6.8

My beloved children, I ask you not to let it become a toil or grow weary of loving one another. Lift up the body with which you are clothed and make it an altar. Place upon it every thought of yours, and leave every evil plan before the Lord. Lift up the hands of your heart to Him—that is, the understanding of what is to be done—and pray to God that He may give you that great invisible fire which, descending from heaven, consumes the altar and everything upon it. Then let all the priests of Baal, which are the operations opposed to us, be afraid and flee from your presence as they fled before Elijah the prophet. Then at last you will see the footprint of a man in the sea bringing a special rain, which is the consolation of the Paraclete Spirit.

My beloved children in the Lord, most holy children of Israel, there is no need to bless the passing names of our bodies. You know the love I have for you: it is not bodily love, but spiritual love that loves God. Beloved, in this I too am filled: that blessedness has come to you at this time.

So let this word be your judge, and do not regard your way of life as perfect. Is the service of God merely our own activity to such a degree? No; there is a certain power working together with you. Therefore, as you strive to offer yourselves as a sacrifice to God, continually give rest to the power that works with you and to Christ Jesus, for this rest is shared with the whole choir of the saints and also with me, the worst of men, dwelling in this house of clay and darkness. Why else would I speak to you except to give rest? Therefore I beg that, since we were all created as one invisible substance having a beginning but no end, we may love one another with a single love. For all who know themselves know that they are of one immortal substance.