Chapter XVI.
For the Word of God, who is the Lord Christ, who is the firstborn of all creation, and who is the firstborn from the dead, came in his own image, which he himself had created beforehand. Concerning this image it is written: 'And God formed man in his own image and likeness' (Gen. 1:27); and, assuming flesh for the flesh, through a rational soul, he received it from the holy virgin Mary, and purifying the similar things through the similar, he became fully human without sin. By means of both soul and body, here, he who made everyone rich, as the Apostle says, became poor so that through his poverty we might be enriched with divine and heavenly riches (2 Cor. 8:9); through that sign of salvation that God gave to the human race, as the prophet Isaiah says: 'Behold, the Lord will give you a sign, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel' (Isaiah 7:14); before he knew how to call father or mother, he ate butter and honey, that is, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, whose teaching is sweeter to us than honey and the honeycomb; taking spoils from the Magi, he was proved to be man, king, and God. And concerning this wonderful sign, Saint Simeon said to the Virgin Mary: 'Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted' (Luke 2:34). And concerning this sign, the blessed apostle Paul says: 'Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom' (1 Corinthians 1:22). Therefore, Christ, in his own likeness, which he had created in the first man, which he had seen in the man deceived by the devil's artifice, came in the likeness of sin; so that he might restore man to his original image through the passion of the cross and death (Romans 8:3). This image, though it can be obscured through neglect, cannot be destroyed by nature. Concerning this image, the Prophet says: Although man walks in the image of God, he will be in vain disturbed. Therefore, there is no one who does not have some image, that is, either of sanctity or of sin. We walk in the image of God when good thoughts, which are implanted in us by God, remain in us and lead us to good deeds. Therefore, the memory of God excludes from our hearts all wickedness and sins, which the devil tries to sow and depict in our hearts. Where it is said by the Prophet: Lord, in your city you will reduce their images to nothingness (Psalm 72:20). Therefore, it is of no benefit to read or hear unless you store in the treasure of your memory those things which you have read or heard and are good. Just as there are three things in man, that is, the body, the soul, and the spirit, so there are three higher faculties that lead us either to good or to evil, namely, thought, speech, and action. The Holy Spirit briefly comprehends three things in the first psalm, saying: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the pestilent. These are the three tempters of the devil who plot against a wretched soul, in order to provoke it to sin either in word, deed, or thought. Therefore, in spirit, soul, and body, we either act well or poorly, either we are chaste or commit fornication. And thus, just as the greedy and rapacious are slaves of wealth, and as the gluttonous and drunkards are slaves of the belly and lust, so every sin dominates humans, as the prophet affirms and says: There will be five cities in the land of Egypt, speaking the language of Canaan, that is, the five carnal senses which speak while the wretched soul is oppressed by the darkness of Egypt; for Egypt signifies pursuing, troubling, and constraining. So, unless we overcome the extremely cold north wind with the warmth of faith, with the help of Christ, who teaches and delights in good things, immediately the heat of desire and lust will arise in us. Therefore, let the flesh be weakened by fasting, and let it be circumcised by the knife of every desire, so that sin may not reign in our mortal body (Rom. VI, 12); so that we may be able to escape the fellowship of the world and the reproaches of the devil. Therefore, fasting is the contrition and humiliation of the soul; affliction, however, of the body.