ACC ~ John 12 v25

WHEN YOU LOVE YOURSELF

AUGUSTINE: Only a human being would ask, “How can someone who loves himself deny himself?” God … says to such a person, “Let him deny himself, if he loves himself.” By loving himself, you see, he loses himself; by denying himself, he finds himself. “Whoever loves his soul,” he says, “let him lose it.”… It is a painful thing to lose what you love. …

There is not anyone, after all, who does not love himself. But we have to look for the right sort of love and avoid the wrong sort. You see, anyone who loves himself by leaving God out of his life (and leaves God out of his life by loving himself), does not even remain in himself. He actually leaves his self. He goes away into exile from his own heart by taking no notice of what is inside and instead only loving what is outside. … For instance, let me ask you this: Are you money? … And yet, by loving money, you end up abandoning yourself. First you abandon and then later end up destroying yourself. Love of money, you see, has caused you to destroy yourself. You tell lies on account of money. [1] … While looking for money, you have destroyed your soul.

Bring out the scales of truth … and put on one side money, on the other the soul. … But do not weigh it yourself. You want to cheat yourself. … Let God do the weighing—the one who does not know how to deceive or be deceived. … Watch him weighing them and then listen to him announce the result: “What does it profit someone if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his own soul?” [2] . … You were willing to lose your soul in order to acquire the earth. This soul, however, outweighs heaven and earth combined. But you do this because by leaving God out of your life and loving yourself, you have also gone away from yourself. You end up valuing other things, which are outside you, more than yourself. Come back to yourself. But then turn upward when you have come back to yourself; do not stay in yourself. First come back to yourself from the things outside you, and then give yourself back to the one who made you, who looked for you when you were lost and found you when you were a runaway. SERMON 330.2-3. [3]

[1] See Wis 1:11.

[2] Mt 16:26.

[3] WSA 3 9:186-87**; PL 38:1456-57.

LOVE WHAT IS IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

CAESARIUS OF ARLES: Whatever you love is either the same as yourself, below you or above you. If what you love is beneath you, love it to comfort it, care for it and to use it but not to cling to it. For example, you love gold. Do not become attached to the gold, for how much better are you than gold? Gold, indeed, is a shining piece of earth, while you have been made in the image of God in order that you may be illumined by the Lord. Although gold is a creature of God, still God did not make it according to his own image, but you he did. Therefore, he put the gold beneath you. This kind of love should be despised. Those things are to be acquired for their usefulness, but we should not cling to them with the bond of love as if with glue. Do not make for yourself members over which, when they have begun to be cut away, you will grieve and be afflicted. What then? Rise from that love with which you love things that are lower than you, and begin to love your equals, that is, things that are what you are. … The Lord himself has told us in the Gospel and clearly showed us in what order we may have true love and charity. For he spoke in this way, “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul and with your whole strength. And your neighbor as yourself.” [1] Therefore, first love God and then yourself. After these, love your neighbor as yourself. SERMON 173.4-5. [2]

[1] Lk 10:27.

[2] FC 47:431-32*.

HOW TO LOSE ETERNAL LIFE

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Therefore, he says, not only must you not be upset by my suffering or have doubts about my words that will be confirmed by the facts later on, but you must also be drawn to that suffering so that you might enjoy the same things I do by suffering the same things I do. The one who appears to be so concerned with his life here that he does not want to submit it to testing will lose it in the future world. The one who hates his life, and in this world exposes it to afflictions, gathers much more fruit for himself. Jesus does not express this idea as if he wants to reveal here something about life. Rather, he simply identifies love for life as something that is prevalent among us as we seek to defend, preserve and protect our body and life from any possible danger. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 5.12.25. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:241.

SUICIDE IS NOT MEANT HERE

AUGUSTINE: But do not think for an instant that by hating your soul, it means that you may kill yourself. For wicked and perverse people have sometimes so mistaken it and have burned and strangled themselves, thrown themselves from precipices, and in other ways put an end to themselves. This is not what Christ taught. In fact, when the devil tempted him to cast himself down, he said, “Get behind me, Satan.” [1] … But when no other choice is given you, when the persecutor threatens death and you must either disobey God’s law or leave this life … then hate your life in this world so that you may keep it to life eternal. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 51.10. [2]

[1] Augustine conflates Mt 4:7-10 with Mt 16:23.

[2] NPNF 1 7:285**.

TURN AWAY FROM EVIL

CHRYSOSTOM: The present life is sweet and full of much pleasure—not for everyone, although it is for those riveted to it. The moment anyone looks to heaven, however, and sees the beauty that is there, he will soon despise this life as if it counted for nothing. The beauty of an object is admired, in other words, as long as there is nothing more beautiful to be seen. But when something better comes along, the earlier object loses its luster. … The one who loves his life in this world loses it by indulging its inordinate desires. … The one who hates it resists them. Notice, it does not say “who does not yield to” but “who hates.” For as we cannot bear to hear the voice or see the face of those whom we hate, so when the soul invites us to things contrary to God, we should turn it away from them with all our might. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 67.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:248**.

LOSING STRAW, GAINING A CROWN

AUGUSTINE: If you love [your soul], lose it. Sow it here, and you will reap it in heaven. If the farmer does not lose wheat in the seed, he does not love it in the harvest. … Do not love your soul so much that you lose it. People who are afraid to die seem to love their souls. If the martyrs had loved their souls like that, they would undoubtedly have lost them. … What good, after all, would it be to hold on to the soul on earth and lose it in heaven? And what does holding on to it amount to? Keeping it for how long? What you keep eventually vanishes from you. If you lose it, you find it in yourself. … The martyrs lost their souls at a great profit—losing straw, earning a crown. Earning a crown, I repeat, and keeping hold of life without end. SERMON 331.1. [1]

[1] WSA 3 9:190*.

Jn