We say: If I hadn’t seen it, I would not have been tempted, if I hadn’t
heard it, my heart would not have ached, if I hadn’t tasted it, I would not
have wanted it…You see how much temptation comes from our eyes, hearing and
taste. Not being resolute in their hearts with good intentions, many people
suffer from having glanced carelessly with lustful eyes, listened with ears
that are not accustomed to differentiate between good and evil, savored with a
voracious taste. Unrestrained by reason and God’s commandments, the sin-loving
and rapacious flesh had induced them into various earthly passions, obscured
their minds and hearts, deprived them of inner peace and enslaved them. How
careful one must look, hear, taste, smell, feel — how one must preserve one’s
heart, so that through our external feelings, no sin will enter it as though
through a window, and worst still — the devil himself, to vanquish us with his
lethal poison.
If you throw yourself upon food and drink with voracity, then you will be flesh,
but if you fast and pray, you will be spirit. "Do not get drunk on
wine…instead be filled with Spirit" (Ephes. 5:18). Fast and pray, and
you will accomplish a great deed. One who is repleted is incapable of
accomplishments.
Just as a newborn child is unconcerned to what he is wearing, so should the
Christian — child in Christ — be indifferent to the variety and sophistication
of garments, regarding Christ as his best attire, just as it is written: "For
all of you who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with
Christ" (Gal. 3:27). But a passion for expensive and sumptuous
clothing is appropriate for people of this age "For the pagans run
after all these things" (Mat. 6:32). Exquisite clothing is the idol
for people of this age. O how earthly-minded are we, who have been summoned to
commune with God — who has promised us an inheritance of incorruptible and
eternal blessings! How unclear are is our understanding of incorruptible
blessings. How senseless are we when we attach significance to trivial matters
and do not value incorruptible blessings: spiritual peace and joy, nearness to
God, treasures of virtue, piety, everlasting joy in the next world. Therefore,
you should learn how to value spiritual blessings and despise the corporeal as
perishable and insignificant.
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