The Capacity of Faith and Grace

The soul is blind when it does not see the coming age, seeing the body of Christ but not knowing the divinity. That the soul is blind when it is ignorant of things concerning God, Isaiah testifies, saying: 'And the servants of God were blinded' (Isa 6:9). How were they blinded? For, he says, you have repeatedly failed to take heed, having open ears, and you did not hear. And who is blind, but my children? And who is deaf, but their rulers? And the Savior, desiring to show a blindness of the intellect, reproves the Pharisees who are blinding themselves concerning the truth, saying: 'Leave them, they are blind guides; and if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit' (Matt 15:14).

The soul is deaf when it does not obey the Law, ignoring the Lord's voice; this deafness is not by nature, but by choice. For this reason the Savior said: 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear' (Matt 13:9); not because those present lacked ears (for how could they have occupied themselves with teaching without the organ of hearing?), but he clearly shows that while the ear is fashioned for hearing, the perception of the soul is not joined to the hearing of the divine Law. Therefore, there is no profit in external hearing if the inner intellect is blinded.

Someone is a leper to the soul, not one whose body is darkened, but one whose soul is obscured. For what is leprosy in the body, if not a double color? What is leprosy in the soul? A divided mind. Woe to the sinner who treads upon two paths! Whenever one at times believes and at times is unbelieving, and at times leans toward almsgiving and at times toward inhumanity, he is a leper in the soul, not possessing a healthy color, but being divided in his intellect; and just as leprosy divides the body, so an evil thought divides the intellect.

Let each one, then, cry out for his own wounds, and call upon Jesus, the healer of souls and bodies, just as the blind man cried out: 'Son of David, have mercy on me' (Mark 10:48). And some may go forward, rebuking him; but boldness is not hindered by those who obstruct. Faith knows how to fight against all things, and overcomes all things. Even if men rebuke, the believer does not shrink back, but follows the Lord, knowing that boldness for the sake of piety is beautiful. For if many are shameless for the sake of money, for the sake of the soul's salvation, there is nothing more beautiful than holy boldness.

Should he put on clothes? Jesus commands him to be brought. The voice of the one calling upon him with faith caused the Lord Jesus to stand. He commanded the one who previously approached him with faith to be brought, and to approach the body. He commanded him to be brought, and says, 'What do you want me to do for you?'

He does not ask idly; for it was possible even while sitting to send the healing, but the Jews, slandering the truth, were able to say, as if regarding one born blind, 'This is not such, but one like him.' Therefore, he calls the one being benefited into the midst of the ignorant as a theater, so that first he might show the protrusion of nature, and then recognize the authority of grace. 'What do you want me to do for you?' He asks him, but teaches those present. And he says, 'Lord, that I may receive sight.'

See how much he receives in his hands from the one receiving the cure, so as to shut away the slander of the wicked. He says therefore, 'Go, your faith has saved you.' Do you see how the previously mentioned thing is shown to us through their works? And that the benefits are not idle, but are sold by faith? Jesus does not give the benefits for silver, but sells them by faith. If you do not cast in faith, you do not receive the benefit; grace is spread out, but faith proceeds.

And just as there is one spring, but some draw from the spring with small vessels and others with large, and one draws a little water and another much, not the spring dividing the measures, but each drawing according to his own vessel; so grace is spread out like a spring, but the intention of the approaching vessel and implement becomes the measure of the grace. If therefore you bring forward a little faith like a small vessel, you draw a little grace; but if you bring forward a great mind, you draw a great benefit.

For this reason the Savior says, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' And he, 'Yes, Lord'; and the Savior, 'Let it be done to you according to your faith.' From here the Apostle exhorts the Corinthians, saying, 'Enlarge yourselves,' so that he may show that with an enlarged mind a wider grace enters; and the prophet, 'Open your mouth, and I will fill it.' There is no obstacle on the part of the benefit, but on the part of our own laziness. Jesus, the Light of righteousness, has risen; the ray of the intelligible sun is spread out everywhere; and the one...