7.2

I beg all of you in the Lord, beloved, to understand what I am writing to you. I do not have bodily love for you, but spiritual love in the worship of God. Prepare yourselves to go to your Creator. Rend your hearts and not your garments. And consider what we can give back to the Lord for all the gifts He has given us. Even here in this dwelling He remembers us because of His immense goodness and infinite love, not dealing with us according to our sins. He even made the sun minister to us in this dark house, and commanded the moon and all the stars to serve passing vanity for the support of our bodies. He also appointed many other powers to minister to us, powers we have not seen with the bodily eye.

What good, then, can we say He has withheld from us or failed to do for us? Have the patriarchs not suffered for us, or the priests not taught us? Have the prophets not died for us, or the apostles not endured persecution for us? Has the beloved Son of God not died for us all? Because of all these things, we too ought to hasten in all holiness to our own Creator.

For when He saw that no creature could heal the wound that had befallen the Jews—that is, His own members—the Father of creatures, knowing the weakness of their understanding, was moved with compassion toward them. In His great love He did not spare His Only-begotten Son, but for the salvation of us all handed Him over because of our sins. Our iniquities humbled Him, but by His wound we have all been healed. By the word of His power He gathered us from every region until He brought about the resurrection of our mind, teaching us that we are members of one another.