Homily 17

Pronounced in front of bishops

gathered at the Baptismal Fonts of the Lateran

March 31, 591 (Saturday of the fourth week of Lent)

The mission of the seventy-two disciples

Saint Gregory is penetrated by the thought that the Church needs holy and zealous bishops. To elevate the episcopate to the level of his ministry, to make the bishops aware of their people, to protect them against the failings which lie in wait for them, the Pope knows that there is an urgent work which concerns the whole Church, and he feels anxious to undertake it. The present Homily, preached in the Lateran consistory, enables us to judge with what vigor he begins to work. Such a text has lost none of its strength. Thirteen centuries later, St. Pius X wrote to the bishops: "Read in full, venerable brethren, and propose to your clergy to read and meditate on it ... this admirable homily of the holy pontiff." (Encyclical Jucunda sane, from March 12, 1904)

After having commented on the gospel of the mission of the seventy-two disciples, Gregory recalls their duties to priests and bishops, denouncing their lack of zeal in filling them, without failing to mention the vices they devote themselves to . Finally, he describes the consequences of the sins of pastoralists, both for themselves and their people. The whole speech reveals the profound sadness of the pope at the sight of the failings of the clergy.

If the examination of conscience is severe, Gregory will not stop there, and he will write, at about the same time, a little book destined to form the conscience of the bishops, the Liber regula pastoralis, devising a program of action and meditation valid for the whole episcopate. The Pastoral Rule also contains many images and ideas of this Homily: the reference to the scarlet fabric dyed twice, the comparison of the bases of the Temple with the oxen, the lions and the cherubim, the commentary on the stones scattered sanctuary, etc.

One would be curious to know how the reproaches of the pope were welcomed by the bishops of the time. Maybe better than we think first? Here, for example, is how Licinianus, bishop of Cartagena, received the Pastoral Rule, whose tone of hard frankness so strongly recalls our Homily: "Who would not read with consolation a book which, meditated relentlessly, is a medicine of the soul and who, inspiring contempt for the passing, changing, and changeable things of the age, opens the eyes of the mind to the stability of eternal life? Your book is the school of all virtues. "Far from being offended by Gregory's direct tone, this bishop receives the message with all his heart.

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1 Processio: this is the daily Mass, extended by the tradition of the symbol of faith to catechumens.

2 The pope speaks here to native Christians, in contrast to the catechumens (pagan converts), whom he referred to just before.

Saint Gregory speaks here particularly to catechumens, to whom he gives the symbol of faith: faith is not enough, it must be followed by works.

4 The bowels are, according to the Bible, the seat of compassion and tenderness.

Lc 10, 1-9

At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and sent them before him two by two in every city and place where he himself was to go. And he said to them, "The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. Pray, therefore, the master of the harvest to send workers to his harvest. Go, here I send you like lambs among the wolves. Do not carry a purse, bag, or shoes, and do not greet anyone on the way. In whatever house you enter, say first: Peace to this house! And if there be a child of peace, your peace will rest on him; otherwise, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, eating and drinking what is at home; because the worker deserves his salary. Do not go from house to house. In whatever city you enter and where we receive you, eat what we present to you; heal the sick who are there, and tell them, The Kingdom of God is near you. "

The Lord, our Savior, dear brothers, teaches us early on in his words, sometimes in his works. For his actions themselves are precepts: what he does without saying anything shows us what we must do.

So here he sends his disciples two by two to preach, because there are two precepts of charity, the love of God and the love of neighbor, and that if there are not at least two people, charity can not exist. In all rigor of terms, in fact, one can not claim to have charity for oneself: our love must extend to others to deserve the name of charity. The Lord sends his disciples two by two to preach, to show us without words that he who has no charity for the neighbor must in no way assume the office of preacher.

2. It is fitting to say, "He sent them before him to all the cities and places where he himself was to go." For the Lord follows his preachers: preaching precedes, and the Lord do not come to dwell in our souls except after these words of exhortation that run to meet him and send the truth to the soul. This is why Isaiah said to these preachers, "Prepare the way of the Lord, make the paths of our God straight" (Is 40: 3). And the psalmist: "Blow the road to him who goes up to the west" (Ps 68, 5). The Lord is well ascended to the west, since it is from the very place where he lay down [to die] in his Passion that he made his glory more glorious by resurrecting. Yes, he went up to the west, because that death he had endured, he trampled on it by resuscitating. We therefore make our way to him who goes up to the sunset when we preach his glory to your souls, so that he may come and illuminate them himself by the presence of his love.

3. Let us listen to what the Lord declares to the preachers he sends: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray, therefore, the master of the harvest, to send laborers to his harvest. "For an abundant harvest, the workers are few. We can not say without great sadness: there are people to hear good things, there is none to tell them. Behold, the world is filled with bishops, 1 and yet there are very few workers for the harvest of God, for having accepted the episcopal function, we do not perform the work related to this function.

Reflect, dear brothers, think about what is said: "Pray the master of the harvest to send workers to his harvest." It is up to you to obtain by your prayers that we know how to accomplish for you what must be so: that we do not let our language become numb when it is necessary to exhort you, and that after having accepted the charge of the preaching, we are not condemned to the just Judge by our silence.

If it is often the vices of the preachers that paralyze their language, often it is the faults of their flock that prevent pastors from preaching. The vices of the preachers paralyze the tongue, as the psalmist declares: "But to the sinner, God said, Why do you list my precepts?" (Ps 50:16). The words of the preachers are also stopped by the faults of their flock, as the Lord tells Ezekiel: "I will make your tongue adhere to your palace, you will be silent and you will stop warning them, because it is a rebellious house. "(Ez 3: 26) It is as if he were saying clearly: "If the word of preaching is taken away from you, it is because the people who exasperate me by their conduct are not worthy to be exhorted according to the truth." It is therefore not easy to know by whose fault the word is removed from the preacher. But what we know with absolute certainty is that if the pastor's silence sometimes harms him, he is always harming his flock.

4. If we are not able to preach with strength, may we at least discharge the office of our office in all purity of life. The rest of the text says, "Behold, I send you as lambs among the wolves." Many have no sooner received jurisdiction to rule than they burn to tear their flock. They inspire the terror of their authority and harm those they should serve. And because they do not have a heart full of charity, they want to look like lords and totally forget that they are fathers. They transform a humble function into a proud dominion, and even if they sometimes take an outside of sweetness, they stay inside full of fury. It is from them that the Truth affirms in another passage: "They come to you dressed with sheep's skins, but within, they are rapacious wolves." (Mt 7:15)

In contrast to such an attitude, we must consider that we are sent as lambs among the wolves, so that we, preserving innocent souls, we do not allow ourselves to bite with malice. For whoever receives the charge of preaching should not inflict maltreatment, but endure it, so that his own mildness will temper the anger of the furious, and that he will heal the wounds of sin in others while suffering himself wounds caused by his persecutors. And if the zeal of the truth sometimes demands that he seize against his flock, his very anger must proceed from love, not from cruelty; thus, while respecting the rights of discipline abroad, he will love within himself, with a paternal kindness, those whom he seems to persecute outside by correcting them. But a bishop can do this only on the condition of ignoring selfish self-love, of not seeking the benefits of the world, and of not subjecting his soul to the yoke of these burdens the earth imposes us.

5. Hence the rest of the text: "Do not carry purses, sackcloths, or shoes, and do not greet anyone on the way." Indeed, such must be the preacher's trust in God that, without foreseeing what is necessary for the present life, it is, however, absolutely certain that none of it will be wanting, lest, by occupying its mind with transitory things, it will be less able to provide others with eternal goods. If it is also granted to greet no one on the way, it is to show with what haste he has to go to preach.

But here is someone who would like to understand these words in an allegorical way: in the stock market, money is enclosed; but pent-up money represents the hidden wisdom. So whoever holds the words of wisdom, but neglects to communicate them to his neighbor, holds them sealed, like money in a purse. This is why it is written, "If wisdom remains hidden and the treasure invisible, what are they for?" (Si 41, 14)

The bag can mean nothing but the burden of the world, and the shoes here can not represent anything other than the example of dead works. It is not good that he who receives the charge of preaching should bear the burden of the affairs of the world, which, by bending his head, would prevent him from straightening up to preach the things of Heaven. Nor should he pay attention to the example that fools give by their works: he would risk believing himself authorized to reinforce his own works, as with dead skin. For there are many who justify their disturbances by those of others. Seeing that others have acted in this way or that way, they think they have the right to do the same. Is not that there trying to protect his feet with dead animal skins?

To greet on the way is to salute at random by the road, without having sought or desired it. Thus, he who does not preach salvation to his hearers for the sake of the eternal homeland, but out of ambition for rewards, is like the one who salutes on the way, since he only desires the salvation of his listeners at random. their meeting], and not by genuine zeal.2

6. The text continues: "In whatever house you enter, say first: Peace to this house! And if there be a child of peace, your peace will rest on him; otherwise it will come back to you. "The peace offered by the mouth of the preacher rests on the house if a child of peace is there; otherwise, she returns to the preacher; indeed, either there will be someone predestined to life, and he will follow the divine word heard, or else, if nobody wanted to listen to him, the preacher will find some profit: his peace will come back to him, since He will receive from the Lord the reward of his work and his pain.

7. Notice it: He who has forbidden to carry a purse or a bag admits that one can ask to live and eat it in return for his preaching. The text adds: "Stay in the same house, eating and drinking what is at home; because the worker deserves his wages. "If our peace is received, it is right that we stay in the same house, eating and drinking from what is at home, so that we receive our land wages from those to which we offer the rewards of the heavenly homeland. This is why Paul, who held this earthly wage for very little, said: "If we have sown spiritual goods among you, is it such a big deal that we are reaping of your material goods?" (1 Co 9, 11)

Let us remark what the text adds: "The workman deserves his salary." It is because the food that is sustaining us is already a part of the salary of our work, so that the salary we are beginning to perceive here- low for the work of our preaching finds there its completion in the vision of Truth. We must consider in this, that two wages are due to us for a single work, one on the way, the other in the country; one who supports us in our work, the other who rewards us at the resurrection. The salary we receive now must therefore have the effect of encouraging us to strive more vigorously towards future wages. So the true preacher must not preach in order to receive his wages right now, but receive that salary so he can continue to preach. For those who preach in order to receive wages or praise in this world, are no doubt depriving themselves of eternal wages. But those who do not desire to see their words please men only to make them love the Lord, and not themselves, or who, in their preaching, receive earthly retribution only to avoid the destitution that would compel them to stop preaching. those, certainly, will find no impediment to enjoying the reward of the country for having perceived their subsistence on the way.

8. But what are we pastors - I can not say without pain - what do we do, who receive a salary without showing us workers? Every day we perceive the revenues of the Holy Church for our pay, without, in return, carrying out any work of preaching for the eternal Church. Let us remember what subject of damnation it is for us to perceive here the wages of a work that we do not do. We are living offerings of the faithful, but what work are we doing for the souls of these faithful? We receive for our pay what they have offered to redeem their sins, without however giving us the trouble that it would be appropriate to combat these sins by an assiduous effort of prayer or preaching. It's just if we happen to openly resume an individual when he sins. And - what is more serious - we sometimes go so far as to praise the faults of the powerful of this world, for fear that an annoyance will lead them to withdraw, in an outpouring of anger, the gifts they granted us.

We should constantly be reminded of what is written about certain men: "They will feed on the sins of my people." (B4, 8). Why do they say that they feed on the sins of the people, if not because they encourage the sinners' faults, so as not to lose their earthly retribution? But since we, too, live on oblations offered by the faithful for their sins, if we eat and remain silent, it is without doubt their sins that we feed on. Let us then measure what a crime it is in God's eyes to feed on the ransom of sins, and not to attack sins in our preaching.

Let us hear what Blessed Job says to us: "If my earth cries against me, if its furrows cry with it, if I have eaten the fruit without paying it ..." (Jb 31, 38-39) 3. The earth cries against its owner when the Church murmurs with reason against her pastor. His furrows cry when the hearers' hearts, which have been cleared by previous bishops by their preaching and their vigorous reproaches, see something to be deplored in the life of their pastor. And if the good owner of this land does not eat the fruit without paying it, it is because the wise pastor distributes the talent of his word, so that it is not for his own condemnation that he receives from the Church pays her to feed him. We eat the fruit of our land well by paying it when, in return for the ecclesiastical resources we receive, we work on preaching. Because we are the heralds of the Judge who must come. And who will announce the judge who is to come, if his herald is silent?

9. Let us therefore consider that each of us must endeavor, as much as he can and is capable of, to make known to the Church, which has been confided to him at the same time, how much terror will be felt when judging come and what happiness we will taste in the Kingdom. And he who is not able to exhort all his faithful in one and the same preaching, must, as much as he can, instruct them each, build them by speaking to them apart, and seek to bring fruit to the the hearts of his sons by an exhortation without detours.

We must constantly meditate on what was said to the holy apostles, and to us through them: "You are the salt of the earth" (Mt 5: 13). If we are salt, we must season the souls of the faithful. Therefore, O pastors, consider that it is the animals of God that you lead to graze, those animals about which the psalmist says to God: "Your animals shall dwell in it" (Ps 68, 11). Are not we used to seeing salt stones given to lick animals for no reason to make them better? Well, the bishop must be in the midst of his people like a salt stone among animals for no reason. The bishop must think of what he will say to everyone, of the advice he will give to each other, so that all who come to him may be seasoned with a taste of eternal life, as if in contact with him. salt. For we are not the salt of the earth if we do not season the hearts of our listeners. This one, on the contrary, really gives such a seasoning to his neighbor, who does not refuse him the word of preaching.

10. But we do not preach to others the right way unless we illustrate our words by deeds, and touched ourselves by the love of God, we wash with our tears the daily faults of this life, which no man can cross without sin. But we ourselves are truly touched by compunction only if we meditate with application on the acts of the fathers who have gone before us, so that the sight of their glory may make our lives look despicable in our own eyes. We are truly touched only when we scrutinize the precepts of the Lord, and strive to make progress through these precepts, which, as we know, have previously advanced those whom we honor.

It is in this sense that it is written concerning Moses: "And he set up a laver of brass, in which Aaron and his sons could bathe themselves before they entered the Holy of Holies; he made it by casting the mirrors of the women who watched at the door of the tabernacle "(Ex 38: 8). Moses disposes of a laver of brass, in which the priests must bathe before entering the Holy of Holies, because the Law of God requires us to begin by bathing ourselves with a bath of compunction, so that our impurity do not make us unworthy to penetrate the purity of God's secrets. It is fitting that this vat is made by casting the mirrors of the women who kept watch at the door of the Tabernacle. The mirrors of women are the precepts of God, in which the holy souls consider themselves incessantly and recognize if there is not in them some defilements of impurity. They correct the vices of their thoughts, and by opposing them, they recompose a face, so to speak, thanks to the image returned [by the mirror]; for while they apply all their application to the precepts of the Lord, they certainly discern in them what pleases or displeases the heavenly Spouse. They can not, as long as they remain in this life, enter the eternal tabernacle. But, however, the women watch over the door of the Tabernacle, because the holy souls, even though they are still apprehended by the infirmity of the flesh, nevertheless ceaselessly watch with love the passage from entry into eternity. So Moses made a vat for the priests with the mirrors of the women, since the Law of God provides a bath of compunction to the defilements of our sins, giving us to contemplate the heavenly precepts by which the holy souls have pleased their Divine Bridegroom. If we apply to these precepts all our attention, we discover the defilements of our inner image; the pain of penance we conceive affects us with compunction, and this bathes us, so to speak, in the tub made with the mirrors of women.

11. Whilst being touched by self-discipline, we must still show zeal for the lives of those entrusted to us. Let us be well penetrated by the bitterness of compunction, but without allowing ourselves to be distracted from watching over our loved ones. What good is it, indeed, to love ourselves, if we fail in our duties to our loved ones? And what is the point of loving our loved ones and showing zeal for them, if we fail in our duties to ourselves? Is it not prescribed to offer, to adorn the Tabernacle, scarlet cloth dyed twice (see Ex 25: 4)? Thus, in the eyes of God, our charity is colored by the love of God and neighbor. And this one really loves himself, who loves his Creator. The scarlet cloth is thus dyed twice when the love of Truth inflames the soul on itself and on its neighbor.

12. We must also know how to exert the zeal of justice against the bad deeds of our relatives, without our ardor to correct us make us leave the least bit of our leniency. For the anger of the bishop must never be precipitated or agitated, but rather moderated by the gravity of a deliberate will. We must therefore at the same time support those whom we correct and correct those whom we support, lest, if we fail in one of these duties, our action be unworthy of a bishop, either for lack of ardor, or for lack of sweetness.

It is for this reason that lions, oxen, and cherubim, works of the sculptor, were made to appear on the bases used for the service of the Temple (cf 1 Corinthians 7:29). The cherub is the fullness of science. But why never represent, on the bases, lions without oxen, or oxen without lions? What symbolize the foundations in the Temple, if not the bishops in the Church? These, in accepting the concern of the government [of souls], bear, in the manner of bases, the burden imposed on them. On the bases, therefore, cherubim are included, for it is certainly necessary that the hearts of bishops be filled with the fullness of science. Lions represent a severity that inspires fear; oxen, patience and gentleness. Thus lions without oxen, or oxen without lions, are never shown on the bases, since the bishop must always include in his heart a severity which inspires fear with the virtue of gentleness. and in this way, that he temper his anger of sweetness, while warming this sweetness by the zeal he puts in the correction, lest his gentleness become softness.

13. But why speak so when we see many still sinking into evil by actions always more abominable? Yes, it is to you, bishops, that I address myself crying: we have learned that many of you make appointments to ecclesiastical functions for a fee, that they sell spiritual grace and that they profit from the iniquities of others to accumulate temporal gains while suffering the loss of sin. How, then, does not the commandment of the Lord come to you in memory: "You have received freely, give freely." (Mt 10, 8). How can you not stand before the eyes of the spirit that our Redeemer, who entered the Temple, overthrew the siege of doves and threw down the money of the money changers (see Jn 2: 14-16)? Who today sells doves in the Temple of God, except those who in the Church receive money to impose hands? Now it is by this laying on of hands that the Holy Spirit is given from heaven. The dove is therefore sold, since the laying on of hands, by which the Holy Spirit is received, is offered against money. But our Redeemer is overturning the siege of the doves, because he is removing their traffickers from their priesthood. That is why the sacred canons condemn the simoniac heresy and order to deprive the priesthood of those who ask for money to grant the sacred orders. Thus, the seats of the doves merchants are overthrown when those who sell spiritual grace are removed from their priesthood, whether in the eyes of men or of God.

And how many other bad deeds do the leaders of the Church, who for the moment remain hidden from the eyes of men! Pastors often want to be saints before men, and they do not blush to appear disgraceful to the Inner Judge in their secret actions. He is coming, he is undoubtedly coming, the big day, he is not far away, this day when the pastor of pastors will manifest himself and reveal before all the actions of each. And if he now uses pastors to punish the faults of their flock, it is he who will then rage against the bad actions of pastors. This is why, when he entered the Temple, he made himself a kind of whip with ropes, and, rejecting the corrupt merchants out of the house of God, he overthrew the sieges of the doves; for if he punishes the faults of the flock by means of their pastors, he himself punishes the vices of the pastors. Now, certainly, we can deny in front of men what we do in secret. But the Judge is about to come, and no one will be able to hide from him by keeping quiet, nor deceive him by denying.

14. There is one more thing, very dear brethren, which afflicts me greatly in the life of pastors, but for my affirmation not to appear offensive to one or the other, I accuse myself too the same, though it is under the constraint of the necessities of a barbaric epoch, that I lay, in spite of myself, in such a situation. We have lowered ourselves to external affairs, and the practice of our function no longer corresponds to the burden we have received. We forsake the ministry of preaching, and it is, I think, for our chastisement that we are called bishops, when we keep the name of our office without exercising it.

Those entrusted to us abandon God, and we are silent. They lie in their depravity, and we do not extend their hand by correcting them. Every day they are lost by all sorts of vices, and we see them with indifference taking the road to hell. But how could we correct the lives of others, since we neglect ours? For while occupied with the worries of the world, we become all the more unintelligent for the realities of the interior that we see more applied to those outside. In fact, by dint of worrying about the goods of the earth, the soul becomes insensitive to the desire of the things of Heaven. And this insensibility which it acquires in use, under the influence of the world, renders it incapable of being moved in regard to the love of God.

It is therefore fitting that the holy Church says of her infirm members: "They have put me in charge of vines; my vineyard, I have not kept it. "(Ct 1, 6) Our vineyards are the offices we fill with our daily work. But when we are keeping vines, our vineyard is ours, we do not keep it, because, all given to fill offices foreign to our vocation, we neglect to discharge our own office.

I am persuaded, dear brothers, that God does not endure anything worse than the wrong done to him by the bishops: he sees those whom he has established to correct the others themselves to give examples of misconduct; he sees us sinning, we who should put an end to sin. And often - which is particularly serious - the bishops, who should give their own goods, go so far as to pillage those of others. Often, they mock the people they see living in humility and continence. Think about what herds can become when pastoralists are wolves. For those who receive the care of the flock are those who are not afraid to set traps for the flock of the Lord, and it is against these shepherds that the flocks of God should be kept.

We seek nothing for the interests of souls, we indulge each day in our inclinations, we desire the goods of the earth, we put all the application of our mind to capture the glory that comes from men. And since, by the very fact of our elevation above the others, we have more facility to act as we please, we make serve to our vain ambition the ministry of which our ordination has invested us. We abandon the cause of God to indulge in the affairs of the earth. We have received a holy charge, and we are entangled in the land offices. In us, what is written is written: "And it shall be with the priest as with the people" (B4, 9). For the priest is no longer distinguished from the people if, in his works, he does not surpass the common people by the merits of his life.

15. Let Jeremiah lend us tears. Let him meditate on our death and say, lamenting, "How has gold tarnished? How did her beautiful color change? How did the stones of the sanctuary scatter at the corner of all places? "(Lm 4: 1). Gold has tarnished, in the sense that the life of the bishops, which formerly shone with the glory of virtues, now appears despicable by the baseness of their functions. His so beautiful color has been altered, because because of the earthly and vile offices that accompany him, this holy state of life has become an object of contempt and ignominy. As for the stones of the sanctuary, they were kept inside it, and were not worn by the high priest until he entered the Holy of Holies to appear in the intimacy of his Creator. It is we, dear brothers, it is we who are the stones of the sanctuary: we must appear only in the intimacy of God. We must never be seen outside, that is, in functions outside our vocation. But the stones of the sanctuary were scattered at the corner of all the places, for those who, by their life and their prayers, should have always remained inside, are spread abroad in a life worthy of reprobation. Here there is almost no longer any secular function exercised by bishops. When the activities of those who belong to this holy state of life are external, they resemble the stones of the sanctuary lying outside. Since, according to its Greek etymology, "place" derives from "breadth", the stones of the sanctuary are on the places when the religious follow the broad roads of the world. And it's not only in the squares, but in the corners of the places they have been scattered: driven by their lust, they are engaged in the activities of this world, and they strive, however, to reach the summit of honors through their religious state. So they have been scattered around the corners of the squares, because while they have fallen so low by the work they do, they want to be honored for the appearance of holiness.

16. You see what a terrible sword the world is struck, under what great blows the people die every day. What is the cause, if not primarily our sin? Here the devastated cities, the sacked villages, the destroyed churches and monasteries have all been reduced to a desert campaign. The people are dying, and we are the cause of his death, we who were to lead him to life. For it is because of our sin that the people perished in droves, because because of our negligence, they did not learn the way of life.

We can say that the souls of humans are the food of the Lord, because they were created to pass into his body, that is, to contribute to the growth of his eternal Church. But from this food, we should have been seasoning. Indeed, as we mentioned above, the Lord declares to the preachers sent on mission, "You are the salt of the earth." So if the people are the food of God, the bishops should be the seasoning of this food. But as we abandon the practice of prayer and holy preaching, salt is affadiated, and it is no longer able to season the food of God; so our Creator does not take it anymore, because because we are weak, it is deprived of all seasoning.

Let's think about it: what happened to us to convert by our word? And who are those who have been reproached for giving up their evil deeds and leading to penitence? Who has given up lust as a result of our preaching? Who has left the path of avarice, or that of pride? Let us ask ourselves what profit we have procured for God, we who, having received a talent, have been sent by him to assert it. He says, "Make it earnest until I return." (Lk 19:13). Here he is already coming, and he will claim what we have gained by our stooges. How many souls will we show him as a gain from our trading? And how many sheaves of souls will we bring in his presence as a harvest of our preaching?

17. Let us set before our eyes that very rigorous day when the Judge will come and make the accounts with his servants to whom he has entrusted talents. Then we will see him appear in his terrible majesty in the midst of the choirs of angels and archangels. At such meetings, the multitude of all the elect and the reprobate will be brought to him, and what everyone has done will be revealed. There Peter will appear, bringing with him converted Judea. There Paul, driving, if I may say so, the whole world converted. There, in the presence of their King, each leading the region he converted: Andrew with Achaia7 following him, John with Asia, Thomas with India. There will appear all the rams of the Lord's flock with the souls they have won, each bringing with him the flock that he has submitted to God by his holy sermons.

When so many pastors will come forward with their flocks before the eyes of the eternal shepherd, what can we say, unhappy, who come to our Lord empty-handed on our way home from work, and who, having borne the title of pastors, we find without the sheep that we had to feed to present them to him? Here below called pastors, and up there without a flock!

18. But if we are careless, does the almighty God forsake his sheep? In no way, for he will graze them in person, as he promised by the voice of the prophet (Ezek 34:23); all those whom he has predestined to life, he inculcates in them the spirit of compunction by the sting of punishment. It is true that it is through us that the faithful arrive at holy baptism, that it is through our prayers that they are blessed, and that it is by the imposition of our hands that they receive from God the spirit Saint8. But as they come to the Kingdom of Heaven, here is our negligence, we ourselves go down. The elect, purified by the hands of the bishops, enter the heavenly country, and the bishops, by their bad life, rush into the torments of hell. To what would I compare these bad bishops, if not to the baptismal water, which erases the sins of the baptized and sends them to the heavenly kingdom, then flows itself into the sewer?

Oh! my brothers, let us fear such a fate! May our actions live up to our ministry. Let us make daily efforts to rid ourselves of our faults, for fear of leaving in the bonds of sin a life of which the Almighty God uses every day to deliver others. Let us constantly consider what we are, think what function is ours; Yes, let us think of the burden we have been charged. Let us set up every day, one by one, the balance sheet of the accounts which we must render to our Judge.

But we must look after ourselves without neglecting to watch over our neighbor, so that all who come to us are seasoned with the salt of our word. When we see a bachelor delivered to lust, let him endeavor to contain his excesses by marriage, so that a permitted action teaches him to triumph over another who is not. When we see a married man, let us urge him to apply himself to the affairs of the age only by taking care not to make them pass before the love of God, and to please his wife's will only condition not to displease his Creator. When we see a cleric, let us commit ourselves to living in such a way that he sets a good example to the people of the world, lest, if he lends himself to a just criticism, he will, by his vice, undermine the good reputation of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. When we see a monk, let us commit him to always respect his holy habit in his acts, his words and his thoughts, to abandon totally what is the world, and to show himself, by his manners, such in the eyes of God that his habit makes him appear in the eyes of men.

Is this one already holy? Let us commit ourselves to growing again in holiness. Is he still in sin? Let's commit him to correct himself. And let all those who come to find the bishop withdraw from it relieved of some seasoning by the salt of his word. Meditate all of this in yourselves, my brethren, and put it into practice with your loved ones. Prepare to present to Almighty God the fruit you must collect from the burden you have received.

But all these things that we tell you, we rely more on our prayer than on our words to obtain them.

Pray:

O God, who have desired that the people call us pastors, give us to realize in your eyes the name given to us by men. By our Lord ...

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In the Latin of the sixth century, the word sacerdos may designate the priest or the bishop. As this Homily addresses bishops, we have translated it as "bishop" except where it can only mean "priest".

2 Saint Gregory plays here on two Latin words of the same root: salutare (salute) and salus, salutis (salvation [eternal]). This word game is found in French.

3 These verses of the book of Job illustrate the just protest of the faithful in the face of pastors who do not fulfill their duty of state. The shouting earth is the diocesan Church that murmurs against its bishop. The crying furrows are the Christians who grieve about the life of their bishop. Why these murmurs, why these tears? Because the pastor eats the benefit of his load (the fruit) without paying for it, that is, he does not fulfill his duty of preaching. The good shepherd, on the contrary, does not cry out his earth, nor cry his furrows, for he does not eat the fruit without paying for it: he preaches as he should.

4 On the word "compunction", cf. the introduction to homily 15.

5 The bases were plinths of brass for basins for the washing of priests. Equipped with four chariot wheels, they were very carefully decorated.

6 In Capita: at the most noble point.

7 Ancient country of Greece.

8 Allusion to the baptismal context of this Homily, pronounced at the Baptismal Fonts of the Lateran at the end of the fourth week of Lent, that of the "polls".