Colossians 1:15-20; Psalm 100; Luke 5:33-39
The Pharisees and the scribes said to Jesus, “John’s disciples are always fasting and saying prayers and the disciples of the Pharisees too, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Between Jesus and his disciples and the Pharisees there is a huge difference. The difference is like night and day. We don’t just fast because we want to outdo our neighbuors; we fast to align ourselves with God better. Nowadays people fast for various reasons; while some are genuine others are pharisaic; few others fast to lose weight. Where do you belong? Why do you fast and pray? The response of Jesus to the Pharisees shows that in heaven there will be no more fasting, but feasting. Thus, the disciples were not fasting because they were virtually in heaven; but in the said time they will fast. In Acts of the Apostles they fasted. Let us not seek to please man rather let us honour Christ by our actions. Do the right thing at the right time.
St. Gregory the Great whose memorial we celebrate today maintained a humble sense of mission as a servant and pastor of souls. He saw himself as the “servant of the servants of God.” He was the first of all Popes to popularize the now-traditional Papal title, which was carved out from Christ words “the last of all and the servant of all.” He reformed and solidified the Roman liturgy, the disciplines of the Church, the military and economic security of Rome and the Church’s influence in Western Europe. Through his prayers may we always have the right disposition towards missionary mandate. Amen.
LET US PRAY
O God, who care for your people with gentleness and rule them in love, through the intercession of Pope Saint Gregory, endow, we pray, with a spirit of wisdom those to whom you have given authority to govern, that the flourishing of a holy flock may become the eternal joy of the shepherds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
