Perfection

St. Gregory of Nyssa is quoted as saying, "He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows."

The call to perfection in our Christian lives is probably the most intense paradox in existence. It is woefully impossible, yet absolutely necessary. Only through the impossible and necessary act of Christ on the cross can the attainment of perfection be made a reality.

It occurred to me tonight that the mere fact that we possess a fallen nature implies a call to perfection. For as soon as we recognize that we are fallen, we are recognizing that there is a standard up to which we do not measure. Imagine a fallen lamp. Or a fallen tree. The fallen state of these things is unnatural and tragic, yet it makes clear the intent for which the objects were created. So with our fallen natures; for if we fell we obviously have a state to which we can be restored.

I thus take a little comfort when I think of my vices and my trials; they are a testament to a higher calling. Only when I submit to my fallen urges, which are echoes of an innate desire for holiness, do I distance myself from that goal of perfection. The presence of the urges themselves is a source of hope.