Evil And Darkness

Si autem oculus tuus nequem fuerit, totum corpus tuum tenebrosum erit. Quae sunt in nobis tenebrae? Sensus carnales, malevoli et iniqui, qui semper desiderant quae sunt tenebrarum, et non lucis. In quo enim alio delectatur carnis natura, nisi in avaritia, in libidine, in superbia, in deliciis, caeterisque malis, quae ad tenebrosam mortem deducunt? Et qui intelligit quid est, quod Caro concupiscit adversus spiritum, ille intelligit quia tenebrae sunt carnis natura. Qui ergo oculum habet mundum, id est, mentem spiritualem, caelestia semper aspicientem, corpus suum servat lucidum, id est, sine peccato. Si enim caro desiderat ea quae diximus mala, secundum suam naturam homo habens mentem lucidam, et spem ad Deum, justitiae consideratione dijudicat eam, et divini timoris virtute repercutit eam: et sic quamvis nolentem, tamen servat eam lucidam, id est, sine peccato. Intellexisti ergo, quomodo qui oculum habet simplicem, corpus suum lucidum habet: qui autem oculum, id est mentem habet aut malignitate aliqua tenebrosam, aut divitiarum concupiscentia turbulentam, tenebrosum possidet corpus? Nam quae res faciunt mentem hominis spiritualem esse mundum, ipsae res ex diverso faciunt carnalem et sordidam. Quomodo fit munda mens illius, qui facit eleemosynas, et spem habet in caelo, spes autem in Deum facit mentem spiritualem et mundam: sic qui divitias congregat cum peccato, spem suam ponit in terra: qui autem spem habet in terra, illius mens carnalis est et immunda. Illius ergo tota caro in tenebris est, id est, in peccatis. Quomodo? Quando enim caro secundum suam naturam, sicut diximus, concupiscit perversa, homo spem habens in terra, et mentem concupiscentiis turbulentam, non ei contradicit, nec justitiae consideratione dijudicat, nec judicii futuri virtute repercutit: quia nec videt cum sit caecus, nec intelligit esse malum quod malum est, et si vult, non potest, quia spem non habet nisi in saeculo. Scimus autem quia spes nobis praestat virtutem, ut carnalibus concupiscentiis resistamus: qui autem spem non habet in caelo, virtutem non habet resistere concupiscentiis suis, et ideo fit caro illius tota tenebrosa. Et ut brevius et manifestius exponamus: anima priusquam peccet, divino auxilio confortata, regina et domina est corporis sui, et quasi libera et regina sedet in throno cordis sui, et gubernat corpus suum quasi palatium suum, nec potest illam vincere caro. Si autem gravibus se peccatis obligaverit, tunc divino auxilio destituta, et in potestate spirituum immundorum redacta, fit debilis et infirma, ut non jam sit domina corporis sui, sed ancilla magis: et jam non caro animae subjecta est, sed anima carni, nec quod vult anima, caro facit, sed quod caro coegerit, hoc anima facit. Intellexisti ergo, quomodo qui oculum mentis sordidum habet, totum corpus illius tenebrosum est? Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, Homilia XV Source: Migne PG 56.721

If your eye is wicked, your whole body will be full of darkness. 1 What is the darkness in us? The carnal senses, malevolent and wicked, which always desire the things of darkness and not the light. In what else does the carnal nature delight but in avarice and lust and pride and pleasures, and other evils, which lead to the darkness of death? And he understood what this is, he who said, 'The flesh desires against the spirit.' 2 He understood that the carnal nature is a darkness. Therefore he who has a clean eye, that is, a spiritual mind, he always looks to heavenly things, and he makes his body full of light, that is, without sin. For if the flesh desires the things which we have said are evil, according to its nature the man who has a mind of light, and hope in God, he judges the flesh with the consideration of righteousness, and he strikes it with the power of Divine fear, and so although it is unwilling, he makes it serve the light, that is, without sin. Have you understood, then, that he who has an innocent eye has a body full of light, but he whose eye, that is, the mind, is dark with any wickedness, even the troubling desire for wealth, he possesses a body of darkness? For there are things which make the mind of a man clean and spiritual, and there are different things which make it carnal and foul. He makes the mind clean who gives alms, and he who has hope in heaven and hope in God makes the mind spiritual and clean, but he who gathers wealth with sin, he puts his hope in the world, and he who has his hope in he world has a mind that is carnal and unclean. Therefore all the flesh is in darkness, that is, in sin. How? When flesh, as we have said, according to its nature desires perverse things, a man has hope in the world and the mind is troubled with desires, and he does not dispute with it, nor give thought to the consideration of righteousness, nor is he shaken by the power of future judgement, because he is blind and does not see such things, nor does he understand something to be evil which is evil, and if he wishes to he is not able, because he has no hope unless in the world. And we know that hope bestows strength on us, so that we can resist carnal desires, but he who has no hope in heaven, he has no strength to resist his own desires, and therefore his flesh is full of darkness. And that we might expound this briefly and more manifestly, before a soul sins, it is strengthened with Divine help, and it is a queen and mistress of its own body, and as a free woman and queen it sits on the throne of its heart and rules its body as its palace, and the flesh is unable to overthrow it, but if it binds itself with weighty sins, then destitute of the divine help, it is dragged off into the power of unclean spirits and made weak and infirm, so that it is no longer the mistress of its own body but rather a slave woman, for now the flesh is not subject to the soul but the soul to the flesh, and it is not what the soul wishes that will direct the flesh, but the soul will do what the flesh desires. Do you understand, then, how it is that he who has the eye of his mind soiled is the one who has his whole body full of darkness? Opus Imperfectum on Matthew, from Homily 15 1 Mt 6.23 2 Galat 5.7