577 chapter 2: the image of the mystical temple That when our creation had already been corrupted by sin, He added sanctification and enlightened us with the light of His grace, as though clothing His Temple with sheets of gold, and He almost consecrated us to Himself, when He gave us back, bathed in the sacred font, original justice! “And for that reason, dearest brothers” (so St. Augustine exhorts us), “since we have not deserved to become the Temple of God by any previous merits but by the grace of God, let us labor as hard as we can with His assistance to ensure that our Lord may not find anything in His Temple, that is, in us, that offends the eyes of His Majesty.”14 Moreover, since “whatever is done in temples made by human hands” (as the same holy Father teaches), “all this is completed in us by spiritual edification,”15 it pleases me to advance further in the work begun, and set out the remaining features of the Mystical Temple. If anyone reads it with real attention and frequently considers it carefully, he will reap great benefit, namely, an increased knowledge of himself and of God, a sure way of salvation and a rule of Christian perfection. CHAPTER 2 The Image of the Mystical Temple I reveal God in man: begone, begone, you profane ones! “For in the image of God has man been made” (Gen 9:6). Let the sun, the moon, the fixed and mobile stars, the sky with its beauty, the earth with its greatness and the sea with its depth all yield to human nature. “For in the image of God has man been made.” Precious metals, very valuable gems, scarlet corrals, snow-white crystals, gold colored ambers, the luster of silver, the brilliance of gold, the splendor of pearls, the gleam of diamonds, let them all yield to human nature: “For in the image of God has man been made.” Yet also let the fishes of the sea, the fowl in the air, the animals that 14 The source of this quotation from St. Augustine has not been found. 15 There is no reference to the source.
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