Praise God for Gregory. He had a great missionary heart, and sent Augustine (not hippo, the other one) to England to share the gospel with the Brits. He gave Augustine and the early missionaries lots of sound advice, including this bit, from Bede’s “Ecclesiastical History”: “…that the temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed; but let the idols that are in them be destroyed; let holy water be made and sprinkled in the said temples, let altars be erected…”

Does Gregory really sanctify the ordinary – or does he only sanctify the work of those called to service in the church … pastors, missionaries, etc?

RJS, good question. I have read precious little of Gregory but have his book on order. It may be an extension to the ordinary (that I or Armstrong have made — not sure right now) but Gregory’s point is that the via activa is preparation for the via contemplativa rather than an intrusion into the via activa.

RJS,
One of my scholarly sources (I don’t have the reference at hand right now) insisted that for Gregory, though the monastic life was to be preferred, “even the married” might experience contemplation. Further, he said that spiritual pride could certainly prevent the cloistered man or woman from experiencing God even to the degree that a humble housewife might.
For the whole theme of Gregory’s “world-sacramentalism,” check out Carole Straw, _Gregory the Great: Perfection in Imperfection_, chapter 2 (“A Sacramental Vision”). An example of her observations in that chapter:
?The whole universe is a unity and proportional mixture of spiritual and carnal elements. . . . Gregory?s Christianity is never removed from the world?it is very much in it. For to perceive the world and natural life in sympathy with man is to possess a closeness to that world, a certain communion with the universe. Such a spirituality cannot ignore or reject either the natural world or the secular world of men. God?s universe is an organic whole, embracing so many and such different forms of life. Accommodation and integration remain open possibilities.? (p. 65)
Straw is a wonderful source, clearly outlining and deeply illustrating the key themes of Gregory’s spirituality.

Here’s a short summary on the theme of Gregory and the busy-ness of our secular vocations: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/thepastinthepresent/historymatters/spiritualityforbusypeople.html .

Interesting article.

Chris,
Thanks for the link to the CT article. I’ve been interested in how the early church contemplatives pointed out the vast interior of the human soul/spirit/”inner person”–the geography of the soul–and that one can cultivate an inner contemplative spirituality in the midst of “secular” activities. Do you see this, too?