Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
September 3, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090324.cfm

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The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Among men, who knows what pertains to the man
except his spirit that is within?
Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.
We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom,
but with words taught by the Spirit,
describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
1 Corinthians 2:10-13

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When Jesus lived, God was present to us in the flesh. With Pentecost, God became present to us in the Spirit. But we who are bodily may be challenged to perceive the invisible Spirit. The Spirit becomes visible only in our works of mercy, justice, and love.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask that we may grow in our relationship with the Holy Spirit, and that we may allow God’s Omnipotent Power to work through us for the continued sanctification of the world.

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Poetry: In Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being – Denise Levertov

Birds afloat in air's current,
sacred breath? No, not breath of God,
it seems, but God
the air enveloping the whole
globe of being.
It's we who breathe, in, out, in, in the sacred,
leaves astir, our wings
rising, ruffled -- but only the saints
take flight. We cower
in cliff-crevice or edge out gingerly
on branches close to the nest. The wind
marks the passage of holy ones riding
that ocean of air. Slowly their wake
reaches us, rocks us.
But storms or still,
numb or poised in attention,
we inhale, exhale, inhale,
encompassed, encompassed.

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Music: Hymn to the Holy Spirit – Nicholas Echeveria, OSA

Lyrics are taken from a prayer attributed to St. Augustine