The Unworldly

Nemo tam sanctum est ut non sanctior, nemo tam devotus ut non debeat esse devotior. Quis enim in hujus vitae constitutus incerto, aut immunis a tentatione, aut liber inveniatur a culpa? Quis est qui nihil virtutis sibi adjici, aut qui nihil vitii sibi optet auferri? cum et adversa neceant et secunda corrumpant, nec minoris sit perienti carere desideratis quam abundare concessis. Insidiae sunt in divitiarum amplitudine, insidiae in pauperiatis angustiis. Illae elevant ad superbiam, hae incitant ad querelam. Tentat sanitas, tentat infirmitas, dum et illa materia est negligentiae, et haec cause tristitiae. Laqueus est in securitate, laquens est in timore; nec interest utrum animus, qui terreno tenetir affecti, gaudiis occupetur an curis, cum per morbus sit vel sub vana delectatione languescere, vel sub anxia sollicitduine laborare. Impletur itaque per omnia sententia Veritatis qua discimus angustam esse et arduam viam quae ducit ad vitam; et cum latitudo itineris ad mortem trahentis multis frequentetur agminibus, in salutis semitis paucorum intrantium sunt rara vestigia. Unde autem populosior est via laeva quam dextera, nisi quia ad mundana gaudia et corporalia bona multitudo proclivis est? Et quamvis caducum incertumque sit quod cupitur, libentius tamen suscipitur labour pro desiderio voluptatis quam pro amore virtutis. Ita cum innumeri sint qui visibilia concupiscant, vix inveniuntur qui temporalibus aeterna praeponant. Et ideo, dicente beato apostolo Paulo: Quae videntur temporalia sunt, quae autem non videntur aeterna sunt; latet quodammodo et in abscondito est virtutum via, quoniam spe salvi facti summus, et fides vera id super omnia diligit, quod nullo sensu carnis attingit. Magni est ergo operis et laboris mobilitatem cordis ab omnibus continere peccatis, et cum undique innumerae voluptatum illecebrae blandiantur, ad nulla contagia vigorem animi relaxare. Quis picem tangit, et non inquinatur ab ea? Quis non infirmatur in carne? Quis non sordescit in pulvere? Quis postremo est tantae puritatis, ut iis non polluatur sine quibus vita non ducitur? Jubet enim per Apostolum doctrina divina, ut qui habent uxores, tamquam non habentes sint: et qui flent, tamquam non flentes; et qui gaudent, tamquam non gaudentes; et qui emunt, tamquam non possidentes; et qui utuntur hoc mundo, tamquam non utantur: praeterit enim figura mundi hujus. Beata igitur mens quae peregrinationis suae tempora casta sobrietate transcurrit, et in iis per quae necesse est eam ambulare non remanent, ut hospita magis quam domina terrenorum, nec affectibus desit humanis, et promissionibus sit innixa divinis. Sanctus Leo Magnus, Sermo XLIX Source: Migne PL 54.301c- 303a

No one is so holy that he might not to be holier, no one so devout that he might not be more devout. Who is there set in the uncertainty of this life who can be found immune to temptation, or free from fault? Who would not wish for any addition to his virtue, or that from his vices anything be taken away? Since adversity does us harm and success corrupts us, and it is not less perilous to lack what we want then to have it in abundance. There is a trap in the fullness of riches, a trap in the straits of poverty. The one lifts us up in pride, the other incites us to complain. Health tries us, sickness tries us, one being the cause of negligence the other of grief. There is a trap in security, a trap in fear, and it matters not whether the soul given over to earthly thoughts is occupied with pleasures or cares, for it is equally unhealthy to languish amid vain delights, as to labour under the worries of anxiety. And thus is fulfilled in every sense that judgement of the Truth by which we learn that it is the narrow and difficult way that leads to life, 1 and that while the wide way that leads to death is filled with many crowds, the steps are few of those who walk on the way of safety. And why is the left road more populated than the right, save that the multitude is inclined to worldly joys and corporeal goods? And although that which is desired is transient and uncertain, yet men more willingly take up toil for the desire for pleasure than for love of virtue. Thus while those who desire things visible are innumerable, those who prefer the eternal to the temporal are scarcely found. And, therefore, with the blessed Apostle Paul saying, 'the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal,' 2 the path of virtue is in a manner hidden and secret because 'by hope we were saved,' 3 and true faith loves above all things that which it attains to without any knowledge of the flesh. A great work and toil it is then to keep our shifting heart from all sin, and, with the numberless allurements of pleasure to lure it away everywhere, not to let the strength of the soul give way to any influence. Who 'touches pitch, and is not defiled thereby?' 4 Who is not weakened by the flesh? Who is not dirtied by dust? Who, finally, is so pure as not to be polluted by those things without which one cannot live? For the Divine teaching commands by the Apostle that 'they who have wives should be as though they had none, and those who weep should be as though they do not weep, and those that rejoice should be as though they do not rejoice, and those that buy should be as though they do not possess, and those that make use of this world should be as though they do not; for the fashion of this world passes away.' 5 Blessed, therefore, is the mind that passes the time of its pilgrimage in chaste sobriety and tarries not among the things through which it must walk, so that, as a guest rather than the owner of its earthly abode, it may not lack human affections and yet rest on Divine promises.' Pope Leo the Great, from Sermon 49 1 Mt 7.14 2 2 Cor 4.18 3 Rom 8.24 4 Sirach 13.1  5 1 Cor 7.29-31