Sermons on the Song of Songs

Attend to yourselves, therefore, all you who have been called to the labour of the ministry, attend to yourselves, I say, and to the precious charge entrusted to your care. It is a city: be vigilant therefore to defend it from enemies without and to preserve its peace within. It is a Spouse: see to her adornment. It is also a flock: take care to provide it with suitable pasture. And perhaps it would not be entirely fanciful to suppose that this threefold solicitude also corresponds to the Lord’s threefold question. Moreover, the defence of the city, if it is to be adequate, must also be threefold, namely, against the power of tyrants, against the wiles of heretics, and against the temptations of the demons. The adornment of the Spouse likewise embraces three elements, which are good works, good morals and regular institutions. As for the flock, it is commonly fed in the pastures of Holy Scripture, as in the Lord’s inheritance. Yet in these pastures there are distinctions to be observed. For they contain the precepts which are imposed on stubborn and carnal souls as a law of life and discipline. They also contain the delicate viands (olera) of dispensations which are provided out of compassion for the weak and the pusillanimous. And lastly, they comprise the strong and solid food of the counsels which, produced from the heart of wisdom, is set before healthy souls and such as have their faculties sufficiently disciplined for discriminating between good and evil. As for the little ones, these, like lambkins, require to be fed with the milk of gentle exhortation rather than with the meat of the strong. In addition to all this, faithful and zealous pastors will never cease to improve the condition of their flocks by means of good and encouraging examples, presented rather in their own lives than in the lives of others. For examples of virtue, if taken from the lives of others instead of being exhibited in their own, would only put themselves to shame and would not have the same influence with the people. For instance, were I, who seem to hold the office of pastor in this community, to set before you as a model the meekness of Moses, the patience of Job, the clemency of Samuel, the sanctity of David, and other such illustrious examples of virtue, whilst at the same time showing myself harsh and impatient and unfeeling and the very opposite of holy, my words, as I fear, would come forth with little unction and would be received by you with but little relish. However, I leave this to the care of the Divine Goodness that He may supply that in which I am wanting to you, and may put right that which I put wrong. But the good pastor will also see to it that, agreeably to the injunction of Christ in the Gospel, he be found to have salt in himself. For he knows well that a sermon seasoned with this mystical salt is as salutary to the soul as it is pleasant to the ear and the mind. I have now said all that is at present necessary regarding the defence of the city, the adornment of the Spouse, and the pasturing of the flock.

Yet I desire to repeat some of the things I have been saying in language still more explicit, for the benefit of those who, whilst gaping after honours and dignities with excessive avidity, thoughtlessly undertake the gravest responsibilities and expose their salvation to danger. I want them to realise their position and to ask each of them, in the words of the Lord, “Friend, whereto art thou come?” As regards the mere defence of the city, that, unless I mistake, shall be sufficiently provided for if the keeper be a man of fortitude, of spirituality, and of fidelity,—of fortitude that he may repel the assaults of the enemy, of spirituality that he may be able to discover their wiles, and of fidelity that he may not seek the things that are his own. But with respect to the amendment and purification of morals, which appertains to the adornment of the Spouse, is it not manifest to all how absolutely necessary is a censorship of discipline exercised with the most constant diligence? For this reason, everyone appointed to the government of souls ought to be inflamed with the same zeal as that which consumed that most jealous guardian of the Spouse of the Lord, who exclaimed, “I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one Husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Again, how shall a shepherd who is without learning lead forth the flock of the Lord safely into the pastures of the divine Scriptures? On the other hand, if the pastor be learned yet not also virtuous, there is reason to fear that the flock shall be less benefited by the abundance of his doctrine than injured by the barrenness of his life. It is consequently a perilous thing to assume the office of pastor of souls without the essential qualifications of knowledge and virtue. But behold, I am warned to break off here, though much against my will, and when the discourse is still far from its conclusion, I am summoned away to a different occupation, which is altogether unworthy to have the preference over this. I am straitened on every side; and I know not which grieves me the more, to be torn from my present employment or to be dragged to that which awaits me—unless that both together are more grievous than either taken singly. O servitude! O slavery! “I do not that which I will, but what I hate that I do.” Note, however, the point where we leave off, so that as soon as I am at liberty to return, I may resume thence, in the name of the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.