Answers of the Great Masters of the Spiritual Life to the Questions of Their Disciples.

Disciple: Compare the bodily eyes and the eyes of the mind. 

Master:  The bodily eyes see the visible; the eyes of the mind apprehend the invisible. The sun helps the bodily eyes see the visible; the love of God makes the eyes of the mind see the invisible.

Disciple: Compare the body and the soul.

Master:  A body without a soul is dead; a mind without the love of God is dead.

Disciple: So the mind needs the love of God to see the invisible.

Master:  Yes, since God and whatever is good are invisible. But evil and the things of the earth are visible. You do not need the love of God to see. Man, however, if possessed by the love of God, will always choose the best. With love for God, man will choose union with God.

Disciple: What is the role of the soul in salvation?

Master:  The soul, because it understands what the world is and wishes to be saved, must observe this rigid rule -- to remind men everywhere that, soon death or a test will come, then judgment, wherewith condemnation or salvation will follow.

St. Anthony: On the Saintly Life"

(07-26-03)