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Homilies on the Gospels

St Gregory the Dialogist, tr. Burke, 1960; selections

7. The Harvest is Great

And after these things the Lord appointed also other seventy-two. And he sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself was to come. And he said to them: The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send labourers into his harvest. Go: Behold, I send you as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; and salute no man by the way. Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house. And, if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall return to you. And in the same house, remain, eating and drinking such things as they have; for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Remove not from house to house. And into what city soever you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick that are therein and say to them: The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Lk. x, 1-9.

Homilia XVII in Evangelia.

Our Lord and Saviour, dearly beloved brethren, teaches us sometimes with his words and at other times with his actions. His acts themselves are indeed precepts, because when he does something even without speaking, he is showing us what we should do. Here you see that he sends his disciples out in pairs to preach; for the precept of charity is twofold, namely, the love of God and of one’s neighbour, and charity cannot exist except between two persons. No one, properly speaking, can be said to have charity towards himself, because the object of love must be another person if it is to be called charity. Our Lord sends his disciples two by two in order to indicate to us tacitly that he who has not charity towards others, cannot possibly be given the task of preaching.

It is rightly said that “he sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself was to come”. For truly our Lord follows his preachers; because doctrine prepares our mind, and then he comes into our soul after we have heard words of exhortation by which we are led to the truth: Hence God says to these preachers, through the mouth of Isaias: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God”.¹ To them also, the psalmist says: “Make a way for him who ascendeth upon the west”.² Christ ascends upon the west because although he surrendered himself in his passion and death, he manifests far greater glory by his resurrection. He ascends upon the west because, through his resurrection, he overcame the death which he had undergone. In preaching his glory to you, then, we are preparing a way for him who ascends upon the west so that later, when he comes, he may enlighten you by his love.

Consider what he says to the preachers whom he sends: “The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send labourers into his harvest”. There are few labourers to reap that plentiful harvest, a fact which must cause us sorrow; because although the words of justice find many hearers, there are few to speak them. There are many priests in the world, and still we find very few labourers in God’s harvest, because we have received the sacerdotal charge but fail to fulfil its obligations. But consider deeply, brethren, what is said: “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send labourers into his harvest”. Pray for us that we may serve you loyally, that our tongue may never rest from preaching, lest, having received this duty, our silence should accuse us before the just judge. Often the voice of preachers is silent through their own fault; often it is the fault of their subjects, who try to prevent them from speaking. The tongue of the preacher is mute through his own fault, as the psalmist says: “But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices?”³ And sometimes the preacher is impeded from speaking by the vices of his subjects: as God said to Ezechiel: “And I will make thy tongue stick fast to the roof of thy mouth; and thou shalt be dumb, and not as a man that reproveth: because they are a provoking house”.⁴ As if he really meant: I take away from you the right of preaching, because this people has enraged me by its actions and does not deserve to be encouraged in the way of truth. It is hard to know whose is the fault when the preacher is silent: what we certainly know is that sometimes his silence prejudices himself, but always prejudices those who should hear him.

But, if we have not sufficient energy to fulfil our duty of preaching, at least let us preserve the innocence of life proper to the priestly consecration. Our Lord says: “Behold, I send you as lambs among wolves”. There are many who, when they are given the task of ruling others, become hard and severe, to the great oppression of their subjects. They use their power to terrify and injure those whom they should assist. Since they lack true charity, they wish to play the part of masters, forgetting that it is their duty to act as fathers. They exchange humility for pride in the position which they occupy, and although outwardly they may chance to show indulgence, inwardly they remain fierce. Of them Christ says in another place that they come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.⁵ We must remember, dearly beloved, that we are sent as lambs among wolves, and we must protect our innocence, lest malice overcome us. He who occupies the preacher’s pulpit, then, must inflict no evil; rather he must bear with evil, that by his very mildness he may soften the anger of the violent, and that, by his own distress at the afflictions of others, he may heal the wounds of sin. If on any particular occasion a proper zeal requires that he should exercise some severity with his subjects, this severity should proceed from his love and not from harshness. In this way, as he gives external demonstration of the rights of his authority, inwardly he is filled with a fatherly love for those whom outwardly he chastises so severely. This is what our blessed Master taught us when he showed that his was no selfish love, desiring nothing of this world and never stooping to the yoke of any earthly ambition.

And he continues: “Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; and salute no man by the way”. Such confidence in God should the preacher have that, although he does not provide for the necessities of this life, nevertheless he is persuaded that he will never lack them. This precludes his spending the time in quest of temporal goods for himself which he should devote to procuring eternal goods for others. Nor is he allowed leisure for conversation along the way, to show us with what speed we must hurry along the path of preaching. These words can also be understood metaphorically: they can signify that money, which is usually carried in a purse, represents hidden wisdom. Then he who has wisdom of speech, but neglects to use it for the benefit of others, carries it, as it were, tied up in a purse. So that we read: “Wisdom that is hid, and a treasure that is not seen, what profit is there in them both?”⁶ And what else does the scrip represent, but the cares of this world? And do the shoes not signify the example of dead works? It is not fitting that he who undertakes the task of preaching should burden himself with worldly affairs, lest, engrossed in such matters, he forget the business of eternal life. He must not stop to consider the example of others’ foolish conduct, thinking to improve his own works with such lifeless leather. There are many who try to defend their own wicked deeds by comparing them to the wickedness of others. As they have seen others do, they consider that they have a right to do also: is not this to act as if they sought to cover their feet with the skins of dead animals? He who salutes another along the way wishes him good health merely because he is on a journey, not through any real concern for the other’s health. So he who preaches salvation to his hearers, not out of love for his eternal fatherland, but merely for the desire of the reward he wins for himself, acts as if he were saluting them along the way, desiring their salvation because of the circumstances, but not through any good will.

Christ continues: “Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall return to you”. The peace offered by the preacher either rests on the house, if the peaceful man dwells there, or else returns to him again: because either there will be someone there predestined to eternal life, who follows the doctrine he hears; or, if no one wishes to listen, the preacher himself will not go unrewarded, because that peace, returns to him, and God will recompense him for his labours.

Consider also that although our Lord forbade his disciples to carry purse or scrip when he sent them to preach, nevertheless, he allows them to have food and the necessities of life for that preaching. For he adds: “And in the same house, remain, eating and drinking such things as they have; for the labourer is worthy of his hire”. If our peace is welcomed, it is fitting that we should remain in that same house, eating and drinking whatever we are given, that so we may receive temporal assistance from those to whom we offer the rewards of eternal life. So the apostle Paul, considering these earthly things of small importance, says: “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we reap your carnal things?”⁷ And we should think on what he says elsewhere: “The labourer is worthy of his reward”.⁸ For material food is part of the preacher’s reward, and in this way the payment of his wage is begun upon earth, to be completed in heaven with the everlasting vision of truth. It follows, then, that from one task which we fulfil we derive a double payment: one while still on our journey, another upon arrival; one to sustain us in our labours, another to reward us at the resurrection. The returns we reap in this present life should strengthen us to aspire all the more to the heavenly prize which follows it. No one should preach in order to receive temporal remuneration, rather he should be remunerated in order to be able to preach. Anyone who preaches to obtain a reward either of praise or of profit most certainly loses that which is eternal. But the man who seeks to please others by his discourse in order that, while they enjoy his eloquence, the love of God, not love for that eloquence, may grow in them, or he who receives temporal assistance through his preaching so that necessity may not oblige him to curtail it: these will undoubtedly win that recompense in heaven, although they have accepted these supports along the way.

But what is to be said of those of us—it pains me even to ask this question—who reap the reward, but do not labour? We enjoy the fruits of our holy church by accepting our daily stipends, but we work little in our preaching of the eternal church. Let us consider what serious condemnation is merited by one who reaps the reward of work he never did. We live on the offerings of the faithful, but what do we do for the good of their souls? We accept the gifts they bring to the altar in reparation for their sins, but we do not strive as we should to eradicate those sins, either by our sermons or by our prayer. We hardly dare to practise christian courage in rebuking anyone for his faults even (which is all the more serious) if it is a question of some person of influence in the world; perhaps we even extol those errors lest, if they be opposed, he should discontinue his former offerings. We should keep constantly in mind what has been written of some: “They shall eat the sins of my people”.⁹ Why is it said that they shall eat the sins of the people, unless it means that they foster the sins of delinquents for fear of losing their temporal offerings? If we, who live upon the stipends of the faithful who bring them to the altar in reparation for their sins, eat and are silent, it is undeniable that we eat their sins. Consider, then, how serious a sin it is in God’s eyes to eat the sacrifices of sinners and not to preach against their sin. Listen to the saintly Job: “If my land cry against me, and with it the furrows thereof mourn: if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money . . .”¹⁰ The land cries against its owner when the church complains, with justice, of its preacher. The furrows mourn if the hearts of his hearers, cultivated by his predecessors with the voice of doctrine and the rigour of their admonitions, see cause for lamentation in his way of life. The good owner does not eat the fruits of his land without money, that is without paying for them, for the wise preacher first pays his talent, which is his doctrine, so that he may not take from the church the unearned stipend which brings him condemnation. We eat the fruits which we have rightly bought when we accept the assistance of the faithful for whom we have laboured in the work of preaching. We are the heralds of the judge who is to come, and who will announce his coming, if the preacher’s voice be mute?

It must be clear then that, as far as each one can, as far as his energies will allow, he must endeavour to impress upon the flock committed to his care a certain terror of that future judgment and the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom. He who has not the capacity to guide all of the faithful at the same time by means of a common exhortation, has the obligation of instructing them as well as he can individually: he must edify them in private conversation and with simplicity cultivate good fruits in the hearts of his children. We should think continually of those words spoken to the holy apostles and, through them, to us: “You are the salt of the earth”¹¹ If we are salt, we must season the souls of the faithful. Those of you who are shepherds of souls must reflect that you are grazing the flock of God. Of his flock God says through the psalmist: “In it shall thy animals dwell”.¹² We often see that salt is given to animals, so that they may lick it and improve in health. The priest should be to the people what salt is to those animals; he must consider, then, what he must say to each, and how to admonish each, so that every one that converses with him, as meat sprinkled with salt, is seasoned with the taste of that life which will never end. But we are not salt of the earth if we do not season the hearts of those who hear us. This beneficial condimentation of his fellow-men is carried out only by him who is faithful to his task of preaching.

But we are true preachers of justice only if we put our preaching into practice, if we feel deep sorrow for having offended God whom we love, if we wash with our tears the daily blemishes in our human life, which no one can traverse without some fall or other. We shall feel real sorrow if we reflect upon the deeds of our predecessors, and derive contempt for our own life from the consideration of their glory. We feel true sorrow if we meditate on the precepts of God with attention and try to improve by following those commandments by which those others improved whom we now venerate. Thus it is written of Moses: “He made also the laver of brass, with the foot thereof, of the mirrors of the women that watched at the door of the tabernacle”.¹³ Moses, indeed, erected a wash-basin of bronze so that the priests might wash before they entered the Holy of Holies: for the law of God commands us first to wash ourselves with sorrow, so that our filth may not render us unworthy to penetrate into the purity of his mysteries. It is aptly said that this basin was made from the mirrors of the women who watched continually at the door of the tabernacle. The mirrors of the women represent the precepts of God, in which saintly souls examine themselves ceaselessly in order to discover any stain of ugliness upon them. They correct any defects in their way of thinking or of living, just as one beautifies one’s face by the reflection in a mirror: as they use all their energies in fulfilling God’s commands, they recognise immediately what in them is pleasing to their heavenly bridegroom, and what in them displeases him. It is clear that as long as we are upon this earth we cannot enter the everlasting tabernacle. But the women watched at the door of the tabernacle because, although saintly souls are oppressed by the weakness of the flesh, nevertheless their love keeps a constant vigil at the entrance to eternal life. Moses, then, made a basin for the priests from the mirrors of the women, because the law of God offers the waters of sorrow for the stains of our sins, at the same time as it prescribes those same heavenly precepts for our fulfilment which made the saints fit to become spouses of God. These precepts, if we consider them attentively, reveal to us the blemishes of our soul; and seeing them, we are moved to sorrow; then it is as if we were washed in the basin made from the mirrors of the women. It is essential that, when we feel sorrow for our sins, we should feel great zeal for the lives of those committed to our charge. The pain of remorse should not distract us from vigilance for our neighbour. Of what profit is it if, loving ourselves, we abandon our neighbour? Of what use is it if, loving and caring for our neighbour, we neglect ourselves? In the old law¹⁴ it was prescribed that the cloth which adorned the tabernacle should be twice dyed in scarlet: so in the sight of God, our charity should have the twin colouring of love of God and love of our neighbour. He esteems himself rightly who loves his Maker with a pure heart. The cloth is twice dyed in scarlet, then, when the soul is inflamed with love for its neighbour and for itself, for the sake of him who is the Truth.

But in the midst of these considerations, we must always remember that it is our duty to exercise an upright zeal against the wicked actions of our neighbours, without allowing the heat of rebuke ever to make us forget the virtue of meekness. A priest’s anger should not be hasty or passionate, but always softened by counsel and long reflection. We must bear with those whom we correct, and correct those with whom we have to bear: lest, if one of these elements be absent, the action of the priest be lacking either in zeal or in mildness. So we see that, in the building of the temple of old, its pedestals were commanded to be adorned with sculptures of lions and oxen and cherubim. The cherubim represent the fullness of knowledge. But why, in these pedestals or bases do the lions not appear without the oxen, nor the oxen unaccompanied by the lions? What do the bases represent, but the priests of the church? These, while the government of souls is entrusted to them, support like foundation-stones the burden laid upon them. The cherubim are depicted there, because it is essential that the priest should be adorned with all knowledge. The lion represents the terror of severity, while the patience of the meek is depicted in the ox. So it is that lions and oxen are always represented together, because in the priest, the virtue of mildness must always accompany the rigour of severity. Thus his gentleness will soften his anger; but the heat of reproval must inflame his meekness too, so that it may not lack efficacy.

But why do we speak of these things when we see that many are guilty of far greater crimes? I speak to you, bishops, with tears, because I know that some of you have ordained priests for money, have sold spiritual grace, and of the wickedness of others, by a damnable sin, you have reaped temporal profit for yourselves. Why do you forget Christ’s words: “Freely have you received; freely give”?¹⁵ Why do we forget that when our Redeemer entered the temple he overthrew the chairs of the dove-sellers and scattered the money of the changers?¹⁶ Who are the sellers of doves in God’s church today but those who receive payment for the imposition of hands? By those sacraments, the holy Spirit is called down from heaven. The dove is sold because the imposition of hands by which the Holy Ghost is received, is offered for a price. But our Redeemer overthrew the tables of those who sold doves: because he annuls the priesthood of those who so traffic in spiritual goods. This is the reason why the canons of the law condemn the sin of simony, and prescribe that those who seek money for the ordinations they make shall be deprived of their own priesthood. The tables of the dove-sellers overthrown, then, signify that those who sell spiritual gifts lose their priesthood either in the sight of God alone or also in the eyes of men. Indeed, there are many other evils committed by the pastors of the church, but which are hidden from human eyes. There are many who appear as saints before men, but who do not even blush to appear blackened and stained before the eyes of the interior Judge. The day will come, very soon, when the Pastor of pastors will come and make known the doings of each one; and he who now through his prelates chastises the faithful for their faults will then himself punish the wickedness of the prelates. So that, going into the temple, he made a whip of cords and casting out the evil traders from the house of God, overthrew the tables of those who sold doves: for he punishes through his pastors the faults of their subjects, but he himself chastises the corruption of the pastors. In this life our secret actions can be hidden from men, but that judge will come inevitably, from whom our silence will hide nothing, and who cannot be deceived by our denials.

There is something further, brethren, in the pastor’s life, which weighs upon my mind. Lest perhaps my accusation arouse resentment, I must accuse myself also of this; although impelled as I am by the necessity of these barbarous times, I am an unwilling culprit. We have devoted ourselves to external things, and our actions show the distorted value we place upon the honour we have received. We abandon the task of preaching and, culpably in my opinion, we call ourselves bishops who are such only in name and not in practice. Those who are committed to our care may turn their backs on God, but we are silent. They grovel in evil actions, and still we do not stretch out our hand to correct them. They perish daily in their many sins, and we watch indifferently as they advance towards hell. But how are we to correct the lives of others, if we will not correct our own? Busied with temporal affairs, we become more insensible to interior urgings of grace, the more we concentrate on outward matters. By constant dealings with worldly cares, the soul becomes deaf to heavenly inspirations: as it becomes harder and harder by reason of its material actions, it cannot soften to the love of God. So that our holy church has said with truth of its ailing members: “They have made me the keeper in the vineyards: my vineyard I have not kept”.¹⁷ The tending of our vineyard is our daily labour in the fulfilment of our ministry: but although we have been placed as guards over others’ vineyards, we fail to tend our own because, busied with other occupations, we neglect the duties of our ministry. I believe, brethren, that God receives no offence so great as he does from priests who, placed by him in his church in order to correct others, set them instead the example of their own wickedness: when he sees sin committed by those who should curb sin. What is yet more grievous, and sometimes happens, is that priests, who should help others from what they have themselves, wrest from others all that they can. We also see them deride those who live in humility and continence. Think, then, what will be the fate of the flock when the shepherd himself becomes a wolf. For these are they who are given the task of caring for God’s sheep: men who do not hesitate to exploit them: pastors against whom the flock itself must be on guard. We do not seek the good or advancement of their souls, but, devoting ourselves to our own affairs, we desire only worldly goods and are intent on earthly glory alone. Since we are meant to be leaders of the others we enjoy a greater liberty, and we turn our blessed ministry to the service of ambition. We abandon God’s cause, and give ourselves to mundane matters; we accept the post of sanctity and involve ourselves in temporal business. In our own conduct we see fulfilled to the letter that saying: “And there shall be like people like priest”.¹⁸ The priest does not differ from the people when his behaviour shows no merit which excels theirs.

Let us implore the tears of Jeremias; let him consider our death and say weeping: “How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed: the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street”.¹⁹ The gold is dimmed because the life of the priest, once resplendent with the glory of his virtues, is seen now to deserve only blame for the vileness of his actions. The finest colour is changed because the tunic of sanctity has been ignominiously defiled by low and despicable deeds. The stones were placed inside the sanctuary, and the high priest walked upon them only when he entered the Holy of Holies, probing the secrets of his Maker. We, brethren, are the stones of the sanctuary, who should be constant witnesses of the secrets of God, who must never take our gaze away from them: that is, to be occupied in worldly matters. But the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street because those whose interests should lie with interior affairs and a life of prayer, dedicate themselves to a wicked pursuit of outward things. You see that now there is scarcely any secular calling with which priests are not occupied. Since their lives, like their sacred garb, are altogether external, they lie, like the stones, outside the sanctuary. As the Greek word here meaning street derives from the word for width, when we are told that the sanctuary-stones lie in the streets, this means that some religious follow the broad and spacious paths of the world. Not only are they scattered in the streets, but at the top of the streets, because they are ambitious for worldly enterprises, and still they seek in virtue of their religious habit to obtain the highest honours. They are scattered, then, at the top of the streets, because they lie inactive in the duties of their ministry and they desire to be honoured for their semblance of sanctity.

You have seen how the sword of this world strikes; you see continuously how the people suffer chastisement. Why, if not because of our sins, do they suffer so? See towns decimated, strongholds overthrown, churches and monasteries destroyed, while lands lie deserted. We are the authors of the death of this people which is perishing, we who should bring them life. Through our sin many lie prostrate, because we have neglected to instruct them in the doctrine of eternal life. What are the souls of men but the food of God, created to be united with him to increase the everlasting church? But we must be the salt of that food. As we mentioned already, Christ told his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth”. If the people are the food of God, the priests must season that food. But because we neglected to pray and to preach, the salt has lost its savour; it cannot season the food of God who therefore does not accept it, because our negligence has rendered it insipid. Let us ask ourselves whether there are any who have done penance, who have been converted by our preaching, dissuaded from evil actions by our reproval. Who has ever abandoned impurity at our exhortation, who has given up avarice, or who has renounced his pride? Let us think what profit we have gained in trading for God, we who have received our talent and been sent out by him, for the Lord said: “Trade till I come”.²⁰ Remember that his coming draws near, and he will demand from us the profit of our labours. What profit, what improvement in souls, will we show him as gain from our dealings? What sheaf of souls will we present to him in that harvesting of our preaching?

Let us always keep before our minds the dreadful day of judgment, when the judge will come, and his servants must account for those talents which he entrusted to them. Then he will be seen in awful majesty, among the choirs of angels and archangels. Just and wicked will appear for this examination, and each one will be seen to be what his actions have made him. There we shall see the apostle Peter guiding the converted Jews who followed him; and Paul followed by the world which he won for Christ. Andrew will lead Achaia; John leading Asia and Thomas leading India: all will appear before their acknowledged king. We shall see then the shepherds of God’s flock, with the numbers of souls which they bring after them to God by the force of their instruction and exhortation. When, on that day, all the shepherds lead their flocks to the eternal Shepherd, what shall we say, who return miserably empty-handed from our trading: we who bear the name of pastors and cannot show the sheep which have fed upon our doctrine? Here we are called pastors, but there we shall have no flock.

But, if we neglect the sheep, does God therefore abandon them? By no means. He himself leads them to pasture, as he promised through his prophet Ezechiel; for he instructs all those whom he has predestined to eternal life and hastens their steps by the spur of suffering and contrition of heart. By our ministry the faithful receive holy baptism; they are blessed by our prayers; by the imposition of our hands the Holy Ghost comes down upon them. So they reach the heavenly kingdom, while we, by our negligence, slide backward. The just man, cleansed by the absolution of the priest, enters heaven: while the priest, by his evil life, speeds to the pains of hell. To what can I liken bad priests? To the water of baptism which, blotting out the sins of those baptised, flows on into the sewer. Let us fear this disaster, brethren; let us act always as befits the dignity of the priesthood. Let us think daily of reparation for our sins lest our lives, by which God frees others, remain shackled to our guilt. Let us remember well what we are, what is our business, the charge we have received. We must learn to balance daily the account we shall have to settle with our judge. And we must so minister to ourselves as not to forget the welfare of others, so that none who comes in contact with us be left unseasoned by the salt of our conversation. When we see a person lead a licentious life, we should counsel him to seek in marriage a restraint for his passions, so that by what is lawful he may learn to conquer the unlawful. When we speak to a married man we should advise him to transact his temporal affairs in such a fashion that God’s love still holds priority; and that, by pleasing his wife, he must not displease his Maker. When we have to deal with a cleric, we must admonish him to live in a manner which will be an example to lay people, lest through anything reprehensible in his behaviour, our religion should be brought into contempt. When we see a monk, we should counsel him to respect the habit he wears, in his words, actions and thoughts; that he renounce completely the things of this world, and so attain by his conduct in the eyes of God what his garb makes him in the eyes of men. He who already is holy must be directed to make further progress; he who is wicked must be exhorted to correct his ways. All this so that no one who speaks to the priest may depart without the salt of his advice. Think diligently on these things and use the result of your meditation for the good of your neighbours. Prepare to give to God the fruits of your trading. All this I shall foster in you more effectively by praying than by speaking further.

Let us pray. O God, who hast willed to call us to be pastors of thy people, we pray thee that we may be in thy sight what men hold us to be. Through our Lord.

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