Instruction Four

Discussing before the path to salvation, we learned that whoever desires to save his soul must know and reverently hold the divine teaching of the holy faith, must receive divine powers through the holy Mysteries and kindle them through all church sacred rites, and then with their help walk the path of God’s commandments under the guidance of lawful shepherds. We also saw how all this is necessary, and necessary all together, so that it is vain to flatter oneself with hope of salvation if one willfully rejects any one of these elements that accomplish salvation.

Turning now to ourselves—to the order of life that prevails among us—what do we find? We find that all this already works among us, that we are not deprived of lawful, divinely-established pastorate through which the saving Mysteries are performed for us with all sacred rites, the holy faith is proclaimed and God’s commandments are interpreted; that consequently we possess all the means pertaining to life and godliness, or we live in a saving, so to speak, atmosphere.

Salvation is so close to us that it can, as it were, be touched. How painful it will be if, at the hour when the destiny of each of us will be decided, we find that we have not accomplished our salvation! Thinking of this, one cannot hold back from the question again: what then shall we do? What shall we do with these divine means of salvation, that we may be saved?

Here is what we shall do:

1. Let us give thanks to the Lord for His good will toward us—let us give thanks that as soon as we are born we enter into a saving environment and find ready all that is necessary for salvation, and before we come to consciousness we are already carried along the saving path—by the common flow of the saved. As in visible nature the tiniest insect, when born, finds all that is necessary for its existence around itself, so the Lord surrounds us with warm care as soon as we appear in the world, and continues this care until the end of our lives. From the cradle our Mother Church takes us into her embrace—regenerates us to new life, nourishes us and guards us on all our paths, and does not leave us until she commits us to the grave with words comforting for the living and not powerless for the departed: “give eternal rest to the servant, O Lord, in blessed repose,” or “to the handmaid.” By what have we deserved all this? By nothing. There are many nations that know not the true path. Those born among them must labor hard to seek this path, and will they find it? But we enter it without any effort on our part, we find it without seeking. Why is it so? Only God knows. But in all of this action of divine providence we cannot help but see a special will of God toward us.

Let us give thanks to the Lord for all this divine providence toward us! Let us give thanks also for the conviction itself that we possess truly saving means; for bound up with this conviction is another conviction—in God’s special nearness to us, in the fact that the one true God is our God and we are His people. And there can be no greater blessing than this on earth.

2. Hearing this, more than one of you may be ready to exclaim, as if already grasping salvation: My Lord and my God! But do not forget, brothers, the word of the Lord: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom” of God (Mt. 7:21). So again the question: what else must we do? Here is what we must do. With all our thought, all our heart, and all our strength let us give ourselves to this divine ordering of our salvation, namely:

a) Let us keep “an unshakeable conviction” in the truth of this ordering of salvation and its urgent necessity for all. Ah, brothers! Overcome the temptation of your mind and the false wisdom that reaches your ears from others. Do not give way to doubts and do not allow the rash and proud questioning—“why this” and “what for that?” “It would be better thus” or “so”—to shake the peace of your faith. Repel these seductions. We are not the first. How many have already been saved by this path! We are sick, we are being treated. Does a doctor explain to a sick patient why he treats him thus and not otherwise? Let us be silent and humbly submit to all as to God’s ordering;

b) and not only this; let us also add “sympathy” to all this ordering, that is, so arrange ourselves that our heart finds satisfaction both in the worthy reception of the Holy Mysteries and in every worship service and sacred rite, in listening to the proclamation of divine truths, in heeding the guidance and counsel of shepherds, and in every work generally prescribed by God’s law. Whoever has sympathy for something is drawn to it. Whoever has sympathy for the works of salvation is drawn to them. Has someone sympathy for something else? Toward that he runs. That is why while some hasten to church, others go to the theater, a ball, or an entertainment… But you yourselves know what to expect from the latter. Transfer your heart from these vain places into the glorious realm of God and find there comfort and the fullness of heart’s content. Where your treasure is, says the Lord, there your heart will be. Thus, where your heart is, there is your treasure. What treasures does the world offer? And are they worth defiling the heart with them, a heart destined to be the dwelling place of God? Let none think that it is possible to combine both! No, it cannot be. Our heart is one and simple, so that where it is, there all is, and in another thing it is no longer there, and cannot be. Therefore he who is in the world with his heart is in the Church without his heart. And conversely, he who is in the Church with his heart is in the world without his heart. He must be without his heart somewhere. And without a heart—what kind of life is that! In the world it is good to be without a heart, but in God’s Church to be without a heart means to be a hypocrite before the eyes of God, before the all-seeing God.

That is why everything prescribed must be accompanied by:

c) “zealous, unfailing, and unmixed fulfillment of all” that is required for salvation. If one thing, then one thing: you wish to be saved, hold to the works of salvation; you do not wish, do as you please—only know that you cannot serve God and wealth. Let us resolve, brothers, to go firmly the path of salvation, not turning either to the right or to the left. Let us reject double-mindedness and straighten our halting feet! What would you say of a sick person who lies in a good hospital, is watched over by a good doctor, receives medicines directly against his illness, and neglects all this—does not listen to the doctor, does not take the medicines? What would you say also of someone standing before a clear spring, feeling thirsty and having the opportunity, even being urged, to quench his thirst from this very spring, who instead abandons it and runs to a river full of mud, reptiles, and stench, and drinks from it, water that does not quench his thirst? Certainly you would not approve of either. But will we not pronounce this judgment upon ourselves if, possessing all the means of salvation, we do not use them as we should? And will not God’s reproach be directed at us: “They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and dug for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). Thus, brothers, thanks be to the Lord that He has, in His great mercy, brought His salvation so close to us. But let us also exert our own effort! The path of salvation is indicated and made clear. It is before us. Yet we will not be saved if we do not walk this path! Look once more at all the ordering of this path together! We have said: know and hold the teaching of faith and, receiving power through the Mysteries, walk the path of the commandments under the guidance of shepherds. Here knowledge of faith and the commandments, the Mysteries with all the sacred rites and the guidance of shepherds constitute the ordering of the saving path, which is outside us. The work of salvation itself consists in what? In walking this path. Let us walk then! “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). Amen.