SAINT GREGORY
|
|
SAINT GREGORY |
|
THE GREAT, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
(604)
Saint Gregory 1 was Pope Gregory the Great, the first monk elected to the apostolic chair in Italy, at a critical time of the church history, in deteriorated Rome. He came from a religious wealthy family, which provided two previous popes. After a high degree of classical education, he assumed a significant position in civil service in Rome. Then, when he reached thirty, in 573 he responded to his heart’s ambition to be a monk, and to put aside earthly concerns. After his father’s death in 575, he disposed of his extensive estate, and founded St. Andrew’s Monastery in his converted house. He also established six other monasteries in Sicily, and gave much of his wealth to the poor.
After few years of monastic life, Gregory served as one of Rome’s seven deacons, and as papal ambassador to Constantinople. When Pope Pelagius II died in 590, he was chosen to succeed him for his trustworthiness, and his prominent administrative skills, against his will. He faced unusual heavy responsibilities. A breakdown of civil order in Rome at the time, plague, and poverty, were on top of spiritual, and ecclesiastical needs, and threats against Rome itself... He immediately organized distribution of food to the needy, promoted revenues, and developed reservoir of resources. Practically, he became the civil and spiritual governor of Rome. Indeed, Gregory 1 was the second pope in church history to be called “The Great”, only second to Leo 1. He referred to himself as “the servant of the servants of God”.
Gregory the Great was one of the most influential writers in the papacy. His writings were more practical than theoretical, stemmed from his pastoral care, and preaching, which was adapted to the need of the people. Given his monastic experience, St. Gregory was a promoter of monasticism, and liturgy, especially music that became known as ‘ Gregorian’ chants. His four books of his own life time ‘Pastoral Care’, were widely used, and translated into Greek, and Anglo-Saxon. So was, The ‘Dialogues’, which described deeds and the miracles of Italian saints. His Homilies on the Gospels, and on Ezekiel are examples of his popular preaching to laymen, and clerics, and monks as well. He frequently corresponded with St. Augustine of Hippo. Bede, spoke to the English church in paying tribute to Pope Gregory: “For while other popes devoted themselves to building churches and enriching them with costly ornaments, Gregory’s sole concern was to save souls”.
St. Gregory set a high mark for the papacy in Rome. He died in 604, and came to be a Doctor of the Church in, 1298.
:From his writings:
“ I remember with sorrow what I once was in the monastery, how I rose in contemplation above all changeable and decaying things and thought of nothing but the things of heaven…But now, by reason of my pastoral care, I have to bear with secular business…. And when I recall the condition of my former life, I sigh as one who looks back and gazes on the shore he left behind.”
"`God has chosen the despised in the world.' Often being despised recalls us
to ourselves. The son who left his father and squandered his share of the
property came to himself when he began to be hungry. He said: `How many of my
father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare?' He went far away from
himself when he sinned; he would never have come to himself if he hadn't
suffered hunger. The loss of all his worldly goods led him to begin to think of
the spiritual goods he had lost. The poor and the feeble, the blind and the
lame, are called, and they come: those who are weak and despised in this world
are often quicker to hear the voice of God, as they have nothing in the world to
delight them."
St. Gregory the Great.
For to us there is but One God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and One Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things; and One Holy Spirit, in Whom are all things; yet these words, of, by , in , whom, do not denote a difference of nature (for if this were the case, the three propositions, or the order of the three names would never be altered), but they characterize the personalities of a nature which is one and unconfused. And this is proved by the fact that They are again collected into one, if you will read - not carelessly - this other passage of the same Apostle, `Of Him and through Him and to Him are all things; to Him be glory forever, Amen.'" St. Gregory the Great
"We make our way by foot on earth without stumbling if we love God and our neighbor with our whole heart. We cannot truly love God without loving our neighbor, nor can be truly love our neighbor without loving God. This is why I have already said in another sermon that we read that the Holy Spirit was given a second time to the disciples. First It was given by the Lord while He was still dwelling on earth, and later while He is watching over us in heaven: on earth that we may love our neighbors, from heaven that we may love God. Why first on earth and later from heaven, except for the reason given us openly by John: `How can one person who does not love his brother whom he sees love God Whom he does not see?'" St. Gregory the Great.
"We abandon ourselves, we renounce ourselves, when we escape from what we were in our old state, and strive toward what we are called to be in our new one. Let us see how Paul, who said `It is no longer I who live' renounced himself: the cruel persecutor was destroyed and the holy preacher began to live. But how was Paul, who said that he was no longer living, able to proclaim the message of truth? Immediately after saying `It is no longer I who live,'; he added, `but Christ lives in me.' He means that he had indeed been destroyed by himself, since he no longer lived unspiritual, but in his essential being he was not dead since he was spiritually alive in Christ." St. Gregory the Great.
"But it is not enough for us to abandon our possessions if we do not abandon
ourselves as well. What does it mean to abandon ourselves? If we abandon
ourselves, where shall we go outside of ourselves? And who is it who departs, if
a person has forsaken himself? But we are one thing when we have fallen into
sin, and another in the nature with which we were created; what we did is one
thing, what we have become is another. Let us abandon the selves we have made by
sinning, and let us continue to be the selves we have become by grace."
St. Gregory the Great.
"There is nothing we can offer to God more precious than good will. But what
is good will? To have good will is to experience concern for someone else's
adversities as if they were our own, to give thanks for our neighbor's
prosperity as for our own; to believe that another person's loss is our own, and
also that another's gain is ours; to love a friend in God, and bear with an
enemy out of love, to do to no one what we do not want to suffer ourselves, and
to refuse to no one what we rightly want for ourselves; to choose to help a
neighbor who is in need not only to the whole extent of our ability, but even
beyond our means. What offering is richer, what offering is more substantial
than this one? What we are offering to God on the altar of our hearts is the
sacrifice of ourselves."
St. Gregory the Great.
"You contend against Him, because He has not replied to all your words, God will speak once, and will not repeat the same thing a second time. As if he were to say, God does not reply in private speaking to the hearts of men one by one, but fashions His word in such a manner as to satisfy the inquiries of all men. For if we look to our own cases one by one, we are sure to find them in the teaching of His Scriptures, nor is there need to seek for a special answer from the voice of God, in our own special sufferings. For there a general reply is given to all of us in our own special sufferings: there the conduct of those who go before is a model for such as come after." St. Gregory the Great.
Saint Gregory the Great (around 540 – 604), Pope, Doctor of the Church Homily 25 on the Gospel
“Why are you weeping?”
Mary, in tears, bent down and looked inside the tomb. But she had already seen that it was empty, she had announced the Lord’s disappearance. Why does she still bend down; why does she still want to see? Because love is not satisfied with just one look; love is an ever more ardent quest. She already looked for him, but in vain; she is obstinate, and she ends up discovering him… In the Song of Songs, the Church said of the same Spouse: “On my bed at night I sought him whom my heart loves – I sought him but I did not find him. I will rise then and go about the city; in the streets and crossings I will seek him whom my heart loves. I sought him but I did not find him… Have you seen him whom my heart loves?” (Song 3:1-3) Twice she expresses her disappointment: “I sought him but I did not find him.” But finally, success crowns her efforts: “The watchmen came upon me as they made their rounds of the city: Have you seen him whom my heart loves? I had hardly left them when I found him whom my heart loves.” (Song 3:3-4)
And we, when do we seek the Beloved as we lie on our bed? During the brief times of rest during this life, when we sigh because our Redeemer is absent. We seek him during the night, for even if our spirit is already watching over him, our eyes so far only see his shadow. But since we do not find the Beloved there, let us rise; let us make the rounds of the city, that is to say, the holy assembly of the elect. Let us seek him with all our heart; let us look in the streets and crossings, that is to say, in life’s steep passages or on the spacious paths; let us open our eyes and seek there the steps of our Beloved… This desire caused David to say: “Athirst is my soul for God, the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God?” (Ps 42:3)
"Hold to patience in your hearts, my friends, and put it into action when the situation calls for it. Don't let any abusive word from your neighbor stir up hatred in you, and don't allow any loss of things that pass away to upset you. If you are steadfast in fearing the loss of those things that last forever, you will never take seriously the loss of those that pass away; if you keep your eyes fixed on the glory of our eternal recompense, you will not resent a temporal injury. You must bear with those who oppose you, but also love those you fear with. Seek an eternal reward in return for your temporal losses." St. Gregory the Great.
"For sin is what is not swiftly washed away by penitence, or sin is the cause of sin, or sin is also the punishment for sin, or sin is at once both the cause and the punishment of sin. For every act which is committed is first sin. But if it is not cleansed swiftly by penitence Almighty God by righteous judgment allows the guilty mind of the sinner to fall to further guilt, so that the mind which was unwilling to cleanse what it had done by weeping and correction begins to add sin to sin. Therefore the sin which is not washed away by the lament of penitence is at the same time the cause of sin, because from it arises whence the spirit of the sinner plunges deeper into guilt. Truly sin which follows from sin is at the same time a sin and the penalty for sin, because with increasing blindness it is generated from the retribution of prior guilt so that certain punishments are, as it were, the very increase of vices in the sinner." St. Gregory the Great
"Every day you provide your bodies with good to keep them
from failing. In "the same way your good works should be the daily nourishment
of your hearts. Your bodies are fed with food and your spirits with good works.
You aren't to deny your soul, which is going to live forever, what you grant to
your body, which is going to die."
St. Gregory the Great.
Page Written By H. G. H. ãCopyright 2001