Preachers Institute» st. gregory the great

On The Holy Sacrifice

Fr. John A. Peck — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 02:31:48 +0000

St. Gregory the Great, the Dialogist ca. 540-604

And here also we have diligently to consider, that it is far more secure and safe that every man should do that for himself while he is yet alive, which he desireth that others should do for him after his death. For far more blessed it is, to depart free out of this world, than being in prison to seek for release: and therefore reason teacheth us, that we should with our whole soul contemn this present world, at least because we see that it is now gone and past: and to offer unto God the daily sacrifice of tears, and the daily sacrifice of His body and blood. For this sacrifice doth especially save our souls from everlasting damnation, which in mystery doth renew unto us the death of the Son of God: who although being risen from death, doth not now die any more, nor death shall not any further prevail against Him: yet living in Himself immortally, and without all corruption, He is again sacrificed for us in this mystery of the holy oblation: for there His body is received, there His flesh is distributed for the salvation of the people: there His blood is not now shed betwixt the hands of infidels, but poured into the mouths of the faithful. Wherefore let us hereby meditate what manner of sacrifice this is, ordained for us, which for our absolution doth always represent the passion of the only Son of God: for what right believing Christian can doubt, that in the very hour of the sacrifice, at the words of the Priest, the heavens be opened, and the choirs of Angels are present in that mystery of Jesus Christ; that high things are accompanied with low, and earthly joined to heavenly, and that one thing is made of visible and invisible? (The Dialogues Bk. 4 Chap. 58)

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The Humility of St. Gregory the Great

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:49:52 +0000

By St. John Moschos

We encountered Abba John the Persian at the Lavra of Monidia and he told us this about Gregory the Great, the most blessed Bishop of Rome:

“I went to Rome to pray at the tombs of the most blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul. One day as I was standing in the city-centre I saw that Pope Gregory was going to pass by. I had it in mind to prostrate myself before him. The attendants of the pope began saying to me, one by one, ‘Abba, do not prostrate yourself’, but I could not understand why they had said that to me; certainly it seemed improper for me not to prostrate myself. When the pope came near and perceived that I was about to prostrate myself – the Lord is my witness brethren – he prostrated himself down to the ground and refused to rise until I had got up. He embraced me with great humility, handed me three pieces of gold and ordered me to be given a monastic cloak, stipulating that all my needs were to be taken care of. So I glorified God Who had given him such humility towards everybody, such generosity with alms and such love.”

From The Spiritual Meadow, Cistercian Publications, 1992, p. 124.

The Lord Follows His Preachers

Fr. John A. Peck — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:50:02 +0000

by St. Gregory the Great, The Dialogist

Our father among the saints Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Dialogist, was the Pope of Rome until his death in 604 AD. He is certainly one of the most notable figures in Ecclesiastical History. He has exercised in many respects a momentous influence on the doctrine, the organization, and the discipline of the Church. To him we must look for an explanation of the religious situation of the Middle Ages.

Indeed, if no account were taken of his work, the evolution of the form of medieval Christianity would be almost inexplicable. He is noted for his writings. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, rich with Scriptural quotations and imagery, has been associated to him as its author.

Beloved brothers, our Lord and Savior sometimes gives us instruction by words and sometimes by actions. His very deeds are our commands; and whenever he acts silently he is teaching us what we should do. For example, he sends his disciples out to preach two by two, because the precept of charity is twofold – love of God and of one’s neighbor.

The Lord sends his disciples out to preach in twos in order to teach us silently that whoever fails in charity toward his neighbor should by no means take upon himself the office of preaching. Rightly is it said that he sent them ahead of him into every city and place where he himself was to go. For the Lord follows after the preachers, because preaching goes ahead to prepare the way, and then when the words of exhortation have gone ahead and established truth in our minds, the Lord comes to live within us.

To those who preach Isaiah says:

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.

And the psalmist tells them:

Make a way for him who rises above the sunset.

The Lord rises above the sunset because from that very place where he slept in death, he rose again and manifested a greater glory. He rises above the sunset because in his resurrection he trampled underfoot the death which he endured. Therefore, we make a way for him who rises above the sunset when we preach his glory to you, so that when he himself follows after us, he may illumine you with his love.

Let us listen now to his words as he sends his preachers forth:

The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.

That the harvest is good but the laborers are few cannot be said without a heavy heart, for although there are many to hear the good news there are only a few to preach it. Indeed, see how full the world is of priests, but yet in God’s harvest a true laborer is rarely to be found; although we have accepted the priestly office we do not fulfill its demands.

Think over, my beloved brothers, think over his words:

Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.

Pray for us so that we may be able to labor worthily on your behalf, that our tongue may not grow weary of exhortation, that after we have taken up the office of preaching our silence may not bring us condemnation from the just judge.

On Doubting Thomas

Fr. John A. Peck — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:17:03 +0000

by St. Gregory the Great

Our father among the saints Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Great, was the Pope of Rome from September 3, 590, until his death on March 12, 604.

He is noted for his writings.

Also, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts has been attributed to him.

The following is an excerpt from the homilies of St. Gregory the Great (also known as “St. Gregory the Dialogist”). In both East and West, the Sunday after Easter (Pascha) is devoted to “the beautiful unbelief of Thomas,” whose doubt stands as a proxy, making our own unnecessary:

Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. He was the only disciple absent; on his return he heard what had happened but refused to believe it. The Lord came a second time; He offered His side for the disbelieving disciple to touch, held out His hands, and showing the scars of His wounds, healed the wound of his disbelief.

Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It was not by chance but in God’s providence. In a marvelous way God’s mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his Master’s body, should heal our wounds of disbelief.

The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection.

Touching Christ, he cried out:

My Lord and my God.

Jesus said to him:

Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed.

Paul said:

Faith is the guarantee of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

It is clear, then, that faith is the proof of what can not be seen. What is seen gives knowledge, not faith. When Thomas saw and touched, why was he told:

You have believed because you have seen me?

Because what he saw and what he believed were different things. God cannot be seen by mortal man. Thomas saw a human being, whom he acknowledged to be God, and said:

My Lord and my God.

Seeing, he believed; looking at one who was true man, he cried out that this was God, the God he could not see.

What follows is reason for great joy:

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.

There is here a particular reference to ourselves; we hold in our hearts One we have not seen in the flesh. We are included in these words, but only if we follow up our faith with good works. The true believer practices what he believes. But of those who pay only lip service to faith, Paul has this to say:

They profess to know God, but they deny him in their works.

Therefore James says:

Faith without works is dead.

The Mystery Of The Resurrection

Fr. John A. Peck — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:11:42 +0000

by St. Gregory the Great

Our father among the saints Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Great, was the Pope of Rome from September 3, 590, until his death on March 12, 604. He is noted for his writings.

Also, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts has been attributed to him.

Given to the People in the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the Holy Day of the Resurrection

1. It has been my custom, beloved brethren, to speak to you on many of the Gospel readings, by means of a sermon I had already dictated for you. But since I have been unable, because of the weakness of my throat, to read to you myself what I had prepared, I notice that some among you listen somewhat indifferently. So, contrary to my usual practice, I shall for the future make the effort during the sacred solemnities of the Mass to explain the Gospel, not through a sermon I have dictated, but by speaking directly to you myself.

So for the future it shall be the rule for me to speak to you in this way. For the words which are spoken directly to sluggish souls awaken them more readily than a sermon that is read to them; moving them by that touch as it were of authority, so that they listen with more attention. I am not, as I well know, competent to fulfill this office: but let your charity make good what my ignorance denies me. For I have in mind Him Who has said:

Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it (Ps. lxxx. ii).

We all have in mind a good work , and it will be perfected by His divine assistance (II Tim. iii. 17). And also, this great solemnity of the Sunday of the Resurrection gives us a fitting occasion for speaking to you: for it would indeed be unfitting that the tongue of our body should be silent in the praises that are clue this day; that day on which the Body of our Author rose again from the dead.

2. You have heard, Beloved, how the holy women who had followed the Lord came to His tomb, bringing with them sweet spices, so that with tender affection they might tend Him in death Whom they had loved in life. And this tells us something which we should observe in the life of our holy Church. And it is important we give attention to what here took place: to see what we mint do to imitate them. And we also, who believe in Him Who died, truly come with sweet spices to His tomb, when we come seeking the Lord, bringing with us the sweet odor of virtue, and the credit of good works.

But these women who came bringing sweet spices beheld angels. And this signifies that those souls who, because of their holy love, come seeking the Lord, bearing the sweet spices of virtue, shall also see the citizens of heaven. And let us also take note of what it means that the angel is seen sitting on the right side. For what does the left side mean but this present life; and the right hand side, if not life eternal? Because of this it is written in the Canticle of Canticles:

His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me (Cant. ii. 6).

And so, since Our Redeemer has now passed over beyond the mortality of this present life, tightly does the Angel, who had come to announce His entry into eternal life, sit

at the right side.

And he came clothed in white: for he was announcing the joy of this our present solemnity. For the whiteness of his garments signifies the glory of our great Feast. Should we say ours 0t His? That we may speak truly let us say that it is both ours and His. For this day of our Redeemer’s Resurrection is also our day of great joy; for it has restored m to immortality. It is also a day of joy for the angels: for restoring us to heaven, it has filled up again the number of its citizens. On this our festival day, and His, an angel appeared, clothed in white robes, because they are rejoicing that because we are restored to heaven the losses their heavenly home had suffered are now made good.

3. But let us hear what is said to the women who came? Be not affrighted! As though he said to them: Let them fear who love not the coming of the heavenly citizens. Let them fear who, steeped in bodily desires, have no hope of belonging to them. But you, why should you fear, meeting your own? Matthew also, describing the appearance of the Angel, says of him:

And his countenance was as lightning, and his raiment as snow (Mt. xxviii. 3).

Lightning awakens dread and fear, the white radiance of snow is soothing. For Almighty God is both terrifying to sinners, and comforting to those who are good. Rightly then is the Angel, the Witness of the Resurrection, revealed to us with countenance like the lightning, and his garments white as snow: so that even by his appearance he might awaken fear in the reprobate, and bring consolation to the just.

And rightly also, for the same reason, there went before the Lord’s People in the desert, a column of fire by night, and a column of smoke by day (Ex. xiii: 21, 22). For in fire there is fear; but in the cloud of smoke the comforting assurance of what we can see: day also meaning the life of the just, and night the life of sinners. Because of this Paul, speaking to converted sinners, says:

For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord (Eph. v. 8).

So a pillar of cloud was set before them by day, and a pillar of fire by night: because Almighty God shall appear mild of countenance to the just, but fearful to the wicked. Coming to judge us, He shall comfort the one by the mildness of His countenance, and terrify the other with the severity of His justice.

4. Now let us hear what the angel says.

You seek Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus, in the Latin tongue, is saving ; that is, Saviour . Then however many were called Jesus, by name, not because of the reality it means. So the place is added, to make clear of what Jesus he is speaking: Of Nazareth. And to this he adds the reason they seek Him:

Who was crucified.

And then he goes on:

He is risen, he is not here.

That He was not there was said only of His Bodily Presence; for nowhere is He absent in the power of His divinity.

But go, he continues, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee .

Now we have to ask ourselves, why did he, speaking of the Disciples, single out Peter by name? But, had the Angel not referred to him in this way, Peter would never have dared to appear again among the Apostles. He is bidden then by name to come, so that he will not despair because of his denial of Christ. And here we must ask ourselves, why did Almighty God permit the one He had placed over the whole Church to be frightened by the voice of a maid servant, and even to deny Christ Himself?

This we know was a great dispensation of the divine mercy, so that he who was to be the shepherd of the Church might learn, through his own fall, to have compassion on others. God therefore first shows him to himself, and then places him over others: to learn through his own weakness how to bear mercifully with the weakness of others.

5. And well did he say of Our Redeemer that:

He goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see him, as he told you.

For Galilee means, passing-over . And now our Redeemer has passed over from His suffering to His Resurrection, from death to life, from punishment to glory, from mortality to immortality. And, after His Resurrection, His Disciples first see Him in Galilee; as afterwards, filled with joy, we also shall see the glory of the Resurrection, if we now pass over from the ways of sin to the heights of holy living.

He therefore Who is announced to us from the tomb is shown to us by crossing over: for He Whom we acknowledge in the denial of our flesh is seen in the passing over of our soul. Because of the solemnity of the day, we have gone briefly over these points in our explanation of the Gospel. Let us now speak in more detail of this same solemnity.

6. There are two lives; one of which we knew, the other we did not know of. The one is mortal, the other immortal; the one linked with human infirmity, the other to incorruption; one is marked for death, the other for resurrection. The Mediator between God and man, the Man Jesus Christ, came, and took upon Himself the one, and revealed to us the other. The one He endured by dying; the other He revealed when He rose from the dead. Had He then foretold to us, who knew His mortal life, the Resurrection of His Body, and had not visibly shown it to us, who would believe in His promises?

So, becoming Man, He shows Himself in our flesh; of His own will He suffered death; by His own power He rose from the dead; and by this proof He showed us that which He promises as a reward.

But perhaps some one will say: Of course He rose: for being God He could not be held in death. So, to give light to our understanding, to strengthen our weakness, He willed to give us proof, and not of His Resurrection only. In that hour He died alone; but He did not rise alone from the dead. For it is written:

And many bodies of the saints that had slept arose (Mt. xxvii. 52).

He has therefore taken away the argument of those who do not believe.

And let no one say: No man can hope that that will happen to him which the God-man proved to us in His Body; for here we learn that men did rise again with God, and we do not doubt that these were truly men. If then we are the members of our Redeemer, let us look forward to that which we know was fulfilled in our Head. Even if we should be diffident, we ought to hope that what we have heard of His worthier members will be fulfilled also in us His meanest members.

7. And here there comes to mind what the Jews, insulting the Crucified Son of God, cried out:

If he be the king of Israel, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

Had He, yielding to their insults, then come down from the Cross, He would not have proved to us the power of patience. He waited for the little time left, He bore with their insults, He submitted to their mockery, He continued patient, and evoked our admiration; and He Who refused to descend from the Cross, rose again from the sepulchre. More did it matter so to rise from the sepulchre than to descend from the Cross. A far greater thing was it to overcome death by rising from the sepulchre, than to preserve life by descending from the Cross.

And when the Jews saw that despite their insults He would not descend from the Cross, and when they saw Him dying, they rejoiced; thinking they had overcome Him and caused His Name to be forgotten. But now through all the world His Name has grown in honour, because of the death whereby this faithless people thought they had caused Him to be forgotten. And He Whom they rejoiced over as slain, they grieved over when He was dead: for they know it was through death He had come to His glory.

The deeds of Samson, related in the Book of Judges, foreshadowed this Day (Judges xvi. 1-3). For when Samson went into Gaza, the city of the Philistines, they, learning he had come in, immediately surrounded the city and placed guards before the gates; and they rejoiced because they had Samuel in their power. What Samson did we know. At midnight he took the gates of the city, and carried them to the top of a hill outside.

Whom does Samson symbolize, Beloved, in this, if not our Redeemer? What does Gaza symbolize, if not the gates of hell? And what the Philistines, if not the perfidy of the Jews, who seeing the Lord dead, and His Body in the sepulchre, placed guards before it; rejoicing that they had Him in their power, and that He Whom the Author of life had glorified was now enclosed by the gates of hell: as they had rejoiced when they thought they had captured Samson in Gaza.

But in the middle of the night Samson, not alone went forth from the city, but also bore off its gates, as our Redeemer, rising before day, not alone went forth free from hell, but also destroyed the very gates of hell. He took away the gates, and mounted with them to the top of a hill; for by His Resurrection He bore off the gates of hell, and by His Ascension He mounted to the kingdom of heaven.

Let us, Beloved, love with all our hearts this glorious Resurrection, which was first made known to us by a Figure, and then made known in deed; and for love of it let us be prepared to die. See how in the Resurrection of our Author we have come to know His ministering angels as our own fellow citizens.

Let us hasten on to that great assembly of these fellow citizens. Let us, since we cannot see them face to face, join ourselves to them in heart and desire. Let us cross over from evildoing to virtue, that we may merit to see our Redeemer in Galilee. May Almighty God help us to that life which is our desire: He Who for us delivered His only Son to death, Jesus Christ our Lord, Who with Him reigns One with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

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A Christmas Sermon of St. Gregory the Great

Fr. John A. Peck — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:01:04 +0000

Given to the People in the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the day of the Nativity of Our Lord.

Our father among the saints Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Dialogist, was the Pope of Rome from September 3, 590, until his death on March 12, 604. He is certainly one of the most notable figures in Ecclesiastical History. He has exercised in many respects a momentous influence on the doctrine, the organization, and the discipline of the Church. To him we must look for an explanation of the religious situation of the Middle Ages.

Because by the Divine Bounty we are on this day thrice to celebrate the sacred mysteries of the Liturgy, we cannot therefore speak at length on the Gospel lesson. But the Birth of Our Redeemer Himself demands of us that we say something for the occasion, however briefly.

Why was it that at the time when the Lord was to be born, the whole world was enrolled, unless that it so might openly be declared, that He had appeared in the flesh Who would enroll His elect for all eternity? Against which is the sentence spoken by the prophet concerning the wicked:

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living ; and with the just let them not be written. [Psalm 68:29]

Also was he, fittingly, born in Bethlehem ; since Bethlehem is interpreted as the House of Bread. For this is He Who says :

I am the Living Bread, which came down from Heaven.

The place therefore in which the Lord was born was formerly called the House of Bread, because there it was to be that He would appear in future times, in the substance of our flesh, Who would fill the hearts of the faithful with inward abundance.

And He was born, not in the house of His parents, but upon a journey that He might truly show, that because of the humanity He had taken to Himself, He was born as it were among strangers. Strange, I say, not to His Power, but to His Nature. For of His Power it is written.: He came into His own. In His own Nature He was born before all time ; in ours He came to us in time. To Him therefore Who while remaining Eternal hath appeared in time, strange must the place be where He has descended.

And because the prophet says:

All flesh is grass [Isa. 40:6],

becoming man He has changed this our grass into wheat Who has declared of Himself:

Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone [John 12:24].

Hence when he was born He was laid in a manger so that He might nourish with the Wheat of His flesh the beasts that He sanctifies, that is, all the faithful so that they may not be left hungry for the food of eternal knowledge.

And what does it mean that an angel appears to the watching shepherds, and that the Brightness of God shone round about them, if not mystically signifying that they, more than others, shall merit the vision of heavenly things, who have learned to rule carefully over their faithful flocks? For while they are devoutly keeping watch over them, the divine favor shines abundantly upon them.

The Angel announces that a King is born, and the choirs of angels unite their voice with his, and rejoicing all together they sing:

Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.

Before the Redeemer was born in the flesh, there was discord between us and the angels, from whose brightness and holy perfection we stood afar, in punishment first of original sin, and then because of our daily offenses. Because through sin we had become strangers to God, the angels as God’s subjects cut us off from their fellowship. But since we have now acknowledged our King, the angels receive us as fellow citizens.

Because the King of heaven has taken unto Himself the flesh of our earth, the angels from their heavenly heights no longer look down upon our infirmity. Now they are at peace with us, putting away the remembrance of the ancient discord ; now they honor us as friends, whom before they beheld weak and despised below them.

Hence was it that both Lot and Joshua adored the angels [Gen. 19:1; Jos. 5:15], and were not forbidden to adore. But when John, in his Apocalypse, wished to adore the angel, this same angel forbade him to adore, saying:

See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren. [Rev. 22:9]

What is the significance of this, that before the coming of the Redeemer angels were adored by men, and the angels were silent ; and after, they turned away from being adored ; unless that our nature which they before despised, they see now is raised above themselves, and fear exceedingly to see it prostrated before them? Nor dared they now look down on that as beneath them, which they venerate as far above them, in the King of Heaven. Nor do they refuse to accept us as equals, who now adore God made man.

Let us then be careful, dearest Brethren, that no uncleanness shall defile us, who, in the divine foreknowledge, are destined to be the subjects of God’s heavenly Kingdom, and the equal of His angels.

Let us prove our worthiness by the manner of our lives. Let no sensuality soil us, no evil purpose come to accuse us ; let malice not devour your hearts, nor pride exalt it, nor the desire of worldly gain blow it about in every direction, nor anger inflame it. For men are called to be as Gods.

Defend then the honor of God within you, O Man, against these vices, since it was because of you that God became man, who liveth and reigneth for ever. Amen.