Righteousness And Possessions

Nunc consideremus qualis vir justus esse debeat, si invidia fuerit exorta. Primum ut declinet eam, melius est enim sine lite abire, quam residere cum jurgio. Deinde ut talia possideat, quae secum aufferre possit: ut in nullo teneri ab adversario possit obnoxius, sed dicat: Cognosce si quid tuum est apud me Et quaesivit Laban, et nihil suum invenit apud Jacob. Magnus vir, et vere beatus, qui nihil potuit suum amittere, nihil alienum habere, hoc est, nihil minus habere, nihil superfluum. Itaque ille perfectus est, cui nihil deest: justus, cui nihil superest. Hoc enim est jusitiiae tenere mensuram. Quanta virtus cujus societas lucrum dabat, non irrogabat dispendium? Hoc est perfectum esse, adhaerentibus sibi commodi plurimum dare, nihil afferre incommodi. Denique is qui nocere cupiebat, inanem eum non potuit dimittere. Sapiens enim nunquam inanis est, semper in se habens amictum prudentie, qui potest dicere: Justitiam induebam, et vestiebam judicium, sicut dixit Job. Namque haec mentis sunt interna velamina, quae nemo alius possit auferre, nisi cum aliquem sua culpa despoliat. Denqiue sic despoliatus Adam, nudus inventus est: at vero Joseph etiam vestimento exteriore rejecto, nudus non erat, qui salva habebat indumenta virtutis. Nunquam ergo inanis sapiens. Nam quomodo inanis, qui de plenitudine Christi accipit, et servat acceptum? Quomodo inanis, cujus repletaest anima, quae  acceptae gratiae vestimenta custodit? Illud metuendum est, ne quis innocentiae velamen amittat, ne impii sacrilegae persecutionis impressione terminos justitiae supergressi, vestimentum animae ac mentis eripiant. Quod non facile accidit, nisi prius aliquem vox suae iniquitatis exuerit. Unde et David dicit: Si est iniquitas in manibus meis...decidam merito ab inimicis meis inanis: persequatur inimicus animam meam comprehendat. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Jacob et Vita Beata, Lib II, Caput V Source: Migne PL 14 622B-623A

Now let us consider what sort of man the righteous one should be if envy has risen up. First he seeks to be gone from it, for better it is to leave without strife than to stay for quarrels. And he goes with such things as he possesses, which he is able to take with him, that in nothing his adversary be able to hold him indebted, but he may say, 'Know that what yours is mine.' 1 And so Laban searched but found nothing of his own with Jacob. 2 Great the man and truly blessed who could lose nothing which is his and nothing of another possess, that is, he has nothing less than he should have and nothing superfluous. He is perfect who lacks nothing, righteous to whom nothing is wanting, for this is to hold to the measure of righteousness. How much shall the presence of his virtue profit when he gives it, and not given be loss? This it is to be perfect, to allow only that which befits to adhere to one, and to carry off nothing that does not befit. Then the one who desired to harm was not able to send him away empty. But the wise man is never empty, always in himself he has the garment of prudence, he who is able to say, 'I put on righteousness, and vested myself in judgement,' 3 as Job said. For this internal covering of the mind no one is able to take away, unless by one's own fault it is stolen away. Thus Adam was robbed and found naked, but Joseph even when he lost his exterior garment was not naked, he who had the saving covering of virtue. 4 No one therefore who is wise is empty. For how can he be empty who has received the plenitude of Christ and guards what he has received? How can he be empty whose soul is full and who guards the vestment of grace received? This alone must be feared, the loss of the vestment of innocence, the overstepping of the bounds of righteousness unto impious sacrifice when persecution presses, and they tear away the vestment of soul and mind. Which easily happens, unless previously some counsel has stripped off one's own iniquity. Whence David says, 'If there is iniquity in my hands ... rightly I shall be cut off by my enemies empty; then let the enemy pursue my soul and seize it.' 5 Saint Ambrose, from On Jacob and the Good Life, Book 2, Chap 5 1 Gen 31.43 2 Gen 31.3 3 Job 29.14 4 Gen 39 7-23 5 Ps 7.4-5