In illud Sufficit tibi gratia mea

On the saying, "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is perfected in weakness." 1. When God was fashioning this all-harmonious cosmos from the beginning, he worked wonders upon wonders, not serving the law of nature, but contriving everything by the authority of his power. What do I mean? In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. Do you see order and sequence? First the roof, and then the foundation. For, as I said, he did not serve the law of nature, nor the order of art, but the authority of power. The roof stood, and the foundation was not visible; for the power of the worker sustained everything. Ask the heretic: Tell me, how was the roof made, and the foundation not laid? Tell me the reasoning, tell me the manner. But you are silent, and you concede to yourself by faith. Of what pardon are you worthy, conceding to yourself by faith in worldly and earthly matters, but meddling and busying yourself with divine and heavenly ones? He made the heaven and the earth; he made the earth a foundation, and placed waters beneath it. Do you see the foundation of the building? Earth above, and waters below. Yet builders work differently: they drain the waters, and then lay the foundation. But God placed the foundation upon the waters, so that you might marvel not at the power of the foundation, but at the authority of the worker. But, as I was saying, pay close attention; for I am touching upon philosophical words. When he was working this all-harmonious cosmos, he made all other things from a single substance. And if the word is unclear, I will make it clearer, if you pay attention.

All other things he made from a single substance, both the upper and the lower (for that is one cosmos, and this is another; these are two worlds). But each of the things that came to be, then, came from a single substance. I mean something like this: all things above are incorporeal, all things below are corporeal; things above are intelligible, things below are sensible; things above are invisible, things below are visible. All things below are bodies: both heaven, and sun, and moon, and earth, and sea, and trees, and plants, and oxen, and sheep, and horses—all are visible, all are sensible, all are bodies, all are subject to touch and seen by sight. All things above are invisible, intelligible: angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, powers, the Cherubim, the Seraphim. Neither are those visible, nor are these invisible; neither are those bodies, nor are these incorporeal; but both these are bodies and those are incorporeal. All came from a single substance, both the lower and the upper: some from bodies, some from incorporeals; some are bodies, some are incorporeal. Only the human being came from a double substance, the better and the worse, soul and body: for the soul is invisible and intelligible, while the body is sensible and visible. For what reason, then, did these two worlds come from a single substance, and neither are the upper bodies nor the lower incorporeal, but the human being alone is composed of an incorporeal and a body? Hear the reason, and learn the wisdom of the craftsman. Since these two worlds were separated in substance, the one incorporeal, the other embodied; the one invisible, the other visible; the one intelligible, the upper, the other sensible, the lower—

so that the difference of the works might not introduce different creators, and it might not be said that one made the upper things and another the lower, he placed a twofold living being in the cosmos to proclaim both the upper and the lower creation. Man is a twofold cosmos, having kinship with the upper things through the soul, and with the lower through the body, a kind of bond and bridge, having one creator, who wrought both the upper and the lower; and just as a virgin, the soul is woven into the midst of the body. Since the substance has become twofold, its need is also twofold. Pay close attention to the argument: its need is also twofold. There is body, and there is soul. He assigned food to the body, and discourse to the soul; the body is nourished by bread, and the soul is nourished by discourse. The body has a covering, garments; the soul also has a covering, virtue. The queen stood at your right hand, clothed in a garment interwoven with gold, variegated; Scripture does not speak of perceptible garments, but of those of virtue. For all the glory of the king's daughter is within, in golden tassels. What then? Man is twofold, and the substance is twofold; and the soul needs discourse that teaches, that understands, that repels the passions, that corrects the wounds.

Let us not, then, attend only to the sensible table, but let us also set before you the spiritual one, preparing for you a feast from the words of Paul, and bringing into the midst the tentmaker, the unlettered, the ignorant, the teacher of the world, the one terrible to demons, the one who drives away diseases, the one who runs up and down, the one who came to paradise, the one who ascended to the third heaven, the one who in his craft had such great grace, the one not hindered by his craft, but who plied his trade and shone in his achievements. Let us bring him into the midst; for I never tire of his praises. I am a lover of his beauty; for it is not bodily, so that it might decay, but spiritual, never fading. His body was dissolved, but his form shines brighter than the sun. The sun runs above, Paul runs below in counter-course; the one shines sensible light, the other introduces spiritual light into souls; the one yields to night, the other shines even in night. He took kings and filled them with piety; he took women and made them more manly than men; he took youths and rendered them wiser than the aged; he perfected each sex and every age, he who held the knife, he who stitched hides; for I will not cease constantly naming his craft.

A bride prepared, more august than kings, more prosperous than the wealthy, more powerful than soldiers, more secure than walls; his tongue a lyre, sweeter than honey, deeper than the sea, higher than the sky, hotter than fire, sharper than iron; possessing the grace of God, a temple of God, a mouth of Christ, a lyre of the Spirit, a herald of the catechumens, a trainer of the faithful, going about everywhere, a wall that never falls, letters that conquer the world and the ark. For just as Noah, joining planks, fashioned an ark, so also Paul, writing letters, constructed a spiritual ark; this one is better than that. For that one received irrational creatures and kept them irrational; this one receives irrational creatures and transforms them. What I mean is this: a wolf entered the ark, and a wolf came out; a wolf enters Paul's letters, and a sheep comes out; a magician entered and was corrected; a consul entered and became better. And that ark saved only Noah along with two or three names; this ark has netted the whole world. It sails everywhere every day, and the planks are not dissolved; for they are anointed not with pitch but with the Spirit. Noah departed from it, and it sails; Paul died, and the ark lives; every day it nets, and it is not submerged; for it has the grace of the pilot of the world holding it fast. Since, then, such are the letters, such the planks, such the salvation, let us now let our tongue go here, interpreting one word for you, and expending the whole homily on this.

Such is the abundance of the Scriptures. For as I sat and listened to him saying that he was snatched up to the third heaven and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter, and then as he proceeded and said, "In the excess of revelations, lest I become arrogant, a thorn was given to my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me," I feared lest one of the hearers, being ignorant of the meaning, might be scandalized in a simpler way, and I felt compelled to bring this saying forward and examine it thus. For if someone is ignorant, it will be clear; if not, it will be more familiar and easy to grasp: the one who knows will be reminded, and the one who does not know will learn. For I have heard many who are ignorant of the meaning and say that Paul was handed over to Satan. What are you saying, tell me? He was handed over, they say, to Satan, so that he might strike his head, and the devil inflicted a headache on him. Is this all? The teacher of the world, the citizen of paradise, the temple of Christ, what I called the lyre of the Spirit, the chosen vessel, the one who traversed the world, the one who tore up the thorns of sins, the one who sowed the seeds of piety, the one running on land, the one struggling at sea, the one who spent night and day in the deep, the one crowned in prisons, the one who set up a trophy in the courtroom, the one who ran through the entire world, that sleepless one, whose garments banished diseases, whose life made death flee—did the devil have this man under his control? And yet I hear the opposite happening. Someone among the Corinthians committed fornication; Paul heard, and what does he say?

And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, so that the one who did this deed might be removed from your midst. For I, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged, as if present, the one who accomplished this, that in the name of the Lord, with all of you gathered together and with my spirit, together with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, I should hand over such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit might be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus. Consider the authority of Paul: he handed over the fornicator to Satan, so that Satan might strike him, so that this punishment might become a purification for him from the sin. For that this happened, he says in the second epistle: "Confirm love toward him, so that we may not be outdone by Satan." You handed him over to Satan, and you say, "So that we may not be outdone by Satan"? For Satan does not know measure, he says. I handed him over when it was necessary; I take him back when it is fitting; I handed him over to Satan as to an executioner, so that our man might be cleansed; let us take him back. For if we leave him longer, we are outdone by Satan; for Satan does not know measure. I handed him over so that he might correct himself; but if we leave him, he will kill him as he killed Judas. Therefore he says: "Confirm love toward him, so that we may not be outdone by Satan." How excellently he spoke! He is no longer Satan's; for he is not in fornication, but in repentance; therefore let not that one take what is mine. When he was that one's, I gave him to him, so that what was that one's might become mine. O the wisdom of Paul! Through the wolf he saved the sheep; through the pirate he rescued the shipwrecked sailor.

through the enemy he brought the soldier back into order. I have used the devil's blow as a bitter medicine. If only it will teach him, I stand away from him. Let that one be punished, so that he may perceive what the fornicator has done. When he wipes away the sin, when he wipes away the corruption, and cleanses the wound, then the soul is shown to be strong. I do not leave the gold in the fire; lest it be scorched, I draw it out. For this is the mark of the wise man, to know the measure, how much to give to the fire and how much to take. So that we may not be outdone by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his designs. Therefore, the one who knows his designs, who has such authority as to set boundaries for him both of time and of measure—of time, by snatching him from him; of measure, by handing over such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. For since the beast is insatiable and never takes its fill from our flesh, lest it kill him outright, for this reason he says, "for the destruction of the flesh," so that it may not touch his soul—just as God says to Job, "Go, strike his flesh, but do not touch his soul," and God sets boundaries for the devil. Thus also the servant of God, imitating the Master by the power of God, gives him a decree which the devil did not dare to transgress. For if he had transgressed, he would have prevailed against Paul; since even then, when he was in the prison, the devil wished to do something of the sort.

For when the prison was shaken, when the chains were loosed, when the jailer awoke, he took a sword to kill himself, the devil pressing him to be slain. For since the shepherd was inside, so that the sheep might not be saved, the wolf came to make the sheep a wild beast's prey. But the shepherd, though bound, restrained him, saying: Do no harm to yourself. O the philanthropy of the shepherd! He is bound, and he pities the one who bound him; he has set aside his own concerns, and cares for that man's. Do no harm to yourself. You see the doors open, but I am a grateful servant; the doors are open, but I remain within; until I save you, I do not go out. For this I entered, that by loosing you from your bonds, I might free you from sins. You bound, I loose. Do no harm to yourself; for we are all here. What then? The wolf stood wanting to kill, thrusting the sword against the jailer; the shepherd cried out; the wolf heard, and let the sheep go. The shepherd took the one who was about to become a wild beast's prey. And what shall I do, he says, to be saved? Be baptized in the name of Christ. Amazing, how easy the salvation, how ineffable the philanthropy! The prisoner saved the jailer, the prison he made a church. When, he says, shall I be baptized to be saved? The prison does not hinder, the place does not obstruct; it is grace that needs no place, that requires no time; let even the prison become a church.

3. Oh, how he never forgot his craft anywhere! But he fished everywhere—in court, at sea, on an island, on land, in the desert, and in the inhabited world. For a fisherman, if he does not see the sea, does not cast his nets. But since this one was not a sensible fisherman but a spiritual one, he fished on a ship, on a mountain, at springs, on roads, in meadows, and in rivers, and no place was an obstacle to his craft. But as I was saying: even if I make many digressions, I will not abandon the inquiry. What then is it? So then, he who had such authority as to command the devil, to set boundaries for him, and to measure his stride—is this man handed over to the devil? Did you not hear Christ saying, "You tread upon snakes and scorpions and upon every power of the enemy"? What then is the meaning of the saying, "A thorn was given to my flesh, an angel of Satan, to strike me"? The whole ignorance on this point arises for many from not knowing the peculiarities of the words, nor their interpretations. "To strike" some have taken only as referring to the head. But "striking" is said to mean affliction, humiliation. "His enemy struck him"—that is, humiliated him. "This thing struck him"—instead of "humiliated him." For it is not said only of the head. And he himself uses the word again. For since he was a layman, he used the customary word to represent his thoughts.

Up to the present hour we are hungry, we are thirsty, we are naked, we are buffeted, we are abused by enemies, we are plotted against, we are hindered, we are obstructed, we are wronged—that is, we are buffeted, we are maltreated, we are whipped, we suffer terrible things, we are thrown into prison, we are led away, we are exiled, we are given over to famine. All this ill-treatment, then, he called buffeting and humiliation. Pay attention, and do not pass over this; I have need of the interpretation at the proper time. What then? Let us provide it clearly. Hold fast to the interpretation I gave you, pay attention to what is said. So buffeting, that is, the humiliation inflicted by enemies, whether through prison, or through being led away, or through a court, or through famine, or through any other means. What then is this: "In the excess of the revelations, so that I might not be exalted, a thorn was given to my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me; concerning this I entreated the Lord three times, and he said to me: 'My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is perfected in weakness'"? Pay attention to who this angel of Satan is. For he did not say, "Satan was given to me as an angel," but "an angel of Satan." It is a custom of Scripture, which has often been said and will be said now as well: for saying the same things is not irksome to me, but safe for you; for I am teaching, not presenting a display of words; I am planting, not merely passing by.

I am not a traveler, but one who sows seed. For the traveler runs, that he may complete the road; but the one who sows seed digs, then deposits the grain, then covers it with earth, and places it in the depth, that the seed, lying exposed, may not become a prey for the birds above. What the farmer does with seeds, I do with thoughts. For just as with seeds there are crows, so with thoughts there are demons and the devil, and worldly cares. For this reason I cover it, that when it comes forth, it may not be seized by worldly care or by the devil. For if I lay it bare, it is snatched away; but if I place it in the depth, it is preserved. For there is no need of occasion, but of disposition; no need of rain, but of zeal. Listen with zeal, cover with diligence; and no one can snatch it away. What then was I saying is customary in Scripture? That names are often given from the ways, and a man is called not by that appellation which his parents gave from the beginning, but by that appellation which vice or virtue bestows. For example: if it sees someone shameless, it calls him a dog, not by his own name, but by the name of the vice; if it sees someone rapacious, it calls him a wolf, not by the name of his parents, but by the wickedness of the appellation; if it sees another doing the deeds of a wicked man, it calls him by that name. But that I may not simply assert this, and provide proof of what is said, I wish to bring witnesses before you. The vision which Isaiah son of Amoz saw, against Judea and against Jerusalem.

Pay attention here: Against Judea, and against Jerusalem. Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, that the Lord has spoken: I begat sons and raised them high, but they rejected me. The ox knew its owner, and the ass knew the manger of its master; Israel did not know me, and the people did not understand me. Woe to the sinful nation! To whom are these words? To the Jews. A people full of sins. He recounts their lawlessness, their sins, their incorrigibility, their tyranny, their punishment. Beginning, he said, Against Judea, and against Jerusalem; and again he says, Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom; pay heed to the law of God, people of Gomorrah. What is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? says the Lord. I am full of the whole burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats. If you offer me fine flour, vain incense, it is an abomination to me. My soul hates your new moons and your sabbaths. Which sabbaths has he hated? Which new moons? Which incenses? Which bulls? Which sheep? The Sodomites knew none of these things; those in Sodom existed before Moses. The Sodomites were before Abraham, the Sodomites were from Lot, the Sodomites perished. He speaks to the Sodomites, to those who were burned, to those

to those who are lost. Here he said, "Against Judea, and against Jerusalem." He came to Sodom; he paid the penalty. To whom is he speaking? The things said are inconsequential unless you see the interpretation of the words; but if you learn, you find the sequence. For he is not speaking to the Sodomites, but to the Jews, calling them Sodomites. Since they inherited their manner, he also applies the name to them. Sodomites, those who hear those things. Again elsewhere: "The Jews are mute dogs, unable to bark"—not because they changed into dogs in nature, but because they changed into dogs in choice. John, the citizen of the desert, the lofty mind, the unconquered resolve, walking below and touching the heavenly vault, the fruit of the barren woman, the release of the father's speechlessness, the voice of the voiceless one, crying in the desert, in the womb (for the womb was a desert, since she was barren), the double herald, despising children, rising up against visible things, came to the Jews and says to them: "Snakes, offspring of vipers"—not because they were snakes in nature, but because they were treacherous in choice. Another prophet again: "They became mares mad for males; each one neighed at his neighbor's wife." So is he speaking to horses? No, but to licentious, intemperate men. Christ himself to the Jews: "You are sons of the devil." So were they sons of the devil and had the nature of the devil? No, but they imitated his choice and took his name. And he says, interpreting it: "You are sons of the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father.

That one is a murderer from the beginning. Hold fast to the rule: that dogs are the shameless, that wolves are the rapacious, that serpents are the treacherous, that asps are the insidious, asses the senseless, mares mad for stallions the licentious and dissolute, crows the unclean, Sodomites those who emulate them, those who imitate their deeds. Therefore nature is not evil, but it is the judgment that is corrupted. Hold fast with precision: pay attention, that the names are given from the ways, and the appellations from the judgment. And this is not only in Scripture, but also in common custom. If we see today a gentle man, we say, "The man is a sheep"; if we see someone shameless, we say, "Is he not a man? He is a dog"; if we see a treacherous man, "The man is a serpent." Do you see that common custom also knows this law? If we see a man full of many wickednesses, we say, "Satan"; not because he is Satan, nor is he a sharer with him by nature, but by judgment, because he emulates his deeds according to human power. Therefore the names come from the ways. So when you hear Paul saying, "A thorn was given to my flesh, an angel of Satan," do not think of the devil, but of those who do the works of the devil: the Greeks, the Jews, the demons. Such as then was a demon, an angel of Satan: Alexander the coppersmith showed me much evil. An angel of Satan: for he did the works of Satan. Such were those who cast him into prison, such were those who scourged him.

Therefore, those who do the works of Satan are angels of Satan, those who cut out the Gospel, those who hinder the proclamation, those who scourge him, those who drive him away. Pay attention: the whole meaning has been resolved. 4. Pay close attention, so that you may know both the speaker laboring and Paul suffering humanly. For after Christ ascended, he entrusted to them the proclamation and the good embassy. For Christ came as an ambassador to us from the Father, sent to negotiate peace. For there was war between men and God; and he sent an ambassador, not a slave, but a Son. Oh, the care of the one sent! Oh, the love for humanity of the one who sent! When you hear of the one who sent and the one sent, do not think of a change of place, but of a condescension of economy. For even if he was with us, he was also with the Father. And Paul says: We are ambassadors for Christ, as God exhorts through us: be reconciled to God. You are an ambassador for Christ? Indeed. And where is the ambassador? He has gone. Where has he gone? To the Father. Why? See things more novel. In human affairs, when one nation negotiates with another, the ambassador enjoys immunity by the law of embassy; but if the ambassador suffers anything, a great war is stirred up between the nations. In the case of God, the opposite happened. He came from the Father to men, the ambassador was slain, and then peace was made. But ambassadors coming bring gifts and receive gifts. What then? What gift did he bring to me, and the gift is extraordinary? Just as the ambassador is extraordinary, so the gift is extraordinary.

His blood came bearing a gift, his body came bearing a gift. And what gift did he receive from me? Faith. And who gave me the grace of this? I believed, he granted it, the enmity was dissolved. Do you see the ease of the matter? Do you see the speed of reconciliation? When an ambassador comes to a nation, he does not deign to converse with a commoner or with one of the poor, but straightway at dawn he enters into the presence of the king. This ambassador came, and immediately he conversed with a prostitute, a robber, a magician, and a tax collector. Do you see the humanity of the ambassador? For he did not come to one or two individuals, but to the common nature; and he came clothed in my garment, so that by not appearing in his naked divinity he might not frighten the prey; but he came to a man as a man. Since, then, he came, he offered up our firstfruits, and having called the apostles, he entrusted the embassy to them: "Take the embassy." How can we, I beseech you? "Take the Holy Spirit." You were slain, and what are we to suffer? "Take the Holy Spirit, and I am with you, with you, because I am an ambassador; for I have not abandoned you." Since, then, he ascended, and entrusted the embassy to them. And why are you surprised, if even the king himself, the Father, acts as an ambassador? We are ambassadors for Christ, as God entreats through us. The one who was insulted entreats. For what purpose? Be reconciled to God. O humanity! O ineffable goodness! Since, then, he ascended, and entrusted the embassy to the apostles.

But the state of affairs was beyond correction: the world was full of thorns, impiety reigned, evil prevailed, altars were kindled, the stench of burnt offerings polluted the air, blood was shed, nature was trampled upon, the pangs of childbirth were held in contempt, new laws and customs were overthrown, and they sacrificed their own daughters and sons to demons. All else was a festival: choruses of rhetors, assemblies of philosophers, bacchanals of demons, the power of the devil, sharpened swords, precipices everywhere, crags everywhere, custom holding sway, the pangs of fathers, the impiety of ancestors following a path of pleasure, the corrupt laws of kings—slaves and masters, rulers and commoners, rich and poor, all entangled in impiety, possessing many devices. But the apostles were only twelve, or rather eleven, for one had been taken by a wild beast; so there were eleven. Now Paul, possessing no power of speech, no abundance of wealth, no sharp tongue, no greatness of fatherland, no distinction of lineage, no bodily strength—naked, alone, more voiceless than fish, obscure from obscure parents, a layman, unlearned—went about sowing the seeds of piety throughout the world, and all opposed him. One would strike and flog him; another would seize him and drag him to prison; another would seize him and cast him into a frying pan; another would cause him to stumble; and there were countless wars. Without, battles; within, fears. Are they servants of Christ? I speak as one deranged, more than I.

in toils more abundantly, in blows beyond measure, in prisons more abundantly, in deaths often; forty lashes I received at one time, thrice I was beaten with rods, thrice I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the deep, in journeys often, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own family, in dangers from nations, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers, in toil and labor, in sleepless nights often, in hunger and thirst, in fasts often, in cold and nakedness, besides the external things, my daily gathering of people, the care of all the Churches. Who is weak, and am I not weak? Who is scandalized, and am I not inflamed? The brother fell, this one grieved; an enemy plotted, this one suffered. You know this, that all in Asia turned away from me. Again: My children, whom I again bring forth in pain, until Christ is formed in you. How was it to suffice for those outside, for those inside, for the scourges, for the griefs, for the sea, for the dangers, for the prisons, for the arrests, for the frying pans, for the plots, for the mobs, for the kings, for the household, for the strangers, for false brothers plotting, for brothers who are weak, for strangers departing, for the household, for those being tripped up? How did the body suffice? How did the soul suffice? He wore a chain, he dwelt in a prison, he wrote letters; from here he was cast out, from there he was plotted against; from here angels of Satan, from there an angel of Satan, many angels of Satan, some to prison, some to courts.

It was not enough; he was perishing; his soul was being torn apart. He did not see the dogs, and he was being bitten; he was plotted against from all sides. He approaches God and says to him: "I beg you, let me breathe a little. How shall I endure? The angel of Satan strikes me, the enemies, the plotters, the Greeks, the Jews, false brothers, weak brothers; I am in labor, and a miscarriage occurs; do I not give birth? And others plot against me; today to prison, tomorrow to the sea, after that to the deep, then to famine, to thirst, to nakedness, to frying pans, to furnaces, to roads. How shall I endure? One soul, one body. I beg you, give me respite, so that I may not be buffeted." God answered him nothing. He approached him a second time: "Give me respite, I beg you, let me breathe a little; I am one man, and you have entrusted the whole world to me; I am one man, and all from all sides hurl darts." He approached him once and says to him: "I beg you, give me respite, so that I may not be buffeted." God answered him nothing. He approached him a second time, seasick; for just like a pancratiast having countless ones biting and striking his head. He did not answer him the second time. He approached him the third time; then he answered him. Why the delay? So that you may be taught from the first not to withdraw; so that you may be taught, even if you ask for something disadvantageous and receive the opposite, not to be grieved. You often ask for what you think is beneficial, but it is not beneficial. God does not heed your tears, but your misfortune. For also a child often asks its mother for bread; but if it is something harmful, which one ought not to ask for, the mother does not give it, nor does she heed the pain, but the benefit.

And the feverish man continually bothers the physician to be given something cold, and the physician does not give it; for he does not heed the harmful desire of the moment, but the health that will be beneficial in the future. So also Paul did not know how to ask for what was expedient. What excuse do we have? If he approached him in desperation, he says to him: "Let me breathe a little, let me rest from the dangers, give me a small respite. I am alone, and you have entrusted the whole world to me." He approached him once, and said nothing; he approached a second time, a third time: "For this I have besought the Lord three times." For what? That the angel of Satan, the adversaries, might depart from me. What is it? That I may preach the gospel without trouble, that I may have no one plotting against me, that I may have no enemy, that there may be no scourges, no dangers, no prisons, no arrests, no nakedness. I come to him for this, I beg for this. I labored, I toiled, I suffered hardship, I was assailed from all sides. What then does God say to him, tell me? God did not assent to his request, he did not give what he asked; but he said: "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is perfected in weakness. My grace is sufficient for you." You see these things, what you suffer; what you do, you do not see; what the enemies do to you, you see; what I do to you, you do not see. They scourge you, I give grace. Did you enter the prison, or did you not? I entered; I beseech you. Did you see the angel of Satan there, or did you not? I saw the one who cast me in.

Did it bind you, or did it not bind you? What did I do? Did I not shake the walls? Did I not open the doors? Did I not loose the bonds? Did I not bring you the jailer as a captive? Did any angel of Satan harm you? Did the grace from me not benefit you? Did it not make the sign more brilliant? My grace is sufficient for you. Do you seek both these and those? Do you not want lashes? How do you seek signs? Do you not want dangers? How do you seek wonders? When it scourges, you see; when you raise a dead man, do you not see? When your garments were torn, you saw; when your words made diseases flee, did you not see? When you came to the court bound, you saw; when Festus said to you, "In a short time you persuade me to become a Christian," did you not see? My grace is sufficient for you. You received a great weapon, the power of the Spirit overcoming plots, making you more brilliant. What do you want? To suffer nothing? And how would my power be shown? It was shown, but not as now. How? Because Paul also grieved on this account: "Woe is me! I am a herald of the kingdom, I am a disciple of Christ, I proclaim immortal things; and I am scourged, insulted, led away." Do not be disheartened on this account; these things make you more brilliant. If you had not suffered these things, you would not be so renowned. You entered the prison. If you had not been bound, but had entered simply, it would have held you and led you out; but now you were bound, and it loosed you when bound. Your feet in the stocks, and grace shook the walls. I say these things so that no one may be astonished even at the plots against us.

We say these things not to compare ourselves to Paul (we are not so mad), but to show that God instills the same thing even in the humble. My grace is sufficient for you. Were we not cast out? Where is the grace? The praise became greater; not ten thousand enemies plotted. Where is the grace? More lovers arose; they did not seek to remove me from you. Where is the grace? And they added Jews to me. My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is perfected in weakness. Never be astonished at affliction; affliction is allotted to the Gospel. My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is perfected in weakness. How do you scourge and yet release those who scourge? How do you plot and yet overcome those who plot? For my power is perfected in weakness. Do you want what Paul heard? Is this sufficient for you? Let me be scourged, dishonored, insulted—this I want. Therefore I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with persecution. O the gratitude of a servant! He came to him asking to be freed from afflictions; but when he heard that his Master not only wills but also desires the opposite, "This seems good to you, that I be afflicted, and I also want this, and I am grateful for it." He did not say only "I want," but "I am pleased, I desire, I long to be scourged, driven, constrained." Therefore I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with persecutions, with necessities, with constraints. Why? So that the power of Christ may encamp upon me, to whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.