Gregory
the Great, also known as Pope Gregory 1st, was someone known as one
of the foundation stone to the era of Christianity since he made a great
development and influence to the churches. One of his main influences to the
church is the reformation of the worship music from tribal-like worship into the
ecclesiastical Gregorian chant. Though the chant may be boring to many of us
today, it was advancement in music compared to the tribal music back then. Some
other influence of Gregory is the organized patrimony of Peter where all lands
given to the church will belong to the church union; Gregory also organized the
financial and administration of the church without the intension of taking any
profit from it. He was able to make a great influence because of his skill of
combining his faith and his working skills. Gregory was a very smart person
having mastered many things in his young age; moreover, he was elected as a
mayor for his town at the age of twenty. Beside his excellence in skill and he
was a righteous man with a strong faith having built his relationship with God
and studying the Word of God during his time in the monastery. Later when he
was elected as the Pope, with the right faith and skillful mind, he was able to
develop the Kingdom of God. Gregory uses his skills which are given by God to
glorify God and benefit others; his works is very effective to many people
since he does it with respect to his faith.
In
the world today, many people only uses their skill for their own benefit and
does not care for others or even God who gave them the skill; moreover, people
even use their skill to do evil things. One of the clear example is the
terrorist or the bombers to whom God have given the intelligence. They rather
use their intelligence to do evil things such as destroying God’s creation.
Many people have such mindset because they don’t have the right faith as their
strong foundation; therefore, they were not able to combine their work and
faith.
People
should understand that they need to have the right believe or faith in order to
effectively use their skills in the right way since action without faith mostly
is sinful. When we have the right faith, we could imply it to our works so that
our works will be beneficial for others including the next generation and could
also glorify God; however, this doesn’t mean that we should only focus on our
faith or believe and neglecting our work because faith without work is dead as
stated in James 2:14-17. We should, therefore, have a balance between faith and
action.
Two
years ago, I always complain to God if I don’t receive a satisfying grade on my
test. I always pray before the test and believe that God will help me in the
test; yet, my result is not satisfying. One time after the humanities test, I
again complain to God for my bad result when suddenly God answered me with a
very strong and clear voice inside my heart that I have never prepare well for
the test. After introspection, I realize that what the voice said was true. I
only study few moments before the test and have never took studying seriously;
I always think that with a little study and a strong faith, I will be able to
get a satisfying grade which in fact is not true. Since then, I really took
studying seriously, and with a good preparation, I was able to get a grade
beyond my expectation for the test.
As a
conclusion, Gregory the Great have shown us through his life how he have a
balance between faith and work. He shows through reforming the church how
working with respect to the right faith is more effective and beneficial to
others, and he also shows us how he can actually help reforming the church
rather than just believing in his faith and pray. In the modern world, we can
seldom find people who show balance in their faith and action. Some people were
very smart, but don’t have the right faith which ends up using his skill only
for their own benefit; furthermore, doing evil things. Some other people who
have the true faith did not make any effort with respect to their faith end up
doing nothing. They need to understand that a work without faith is sinful and
that faith without action is dead; therefore, it is important to have a balance
between faith and action. Thomas Robert Gaines, a famous American author, once
said that it is good to dream, but it is better to dream and work. Faith is
mighty, but action with faith is mightier. Desiring is helpful, but work and
desire are invincible.