Homily 34

Pronounced before the people

in the Basilica of Blessed John and Paul

September 29, 591

(the Saturday of the Quatre-Temps, which was falling,

that year, the day of St. Michael)

The sheep and the drachma

Saint Grégoire was condemned all summer to silence by his state of health. So his speech is lengthening today. He begins by commenting on the parables of the sheep and the drachma lost and found again, read on this liturgical day, before embarking on a long digression on the angels, which is probably inspired by the feast of St. Michael. . Homily ends with an exhortation to vigilance and penance.

I- (1-6) The Pharisees are angry with the goodness of Christ for sinners. To heal their pride, Jesus tells them a parable: the Creator leaves his ninety-nine sheep in the desert (the angels in Heaven) to seek and bring back the lost one (the fallen man). The Pope explains why there is more joy in Heaven for the sinner who repents than for a righteous man who has never fallen: the penitent is excited to zeal by the memory of his sins to expiate; the righteous, he risks falling into a false security. The ideal would be to be both fair and penitent. The opinion expressed here by our orator is a commonplace of monastic literature: Cassian, for example, also affirms that it is much easier to bring a sinner to conversion than to bring out of his lukewarmness the monk. who has not entered resolutely into the ways of perfection and let the fire of his first fervor fade away in him "(Conferences 4, 19). From the lost and found sheep, Gregory passes to the drachma, whose meaning is the same. Nine drachms remain with the woman of the parable, since there are nine choirs of angels: clever transition, which allows the preacher to approach his second subject.

II- (7-14) While pretending to lose the thread of his speech, the Holy Pope gives us in fact a real little treatise of angelology. He shows how Scripture distinguishes nine choirs of angels, what the names of these choruses signify, and what moral lesson to draw from them. He discusses an opinion of an author who is said to be Dionysius the Areopagite.

III- (15-18) Returning to the man and his weaknesses, the speaker commits his listeners to take care not to fall if they are standing, and to rise quickly by penance if they have fallen . On what he undertakes to define the components of a real penance, an opportunity for him to resume his initial theme: the praise of the mercy of God, this mercy that manifested itself in a striking way on the monk Victorinus, including Gregory tells the story here. Final sentences engrave in the souls of listeners the lesson to be learned from Homily.

Lk 15, 1-10

At that time, publicans and sinners came to Jesus to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." He then told them this parable:

"Which of you, if he has a hundred sheep and comes to lose one, leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness to go after the one that was lost, until what does he find? And when he found it, he put it on his shoulders, all happy, and back home, he assembles his friends and neighbors, and said to them, "Rejoice with me, because I found her, My lost sheep!> Thus, I say to you, there will be more joy in Heaven for one sinner who repents than for ninety-nine just who do not have need to repent.

"Or, what woman, if she has ten drachmas and comes to lose one, does not light a lamp, does not turn her house upside down, and searches carefully until she finds it? And when she found it, she assembled her friends and her neighbors, and said to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I found her, the drachma I had lost!' say it, there will be joy before the angels of God for one sinner who repents. "

The summer climate, which is completely contrary to my body, has prevented me for a long time from speaking to you to explain the gospel. But it is not because my tongue has remained silent that my charity has stopped burning. Each one of you can see for yourself what I am saying here: it often happens that the embarrassment of external occupations comes to prevent the effect of charity, which, while continuing to burn without diminution in our heart, does not allow however, more to see in our works, just like the sun hidden by the clouds, which one does not see on the earth and which continues nevertheless to shine in the sky. This is how our charity can be hindered: it continues to feel the ardor of its fire inside, but no longer shows the flames of its works.

However, since here is the time to talk, I feel very excited by your fervor, and I have all the more fun to do that your souls are waiting for more desire.

2. You have learned, my brethren, through the reading of the gospel, that sinners and publicans have come to our Redeemer, and that he admits them not only to converse with him, but also to share his meal. At this sight, the Pharisees were indignant. You can conclude that true justice is full of compassion, the false full of indignation. This does not mean that the righteous can not also be rightly indignant against sinners. But one thing is to act out of pride and arrogance, another to be moved by zeal for the moral law. The just are indignant indeed, but as if they were not indignant; they despair of sinners, but as if they did not despair; they take them to task, but out of love; for even if they multiply reproaches out of concern for morality, they nevertheless preserve sweetness for charity. In their hearts, they usually feel inferior to those they correct, and even those they judge, they consider them better than them. In so doing, they watch over both their flock by the moral law and over themselves by humility.

But those, on the contrary, that a false opinion of their justice makes them swell with pride, despise all others and do not show any mercy or condescension for the weak, and they become all the more sinners that they imagine they do not not be. The Pharisees were assuredly of this number, because in judging the Lord for the reception he had reserved for sinners, they blamed the very source of mercy with a withered heart.

3. But because they were sick to the point of knowing nothing about it, the Heavenly Physician, wishing to bring them back to a proper knowledge of themselves, undertakes to cure them by gentle remedies. He offers them a parable full of good nature and compresses in their heart the tumor of the abscess that hurts them. He said to them, "Which of you, if he has a hundred sheep and comes to lose one, leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness to go after the one that is is lost? "See how Truth, in its goodness, knows how to provide everything while giving us such a comparison: man can recognize in itself the merits, although it concerns more especially the Creator of men himself. even. Since a hundred is the number of perfection, God had a hundred sheep when He created the nature of angels and men. But a sheep was lost when the man, when sinning, left the pasture of life. The Creator then left the ninety-nine sheep in the desert, for he abandoned the very high choirs of the angels in Heaven.

But why is heaven called desert, if not because desert means "abandoned"? It was when the man sinned that he gave up Heaven. Ninety-nine sheep dwelt in the desert, while the Lord sought only one on the earth: the rational creatures, angels and men, all of whom had been created to contemplate God, indeed saw their number diminished by the loss. of man, and the Lord, wishing to restore to Heaven the complete number of his sheep, sought on earth the man who had lost himself. For where our evangelist says "in the desert", another evangelist says "in the mountains" (Mt 18:12), to mean "in the heights", since the sheep that had not perished stood in the heights of the Sky.

"And when he found it, he put it on his shoulders, all merry." He put the sheep on his shoulders, because having assumed human nature, he bore our sins himself.

"And when he returns home, he assembles his friends and his neighbors, and says to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found her, my lost sheep!'" Once the sheep is found, he returns home he, since our Pastor, having saved the man, returned to the celestial kingdom. There, he finds his friends and neighbors, that is to say, the choirs of angels, who are his friends, because now fixed [in God], they keep his will and his neighbors, because they enjoy the brilliance of his vision. It should also be noted that he does not say: "Rejoice with the sheep that I found", but: "Rejoice with me", because our life is all its joy, and our return to Heaven brings to their plenitude its solemn rejoicings.

4. "Thus, I say to you, there will be more joy in Heaven for one sinner who repents than for ninety-nine just men who need not repent. Here we should examine, my brethren, why the Lord declares that there is more joy in Heaven for the conversion of sinners than for the perseverance of the righteous; but the daily example of what we have before our eyes teaches us: often, those who do not feel guilty of great sins remain well in the path of justice, and they do not commit any action forbidden, but they do not Nor do they feel much ardor for the heavenly homeland, and they deprive themselves all the less of the things permitted that they do not remember to have committed their defenses. Thus they often remain lazy in the practice of good basic works, feeling safe in the fact that they have never sinned really badly.

On the contrary, some of those who remember to have performed forbidden actions, being pierced with compunction by their very grief, are inflamed with love for God and exert themselves to great virtues; they undertake all the difficult struggles of holiness, they abandon all the goods of the world, flee honors, rejoice in the outrages received, burn with desire [for eternal life] and yearn for the heavenly homeland. And considering that they had departed from God, they redeemed their losses from the past by the profits they make in the course of their lives.

There is therefore more joy in Heaven for the conversion of a sinner than for the perseverance of a righteous man, just as a leader prefers in battle the soldier who, having returned after fleeing, enemy with vigor, to one who has never turned his heels in front of the enemy, but has never really fought with courage. Thus, the peasant prefers the land which, after the thorns, bears abundant fruit, to that which has never had thorns, but never produces a rich harvest either.

5. However, it is necessary to know that there are many righteous ones whose life is such a joy [for Heaven] that it does not yield in any way to the penitent life of the sinners. For there are many who, although they are not aware of any bad action, show a pain as great as if they were charged with all sins. They refuse all things, even those which God authorizes; they surround themselves with a sovereign contempt for the world, forbid themselves absolutely everything, deprive themselves even of licit goods, turn away from the visible and ignite for the invisible; they put their joy in lamentation and humble themselves in everything; others mourn the sins of their actions, but they mourn the sins of their thought. So what about these men, except that they are both just and penitent, since they humble themselves in penance for the sins of their thought, without ever ceasing to persevere in righteousness by their works? We must therefore recognize what an immense joy a righteous person must give to God by the tears of his humility, when a sinner already involved in Heaven so great by punishing himself, by penance, for what he has done wrong. .

6. The text continues: "Or, what woman, if she has ten drachmas and comes to lose one, does not light a lamp, does not put her house upside down and does not look carefully until she find the lost coin? "It is one and the same person that the pastor and the woman symbolize, for it is one and the same person who is God and Wisdom of God. And as the drachmas are struck by an image, the woman lost her drachma when the man, who had been created in the image of God, sinned, removed from the resemblance he had with his Creator. But the woman lit her lamp, because the wisdom of God was manifested in a human nature. The lamp is indeed a light in a terracotta vase; but what is a light in a terracotta vase, if not the divinity in the flesh? It is from this earthenware vase, that is to say from its body, that the Wisdom in person affirms: "My strength has withered like a terra-cotta vase" (Ps 22:16). Since the terra-cotta hardens in the fire, his strength dried up like a clay vase: the flesh he had assumed was hardened by the torments of his Passion for the glory of his Resurrection.

The woman, having lighted her lamp, put her house upside down: as soon as the deity of Wisdom shone through her flesh, all our conscience was shaken. Because the house is turned upside down when the consciousness of the man is troubled at the sight of his faults. The phrase "put upside down" does not differ much from the verb "to clean up" which is read in its place in other manuscripts; indeed, a misguided spirit can be cleansed of its inveterate vices only if we start by turning it upside down with fear. So once she has set the house upside down that the woman finds the drachma, since it is by the deep shaking of his conscience that man is restored to the likeness of his Creator.

"And when she found it, she assembled her friends and her neighbors, and said to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I found her, the drachma I had lost!'" Who are friends and neighbors if not the powers of heaven of which I spoke above? They are so much nearer to heavenly wisdom, that the grace of continual contemplation brings them closer to them. Let us not fail here to ask why this woman who figures the Wisdom of God is shown to us in possession of ten drachmas, and why she loses one and finds it after seeking it. The Lord created the nature of angels and men to know Him, and because He wanted them to be eternal, He certainly created them in His likeness. Thus, this woman had ten drachmas, because there are nine choirs of the angels, but in order to complete the number of the elect, the man was created as a tenth, and after his fault, this one did not perish far from his Creator: the eternal Wisdom, which shone in the flesh by his miracles, saved him by means of the light [of his divinity] lit in a vase of terra cotta.

7. We said that there are nine orders of angels. We know from the testimony of Holy Scripture that there are Angels, Archangels, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominations, Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim. That there are Angels and Archangels, almost all the pages of Holy Scripture attest; as for the Cherubim and the Seraphim, everyone knows that the books of the prophets often speak about it. The Apostle Paul enumerates for the Ephesians the names of four other orders when he says: "Above all Principality, Power, Virtue, and Domination." (Eph 1:21). He says again, in writing to the Colossians, "Both the Thrones and the Powers, the Principalities, and the Dominations." (Col 1:16). Addressing the Ephesians, he had already quoted Dominations, Principalities, and Powers; but before speaking to the Colossians, he puts the thrones before them, of which he had said nothing to the Ephesians. If, then, the Thrones are joined to the four orders which Paul quotes to the Ephesians - Principalities, Powers, Virtues, Dominations - five orders are thus mentioned by name; and if we add to it the Angels and the Archangels, the Cherubim and the Seraphim, we find without any doubt that there are nine orders of angels.

This is why the prophet asserts to the first angel who was created, "You have been the seal of likeness, full of wisdom and perfect beauty in the delights of God's paradise." (Ez 28: 12-13). It must be noted here that he does not say it created in the likeness of God, but seal of its likeness, in order to make it clear that its nature is marked by a more exact likeness to the image of God, because she is of a more complete perfection. The same text continues immediately: "Your garment is all covered with precious stones: sardoine, topaz and jasper, chrysolite, onyx and beryl, sapphire, carbuncle and emerald." These are nine names of precious stones that are listed, since the orders of There are nine angels. The first angel appears to us adorned and covered with these nine orders of angels, because having the preeminence over all the angelic militia, it seems even more brilliant of glory if one compares it with the others.

8. But why have enumerated these different choirs of the angels, remaining in heaven, if we do not explain their ministries in detail? The word Angel means in Greek "Announcer", and Archangel, "Great Annunciator". We must also know that the term Angel means a function, and not a nature. For if the blessed spirits of the heavenly homeland are always spirits, they can not always be called angels; they are Angels only when they announce something. This is why the psalmist says, "Spirits, he makes his angels." (Ps 104, 4). It is as if he clearly said: "He who always has minds at his disposal, he makes his angels when he wants." Angels are called those who announce things of lesser importance, Archangels those who announce the most high. This is why it was not an Angel, but the Archangel Gabriel whom God sent to the Virgin Mary (Lk 1, 26). In such a ministry, indeed, it was fitting that the greatest of the angels should come and announce the greatest news.

Some of these Angels also receive particular names, to express in words the extent of their action. For it is not in the holy city, where the vision of Almighty God confers a perfect knowledge, that they are given a proper name: there is no need of a name to know their persons; but it is when they come to perform to us any service that they derive a particular name from that ministry.

9. This is how Michel means "who is like God?" Gabriel, "Strength of God"; Raphael, "Medicine of God". Whenever extraordinary power is needed, the Scripture tells us that it is Michael who is sent: his action and his name make it clear that no one can boast of doing what is reserved for the sole power of God. The ancient enemy, devoured by the proud desire to equal himself to God, declared: "I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of heaven, I will sit on the mountain of the covenant beside the Aquilon I will ascend to the top of the clouds and be like the Most High "(Is 14: 13-14). But the Scripture testifies that at the end of the world, abandoned to his own strength and condemned to perish in the final torture, he will fight against Archangel Michael: "It was done, says John, a fight with the Archangel Michael "(Rev 12: 7). In his pride, the devil had exalted himself to make himself the equal of God; but it must be defeated by Michael, he learns that no one should rise by pride to the likeness of God.

To Mary, it is Gabriel who is sent, whose name means "Force of God". Would not he come to announce the one who deigned to appear in humility to fight the powers of the air? The psalmist says about him: "Princes, break your doors; lift up, eternal doors, and the King of glory will come in. Who is this King of glory? He is the strong and mighty Lord, the mighty Lord in battle. "And again:" The Lord of hosts, behold the King of glory "(Psalm 24: 7-10). It was thus necessary that it was by "Strength of God" that the Lord of the Armies, powerful in the fight, was announced who came to make war with the powers of the air.

Finally, as we have said, Raphael means "Medicine of God". In fact, this Archangel has dispelled the darkness that made Tobias blind, touching his eyes, so to speak, through the care lavished on him (see Tb 11: 7-8). He who was sent to heal was therefore worthy to be called "Medicine of God".

Since we have given a few words of explanation on the names of the angels, we now have to comment briefly on the terms used to designate their functions.

10. By Virtues, we designate the spirits by which signs and miracles are most often performed.

By the powers, we designate those who have received, in their order, more power than others to submit the adverse forces to their authority, limit their power and thus prevent them from tempting the hearts of men as much as they do. want.

By the Principalities, we designate those who command the other good angelic spirits themselves, who distribute to those who are subject to them the orders of all that they must do, and who direct them in the accomplishment of the divine missions.

By Dominations, we designate spirits that far exceed the power of the Principalities. For to have the principality consists in holding the first rank in a group, while to dominate is also to have each other under his authority. Dominations, therefore, are called the angels' troops, who, by their admirable power, have precedence over others, because they are bound to submit to them by obedience.

By the Thrones, we designate the militia that always presides the almighty God to exercise justice [sitting in front of them]. Since [the Greek word] throne means "seat" in Latin, Thrones of God are called spirits who are filled with divine grace with such abundance that the Lord sits in them and uses them to pronounce his judgments. This is why the psalmist says: "You are seated on a throne, O you who judge with equity." (Ps 9, 5)

Cherub means "fullness of science". The higher troops are called Cherubim, for they are spirits so much the more perfectly filled with the knowledge of God, that they contemplate his glory more closely; to their measure of creatures, they have a knowledge of all things all the more complete as they come closer to the vision of their Creator, by virtue of their dignity.

Finally, Seraphim are called the militia of holy spirits who burn with incomparable love because of their singular proximity to their Creator. Seraphim means "burning and burning". They are so united to God that no other spirit stands between them and him. They are so much more excited that they see it more closely. The flame with which they burn is assuredly that of love, for their love is all the more ardent as they contemplate the glory of divinity with a more penetrating look.

11. But what good is it to say these few words about the angelic spirits, if we do not bother to turn them to our progress by an adequate reflection? The heavenly city is made up of angels and men, and we believe that there will be as many representatives of the human race as there have remained of the chosen angels, as it is written, "He has set the limits peoples according to the number of angels of God "(Dt 32,8). We must therefore profit for our lives from the distinctions that exist between the inhabitants of the city from above, in order to inflame ourselves with a holy ardor to grow in virtue. For if it is true that the number of men destined to ascend to Heaven is equal to that of the angels who have remained there, those same men who return to the heavenly homeland must imitate in something the militia they join. there. The different ways of life of men correspond, indeed, to each of the orders of the heavenly militia, and we receive a place in their ranks according to the similarity of our way of living with theirs.

There are many who understand only humble truths, but continue to announce them to their brothers with kindness: such men run to join the troop of Angels.

Others, strengthened by the gifts of divine largesse, are able to understand and announce the highest celestial mysteries: where to place them, if not among the Archangels?

Still others realize admirable things and perform miracles of great power: what is the rank and place that suits them, if not those of the Virtues from above?

Some compel the evil spirits to flee from the body of the possessed, and drive them out by the virtue of their prayer and the power given to them: with whom do they get to enjoy the fruit of their merits, if not with the heavenly powers ?

There are some who surpass, by virtue of the virtues they have received, the merits of the other elect; better than the good ones themselves, they exercise a principality even over their elected brothers: in what group do they rank, if not among the Principalities?

Others dominate so well in them all vices and desires, that their purity entitles them to be called gods among men, as the Lord said to Moses: "See, I have made you the god of Pharaoh "(Ex 7: 1): to which militia do they join, if not to that of the Dominations?

Still others take vigilant care to dominate themselves and an attention always awake to examine themselves: never departing from the fear of God, they obtain as a reward for their virtues the power to judge others equally well. . The Lord, holding at the disposal of their mind the contemplation of his divinity, presides in them as of his throne, and he examines through them the acts of others, regulating all things with an admirable order from the height of his seat. What are such men, if not the Thrones of their Creator? And where to inscribe them, if not to the number of celestial seats? And since it is through them that the holy Church is governed, even the elect are usually judged by them for their acts of weakness.

Some are filled with such love of God and neighbor that they are rightly called Cherubim. If indeed, as we have already stated, Cherubim means "fullness of knowledge," and if, as we know from Paul's testimony, "charity is the fulness of the Law" (Rom 13:10) All men who love God and their neighbor with a plenitude beyond that of others deserve to be included in the number of Cherubim.

Finally, there are those who are inflamed by the contemplation of things from above and yearn for their desire to their Creator; they desire nothing in this world, they feed on the only love of eternity, reject all earthly goods, rise through the spirit above all that passes; they love and burn, and they take their rest in this very burn; they burn with love, they kindle others by speaking to them, and at once they burn with God's love those whom they touch by their words. What about such men, except that they are Seraphim? Their hearts, changed into fire, illuminate and burn, since while turning the eyes of souls towards the lights above, they purify them of the rust of their vices by making them cry of compunction. Yes, those whom the love of their Creator ignites to this point have received a vocation to take their place among the Seraphim.

12. But while I tell you all this, dear brothers, make a return on yourself and judge what your merits and your hidden thoughts are worth. Examine whether you can already avail yourself of any good you have done. Examine again if, as you are called, you find your place among the militias we have mentioned quickly. Woe to the soul that does not recognize in it any of the goods we have listed! Worse still, if, thus, deprived of gifts [of grace], she does not deplore it! How sad must it be, my brothers, the state of such a man, since he himself does not regret it!

Let us, then, measure the rewards received by the elect, and aspire with all our strength to grow in the love of so high a destiny. If we do not see the least gift of grace in us, let's deplore it. And if we acknowledge ourselves to be endowed with gifts of lesser value, let us not forget the larger gifts that others have received, for even the heavenly hierarchies of blessed spirits have been created so that some have pre-eminence over them. other.

Dionysius the Areopagite, an ancient and venerable father, asserts, it is reported, that it is the angels belonging to the inferior militia who are sent abroad, in a visible or invisible manner, to accomplish their ministry; indeed, it is the Angels or the Archangels who come to comfort men. The higher militias, however, never depart from the innermost regions [of Heaven] because, because of their pre-eminence, they are exempt from any external ministry. Such an assertion seems to be contradicted by the words of Isaiah: "And one of the Seraphim flew toward me, holding in his hand a burning stone which he had taken on the altar with tweezers, and he touched my mouth "(Is 6, 6-7). But this word of the prophet must be understood in the sense that the spirits sent on mission take the name of those whose functions they fulfill. Seraphim - which means "flame" - is called the angel who carries the burning coal taken to the altar to deliver the sins of the tongue to the flames. It is not unreasonable to see a confirmation of this opinion in what Daniel says: "Thousands served him, and ten thousand hundreds of thousands stood before him" (Dn 7:10). It is not the same thing to serve God and to stand before him: those who serve him are those who come out to announce messages to us, while those who stand in front of him, are those who enjoy of inner contemplation, so that they are never sent on mission abroad.

13. But since we have learned, through various texts of Sacred Scripture, that certain actions are performed by Cherubim and others by Seraphim, must we understand that they do these things by themselves, or that they realize them through the angels to whom they command, so that the latter, coming from their superiors, share, according to what Dionys says, the names of these superiors? For our part, we do not want to affirm what we can not prove by clear and unmistakable texts. We do know, however, that in order to fulfill a ministry from above, some spirits send others, as the prophet Zechariah testifies: "And, behold, the angel that spoke in me went out, and behold, Another angel went out to meet him and said to him, "Run and speak to this young man and say to him, Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls." (Zec 2: 7-8). From the moment that an angel can say to another angel: "Run and speak," there is no doubt that one sends the other. It is the lower ones who are sent, and the superiors who send. But as for the angels who are sent, we also take for granted that even when they come to us, they fulfill their external ministry without, however, ever leaving the contemplation of God. Thus, while being sent, they stand before God, for even if an angelic spirit is limited, the supreme Spirit of God is not limited. This is why angels can be simultaneously in mission and before him: wherever they are sent, when they go there, it is still within God that they run.

14. It must be known, moreover, that the orders of blessed spirits often receive the name of a neighboring order. The thrones, seats of God, are, as we have said, a special order of blessed spirits, and the psalmist says, "You who seat on the cherubim, appear" (Ps 80: 2). The Cherubim being in fact all neighbors of the Thrones in the hierarchy of militias, this proximity makes the psalmist say that the Lord also sits on the Cherubim. Thus certain goods are attributed in the celestial city to one or the other without ceasing to be common to all. And that which each one receives a participation is possessed entirely by the spirits of another order.

All, however, are not designated by one and the same name: the order which has been specifically charged with such a mission must also receive the name which designates it. We have said that Seraphim means "flame", while all burn with the love of the Creator; and Cherubim means "fullness of knowledge," though no one can ignore anything where all see God, the source of all science. The Thrones are so named because they are the militias on which the Creator presides, but who can be blessed if the Creator does not preside over his spirit? The particular names attributed to the various spirits thus reflect qualities which all possess in part, but some of which have received a more full participation. And even if up there some spirits hold something that others can not dispose of - as is the case for Dominations and Principalities, which are called by a specific name - in this place all things belong to each, since by the charity of the Holy Spirit, all that is possessed by one is also possessed by others.

15. But our research on the secrets of the citizens of Heaven has led us into a long digression, which has made us lose the thread of our commentary. So let's aspire to join the ones we just talked about, but let's get back to ourselves. We must indeed remind ourselves that we are flesh. Let us keep silent for the moment on the secrets of Heaven, but let us erase from the eyes of our Creator, by means of penance, the stains with which our dust has soiled us. This is what Divine Providence has promised us: "There will be joy in Heaven for one sinner who repents." The Lord says no less by the mouth of the prophet: "If the just one day to sin, I will not remember any more of all his good deeds. "(Ezek 18, 24). Let us measure, if we can, as the goodness of God disposes all with wisdom. He threatens to punish those who are standing, in case they come to fall; but he promises mercy to those who have sinned, so that they desire to rise again. It scares some, so that they are not too sure in their good deeds; He gives courage to others so that they do not despair because of their bad deeds. Are you right? Fear anger, for fear of falling. Are you a sinner? Trust in mercy, to raise you up. Alas! here we have fallen; we could not remain standing, and we lie in our perverted desires. However, the one who created us in righteousness still awaits us and urges us to rise up. He opens us his bosom full of goodness and seeks to make us return to him through penance.

But we can not be worthy of penance if we do not know how to do it. To do penance is at once to mourn the bad deeds that have been committed and to commit no more than we should then cry. For he who, while mourning his sins, commits others, or has not begun to do penance, or does not know how to do it. What good is it, indeed, to deplore his faults of lust, if one remains devoured by the fires of avarice? Or what is the use of crying for anger, if one continues to consume the ardor of envy?

But there is still more to be done: it is not enough for him who regrets his sins to abstain entirely from committing what he deplores, nor for him who mourns his vices to fear falling back into it.

16. It must be seriously considered that whoever remembers having committed wrongdoing must make the effort to abstain even from certain things which are lawful, and thus discharge his debt towards his Creator: having committed what was forbidden to him he must refuse even that which is permitted to him, and reproach himself for his smallest faults when he remembers having fallen into greater ones.

What I have just said would seem exaggerated if I did not confirm it by the testimony of Sacred Scripture. The Old Testament Law undoubtedly forbids the desire of others' wives (see Ex 20, 17), but it does not forbid the king, as a reprehensible thing, from ordering dangerous actions to his soldiers, nor to want to be brought water. Now we all know how David was driven by the sting of concupiscence to the point of desiring the woman of another and taking it away from him (2 S 11: 2-4). Worthy punishments followed his fault, and he expiated in the lamentations of penance the evil he had committed. Finding himself, long after, near enemy formations, he very much desired to drink water from the cistern of Bethlehem (2 S 23, 15). Elite soldiers crossed the enemy troops and reported, without being wounded, the water desired by the king. But this man, whom trials had taught, immediately reproached himself for having endangered the lives of his soldiers by desiring this water, and poured it out for the Lord, as it is written: libation to the Lord "(2 Sam 23:16). The poured water thus became a sacrifice offered to the Lord, since the king has expiated his sin of concupiscence by inflicting pain for his correction. He who in the past had not feared to desire the wife of others was then afraid of having desired a little water: the memory of the forbidden actions he had accomplished made him now severe for him. himself, and led him to abstain even from the permitted things. Thus we will do [a worthy] penance if we mourn with all our heart the mistakes we have committed.

Consider the heavenly riches of our Creator. He saw us sin, and he endured it.

17. God, who, before the sin, forbade us to sin, does not cease, however, after the sin, to wait for us to forgive us. See how the very one we despised calls us. We turned away from him, but he does not turn away from us. This is what Isaiah says: "And your eyes will see the one who teaches you; and your ears will hear behind you the voice of him who warns you "(Is 30, 20-21). Man was, so to speak, forewarned when created in the state of righteousness, he received the precepts of the righteous life. But when he despised these precepts, he turned the back of his soul in the face of his Creator. The latter, however, still follows us from behind to warn us: once rejected by us, he still calls us. We turn his back, so to speak, by scorning his words and trampling on his precepts. But standing behind us, he reminds us, we who have turned away from him. Seeing himself despised, he cries yet by his commandments and waits patiently.

Consider, dear brothers, what would be your reaction if the servant to whom you spoke suddenly made the proud and turned his back on you? If you despise yourself in your dignity as master, you will not punish his pride and inflict upon him the wounds of severe punishment? But here we are, by sinning, turning our backs on our Creator, and yet He supports us. He kindly recalls those who turned away from him with pride, and he who might have hit us when we turned away from him, he promises us rewards for us to return. May so great mercy from our Creator melt our hardness into sin. And that the man, to whom the blows could have made understand the evil he had committed, blush at least seeing that God is waiting for him.

18. I go here, my brethren, to tell you in a few words a story that I learned from the story of the venerable Maximian, who was then Father of my monastery and priest, and who is now Bishop of Syracuse. If you agree to listen to me, I do not doubt that your charity is strengthened for a long time.

At times close to ours there was a certain Victorinus, also called Æmilianus, who, compared to the average condition, had a very good fortune. But the sin of the flesh being frequently favored by wealth, he came to fall into a fault which he should have particularly dreaded, while meditating on the horror of the death which awaited him. Pierced with compunction at the thought of his crime, he reacted against himself, abandoned all the goods of this world and entered the monastery. There, he gave the marks of such humility and such self-discipline that all the brothers who practiced growing up in the love of God could only despise their own lives at the sight of his penances. . For he applied with all the strength of his soul to crucify his flesh, to break his own will, to pray secretly, to wash his faults every day in tears, to seek contempt, and to fear veneration of his brothers.

He had gotten used to getting up well before the night vigils that the brothers celebrated. He took advantage of the remote place that offered a prominence on the side of the mount where the monastery is located, and he went there every day before the night service to mortify itself in the tears of penance, of so much more free in that the place was more secretive. He contemplated the severity of his coming Judge, and punished by his tears the defilements of his sin, in order to be in advance in full agreement with this Judge.

One night, the abbot of the monastery, who was not sleeping, saw him go out in secret and followed him on foot outside without being seen. When he had seen him bow to pray in this remote corner of the mountain, he decided to wait until he got up to know the duration of his prayer. Now a light from heaven suddenly spread over the monk who was prostrating himself in prayer, and the light spread in this place with such abundance that all this part of the mountain shone with the same light. At this sight, the abbe trembled and fled. As the brother returned to the monastery after a good hour, his abbot, who wanted to know if he had been aware of the bright light that had spread over him, tried to question him in these terms: "Brother, where were you?" The brother, thinking he could keep the secret, replied that he was at the monastery. Finding his reluctance, the abbot was obliged to say what he had seen. Finding himself then discovered, the brother revealed to the abbot what he still did not know: "When you saw the light from Heaven descending upon me, a voice accompanied him, who said to me, 'Your sin has been handed. ' "

It is certain that Almighty God could have forgiven his sin without speaking; but by making his voice heard and shining his light, he wanted such an example of his mercy to provoke our hearts to penance. We admire, dear brothers, that the Lord has brought down Saul, his persecutor, from heaven, and that he has spoken to him from heaven. Now, just recently, Victorinus, sinner and penitent, heard a voice from heaven. If it had been said to the first, "Why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9, 4), the second one, he deserved to hear: "Your sin was given to you." This penitent sinner is well inferior to Paul in merit. But since the Saul we are talking about here still bore cruelty and murder, it can be said boldly that Saul heard for his pride the voice that reproached him, and Victorinus for his humility the voice that consoled him. Divine goodness relieved him, because his humility had thrown him to the ground, while divine severity humbled the first, because his pride had lifted him up.

Have great confidence, my brethren, in the mercy of our Creator; think about what you do, think back to what you did. Consider the bounty of goodness from above, and come in tears to your merciful Judge while he is still waiting for you. Knowing that he is right, do not treat your sins with negligence; knowing that he is good, do not be desperate. The God made man leads man to trust God. What great hope for us who do penance, since our Judge has become our advocate, who, being God, lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

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1 We have translated all altilia "fat poultry", but etymologically, this word means "well fed beasts".

2 Cf. Ap 2: 6: The Nicolaitans are the followers of Deacon Nicholas.

3 The Latin word habitus can mean the way one is dressed, the way of being or the state of life (monastic or secular). We always translate it by "habit", but we must keep in mind this wealth of meaning. For Saint Gregory, the habit makes the monk: he designates the state of life that he means. To clothe the habit is to enter the monastic life (see Dialogues II, prol.).

4 This is Homily 19 (7). The first version of this story differs a lot from the one we read here. The essence of this story was then taken up by St. Gregory in his Dialogues (IV, 40, 2-5), where he tells us that the young convert who will be discussed is called Theodore.