An ascetic(avoiding physical pleasures and living a simple life, for religious reasons)
watching the injustice that exists in the world prayed to God and asked Him to reveal to him the reason that righteous and devout people are sorrowful and are tortured unjustly, while unrighteous and sinners get rich and are easy.
While the ascetic prayed that God would reveal the mystery to him, he heard a voice saying:
“Do not ask for things that are beyond your mind and the power of your knowledge.
Don't even investigate the secrets, because God's pity is an abyss.
But because you asked to learn, go down into the world and sit in one place and watch what you see, to understand from this little test, a small part of God's judgments.
You will know then that it is unexplored and unsolved God's proactive governance of all.”
The old man, when he heard this, came down with a lot of attention to the world and arrived in a field that was crossed by a busy road.
Near there was a fountain and an old tree, in the cavity of which the elder entered and hid well.
After a while, a rich man appeared on a horse. He stopped by the tap for a while to drink water and rest.
After he had quenched his thirst, he pulled out of his pocket a money bag with a hundred coins and counted them.
When he had finished counting, he wanted to put them back in their place. But without realizing it, the money bag fell on the field.
He ate, rested, slept, and then mounted the horse and left without realizing anything about the coins.
After a while, another passerby came to the tap, found the money bag with the coins, took it and ran out through the fields.
After a while a poor man tired, as he was, he stopped at the tap, drunk some water, took a little bread out of a handkerchief and sat down to eat.
By the time the poor man was eating, the rich rider came back furious, with a tainted face of rage, and attacked the poor man.
With anger, he shouted to give him his coins. The poor, having no idea of the coins, assured with vows that he did not see such a thing.
But he, as he was angry, started beating him up and beating him until he killed him.
He searched after all the poor man's clothes, found nothing and left sad.
The hermit saw all this through the cavity and admired.
Sorry and cried for the wrongful murder he had seen and praying to the Lord, he said:
“Lord, what does your will mean? Answer me, please, how your goodness endures such injustice.
One man lost the coins, another found them and another was unjustly murdered!”
While the ascetic prayed in tears, the angel of the Lord descended and said:
“Do not be sorry, elder, nor resent and think that all this is being done without God's will.
But from what is happening, some things are done by concession, others for education and others by economy.
So listen to this:
The man who lost the coins is a neighbor of the guy who found them.
The last one had an orchard worth a hundred coins. The rich man, because he was greedy, He forced him to give it to him for 50 coins.
The wronged neighbor, not having what to do, begged God to do vengeance. That's why God arranged to give him double.
He, again, the poor, the tired, who found nothing and was killed unfairly, had committed a murder once.
But he repented sincerely and throughout the rest of his life his works were Christian and godly.
He always begged God to forgive him for the murder he committed and he used to say:
"My God, such death I gave, same to give me!"
Of course, our Lord forgave him from the very first moment he had declared his penance.
He was particularly touched by the goodness of His child, who not only cared for His commands, but wanted to pay for his old fault.
So He did not spoil his favor, He allowed to die in a violent way – as he had asked Him – and He took him to Him, giving him a bright crown of a son who was kind hearted!
The other, finally, the greedy, who lost the coins and committed the murder, was tortured for his greed and avarice.
So God let him fall into the sin of murder to hurt his soul and come to repentance.
On this occasion he now leaves the world and goes to become a monk!
Well, where, in which case, do you see an unjust or cruel and unsympathetic God?
So, from now on, do not cross-examine God's judgments, because He makes them fair and as He knows, while you take them for unfair.
Also know that much more is being done in the world by the will of God for reasons that people do not know.
So the right thing to do is to say:
"Righteous are You, O LORD, And upright are Your judgments.”(Psalm 119:137)
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