Monday, October 23 : Homily attributed to Saint Macarius of Egypt

A thousand years of this world compared to the eternity of the incorruptible world are like a grain of sand that is taken in the sea. Consider this, I pray to you: assume that you can become the only king of all the earth, that You are the only master of all treasures around the world. (…) If we left you the choice, would you exchange for the true and certain kingdom which has absolutely nothing in that it passes and dissolves? No, I can say it, if your judgment is healthy and if you are wise in everything that concerns you. “What gain for man, is it said, if to win the whole world he has lost his soul” (Mt 16:26), this soul that we have learned that it cannot be exchanged for anything? Because only this soul-not to mention the kingdom of heaven-is by itself much more precious than the whole world and that the kingdom of this world. The soul, as we have said, is more precious in this regard: God has not granted to any other of the created beings union and communion with his own nature, the Spirit, nor In the sky, neither in the sun, nor at the moon, nor at the stars, nor at the sea, nor to the earth, nor to any creature of the visible world, but to man alone, who loves him more than anything. Provided we have not exchanged these passing things of the world, I mean the wealth and the kingdoms of the whole earth, for the eternal kingdom in the judgement of our conscience, . What is the madness of most men who consider these comparable to vile and common things, such as a certain lust, a passing glory, a mediocre profit, and similar things?

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team