Miscellanies 7.12.76

He fasts, then, according to the law, from bad deeds, and according to the perfection of the gospel, from evil thoughts. Temptations are brought upon him not for his own cleansing but, as we said, for the benefit of his neighbors, if, having had experience of toils and pains, he has despised them and let them pass by. The same argument holds for pleasure. For the greatest thing is to have come into experience of it and then to abstain. For what great thing is it if someone practices self-control in what he does not know? He, having carried out the commandment of the gospel, makes that day the Lord's day on which he casts off a bad thought and takes on a knowing one, glorifying the Lord's resurrection in himself. Moreover, whenever he grasps an object of understanding contemplation, he thinks that he sees the Lord, leading his gaze by the hand toward what is invisible. And even if he seems to see what he does not wish to see, he punishes his faculty of sight when he becomes aware of taking pleasure at the impact of what he sees, since he wishes to see and hear only what befits him. For instance, contemplating the souls of the brothers, he sees the beauty of the flesh too with the soul itself, which is accustomed to look only on what is beautiful, without fleshly pleasure.