The last name of eternal happiness is the crown of justice, of which crown the Apostle speaks thus in the same place where he spoke of the prize: Every one that striveth in the contest refraineth himself from all things; and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one (1 Cor. 9). Nor can it be doubted that in this place by "contest" is meant not a race in the stadium — so that this similitude would be the same as the former — but rather a fight and a struggle, so that this similitude differs from the previous one. That by agon is to be understood a struggle and a fight, and that this similitude is different from the former, is shown by those words placed a little below: I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty; I so fight, not as one beating the air; and by those in the second epistle to Timothy: I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: for the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice (2 Tim. 4). For in both places St. Paul distinguishes the race from the fight, and in the one similitude uses the name of the prize, in the other the name of the crown — which are names clearly enough distinct.
Moreover, by the name of the crown is signified eternal happiness, which in the Apostle Paul's epistle to Timothy (2 Tim. 4) is called the crown of justice, because it is rendered as a reward to just works. In St. James (James 1) it is called the crown of life, because it contains everlasting life. In St. Peter, the unfading crown of glory (1 Pet. 5), because it comprises the beauty and splendor of eternal honor. Lastly, in Isaiah (Isa. 28), God Himself is said to be the future crown of glory for the remnant of His people. From this passage we understand that the crown of which St. Paul speaks, and which is given to the victors in the contest, is a thing most honorable and most high, since God Himself wills to be the crown — surrounding, loving, and glorifying the heads of the remnant of His people, that is, of those few among His people who, strong in battle, shall have won the victory. For, as we have often said on the testimony of the Scriptures, Many are called, but few are chosen; and the more glorious will be the crown of the blessed on the day of judgment, the fewer those to whom it shall be given.
Let us now see in what contest we must strive, and what we must do to win the victory. It is a fight, and a most perilous struggle, that we have undertaken — especially if it be compared with the contest in which men on earth strive in the arena for a corruptible crown. For in this place the Apostle speaks of the contest of the games, in which they fought in the theater before the watching people, whether in wrestling or with the cestus. Those athletes, then, fought with men like themselves, and with equal arms, and for a most worthless crown, and under the peril of the mockery or disgrace of the crowd. But Christian men must fight with enemies whom they do not see, and by whom they themselves are seen; enemies who are very many, and most strong, and most cunning; and with unequal arms, and before God and His Angels, and for the crown of eternal life, and under peril of everlasting death; in a word, in a combat that is no game, but most real and most fierce (Eph. 6). For our antagonists are demons, which Scripture now calls lions (Ps. 90), now dragons, now basilisks; and they have traitors within our houses — namely, the concupiscences of the flesh, which are in our bodies and war against our souls on behalf of our adversaries — as St. Peter teaches when he says: I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, to refrain yourselves from carnal desires, which war against the soul (1 Pet. 2). Add, what is most wretched, that this fight is waged at the same time as the race in the stadium. For this reason the Apostle joined these two together, that we might understand that those who run toward the prize are hindered by antagonists through the whole course, and that they must at one and the same time run with their feet and fight with their hands. O if Christians would think on these things, and understand their own condition! surely they would not so easily waste their time on temporal things, in jesting, in games, in reveling, in heaping up riches, in hunting after honors, as though the whole matter were already safe; but they would hear the Apostle crying out: Take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, having on the breastplate of justice; in all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one: and take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: by all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the Spirit, and in the same watching with all instance (Eph. 6). Good God, what an exhortation is this! how full of terror! how vehement! especially if one weighs those words: By all prayer, at all times, with all instance. And yet most of us bear ourselves as though we had neither to run in the stadium nor to fight in the combat. But what, I ask, must we do to carry off the victory over our enemies in this terrible combat? The Apostle declares this very thing in few words when he says: Every one that striveth in the combat refraineth himself from all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one (1 Cor. 9). The meaning of which words is this: those athletes, that they may receive a corruptible crown, abstain from all things that can weaken the body and render it unfit for that sportive combat — from excessive food and drink, from intercourse with their wives, from domestic affairs, and from all other things, otherwise pleasant or useful, that can hinder or delay the victory in the fight. We therefore, who sweat in a real contest for an incorruptible crown, ought much more to abstain from all things that can weaken the soul and render it unfit for that serious combat, and at the same time for the race in the stadium. And what are the things that weaken the soul? The very things that make the body strong: much food, much sleep, frequent walking abroad, mirth, merriment, singing, music, gaming, fowling, hunting; little reading, little praying, no meditating, no mourning over sins, no bringing forth fruits worthy of penance. From these he must abstain who wishes his soul to be strong and fit for running in the stadium and fighting in the combat. Take heed to yourselves, saith the Lord, lest perhaps your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly (Luke 21). On the contrary, the food of the soul, which renders it strong, is fasting; the refreshment and reviving of the soul is prayer; the soul's wholesome sleep is contemplation; its purgation from noxious humors is the confession of sins; the joy and delight of the soul are tears; the triumph of the soul is the crucifixion of the flesh and of concupiscences. For they that are Christ's, saith the Apostle, have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences (Gal. 5). And in the same place: I, saith he, so fight, not as one beating the air; but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway (1 Cor. 9). He refraineth himself from all things: I, saith he, so fight in the combat that I abstain from all things that please the body — in which are they that fight on the side of my enemies, namely the carnal concupiscences — and by chastising my body with fasts and watchings and other macerations and mortifications of the flesh, I bring my body into subjection, so that it cannot rebel against the dominion of the soul, nor take the field for my enemies.
But whom would those words not cause to fear, and to tremble with his whole body: Lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway? If the vessel of election, made an Apostle by God Himself and caught up to the third heaven, feared to become a castaway if he did not chastise his body and bring it into subjection: which of us will not fear reprobation, unless he crucify his flesh with the vices and concupiscences? This apostolic example surely ought to admonish all men not to dare to hope for victory and the crown, unless they return in earnest to their hearts, and bring forth worthy fruits of penance, and strive by every means to subject the flesh to the spirit. And truly to be wondered at is the folly and blindness of heart of many, who, while they do none of these things — nay, on the contrary, abstain not even from unlawful things, let alone lawful — nevertheless live so merrily and securely as though they had from God a most certain and manifest promise of salvation and of the crown of glory. But this is a proof, as we have often said, that few there are who are saved, and that many are called, but few are chosen. Which St. John Chrysostom confirms in a wondrous manner in Homily 40 to the people of Antioch, in which he gives many reasons why, out of the innumerable multitude of Christians, few there are who are saved; and of the very city of Antioch, which was one of the greatest in the whole world, he speaks thus: "How many do you suppose there are in our city who are being saved? Grievous indeed is what I am about to say, yet I will say it: among so many thousands there cannot be a hundred who are saved; nay, even of these I am in doubt. For how great is the wickedness in the young, how great the torpor in the old!" Let the reader see the whole Homily, which is most weighty and most profitable.
To You therefore I flee for refuge, good Lord, I Your servant and the son of Your handmaid: I long with all the desire of my soul for that heavenly prize, and that most shining crown, which You have prepared and promised to them that love You. I know the greatness of the combat and the length of the stadium; I feel my own weakness, and I confess before You, who search the reins and the heart, that my strength is small and well-nigh nothing; nor am I ignorant of the great might and the cruel rage of my invisible enemies, who cannot endure that we little men should be called to that great glory whence their pride cast them down. Enlighten my eyes, lest I ever sleep in death; increase my strength, lest I faint in the way; let Your grace fight for me, lest at any time my enemy say: I have prevailed against him. And what I ask for myself, the same I ask for all my brethren; but most of all for those who are set by You in high places, whether ecclesiastical or secular: whose peril is so much the greater as their office is the more excellent; and whose crown of glory will be so much the more illustrious if they rightly discharge their office, as their damnation will be the heavier if through their fault the souls perish whom You have redeemed with Your precious blood.