56. It is well that He seeks your beauty within, where He hath given unto you power to become daughters of God:194    John i. 12 He seeks not of you a fair flesh, but fair conduct, whereby to bridle also the flesh. He is not one unto Whom any one can lie concerning you, and make him rage through jealousy. See with how great security ye love Him, Whom ye fear not to offend by false suspicions. Husband and wife love each other, in that they see each other: and what they see not, that they fear between themselves: nor have they sure delight in what is visible, while in what is concealed they usually suspect what is not. Ye in Him, Whom ye see not with the eyes, and behold by faith, neither have what is real to blame, nor fear lest haply ye offend Him by what is false. If therefore ye should owe great love to husbands, Him, for Whose sake ye would not have husbands, how greatly ought ye to love? Let Him be fixed in your whole heart, Who for you was fixed on the Cross: let Him possess in your soul all that, whatever it be, that ye would not have occupied by marriage. It is not lawful for you to love little Him, for Whose sake ye have not loved even what were lawful. So loving Him Who is meek and lowly of heart, I have no fear for you of pride.

56. Bene quod interiorem vestram pulchritudinem quaerit, ubi vobis dedit potestatem filias Dei fieri (Joan. I, 12): non quaerit a vobis pulchram carnem, sed pulchros mores, quibus frenetis et carnem. Non est cui de vobis quisquam mentiatur, et faciat saevire zelantem. Videte cum quanta securitate ametis, cui displicere falsis suspicionibus non timetis. Vir et uxor amant se, quoniam vident se; et quod non vident, timent in se: nec certi gaudent ex eo quod in manifesto est, dum in occulto suspicantur plerumque quod non est. Vos in isto quem oculis non videtis, et fide conspicitis, nec habetis verum quod reprehendatis, nec eum metuitis ne de falso forsitan offendatis. Si ergo magnum amorem conjugibus deberetis, eum propter quem conjuges habere noluistis, quantum amare debetis? Toto vobis figatur in corde, qui pro vobis est fixus in cruce: totum teneat in animo vestro, quidquid noluistis occupari connubio. Parum vobis amare non licet, propter quem non amastis et quod liceret. Sic amantibus mitem et humilem corde nullam vobis superbiam pertimesco.