ACC ~ Mark 12 v30a

SPENDING THE POWER OF LOVE ON WHAT IS UNWORTHY

BASIL: It is not the privilege of any chance person to go forward to the perfection of love and to learn to know him who is truly beloved, but of him who has already “put off the old man, which is being corrupted through its deceptive lusts, and has put on the new man,” [1] which is being renewed that it may be recognized as an image of the creator. Moreover, he who loves money and is aroused by the corruptible beauty of the body and esteems exceedingly this little glory here, since he has expended the power of loving on what is not proper, he is quite blind in regard to the contemplation of him who is truly beloved. EXEGETIC HOMILIES, HOMILY 17. [2]

[1] Eph 4:22, 24.

[2] TLG 2040.018, 29.392.14-24; FC 46:278-79. The perfect love of God is learned only through the costly death of idolatries.