Cui licite ignoscere liceat principi vel judici
True Self-Denial in the Penitent
Drawing on Gregory the Great, the text explains that a penitent who turns from pride, greed, and self-indulgence truly denies himself, remaining himself in nature but no longer in malice.
So to whom may a prince or judge lawfully be permitted to forgive — under a just and merciful judge, who forgives the one turning back and repenting — blessed Gregory makes clear in a homily on the Gospel (hom. 32): « Look, he says, the one who was proud — if he has turned to Christ and become humble — has left himself behind. If anyone living in self-indulgence has changed over to a life of self-control, he has surely denied what he was. If anyone greedy has now stopped striving to get ahead and has learned to give generously — who previously was seizing what belonged to others — he has undoubtedly left himself behind. He is indeed himself by nature, but he is not himself by malice. For it is written elsewhere: Turn the wicked, and they will be no more (Prov.✦ XII, 7). For the godly who have turned will be no more — not that they will cease to exist entirely as beings, but clearly they will no longer remain entirely in the guilt of their ungodliness.
Paul as Model of Denial
The text holds up Paul — 'I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me' — as the paradigmatic example of self-denial, linking interior conversion to Christ's call to follow Him.
Then, therefore, we abandon ourselves; then we deny ourselves, since we are putting away what we were through our old life, and striving toward what we are called to through new life. Consider how Paul had denied himself when he said: 'I live — but now, not I' (Gal. 2, 20). That fierce persecutor had indeed been extinguished, and a pious preacher had begun to live. For if he were still himself, he surely would not be pious. But whoever denies himself the right to live on his own terms must explain how it is that the holy words cry out through the teaching of truth; he immediately adds: 'Yet Christ lives in me.' And if he should openly say: 'I have indeed been put out of myself — because I no longer live in the flesh — because I live in the spirit in Christ.' Let Truth itself speak, then: 'If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself' (Matth.
When Mercy Must Yield to Judgment
The chapter closes by addressing pastoral discernment: when a corrected person refuses amendment, severity must follow mercy, since God's unlimited forgiveness applies to personal offenses, not to contempt against divine law.
(Matthew 18:21-22, implied) — because unless a person falls away from himself, he does not draw near to the one who is above him; nor can he grasp what lies beyond him if he has not learned to sacrifice what he is.✦ But perhaps someone might say: How am I to know whether the person I've spared, when I corrected him, has truly corrected himself and remained in that correction? Let him go back, then, applying these words to the Lord's teaching, so that if, after being corrected in the manner of the gospel a second and a third time, a person has not corrected himself — one who, by that rejection, is commanded to be regarded as a pagan and a tax collector — he must be compelled to endure the severity of the law from the ruler, lest the one who refused to seek his own amendment be able to harm those who wish to live in peace.✦ But if anyone should object to this chapter, saying that the Lord commanded that a person sinning against us is to be forgiven not only seven times but seventy times seven, let him know that this command concerns our own injuries, not those against divine precepts — because, as Prosper says in quoting the words of blessed Augustine in his book of Sentences (Sent.✦ 210): 'Sins, whether small or great, cannot go unpunished — because they are punished either by a repentant person or by God as judge.' But divine punishment ceases when human conversion goes before it. For God loves to spare those who confess, and not to judge those who judge themselves. »
Read the original Latin
Cui ergo licite ignoscere liceat principi vel judici, sub justo et misericordi judice, qui convertenti et poenitenti ignoscit, beatus Gregorius in homilia Evangelii demonstrat (hom. 32): « Ecce, inquiens, qui superbus fuit, si conversus ad Christum humilis factus est, semetipsum reliquit. Si luxuriosus quisque ad continentiam vitam mutavit, abnegavit utique quod fuit. Si avarus quisque ambire jam desiit, et largiri didicit propria qui prius aliena rapiebat, procul dubio semetipsum reliquit. Ipse quidem est per naturam, sed non est ipse per malitiam. Hinc enim scriptum: Verte impios, et non erunt (Prov. XII, 7). Conversi namque impii non erunt, non quia non erunt omnino in essentia, sed scilicet non erunt omnino in impietatis culpa.
Tunc ergo nosmetipsos relinquimus, tunc nosmetipsos abnegamus, cum vitamus quod per vetustatem fuimus, et ad hoc nitimur quod per novitatem vocamur. Pensemus quomodo se Paulus abnegaverat, qui dicebat: Vivo autem, jam non ego (Gal. II, 20). Exstinctus quippe fuerat saevus ille persecutor, et vivere coeperat praedicator pius. Si enim ipse esset, pius profecto non esset. Sed qui se vivere denegat, dicat unde est, quod sancta verba per doctrinam veritatis clamant; protinus subdit: Vivit vero in me Christus. Ac si aperte dicat: Ego quidem a meipso exstinctus, quia carnaliter non sum, quia in Christo spiritaliter vivo. Dicat ergo Veritas, dicat: Si quis vult post me venire, abneget semetipsum (Matth.
XVI, 24); quia nisi quis a semetipso deficiat, ad eum qui super ipsum est non appropinquat: nec valet apprehendere quod ultra ipsum est, si nescierit mactare quod est. » Sed forte quis dicat: Quomodo sciam si se quis cui pepercero correxit, et in correctione permanserit? Redeat haec inquiens ad sententiam Domini, ut si evangelice et secundo ac tertio correptus non se correxerit, qui ab illo sicut ethnicus et publicanus haberi praecipitur, legis severitatem a principe necesse est sustinere cogatur, ne qui sibi consulere noluit, in pace vivere volentibus nocere possit. At si quis huic capitulo objicere voluerit, quod Dominus peccanti in nobis non solum septies, sed et septuagies septies dimitti praeceperit, sciat hoc de nostris, non de divinis praeceptum esse injuriis: quia ut Prosper de verbis beati Augustini in libro Sententiarum dicit (sent. 210): « Peccata, sive parva, sive magna, impunita esse non possunt, quia aut homine poenitente, aut Deo judicante plectuntur. Cessat autem vindicta divina, si conversio praecurrat humana. Amat enim Deus confitentibus parcere, et eos qui semetipsos judicant non judicare. »
Scripture echoes
- ↩Prov.12.7 — The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.
- ↩Matt.18.21-Matt.18.22 — Then Peter came to him and said, 'Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?' Matt.18.22 — Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.'
- ↩Matt.18.15-Matt.18.17 — If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. Matt.18.16 — But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. Matt.18.17 — And if they refuse to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if they refuse even to listen to the church, let them be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
- ↩Matt.18.21-Matt.18.22 — Then Peter came to him and said, 'Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?' Matt.18.22 — Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.'
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