MEMORIAL OF SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH, SEPTEMBER 03, 2022

MASS READINGS

A Reading from 1 COR 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.

REFLECTION

"When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we respond gently."

When someone ridicules, slanders, or undercuts me, the first thing in my mind is not to bless them, that is for sure. Yet, we have learned that we are to go in the world trying to bring God into our places of work, homes, etc. When people reject us, we have to have the presence of mind that by responding to their unkindness with the same, they are the ones converting us, not the other way around.

Our PAPA principle, PSB (Pray, Serve, Bless), tells us: "BLESS: No matter what happens, we choose to bless everything and everyone – whether they are good or ill. Bless them all." (1)

Is it easy to do this? Not at all. I think it is in our nature to demand justice, especially for those injustices done to us. The most difficult part is that we have done injustices to others, and that we have caused them pain. That we have hurt God, and yet, He still loves and forgives us.

I know I cannot do this by myself, so I ask God to help me bless others. Especially when they have done wrong things to others, to me. And I ask Him to help me remember how He has shown me mercy and love, so I can learn to be loving and merciful to others.

God bless y'all!

(1) PAPA Handbook, page 22