The church as ark against worldly passions and unstable wealth

What I feared yesterday has now come to pass and reached its end: once the feast was over, the crowd departed along with it, and our gathering has become smaller. I knew this would certainly happen, but I did not for that reason abandon my exhortation. Even if not all who heard yesterday were persuaded, neither did all disobey, and this is no small comfort to me. Therefore I will not give up this counsel today either. Even if they do not hear through me, they will certainly hear through you. Who could bear their great indifference in silence, or offer them pardon and defense? They saw their mother after so long a time, enjoyed the good things within her, and then went away. They could not bring themselves to turn back a second time. They imitated not Noah's dove but the raven—and this while the storm still rages, while that winter continues, while a harsher squall rises every day, while this holy ark stands open in the midst, calling everyone and drawing them to itself, offering great safety to all who take refuge in it. For it does not beat off floods of water or waves, but the constant assaults of the most irrational passions. It destroys envy and calms arrogance. The rich man here cannot look down on the poor man, because he hears from the divine Scriptures: 'All flesh is grass, and all human glory is like the flower of the grass' (Isaiah 40:6). Nor will the poor man, seeing another grow rich, be seized by envy, because he too hears another prophet say: 'Do not fear when a man becomes rich, or when the glory of his house increases; for when he dies he will take nothing with him, nor will his glory go down with him' (Psalm 49:17-18 (LXX 48:18-19)). Such is the nature of this abundance: it does not move with those who have it, it does not travel with those who possess it, it does not stand by them when they are judged there and called to account, but it is cut off entirely by death. Many it has abandoned even before death. Its use is untrustworthy, its enjoyment unstable, its possession dangerous. But the things of virtue are not like this, nor the things of almsgiving. This treasure is unplunderable. How is this clear? The one who spoke philosophically about this wealth and said, 'His glory will not go down after him,' also taught us about the treasures of almsgiving—the treasures that remain forever and are never plundered—when he said: 'He scattered, he gave to the poor; his righteousness endures forever' (Psalm 112:9 (LXX 111:9)). What could be more paradoxical than this? What is gathered is destroyed, and what is scattered remains—and very rightly so. For the one kind God receives, and from God's hand no one can snatch anything away. The other kind is stored in human treasuries, where it is subject to many plots, where envy and jealousy abound. Do not, then, beloved, neglect your time here. If any despondency troubles you, it is put to flight here. If worldly cares trouble you, they flee. If irrational passions trouble you, they are quenched. But from the marketplace, the theaters, and the other gatherings outside, we return home dragging with us many cares, despondencies, and diseases of the soul.