The Memorial of St Gregory the Great

The Memorial of St Gregory the Great

By REV. FR. SAMUEL FREDERICK

Col. 1:15-20, Lk. 5:33-39. Today's first reading presents us with Christ-hymn used in the early liturgy, which attributes a key role in creation to Christ, the firstborn of all creatures, who is the head of the body, the Church. This hymn is a powerful prove that we belong to His body and that He is our link with the invisible God, the Father of all. His preeminence stands over the entire created realm, visible and invisible, natural and supernatural. We state this whenever we recite the Nicene Creed. In this way, the Lord Jesus Christ is not like us, despite His incarnation. This inspires our worship. In today’s Gospel, the Scribes and Pharisees challenge our Lord because He is not conforming to their expectations. They questioned Jesus and implied that His disciples were inferior to the disciples of John the Baptist or the disciples of the ruling party of the Jews because Jesus’ disciples do not practice fasting and mortification. In His response, Jesus compares Himself to a bridegroom who gives joy to those who are in attendance at the wedding festivities. While the bridegroom is present, there is no reason not to celebrate.

In the second part of today’s Gospel, Jesus also uses analogies of not joining new with the old, because it will cause disaster to link the two too closely. Jesus is obviously the new manifestation of the presence of God in an awesome way than the Temple, the Ark of the Covenant and rituals of old. Jesus, in His human existence, is the perfect, visible image of God who cannot be seen. Jesus is also the co-creator with His Father in the beginning of all things. He is not only the source of unity of all things, He is also the head of the Church and the source of salvation through His bodily death on the Cross. Jesus is the presence of God in the world. Even more so than when Jesus was with His Father at the time of creation. Jesus brings not only life and existence to those in the world, He also brings salvation – that is the gift of divine life for all eternity. The fact that Jesus has come to share in our human life shows how close God wants to be with us. The divine life of Christ was seen in the life of St Gregory the Great, who was a very well-known Pope, a great Leader of the Universal Church and a great Reformer of the Church and the faith. The Lord has shown us in this faithful servant of His, what it truly means for us to follow the Lord with all our hearts and through his life, Pope Gregory the Great also showed us what it means for us to walk faithfully in the presence of God, to be obedient and be exemplary in our own way of living.

May the Lord who made all things and keeps all things in being, give us the insight to see His hand at work in all things and fill us with joy, even in the midst of difficult times! Amen!! Good morning, have a great day!!!

Our Social Media