The diligent are strengthened, so that their wealth is increased; the weak are preserved from afflictions; the sleeping are awakened to vigilance; the distant are brought near to God; and the housebound are adorned with freedom. Every person who does not engage in contest—even if the wealth from his father’s house is given to him—cannot be helped by it. For this reason, God first afflicts and oppresses, and then reveals his gift. Glory to that Lord who, through refining remedies, brings healing to the health of our soul. There is no one for whom the time of contest is not hard, and there is no one for whom the time of drinking the medicine of trials is not bitter. But if it were not so, a strong mixture could not be prepared. Nor is this patience our own. From where does the water come from the fire, that the waves of water should endure, if the divine fire does not restrain it? If one bows to ask in humility, while we are embittered in harsh oppression, that something might be taken from us.