In maximis et publicis criminibus an indulgendum
The Danger of Defending Sin
True mercy must not be offered to those who excuse their sins rather than repent, since even the Gospel demands that family affection yield to divine charity.
But whoever does not humble their heart over the greatest and public crimes, but instead works to defend their sins by making excuses for them — mercy should not be lavished on such a person, because forgiveness by no means can be offered, as Saint Celestine makes clear in his letter to Nestorius, saying (epist. 5): "I will pursue, plainly, as a faithful servant of my good Lord, its enemies, when the Prophet declares that they have hated themselves with perfect hatred (Psal. CXXXVIII). Mindful again, as the other says, I must not spare the one whom I choose here to look upon. To whom should I reserve some honor when the matter is at stake, so that the cause of all my hope may be taken away from me? The words of the Lord himself are in the Gospel, where he says that neither father, nor mother, nor sons, nor any family tie should be placed before him (Matth. XIX). For such, frequently, is the devotion from which impiety is born: when, with the passion of the flesh gaining the upper hand, bodily affection is placed before that charity which is God.
The Ruin of False Mercy
Gregory and sacred history show that Eli's refusal to correct his sons with proper severity brought destruction on himself, his family, and the people.
And Saint Gregory in his Pastoral book (part 2, chapter 6): "Because, he says, overcome by false mercy, he refused to strike down the sinning sons of Eli; he struck himself, along with his sons, with cruel condemnation before a strict judge. Hence it is said by divine voice: You have honored your sons more than me (1 Kings✦ 2, 29). For it is read in sacred History that Eli did indeed rebuke his sons with words, but he did not correct them with the severity of discernment, as he should have. As a result his own sons were killed in battle, and the ark of God was captured, and a great slaughter was made among the people, and Eli himself fell from his seat, and with his neck broken he lost his life, along with his priestly office.
Mercy, Cruelty, and the Peace of the Kingdom
Augustine notes that fear of punishment restrains audacity, and the example of David and Absalom shows that even toward one's own flesh, indulgence may need to yield to the demands of peace and law.
And blessed Augustine in his letter to Macedonius (letter It's not useless for human audacity to be held in check by fear of the laws, so that innocence may be safe even among the wicked, and that among the wicked themselves, while their power is bridled by dreaded punishment, their will may be healed when God is called upon. For just as mercy sometimes punishes, so also cruelty sometimes spares. For if the house of David did not otherwise deserve to have peace unless his son Absalom had been killed in the war he was waging against his father, even though David had entrusted his people with great care, asking them to keep him alive and safe as much as they could, and so that there might be someone to whom his fatherly heart could forgive when repentant — what was left for him except to weep for the lost one, and to be consoled in his grief by the peace won for his kingdom?1 And if it wasn't permitted to show indulgence to one's own flesh and blood for the sake of preserving peace, how much less do we think mercy should be shown to outsiders by way of strict enforcement of the laws?2
Read the original Latin
Qui autem de maximis et publicis criminibus ex corde se non humiliat, sed ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis, peccata sua defendere curat, huic non impendenda est misericordia, quia praestari nullatenus praevalet indulgentia, sicut sanctus Coelestinus in epistola ad Nestorium manifestat, dicens (epist. 5): « Persequar plane boni Domini mei fidelis servus inimicos, cum Propheta asserat eos odio se odisse perfecto (Psal. CXXXVIII). Memor rursus, altero loquente, ne parcam, quem vis hic ego respiciam? cui honoris aliquid reservem, quando agitur, ut mihi totius spei meae causa tollatur? Ipsius in Evangelio verba sunt Domini, quibus ait, non sibi patrem, non matrem, non filios, non aliquam necessitudinem debere praeponi (Matth. XIX). Etenim talis frequenter est pietas, ex qua nascatur impietas, cum, vincente carnis affectu, charitati illi quae Deus est, charitas praeponitur corporalis.
» Et sanctus Gregorius in libro Pastorali (part. II, cap. 6): « Quia falsa, inquit, pietate superatus ferire Heli delinquentes filios noluit, apud districtum judicem semetipsum cum filiis crudeli damnatione percussit. Hinc namque divina voce dicitur: Honorificasti filios tuos plus quam me (I Reg. II, 29). Nam in sacra Historia legitur, quod Heli filios suos verbis quidem corripuit, sed severitate discretionis ut debuit non correxit. Unde ipsi filii sui in bello occisi sunt, et arca Dei capta est, et maxima caedes in populo facta est, et ipse Heli de sella cecidit, et fractis cervicibus cum sacerdotii principatu etiam vitam perdidit. » Et beatus Augustinus in epistola ad Macedonium (epist.
54): « Non inutiliter metu legum humana coercetur audacia, ut et tuta sit inter improbos innocentia, et in ipsis improbis, dum formidato supplicio frenatur facultas, invocato Deo sanetur voluntas. » Sicuti est enim aliquando misericordia puniens, ita et crudelitas parcens. Nam si aliter non meruit habere pacem domus David, nisi Absalon filius ejus in bello, quod contra patrem gerebat, fuisset exstinctus, quamvis magna cura mandaverit suis, ut eum quantum possent vivum salvumque servarent, et esset cui poenitenti paternus affectus ignosceret, quid ei restitit nisi perditum flere, et sui pace regni acquisita suam moestitiam consolari? Quod si propriis visceribus in servanda pace non est indultum, quanto minus in extraneis severitate legum censemus parcendum?
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Sam.2.29 — Why do you kick at my sacrifice and my offering, which I have commanded in my dwelling, and honor your sons above me, by fattening yourselves with the choicest of every offering of my people Israel?
Notes
- 1 ↩mandaverit rendered as 'had entrusted' (syncopated perfect subjunctive); the sense is that David charged his men with Absalom's safekeeping, not merely 'commanded' in a general sense.
- 2 ↩propriis visceribus rendered as 'one's own flesh and blood' — viscera used metaphorically for one's own children/kin; the idiom carries emotional weight that 'family members' would lose.
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