September 3, 2026 // Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:18-23

Reflect on the Word // 

Exhausted, my husband and I headed into the dark, empty parking lot of the dentist’s office and buckled our son into the backseat. It wasn’t the way we’d planned to spend the evening: an emergency extraction of our little boy’s front baby teeth after a faceplant onto our hardwood floors. I was worried about how traumatic it all must have been for him. 

“You were so brave,” I said softly. “You didn’t even cry. I’m proud of you.”

He nodded, looking out the window. Struggling to form words with his still-numb mouth, he said matter-of-factly, “I offered it for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.”

Oh, the wisdom of children.

They are so close to God, so simple, so “uncluttered.” They see the supernatural, I think, more than we realize. And in moments of clarity, we get to see their vast, bright inner world when we pay close attention. They are windows into the holy simplicity of God Himself—and they remind us of His original relationship with us. 

That’s why Saint Paul warns against the “wisdom of this world” (1 Corinthians 3:19). What looks smart and proactive and well-researched and forward-thinking? If it’s not aligned with the mind of God, it’s all nothing. 

And in order to be rightly ordered before Him, the first thing we need to do is remember that we don’t know much at all. Humility, humility, humility: “let him become a fool, so as to become wise” (1 Corinthians 3:19).

It’s the reason Saints like Thérèse of Lisieux offer us a path to holiness that mirrors childhood. Her Little Way is the ultimate alternative to worldly wisdom. Instead, she proposes complete trust and radical dependence on God, centered on knowledge of our own smallness and the immenseness of His love. 

Worldly knowledge can be valuable when put in the service of the kingdom. But chasing after knowledge for its own sake or believing that true maturity means being somehow “greater” than others is a dead end. Rather, real wisdom is embracing the smallness of spiritual humility. We are invited today to remind ourselves of our own poverty and need for God, Who loves us tenderly and whispers when we accept our littleness, I’m proud of you. 

Relate to the Lord // Read those words again from the heart of God for you: I’m proud of you.