Sunday, August 3 : Saint Gregory Nazianzen

But men, if they have gold or silver and soft and precious garments and shining gems and such things beyond their need, things that are the cause of war and strife and of the very beginning of tyranny, they bury them in the ground and, above themselves with folly, close their hearts to pity for the needs of their fellow men. Not even from what is superfluous will they help those in total want. Oh the immense folly! the fearful madness of it! They never think, if nothing else, that riches and poverty, slavery and what we call freedom, and such terms, came among men with sin, as weaknesses that rushed in together with wickedness, and were its invention. From the beginning, says the Lord, it was not so (Mt. xix. 8). He Who created man at the beginning, created him free, endowed him with free will, ruled by the sole law of His commandment, and rich in the joy of paradise. And He willed the same for the rest of the race of men, bestowing it on them through that first seed. Freedom then, and wealth, lay simply in the observance of His single commandment: True slavery and poverty in its transgression. From this came hatred and strife and the deceits of the serpent tyrant, tempting us at all times with the bait of unlawful pleasures, setting the strong against the weak; and from then our race was divided, and greed defeated the nobility of our nature, making use even of law as an aid to its domination. But I would have you look back to our original equality, not to the later division; not to the law of the strongest, but to the law of the Creator. Help nature with all your might. Reverence the ancient freedom. Reverence yourself. Cover the shame of your own kindred. Help the afflicted. Comfort those in sorrow. You who are strong, help the weak. You who are rich, help the poor… Be as God to the unfortunate, by imitating the mercy of God.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team