Body Suffers from Passions

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March 3 (16)

Gal. 5:22-6:2; Mt. 11:27-30

“They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts" [Gal. 5:24]. In our days, however, this order has been put upside down: flesh is being crucified, not with, but rather by the passions and lusts.

How much suffering of the body is caused by overeating, by heavy drinking, by promiscuity, by wild partying and debauchery! The most cruel coachman would never inflict such abuse on a lazy animal. If our body had reason of its own and freedom to speak, its first word would have been a complaint against its master — the soul: for the soul has illegally intervened in the realm of the body, has introduced passions, alien to the body by its nature, and. forcing the body to follow those passions, makes it suffer.

By nature, the needs of our body are simple and devoid of passions. Just look at the animals: they do not eat in excess, do not sleep in excess, follow their reproductive instinct at a certain time and remain calm throughout the rest of the year. It is only the human soul which, having abandoned its lofty calling, from the simple needs of the body conjures a whole lot of perverted cravings, cravings so outrageous that they become unnatural for the body itself.

However, to cut off those carnal passions which the soul has acquired, it is indeed necessary to crucify the flesh — although in an opposite sense: keep it on a lean diet in all things, satisfy your physical demands much less generously than your body would be calling for.

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