September 3, 2026
Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of
the Church
Lectionary: 434
Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
Let no one deceive himself.
If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age,
let him become a fool, so as to become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God,
for it is written:
God catches the wise in their own ruses,
and again:
The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you,
Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
or the world or life or death,
or the present or the future:
all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) To the Lord belongs the earth and all that
fills it.
The LORD's are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. To the Lord belongs the earth and all that fills it.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come after me, says the Lord,
and I will make you fishers of men.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to
the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."
Simon said in reply,
"Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets."
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men."
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090326.cfm
Commentary on 1
Corinthians 3:18-23
Again, Paul urges the Corinthians to put aside the “wisdom
of this world” and learn to be a fool for Christ in the eyes of that world. To
‘be a fool’ means to turn away from the ‘wisdom’ of the world, which will make
one, in the eyes of many, a fool. It is the first step to real wisdom. It is
only when we can recognise in the apparent failure and disaster of the Cross
the triumph of God’s love that we begin to have true wisdom.
People who chase after the ‘wisdom of this world’ believe
that money and material wealth and success and power over others are the ways
to fulfilment and happiness. Some are even ready to die for these things, but
in the long run such pursuits do not lead to the fulfilment for which we all
long.
Quoting from Psalms, Paul says:
The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile. (Ps 94:11)
God’s wisdom, on the other hand, is conveyed to us through
the life and death of Jesus.
So, Paul continues, no one should boast on the level of
human beings. He picks up again the call to unity which he raised at the
beginning of his letter (see 1 Cor 1:10-13).
He writes, for instance, about being one person’s disciple
versus another’s. The Christian leaders—Paul, Apollos and others—belong to the
whole Church. No group can call one leader its very own. In other words, it was
quite wrong—as the Corinthians apparently had been doing—to be investing their
whole self in someone like Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas (Peter), or in the world
in general, in life or in death, in the present or the future. All of these
things are mere servants or agents of God and we can never stop at them.
So let there be no more talk that one group is for Paul and
another group for Apollos:
…all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is
God’s.
Christians are in union with the Church’s true leaders and
with Christ, who in turn is in union with the other members of the Trinity.
All, however they came to be members of the community, can
have only Christ as the source of meaning for their lives. And it is through
Christ, and only through him and not through any other human agency, that they
will find access to God from whom they have come and to whom they are called to
be finally united.
If the Corinthians were genuinely wise, their perceptions
would be reversed, and they would see everything in the world and all those
with whom they live in the church in their true relations with one another. On
the level of ‘ownership’, one reads: God, Christ, church members, church
leaders—in that order. But on the level of service one reads in the opposite
direction.
Only when we see Church leadership in terms of service to
its members will we avoid the kind of situations which Paul is denouncing. When
members must serve leaders, we begin to create the factionalism that was
hurting the Corinthian church. We might well apply this idea to the situation
of our own church be it on the world, national or local level.
Commentary on Luke
5:1-11
Today we read Luke’s version of the first call of Jesus’
disciples. It differs significantly from the parallel versions in Mark and
Matthew and is a combination of passages from Mark and John.
We are told that Jesus was standing by the shore of the
“Lake of Gennesaret”. The other Gospel writers call it the Sea of Galilee and
John twice refers to it as the Sea of Tiberias.
Because of the large crowds pressing in on him to hear the
word of God, Jesus was forced to borrow one of two boats moored near the shore
where their owners were washing their nets:
He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon1.
and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and
taught the crowds from the boat.
As we saw in the synagogue at Nazareth (and also in the
Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel), sitting was the usual teaching
position. From a practical point of view, by preaching from the boat Jesus
could avoid the pressure of the crowd and yet be close enough to speak to them.
It is a simple, straightforward statement and yet there is a
symbolism here. Jesus gets into Simon’s boat and teaches from it. In the
Gospels, the boat is frequently a symbol of the church community. It is very
meaningful to say that Jesus stepped into that boat, that it was Simon’s boat,
and that he taught from there. It is a symbol of what is to come in the near
future.
Now comes the lesson and the revelation. At the end of the
teaching, Simon is told to go out into the deep water and start fishing. Simon
says in response:
Master, we have worked all night long but have caught
nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.
Perhaps one can sense something of the condescension of the
expert towards the amateur in Simon’s response, i.e. “we know there are no fish
there, but just to make you happy, we’ll put out the nets.”
But their nets were hardly in the water when they were so
full of fish that they were on the point of breaking. They (Simon and those
others with him in the boat) had to call their companions in the other boat to
come to their help (they do not seem to have caught any fish; only Simon’s boat
does). The two boats together were now so full of fish that they were on the
point of sinking.
Simon, just before, so arrogant and all-knowing, is now
totally overcome. He knew there were no fish there. So there
was only one explanation. The man standing before him was someone very special:
Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!
It is the reaction of a person in the presence of God’s
overwhelming power and goodness. We see similar reactions by Abraham (Gen
18:27), Job (42:6) and Isaiah (6:5).
Simon—the ‘expert’—realises he is nothing in the presence of
this man. Instead, he becomes aware of his shortcomings. Paradoxically, it is
the saints who are most ready to acknowledge their sinfulness. And his
companions, James and John, were equally amazed. There is no mention of Andrew
in this version of the story because he would have been in his brother Simon’s
boat. The passage indicates that Simon was not alone in the boat (“we have
worked hard all night…”).
Some commentators feel that Luke may have borrowed this story
from John’s account of the disciples going fishing at the end of that Gospel.
It has been noted that Simon calls Jesus ‘Lord’, a post-resurrection title, and
refers to his sinfulness, which makes more sense after his triple denial during
the Passion. The story also looks forward to Peter’s leadership (his name is
changed by then), which is confirmed in the same chapter of John.
Jesus then reassures Simon and his companions:
Do not be afraid…
These are words they will hear again because he is calling
them to be his partners in the work of building his Kingdom. The huge catch of
fish made by the boat carrying Jesus and Simon is a sign of a much greater
catch of people to be made by the new community led by the Spirit of Jesus and
under the leadership of Peter.
Unlike the other Gospels, Luke has a period of teaching and
miracles preceding the call of the disciples. This makes their unhesitating
response less surprising and more plausible.
They heard the message, they accepted the call and:
When they had brought their boats to shore, they left
everything and followed him.
In Mark and Matthew, they left their nets and boats. In
Luke’s Gospel especially, the following of Jesus is understood as absolute—one
must leave everything and throw in one’s lot totally with Jesus wherever that
will lead. Those boats and nets were the security on which the lives of Simon,
his companions and their families depended. But they left them and everything
else. This is faith; this is trust. Without it, the mission cannot succeed.
_______________________________________________
- He
will not be called Peter until Luke’s next chapter. ↩︎
https://sacredspace.com/commentary
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Almighty God,
every good thing comes from You. Fill our hearts with love
for You, increase our faith, and by your constant care protect the good You
have given us.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who
lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 5: 1-11
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to
the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats
there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their
nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him
to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the
crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." Simon said
in reply, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets." When they had done this, they
caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to
their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled
both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw
this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I
am a sinful man." For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made
seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of
Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be
afraid; from now on you will be catching men." When they brought their
boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
Reflection
In today’s Gospel we have the call of Jesus to Peter. The
Gospel of Mark places the call of the first disciples after the beginning of
the public ministry of Jesus (Mk 1: 16-20). Luke places it after the fame of
Jesus was already extended across the whole region (Lk 4: 14). Jesus had cured
many people (Lk 4: 40) and had preached in the synagogues of all Judea (Lk 4:
44). The people looked for Him and the crowds pushed Him on all sides in order
to hear the Word of God (Lk 5: 1). Luke makes the call easier to understand. In
the first place, Peter can listen to Jesus’ words to the people, and then he is
a witness to the miraculous catch of fish. It is only after this double
surprising experience that he understands the call of Jesus. Peter responds. He
abandons everything and becomes a “fisher of men.”
•
Luke 5: 1-3: Jesus teaches from the boat. People
look for Jesus in order to listen to the Word of God. Many people get together
around Jesus, making a throng around Him.
Jesus seeks help from Simon Peter and from some of his
companions who had just returned from fishing. He goes into the boat with them
and responds to the expectation of the people, communicating the Word of God to
them. Sitting down, Jesus takes the attitude of a teacher and speaks from a
fisherman’s boat. The novelty consists in the fact that He teaches, not only in
the synagogue for a choice public but in any place, where there are people who
wish to listen, even on the seashore.
•
Luke 5: 4-5: “But if you say so, I will let down
the nets.” When He had finished speaking, Jesus addresses Himself to Simon and
encourages him to fish again. In Simon’s response there is frustration, fatigue
and discouragement: “Master, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing!”
But trustful in Jesus’ word, they throw in the nets again and continue the
struggle. The word of Jesus has greater force for them than the experience of
frustration of that night!
•
Luke 5: 6-7: The result is surprising. The catch
is so abundant that the nets are about to tear, and the boat begins to sink.
Simon needs the help of John and James, who are in the other boat. Nobody is
complete in himself, alone. One community must help the other. The conflict
among the communities, both at the time of Luke as well as today, should be
overcome to attain a common objective, which is the mission. The experience of
the force of the transformative word of Jesus is the axis around which the
differences are embraced and overcome.
•
Luke 5: 8-11: “Be fishers of men.” The
experience of the closeness of God in Jesus makes Peter understand who he is:
“Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man!” Before God we are all sinners. Peter and
his companions are afraid and, at the same time, they feel attracted to Jesus.
Jesus drives away fear: “Do not be afraid!” He calls Peter and commits him to
the mission, ordering him to be a fisher of men. Peter experiences, quite
concretely, that the word of Jesus is like the word of God. It is capable of bringing
about what it affirms. In Jesus those rough and tough laborers will have an
experience of power, of courage, of trust. And so then, “they will abandon
everything and follow Jesus!” Up until now it was only Jesus who announced the
Good News of the Kingdom. Now other people will be called and involved in the
mission. This way in which Jesus works, in a team, is also Good News for the
people.
•
The episode of the catch of fish along the lake
indicates the attraction and the force of the Word of Jesus. He attracts people
(Lk 5: 1). He urges Peter to offer his boat to Jesus to be able to speak (Lk 5:
3). The word of Jesus is so strong that it overcomes the resistance in Peter.
It convinces him to cast the nets into the sea again and there is the
miraculous catch (Lk 5: 4-6). It overcomes
in him the urge to leave Jesus and attracts him to become a
“fisher of men” (Lk 5: 10). This is the way the Word of God acts in us, even
now!
Personal Questions
•
Where and how does the miraculous catch of fish
take place today?
•
And they leaving everything followed Jesus. What
do I have to leave in order to follow Jesus?
•
In joining with other communities to, to
overcome conflict between communities, how do we work together when both
communities have the same stated mission, but have competing or conflicting
ways to attain it?
Concluding Prayer
Who shall go up to the mountain of Yahweh? Who shall take a
stand in His holy place?
The one with clean of hands and a pure heart, who does not
swear an oath in order to deceive. (Ps 24: 3-4)
Saint Gregory the Great, Pope
and Doctor
Gregory was born about 540, the son of a Roman senator and,
as a young man, became a servant of the state. In 573, he sold off his considerable
properties and, with the money, founded six monasteries in Sicily and another
in Rome as well giving generously to the poor. In 574, he entered his own
monastery of St Andrew’s on the Celian Hill. Here he led an austere life which
he looked back on with pleasure in later years, but which was also the cause of
constant health problems later in life.
Pope Benedict I called him from the monastery to be one of
the seven deacons of Rome. The next pope, Pelagius II, made him apocrisiarius (Latin
for ‘ambassador’) in Byzantium. Six years later, Gregory returned to Rome and
became abbot of St Andrew’s monastery of which he had been the founder. He
apparently believed that the future of Christianity lay with the monastic style
of life as he watched the Eastern Roman Empire in decline. However, he would
not be able to continue following this way of life.
In a well-known story he one day saw Anglo-Saxon slaves on
sale in Rome. On being told they were ‘Angli’, he replied, “Non Angli, sed
angeli” (Latin for’ Not English [i.e. Anglos], but angels’). They inspired
him with a desire to go as a missionary among them. However, during an outbreak
of the plague he was elected pope. He was at once faced with major
problems—floods, famine, plague, a Lombard invasion of papal territory. There
were also problems arising from the role of Byzantium in Church affairs and the
need for missionary work among the so-called ‘barbarians’ coming down from the
north.
In 592-593, he made peace with the Lombards. He appointed
governors to Italian towns and administered the vast properties of the Church
with prudence and skill. Also, following the breakdown of civil order with the
collapse of the Roman Empire, the pope and the clergy had to assume many of the
secular roles of a civil society.
Gregory, as mentioned, was very keen on the conversion of
the Anglo-Saxons. It was he who sent St Augustine and his monks on this
potentially dangerous mission. However, as the mission succeeded, Gregory
continued to give advice when Augustine was not sure how to proceed. Later
popes continued this policy so that England in some ways was closer to the
papacy than Gaul. And it was in England that the first biography of Gregory was
written. In time, with more attention being given to St Augustine and also to
St Aidan, Gregory’s role as pioneer and support of the mission was partially
forgotten.
Gregory is also remembered for his writings both in quantity
and quality and in their accessibility both to contemporary and later readers.
He was able to pass on to the Christianised ‘barbarians’ the learning of the
Greek and Latin Fathers. He did this especially through his Homilies on the
Gospels and his Moralia on the Book of Job. His works on
pastoral care had a deep influence on bishops of the Middle Ages. His 854
letters are of particular interest to historians as they reveal his wisdom,
prudence, and preoccupation in dealing with Church and State problems. This
included monastic issues, the missionary role of the Church, the integrity of
Church teaching and the reproof of senior clerics who liked to use impressive
titles. He himself liked to be referred to as the ‘servant of the servants of
God’, a title still used by popes today.
Gregory is also remembered for his interest in the
development of the liturgy. Many prayers in the Roman liturgy reflect his
ideas, if not being actually composed by him. He moved the Pater Noster (“Our
Father”) to its present position immediately after the Eucharistic Prayer. He
also added material to the Hanc igitur (“Father, accept this
offering…”) in the First Eucharistic Prayer (also known as the Roman Canon). He
also introduced the nine-fold Kyrie at the beginning of the Mass, as it still
is in the Tridentine Rite. His name has also long been linked with Church music
and especially by the Chant which bears his name. It is believed he was much
involved in the development of a number of forms of plainchant.
Although his own monastery did not follow the Benedictine
rule, Gregory wrote The Life of St Benedict and he was seen as
embodying the Benedictine spirit. Few had more influence on medieval monastic
life.
Although he was pope for just 13 years, his influence on the
development of the Church and of the papacy in the Middle Ages was regarded as
far-reaching. He certainly earned the title of ‘Great’ given to him.
During much of his life he suffered from gout and digestive
problems, but was intellectually active to the end. He is believed to have been
between 65 and 70 when he died in 604 and was soon acclaimed a saint.
The earliest pictures of Gregory show him as pope, writing,
with the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove dictating what he should write.
Later he figures as one of the Four Latin Doctors (along with Sts Ambrose,
Jerome, and Augustine). Later again the pictures stress his role as teacher of
the efficacy of prayer and the Mass in freeing souls from the pains of
Purgatory. He introduced the custom of having 30 Masses for a deceased person,
still known as Gregorian Masses. Gregory was also highly regarded in the East
and in Ireland, where he was even provided with an Irish royal genealogy!
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