ACC ~ John 17 v16

EXPERIENCE TEACHES US TO LOOK BEYOND

JOHN CASSIAN: The Lord speaks to his Father in the Gospel as follows: “They are not of the world, as I am not of the world.” … No one can understand the truth and force of this except one who has gone through the trials of what [Jesus] was talking about—one who has been under the teacher of experience. This is someone the eyes of whose soul the Lord has turned away from all things present, so that he no longer considers them as things that will soon pass away but as things that are already over and done with, and he sees them vanish into nothing, like misty smoke. … And so, if we are anxious to attain true perfection, we ought to ensure that we have outwardly with the body made light of parents, home, the riches and pleasures of the world, so that we may also inwardly with the heart forsake all these things and never be drawn back by any desires to what we have forsaken. CONFERENCE 3.7.2, 4-5. [1]

[1] ACW 57:125-26**. Origen uses this passage to speculate on whether there are other worlds besides ours. See On First Principles 2.3.6.

CHRISTIANS LOOK TO ANOTHER CITY

CAESARIUS OF ARLES: There are two cities, dearest brothers. … The first is the city of this world, the second, the city of paradise. The first city is full of labor, the second is restful. The first is full of misery, the second is blessed. If a person lives sinfully in the first, he cannot arrive in the second. We must be pilgrims in this world in order to be citizens of heaven. If one wants to love this world and remain a citizen of it, he has no place in heaven, for we prove our pilgrim status by our longing for our true country. Let no one deceive himself, beloved brothers. The true country of Christians is in heaven, not here. … The angels are our fellow citizens. Our parents are the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs. Our King is Christ. May we live, therefore, in this earthly sojourn in a manner that will enable us to long for such a country during our stay here. SERMON 151.2. [1]

[1] MFC 4:185*; CCL 104:618.

LEAVE THE WORLD AS A BABY LEAVES THE WOMB

JOHN THE ELDER: Do you want Christ to appear to you in prayer as he would to his friend? Let love for him be within you without a moment’s break. Do you want this love to be continually inflamed in your soul? Then remove from your soul love for the world. Do you want your home to be in that place which is without place, being in God? Leave the world, as a baby leaves the womb. Then you will have seen reality. For Christ cannot live with the world. I beg you, listen to him as he demonstrates to you with his own words, “I am not of the world.” This is why it chases me away from where I would live, and also why I cannot live with it, “because it hates me.” [1] But he is continuously overshadowing the soul and visiting it, so that if it empties itself of the things of the world he can dwell in it. LETTER 5.1. [2]

[1] Jn 7:7; 15:18.

[2] CS 101:330-31.