If the body, which is less than the wold and which the soul uses as a servant or a tool, is a sacrifice when it is used well and rightly for the service of God, how much more is the soul when it offers itself to God? In this way, aflame in the fire of divine love and with the dross of worldly desire melted away, it is remolded into the unchangeable form of God and becomes beautiful in his sight by reason of the bounty of beauty which he has bestowed upon us.

—Augustine, City of God 10.6