Monday, August 31, 2009

The Body

“Come now, brother, what is this body which you clothe with such diligent care and nourish gently as if it were royal offspring? Is it no a mass of putrefaction, is it not worms, dust, and ashes? It is fit that the wise man consider not this which now is, but rather what it will be afterwards in the future—pus, slime, decay, and the filth of obscene corruption? What thanks will the worms render to you, who are about to devour the flesh you nourished so gently and tenderly?”
Peter Damiani, The Monastic Ideal