Fight the Good Fight
From a book on Christian formation by Saint Gregory of Nyssa, bishop (c. 330-c. 395)
Fight the good fight of faith
Narrated by Frank Dugan, Huntington Beach, California
Whoever is in Christ is a new creation; the old has passed away. Now by the “new creation” Paul means the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a heart that is pure and blameless, free of all malice, wickedness or shamefulness. For when a soul has come to hate sin and had delivered itself as far as it can to the power of virtue, it undergoes a transformation by receiving the grace of the Spirit. Then is it healed, restored and made wholly new. Indeed the two texts: Purge out the old leaven that you may be a new one, and: Let us celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, support those passages which speak about the new creation.
Yet the tempter spreads many a snare to trap the soul, and of itself human nature is too weak to defeat him. This is why the Apostle bids us to arm ourselves with heavenly weapons, when he says: Put on the breastplate of righteousness and have your feet shod with the gospel of peace and have the truth around your waist as a belt. Can you not see how many forms of salvation the Apostle indicates, all leading to the same path and the same goal? Following them to the heights of God’s commandments, we easily complete the race of life. For elsewhere the Apostle says: Let us run with fidelity the race that has been set before us, with our eyes on Jesus, the origin and the goal of our faith.
So a man who openly despises the accolades of this world and rejects all earthly glory must also practice self-denial. Such self-denial means that you never seek your own will but God’s, using God’s will as a sure guide; it also means possessing nothing apart from what is held in common. In this way it will be easier for you to carry out your superior’s commands promptly, in joy and in hope; this is required of Christ’s servants who are redeemed for service to the brethren. For this is what the Lord wants when he says: Whoever wishes to be first and great among you must be the last of all and a servant to all.
Our service of mankind must be given freely. One who is in such a position must be subject to everyone and serve his brothers as if he were paying off a debt. Moreover, those who are in charge should work harder than the others and conduct themselves with greater submission that their own subjects. Their lives should serve as a visible example of what service means, and they should remember that those who are committed to their trust are held in trust from God.
Those, then, who are in a position of authority must look after their brothers as conscientious teachers look after the young children who have been handed over to them by their parents. If both disciples and masters have this loving relationship, then subjects will be happy to obey whatever is commanded, while superiors will be delighted to lead their brothers to perfection. If you try to outdo one another in showing respect, your life on earth will be like that of the angels.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
Saint Gregory of Nyssa, (c. 330-c. 395) the son of Saint Emmilia, was born at Caesarea, Capadocia, (Turkey) and raised by his brother Saint Basil and his sister Macrina. Well educated, he became a rhetorician and a professor of rhetoric. He then turned to the religious life under the guidance of St. Gregory Nazianzen. He was ordained a priest and lived in seclusion at Iris in Pontus. Later he was named bishop of Nyssa in lower Armenia, in 372 at the age of 42. With his see infested with the heresy of Arianism he was falsely accused of stealing Church property by the governor of Pontus, deposed and imprisoned. Having escaped, he remained in exile until 378, when Emperor Gratian restored him to his see.
In 379 he attended the Council of Antioch, which denounced the Meletian heresy and was sent by that council to Palestine and Arabia to combat heresy there. He was active in the General Council of Constantinople in 381 and eloquently attacked Arianism and reaffirmed the decrees of the Council of Nicaea. By this time he was widely venerated as the great pillar of orthodoxy and the great opponent of Arianism. Greatly influenced by the writings of Origen and Plato, he wrote numerous theological treatises which were considered the true exposition of the Catholic faith. Among them were his Catechetical Discourse, treatises against Eunomius and Appolinaris, a book on virginity, and commentaries on Scripture. The second General Council of Nicaea in 680-81, called him “Father of the Fathers.”