Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

Proper readings for the Memorial of St. Gregory the Great
 
Biographical Information about St. Gregory the Great

"Saint Gregory the Great"
by Jacopo Vignali, c. 1630

 
Readings for Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 4:6b-15
 
Brothers and sisters:
Learn from myself and Apollos not to go beyond what is written,
so that none of you will be inflated with pride
in favor of one person over against another.
Who confers distinction upon you?
What do you possess that you have not received?
But if you have received it,
why are you boasting as if you did not receive it?
You are already satisfied; you have already grown rich;
you have become kings without us!
Indeed, I wish that you had become kings,
so that we also might become kings with you.
 
For as I see it, God has exhibited us Apostles as the last of all,
like people sentenced to death,
since we have become a spectacle to the world,
to angels and men alike.
We are fools on Christ’s account, but you are wise in Christ;
we are weak, but you are strong;
you are held in honor, but we in disrepute.
To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty,
we are poorly clad and roughly treated,
we wander about homeless and we toil, working with our own hands.
When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;
when slandered, we respond gently.
We have become like the world’s rubbish, the scum of all,
to this very moment.
 
I am writing you this not to shame you,
but to admonish you as my beloved children.
Even if you should have countless guides to Christ,
yet you do not have many fathers,
for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.
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Commentary on 1 Cor 4:6b-15
 
This reading is part of an introduction to St. Paul’s discourse on divisions in the community. He begins with an individual instruction: “That you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written.
The words ‘to go’ are not in the Greek, but have here been added as the minimum necessary to elicit sense from this difficult passage. It probably means that the Corinthians should avoid the false wisdom of vain speculation, contenting themselves with Paul's proclamation of the cross, which is the fulfillment of God's promises in the Old Testament (what is written). Inflated with pride: literally, 'puffed up,' i.e., arrogant, filled with a sense of self-importance.” [4]
 
St. Paul makes three ironic statements as to the benefits the Corinthians have already received (“satisfied,” “rich,” “kings”). These are really rhetorical questions that get at a general tendency by this community to have an exaggerated sense and understanding of the eschaton, or the end times (i.e. the imminent return and rapture).
 
St. Thomas Aquinas comments on this passage as follows: "The Apostle here considers four types of pride: the first, when one thinks that what one has does not come from God [...]; the second, which is similar, when one thinks that one has done everything on one's own merit; the third, when one boasts of having something which one does not in fact have [...]; the fourth, when one despises others and is concerned only about oneself" ("Commentary on 1 Cor, ad loc.").[5]
 
The Apostle continues this selection with a description of the conditions in which the Apostles (himself included) are viewed and treated by the world. He contrasts the difficulty they encounter with the ease and comfort of those who believe (in error) that they have achieved a state of glory, and bask in the light of Christ. The description of the suffering of the Apostles St. Paul provides, “place the Apostles in the class of those to whom the beatitudes promise future relief (Matthew 5:3-11; Luke 6:20-23); whereas the Corinthians' image of themselves as ‘already’ filled, rich, ruling (1 Corinthians 4:8), as wise, strong, and honored (1 Corinthians 4:10), places them paradoxically in the position of those whom the woes threaten with future undoing (Luke 6:24-26). They have lost sight of the fact that the reversal is predicted for the future.” [6]
 
Almost as if to take the sting out of his ironically charged chastisement, St. Paul describes his relation to them as a “father” who teaches his children through his lived example.
 
CCC: 1 Cor 4:7 224
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:17-18, 19-20, 21
 
R. (18) The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
 
The Lord is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The Lord is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
 
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him,
he hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord keeps all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
 
May my mouth speak the praise of the Lord,
and may all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
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Commentary on Ps 145:17-18, 19-20, 21
 
Psalm 145 is a hymn of praise. These strophes call on the faithful to give thanks to God for opening the gates of his Heavenly Kingdom. They continue praising God for his justice and his creating hand.
 
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Gospel:  Luke 6:1-5
 
While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath,
his disciples were picking the heads of grain,
rubbing them in their hands, and eating them.
Some Pharisees said,
“Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Have you not read what David did
when he and those who were with him were hungry?
How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering,
which only the priests could lawfully eat,
ate of it, and shared it with his companions?”
Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
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Commentary on Lk 6:1-5
 
The Pharisees attack the disciples because they picked some grain to eat on the sabbath. In Pharisaic Law (Mishnah: Shabat 7:2) [7] that act is considered work and is forbidden on the Lord’s Day (Exodus 34:21). It is noteworthy that this action is permitted in other parts of the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 23:26). [63] The Lord reinterprets their law, citing the First Book of Samuel (1 Samuel 21:2-7) and Leviticus (Leviticus 24:8). The implication of his final statement in this passage is clear to us. “The ultimate justification for the disciples' violation of the sabbath rest is that Jesus, the Son of Man, has supreme authority over the law.” [8]
 
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Reflection:
 
There is a management methodology highly praised in business circles that states: If you want to achieve an organizational goal, you need to manage the team as if that goal had already been achieved. Stated another way this means, if you want to have something occur, behave as if it already had. Where people often find difficulty with this is when they forget they are working toward an end result and begin to think they have already made the journey and have arrived. Those who have fallen into that trap are often seen as arrogant or (a favorite description being used in election campaign rhetoric) “out of touch with reality.”
 
St. Paul has observed this flaw in the faith community at Corinth. He realized that if the people who believe they have already achieved an enlightened or beatified state as a consequence of their adoption in the Lord continue down this path, real harm will be caused in the development of the Christian community, and their true faith journey. He challenges them about their attitudes. He contrasts the relative ease and peace of their self-imposed idyllic faith to the difficult and gritty life of the Apostles, who are propagating the Gospel (himself included).
 
The passage we are given is a prelude to his deeper attack on divisions in the Body of Christ, but these opening remarks have their own lesson for us. Those of us who are working hard at developing our own spiritual center, trying to walk closely with Christ and God, must never think we are somehow better than those who struggle mightily, but are caught up so deeply in the net of the world’s entanglements that they cannot even see the light of Christ (or so it might seem to us). We must remember the model Christ has provided: the humility with which he led us when he walked among us as a man.
 
It is easy to see the trap the Corinthians fell into. They were so taken with the bliss that will come with the perfect communion with God that is his ultimate promise that they began to act as if it were imminent, and forgot the difficult journey required to get to that place. We must always remember that our mission in this life is to walk the hard path, the humble path, the dusty path that was walked with Christ by those disciples on the road to Emmaus. We have not arrived. Much of our journey lies ahead of us, and we must constantly invite those we meet along the way to join us.
 
Pax

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[1] The picture used today is "Saint Gregory the Great" by Jacopo Vignali, c. 1630.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] NAB footnote on 1 Corinthians 4:6.
[5] “Letters of St. Paul,” The Navarre Bible, Four Courts Press, 2003.
[6] NAB footnote on 1 Corinthians 4:9-13
[7] Mishnah: an authoritative collection of exegetical material embodying the oral tradition of Jewish law and forming the first part of the Talmud.
[8] NAB footnote on Matthew 12:1-8.