St. Gregory of Nyssa on Hunger for Righteousness

During the days of Lent, we give up in order to gain. Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we hope to give up that which we do not need in order to gain what we do need. In this excerpt from a homily by the Fourth Century bishop St. Gregory of Nyssa, he teaches us on the importance of gaining a hunger for righteousness as Our Lord taught us in the Sermon on the Mount.

Many say that righteousness consists in always giving to each what is right, what each deserves. I believe, however, taking account of the depth of the divine dispensation, that the word "righteousness" ought to include something more.

"Blessed are they that hunger...after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied". (Matt. 5:6).

When certain things are offered us as food, all of different sorts and very desirable, we need a great deal of patience to discover what is good nourishment and what is harmful. There is a danger that we will want to eat something that may lead to illness or death. Well then, only the person who is hungry for God's righteousness finds what everyone ought to be looking for.

In this passage, the Word says that righteousness is offered to all those who are hungry for it. It is clear that the word "righteousness" means the total sum of the virtues. It means that the person is blessed who possesses prudence, courage, moderation, temperance, self-control, who is hungry, in short, for all included in the definition of virtue.

I insist on "all". It is not possible for one particular virtue to be isolated from the others and to remain a perfect virtue. For this reason, people in whom we do not find what we reckon as good, undoubtedly have in them the opposite of good. So it is absurd to speak of righteousness as applied to a person who is unwise, foolhardy, uncontrolled or dissolute in some way. Righteousness includes all the virtues and none is left out.

---

This post is from the Holy Comforter Catholic Church eNewsletter which is sent out once a week via email. If you would like to subscribe to the eNewsletter, click here.