By Kate Walsh-Soucheray
“And so, from the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” ~ Colossians 1:9
St. Gregory: A Model of Holiness
Today is the feast day of Saint Gregory the Great, who served as Pope from 590-604 A.D. He was born into a noble family, and when St. Gregory inherited his father’s estate upon his death, he turned it into a monastery, in which he could contemplate the mysteries of the Gospel and the life and teachings of Jesus. Pope Gregory was pope during a turbulent time in history. The Roman Empire had fallen roughly 100 years earlier, and the Catholic Church provided stability and structure for the people who lived in the regions that were once under Roman rule.
This turbulence is not unlike what we face today. The influence of technology, and all that has evolved from its development over the past 50 years, has occurred so swiftly that we have had little time to understand its influence on our lives. We use technology every day, and it often is the primary way we interact with one another. It has become intuitive for us, and yet is not innate.
Women’s Brains Are Complex, Intricate, and Sensitive
For women, our thinking is complex and intricate. We can find ourselves having a perfectly fine day, only to be disrupted by a negative thought about what someone said to us, and a perceived hurt creates a day that is no longer fine. Saint Gregory spent his life helping those who came to him for guidance learn how to listen to the message God spoke to them and not the negative thoughts that arose in their brains. When a thought comes into your mind, if it is negative, ask the Holy Spirit to remove it and help you think a holy, positive thought instead. Continuing to stand up to the negative thoughts, rather than allowing them to dominate your brain, will help your brain develop new, positive, holy thought pathways.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, I ask you to help me when my thoughts gravitate toward negativity. Help me be open to your love and truth and allow me to think only good and holy thoughts today. Amen.
Call to Action:
If a negative thought arises in your brain, begin a new habit of not opening it. You will likely have a small feeling of negativity or sadness just before the thought arises. Ask the Holy Spirit to infuse your brain with healthy, holy thoughts today and help you turn away from negativity.
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Thanks so much for this tribute to Pope Gregory the Great. I thought all you wonderful ladies of WINE would appreciate this remembrance that I wrote many years ago. It seems appropriate for the work of WINE:
Gregory’s voluminous correspondence bears witness to his own sufferings, but there is one letter from about midway in his pontificate that is a delightful reminder about keeping one’s spirits during a time of plague and crisis. Gregory writes to Eulogius, the patriarch of Alexandria, with whom he has been exchanging gifts to commemorate the apostolic founders of their respective churches, St. Peter and St. Mark. Gregory adds this request: “Since I do not drink colatum and viritheum with pleasure, I venture to ask for cognidium, which last year, after a long interval, your Holiness caused to be known in this city. For we here get from the traders the name of cognidium, but not the thing itself” (Letters VII.40).
Cognidium is the Latin for what was a white wine infused with pine resin. This has been a Greek specialty for millennia, similar to what we know today as retsina. As its medicinal qualities were praised in the ancient world, perhaps we can imagine that Gregory had found some temporal consolation in an otherwise strict ascetical discipline. It was a wine he doubtless first tasted in Constantinople, and a visit to the wine store may be one way to raise a glass in tribute to this great doctor of the Church.