«The Apostle addresses the children of God. Love also addresses them, that same Love which inspired Paul and that inspires, teaches and sanctifies those who have a love for God. Even in these, there is "the law of sin", congenital to the flesh from the moment she [the flesh] wished to taste the prohibited fruit.
None of the servants of God ignored this yoke, this chain, this "sting" of which Paul himself speaks; even he who was taken up to the third Heaven and heard mysterious words was, however, not for this reason spared from the assaults "of an angel of Satan", the cruel exciter, envious of the holiness of the Apostle, [who had given him] the stimuli of the flesh.
And the inspired Apostle, who had penetrated into the mysteries of God without being able to repeat those "mysterious words" which They had revealed to him, does not raise laments for these assaults and stimuli, does not raise reproaches to the Lord who has permitted them, but by "having the spirit of Christ in him" understands the supernatural reason of love and justice which permitted those assaults and those stimuli after "the greatness of the revelations", accepts the reply from God and proclaims, "Therefore, I will boast of my infirmities so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."
Here is how man in whom carnal nature and spiritual nature, carnal law and spiritual law reside, can live according to the spirit: by having the power of the spirit of Christ within. Grace and good will contribute in keeping order between the carnal and spiritual components which are in contrast with one another. However, that which affirms, confirms, and establishes in the law of the spirit, in the life of the spirit, is to have Christ living within man, that is, the life in Christ Life. In Christ, the mystical Vine who feeds the vine stocks. In Christ, Head of the mystical Body whose make-up is given from the union of all Catholics living through divinely given Grace, through good will heroically practiced and through union, rather, the fusion with Christ, acting in every moment and in every action through Him, like Him and for Him.
All the doctrine of Jesus and all the doctrine of Paul are to be found in this lesson.
"I am the true Vine and you are the branches. The branch cannot bear fruit if it does not remain joined to the vine. If one remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, and he will be able to do works that I do and even greater than these, because my Father will do that which you will ask of Him in my Name. And even the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father will live within you, and He will teach you every truth."
And this is what He said after the Traitor left, no longer worthy of hearing other words, the most sublime words of Life, being already a dead man, an impure man, by having always been an impure man, a negotiator between Christ and Satan. The Word was Life to whomever welcomed it and acquired with this the right of becoming a "child of God". However, it was Death to whomever, after having known it, had not received it with pure intention, but rather, after having hoped for it so that it could be of some use and for human glory, would then condemn and sell it.
Truly, even now, it is like this. Those who make of the Word a means for human glory and of human profit, or attempt to do so, die even more than those who have not known the Word, to whom before the most just eyes of God even the natural law and good actions performed according to the religion known to them in order to honour the divinity will be a means of reward, just as it had been bestowed on them to know it.
Woe to whoever "much has received" without having given much! Woe to whoever attempts to serve God and Mammon at the same time! Woe to whoever has received, either directly or indirectly, an extraordinary gift from God that he then degrades by bartering and contracting it for lust of human glory and money!
Even the doctrine of Paul is in this lesson. The profound lesson on the mystical Body.
"You are the body of Christ and members joined to the members... As the body is one and has many members, and all, even though they are many, form one sole body, so it is of the mystical Body of Christ... who is the Head of the Body of the Church... And even the members who seem to be the weakest are also the most indispensable... by God having composed the body in a manner of giving the greater honour to the members who did not have any... but who became worthy of honour through the inhabitation in the mystical Body and through the inhabitation of Christ within them, of Christ in whom is the fullness of the divinity and of the union with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, that same Spirit "who intercedes (for the members) with ineffable sighs", while the Father "knows what His Holy Spirit longs for", while the beloved Son living in the true Christian cries with His spirit infused in the hearts of the children of God, "Abba! - Father!"
And this is how it is possible for man, in spite of the contrast between the flesh and the spirit, and the laws of the flesh and the spirit and satanic assaults, to keep himself in the order, in the harmony, in the love, and reach perfection and Heaven.
The body will always be the body and it will be well acquainted with stimuli, as it will also be acquainted with death at the end of its days. However, the body will be made subject to the spirit in which the Christ inhabiting in it renders strong, just, and alive in the second and supernatural life where death does not exist.
Therefore, whoever lives in Christ, through Christ, and with Christ, will not perish. He will not precipitate into the abyss. He may be fought against and sometimes even knocked down, but he will not stay down for long. He will rise, after every assault, stronger than before, until the last resurrection without end.
Even Christ appeared to have been conquered many times, put to flight and forced to withdraw during His public life. Even Christ appeared to have been beaten forever on Good Friday. However, that complete annihilation of His made His triumph even more complete. Exactly for having been for a few hours "the culprit" deserving of the torture of the cross for having been accused of being "the blasphemer, sacrilegious, the opprobrium of the holy People" was He then the Victor, the Saint of saints, the eternal Pontiff, and the Glory of the Christian People.
He conquered temptation, sin and death. Whoever lives in Him and through Him will, like Him, endure temptation and conquer it; even if he falls, he will not die by remaining in sin. He does not remain in death, but rises. He will always rise, even if he has died because of a sudden carnal upper hand, provided that he wants to be of Christ and live in His law which is the law of the spirit. Because He, Christ the Saviour, who established the Sacraments in order to give life again to spirits, and who died in order to redeem, and who taught His Apostles to forgive seventy times seven the human weaknesses who repent for having sinned, is there, next to the door of the heart from where He has removed a sin, and He knocks in order to enter again and bring back "Life and Light".
And it is the doctrine of Peter in this lesson,
"... Unto whom (the Lord)... by drawing you near, you are also like living stones, built above Him so as to be a spiritual house (of the Lord, being that the body of a just one is the temple of the Spirit of God), a holy priesthood in order to offer up spiritual victims (being that every just man should offer himself in a perpetual immolation of obedience to the Law out of love for God and who can be a spiritual teacher through word and example who brings other men to God)... The divine power of Christ has given us everything that concerns life and mercy... in order to make you partakers of the divine nature."
And it is the doctrine of John in this lesson,
"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and we walk in darkness, we are liars and we do not practice the truth. If, instead, we walk in the light, we are in reciprocal fellowship and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from every sin... We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just... He who saith he abideth in Him (God) ought himself also to walk as He walked... Whoever is born of God (for having believed and received Jesus and His Law) does not commit sin because he keeps within himself the living seed of God... God has given us eternal life, and this life is in the Son. Whoever has the Son (within him) has life, whoever does not have Him does not have the Life... The divine generation preserves him (he who has Christ Life within himself)... The Son of God has come and He has given us understanding in order to know the true God and to be in His true Son."
Truly, therefore, in order to "live" the true life that has no end, man must have "the spirit of Christ". In this way, the flesh, the slave of sin, will be doubly a slave of the spirit animated by the spirit of the most holy Jesus who made sin and the flesh subject, and it will not be able to give death to the spirit. But rather, thanks to the holiness of the spirit, even the flesh will have, at the end of the centuries, life restored to it so that it, too, can rejoice in the eternal Kingdom.»