that I am able to do this? And he, Yes, Lord; and the 59.602 Savior, According to your faith be it done to you. From this the Apostle exhorts the Corinthians, saying: Be you enlarged, so that he might show that into the enlarged mind, a more expansive grace enters; and the prophet, Open your mouth, and I will fill it. There is no hindrance on the part of the benefaction, but on the part of our own indolence. Jesus has risen as the luminary of righteousness, the ray of the spiritual sun is spread everywhere; and one enjoys less of grace, and another more, not because grace is divided, but because the mind provides the measure. For just as there is one sun for all the earth, and one ray, and one beam, yet not all the world is equally illuminated, but one has a bright light, another less, another more, and one a narrow one, another a wider one, not because the sun divides to this house the greater, and to that one the lesser, but the ray finds room and thus pours in according to the windows which the builders have opened; so since the windows of our soul are our thoughts, when you open your thoughts wider, you receive a wider benefaction; when you narrow your mind, you narrow grace. Uncover your thought, that you may receive the beam. For this reason Paul says of himself, But we all, with unveiled face, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed from glory to glory. One blind man was healed through the story, and the eyes of many are opened through the teaching. According to your faith be it done to you. But the blind man, it says, followed, glorifying God, and Jesus does not prevent him. Here it is necessary to consider, when he healed the demoniac, he was asked by the one who had received the benefaction to follow Jesus; for he wished, it says, to follow. But the Savior prevents him and says: Go to your house, and report what great things God has done for you. For what reason does he prevent the one who wanted to follow, but does not prevent the other? why does he permit this one to follow, but does not permit that one? Usefully for that one, and profitably for this one. He did not allow the one to follow for another reason, because he had been a demoniac; and of the demoniac both the speech and the tongue had been distorted. Therefore he sends him out as a preacher, so that by his condition he might proclaim his benefactor. For it was a strange sight to see the one who was once unsettled, proclaiming settled words. Therefore he makes the very instrument of the one who was benefited a herald of the one who saved him. And see the wonder, see the humility of the Savior, see the gratitude of the demoniac. The Savior says: Go, and announce what God has done for you. He does not say, What I have done for you, but being humble, he ascribes it to the name of God. But the demoniac went about proclaiming what God Jesus had done for him. Therefore he sends the one out to preach, so that from his condition he might show the greatness of the benefaction; but he allows the blind man to follow. Why? Because he was going up to Jerusalem to accomplish the great mystery, and to undertake the economy for the world, and the cross was to follow, and insult, and all the things newly contrived by the God-fighters; for this reason he makes the blind man follow, so that they might have the memory of the miracle fresh, so that the memory of the healing might steady the minds of those who were about to slip. He makes the blind man follow, so that no one might deny the wonder-working, since the minds of the apostles were about to be shaken as in a storm, and the state of those watching was about to be tempest-tossed, seeing the Only-begotten of God on a cross. Therefore, so that they might not shrink back when looking at the passion, he allows the blind man to follow, so that having the memory of the benefaction fresh, they might have their reasoning of the truth unshaken. γʹ. For Christ does many such things, since he came to undertake the economy for men. And so that no one might suppose that he suffers through weakness, and does not endure it through love for mankind, before he entered Jerusalem, he sees a fig tree. And he went away, it says, seeking

ὅτι δύναμαι τοῦτο ποιῆσαι; Ὁ δὲ, Ναὶ, Κύριε· καὶ ὁ 59.602 Σωτὴρ, Κατὰ τὴν πίστιν σου γενηθήτω σοι. Ἐντεῦθεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος παρακελεύεται Κορινθίοις λέγων· Πλατύνθητε ὑμεῖς, ἵνα δείξῃ, ὅτι τῇ πλατυνομένῃ διανοίᾳ πλατυτέρα ἡ χάρις ἐπεισέρχεται· καὶ ὁ προφήτης, Ἄνοιξον τὸ στόμα σου, καὶ πληρώσω αὐτό. Οὐδὲν παρὰ τῇ εὐεργεσίᾳ τὸ κώλυμα, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ. Φωστὴρ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀνέτειλεν Ἰησοῦς, ἥπλωται πανταχοῦ ἡ ἀκτὶς νοητοῦ ἡλίου· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐλάττονος ἀπολαύει τῆς χάριτος, ὁ δὲ μείζονος, οὐ τῆς χάριτος μεριζούσης, ἀλλὰ τῆς διανοίας τὸ μέτρον ὑποβαλλούσης. Ὥσπερ γὰρ εἷς ἥλιος εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, καὶ μία ἀκτὶς, καὶ μία αὐγὴ, οὐ πᾶς δὲ ὁ κόσμος ὁμοίως πεφώτισται, ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν λαμπρὸν ἔχει τὸ φῶς, ὁ δὲ ἔλαττον, ὁ δὲ μεῖζον, καὶ ὁ μὲν στενὸν, ὁ δὲ πλατύτερον, οὐ τοῦ ἡλίου μερίζοντος τούτῳ τῷ οἴκῳ τὸ μεῖζον, κἀκείνῳ τὸ ἔλαττον, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰς θυρίδας, ἃς ἠνέῳξαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, χώραν λαμβανούσης τῆς ἀκτῖνος, καὶ οὕτως εἰσχεομένης· οὕτως ἐπειδὴ θυρίδες ἡμῶν τῆς ψυχῆς οἱ λογισμοὶ, ὅταν πλατυτέρους ἀνοίξῃς τοὺς λογισμοὺς, πλατυτέραν δέχῃ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν· ὅταν στενώσῃς τὴν διάνοιαν, στενοῖς τὴν χάριν. Ἀνακάλυψόν σου τὸν λογισμὸν, ἵνα δέξῃ τὴν αὐγήν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν ὁ Παῦλος περὶ ἑαυτοῦ, Ἡμεῖς δὲ πάντες ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν δόξαν Κυρίου κατοπτριζόμεθα, μεταμορφούμενοι ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν. Εἷς τυφλὸς ἐθεραπεύθη διὰ τῆς ἱστορίας, καὶ πολλῶν ὀφθαλμοὶ διανοίγονται διὰ τῆς διδασκαλίας. Κατὰ τὴν πίστιν σου γενηθήτω σοι. Ὁ δὲ τυφλὸς, φησὶν, Ἠκολούθει δοξάζων τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ οὐ κωλύει ὁ Ἰησοῦς. Ἐνταῦθα ἀναγκαῖον θεωρῆσαι, ὅτε τὸν δαιμονιῶντα ἐθεράπευσε, παρεκλήθη ὑπὸ τοῦ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν δεξαμένου, ὥστε ἀκολουθεῖν τῷ Ἰησοῦ· ἐβούλετο γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀκολουθεῖν. Ὁ δὲ Σωτὴρ κωλύει καὶ λέγει· Ὕπαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου, καὶ διάγγελλε, ὅσα ἐποίησέ σοι ὁ Θεός. Τίνος ἕνεκεν τὸν μὲν θελήσαντα ἀκολουθῆσαι κωλύει, τὸν δὲ οὐ κωλύει; διὰ τί τούτῳ μὲν ἐπιτρέπει τὴν ἀκολούθησιν, ἐκείνῳ δὲ οὐκ ἐπιτρέπει; Κἀκείνῳ χρησίμως, καὶ τούτῳ συμφερόντως. Τὸν μὲν ἀκολουθεῖν οὐ συνεχώρει δι' ἑτέραν αἰτίαν, ἐπειδὴ δαιμονιῶν ἦν· τοῦ δὲ δαιμονιῶντος καὶ ἡ λέξις καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα διέστραπτο. Ἀποστέλλει οὖν αὐτὸν κήρυκα, ἵνα ἐκ τῆς καταστάσεως κηρύξῃ τὸν εὐεργέτην. Ξένον γὰρ ἦν θέαμα ἰδεῖν τόν ποτε μὴ καθεστηκότα, καθεστηκότας κηρύττειν λόγους. Ποιεῖ οὖν αὐτὸ τὸ ὄργανον τοῦ εὐεργετηθέντος κήρυκα τοῦ σώσαντος. Καὶ βλέπε τὸ θαυμαστὸν, βλέπε τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ταπεινοφροσύνην, βλέπε τοῦ δαιμονιῶντος τὴν εὐγνωμοσύνην. Ὁ μὲν Σωτὴρ λέγει· Πορεύου, καὶ ἀνάγγελλε, ὅσα ἐποίησέ σοι ὁ Θεός. Οὐ λέγει, Ὅσα ἐποίησά σοι ἐγὼ, ἀλλὰ ταπεινοφρονῶν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ προσηγορίᾳ ἐπιγράφει. Ὁ δὲ δαιμονιῶν περιῄει κηρύττων, ὅσα ἐποίησεν αὐτῷ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰησοῦς. Τὸν μὲν οὖν ἀποστέλλει κηρύττειν, ἵνα ἀπὸ τῆς καταστάσεως δείξῃ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς εὐεργεσίας· τὸν δὲ τυφλὸν ἐπιτρέπει ἀκολουθεῖν. ∆ιὰ τί· Ἐπειδὴ εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα ἀνῄει ἐπιτελέσων τὸ μέγα μυστήριον, καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ κόσμου οἰκονομίαν ἀναδεξόμενος, καὶ σταυρὸς ἔμελλεν ἀκολουθεῖν, καὶ ὕβρις, καὶ πάντα τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν θεομάχων καινοτομηθέντα· διὰ τοῦτο ποιεῖ ἀκολουθεῖν τὸν τυφλὸν, ἵνα πρόσφατον ἔχωσι τὴν μνήμην τοῦ θαύματος, ἵνα ἡ μνήμη τῆς ἰάσεως στηρίξῃ τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν μελλόντων διολισθαίνειν. Ποιεῖ ἀκολουθεῖν τὸν τυφλὸν, ἵνα μή τις ἀρνήσηται τὴν θαυματουργίαν, ἐπειδὴ ἔμελλε σαλεύεσθαι ὡς ἐν χειμῶνι τῶν ἀποστόλων ἡ διάνοια, καὶ τῶν ὁρώντων ἡ κατάστασις ἔμελλε χειμάζεσθαι, ὁρώντων τὸν Μονογενῆ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ σταυροῦ. Ἵνα οὖν μὴ πρὸς τὸ πάθος βλέποντες ὀκλάσωσι, συγχωρεῖ τῷ τυφλῷ ἀκολουθεῖν, ἵνα πρόσφατον ἔχοντες τὴν μνήμην τῆς εὐεργεσίας, ἀσάλευτον ἔχωσι τὸν λογισμὸν τῆς ἀληθείας. γʹ. Πολλὰ γὰρ τοιαῦτα ποιεῖ ὁ Χριστὸς, ἐπειδὴ ἦλθε τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἰκονομίαν ἀναδέξασθαι. Καὶ ἵνα μή τις αὐτὸν ὑπολάβῃ δι' ἀσθένειαν πάσχειν, καὶ οὐ διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν ὑπομένειν, πρὶν εἰσέλθῃ εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, βλέπει συκῆν. Καὶ ἀπῆλθε, φησὶ, ζητῶν