Letter 954

To Sabinus. We must enlarge the storehouses of the soul through great faith and works that are praised, so that we may become a vessel of the grace of God. For, as it says, the mouth of the spiritual man is "Open wide" [an allusion to Psalm 80:11 (LXX 80:11), "Open your mouth wide and I will fill it"]. For whenever, like a little swallow, we open the mouth of the understanding, having come into a perception of our own cheapness and smallness, and of the body of our lowliness, lifting up our whole soul toward God, the grace of the Lord does not delay to come upon us; and indeed, once it has arrived, it gives nourishment as to some gaping nestling, and it imparts, as has been said, divine consolation, divine thoughts, divine sweetness of spirit, divine compunction, divine fear, and wisdom, and much divine joy, and the revelation of great mysteries.

Εὐρύνειν δέον τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποθήκας διὰ πί- στεως μεγάλης καὶ ἔργων ἐπαινουμένων, ὅπως δο- χεῖο. γενώμεθα τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ. Πλάτωνον γάρ, φησί, τὸ στόμα τοῦ νοητοῦ ἀνθρώπου. Ὅταν γὰρ καθάπερ μικρὰ χελιδὼν, τὸ στόμα τῆς διανοίας ἀνοίξωμεν, τῆς εὐτελείας καὶ τῆς βραχύτητος τῆς οἰκείας [ἐν] αἰσθήσει γενόμενοι, καὶ τοῦ τῆς ταπεινώ- σεως σώματος, ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ πρὸς Θεὸν ἀνανεύσαντες, οὗ βραδύνει τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ χάρις τοῦ ἐπιφοιτῆσαι ἡμῖν, καὶ δὴ παραγενομένη τροφὴν δίδωσι καθάπερ νεοσσῷ τινι κεχηνότι, μεταδίδωσι δὲ, ὡς εἴρηται, τῆς θείας παρηγορίας, θείων νοημάτων, θείας γλυκυθυμίας, θείας κατανύξεως, θείου φόβου, καὶ σοφίας, καὶ πό- α θείας χαρᾶς καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως μεγάλων μυστηρίων.