42. Do not despond in sorrows and physical labors,
which you have to perform within the society, because this also means that you
have laid down your soul for your brothers (1 John 3:16) — and I hope the reward will be great for this labor.
Just as the Lord placed Joseph to feed his brethren during the famine in Egypt (Psalm 32:19), He placed you to serve society. I am just
repeating the words of the Apostle: "You therefore, my son, be strong
in the grace that is in Jesus Christ" (2 Tim. 2:1).
43. When you want to do a charitable act but a
thought not to give creates doubt, test your thought, and if you find it being
suggested through stinginess, then give — increasing the amount that you
originally intended.
45. You are troubled by thoughts that incite
confusion in others and find yourself confused. Know my brother, that if
somebody offends you in word or deed, that person himself will be offended one
hundred times worse sometime later. Be forbearing in everything and beware of
ascribing your will to anything. Examine your thoughts attentively, so that
they do not infect your heart with the murderous poison of anger, and that they
do not tempt you into accepting a mosquito as a camel, or a pebble for a cliff.
Because then you will be like a person who has a plank in his eye yet looks at
the speck in another’s.
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