"The house of the wicked shall be overthrown but the hut of the righteous shall flourish" (Proverbs 14:11).
The palace of Herod lay in ruins and the cave of the Child of Bethlehem remains. The crowns of the Casesars have been lost but the bones of the martyrs have been preserved.
The palaces of the pagan kings have been transformed into piles of stone and dust but the caves of the ascetics have grown into most beautiful churches. The golden idols have been scattered into nothing and the chains of the Apostle Peter are preserved as a holy relic. The powerful Roman Empire is now only a tale of the dead, while the hut of Christianity, the Holy Church is today the most powerful empire in the world.
Where are the Jews, the murders of God?
They are dispersed throughout the world.
Where are the powerful Romans?
In the grave.
Where is the power of bloody Nero? Where is the power of the evil Diocletian and the depraved Maximian? Where is the success of Julian the Apostate? Where are those high towers? They are where the tower of Babel is - beneath the dust and ashes, beneath shame and damnation.
Go about your own city and inquire how many homes of the godless are excavated? How many huts of the righteous grew into beautiful houses?
Brethren, heaven and earth are founded on justice, on God's steadfast justice. That is why every pagan creation is as arrogant air bubbles, which burst and are trampled on by passers-by. The palaces of the pharaohs and Babylonians are as trampled bubbles and the tent of the righteous Abraham flourishes and blossoms in eternity.
O my brethren, how all-powerful and long lasting is justice and how rumbling and transient is injustice like a storm on a summer's day!
O Righteous Lord, how magnificent and consistent are You in the exercising of Your justice.
To You be glory and thanks always.
Amen.
