Sermon 340
SERMO 340
ON THE DAY OF HIS ORDINATION
The Lord carries the burden of the bishop along with the one who is carrying it. The bishop, placed over Christians, is a fellow servant with Christians.
Ever since that burden, for which an account is difficult to give, was laid upon my shoulders, the care of my honor has always indeed concerned me. However, I am much more moved by the consideration of this weight, especially when its annual day renews the memory of it and places it so vividly before my eyes, such that I hold what I accepted previously as if I were about to accept it today. But what is there to fear in this duty except that what is perilous in our honor might delight us more than what is fruitful in your salvation? Therefore, assist with your prayers so that He who does not disdain to bear me might also deign to bear my burden with me. When you pray for this, you pray also for us. For what else is this burden of mine, about which I now speak, but you? Pray for strength for me, just as I pray that you may not be burdensome. For the Lord Jesus would not call it His burden unless He were bearing it with the bearer. But you also sustain me, so that according to the apostolic commandment, we bear each other's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. For without Him bearing with us, we fall; without Him bearing us, we fall. Where I am terrified by what I am for you, I am consoled by what I am with you. For I am a bishop for you, with you I am a Christian. The former is the name of an office assumed, the latter of grace; the former is a risk, the latter salvation. Indeed, as if in a great sea, we are tossed by the storm of that action; but reflecting on whose blood we have been redeemed with, we enter, as if into a secure harbor, the tranquility of this thought; and laboring in this duty of our own, we rest in this common benefit. If therefore it delights me more that I was bought with you than that I was set over you, then, as the Lord commanded, I shall be abundantly your servant, so that I may not be ungrateful for the price by which I earned to be your fellow servant.
How he feeds freely, and yet seeks a reward.
Indeed, I ought to love the Redeemer, and I know what he said to Peter: Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. This he said once, this he said a second time, this he said a third time. Love was questioned, and labor was commanded: because where there is greater love, there is lesser labor. What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits he has rendered unto me? If I say that I am rendering this by feeding his sheep, even this I do not of myself, but by the grace of God with me. Where then shall I be found to be a giver when I am forestalled everywhere? And yet, because we love freely, because we feed his sheep, we seek a reward. How shall this be? How does it fit: I love freely so that I may feed; and: I demand a reward because I feed? By no means would this be done, by no means would a reward be sought from him who is loved freely unless the reward were he himself who is loved. For if we render this, for redeeming us, because we feed his sheep, what do we render for the very fact that he made us to be shepherds? For bad shepherds, which may it be far from us, we are through our wickedness; but as for good ones, which may it come to us from him, we cannot be unless by his grace.
Let the ministry of the bishop assist the faithful by praying and obeying.
Therefore, brothers, we urge you with commands not to receive the grace of God in vain. Make our ministry fruitful. You are God’s cultivation: outwardly receive the planter and the waterer, but inwardly the giver of growth. The restless are to be rebuked, the faint-hearted to be comforted, the weak to be supported, the contradictors to be refuted, the insidious to be cautioned, the unskilled to be taught, the lazy to be stirred, the contentious to be restrained, the proud to be curbed, the despairing to be uplifted, the quarrelsome to be pacified, the needy to be assisted, the oppressed to be freed, the good to be approved, the bad to be tolerated, everyone to be loved. In this so great and manifold and varied action of diverse matters, support us both by praying and obeying; so that it may delight us not so much to rule over you as to benefit you.
The bishop and the faithful ought to pray for one another.
For just as it is beneficial for us to strive to implore God's mercy for your salvation, so too it is fitting that you offer prayers to the Lord for us. And let us not consider it inappropriate, as we know the Apostle did this; for he so desired to be recommended to God by prayers, that he entreated all people himself, saying: Pray for us. And therefore we ought to speak in a way that can both exhort ourselves and instruct you. For just as it is necessary for us to ponder with great fear and care how we may fulfill the duties of the pontificate without reproach, so too it must be observed by you to strive to have humble obedience to all that is commanded of you. Therefore, let us pray together, beloved, that my episcopate might be beneficial both to me and to you; for it will benefit me if I speak what ought to be done; and you, if you do what you have heard. For if both we pray for you and you pray for us with perfect love of charity unceasingly, we will come happily to eternal blessedness, with the Lord's help. This may He deign to grant, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.