‘Who is Without Sin?’, a homily by Fr. Stephen Verbest of New Melleray Abbey
In today’s Gospel, Jesus accuses the Pharisees and Scholars of the law of being sinners (Lk 11:42-46). Yet, St. Gregory of Nyssa teaches that it is difficult or even impossible to overcome all sin. He writes, “Whose eye is without sin, whose hearing is without reproach, who is a stranger to the pleasure of gluttony, who is pure from all sins occasioned by touch. One is envious … another arrogant … another given to anger or lust. Who can say his heart is clean from all these interior movements of the soul?”* Jesus knows we are tempted many times a day. A good person is not someone who is never tempted, or who never falls, but one who seeks the grace of God to resist temptation and who falls less often and gets up more quickly.
A brother came to the desert father, Abba Poimen, and said, “Father, I have all sorts of tempting thoughts and because of them I am in peril.” The holy monk replied, “Spread out your shirt to stop the wind from blowing.” “I can’t stop it,” he said. The wise old monk told him, “Neither can you prevent evil thoughts from coming into your heart. Your work is to resist them.” Such purity of heart is a tough virtue to acquire. But blessed are you if you never give up seeking the grace of purity of heart every day. You will see God.
*St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Lord’s Prayer, Ancient Christian Writers, v18, 77.