Morning Prayer: "Spurn the glory of the world"
St. Gregory is praised as one who “spurned the glory of the world,” and the phrase lands differently today than it did in late antiquity. We don’t live in a world of imperial courts and public honorifics. Our “glory” is subtler, more ambient, woven into the texture of daily life. It shows up in the desire to be seen as competent, admirable, indispensable, impressive. It shows up in the quiet hope that someone will notice how hard we’re working, how much we’re carrying, how well we’re holding everything together. To spurn that kind of glory is not to reject the world or withdraw from it. It is simply to refuse the illusion that our worth depends on being noticed. Gregory’s freedom came from knowing that the most important work is often hidden: feeding the hungry without fanfare, praying for a wounded city without applause, tending to the ordinary needs of ordinary people without needing to be extraordinary himself. What gets in the way today is not pride so much as fear. Fear of b...