Living the Mysteries: What is Grace?

St. Leo the Great said that the days between Easter and Pentacost are God's favored time for revealing the mysteries.
It is as if, the Mother Church has birthed us at Easter and only now can we begin to take our first baby steps into
a new world. A world, more real, more permanent. We look not so much to the things which are seen, but things
which are not seen. The real hidden mysteries of life. For many of the things which are unseen are eternal.
These are exciting times if you really stop to think about it. I mean, I'm reaching you right now through the
internet. The internet can be a great tool for both good and evil. I try to use it for good. And I hope you
will agree.

Grace is another gift of the Holy Spirit. It is leniency when we give in to sin. It is the beauty of nature.
It is each stride along a divine path, back to God, through this life and all the unspoken, unthought of, unheard
changes that follow a divine path. Entering mystagogy is nothing less than allowing God to continue teaching us.

St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa were brothers born to a noble family. Their paternal grandfather
was regarded as a saint and the maternal grandmother died as a Martyr. Of the ten siblings 3 became bishops and 3
are regarded as saints. At the time, the church did not baptise people as infants and children, so Basil presented
himself for instruction in faith and to recieve the sacraments in due time. He discerned a vocation and traveled to
Egypt, Palastine, Syria and Mesopotamia to observe the many ways that men were living as monks. Basil would 
eventually be named Bishop of the bustling metropolis of Caesaria.

His brother, Gregory, had married a woman named Theosebeia and begun work as a rhetorician. Gregory was a great
scholar, steeped in the greek tradition of philosophy, culture and literature. He and his wife took to the unusual
step of living in celebacy while married. They devoted themselves completely to prayer and contemplation.

There is much more to know about St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa and it can be found in the book,
Living the Mysteries by Scott Hahn and Mike Aquilina


Neither Basil, nor Gregory were particularly pious as youths, but they moved into the faith, as I am by becoming a
church musician in the Catholic Church. I'm not saying that I compare with St. Basil or St. Gregory but, I'd like
to in some ways. Music is my passion and I play a lot of different kinds of music and write original music.
I even have a Catholic song for Funerals entitled "Grandmother". But I digress...


I, myself, respect celebacy, but I don't think that I could practice it. I love women too much to ever be celebate,
myself. I suppose there may come a day, long after I'm married that sex won't be as much a part of my life anymore,
but I am only 27 and I should look for a fuller life, by supporting myself well and having children that I can
sculpt and mould into good upstanding people who think deep thoughts and share them, like myself.