Only Wonder Comprehends

"There is a quotation attributed to Saint Gregory of Nyssa: 'Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything.'  A simpler translation reads 'ideas create idols; only wonder leads to knowing....

...We are so comfortable with our idols and so convinced that they are built on entirely correct ideas that we have stopped wondering at anything and, therefore, are comprehending almost nothing."

    - Elizabeth Scalia in  Strange Gods: Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life., pages 8,10

You Washed Away the Dirt

Lord, from You flows true and continual kindness.

You had cast us off and justly so,
but in Your mercy You forgave us.

You were at odds with us,
and You reconciled us.

You had set a curse on us,
and You blessed us.

You had banished us from the garden,
and You called us back again.

You took away the fig leaves
that had been an unsuitable garment,
and You clothed us in a cloak of great value.

You flung wide the prison gates,
and You gave the condemned a pardon.

You sprinkled clean water on us,
and You washed away the dirt.

    - Gregory of Nyssa, 335-395 AD

Hat Tip: Everyday Theology and Kingdom People

Owning the Daily Present

"...remember that the life in which we ought to be interested is 'daily' life. We can, each of us, only call the present time our own...Our Lord tells us to pray for today, and so he prevents us from tormenting ourselves about tomorrow."

           - St. Gregory of Nyssa