Gregory of Nyssa (335-395), was born in Cappadocia, the 3rd of 10 children. Among his siblings were future saints, Macrina and Basil. Gregory married, and became a teacher of rhetoric, eventually retiring to a monastery, later in life, at the behest of friends and family.

His brother, Basil, was a key influence in Gregory becoming Bishop of Nyssa in 371/2 AD. Gregory also was active in the 2nd Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381. His major contributions to the early theological understanding of the Church were in the areas of the Trinity, man, the soul, the resurrection, and the atonement. Okay, he pretty much took the buffet approach to the teaching and understanding of the Faith.

Gregory’s central work, The Life of Moses, beloved of myself and key to understanding this great man of God, was a product of his later years. In it, he summarizes Moses’s life, also drawing superb moral and spiritual insights from it. “The work develops the theme that the virtuous life is a perpetual progress based on the infinite goodness of God” ( Everett Ferguson, foreward to The Life of Moses, by St. Gregory of Nyssa (New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1978).

Readers of this blog will note the tagline. It denotes the theme, the imprint, and the spirit of everything I write, be it an artistic review, or a summary reflection of a day in the life of this Fool for Christ. As a much better writer than I could ever hope to be once wrote: “The road goes ever on”. That it does is mercy and challenge from the hand of God, Himself. While traveling that road, I want to take in all the sights, sounds, and yes, even the tastes and tactile goodness that is waiting on the way, and I’d like you to come along with me. There’s room for as many as have a heart to see and know the beauty of the truth and goodness that lies in the face of Christ, and in His presence. The prophet Isaiah knew of this road to wonder. Here’s what he had or say about it:

And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called a holy way:

the unclean shall not pass over it, and this shall be unto you

a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein (emphasis mine) (Is. 35:8)

See what I mean? It’s foolproof. Not easy, but passage is guaranteed to those who find all their strength in God. How about it? Daylight’s burning.