Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

For that reason, this is what the Lord says: “Look, I shall seek out my sheep and watch over them. Just as the shepherd seeks his flock on the day when there is darkness and a cloud in the midst of the separated sheep, so I will seek out my sheep and drive them away from everywhere they were scattered on the day of cloud and darkness. And I will bring them out of the nations and gather them from the countries and lead them into their land, and feed them on the mountains of Israel and in the valleys and in every dwelling place of the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, in Israel’s high mountain. And their sheepfolds will be there and they will sleep, and there they will rest in good delight, and they will feed in a rich pasture upon Israel’s mountains. I shall tend my sheep, and I shall give them rest, and they will know that I am the Lord.” This is what the Master, the Lord, says: “I shall seek the perishing and return the stray and bind up the crushed and strengthen the faint and guard the strong and tend them with justice.” And you sheep, this is what the Master, the Lord, says: “Look, I shall bring judgment between sheep and sheep, rams and he-goats. And was it not enough for you that you were grazing the good pasture and trampling the rest of your pasture with your feet, and drinking the stagnant water and stirring up the rest with your feet? And my sheep were grazing on the tramplings of your feet, and they were drinking water troubled by your feet!” ‘On account of this, this is what the Master, the Lord, says: “Look, I will judge between strong sheep and weak sheep. You kept pushing by your ribs and shoulders and you kept butting with your horns, and you were afflicting all the faint. But I shall save my sheep, and they will never again become plunder, and I shall judge between ram against ram. And I shall raise up one shepherd over them and he is shepherding them: my servant David; and he shall be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, shall become their God, and David a ruler in their midst; I, the Lord, have spoken. (Ezekiel 34:11–24 LXX)

We must ponder the fact that everyone, as much as he can, as much as he is in a position to, should strive zealously to make known to the Church he has undertaken to serve both the dreadfulness of the coming judgment and the sweetness of the kingdom. One who is not in a position to offer encouragement to everyone at the same time should instruct individuals, as much as he can, he should offer instruction in personal talks, he should seek for profit in the hearts of his children through simple encouragement. We must consider what was said to the apostles, and by the apostles to us: You are the salt of the earth. If we are salt, we should season the hearts of believers. You who are shepherds, consider that you are pasturing God’s flock. Of them the psalmist said: Your flock shall dwell in it. We often see a block of salt put out for brute animals; they are to lick it and be made better. A priest among his people should be like a block of salt in the midst of brute animals. A priest must be careful about what he says to individuals, to counsel each one in such a way that anyone associated with the priest may be seasoned with the taste of eternal life as if by contact with salt. We are not the salt of the earth if we do not season the hearts of those who hear us. One who does not withhold his preaching gives this seasoning to his neighbor. But then we truly preach what is right to others, if our words are revealed in our actions, if we ourselves are pierced by divine love, and if we wash away with our tears the stains of human life which we daily acquire, since we cannot live without sin. Then do we truly feel remorse if we diligently ponder the deeds of our ancestors so that when we have regarded their renown, our own lives may appear mean in our eyes. Then do we truly feel remorse, when we diligently examine God’s commandments, and strive to advance by the means we know those whom we reverence used for their own advancement.

Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies 19

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

And after Elihu stopped speaking, the Lord spoke to Job through a whirlwind and clouds,

“Who is this who, hiding counsel from me and constraining words in his heart,
        thus thinks to conceal them from me?
Gird your loins like a man,
        for I shall ask, and you shall answer me.
Where were you when I established the earth?
        Just tell me, if you are capable of understanding.
Who assigned its measurements, if you know?
        Or who was it who laid a measuring string upon it?
Upon what were its rings established?
        And who was it who placed a cornerstone upon it?
When the stars came into being,
        all of my angels praised me with a great voice.
And I shut up the sea with a gate
        when it rushed coming out from its mother’s womb.
And I made the cloud its clothing,
        and swaddling-clothes for it with a mist.
And I assigned limits to it,
        setting out barriers and gates.
And I said to it, ‘As far as this you shall come, and you may not go beyond.
        But your waves shall be broken within yourself.’” (Job 38:1–11 LXX)

The foundation of this earth is laid, when the first cause of firmness, the fear of God, is breathed in the secret places of the heart. This man does not as yet believe the eternal truths which he hears; when faith is given him, a foundation is now laid for the building up of the subsequent work. He now believes eternal truths, but yet fears them not; he despises the terror of the coming judgment: he boldly involves himself in sins of the flesh and of the spirit. But when the fear of future things is suddenly infused into him, in order that the edifice of a good life may rise up, the foundations are now erected. When the foundation then of a wholesome dread has been laid, and the fabric of virtue is being raised on high, it is necessary for every one to measure his strength, as he is making progress. So that though he has already begun to be great by the Divine building, he may without ceasing look back to what he was; in order that humbly remembering what he was found in merit, he may not arrogate to himself what he has been made by grace. Whence also blessed Job is now brought back to himself by the voice from above, and, that he may not dare to boast of his virtues, he is reminded of his past life. And it is said to him, Where were you when I was laying the foundations of the earth? As if the Truth openly said to the justified sinner, "Attribute not to yourself the virtues which were received from Me. Exalt not yourself against Me by reason of My own gift. Call to mind where I found you, when I laid the first foundations of virtue in you, in My fear. Call to mind where I found you, when I confirmed you in My fear. In order then that I may not destroy in you that which I have built up, you must not cease to consider with yourself, what I found in you." For whom has the Truth not found either in sins or excesses? But after this we can well preserve that which we are, if we never neglect to consider what we were. But pride is yet sometimes wont to steal secretly even into careful hearts, so that the thought of good deeds, though slight and feeble, as it advances to a great height of virtue, forgets its own infirmity, and does not recall to mind what it was in sins. Whence also Almighty God, because He sees that our weakness is increased even by salutary remedies, places limits to our very progress, that we may have some excellencies of virtues, which we have never sought for, and that we may seek after others, and yet be unable to possess them. In order that our mind, when unable to attain these things which it desires, may understand that it possesses not of itself those even which it does possess, and that, from those which are present, those which are wanting may be thought of, and that, by means of those that are profitably wanting, those goods that are present may be humbly preserved.

Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job 28.20

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost

For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 25:14–30)

Who is the man who sets out for foreign parts but our Redeemer, who departed to heaven in the body he had taken on? Earth is the proper place for his body; it is transported to foreign parts, so to speak, when he establishes it in heaven. The man setting out for foreign parts entrusted his goods to his servants, for he granted his spiritual gifts to those who believed in him. To one he entrusted five talents, to another two, to another one. There are five bodily senses, sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. The five talents represent the gift of the five senses, that is, knowledge of externals; the two talents signify theory and practice; the one talent signifies theory alone. ...

The Lord who dispensed the talents returns to demand an account, because he who now generously bestows spiritual gifts may at the judgment inquire searchingly into what was achieved; he may take into account what everyone has received, and weigh up the gain we bring back from his gifts.

The servant who returned with two talents was praised by his master. He was led to his eternal reward when his master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant. Because you have been faithful about a few things, I shall put you in charge of many. Enter into the joy of your master. All the good deeds of our present life, however many they may appear to be, are few in comparison with our eternal recompense. The faithful servant is put in charge of many things after overcoming all the troubles brought him by perishable things. He glories in the eternal joys of his heavenly dwelling. He is brought completely into the joy of his master when he is taken into his eternal home and joined to the company of angels. His inner joy at his gift is such that there is no longer any external perishable thing that can cause him sorrow. …

The useless servant called his master hard, and yet he neglected to serve him for profit. He said that he was afraid to put out the talent for interest, when he should have been afraid only of bringing it back to his master without interest. For many people in the Church resemble that servant. They are afraid to attempt a better way of life, but not of resting in idleness. When they advert to the fact that they are sinners, the prospect of laying hold of ways of holiness alarms them, but they feel no fear at remaining in their wickedness. …

Consider then, dearly beloved, that you will pay interest on this money you have received, on these words. Take care to be eager to understand from what you hear also other things you do not hear. Make connections between one thing and another, and so learn for yourselves how to do other things than those you have already learned from the preacher’s words. …

We must be certain that no slothful person is safe from the consequences of receiving a talent. No one can truly say, ‘I have not received a talent, and there is no reason I should be compelled to give an account.’ Even the very little that any poor person has received will be counted as his talent. One person has received understanding, and owes the office of preaching to his talent. Another has received earthly possessions and is under obligation to distribute alms from his properties. Another has received neither understanding of inner things nor many possessions, but has learned a skill which sustains him; in his case his skill is counted as a talent. Another has acquired none of these things, but perhaps he has merited acquaintance with a rich person and has received the talent of acquaintance: if he tells him nothing on behalf of the poor, he is condemned for keeping back his talent. Therefore the one with understanding must take care not to remain silent, the one with an abundance of possessions must watch that he is not slow in showing mercy, the one with a skill must be especially zealous to share his craft and usefulness with his neighbor, the one with an opportunity to speak with a rich person should fear to be condemned for keeping back his talent if he does not intercede with him on behalf of the poor when he can.

In truth the Judge who is to come will exact from each of us as much as he gave. So that everyone may be free from anxiety about the account he must give for his talent when the Lord returns, let him consider daily, with trembling, what he has received. The time is now near when the one who set out for foreign parts will return. He who departed far from this earth where he was born went away, so to speak, into foreign parts; but he will truly return to demand an accounting for his talents. If we are listless in performing good deeds he will judge us more severely concerning those gifts he has bestowed on us.

Let us then bear in mind the things we have received, and be careful in trading with them. Let no earthly care deter us from our spiritual work, lest we provoke the talent’s master to anger by hiding our talent in the earth. As the judge is now weighing his sins, the lazy servant digs up his talent from the earth, since there are many who withdraw themselves from their earthly desires and works when they are dragged to eternal punishment by the chastisement of the judge. Let us be watchful, then, before we must render an account of our talent, so that when the Judge is already approaching to strike us, the profit we have made may plead for us.

Gregory the Great, Gospel Homily 18

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:1–14)

And so he sent his servants to invite his friends to the marriage feast. He sent once, and he sent again, because first he made the prophets, and later the apostles, preachers of the Lord’s incarnation. He sent his servants twice with the invitation, because he said through the prophets that his only Son’s incarnation would come about, and he proclaimed through the apostles that it had. Because those who were first invited to the marriage banquet refused to come, he said in his second invitation: See, I have prepared my meal; my oxen and fatlings have been slain, and everything is ready. What do we take the oxen and fatlings to be but the fathers of the Old and New Testaments? Since I am speaking to everyone, I must also explain these words of the gospel reading. We call animals fatlings when they are well fed; fatlings have been fattened up.

It was written in the Law, You shall love your friend and hate your enemy. At that time permission was granted to the righteous to put down the enemies of God and their own with as much strength as they had, and to strike them down with the power of life and death. There is no doubt that this is forbidden in the New Testament: Truth himself tells us, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. What then do the oxen represent but the fathers of the Old Testament? When the Law consented to their killing their adversaries in return for their hatred, if I may say so, what else were they but oxen striking down their enemies with the horn of their physical strength? And what do the fatlings signify but the fathers of the New Testament? When they receive the gift of inner fatness, they flee their earthly desires and are raised to the heights on the wings of their contemplation. What else is having your thoughts on low things but a kind of mental leanness? But there are those who through their understanding of heavenly things are now being nourished by their holy desire for the things of heaven. Receiving the food of inner delight, they are being fattened, so to speak, with a more abundant sustenance. The psalmist was longing to be well-fed with this fatness when he said: May my soul be filled as with marrow and fat!

Because the preachers sent to proclaim the Lord’s incarnation, first the prophets and later the holy apostles, endured the persecution of unbelievers, it was said to those who were invited but refused to come, My oxen and fatlings have been slain, and everything is ready, meaning, ‘Reflect on the deaths of the fathers who went before you, and think about correcting your lives.’ We should note that in the first invitation nothing was said about oxen and fatlings, but in the second they are said to be already slaughtered. When we refuse to listen to his words, almighty God adds examples, so that we may more easily hope for everything we believe to be impossible, the more that we hear that others have already accomplished it.

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But since you have already come into the house of the marriage feast, our holy Church, as a result of God’s generosity, be careful, my friends, lest when the King enters he find fault with some aspect of your heart’s clothing. We must consider what comes next with great fear in our hearts: But the king came in to look at the guests, and saw there a person not clothed in a wedding garment.

What do we think is meant by the wedding garment, dearly beloved? For if we say it is baptism or faith, is there anyone who has entered this marriage feast without them? A person is outside because he has not yet come to believe. What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love? That person enters the marriage feast, but without wearing a wedding garment, who is present in the holy Church, and has faith, but does not have love. We are correct when we say that love is the wedding garment because this is what our Creator himself possessed when he came to the marriage feast to join the Church to himself. Only God’s love brought it about that his only-begotten Son united the hearts of his chosen to himself. John says that God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son for us.

And so the One who came to us out of love made known that this love is the wedding garment. Every one of you who belongs to the Church, who has believed in God, has already come in to the marriage feast; but he has not come in a wedding garment unless he preserves the gift of love. And surely, my friends, if any one of you was invited to a marriage feast, he would change his clothing and show by his dress how he rejoices with the bridegroom and bride; he would be ashamed to appear in contemptible clothing among those rejoicing and celebrating the festive occasion. We come to God’s marriage feast and do not care to change the clothing our hearts wear. The angels rejoice, the chosen are taken up to heaven! In what frame of mind do we look upon this spiritual feast if we do not possess the wedding garment, love, that is alone becoming?

Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies 38

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
And caused the dawn to know its place,
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?
It takes on form like clay under a seal,
And stands out like a garment.
From the wicked their light is withheld,
And the upraised arm is broken.
Have you entered the springs of the sea?
Or have you walked in search of the depths?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you?
Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this. (Job 38:12–18)

For the Lord made man, whom He fashioned after His own likeness, as a kind of seal of His power. But yet it shall be restored as clay; because, though he may by conversion escape eternal sufferings, yet he is condemned by the death of the flesh, in punishment of the pride he has committed. For man, who has been formed from clay, and adorned with the likeness of the Divine image, having received the gift of reason, forgets, when swelling with pride of heart, that he was formed of the basest materials. Whence it hath been ordered by the marvelous justice of the Creator, that, because he became proud in consequence of that reasonable sense which he received, he should again by death become earth, which he was unwilling humbly to regard himself. And because he lost the likeness of God by sin, but returns by death to the substance of his own clay, it is rightly said; The seal shall be restored as clay. And because, when the spirit is summoned from the body, it is stripped, as it were, of its kind of covering of flesh, it is fitly subjoined of the same clay; and shall stand as a garment. For, for our clay to stand as a garment is for it to remain empty and stripped off, even till the time of the resurrection. But because even they do not escape this punishment of pride, who overcome this very pride by living humbly, He subjoins what is the special punishment of the proud, saying; From the wicked their light is withheld, and the upraised arm is broken.

For the death of the flesh, which restores the Elect to their light, takes away their light from the reprobate. For the light of the proud is the glory of this present life. And that light is then withdrawn from it, when it is called by the death of the flesh, to the darkness of its own retributions. For then is the high arm there broken, because loftiness of heart, which has been violently seized on, beyond the order of nature, is scattered by the weight of Divine justice which overwhelms it, in order that how wickedly it had exalted itself for a while, it may learn when it is crushed forever by the weight of judgment. But none of us would know what was to follow after death, did not the Creator of our life come even to the punishment of our death. For did He not of His own mercy seek the lowest condition, He could not justly bring back to the highest, us, who were lost after we had received His likeness.

For whilst the Lord sought the narrowness of death, He spread abroad His faith in the nations, and extended Holy Church to numberless hearts of believers. To whom it is said by the Prophet, Enlarge the place of thy tent, and extend the curtains of thy tabernacles; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes: for thou shalt penetrate to the right hand and to the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles. But this breadth of the earth would surely not exist, had He not first despised, in dying, the life which we know, and pointed out by His rising again, the life which we know not. For He opened by His death the eyes of our minds, and shewed us what was the life which was to follow. Whence also, observing this order in the Gospel, He says to His disciples, Thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name through all nations. For few of the people of Israel believed at His preaching, but numberless peoples of the Gentiles followed the way of life, on His death. For He endured the proud, while He was still living in a suffering condition, but He overthrew them when dead to a life of suffering. Which Samson long before well typified in himself, for he slew but few during his life; but on the destruction of the temple he slew a host of enemies, at his death. Because the Lord doubtless killed but few from their pride and haughtiness when alive, but more, when the Temple of His body was broken in pieces: and the Elect from the Gentiles, whom He endured in His life, He subdued all at once by His death. After then He had taught us that He had penetrated the regions below, He rightly subjoined immediately the breadth of the earth to be considered, Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? As if He were saying to man when scourged, Think on what I have endured, and consider what I have purchased; and complain not thyself of the rod, when thou art ignorant what rewards await thee, in retribution. In the midst then of these words of the Creator, I think it worth while for us to turn away our eyes for a while from the common and public good, and to observe what He secretly does with each of ourselves.

Gregory the Great, Morals on the book of Job 29.21,22,26

Patristic Wisdom for Easter

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her. (John 20:11–18)

The angels asked Mary, saying: “Woman, why are you weeping?” And she said to them: “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put him.” The sacred message which stirs up tears of love in us provides consolation for these tears when it promises us the sight of our Redeemer. But we should note that, in the historical sense, the woman did not say, “They have taken away the body of my Lord”, but, “They have taken away my Lord.” … The Lord’s body alone had lain in the sepulcher; Mary was not seeking the body, but the Lord who had been taken away, indicating the part by the whole.

When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, and she did not know that it was Jesus. Mary, who was still in doubt about the Lord’s resurrection, turned round to see Jesus. By this doubt she had turned her back to the face of the Lord, whom she did not believe had risen. Because she loved, and doubted, she saw and did not recognize him. Her love revealed him to her, and her doubt prevented her from knowing him. He said to her: “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek? He asked the reason for her sorrow to increase her desire, so that when he asked whom she was seeking she might feel a more vehement love for him.

She thought that it was the gardener, and said to him: “Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away.” Perhaps this woman was not as mistaken as she appeared to be when she believed that Jesus was a gardener. Was he not spiritually a gardener for her, when he planted the fruitful seeds of virtue in her heart by the force of his love? But why did she say to the one she saw and believed to be the gardener, when she had not yet told him whom she was seeking, “Sir, if you have taken him away”? She had not yet said who it was who made her weep from desire, or mentioned him of whom she spoke. But the force of love customarily brings it about that a heart believes everyone else is aware of the one of whom it is always thinking. It is understandable that the woman did not say whom she was seeking, and yet said, “If you have taken him away.” She did not believe that the one for whom she herself so constantly wept in her desire was unknown to the other.

Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies 25

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.” So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, “Why have you been standing here idle all day?” They said to him, “Because no one hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.”

So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, “Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.” And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, “These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.” But he answered one of them and said, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?” So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen. (Matt 20:1–16)

What then is to be understood from these words? From other parables also it is possible to see the same point. The son who was righteous is shown to have suffered from this same fault when he saw his prodigal brother enjoying great honor, even more than himself. So just as the one group received a greater reward in being the first to receive it, so the other group was more highly honored by the abundance of the gifts; and to these that righteous son bears witness.

What then can we say? In the kingdom of heaven there is no one who justifies himself or blames others in this way; perish the thought! That place is pure and free from envy and jealousy. For if the saints when they are here give their lives for sinners, how much more do they rejoice when they see them there enjoying rewards and consider their blessings to be their own. For what reason then did he use this figure of speech? A parable is being told, and it is not necessary to examine everything in a parable to the letter. But when we have learned the point of the parable as composed, we should reap this harvest and not be overly particular about further details.

The householder said to them, “I wish to give to this last one as I give even to you.” And since the obtaining of his kingdom comes from his goodwill, He properly adds, “Or am I not allowed to do what I wish?” It is always foolish to question the goodness of God. There might have been a reason for a loud complaint if he did not give what he owed but not if he gives what he does not owe. And so he adds, “Or is your eye evil because I am good?” But no one should boast of his work or of his time, when after saying this Truth cries out: “So the last will be first and the first last.” We know what good things we have done and how many they are; we do not know with what exactitude our judge on high will investigate them. Indeed, we must all rejoice exceedingly to be even the last in the kingdom of God.

Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies 19.3–4

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.” Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls. (Luke 21:9–19)

Since all these disorders come, not from the injustice of the one who chastises, but from the fault of the world that suffers them, the Lord first describes the injustice of the depraved men in these terms: But before all this they will lay hands on you and persecute you; you will be dragged into the synagogues, you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. It is as if he were saying clearly: “It is first the hearts of men, then the elements that will be upset.” Thus one sees clearly what this confusion of the order of things comes to punish. For although it depends on the very nature of the world to have an end, the Lord, having in view all the perverse men, indicates which are those who deserve to be crushed under the ruins of the world: They will bring you before the kings and governors because of my name. All these things will come to your testimony. As a testimony against those who put you to death when they persecute you, or who do not imitate you when they see you. If, indeed, the death of the righteous is a help to the good ones, it bears witness against the wicked, so that even that which serves to bring the elect to good so that they live, removes all excuses from the wicked when they perish.

But the hearts of the still weak disciples could have been troubled to hear so many terrifying things; so the Lord adds a consolation, adding immediately: Put this in your mind: you do not have to prepare your answers, for it is I who will give you a language, and a wisdom to which none of your adversaries can resist or answer. It is as if he clearly said to his infirm members: “Do not be afraid; do not be afraid. It's you who go to fight, but I'm the one leading the fight. You say the words, but it's me who speaks.”

The text continues: You will be delivered even by your parents and your brothers, your relatives and your friends; they will condemn to death many of you. Evils cause less pain if they are brought to us by strangers. But they make us suffer more if we suffer them from those we trusted, because to the suffering of the body comes then to join that of having lost a friendship. This is why the Lord, through the mouth of the psalmist, says about Judas who betrayed him: If my enemy had cursed me, I would have endured it; and if he who hated me uttered proud words about me, I would have kept myself hidden from him. But you who were one with me, my guide and my friend, who shared with me the sweet food of my table, we walked in full agreement in the house of God (Ps 55:12-14). And elsewhere: Even the man who was my friend, who trusted me and ate my bread, raised his heel against me (Ps 41:9). It is as if he were saying clearly about the one who betrayed him: “I suffered all the more from his betrayal that I felt it coming from the one who seemed to be all mine.”

Thus, all the elect, because they are the members of the supreme head, also follow in suffering their leader: they must suffer in death the enmity of those whose life inspired them confidence, and they see the reward of their works increase all the more as the loss of a friendship makes more progress in virtue.

But as these predictions of persecution and death are very harsh, the Lord speaks immediately after the consolation and joy of the resurrection: Not a hair of your head shall perish. We know it, my brethren, the flesh suffers when cut, but not hair. The Lord therefore declares to his martyrs: Not a hair of your head will perish, which means in plain language: “Why fear to see the suffering of death when you cut it, since even that which in you does not suffer when you the cup can not perish?”

The text continues: It is by your patience that you will possess your souls. If the possession of the soul lies in the virtue of patience, it is because patience is the root and protector of all virtues. It is through patience that we possess our souls, for it is only by learning to dominate ourselves that we begin to possess ourselves. Patience consists in suffering serenely the evils coming from others and in being tormented with no resentment against the one who inflicts them.

Gregory the Great, Homilies on St. Luke 15.2-4

Patristic Wisdom for Ash Wednesday

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground from which you were taken. For earth you are, and to earth you shall return. (Genesis 3:19)

How can he who is earth and ashes be arrogant?
Because even while living, his insides are decaying. (Ecclesiasticus 10:9)

The humble and the proud are admonished differently. For the humble, it is to be insinuated how true that excellence is that they hold in hoping for it. For the proud, it is to be intimated how that temporal glory is as nothing, that even when they embrace it they are not holding it. Let the humble hear how eternal the things are that they long for, how transitory the things are that they despise. Let the proud hear how transitory the things are that they court and how eternal the things are that they lose. Let the humble hear from the authoritative voice of the Truth, “Everyone who humbles himself shall be exalted.” Let the proud hear, “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled.” Let the humble hear, “Humility goes before glory”; let the proud hear, “The spirit is exalted before a fall.” Let the humble hear, “To whom shall I have respect, but to one who is humble and quiet and trembles at my words?” Let the proud hear, “Why are earth and ashes proud?” Let the humble hear, “God respects the humble.” Let the proud hear, “And the proud he knows from afar.” Let the humble hear, “That the Son of man came not to be ministered to but to minister.” Let the proud hear that “the beginning of all sin is pride.” Let the humble hear that “our Redeemer humbled himself, being made obedient even to death.” Let the proud hear what is written concerning their head: “He is king over all the children of pride.” The pride, therefore, of the devil became the occasion of our perdition, and the humility of God has been found as the argument for our redemption. For our enemy, who is among the created beings, desired to appear exalted above all things. But our Redeemer, remaining great above all things, decided instead to become little among all things. Let the humble, then, be told that when they abase themselves, they ascend to the likeness of God. Let the proud be told that when they exalt themselves, they fall into imitation of the apostate angel.

Gregory the Great, Pastoral Rule 3.17

The Same Holy Spirit Who Worked in Christ's Birth Now Works in Rebirth

Baptism of St Paul - Capela Paletina

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Lu 1:35)

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (He 2:14–15)


And so to undo this chain of sin and death, the Almighty Son of God, that fills all things and contains all things, altogether equal to the Father and co-eternal in one essence from Him and with Him, took on Him man’s nature, and the Creator and Lord of all things deigned to be a mortal: choosing for His mother one whom He had made, one who, without loss of her maiden honor, supplied so much of bodily substance, that without the pollution of human seed the New Man might be possessed of purity and truth. In Christ, therefore, born of the Virgin’s womb, the nature does not differ from ours, because His nativity is wonderful. For He Who is true God, is also true man: and there is no lie in either nature. “The Word became flesh” by exaltation of the flesh, not by failure of the Godhead: which so tempered its power and goodness as to exalt our nature by taking it, and not to lose His own by imparting it. In this nativity of Christ, according to the prophecy of David, “truth sprang out of the earth, and righteousness looked down from heaven” (Ps 85:12). In this nativity also, Isaiah’s saying is fulfilled, “let the earth produce and bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together” (Is 45:8). For the earth of human flesh, which in the first transgressor, was cursed, in this Offspring of the Blessed Virgin only produced a seed that was blessed and free from the fault of its stock. And each one is a partaker of this spiritual origin in regeneration; and to every one when he is reborn, the water of baptism is like the Virgin’s womb; for the same Holy Spirit fills the font, Who filled the Virgin, that the sin, which that sacred conception overthrew, may be taken away by this mystical washing.

Gregory the Great, Sermon on the Feast of the Nativity 24.3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

And He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.” Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me. And He said to me: “Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse—for they are a rebellious house—yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 2:1-5)

What then would have become of this man if he had seen the Lord’s glory as it is, who seeing the likeness of that glory but unable to bear it fell on his face? In this matter we must think with deep sorrow and ponder with tears to what wretchedness and weakness we have fallen who cannot bear that very good that we were created to behold. But here is something else for us to consider within ourselves from the prophet’s act. For as soon as he saw the likeness of the glory of God, the prophet fell on his face. Since we cannot see this likeness through the spirit of prophecy, we must continually acknowledge it and most carefully contemplate in holy Scripture, in divine counsels, and in spiritual precepts. We, who when we perceive something of God, fall on our faces because we blush for the evil acts we remember committing.… We see ruined cities, razed forts, ravaged fields, and nevertheless we still follow our ancestors in transgressions; we are not changed from this their pride that we saw. And they indeed at a time of pleasure. But we—which is more serious—sin at a time of being lashed. But almighty God, judging transgression, first snatched away our ancestors and then called them to judgment. He still awaits our penitence; he sustains us that we may return to him.

Gregory the Great, Homilies on Ezekiel

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Last Judgment, St Elias Church, Brampton, ON

“And it shall come to pass at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And punish the men
Who are settled in complacency,
Who say in their heart,
‘The Lord will not do good,
Nor will He do evil.’
Therefore their goods shall become booty,
And their houses a desolation;
They shall build houses, but not inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.”

The great day of the Lord is near;
It is near and hastens quickly.
The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter;
There the mighty men shall cry out.
That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of devastation and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
A day of trumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities
And against the high towers. (Zeph 1:12–16)

Let the insincere hear what is written, He that walks in simplicity walks surely (Prov 10:9). For indeed simplicity of conduct is an assurance of great security. Let them hear what is said by the mouth of the wise man, The holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit (Sirach 1:5). Let them hear what is again affirmed by the witness of Scripture, His communing is with the simple (Prov 3:32). For God’s communing is His revealing of secrets to human minds by the illumination of His presence. He is therefore said to commune with the simple, because He illuminates with the ray of His visitation concerning supernal mysteries the minds of those whom no shade of duplicity obscures. But it is a special evil of the double-minded, that, while they deceive others by their crooked and double conduct, they glory as though they were surpassingly prudent beyond others; and, since they do not consider the strictness of retribution, they exult, miserable men that they are, in their own losses. But let them hear how the prophet Zephaniah holds out over them the power of divine rebuke, saying,

Behold the day of the Lord comes, great and horrible, the day of wrath, that day; a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of cloud and whirlwind, a day of trumpet and clangor, upon all fenced cities, and upon all lofty corners.

For what is expressed by fenced cities but minds suspected, and surrounded ever with a fallacious defense; minds which, as often as their fault is attacked, suffer not the darts of truth to reach them? And what is signified by lofty corners (a wall being always double in corners) but insincere hearts; which, while they shun the simplicity of truth, are in a manner doubled back upon themselves in the crookedness of duplicity, and, what is worse, from their very fault of insincerity lift themselves in their thoughts with the pride of prudence? Therefore the day of the Lord comes full of vengeance and rebuke upon fenced cities and upon lofty corners, because the wrath of the last judgment both destroys human hearts that have been closed by defenses against the truth, and unfolds such as have been folded up in duplicities. For then the fenced cities fall, because souls which God has not penetrated will be damned. Then the lofty corners tumble, because hearts which erect themselves in the prudence of insincerity are prostrated by the sentence of righteousness.

Gregory the Great, Pastoral Care 11