The Moth-Eaten Garment and the Worm-Eaten Wood

For a garment that is moth-eaten no longer has any value for sale or any good use to which it can be put. In the same way, wood that is worm-eaten is no longer worth anything for decorating even an ordinary building, but is destined to be burned in the fire. So too the soul that is a prey to the attacks of gnawing dejection will be useless for that priestly garment which, according to the prophecy of holy David, the ointment of the Holy Spirit takes on as it comes down from heaven, first on Aaron’s beard and then on the hem of his robe. As it is said, “It is like the ointment on the head, which ran down on Aaron’s beard, which ran down to the hem of his garments.” [a]

Nor can it have any part in building or adorning that spiritual temple whose foundations Paul laid as a wise master builder, saying, “You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you.” And what the beams of this temple are like, the bride tells us in the Song of Songs: “Our rafters are of cypress; the beams of our houses are of cedar.” So the kinds of wood chosen for the temple of God are those that are fragrant and do not rot, and are not subject to decay with age or to being eaten by worms.