On the Gospels, Matthew xxii, I-I3
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October 15, 2022
On the Gospels, Matthew xxii, I-I3
Excerpt from St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor
And when this one has been cast forth, in whom manifestly the whole body of the wicked is set before us, straightaway He adds a general sentence, which says: For many are called, but few are chosen. Dearest Brethren, we should fear with a great fear the words we have just now heard. All we here present, already called through the faith, have come to the marriage of the Heavenly King. We believe and confess the mystery of His Incarnation, and we partake of the banquet of the Divine Word. But in a day to come the King of Judgment will enter in among us. That we are called, we know; that we are chosen, we do not know. And so the more each one of us knows not whether he is chosen, so much more do we need to humble ourselves in humility.
There are, we know, those who do not even begin to do good; and some who do not remain constant in the good works they begin. Another is seen to pass almost his whole life in evil-doing, but close to the end he is drawn back from wickedness through tears of earnest repentance. Another seems to lead the life of one of the elect, and yet it happens that at the end of his life he will turn aside to the wickedness of heresy. Another begins well, and ends even better; while another, from his first years, gives himself to every evil, and growing ever worse than himself is destroyed in the midst of these very evils. In the measure therefore that each one knows not what is yet to come, in that measure, should he live in fear and anxiety for himself before God; for, and let us say it over and over again, and let us never forget it, many are called, but few are chosen.
