The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-two Part II

Tonight we continued reading homily number 52. St Isaac begins to unpack for us the difference between worldly knowledge and the knowledge that comes through faith. Faith always transcends the world and lifts us up above the limits of nature. In many ways faith shakes knowledge to its foundations. With the eyes of faith we see that nothing is impossible and that even if we were stripped of everything in this world we still possess all. Those who cling to worldly knowledge are always filled with the kind of anxiety, seeking ways to protect themselves from reality or to protect what they possess. They seek to use every way and means to assure themselves of what it is that they see.

 

But faith is never vanquished by anything. What can human knowledge offer in the face of open conflict or war, in particular war against invisible beings? Faith offers us unspeakable wealth - the very riches of the kingdom itself.  To turn away from faith is to fall into destitution, to freely return to a place of slavery. So often we cast aside the pearl of great price, sharing in the Sonship of Christ for the limited things of this world.