“Blessed Gregory, raised upon the throne of Peter, sought
always the beauty of the Lord and lived in celebration of that love”. The Church is certainly more beautiful for
the life and holiness of St. Gregory the Great.
First, because holiness itself is beautiful. Psalm 29 tells us “worship the Lord in the
beauty of holiness.” Holiness is
beautiful because God is holy and God is beautiful, majestic. Where sin uglifies, distorts, perverts,
corrupts, seeking to be holy as God is holy beautifies our minds and
souls. And the saints are those who live
the most beautiful of lives, because they seek to conform their minds and
hearts and free will to life of God.
St. Gregory sought the beauty of the Lord in his heart, and
conformed his life to the teachings of Christ in a heroic way. He poured himself out as a libation in
service of the Church as Pope from 590-604.
He was tireless in fulfilling his administrative duties and promoting
the missionary activity of the Church, sending missionaries to Britain.
He also sought to make the Church more beautiful through his
contribution to Sacred Music. He was a
composer of chant for Divine Worship; Gregorian chant, of course, takes its
name from Pope St. Gregory the Great.
Vatican II taught that “The Church acknowledges Gregorian
chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, it should be given
pride of place in liturgical services.” Unfortunately, this teaching has been
neglected in the last 50 years, much to the detriment of Catholic Worship and
the beautification of our souls. In many
places very banal music has become the norm.
And likely the falling away of many Catholics from the faith is due in
some respect to the Mass simply not being as beautiful as in previous centuries.
For the purpose of the Mass is not simply to evoke nice
religious feelings, or to enhance our feeling of community, but to offer
beautiful worship to the Lord.
We are called to beauty, “to worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness” and to strive for holiness in our hearts. St. Gregory the Great is a saint because he knew
that true human greatness, our greatest human good is in total surrender to
Jesus Christ, to put our creativity, our administrative abilities, our
compassion for those in need, all of our human talents in charitable service of
Christ. That is a life that good, true,
and beautiful.
Through the teaching, prayers, and example of St. Gregory
the Great may our earthly labors for Christ lead to eternal joy with Him
forever, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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