'I am writing to all the churches to let it be known
that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I
plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the
wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God's wheat and bread.
Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a
sacrificial victim for God. No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this
world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power
over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is
the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.
The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to
undermine my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him;
instead show yourselves on my side, which is also God's side. Believe
instead what I am now writing to you. For though I am alive as I write
to you, still my real desire is to die. My love of this life has been
crucified, and there is no yearning in my for any earthly thing. Rather
within me is the living water which says deep inside me: "Come to the
Father." I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights
of this world I want only God's bread, which is the flesh of Jesus
Christ, formed from the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood,
which is love that cannot perish. Pray for me that I may obtain my
desire. I have not written to you as a mere man would, but as one who
knows the mind of God.'
