FROM THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

Gregory the Great 540-604

Gregory became Pope at a time when men of education, spirituality and wisdom in the affairs of the world were almost unknown.  He was born at a time when the old Classical world was falling apart and frequent invasions, wars and starvation were common events.  He became Pope when his predecessor Pelagius died of the plague.  His task was as much to feed the remnants of the Roman population as to protect the interests of the church.  Rome was in fact preserved from starvation because Papal lands in Sicily continued to send corn even in the darkest years.  He is remembered in Britain for sending the mission of St Augustine who arrived in 597 to begin the conversion of the Saxon invaders of Britain and Roman Christianity eventually came to dominate in these islands against the older traditions of the Celtic church.

       Gregory’s task of teaching was to preserve the faith of the church in a collapsing world.  His most famous works are commentaries on Scripture.  In this extract he is commenting the vision of Ezekiel of the Temple and reflecting on the meaning and significance of prayer as allowing the one who prays to have a vision of God.

In the splayed windows {of the temple in Ezekiel’s vision} the part by which the light enters is only a narrow opening, but the interior part that receives the light is wide.  In the same way the souls of those who contemplate see only a feeble gleam of true light and yet everything in them seems to expand widely….. What they see of eternity in their contemplation is almost nothing, yet it is enough to broaden their inward vision and to increase their fervour and their love.

Stephen