Saturday, August 22, 2009

John Chrysostom: Poor can have more than Rich

Let us consider all this precisely, therefore, and go through it with all the others ("Give a wise person the opportunity," Scripture says, remember, "and they will become wiser"), calling constantly to mind also the fact that not even from the abundance of possessions will anything else accrue to the owners than worries, troubles, fears and dangers. Let us not think we have less than the rick: if we are vigilant, we shall have even more, both in the matters that concern God and in all those of this life. After all, you will find enjoyment and security, a good reputation, health of body, solid spiritual values, sound hope, and not readily sinning among the poor to a greater extent than among the rich.

- John Chrysostom (around A.D. 347 to around A.D. 407), Homilies on Hannah, Homily 4, in St. John Chrysostom, Old Testament Homilies, Volume 1, p. 132 (2003), Robert C. Hill translator.