Let us adhere to God

“And thus he has added to what has been said, ‘For what do I have in heaven, and what do I desire on earth besides you‘(Ps 73.25). In respect to this latter saying, the majority of people up to the present act as follows. Although such great things are freely theirs in heaven, nevertheless they consider to have come to be with God to be imaginary delusions in the category of a wish in relation to power or honor or wealth or this wretched little glory for which human nature is mad. But he who has come to be in these things consequently adds, “But it is good for me to adhere to God, to put my hope in the Lord” (Ps 73.28). He has shown that the one who adheres to God through hope and who has become one with him is in some way united with him.” St. Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary on The Inscriptions of The Psalms. Part 1, Chapter 6, Tract 49.

Let us not be confused then about what it means to find union with God. St. Gregory warns us against confusing those ‘goods’ (Or what we call goods) with union with Him Who is the only and true Good. Attachment to the imaginary ‘goods’ of this world are a madness of human nature and thus we must always be wary of falling into the trap of conflating God with ever so worldly ideals of ‘good’ such as wealth, power, honour, dignity, etc. Union with Him is beyond all of these fleeting delusions.