The quote, 'And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God.'?
It is because of concupiscence.
The earlier quote is:
"For they that are according to the flesh,
mind the things that are of the flesh; but they that are according to the spirit, mind the things that are of the spirit. For the
wisdom of the flesh is death; but the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace."
So it is not the flesh itself that is evil, but its wisdom against the spirit, which would be concupiscence. It is, reminiscent of St. Paul, as if he had another self warring against him. That is how it is, our body tells us it wants this, that, or the other thing regardless of morality, suitability, or what we are thinking.
"And if Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead, because of sin; but the spirit liveth, because of justification."
St. Francis of Assisi talked about being a dead man for Christ, who went whereever he was told to. So a great deal of what the saints talk about is subduing the body so it does not get in the way of what spiritually should be done. It tends to be a self fulfilling prophecy to indulge oneself in the flesh.. the more one does, the more one is used to it, and the more one is incapable of being happy without giving it what it desires..
I have not conquered the flesh like a saint.. I have difficulty with the bare minimum fasts and such though I try for more.. so I am not the best person to reply here, but I can at least talk about what I -think- I know of how it is to be done.. Some things can't be done well until we do earlier more fundamental things..
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