419 part ii: meditations for more solemn feasts your own will, but according to God’s plan, for example, out of obedience. There is another thing that you should consider, namely: there were many Jews who could not be brought, either by threats or by flatteries, to worship the pagan gods in the pagan country, or to depart from their religious ceremonies and laws. Because they adhered firmly to the ancestral laws, they did not lack the divine help in accomplishing it: and thus, three young men were preserved from the flames (cf. Dan 3:19-95), and Daniel was protected from the rage and the teeth of the lions (cf. Dan 6:16-23). You too, trust that God’s care, providence, and protection will accompany you whenever on account of community business or for the salvation of your neighbor you shall go to Babylon outside of the monastery walls, provided that you are mindful of the divine and universal laws; and that you do not adore the statue set up by Nebuchadnezzar (cf. Dan 3:1-7) and abstain from forbidden meats. 2. “And after the transmigration of Babylon” (Mt 1:12). Consider this: as soon as the Jews were liberated from Babylonian captivity and arrived in Judea, the first matter which they set about to accomplish was to arouse the praise and worship of God in the whole [f.134r] nation, and to rebuild, or rather to raise up from its foundations, the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem: “Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and Levites, and every one whose spirit God had raised up, to go up to build the temple of the Lord, which was in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:5). You should do the same whenever you come back from Babylon, which signifies the world. Namely, you should renew your spirit and at least repair the damages if not the deep wounds of your soul, so violently shaken by the waves of worldly storms. From this you also need to learn, having considered everything of lesser importance, that you should never cease in promoting the divine honor even though you may be hindered by somebody; just as the impiety of the pagans living on the other side of the river by no means thwarted the work of the Jews, who
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