Something from ... Gregory the Great on the work of the Holy Spirit

Pope Gregory I (the Great) (ca. 540 - March 12, 604) pondered the work of the Holy Spirit, noting how God takes men from such unlikely backgrounds to use them for the good of the kingdom of God.  He would have us ponder what kinds of people God called for his purpose.  We usually think of them in terms of what they accomplished.  But what were they before God called them?  Neither impressive nor important.

Christians often feel that they are unworthy to speak or act in the name of Christ.  If we look upon our sins, we are right.  No one is worthy.  But if we look upon God's promises, we see that God has been pleased to call us his own.  Christ has put his name upon us: Christians.  No matter how unworthy we may feel, God considered us worth the life of Christ to make us his own.  And God considered us worthy of putting his own name upon us.  No matter what we do--whether honored as impressive or not, whether deemed important or not--we do it in the name of Jesus Christ.  We live and speak and act as his people.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit who not only converted us, but continues work in us and through us to honor God in what we do.

Here is something from Gregory the Great who urges us to ponder how God worked in the past with people of varying backgrounds.  It is the same Spirit who works today for our good and who works good in us.

“How good it is to raise up eyes of faith to the power of this worker, the Holy Spirit, and to look here and there at our ancestors in the Old and New Testaments.  With the eyes of my faith open, I gaze on David, on Amos, on Daniel, on Peter, on Paul, on Matthew—and I am filled with a desire to behold the nature of this worker, the Holy Spirit.  But I fall short.  The Spirit filled a boy who played upon the harp, and made him a psalmist; on a shepherd and herdsman who pruned sycamore trees, and made him a prophet; on a child given to abstinence, and made him a judge of his elders; on a fisherman, and made him a preacher; on one who persecuted the church, and made him the teacher of the Gentiles; on a tax collector, and made him an Evangelist.  What a skilled worker this Spirit is!  There is no question of delay in learning what the Spirit teaches us.  No sooner does the Spirit touch our minds in regard to anything than we are taught; the Spirit’s very touch is teaching.  The Spirit changes the human heart in a moment, filling it with light.  Suddenly we are no longer what we were; suddenly we are something we never used to be.” (Gregory the Great, quoted on pages 489-490 by R. Reed Lessing in Concordia Commentary: Amos.  Concordia Publishing House: St. Louis, MO.  © 2009.)