Of Holy Virginity 55
55 Section 55 PL 40, 427
55. If, therefore, ye despise marriages of sons of men, from which to beget sons of men, love ye with your whole heart Him, Who is fair of form above the sons of men; ye have leisure; your heart is free from marriage bonds. Gaze on the Beauty of your Lover: think of Him equal to the Father, made subject also to His Mother: ruling even in the heavens, and serving upon the earth: creating all things, created among all things. That very thing, which in Him the proud mock at, gaze on, how fair it is: with inward eyes gaze on the wounds of Him hanging, the scars of Him rising again, the blood of Him dying, the price of him that believes, the gain of Him that redeems. Consider of how great value these are, weigh them in the scales of Charity; and whatever of love ye had to expend upon your marriages, pay back to Him.
Sponsum toto corde ament. Si ergo nuptias contempsistis filiorum hominum, ex quibus gigneretis filios hominum, toto corde amate speciosum forma prae filiis hominum: vacat vobis, liberum est cor a conjugalibus vinculis. Inspicite pulchritudinem amatoris vestri: cogitate aequalem Patri, subditum et matri; etiam in coelis dominantem, et in terris servientem; creantem omnia, creatum inter omnia. Illud ipsum quod in eo derident superbi, inspicite quam pulchrum sit: internis luminibus inspicite vulnera pendentis, cicatrices resurgentis, sanguinem morientis, pretium credentis, commercium redimentis.