Blessing in All Seasons

We do not seek the same kind of relationship; for indeed, toward the Father it is unsurpassed. The communion toward God is not by condescension, but toward those who have become gods according to their merit, power, and the proportion of their progress. And toward the prophets it happens thus: 'the Word who came into being with Jeremiah' (Jeremiah 1:5). He did not say 'the Being,' but 'the one coming into being.' And coming into being happens according to that measure. And here, therefore, we have explained differently the direct Word of God, whose works are in faith. We have said that the teaching-word is able to be.

Furthermore: what kind of spirit shall we receive? —By an intention, the mouth of God shall receive a spirit instead of: when through the word it leads into the knowledge of those things which it judges to be acceptable. 'Remove the crookedness from your mouth.' 'And his mouth calls upon the bold death.' When the spirit is toward God and toward the Son, it is not called 'spirit of the mouth,' but when it is ministered to those able to receive it by the word. Furthermore: do you not say someone is a participant of righteousness being practical? —The one having righteousness with understanding and being able to make it clear to another just as he himself possesses it. Furthermore: do you not say he does this by the word? —I do not say by the word in the spoken sense.

2 'I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise is continually in my mouth' (Psalm 34:1). He who blesses God at all times is the one who is giving thanks in all things falling upon him. And the apostle also writes: 'giving thanks in all things' (1 Thessalonians 5:18). He who gives thanks to God does not do so only for pleasant things; he does this, but also for unpleasant things. Job, indeed, does not bless God only in prosperity and the salvation of children and the other surrounding wealth, but also when all was taken from him at once. When indeed all his ordered things, the existing things, were taken from him, he gives thanks to God, and 'he did not sin,' he says, 'Job did not act foolishly toward the Lord, nor did he give unfaithfulness to God' (Job 1:21-22). He who speaks concerning providence saying: 'he ought to have done thus or thus,' imputes foolishness to God and speaks of how much he did not consider God regarding what He ought to have done. When indeed someone says: 'it was necessary for the old to die before the young, the parents before the children, and the healthy not to die, but the sick,' he gives foolishness to the Divine...

Being cared for and provided for. Thus, 'he did not give foolishness to God' (cf. Ps 34:1).... 'Blessed is the Lord' (Ps 34:1). Since therefore both times and seasons are different, and it is fitting to give thanks in everything, he rightly says: 'I will bless the Lord at all times' (Ps 34:1). There is no time when I do not bless the Lord. Even if the things coming upon me are unpleasant, I receive them as good.

Another word said: 'Whatever comes to you from the Lord, receive it as good.' You would not say, seeing one who is sick and being treated by a skilled physician, that he is thankful to the physician desiring salvation; for when the physician treats him, even if he divides him with a sword so that he may be saved, he accepts it, not only when the physician gives him pleasant helps. He looks not to the pleasant or the unpleasant of the things coming, but to the profitable and the effective. Therefore every time is a time to bless God. We take the time in two ways: the necessary season and the condition of the one helping.

We say, for example, regarding the healthy, that the time of a skilled physician is midday and the time of dinner is evening; but regarding the one suffering, we do not take the time as a season, but rather looking to how his body is. In both ways the saint blesses God 'at all times' (Ps 34:1); for he knows that it is by providence, and that he who provides knows even better what will be effective for him. 'Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks' (1 Thess 5:16-18). If the saint rejoices always, he is never submerged or cast down when grim things are present; for even at these things he rejoices, he rejoices as if at athletic contests. He who follows the victory sees the contests and expects the crowns and the prizes, and rejoices, even if the surrounding circumstances are unpleasant.

Therefore, 'I will bless' (Ps 34:1). And so that no one thinks the blessing happens by spoken word, such as someone saying by a promise: 'His praise is in my mouth continually' (Ps 63:3). In praising him, I bless him. 'His praise is in my mouth continually' (Ps 63:3). But we do not say this so that something impossible might follow, that the praise is in the spoken word continually. But this is impossible; for while sleeping one does not do this, while eating at times one does not do this; but thus it must be praised: all that I do, even if I eat and drink and sleep, I undergo these things thanking God. Thus also it should be heard from: 'Always...'