A friend of mine once said that
he thinks we use the word “great” too much to describe people and things. We too easily say that something is
great. A trip was great. A baseball player is great. A restaurant was great. He thinks that “great” should be reserved
for truly wonderful people and moments; otherwise the word becomes too watered
down and loses much of its meaning.
Surely today is an occasion to
use the word, however, as we celebrate the patronal feast of St. Gregory the
Great here at our parish. St. Gregory (540-604
A.D.) was
in fact “great” in the true sense of the word.
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| 19th century mosaic of St. Gregory the GreatNon Angli sed Angeli when he first encountered English boys at a slave market in Rome, sparking his dispatch of St. Augustine to England |
If you or I were to accomplish
even just one of these facts I mentioned, we would have a place in history
books.
Interestingly, though, St.
Gregory did not want to be praised in the eyes of the world and even fought
against this.
In one of his most famous
writings, The Book of Pastoral Rule penned in the 6th century, a book
written for fellow bishops, St. Gregory states that whenever we accomplish
something well or perfectly we should consider our own infirmities and
limitations, thereby crushing any sinful pride we might feel about those accomplishments
(Pastoral Rule, Book I,
Introduction).
St. Gregory himself did not
think he was a competent preacher. He mentions
also that he had difficulty practicing what he preached.
What
a refreshing example this is to us. In
our culture we are conditioned to try to make ourselves look successful before
others. If anyone had a trophy case of
amazing accomplishments to write about and brag to others about it was St.
Gregory. Instead we find him writing
about Jesus Christ, morality and St. Gregory’s own faults. Instead we find him busy doing the work of
helping the poor and serving the Christian community. In this his true greatness lies.
