6.9

I also want you to know that Jesus Christ our Lord is Himself the true Mind of the Father, through whom the whole fullness of rational nature was made—above all those who have been made conformable to His image—and He is the head of all creation and of the body, the Church. For this reason we are all members of one another and the body of Christ. The head cannot say to the feet, “I have no need of you”; but if one member suffers, the whole body is moved with it and suffers.

But when members are estranged from the body and are not joined to their own head, but give themselves to defilement through the passions of their desires, their wound becomes incurable because they have forgotten their beginning and their end. Therefore the Father of creatures, moved with compassion because of our wound, which could be healed only by His goodness, sent us His Only-begotten Son, so that because of our slavery He might take the form of a servant and give Himself for our sins. Our sins humbled Him, but by His wound we have all been healed. He gathered us from every region until He brought about the resurrection of our hearts from the earth, teaching all of us that we are of one substance and members of one another. Therefore we ought to love greatly, because whoever loves his neighbor loves his own soul.