Gifts For Preaching

Ecce dedi faciem tuam valentiorem faciebus eorum, et frontem tuam duriorem frontibus eorum. Sicut verecundia laudabilis est in malo, ita reprehensibilis est in bono. Erubescere enim malum sapientiae est; bonum vero erubescere, fatuitatis. Unde scriptum est: Est confusio adducens peccatum, et est confusio adducens gloriam. Qui enim erubescit poenitendo mala quae fecit, ad vitae libertatem pervenit. Qui vero erubescit bona facere, a statu rectitudinis cadit, atque ad damnationem tendit, sicut per Redemptorem dicitur: Qui me erubuerit et meos sermones, hunc Filius hominis erubescet, cum venerit in majestate sua. Et sunt quidam qui bona jam in mente concipiunt, sed necdum malis aperte contradicunt. Hi nimirum quia boni sunt in mente, sed auctoritatem non habent in locutione, apti ad veritatis defensionem non sunt. Ille enim esse veritatis defensor debet, qui quod recte sentit loqui nec metuit, nec erubescit. Unde nunc in magno munere prophetae promittitur: Ecce dedi faciem tuam valentiorem faciebus eorum, et frontem tuam duriorem frontibus eorum. Quid est autem peccator, nisi vulneratus? et qui praedicator, nisi medicus? Si ergo non erubescit peccator qui jacet in vulnere, cur erubescat medicus qui per medicamenta providet salutem? Saepe vero contingit ut praedicator reverenter audiatur; nonnunquam vero a perversis ita despicitur, ac si eis nihil utilitatis loquatur. Unde recte nunc dicitur: Ut adamantem et ut silicem dedi faciem tuam. Adamas et silex utraque dura; sed unum horum pretiosum est, alterum vile. Adamas ad ornamentum sumitur, silex ab itinerantibus calcatur. Et saepe contingit ut hos quos correptionem suam conspicimus nimis humiliter audire, verecundemur eis aliqua dicere. Nonnunquam vero evenit ut eos quos increpationem suam videmus postponere, et despectui habere, trepidemus eis verbum praedicationis inferre. Sed si recte sapimus, et ad eos a quibus nos honorari conspicimus, et ad eos a quibus nos despici videmus, auctoritatem exhortationis vel increpationis sumimus, ut nec illorum humilitatem debeamus erubescere, nec horum superbiam formidare. Dicatur ergo: Dedi faciem tuam ut adamantem, id est, si ab auditoribus honoraris; Dedi faciem tuam ut silicem, si ab auditoribus conculcaris atque despiceris, ut nec per illatum honorem refrenetur lingua ex verecundia, nec per despectum taceat ex infirmitate. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia X Migne PL 76 892-893

'Behold, I have given you a strong face for their faces, and a brow harder than their brows.' 1 As it is disgraceful to praise evil, so it is to be blameable in the good. To be ashamed on account of evil is of wisdom, to blush on account of the good is foolish. Whence it is written, 'Shame leads to sin and it is shame that brings to glory.' 2 He who is ashamed so that he comes to repentance of the evil he has done, comes to the free life. He who is ashamed to do good things falls from a state of rectitude and inclines to damnation. As it was said by the Redeemer: 'He who is ashamed of my words, the Son of Man shall be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory.' 3 And there are those who, conceiving goods in the mind, will not yet openly contradict the wicked. And this without doubt because though they have good things in the mind, they have no authority in their speech, and are not capable of defending the truth. For he should be a defender of truth who knows how to speak correctly and does not fear, nor is ashamed. Whence now as a great gift it is promised the Prophet: 'Behold, I have given you a strong face for their faces, and a brow harder than their brows.' And what is a sinner, but a wounded man? And what is a preacher but a physician? If, then, the sinner is not ashamed although he is transfixed by a wound, why should the physician be ashamed who by his medication provides salvation? Often it happens that the preacher is heard reverently, but sometimes by the perverse he is despised, as if to them he had nothing useful to say. Whence rightly now it is said: 'Like adamant and like flint I have given your face.' 4 Adamant and flint are both hard, but one of these is precious, the other cheap. Adamant is used as an ornament, flint is trodden on by vagrants. Now often it happens that to those whom we see humbly listening  we speak over politely concerning their correction, and sometimes it happens that because we note that our hearers are unwilling to be corrected and they regard us disrespectfully, we fear to bring the word of preaching to them. But if we thought rightly, when we looked on those who honoured us and gazed on those who despised us, the authority of exhortation or correction we would choose, neither being ashamed of their humility, nor distressed by their pride. Therefore is is said, 'Like adamant I have given your face.' That, is against the honour of your hearers, and 'I have given you flint' against those who spurn you and despise you, that neither by their reverance you tie back the tongue on account of excessive modesty, nor by disrespect you are silent on account of your weakness. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 10 1 Ezek 3.8 2 Sirach 4.25 3 Lk. 9.26 4 Ezek 3.9