Christian Spirit-An Introduction Sancity and sanctuary Contemplation and judgment The beauty of creation Contemplating God's world Eyes turned toward God What is faith? Participating in God's Love All life like a day of celebration Within all, over all, under all Threading the needle In You, all things abide Who is the maker of souls and bodies? The Light of God God is closer to me than I am to myself Enter eagerly into the treasure house that is within you

slide 5 of 16 Contemplating the visible things of God’s power and providence, His goodness and wisdom, as Paul says (Romans 1: 20-21), and perceiving the mysteries hidden in the divine Scriptures, [the one whose intellect has been purified] is given the grace to ascend with Christ through the contemplation of intelligible realities.… Perceiving the invisible through the visible, and the eternal through the transitory, he realizes that if this ephemeral world … is so beautiful, how much more beautiful must be the eternal, inconceivable blessings “that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Peter of Damascus (1027–1107) The one who gazes on the physical universe and perceives the wisdom which is reflected in the beauty of created realities, can reason from the visible to the invisible beauty, the Source of Wisdom, whose influence established the nature of all reality. So also can one who looks upon this new universe of creation which is the Church see in it the One who is all in all, and thus be led by our faith from things which are intelligible and understandable to a knowledge of the One who is beyond all knowledge. Gregory of Nyssa (330-395)