True Life

Vivam, inquit, et observabo sermones tuos. Vivam atque observabo non praesentis temporis res est; sed significatio sermonis hujus in futurum se tempus extendit. Scit enim Propheta quando beata illa et vera viventium vita sit. Nunc enim et in pulvere mortis manemus, et in mortis corpore sumus, a quo se liberari Apostolus orat, dicens: Miser ego homo, quis me liberabit a corpore mortis hujus? Habemus autem etiam nunc admixtam nobis materiam, quae mortis legi et peccati obnoxia est; et in hujus caducae carnis infirmisque domicilio corruptionis labem ex ejus consortio mutuamur: ac nisi glorificato in naturam spiritus corpore, vitae verae in nobis non potest esse natura. Audiamus eum, qui se meminit in corpore mortis habitare dicentem: Quia vita nostra absconsa est cum Christo in Deo. Cum autem Christus apparuerit vita nostra, tunc et vos apparebitis cum ipso in gloria. Hanc ergo retributionem sibi Propheta orat, ut vivat: futurae hujus vitae tempus in loco altero docens, quo ait: Et placebo Domino in regione viventium. Scit hanc mundi istius sedem regionem non esse viventium. Scit nos adhuc secundum praefigurationem legis emundandos esse. Nunc enim admiscemur morticinae: et in lege quisquis mortuum contrectat, immundus est. Sed absit istud, ut quidquam horum in lege corporaliter intelligatur, tamquam per contrectationem mortui quisquam fiat immundus. Joseph ossa egrediens Aegyptum Moyses ipse lator legis abstulit, Eliseus mortuo ut eum vivificaret incubuit: Dominus ipse mortuos manu apprehensos in vitam retraxit: et contrectatio mortui si immundum effectura fuisset, nequaquam a tantis viris, neque a Domino violata lex esset, ipso dicente: Non veni legem solvere, sed adimplere. Sed quia lex umbra est futurorum bonorum; idcirco per hanc praeformatam significantiam docuit nos in hoc terreni et morticini corporis habitaculo mundos esse non posse, nisi per ablutionem coelestis misericordiae emundationem consequamur, post demutationem resurrectionis, terreni corporis nostri effecta gloriosiore natura. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum CXVIII Source: Migne PL 9.517c-519a

'I shall live,' he says, 'and I shall observe your words.' 1 But this living and observing is not a matter of the present time, but the signification of this speech extends itself into the future. For the prophet knows when the blessed and true life of the living will be, since now we exist in the dust of death, and we are in the body of death, from which the Apostle prays to be freed, saying, 'I am a wretched man, who shall free me from this body of death.' 2 Now we have material mixed in us which is subject to the law of death and sin, and in this dwelling place of frail and weak flesh, we borrow the taint of corruption from association with it, and unless the glorification of the Spirit is in the nature of our body, it is not possible for us to have the true life in us. Let us hear him who recalls to himself that he is dwelling in a body of death, saying, 'Because our life is hidden with Christ in God, and when Christ, our life, shall appear, then even you will appear with him in glory.' 3 Therefore this is the reward that the prophet prays for, he who teaches about the time of the future life in another place, saying, 'I shall please the Lord in the land of the living.' 4 He knows that the place of this world is not the land of the living. He knows that we yet need to be cleansed according to the prefiguration of the law, for now we are mixed with perishing things, and in the law whoever touches a corpse is unclean. 5 But let it not be that whatever is found in the law is understood corporally, as if by touching a corpse we are made unclean. The bones of Joseph were taken out of Egypt by Moses, who propounded the law, and so flouted it, and Elisha lay on a dead man to revive him, and the Lord Himself with the touch of His hand drew the dead back to life, 6 and so if the touch of a corpse were to make us unclean, these great men, even the Lord, would have violated the law, even He who said, 'I have not come to set aside the law but to fulfill it.' 7 But because the law is a shadow of future goods, therefore the meaning of prefiguration teaches us that in this dwelling of the earthly and perishable body it is not possible to be clean unless we receive the cleansing washing of the heavenly mercy, because of which, after the change of the resurrection, our earthly bodies will be turned into a glorious nature. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 118 1 Ps 118.17 2 Rom 7.24 3 Colos 3.3-4 4 Ps 114.11 5 Numb 19.11 6 Exod 13,19, 4 Kings 4.34, Mt 9.25 7 Mt 5.17