My Thoughts on Today's Bible Readings

One of the signs of Cristian unspiritualness is the influence of the flesh. It is natural for people of the world (i.e. not of Christ) to segment themselves and others. It's a survival thing. Thus the Christian who does so is not of Christ yet. Christians who are of Christ realize that all Christians are bros and sis, for all worship the same God. Such Christians also forgive and accept others' differences, for though we are of the Body of Christ not all of us are the same part. Can the eye tell the ear "Be like me or I don't accept you"? Or can one hand tell the other "Let's join together against the other parts for we two are the only hands in the body"?
So who is this God that we Christians are united in worshiping? We can know this God by observing Christ Jesus. And according to today's gospel reading Jesus put human need first. He fulfilled their need for the Word of God as well as physical and spiritual healing. But He did not put any one people over another. Nor did He consider the crowds intrusive (though they were). Thus we like the crowds of Jews in the reading should similarly approach God with expectant faith. We can never intrude upon God nor exhaust his generosity and kindness. for He is ever ready to give to those who seek him out. There is no trouble he does not want to help us with and there is no bondage he can't set us free from.

Memorial of Pope Saint Gregory I

Below you can read something on this saint (taken from Wikipedia):

- a.k.a. Gregory the Dialogist (Gregorios Dialogos)
- one of the four great Latin Fathers of the Church (the others being Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome)
- born around the year 540 in the city of Rome into a wealthy noble Roman family with close connections to the church
- took part in Roman political life and at one point was Prefect of the City
- converted his family villa suburbana into a monastery dedicated to the apostle Saint Andrew and entered it as a monk
- ordained as a deacon and chosen as apocrisiarius or ambassador to the imperial court in Constantinople by Pope Pelagius II - elected Pope to succeed him on September 3, 590
- re-energized the Church's missionary work among the barbarian peoples of northern Europe - sent a mission under Augustine of Canterbury to evangelize the pagan Anglo-Saxons of England
- explicitly taught a doctrine of Purgatory where a soul destined to undergo purification after death because of certain sins, could begin its purification in this earthly life, through good works, obedience and Christian conduct, making the travails to come lighter and shorter
- tireless worker for communication and understanding between the Eastern and Western Churches - increased the power of the papacy
- declared a saint immediately after his death on March 12 604 by "popular acclamation"
- famous quotes and anecdotes:

• Non Angli, sed Angeli - "They are not Angles, but Angels"
• Pro cuius amore in eius eloquio nec mihi parco - "For the love of whom (God) I do not spare myself from his Word"
• Non enim pro locis res, sed pro bonis rebus loca amanda sunt - "Things are not to be loved for the sake of a place, but places are to be loved for the sake of their good things"

Bible Readings of the Day (3 Sep, Wed - 22nd Week)

1 Corinthians 3: 1-9
So, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready, for you are still influenced by the flesh. For since there is still jealousy and dissension among you, are you not influenced by the flesh and behaving like unregenerate people? For whenever someone says, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” are you not merely human? What is Apollos, really? Or what is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, and each of us in the ministry the Lord gave us. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow. So neither the one who plants counts for anything, nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters work as one, but each will receive his reward according to his work. We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Luke 4: 38-44
After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he stood over her, commanded the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them. As the sun was setting, all those who had any relatives sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus. He placed his hands on every one of them and healed them. Demons also came out of many, crying out, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. The next morning Jesus departed and went to a deserted place. Yet the crowds were seeking him, and they came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them. But Jesus said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, for that is what I was sent to do.” So he continued to preach in the synagogues of Judea.