1 post tagged “love”

If we are to say we're not gnostic, that God is the creator of matter as well as spirit and therefore the body is good as the spirit is good, then why did so many of the Orthodox Saints mortify their bodies and work so hard to deny physical needs?

I found enlightenment at Dr. David Bradshaw's emerging web site: http://www.uky.edu/~dbradsh/

In a talk Dr. Bradshaw presented at Asbury College, he said,
"I am sure you are all aware of the commandment of St. Paul to "make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof".  You are probably also aware that the flesh is not the body... Perhaps the simplest way to understand flesh is that it is self-love.  It is our innate tendency to seek our own comfort and security rather than acting, feeling, and thinking in a way that is permeated with the love of God.   It manifests itself through the whole range of sins and passions: hatred, anger, gluttony, lust, sloth, and all the others.
Now the Fathers were well aware that the flesh is not the body.  However, they thought that the surest way to conquer the flesh is, in fact, by disciplining the body.  The reason is that the flesh manifests itself at the most elemental level as love for one's own body.  To meet it on it's own turf, so to speak, one must confront the body and it's power of domination.  This does not mean neglecting the body.  lt means habitually denying one's bodily urges and replacing them with urges of the spirit.
The desire for food must be met by fasting.
The desire to let the mind coast... must be met by prayer and study of Scripture.
The desire for sleep must be met by vigils.
The desire for physical security must be met by almsgiving.
The desire for distraction and idle chatter must be met by silence and solitude.
And all of this must be done regularly enough that you actually WANT to pray more than you want to plop down in front of the TV.
This is very difficult.  It is especially difficult to be done alone.  That is why practices such as communal prayer and regular periods of fasting were so important in the early Church.  Difficult though it may be, ascetic struggle is necessary if ones most basic habits and inclinations are to be reoriented away from love of self and toward love of God."

This makes sense to me.  May God grant me the fortitude to follow in the example of the saints, who mortified the flesh and gained Christ.