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 Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 3:18-23
 
Brothers and sisters:
Let no one deceive himself.
If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age,
let him become a fool, so as to become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God,
for it is written:
 
God catches the wise in their own ruses,
 
and again:
 
The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
 
So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you,
Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
or the world or life or death,
or the present or the future:
all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.
 
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Commentary on 1 Cor 3:18-23
 
St. Paul continues his treatise on Christian wisdom telling the church at Corinth that, if they wish true wisdom, they must reject human wisdom (“If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool so as to become wise”). They must be guided by the Spirit of Truth. He does this by quoting first Job 5:12 and then Psalm 94:11.
 
The evangelist concludes by assigning Christian value to all things: life and the Church, the leaders (Paul or Apollos or Cephas), past and future experience, and, most importantly, the ownership of the Christian by Christ, linked to God through him. “Paul assigns all the persons involved in the theological universe a position on a scale: God, Christ, church members, church leaders. Read from top to bottom, the scale expresses ownership; read from bottom to top, the obligation to serve. This picture should be complemented by similar statements such as those in 1 Corinthians 8:6 and 1 Corinthians 15:20-28.” [4]
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
 
R. (1) To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
 
The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
 
Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
 
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
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Commentary on Ps 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
 
Psalm 24 is a processional song. It recalls that God is the great creator, and he calls his people to be faithful. It is part of a hymn of entrance, sung as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the temple, followed by the faithful. The song asks the question: who can come into his presence, and answers: only those who are sinless (completely reconciled to God). Those who achieve that beatified state will receive the reward of eternal life from the savior.
 
The hymn focuses on the character of the one who worthily seeks God, and the one who is worthy to come into God’s kingdom and stand before him. This same concept is borrowed in a passage from John’s Revelation (Revelation 14:4ff): who are the ones allowed full access to God? They are those: “whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.” In other words they are clean in heart, body, and spirit.
 
CCC: Ps 24:6 2582
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Gospel: Luke 5:1-11
 
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.
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Commentary on  Lk 5:1-11
 
St. Luke’s Gospel presents the call of St. Peter, St. James, and St. John to discipleship. The Lord has demonstrated his authority through his teaching, and then through the miraculous catch of fish. We note the similarity of this incident with the post-resurrection incident recounted in St. John’s Gospel (John 21:1-11).
 
At Jesus' summons, Simon and the two sons of Zebedee leave all they have and follow the Lord. No mention is made here of Simon’s (Peter’s) brother Andrew who would also have been there, and in fact, as a disciple of John the Baptist, actually introduced the two (John 1:41 ff). We do hear that James and John, Zebedee’s sons were also there as Simon’s partners and are called at the same time.
 
Simon Peter’s response to the Lord’s call is one of being sinful and therefore unworthy of the presence of the Lord. In response to Simon’s fearful humility, Jesus invites them all to leave what they have and become fishers of men.
 
CCC: Lk 5:8 208
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Reflection:
 
There is a great deal of symbolism provided by St. Luke in his story about the call of St. Peter (Simon), his brother (Andrew), and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John. The fact that they were fishing symbolizes their later evangelical activity. That they had been ineffective at fishing until they had Christ with them is another strongly symbolic fact in the story. The entire account, taken as a whole, is one of the call of the Lord and the response of the people of God. But there is something else here; something important in the attitudes of those being called.
 
When Simon-Peter recognized Jesus as the Messiah following the great catch of fish, we are told “he fell at the knees of Jesus.” Scripture did not say if he fell prostrate, or simply to his knees, but what is clear is that he recognized Jesus, and realized that he was in a sacred space. The Lord’s presence made it so.
 
I recently attended Mass in another town, in another diocese. It was a church in which reforms had been made. The tabernacle had been moved out of the sanctuary and placed in an adjoining chapel, and the kneelers had been removed. When people arrived, there was no genuflection, when they celebrated the Mass, even making Christ present in the Eucharist, there was no sense of the space being sacred, sanctified for worship. When contrasted with St. Thomas the Apostle, here in Ann Arbor where the tabernacle is central to our space and the sense that, as the Latin inscription around the dome above the sanctuary says “This is nothing more than the house of God and the gate of Heaven” (Genesis 28:17), there was a feeling that something important was missing. Yes, the people were inviting and, with the exception of kneeling during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the Mass was a celebration. But that feeling of sacred space was achingly missing.
 
When we become complacent, accepting Christ as merely another friend among friends, our own sense of holiness suffers. When we forget that what happens at the Eucharist is no less miraculous than the multiplication of the loaves, or the miraculous catch of fish, we lose our sense of awe and the appreciation for what the Lord has done. We lose our faith in what he is capable of doing for us.
 
Today’s Gospel reminds us that where Jesus is truly present, that space becomes sacred space, due our respect and reverence. We must never forget that the building itself is not “the church” but our reverence as a people of God makes it so.
 
Pax
 
You may also like my recent post on the "Real Presence"

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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 3:21-23.