教牧守則·對話錄與書信 第 247 章

Gregory to Dominicus, bishop of Carthage. The letters of your Fraternity, brought to us rather late through Donatus and Quodvultdeus, our most reverend brothers and fellow-bishops, and also through Victor the deacon and Agilegius the notary, we have received with the utmost gladness. In which, although we thought we had suffered loss by their tardiness, yet we found a fuller compensation of charity, so that by this delay of time the love seems not interrupted but nourished—that love which, by the Lord's mercy, we recognize to be founded in you already by the contemplation of the priesthood, by the practice of reading, and by the maturity of age. For it would not flow forth from you so abundantly, if it did not have very many and very rich veins in your mind.

This mother and guardian of the virtues, therefore, most holy brother, let us hold with unshaken steadfastness. Let no tongues of the crafty diminish it in us, let no snares of the ancient enemy corrupt it. For this charity joins things divided, and guards things joined. This raises up the lowly without swelling. This bows down the exalted without dejection. Through this the unity of the universal Church, which is the framework of the body of Christ, rejoices in the individual members by an equalization of mind, though there be in it a disparity in the diversity of the members. Through this the same members both leap up, though afflicted in themselves, at another's joy, and, though glad in themselves, waste away with another's sorrows.

For, as the teacher of the nations bears witness, when 'if one member suffers, the other members suffer with it, and if one member is glorified, all the members rejoice together' (cf. 1 Cor. 12:26), I do not doubt that you groan over our disturbance, since it is altogether certain to us that we rejoice over your peace. But that your Fraternity rejoices at our ordination shows me the affection of a most perfect charity. Yet from the consideration of this office, I confess, a force of grief pierces through my mind. For grave is the weight of the priesthood; for it is first necessary that a priest live as an example to the rest, and then that he must take care not to lift up his mind on account of the examples he has displayed. Let him ever think of the ministry of preaching,

considering with most intent fear that the Lord, about to depart in order to receive the kingdom, and distributing talents to his servants, says: 'Trade until I come' (Luke 19:13). Which trade we then truly carry on, if by living and speaking we gain the souls of our neighbors, if by preaching the joys of the heavenly kingdom we strengthen the weak in supernal love, if by terribly sounding forth the torments of hell we bend the insolent and the proud, if we spare none against the truth, if, devoted to heavenly friendships, we fear not human enmities. Which the Psalmist, doubtless displaying, knew that he had offered a kind of sacrifice to God, when he said: 'Did I not hate those who hated Thee, O God, and pine away over Thine enemies?'

With a perfect hatred I hated them, and they became enemies to me' (Ps. 138:21-22). But at this I dread the weight of my infirmity, and I behold that the master of the household, having received the kingdom, will return to settle accounts with us. But with what mind do I await Him, to whom, of the business of souls I have undertaken, I bring back either no gain, or almost none? Help me therefore, dearest brother, with your prayer, and those things which you perceive me to dread concerning myself, weigh in yourself daily with the fear of provident solicitude. For through the bond of charity, both the things I speak concerning myself are yours, and the things I desire you to do are mine. But concerning ecclesiastical privileges,

about which your Fraternity writes, let it hold this without any doubt: that just as we defend our own, so we preserve to each and every Church its own rights. Nor, by the favor of grace, do I impart to anyone beyond what he deserves, nor do I derogate from anyone that which is of his own right at the prompting of ambition; but I desire to honor my brethren in all things, and I strive so to advance each in honor, provided there be nothing that could be rightly urged against another by the one. And I greatly rejoice at the character of your representatives; in whom it has been shown to me how much you love me, who have sent to me chosen brothers and sons. Given on the tenth of the Kalends of August, in the tenth indiction. (Cf. John the Deacon, Book IV, ch. 1.)