Patricia Hofer

“You have within yourselves the standard by which to apprehend the Divine.”

 “The divine Nature whatever It may be in Itself, surpasses every mental concept. For It is altogether inaccessible to reasoning and conjecture, nor has there been found any human faculty capable of perceiving the incomprehensible; for we cannot devise a means of understanding inconceivable things. Therefore the great Apostle calls his ways “unsearchable” (Rom 11:33), meaning by this that the way that leads to the knowledge of the Divine Essence is inaccessible to thought. … There is in you, human beings, a desire to contemplate the true good. But when you hear that the Divine Majesty is exalted above the heavens, that Its glory is inexpressible, Its beauty ineffable, and Its Nature inaccessible, do not despair of ever beholding what you desire. It is indeed within your reach; you have within yourselves the standard by which to apprehend the Divine. For He who made you did at the same time endow your nature with this wonderful quality. For God imprinted on it the likeness of the glories of His own Nature, as if moulding the form of a carving into wax.” (Gregory of Nyssa, Sermon 6 on the Beatitudes–Light from Light, Dupre and Wiseman 42, 44)

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