Gregory of Nyssa - On Perfection

There is really no better place to begin studying Patristics than with the Cappadocian Fathers. The youngest of these three (or four...more later) is Gregory of Nyssa. Today's thought comes from his essay entitled On Perfection.
"The perfection of the Christian life...is that in which we participate not only by our mind and soul but in all the actions of our lives, so that our holiness may be complete, in accordance with the blessing pronounced by Paul, in our whole body and soul and spirit."
This excerpt falls into a larger argument on the understanding that our human nature is mutable and prone to change. These changes are brought about by things and situations we come in contact with throughout each day, leaving open the possibility for movement toward good or ill. Here one finds the greatest difference beween eastern and western Christian thought - western theology tends to focus on sin and its effect, whereas eastern theology emphasizes the possibility and pursuit of the good in spite of sin.
"In truth the finest aspect of our mutability is the possibility of growth in good; and this capacity for improvement transforms the soul, as it changes, more and more into the divine."
This pursuit of God is an unending cycle that is so essential. There are times when we do not improve and we move away from God, but it is essential that we are perpetually in a state of progression, never at rest or satisfied in our desire to participate in the divine.
"For that perfection consists in our never stopping in our growth in good, never circumscribing our perfection by any limitation."
We can all do and be better than we are...we just sometimes lack the desire or motivation. I pray that today we find that reserve in ourselves that gives us the conviction to pursue the perfection of Christ.