Saint Gregory of Nyssa, an early Bishop and Saint of the church wrote that, "The Christian life is composed of three parts", aspects that govern each individual Christian life. And those are: thoughts, words, and deeds.... There's an important relationship between thoughts, words, and deeds that if we don't recognize we won't be able to grow in holiness and change.
Most of us who want to do the deeds of God, to follow the example of the lives of the saints, struggle to attain that. We say, "How do the Saints do it? How do they become so virtuous in their actions?" And the very simple reason is: because everything flows from their thoughts.
Saint Gregory teaches us that all of our actions, and even all of our words, flow from the thoughts and beliefs that are in our mind. Until those are totally conformed to the Divine Ideal, there is no way that our words and actions will be perfectly holy. It's just not possible.
Of course the Divine Ideal is Jesus Christ. He is the model for all of us, in everything. His teachings are given to us, His actions are performed for us, so that we could conform our thoughts to what has been revealed.
That's our goal. That's our prayer as Christians to do this. To spend as much time and energy as we have to conform ourselves to Jesus Christ. First and foremost in thought.
2 Kgs 4:8-11, 14-16a; Ps 89:2-3, 16-17, 18-19; Rom 6:3-4, 8-11; Mt 10:37-42
