Memorial
of Saint Gregory the Great, pope and Doctor of the Church
(I
Corinthians 2:10b-16; Luke 4:31-37)
In today’s
first reading St. Paul almost opposes the “Spirit of God” to the “Spirit of the
world.” There are great differences
between the two. The “Spirit of God”
promotes love, peace, and understanding, and the “spirit of the world” often
advises pleasure, prestige, and power.
But often enough the world, imbued with the Holy Spirit
since Christ’s mission on earth, reflects God’s goodness.
St. Gregory
the Great recognized that the material world is not bad in and of itself. He encouraged missionaries to use the
vestiges of paganism to evangelize. As
pagan worshipped nature, Gregory condoned processions into the fields to bless
natural surroundings. As pagans kept
idols, Gregory admonished missionaries to consider the saints as minor deities
worthy of veneration.
We also
should not condemn things material.
Objectively, they are neutral. They
may be put to good or to bad uses. Of
course, we want to make good use of everything so that they too may give praise
to God.
