Jesus did not come merely to teach us how to act, but to fill our entire life with his presence.
No aspect of our life should be left untouched by God.
St. Gregory of Nyssa writes about this in A treatise on Christian Perfection, “The life of the Christian has three distinguishing aspects: deeds, words and thought. Thought comes first, then words, since our words express openly the interior conclusions of the mind. Finally, after thoughts and words, comes action, for our deeds carry out what the mind has conceived.”
We can not live a just life while harboring evil thoughts.
Nor can we have pious thoughts while speaking slander about our neighbor.
All needs to be under the influence of Jesus.
So when one of these results in our acting or speaking or thinking, we must make sure that all our thoughts, words and deeds are controlled by the divine ideal, the revelation of Christ. For then our thoughts, words and deeds will not fall short of the nobility of their implications. What then must we do, we who have been found worthy of the name of Christ? Each of us must examine his thoughts, words and deeds, to see whether they are directed towards Christ or are turned away from him.
Our life must express a certain “harmony” in order for it to be united with God.
The inner and the outer man are harmonized in a kind of music. The mind of Christ is the controlling influence that inspires us to moderation and goodness in our behavior. As I see it, Christian perfection consists in this: sharing the titles which express the meaning of Christ’s name, we bring out this meaning in our minds, our prayers and our way of life.
May we always strive for unity in our thoughts, words and deeds.
And today we celebrate...