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I say, the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working by which He is able even to subject to Himself all things

all things. 1. Nothing is so unsuitable and foreign to a Christian, as to seek ease and rest; nothing is so foreign to our calling and enlistment as to be devoted to the present life. Your Master 62.276 was crucified, and you seek ease? your Master was nailed to a cross, and you live in luxury? and where are these things of a noble soldier? For this reason Paul also says, "Many walk, of whom I often told you, and now I tell you even weeping, the enemies of the cross of Christ." Since some were pretending to be Christians, but living in ease and luxury, and this is contrary to the cross; for this reason he said these things thus. For the cross is of a soul drawn up for battle, longing for death, seeking nothing easy; but they live in the opposite way. So that even if they say they belong to Christ, yet they are as enemies of the cross; for indeed, if they loved the cross, they would have been eager to live the crucified life. Was not your Master impaled 62.277? Imitate him yourself in another way, if you cannot in His way; crucify yourself, even if no one crucifies you; crucify yourself, I say, not that you should kill yourself (may it not be, for this is impious), but as Paul said: "For to me," he says, "the world has been crucified, and I to the world." If you love your Master, die His death; learn how great the strength of the cross is, how many things it has accomplished, how many it accomplishes, how it is the security of life. Through this all things are accomplished; baptism through the cross (for it is necessary to receive the seal); ordination through the cross; whether we are on the road, or at home, or wherever we may be, the cross is a great good, a saving weapon, an invincible shield, an adversary to the devil. Being an enemy to this, then, do you bear the cross, not simply by being sealed, but by suffering the things of the cross? Christ knows to call sufferings the cross, as when He says, "If anyone does not take up his cross and follow me"; that is, if anyone is not prepared for death. But these people, being ignoble and lovers of life and lovers of the body, are enemies of the cross; and everyone who is a friend of luxury and of security here is an enemy of the cross, in which Paul boasts and which he embraces, with which he is eager to be united, as when he says, "I have been crucified to the world, and the world to me." But now he says, "And I tell you weeping." Why? Because the evil has increased, because such men are worthy of tears. Truly worthy of tears are those who live in luxury, anointing their clothing, that is, their body, while taking no account of giving an account in the future. Behold, you live in luxury, behold, you are drunk, today and tomorrow, and for ten years and twenty and thirty and fifty and a hundred, which is impossible; but still, if you wish, let us suppose it; what is the end? what is the gain? Nothing. To live such a life, then, is it not worthy of tears and lamentations? God has brought us into this stadium, that he might crown us, and we go away having done nothing noble. Paul therefore weeps for those at whom others laugh and live prodigally; so sympathetic is he, so does he care for all men. "Whose god," he says, "is their belly." For this reason it is a god to them; this is, "Let us eat and drink." Do you see how great an evil luxury is? To some their money, to others