The Lord our God wants us to be merchants.
Therefore, what are you going to do with what you have, O rich man, pay attention. You no longer think arrogantly: rightly. You do not place hope in the uncertainty of riches: very good. But you hope in the living God, who provides us with all things abundantly to enjoy: praiseworthy. Do not, therefore, be lazy in what follows: let the rich be rich in good works. Let us see these things, and believe what we do not see. You used to say: I have gold, but I do not love it; but it's not loving, it's within you; if I deserve anything from you, prove it to me; what you do not hide from your God, prove to your brother. Where, he says, will I prove it? From what follows: let the rich be rich in good works, let them be generous. For this be rich, that you may easily give. The poor indeed want to give, but cannot: with him there is difficulty, with you there is ease. Let it benefit you that you are rich, because when you want to do it, you can do it immediately. Let them be generous, ready to share. Do they lose anything? They treasure up a good foundation for the future. And lest we love that gold and silver and properties, and those things which seem beautiful in human possessions, even in that age, and desire similar things there, when it is said to us: Migrate there, place your treasure there: he warned us against carnal thoughts, and said: That they may lay hold of the true life; not gold, which remains on earth, not perishable goods, not transient goods, but true life. How then do we migrate, when this does not go there, nor will we have there what we carry from here? In a way, the Lord our God wants us to be merchants, he trades with us: we give what abounds here, we receive what abounds there; just as many make overseas trades: they give one thing somewhere else, and where they come they receive something else. For example, he says to his friend: Take gold from me here, and give me oil in Africa; and he migrates and does not migrate: what he gave he has already transferred, but he did not receive this. He receives what he desires. Such is this exchange, such, my brethren, is our trading. What do we give, and what do we receive? We give what we cannot carry with us, even if we wish to, so why then does it perish. Here, let what is less be given, that what is greater may be found there. We give earth, and we receive heaven; we give temporal things, and we receive eternal things; we give perishable things, and we receive immortal things; finally, we give what God has given, and we receive God himself. Therefore, let us not be lazy in this exchange of things, in this rich and ineffable trade. Let it benefit because we are here, let it benefit because we are born, let it benefit because we are sojourning. Let us not return empty-handed.
You hold the caution of God, you have held the debtor himself.
Let not the moth of evil thoughts enter the ark of the heart. Let it not be said: I will not give, lest I have nothing for tomorrow. Do not think much about the future: rather, think much about the future, but about the far future: He says, "Let them lay up for themselves a good foundation for the future, that they may lay hold on eternal life." Not in such a way, as the Apostle said: that there should be a supply for others, and for you an affliction, but from what each one has. Only do not love, preserve, hoard, lean on stored-up things, that is to hope for things uncertain. How many rich have slept and woken up poor. For because of these thoughts, when it was said: "A sufficient amount of money without love is enough for the present," because of evil thoughts, which say: If I do not have a treasure, who will give to me, when I begin to need? Then: I have an abundance to live on, it suffices for living; but what if some slander comes to me: how will I redeem myself? What if I need to litigate: where will I get the expenses? (as long as you can recount and reckon all the evils which may happen to the human race, often one disaster disturbs the reckoning of the counter, and all that was being counted is not only lost, but does not even remain on the fingers) Therefore, against this worm of thoughts, against the malignant moth, God has placed in His Scripture, as certain fragrances are placed on garments, lest they be moth-eaten. What? Were you thinking that you might lack this or that, and were counting many calamities. Were you not afraid of one great one? Observe what follows: "A sufficient amount of money without love is enough for the present," for He Himself has said: "I will never leave you, I will never abandon you"; you were fearing some unknown evils, therefore you were reserving money: keep me as your surety. This God says to you. Not a man, not your peer, nor yourself, but God says to you: "I will never leave you, I will never abandon you." If a man were promising, you would believe; God promises, and you doubt? He promised, wrote it down, made a covenant: be secure. Read what you hold, you hold God's covenant, you have held the very debtor, from whom you have asked your debts to be forgiven. Amen.