Enter the contests eagerly, since the gift of grace is measured by the labors of the receiver. For the grace of the Spirit gives eternal life and unspeakable joy in heaven, but it is the love of the toils because of the faith that makes the soul worthy of receiving the gifts and enjoying the grace. When a just act and grace of the Spirit coincide, they fill the soul into which they come with a blessed life; but, separated from each other, they provide no gain for the soul. For the grace of God does not naturally frequent souls which are fleeing from salvation, and the power of human virtue is not sufficient in itself to cause the souls not sharing in grace to ascend to the beauty of life. For it says:
"Unless the Lord build the house and keep the city, he labors in vain that builds it and watches in vain who keeps it" (cf Ps 126:1).
+St. Gregory of Nyssa, from On the Christian Mode of Life, in
The Fathers of the Church Volume 58, St. Gregory, Ascetical Works.
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