The Richness Of Scripture

Letter 3,62 - to Domitian, metropolitan. August 593

"For in the understanding of Holy Scripture, whatever is not opposed to a firm faith ought not to be rejected. For just as from gold alone, some men make necklaces, others rings and others bracelets, as ornaments, even so from a knowledge of Holy Scripture, various expounders through countless interpretations, compose varied ornaments, as it were, all of which, however, are for the adornment of a heavenly bride.
And I am extremely happy that your most charming Beatitude, even when busy with secular cases, vigilantly turn you mind back to the understanding of Holy Scripture. For indeed it is very necessary that, even if the former cannot be avoided altogether, the latter should not be postponed altogether.
But I beg you by our almighty Lord, stretch forth your hand of prayer to me, as I labor in such great waves of tribulation. Thus I may be raised by your intercession to the heights, as I am being pressed down to the depths by the weight of my sins."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 282.

Prayers, No Bribes

Letter 1,64 - to Felix, bishop of Messina. July 591.

"And for the rest, we are opposed to your being obliged to send anything extra to us. And since we are not pleased by presents, the palm-embroided roes which your Fraternity sent we have received with due thanks, but we have sold them at a good price and have sent the proceeds to your Fraternity as a single payment, so that you cannot suffer any loss therefrom.
But since w have learnt that your Charity wishes to come to us, we warn you with this letter that you should not take on the trials of the journey.
But pray for us, that the more the distance of the journey separates us, the more we are joined together in our minds with mutual love, with Christ's assistance, so that, by helping each other with an exchange of prayers, we may return the office undertaken by us to our coming Judge in a blameless condition."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 181.

Body and Mind

Letter 1,29 - to the illustrious Andrew. February 591.

"May almighty God inform your most charming heart that, even absent in body, I have not withdrawn from love of you in my mind. For I cannot forget your goodness even if I wanted to.
But as for you knowing that I have obtained episcopal rank, if you love me, weep for me. For here the occupations of this world are so great that I see that I have almost been separated from the love of God by this episcopal rank.
I bewail this incessantly and I ask you to pray to the Lord on my behalf."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 150.

A Letter to a Friend

Letter 1,25 - to Anastasius, ex-patriarch of Antioch. February, 591.

"(Thus) losing totally all the rectitude of my mind and giving up the sharpness of my contemplation, I may say not in spirit of a prophesy but through experience: 'I have been cast down and humiliated everywhere' (Ps. 118:107).
Indeed so great are the occupational burdens which press me down, that my soul cannot in any way raise itself to things above. I am shaken by many waves of affairs, and after these quiet hours of peace, I am so afflicted by the storms of a tempestuous life that I can rightly say: 'I have come into the depth of the sea; and a tempest has overwhelmed me' (Ps. 68:2).
Stretch out the hand of your prayer to me, therefore, in my time of peril, you who stand firm on the shore of virtues."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 147.