September 3 - St. Gregory the Great

Prayer of St. Gregory the Great

Acclaim To The Suffering Christ
 O Lord, You received affronts
 without number from Your blasphemers,
 yet each day You free captive souls
 from the grip of the ancient enemy.

You did not avert Your face
 from the spittle of perfidy,
 yet You wash souls in saving waters.

You accepted Your scourging without murmur,
 yet through your meditation
 You deliver us from endless chastisements.

You endured ill-treatment of all kinds,
 yet You want to give us a share
 in the choirs of angels in glory everlasting.

You did not refuse to be crowned with thorns,
 yet You save us from the wounds of sin.

In your thirst You accepted the bitterness of gall,
 yet You prepare Yourself to fill us with eternal delights.

You kept silence under the derisive homage
 rendered You by Your executioners,
 yet You petition the Father for us
 although You are his equal in Divinity.

You came to taste death,
 yet You were the Life
 and had come to bring it to the dead.
 Amen.