Homily for the Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

In today's Gospel, a man "with a spirit of an unclean demon" asked Jesus loudly, "What have you come to do with us…? Have you come to destroy us?" Jesus neither shrank in the face of this aggression nor reacted in kind. Instead, He only addressed the demon and brought the man healing and peace.

So often, in the Gospels, Jesus does not respond in kind to those who oppose Him, but neither does He back down from them. The LORD does not relate to us as we often relate to Him. His approach is always more generous, more loving, and more merciful than our approach to Him and to one another.

When the people in the synagogue saw Jesus' encounter with the disturbed man, they were amazed at His authority and the power He had over unclean spirits. Jesus exercises His authority by showing love and kindness to those with no claim on it except for their need. In that way, He shows us what genuine authority looks like.

Let us pray that Jesus's example may guide us in approaching one another in a spirit of love and mercy and with a desire for understanding and peace.