ACC ~ Matthew 22 v31

THE CHASTE LIFE IS OUTSIDE OUR NATURE

INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW: He has spoken about fasting, almsgiving and certain other spiritual works. Yet we have heard nothing so far about the likeness of the angels. But in speaking of intercourse between men and women, he says, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.” Why? The work of reproduction is characteristically a fleshly act that we share in common with animals. Just as all carnal powers have affinity with the animals, so also do all spiritual powers have affinity with the angels. This is preeminently so for chastity, an especially angelic practice. For through this characteristic alone, the chaste are distinctively like the angels, and their nature is overcome with virtues. For the same reason he says, “Neither do they marry nor are they given in marriage but are like the angels of God in heaven.” For when we marry, because animals have this in common with us, we profess ourselves to be animals. So when we live chastely, because it is outside of our nature, we escape the nature of the flesh and we become coequals with the angels. HOMILY 42. [1]

[1] PG 56:869-70.

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