But, because He had come in the flesh to this end, that He might not only redeem us by His passion but also but also teach us by His conversation, offering Himself as an example to His followers, He would not be made a king; but He went of His own accord to the gibbet of the cross. He fled from the offered glory of pre-eminence, but desired the pain of an ignominious death; that so His members might learn to fly from the favors of the world, to be afraid of no terrors, to love adversity for the truth's sake, and to shrink in fear from prosperity;
Gregory the Great, Pastoral Rule, Part I, Chapter III, (translated by Rev. James Barmby, The Nicene and Post -Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. XII, Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, T & T Clarke and Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1997, p. 3)
What does this tell us about the attitude of the Christian toward life? How can we live it out?
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