To draw or to repel God All-mighty

If you put something fragrant onto burning coals, you motivate those who approach to come back again and to stay near, but if, instead, you put on something with an unpleasant, oppressive smell, you repel them and drive them away.  It is the same with the mind.  If your attention is occupied with what is holy, you make yourself worthy of being visited by God, since this is the sweet savour which God catches scent of.  On the other hand, if you nurture evil, foul and earthly thoughts within you, you remove yourself from God’s supervision and, unfortunately, make yourself worthy of His aversion. 

On cleaning the whole cup

Even when your body does nothing, sin can be active in your mind.  When your soul inwardly repulses the evil one’s attack by means of prayer, attention, remembrance of death, godly sorrow and mourning, the body, too, takes its share of holiness, having acquired freedom from evil actions.  This is what the Lord meant by saying that someone who cleans the outside of the cup has not cleansed it inside, but clean the inside and the whole cup will be clean (ct. Matt 23:25-26). 

On the woundedness of Christian martyrs

Those who have suffered for Christ are adorned forever with their wounds.  Windows in a house do not make it less safe and are not something ugly but a necessary decoration for a building, to let in light and allow those within to look out.  In the same way, the body’s sufferings for Christ’s sake and the resultant wounds become for those who bear them windows to let in the light without evening.  And when that light shines forth they will be recognizable by the divine beauty and radiance of their wounds and not by their ugliness.  Their scars will not be obliterated when suffering comes to an end, insofar as they procure immortality.   

As I read the explanation above, I was reminded of John 20:27, Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side, do not be faithless, but believing.”  Even the Lord retains His wounds which are not ugly, but a glorious sign of His sacrificial love for the world.  Pres. C.