Welcome to the traditional Catholic Daily Devotional.

Today's Wednesday, March 12th, 2025, the Amber Wednesday of Lent,

with a commemoration of St. Gregory the Great, Pope, Confessor, and Doctor.

A second-class feast with a color of violet.

In this episode, the meditation, 40 steps to Easter.

A preview of the sermon, don't play with sin. Today's news from the church,

Lent, is not Catholic Ramadan, and today's thought from the Archbishop. But first,

the collect of today's Mass. O God, who granted the rewards of everlasting happiness to the

soul of thy servant Gregory, mercifully grant that we who are weighed down with the burden of our sins

may be raised up by his prayers to thee. Imagine rising to one of the highest positions in Rome

before you even hit 30, and then walking away from it all to become a monk. That was Gregory. He traded

politics for prayer, power, for simplicity, and turned his home into a monastery.

But Gregory couldn't stay in the background for long. He was called to be a priest, then a papal

ambassador, and finally at 50 he became Pope, although he really didn't want the job. But once he

had it, he gave it everything. He cleaned house, kicking out corrupt priests, and refusing to charge money for religious services.

He used church funds to ransom prisoners, care for the poor, and to aid persecuted Jewish communities.

He sent missionaries to England and reformed church liturgy.

Some even credit him with influencing, or maybe even creating, what we now call Gregorian

chant.

His world was chaos.

Rome was under constant threat from invaders.

When the Lombards attacked, Gregory didn't just send armies.

...