Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great
O God, who care for your people with gentleness and rule them with love, through the intercession of Pope St. Gregory, and endow, we pray, with the spirit of wisdom those to whom you have given authority to govern, that the flourishing of the holy flock may become the eternal joy of the shepherds. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
Daily Thought from The Saints
“There are in truth three states of the converted: the beginning, the middle, and the perfection. In the beginning they experience the charms of sweetness; in the middle the contests of temptation; and in the end the fullness of perfection.”
— Pope St. Gregory the Great
Daily Scripture Verse
“For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified. What shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Romans 8:29-31
Daily Meditation
“For want of contrition, innumerable confessions are either sacrilegious or invalid; the penitent so often breaks his promises to God, and falls again so easily into the same faults, and many souls are eternally lost. Contrition is that true and Lively sorrow which the soul has for all sins it has committed, with a firm determination never to commit to them anymore… many Christians spend a long time examining their consciences, and in making Long and often unnecessary narrations to the confessor, and then bestow little or no time upon considering the malice of their sins, and upon bewailing and detesting them. Christians such as these, says St. Gregory, act like a wounded man who shows his wounds to the doctor with the utmost anxiety and care, and then will not make use of the remedies prescribed. It is not so much thinking, nor so much speaking of your sins that will procure their pardon, but heartfelt sorrow and detestation of them.
— Fr. Ignatius of the side of Jesus
Day by Day with Mary, the Mother of God
Let us ask our Lady’s help today in living our own dedication to the full, in whatever state God has placed us, in accordance with the specific vocation we have received from the Lord.
— Francis Fernandez
A Prayer from Notre Dame University
Rev. Neil Wack, C.S.C.
Heavenly Father, you have given us all that is good. You constantly call us to put out into the deep in service to you and to one another. Give us the courage to listen to your commands, and to be fearless in our baptismal call to holiness. Help us to find ways to serve rather than to be served, even if those ways may be small or unseen by others. May we be faithful in our vocations to do your will rather than our own, and make you known, loved, and served. Amen.