Daily Reading for October 26 • The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Moses did not set foot on the land below for which the people were longing by reason of the promise. He who preferred to live by what flowed from above no longer tasted earthly food. But having come to the very top of the mountain, he, like a good sculptor who has fashioned well the whole statue of his own life, did not simply bring his creation to an end but he placed the finishing touch on his work.

What does the history say about this? That Moses the servant of Yahweh died as Yahweh decreed, and no one has ever found his grave, his eyes were undimmed, and his face unimpaired. From this we learn that, when one has accomplished such noble actions, he is considered worthy of this sublime name, to be called servant of Yahweh. . . .

What then are we taught through what has been said? To have but one purpose in life: to be called servants of God by virtue of the lives we live. . . .The goal of the sublime way of life is being called a servant of God.

From The Life of Moses by Gregory of Nyssa, translated and introduced by Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett Ferguson. A volume in the Classics of Western Spirituality series (Paulist Press, 1978).