Let us therefore now ask what must be done in order that we may arrive at that most desired and most happy heavenly kingdom. But we shall not need to labor much on this point, since the King of heaven Himself came down to earth to teach us, and, having become our Master and Guide, showed us four most excellent and most secure paths. The first is this: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6). Moral teaching must begin from the end: our end is the kingdom of God, which will likewise be our kingdom if, walking in the paths of our Guide, we arrive there. Moreover, the justice of the kingdom of God is, as it were, the mark at which we must aim, if we desire the reward of the heavenly kingdom. For as John Cassian rightly teaches in his first Conference, the end is one thing and the mark another: the mark is the target at which arrows are aimed; the end is the reward which those receive who have hit that target most surely (Collat. 1, ch. 2). The mark set before our actions by God is justice; the reward of those who hit the mark is the kingdom of heaven. But the justice of the kingdom of God is not the justice of the Scribes and Pharisees, which consisted in the external observance of the precepts; nor is it the justice of the philosophers, which did not go beyond the light of human reason corrupted by sin; but it is the justice of the Gospel, which teaches us to love God with our whole heart, with our whole soul, and with all our strength, and to love our neighbor—whoever he may be, even an enemy—as ourselves (Matt. 22). Of this mark and end Saint Paul says: "You have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end, life everlasting" (Rom. 6). This, therefore, is what our Guide admonishes us: that first of all we seek the kingdom of God and His justice (Matt. 6); that is, that our chief thought and our highest desire be carried not toward any temporal goods, but toward obtaining the kingdom of heaven and the most diligent observance, in its perfection, of that first and greatest commandment. And because very few do this, therefore "many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. 22). For most people so live and so conduct themselves that their last thought is how they may arrive at the kingdom of heaven; and the justice of God is to them a matter of indifference, as though the Lord had said, "Seek first the kingdom of this world and its delights, and the kingdom of God shall be added unto you." But the kingdom of God is not so cheap a thing that it should be thrust upon those who prefer all else to it.
But if we wish to learn an easy way of obtaining the justice of God, which most truly and certainly leads to that kingdom, let us hear Christ our Teacher: "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall have their fill" (Matt. 5). Is it so, O Lord, that the ease of finding justice with You is so great that it suffices merely to hunger and thirst for it? Blessed indeed would all the poor be, if by merely hungering and thirsting for money they were so filled with money that, once sated, they desired nothing more. But it is one thing to hunger and thirst for money, and another to hunger and thirst for justice. For they who hunger and thirst for justice—that is, who seek justice as anxiously and eagerly as the thirsty seek water or the hungry seek food—surely think of it always, sigh after it, and, what is most important, beg it of God with unutterable groanings. And God gladly hears those who ask for such things, and so fills them with the gifts of justice that, sated, they pour forth words and works of justice. But money is not such a good that one who desires it or asks it of God is heard at once; for many abuse money, whereas no one can make bad use of justice. Finally, justice is like wisdom, of which Saint James says: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all abundantly and does not upbraid" (James 1). O ineffable mercy of the Lord, who grants the things that are most necessary to us more easily and more willingly than we ask or desire them! If, then, anyone lacks the wisdom of the saints, and likewise lacks the gift of justice—which are necessary for obtaining the kingdom of heaven—let him ask of God as he ought: from the soul, earnestly, with unutterable groanings, and he shall securely receive them.
For God gives to all who ask in this way, and repels no one; nor does He give grudgingly or sparingly, but abundantly; nor does He upbraid, as though taking it ill that one should ask often. What shall we say, then? Who, on the day of judgment, will be able to plead ignorance or weakness? Only hunger for justice, and ask it of God, and you shall be so filled with it that you will no longer hunger for the flatteries of the flesh, nor the allurements of honors, nor any other earthly goods; and thus you will live justly, soberly, and piously in this world, so as to arrive in the world to come at the everlasting kingdom.