Good Morning
Morning Devotions led by Father Dave Thomas of Holy Saviour’s Parish, Cat Island,
Please share if you can. 🙏
Anglican Diocese of The Bahamas & The Turks & Caicos
Morning Devotions led by Father Dave Thomas
We leave, guide along the way, for if you leave, I can not stray. For let me walk each day with thee, thee thee, oh Lord, thee thee. Greetings, it is a joy once again to bring you devotions. On behalf of the Diocese of the Bahamas and the Trixan Gakers Islands, I am Father Dave Thomas, the priest in charge of Holy Saviour's Parish, Cat Island. Today is the Feast of St. Gregory the Great, and in our reflection and in our prayers, let us remember the priests and congregation of St. Gregory the Great, Carmichael Road. Let us pray, O God, who care for your people with gentleness and rule them in love. Through the intercession of Popes and Gregory, and now we pray with the Spirit of Wisdom, those to whom you have given authority to govern, that the flourishing of a holy flock may become the eternal joy of the shepherds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever, Amen. The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark chapter 10 beginning at the 42nd verse. So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their leaders, laud it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them, but it is not so among you. Instead whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." This is the Gospel of Christ. Praise the Christ our Lord. Gregory the Great was the first monk to become Bishop of Rome in 590. He came from a very prestigious family with immense wealth. He had founded six monasteries on his family estate and led the monastic community, and we honor his memory, however, not so much for his monastic pursuits or his monastic life, as for his virtuous and service-driven administration of the Roman Catholic Church, a leadership that remained filled with love and service throughout the political instability and economic hardship of that time. St Gregory's life reminds us that power can be exercised responsibly by the grace of God for the common good. Can this be said about us with the much or the little that we are entrusted with? Sometimes when we get a little bit of power, we abuse it and abuse those whom we have been entrusted to serve. And this is not only true of those in public leadership, but all of us are guilty of it from time to time. In our community we have parents abusing children, uncles and aunts abusing nieces and nephews, police abusing citizens, citizens abusing police, politicians avoiding those who put them in power, priests and pastors abusing congregations, bishops abusing priests, and the list goes on and on and on. God causes us sometimes to lose our way, and to unfortunately give some people the actual thought that they are more important than others. Gregory calls us, my friends, to remember that love and service is at the heart of leadership. When God gives to us, we are called to give to others. When God entrusts us with little or great, we must use it for the common good and not to edify ourselves. When God puts us in positions of power, we must use it to pronounce justice and fairness, love and grace as Gregory did, amen. Let us pray, O God, our Heavenly Father, you have blessed us and given us dominion over all the earth, increase our reverence before the mystery of life and give us new insight into your purposes for the human race and new wisdom and determination in making provision for its future in accordance with your will. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, our men, please share this devotion with those around and have a blessed day. O God, let us pray, O God, our Heavenly Father, we say with me, O God, we say with you, O God, we say with you, O God, we say with you, O God, we say with you, O God,