Vigils Reading

MAKE NO PROVISION

FOR THE FLESH

From a sermon by Pope St Leo the Great

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Though we once knew Christ according to the flesh, we now do so no

longer. The resurrection of the Lord did not mean the end of his flesh, but its

transformation, and his bodily substance was not consumed by its increase in

power. The quality changed, but the nature did not pass away. What could die

became immortal, what could be harmed became incorruptible. And so he says

correctly that he no longer knows the body of Christ in its former state, because

there remains nothing in it subject to suffering or to weakness. It remains

essentially human, but surpasses itself through the glory of the resurrection.

It is not surprising that Paul says this of the body of Christ, when he says

about Christians who live according to the Spirit, From now on, we know no

one according to the flesh. From now on, he says, resurrection in Christ has

begun in us; from Christ who died for all comes the shape of all our hope. We do

not hold back through diffidence, nor are we held in suspense through

uncertainty: we have received the beginnings of what we are promised, and see

already with the eyes of faith the things that will be ours. Rejoicing in the lifting

up of our nature, we possess already all that we believe.

Therefore, let us not be taken up by the appearances of things that pass,

nor let things which are merely of this earth turn our thoughts from the things of

heaven. Let us take as passing those things which have even now scarcely any

reality; and with our minds intent on those that endure, let us fix our desire

there, where what is offered is eternal. For though we are saved only in hope,

and carry with us still our corruptible and mortal body, yet we rightly claim to be

no longer in the flesh if carnal passions do not rule us: rightly do we disclaim

allegiance to something which no longer holds us in its power. And so when the

Apostle says: “Make no provision for the flesh, to follow its desires, we

understand that he has not forbidden those things consistent with our bodily

health, or those demanded by human weakness. But in that we are not to cater

to all our desires, or fulfill all that the flesh covets, we recognize that he has

warned us to observe a certain measure of temperance, that the flesh, which is

created subject to the soul, is not given too much, nor is denied what is

necessary.