The bishop is a shepherd
From St. Thomas of Villanova's sermon on the Birth of Christ:
"Today's shepherds watch carefully over income and tithes, and the flock is the least of their concerns. One shepherd spends his time in the court of princes, another is entangled in secular business, another devotes himself to games and the hunt, another goes off to Rome to acquire a higher rank. Meanwhile the flock of Christ is left to mercenaries to despoil and ravage and scatter; care of the sheep is left to wolves. What else will a hungry wolf do but tear and destroy and kill? This is why nowadays knowledge of divine secrets and the light of spiritual revelations has passed from prelates to the least little lambs of the flock.
Where shall we find today a bishop who is famous for miracles, conspicuous for holiness, fervent in spirit, an explorer of the scriptures, outstanding for doctrine, a searcher of things heavenly, and a despiser of the things of time? Where is the bishop who from unbounded intimacy with God is both aware of God's secrets and able, like a new Moses, to stand like a wall between an angry God and the house of Israel, and who by his extraordinary holiness and outstanding doctrine has become an example to the Lord's flock and a model of virtue?"
"Today's shepherds watch carefully over income and tithes, and the flock is the least of their concerns. One shepherd spends his time in the court of princes, another is entangled in secular business, another devotes himself to games and the hunt, another goes off to Rome to acquire a higher rank. Meanwhile the flock of Christ is left to mercenaries to despoil and ravage and scatter; care of the sheep is left to wolves. What else will a hungry wolf do but tear and destroy and kill? This is why nowadays knowledge of divine secrets and the light of spiritual revelations has passed from prelates to the least little lambs of the flock.
Where shall we find today a bishop who is famous for miracles, conspicuous for holiness, fervent in spirit, an explorer of the scriptures, outstanding for doctrine, a searcher of things heavenly, and a despiser of the things of time? Where is the bishop who from unbounded intimacy with God is both aware of God's secrets and able, like a new Moses, to stand like a wall between an angry God and the house of Israel, and who by his extraordinary holiness and outstanding doctrine has become an example to the Lord's flock and a model of virtue?"
posted by Lactantius at
12:39 am
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