Wisdom

For this month’s exploration of “Benedictine Wisdom,” we turn to our patron, Saint Gregory the Great. His collection of homilies, while from the 6^th and 7^th centuries, continues to hold a rich wisdom that speaks to the contemporary heart. As we approach the culmination of our Eastertide, we present selections drawn from representative homilies of this season.

When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and did not find the Lord’s body, she thought it had been taken away and so informed the disciples. After they came and saw the tomb, they too believed what Mary had told them. The text then says: The disciples went back home, and it adds: but Mary wept and remained standing outside the tomb (Jn 20:11) We should reflect on Mary’s attitude and the great love she felt for Christ; for though the disciples had left the tomb, she remained. She was still seeking the one she had not found, and while she sought she wept; burning with the fire of love, she longed for him who she thought had been taken away. And so it happened that the woman who stayed behind to seek Christ was the only one to see him. For perseverance is essential to any good deed, as the voice of truth tells us: Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved. At first she sought but did not find, but when she persevered it happened that she found what she was looking for. When our desires are not satisfied, they grow stronger, and becoming stronger they take hold of their object. Holy desires likewise grow with anticipation, and if they do not grow they are not really desires. Anyone who succeeds in attaining the truth has burned with such a great love. As David says: My soul has thirsted for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? And so also in the Song of Songs the Church says: I was wounded by love; and again: My soul is melted with love. (Homily 25, April 591 AD; crossroadsinitiative.com)

It is from the feast of today that the psalmist affirms: "Your magnificence has risen above the heavens" (Ps 8: 2). And again: "God ascended in the midst of great joy, the Lord at the sound of the trumpet" (Ps 47: 6). And finally: "Rising on the heights, he took captive our captive nature; he offered gifts to men "(Ps 68:19). Yes, ascending to the heights, he has taken our captive nature captive, since he has destroyed our corruption by the power of his incorruptibility. He also offered gifts to men: having sent from heaven the Spirit, he has given one a word of wisdom, another a word of knowledge, another the power to perform miracles, to another the gift of healings, another the diversity of languages, another the interpretation of the word (1 Cor 12: 8-10). He therefore offered gifts to men.

It is also from this glorious Ascension that [the prophet] Habakkuk said, "The sun has risen, and the moon has stood in its place." (Ha 3, 11, from the Septuagint). Indeed, what does the prophet mean by the term sun, if not the Lord, and by the term moon, if not the Church? As long as the Lord had not yet risen in heaven, His holy Church was paralyzed by the fear of the oppositions of the world, whereas after being strengthened by His Ascension, she began to preach openly what she had believed in secret. The sun has risen, and the moon has remained in its place, since the Lord having reached heaven, the authority of the preaching of his holy Church has increased accordingly.

Again concerning the Ascension, Solomon prays to this Church the following saying: "Here he comes, leaping on the mountains and crossing the hills" (Ct 2, 8). Considering the salient points of the great works of the Lord, the Church says, "Behold, he is coming, leaping on the mountains." For the Lord, coming to redeem us, has performed, so to speak, leaps. Do you want to know them, these leaps, dear brothers? From heaven he came into the womb [of the Virgin], from the breast [of the Virgin] in the manger, from the manger on the cross, from the cross to the sepulcher, and from the sepulcher he returned to heaven. These are the leaps that the Truth manifested in the flesh has done in our favor, to make us run after it, for "the Lord has gone forth joyously like a giant to walk his way" (Ps 19: 6), so that we can say with all our heart, "Train us after you, and we will run to the smell of your perfumes." (Ct 1, 4)

Therefore, dear brothers, we must follow the Lord with our hearts where we believe that he has ascended by the body. Let us flee earthly desires, and let none of the things of this world be able to seduce us, who have a Father in heaven. Let us consider that the one who has risen to the all-peaceful sky will be terrible when he returns, and that all that he commanded us with gentleness, he will then exact with rigor. Let us, therefore, take great care of the time allotted to us to do penance; take care of our souls as long as it is possible. For our Redeemer will come back to judge us all the more severely because he will have been more patient before the judgment. (Homily 29, May 591 AD)

You have heard, Beloved, how the holy women who had followed the Lord came to His tomb, bringing with them sweet spices, so that with tender affection they might tend Him in death Whom they had loved in life. And this tells us something which we should observe in the life of our holy Church. And it is important we give attention to what here took place: to see what we mint do to imitate them. And we also, who believe in Him Who died, truly come with sweet spices to His tomb, when we come seeking the Lord, bringing with us the sweet odour of virtue, and the credit of good works.

But these women who came bringing sweet spices beheld angels. And this signifies that those souls who, because of their holy love, come seeking the Lord, bearing the sweet spices of virtue, shall also see the citizens of heaven. And let us also take note of what it means that the angel is seen sitting on the right side. For what does the left side mean but this present life; and the right hand side, if not life eternal? Because of this it is written in the Canticle of Canticles: His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me (Cant. ii. 6).

And so, since Our Redeemer has now passed over beyond the mortality of this present life, tightly does the Angel, who had come to announce His entry into eternal life, sit at the right side. And he came clothed in white: for he was announcing the joy of this our present solemnity. For the whiteness of his garments signifies the glory of our great Feast. Should we say ours 0t His? That we may speak truly let us say that it is both ours and His. For this day of our Redeemer’s Resurrection is also our day of great joy; for it has restored m to immortality. It is also a day of joy for the angels: for restoring us to heaven, it has filled up again the number of its citizens. On this our festival day, and His, an angel appeared, clothed in white robes, because they are rejoicing that because we are restored to heaven the losses their heavenly home had suffered are now made good. (Homily 21, April 591 AD; catholicism.org)

…My brothers: Desire to be filled with the presence of this Spirit. Judge, by the state where you are now, what may happen to you later. See if you are filled with this Spirit, to know if you deserve to come to this feast. Surely, whoever is not here below regenerated by the Spirit will not have a share in the feast of the eternal banquet. Remember what Paul says about this Spirit: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Rom 8:9). This Spirit of love is, so to speak, a sign of our belonging to God. Can he indeed have the Spirit of Christ, the one whose soul is torn by hatred, swelled with pride, carried away with wrath, tortured with avarice, or softened by lust? Realize what the Spirit of Christ is. It is certainly a Spirit who makes us love our friends and our enemies, despise the goods of the earth, burn with desire for those of heaven, chastise our flesh for its vices, prevent our soul from following its concupiscence. Do you want to know if you really are of God? Examine who possesses you. Now Paul is proclaiming to us in all truth what we have said to you: “If anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” It is as if he clearly said, “He who is not directed down here by the God who lives in him will not be able to enjoy later the vision of divine glory.” But, unfortunately, we are weak to accomplish what has just been said to us, and still far from the summit of perfection. Well, let us walk every day in the way of God, in the steps of a holy desire. Truth comforts us, since it makes the psalmist say: “Your eyes have seen me still imperfect, but in your book, all will be written” (Ps. 139:16). Our imperfection, therefore, will not cause us any real damage if, engaged in the way of God, we do not look to what has happened, but if we hasten to advance to what remains to be done. For whoever has the goodness to kindle desires in imperfect souls will fortify them one day to bring them to perfection, through our Lord Jesus Christ… (Homily 24, April 591 AD)

“Eight days later, the disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and standing in the midst of them, he said to them, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and look at my hands; bring your hand here too and put it in my side; and be no longer unbelieving, but believing.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Because you saw me, Thomas, you believed; Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed...’”

When reading this gospel, a first question agitates our mind: how did the body of the Lord, once resurrected, remain a real body, while he still was able to enter the disciples despite the closed doors? But we must know that the divine action would possess nothing more admirable if it were understood by reason, and that faith would have no merit if human reason furnishes it with experimental proofs. Such works of our Redeemer, which can in no way be understood by themselves, must be meditated upon in the light of his other actions, so that we may be led to believe these wonderful facts by others even more wonderful... As the faith of those who looked upon this visible body remained hesitant, the Lord immediately showed them his hands and his side; he presented them with a touching of the flesh he had just made present, despite the closed doors. In this, he manifested two things astonishing and very contradictory to each other in the light of human reason: after his Resurrection his body revealed itself to be both incorruptible and tangible. Now, what touches is necessarily corruptible, and what is not corrupted cannot be touched. But in a way that forces amazement and remains beyond comprehension, our Redeemer gave us to see after his resurrection a body that was both incorruptible and tangible. By showing himself incorruptible, he invited us to reward; in giving himself to touch, he confirmed us in the faith. He showed himself at the same time incorruptible and tangible, to show clearly that after his Resurrection, his body remained of the same nature, but that he was raised to a very different glory.

He said to them, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so am I sending you.” That is to say, “As I am God, the Father who is God has sent me; I am a man, I send you, you who are men.” The Father sent the Son deciding that he would become incarnate for the redemption of mankind. He wanted him to come into the world to suffer, and yet he loved that Son whom he sent to suffer. The apostles whom he has chosen, the Lord does not send into the world to taste the joys of it, but he sends them, just as he himself was sent, to suffer. Thus, just as the Father loves the Son and still sends him to suffer, so does the Lord love his disciples and send them into the world to suffer. This is why he says: “As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.” In other words, “By sending you into the midst of the traps of the persecutors, I love you with the same love of which the Father loves me. who brought me [to the world] to endure the suffering.” (Homily 26, April 591 AD)