But since these things are very difficult, and very few understand them, and far fewer still are willing to put them into practice, our Leader therefore pointed out a fourth path — and a most exalted one — saying: The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent carry it off (Matt. 11). As though men did not see that the poor are blessed and the rich miserable; that, on the contrary, we must rejoice in persecutions and weep in prosperity. Nor was it hidden from Me that few would be willing to give up present goods in order to acquire future ones, and to choose present evils in order to avoid future ones; but I, who am the truth, could not and ought not to say anything but what is true. Therefore I now added that the kingdom of God cannot be snatched except by those who use great force, and that only the violent seize it. Therefore I said elsewhere: How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Luke 18); and again elsewhere: How narrow is the gate, and strait the way, that leads to life, and few there are who find it! (Matt. 7) And again I said elsewhere: The kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field, and like a precious pearl, which cannot be bought unless all things are sold (Matt. 13), so that it is altogether necessary for a man to be stripped of all that he has on earth if he wishes to possess the heavenly treasure and the precious pearl in the heavens. And again elsewhere I openly declared, and without circumlocution I said: Whoever does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be My disciple (Luke 14). Although this renunciation is to be understood of the preparation of the soul, yet because a true preparation of the soul for giving up temporal goods, should the salvation of the soul or the glory of God require it, is not an easy thing and is found in few, I therefore added those similitudes: of the man who wishes to build a tower and has not the means to finish it, and of the king who plans to make war against another king and has not equal forces to meet him with hope of victory. And if the building of a tower without very great expense, and the waging of war against a powerful king without a very great army, are things most difficult and almost impossible, how much more difficult will it be to do both at once? Yet both must be done by him who would storm the kingdom of God: for a tower must be built that reaches to heaven — that is, merits must be gathered that may merit eternal life — and at the same time battle must be joined with most numerous and most mighty enemies, namely the unclean spirits, who resist with all their might. A figure of this went before in the children of Israel, who, when they wished to rebuild the city and were hindered by the neighboring peoples warring against them, were obliged, with incredible solicitude and labor, to build with one hand and to fight with the other (2 Esd. 4). From all this it follows that the kingdom of God cannot be obtained without great labor and sweat by those who are attached to earthly things and have learned neither to tame the concupiscence of the flesh nor to fight with invisible enemies. Yet if any should wish, with the grace of God breathing upon them, to strive earnestly after Christian perfection, and to ponder the words of Christ not perfunctorily but most attentively, and to follow His example and that of all the saints, little by little the way will widen for him, the gates will be opened, the strength of his soul will grow, the enemies will grow weak, and as the charity of God in Christ Jesus grows, the burden will begin to seem light and the yoke sweet (Matt. 11); and that word of Isaiah will be fulfilled: They who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint (Isa. 40); and they shall say with the royal Prophet: I have run the way of Your commandments, when You enlarged my heart (Ps. 118). Truly it was not burdensome for St. Anthony to pass whole nights without sleep; indeed, the stretches of the night seemed all too short to him on account of the sweetness of divine contemplation, when he even complained of the sun itself, saying: "Why do you hinder me, O sun, who now rise for this very purpose — to draw me away from the brightness of this true light?" (Cassian, Coll. 9, ch. 34). Nor was it hard for him, or for others like him, to spend whole nights in the reading of the divine word, being refreshed as by heavenly bread. Nor was it bitter for St. Augustine to forgo the sweetness of the empty trifles to which he had been accustomed from early youth, once he began to taste the sweetness of divine love and the delights of interior contemplation. Therefore no one, whoever he may be, should lose heart, but should hope in the help of the Most High, who, just as He made us for Himself, so also will draw us to Himself, and will deign to place in His kingdom, through the merits of His Son, those whom He has deigned to redeem with the precious blood of His Only-begotten.
Wherefore, O Christian soul, not only should you not lose heart on account of the difficulty of the way, but you should hope in the Lord, who would not bid us seek His kingdom first unless He were prepared to help us with His most powerful aid. Set out, therefore, with a great spirit on the journey of life. There is no room here for deliberation. For if a great labor presents itself, a still greater reward presents itself; and if the forces of the enemies who hinder are great, greater is the power of Him who helps — God. And if so very many of every age and of every sex have been able to reach the kingdom by this way, why shall you not be able to reach it by the same way? For they were not of stone or iron, but of flesh — mortal, fragile; and so they were able to do it not in themselves, but in the Lord their God. Why, then, should you too, weak and infirm though you be, not be able to do it in the Lord your God? "Cast yourself upon Him," says St. Augustine; "do not fear: He will not withdraw so that you fall; cast yourself upon Him with confidence — He will catch you, and He will help you" (Conf. 8, ch. 12). God is faithful; He cannot deny Himself. Only two things are required of you: the one, that you most firmly resolve to set the glory of God and your eternal salvation before all things; the other, that you trust not in your own strength nor in your own prudence, but in the omnipotence of God and in His infinite charity. If you truly perform these two things, the crooked shall be made straight for you, and the rough places into level ways (Isa. 40), and you shall serve the Lord in gladness and exultation, and you shall sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord (Ps. 137).