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and I fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh; and he calls the matter a grace, confessing thus and saying, that For to us it has been granted by Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. Let us therefore be eager to have such a mind, and let us bear with pleasure all the painful things that befall us. And we will be able to bear them, if we love God, as the prophet loved Him. For not only from this obedience is it possible to see his love, but also from the words that follow. For having said, As the deer longs for the springs of water, so my soul longs for you, my God, he added, saying: My soul has thirsted for God, the strong, the living; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? He did not say, My soul has affection for the living God, nor, My soul has loved the living God, but in order to show his disposition, he called his love a thirst, revealing to us both the burning nature of his love, and the perpetual nature of his desire. For just as those who are thirsty do not suffer this on one day and two and three, but throughout their whole life, nature leading them to this; so indeed also that blessed one, and all the saints, were not in a state of compunction for only one day, as are many men, nor for two and three—for this is nothing wonderful—but they continued loving with reverence continually and every day, and they intensified their love. Which things, therefore, he himself also showed, saying: My soul has thirsted for God, the strong, the living, at once wishing to state the cause, and wanting to show through you, how someone might so love God. For through the following words he revealed this, saying, that My soul has thirsted for God, and adding, the living; as if admonishing and crying out to all those who gape after the things of this life: Why are you mad about bodies? Why do you desire glory? Why do you aim at luxury? None of these things remains and lives forever, but they flow away and pass by, and they are more worthless than a shadow, and more deceptive than dreams, and more perishable than the flowers of spring, some being left behind with the present life, and others being destroyed even before things here. Their possession is untrustworthy, their enjoyment is uncertain, their change is swift; but with God there is nothing of this kind, but He lives and remains forever, admitting neither alteration nor any change. Let us therefore, leaving aside the temporary and ephemeral things, love the eternal and everlasting one. For it is not possible for one who loves Him ever to be put to shame; it is not possible to fall away; it is not possible to be deprived of the beloved. For the one who loves money, either when death comes, or even before death, is stripped of the things he desires; and one who loves the 55.165 present glory suffers the same thing; and often even the beauty of bodies is extinguished much more quickly than the things mentioned, and simply all the things of this life are temporary and ephemeral, and before they can arrive and appear, they immediately leap away. But the love of spiritual things, quite the contrary, flourishes and blooms forever, and knows no old age, nor does it admit decay, nor is it subject to any change and turn and uncertainty of the future; but both here it benefits those who possess it, and surrounds them on all sides, and when they depart from here it does not leave them, but it also travels with and is transferred with them, and it makes them brighter than the luminaries themselves on that day. Knowing these things, therefore, the blessed David continued to love, and he did not endure to hold his desire within, but in every way he hastened to show to his hearers the fire which held him within. For having said, My soul has thirsted for God, the strong, the living, he added, When shall I come and appear before the face of God? See the man burning; see him on fire. Knowing that when he departs from here he will see Him, not even the delay

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καὶ ἀνταναπληρῶ τὰ ὑστερήματα τῶν θλίψεων τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου· καὶ χάριν τὸ πρᾶγμα καλεῖ, ὁμολογῶν οὕτω καὶ λέγων, ὅτι Ἡμῖν οὕτως ἐχαρίσθη ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, οὐ μόνον τὸ εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πάσχειν. Τοιαύτην οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς σπουδάσωμεν γνώμην ἔχειν, καὶ μεθ' ἡδονῆς πάντα φέρωμεν τὰ προσπίπτοντα λυπηρά. ∆υνησόμεθα δὲ φέρειν, ἂν τὸν Θεὸν φιλήσωμεν, ὡς ὁ προφήτης ἐφίλησεν. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπακοῆς ταύτης ἔστιν ἰδεῖν αὐτοῦ τὸ φίλτρον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἑξῆς ῥημάτων. Εἰπὼν γὰρ, Ὃν τρόπον ἐπιποθεῖ ἡ ἔλαφος ἐπὶ τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων, οὕτως ἐπιποθεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς σὲ, ὁ Θεός μου, ἐπήγαγε λέγων· Ἐδίψησεν ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἰσχυρὸν, τὸν ζῶντα· πότε ἥξω καὶ ὀφθήσομαι τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ; Οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἐφίλησεν ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ζῶντα, οὐδ', Ἠγάπησεν ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ζῶντα, ἀλλ' ἵνα τὴν διάθεσιν ἐνδείξηται, δίψος ἐκάλεσε τὸ φίλτρον, ἀμφότερα ἡμῖν δηλῶν, τό τε διακαὲς τῆς ἀγάπης, καὶ τὸ διηνεκὲς τοῦ ἔρωτος. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ διψῶντες οὐκ ἐν μιᾷ τοῦτο πάσχουσιν ἡμέρᾳ καὶ δύο καὶ τρισὶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου, τῆς φύσεως ἐπὶ τοῦτο αὐτοὺς ἀγούσης· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ μακάριος ἐκεῖνος, καὶ πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι, οὐκ ἐν μιᾷ μόνον ἡμέρᾳ ἐν κατανύξει ἐγένοντο, καθάπερ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὐδὲ ἐν δυσὶ καὶ τρισὶ τοῦτο γὰρ οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διηνεκῶς καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐρῶντες διετέλουν μετ' εὐλαβείας, καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην ἐπέτεινον. Ἅπερ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐμφαίνων ἔλεγεν· Ἐδίψησεν ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἰσχυρὸν, τὸν ζῶντα, ὁμοῦ καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν θέλων εἰπεῖν, καὶ διὰ σὲ βουλόμενος δεῖξαι, πῶς ἄν τις τὸν Θεὸν οὕτως φιλήσειε. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τῶν ἑξῆς τοῦτο ἐδήλωσεν, εἰπὼν, ὅτι Ἐδίψησεν ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἐπαγαγὼν, Τὸν ζῶντα· μονονουχὶ παραινῶν καὶ ἐμβοῶν πᾶσι τοῖς πρὸς τὰ βιωτικὰ πράγματα κεχηνόσι· Τί περὶ σώματα μαίνεσθε; τί δόξης ἐπιθυμεῖτε; τί τρυφῆς ἐφίεσθε; Οὐδὲν τούτων μένει καὶ ζῇ διηνεκῶς, ἀλλὰ διαῤῥεῖ καὶ παρέρχεται, καὶ σκιᾶς εἰσιν οὐδαμινώτερα, καὶ ὀνείρων ἀπατηλότερα, καὶ τῶν ἐαρινῶν ἀνθῶν εὐφθαρτότερα, τὰ μὲν μετὰ τῆς παρούσης καταλιμπάνοντα ζωῆς, τὰ δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἐνταῦθα καταλυόμενα. Ἄπιστος αὐτῶν ἡ κτῆσις, ἀβέβαιος ἡ ἀπόλαυσις, ὀξύῤῥοπος ἡ μεταβολή· ἐπὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ δὲ οὐδὲν τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ ζῇ καὶ μένει διηνεκῶς ἐκεῖνος, οὔτε ἀλλοίωσιν, οὔτε τροπήν τινα δεχόμενος. Ἀφέντες τοίνυν τὰ πρόσκαιρα καὶ ἐφήμερα, τὸν αἰώνιον καὶ διηνεκῆ φιλῶμεν. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἐκεῖνον φιλοῦντα καταισχυνθῆναί ποτε· οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκπεσεῖν· οὐκ ἔστιν ἔρημον γενέσθαι τοῦ φιλουμένου. Χρήματα μὲν ὁ φιλῶν, ἢ τελευτῆς ἐπελθούσης, ἢ καὶ πρὸ τῆς τελευτῆς γυμνοῦται τῶν ποθουμένων· καὶ δόξης τις ἐρῶν τῆς 55.165 παρούσης τὸ αὐτὸ πάσχει· πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τὸ τῶν σωμάτων κάλλος πολὺ τῶν εἰρημένων κατασβέννυται θᾶττον, καὶ πάντα ἁπλῶς τὰ βιωτικὰ, πρόσκαιρα καὶ ἐφήμερα, καὶ πρὶν ἢ παραγενέσθαι καὶ φανῆναι, εὐθέως ἀποπηδᾷ. Ὁ δὲ τῶν πνευματικῶν ἔρως τοὐναντίον ἅπαν, ἀκμάζει διηνεκῶς καὶ ἀνθεῖ, καὶ γῆρας οὐκ οἶδεν, οὐδὲ παλαιότητα δέχεται, οὐδὲ μεταβολῇ τινι καὶ τροπῇ καὶ ἀδηλίᾳ τοῦ μέλλοντός ἐστιν ὑπεύθυνος· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνταῦθα τοὺς κεκτημένους ὠφελεῖ, καὶ περιβάλλει πάντοθεν, καὶ ἀπελθόντας ἐντεῦθεν οὐκ ἀφίησιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ συναποδημεῖ καὶ συμμεθίσταται τούτοις, καὶ τῶν φωστήρων αὐτῶν λαμπροτέρους αὐτοὺς ἀποφαίνει κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην. Ἅπερ οὖν εἰδὼς καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆αυΐδ, φιλῶν διετέλει, καὶ τὸν ἔρωτα οὐκ ἠνέσχετο κατέχειν ἔνδον, ἀλλὰ παντὶ τρόπῳ δεῖξαι τοῖς ἀκούουσιν ἠπείγετο τὸ πῦρ, ὅπερ ἔνδον αὐτὸν συνεῖχεν. Εἰπὼν γὰρ, Ἐδίψησεν ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἰσχυρὸν, τὸν ζῶντα, ἐπήγαγε, Πότε ἥξω καὶ ὀφθήσομαι τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ; Ὅρα καιόμενον τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ὅρα ἐμπιπράμενον. Εἰδὼς ὅτι ἐντεῦθεν ἀπελθὼν αὐτὸν ὄψεται, οὐδὲ τὴν ἀναβολὴν