A sweet fragrance becomes part of a
person's mouth while nothing else can be worse than the bad odor of
garlic. Since every filth of sin is foul-smelling, the virtue of Christ
on the other hand is a pleasant odor [2 Cor 2:15], for a loving
disposition unites a person with the object of his love. We become what
we love, either a good or foul odor of Christ. The person who loves
beauty will become beautiful once he has been transformed by the good he
received. The ever-existing [God] desires to give himself to us as
food in order to transform us into what he is. "My flesh is food
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" [Jn 6:55]. Thus the person who
loves this flesh is not sensual, and he who is well disposed to this
blood will be cleansed from physical blood. The Word's flesh and the
blood of the person in this flesh do not constitute one grace only;
rather, it is sweet for whomever tastes it, yearned for by whomever
desires it and lusted after by whoever loves it.
Gregory of Nyssa, Eighth Homily on Ecclesiastes
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