The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Gregory the Great (540-604), Bishop of Rome, Doctor of the Church (source):
O merciful Father,
who didst choose thy bishop Gregory
to be a servant of the servants of God:
grant that, like him, we may ever desire to serve thee
by proclaiming thy gospel to the nations,
and may ever rejoice to sing thy praises;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Lesson: 1 Chronicles 25: 1a, 6-8
The Gospel: St. Mark 10:42-45
Artwork: Guercino, Saint Gregory the Great with Saints Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier, c. 1626. Oil on canvas, National Gallery, London.