Letter 123

123. To Urbicius, a Monk

You were on the point of coming to us (and the good was near), to cool us at least with the tip of a finger as we burned amid trials. And then? Our sins rose up against us and hindered your impulse, that we might labour without remedy. For as among the waves one subsides, another rises, and another is already darkened with the shudder of breaking, so too of our evils some have ceased, some are present, and some are awaited; and our one relief from evils, for the most part, is to yield to the moment and to withdraw from those who pursue us.

But be present with us — whether to console, or to give counsel, or to send us on our way — and in any case, by the very sight of you, to make us lighter. And, what is greatest, pray, and pray earnestly, that our reasonings too may not be drowned by the evil and the surge, but that in all things we may keep thanksgiving toward God, that we may not be numbered among the wicked servants, who confess him when he does us good, but, when he disciplines us through adversities, do not hold fast to him; rather, that even through hardships themselves we may be benefited, trusting in him the more, the more we have need.