Let not things be taken away from human affairs: let there be things, and let the use of good things be present. For some goods are those which are only found in good people, and others are goods which are common to both good and evil people. The goods which are only found in good people are piety, faith, justice, chastity, prudence, modesty, charity, and others of this kind. The goods which are common to both the good and evil are money, honor, power of this age, administration, and bodily health itself. And these are goods, but they seek good people.
Why are temporal goods given by God to the wicked?
Now, here is that murmurer who always seeks something to criticize; and this in God; who, if only he would return to himself, see himself, criticize himself, correct himself: therefore that critic and arguer will soon object to me in God, "And why does God, who governs everything, give these good things to the wicked? He would not give them unless to the good." Do you expect to hear from me the counsel of God? Who, from whom, and what? Nevertheless, according to my understanding, as much as I can grasp, as much as He deigns to grant, I tell you what perhaps might not suffice for you, but there is someone here to whom it suffices. Therefore, let me sing: for indeed in this great multitude I cannot fail to find someone who will dance. Behold, listen, wise one, but from the contrary: listen. That God gives these good things even to the wicked, if you wish to understand, is for your instruction, not the perversity of God. I still know you have not understood what I have said: therefore listen to what I was saying, that one to whom I was speaking, who criticizes God and accuses God, because He gives these earthly and temporal goods even to wicked men, which according to your sense you think He ought to have given only to the good. Hence it is from this that some have fallen into deadly impiety to entirely believe that God does not look upon human affairs. For they say and argue: “Would that one have riches, that one have honors, that one have power if God attended to human affairs? God does not care for human affairs: for if He cared, He would give these things only to the good.”
Therefore even to the wicked they are given, so that they may be despised by the good, and better things may be sought. What kind of good are riches?
Return to your heart, and from there to God. For you will return to God from your neighbor, if you will return to your heart. For when these things offend you, you have left yourself: you have become an exile from your own breast. You are moved by the things that are outside yourself, and you lose yourself. You are inside, these things lie outside; they are good, but they are outside. Gold, silver, all money, clothing, clientele, families, livestock, honors, are outside. If these lower goods, terrestrial goods, temporary goods, transient goods, were not given also to evildoers, they would be greatly esteemed by good men. Therefore, God who gives these goods to evil people teaches you to desire better things. Behold, I say, with this moderation of human matters, in a certain way your Father God speaks to you: and as if teaching a foolish child, He speaks these words, which, as I can, I utter to you, the more confidently, as He deigns to dwell in me. Imagine saying to God, who has renewed and adopted you: O son, what is it that you rise daily, and pray, and kneel, and strike your forehead to the ground, and sometimes even weep, and say to me: My Father, my God, give me riches? If I give them to you, do you think you have attained something good and great?
Because you asked, you received: behold, do well with it. Before you had it, you were humble: you began to have riches, and you despised the poor. What kind of good is it, from which you have become worse? You have become worse, because you were bad: and you did not know what could make you worse; therefore you were asking these things from me. I gave, and tested: you found, and you were found. You were hiding when you did not have it. Correct yourself: vomit out greed, drink love. What is great that you ask from me, your God says to you? Do you not see to whom I have given these things? Do you not see to what kind of people I have given these things? If it were a great good that you ask from me, would a thief have it? would a traitor have it? would my blasphemer have it? would a notorious mime have it? would an impudent prostitute have it? Would all these people have gold, if gold were a great good?
But you say to me: Is gold not good, then? Indeed, gold is good. But the wicked make evil out of good gold; the good make good out of good gold. Therefore, because you see to whom I have given these; ask for better things from me, ask for greater things from me; ask for spiritual things from me, ask for me myself from me.
The world, having become bitter, does not cease to be bitter; what if it were sweet.
But, you say, there are evils in the world: harsh, filthy, hateful things. The covenant is foul, it should not be loved. Behold, it is such as this, and thus it is loved. The house is in ruins, and it is hard to move. Mothers or nurses, when they see that children have grown and should no longer be nourished by milk, if they still cling to the breast, smear their nipples with some bitterness, so that the child, offended, does not seek milk further. So why then is it still sucked so delightfully, if the world has become bitter to you? God filled the world with bitterness; and you gape after it, lean upon it, suck it; you take pleasure only from this and that. How long? What if it were sweet? How would it be loved? Do these things offend you? Choose another life. Love God, despise these things. Despise human affairs, whenever you are to depart from here: for you will not always be here. And yet, as bad as the world is, as bitter as it is, as full of calamities as it is, if it had been told to you by God that you would be here forever, wouldn't you be delighted, exult, give thanks? Why? Because you would not end the misery. That is the greatest misfortune, which compels itself to be loved. It would be lesser if it were not loved: the greater the evil, the more it is loved.
There is another life, my brothers: there is another life after this life, believe it. Prepare yourselves for it: despise all present things. If you have, do good with it: if you do not have, do not burn with desire. Emigrate, transfer before you: let what you have here go to where you will follow. Hear the counsel of your Lord: Do not store up treasure for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there also is your heart. You hear daily, faithful man, Lift up your heart: and as if you hear the contrary, you sink your heart into the earth. Emigrate. Do you have means? Do well. Do you not have means? Do not murmur against God. Hear me, oh poor ones: What do you lack, if you have God? Hear me, oh rich ones: What do you have, if you do not have God?