Seeking and Doing Good

'Quaerite bonum et non malum ut vivatis et erit Dominus Deus exercituum vobiscum sicut dixistis: Odite malum et diligite bonum et constituite in portis judicium, si forte misereatur Dominus Deus exercituum reliquiis Joesph. LXX: Quaerite bonum et non malum ut vivatis et erit sic Dominus Deus omnipotens vobiscum, sicut dixistis: Odio habuimus mala et diliximus bona et reddite in portis judicium, ut misereatur Dominus Deus his qui reliqui sunt de Joesph.' Dicitis Deum esse vobiscum, quia sitis filii Abraham, audite quod sequitur: 'Si filii estis Abrahae, opera patris vestri facite.' Quae sunt opera patris vestri Abrahae? 'Diligite bonum et non malum.' Grande peccatum est, non solum facere malum, sed et diligere. Multi peccant, et expleto voluptatos ardore, mordentur conscientia sua, et poenitet eos peccati sui. Qui autem non solum non dolet se fecisse quod malum est, sed in suo scelere gloriatur, iste implet illud quod scriptum est: Peccator cum venerit in profundum impietatis, contemnit. Quaerite ergo bonum et non malum. Si enim quaesieritis bonum, in eo quod quaeritis bonum, statim repellitis malum. Numquam autem quaeritis bonum, nisi prius repelleretis malum, implentes verba Psalmistae dicentis: Declina a malo et fac bonum. Cumque quaesieritis bonum et vitaveritis malum, tunc vivetis in eo qui dicit: 'Ego sum vita.' Bonum quaerit, qui credit in eum qui in Evangelio loquitur: Ego sum pastor bonus. Repellit malum, qui fugit eum de quo scriptum est: Mundus in maligno positus est. Et in oratione Dominica dicit: 'Libera nos a malo.' Cumque quaesieritis, inquit bonum et non malum, et vixeritis, tunc erit Dominus Deus exercituum vobiscum, sicut dixeratis ideo eum esse vobiscum quia nati essetis de Abraham. Nec sufficit bonum quaerere, malumque non quaerere, nisi ἐπίτασις habeatis in utroque, ut primum oderitis malum, deinde diligatis bonum. Odit malum, qui non solum voluptate non vincitur sed odit opera voluptatis: et diligit bonum qui non invitus, aut necessitate, aut metu legum facit quod bonum est; sed idcirco quia bonum est, ut mercedem boni operis habeat conscientiam suam, et dilectionem quam erga bonum possidet. Unde et Apostolus: Hilarem, inquit, datorem diligit Deus. Non enim omnis eleemosyna placet Deo, nisi quae cum hilaritate profertur. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam, Liber II

'Seek good and not evil that you might live and the Lord God of hosts shall be with you like you say: Hate evil and love good and establish in the gates righteousness that perhaps The Lord God of Hosts will be merciful to a remnant of Joseph.'   The Septuagint has: 'Seek good and not evil that you might live and The Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as you have said, ' We have hated evil and we have loved good and restored righteousness in the gates that The Lord God may be merciful to those who are a remnant from Joseph.'   You who say God is with you because you are the sons of Abraham, hear what follows, ' If you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of your father.' What are the works of Abraham? 'Love good and not evil' Grave is the sin not only to do evil but to delight in it. Many commit sin and are filled with pleasure and yet, bitten in their conscience, even they do penance for the sin. He who does not only not grieve for that evil he has done but glories in the crime, this one fulfills what is written: 'The sinner has come into the depths of impiety, he is scornful.' Seek therefore good and not evil. If indeed you seek good, in that very seeking of the good, instantly you shall drive out evil but never shall you seek good unless you have expelled evil, fulfilling the words of the Psalmist who says, 'Decline from evil and do good.' And when you seek the good you shall have driven out evil, and then you shall live in Him who said, 'I am the life.' He seeks the good who believes in Him who says in the Gospel, ' I am the good shepherd.' He drives away evil who flees the one concerning whom it is written, ' I have placed the earth in wickedness.' And in the Lord's prayer He says, 'Free us from evil.' And when you seek, he says, good and not evil, and you have lived, then the Lord God of hosts shall be with you as you have said Him to be with those who are born of Abraham. It is not enough to seek the good and not to seek evil unless you exert yourself in both, that first you detest evil and then love the good. He hates evil who not only is unconquered by pleasure but detests the works of pleasure, and he loves the good who not unwillingly, or by necessity, or through fear of the law does good, but he does it because it is good, that his conscience have the reward of the good and that the delight of the good he might possess. Whence the Apostle says, 'God loves a joyful giver,' For not every act of mercy pleases God unless it is given with joy.   Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos, Book 2