Speech And Consideration

Pensare etenim doctor debet quid loquatur, cui loquatur, quando loquatur, qualiter loquatur, et quantum loquatur. Si enim unum horum defuerit, locutio apta non erit. Scriptum quippe est: Si recte offeras, recte autem non dividas, peccasti. Recte autem offerimus cum bono studio bonum opus agimus; sed recte non dividimus, si habere discretionem in bono opere postponamus. Considerare etenim debemus quid loquamur, ut juxta Pauli vocem, Sermo noster semper in gratia sale sit conditus. Pensandum vero nobis est cui loquamur quia saepe increpationis verbum quod haec admittit persona, altera non admittit. Et saepe ipsa eadem persona secundum factum fit altera. Unde Nathan propheta David post adulterium forti increpationis sententia percussit. Qui cum de raptore ovis diceret: Filius mortis est vir qui fecit hoc, ei protinus respondit, dicens: Tu es ille vir. Cui tamen cum de Salomonis regno loqueretur, quia culpa defuit, ei se humiliter in adoratione prostravit. In una ergo eademque persona quia causa dispar exstitit, etiam sermo propheticus dissimilis fuit. Pensandum quoque est quando loqui debeamus, quia saepe etsi differtur increpatio, postmodum benigne recipitur. Et nonnunquam languescit, si hoc quo ante proferri debuit tempus amiserit. Nam et sapiens mulier Nabal ebrium videns, increpare de culpa tenaciae noluit, quem digesto vino increpationis suae verbis utiliter percussit. Et Propheta adulantium linguas non esse in subsequenti tempore differendas annuntiat, qui ait: Confundantur statim erubescentes, qui dicunt mihi, Euge, euge. Adulatio etenim si vel ad tempus patienter suscipitur, augetur, et paulisper demulcet animum, ut a rigore suae rectitudinis mollescat in delectatione sermonis. Sed ne crescere debeat, statim est et sine mora ferienda. Pensandum quoque nobis est qualiter loquamur. Nam saepe verba quae hunc ad salutem revocant, alium vulnerant. Unde Paulus quoque apostolus qui Titum admonet, dicens: Argue cum omni imperio, Timotheum exhortatur, dicens: Argue, obsecra, increpa in omni patientia et doctrina. Quid est quod uni imperium, et alii patientiam praecipit, nisi quod unum lenioris, alterum vero ferventioris spiritus esse conspexit? Leni per auctoritatem imperii injungenda erat severitas verbi, is autem qui per spiritum fervebat per patientiam temperandus fuerat, ne si plus justo infervesceret, non ad salutem vulnerata reduceret, sed sana vulneraret. Sanctus Gregorius Papa I, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia XI Migne PL 76 910-911

A teacher should think what he should speak, to whom he speaks, the manner in which he speaks, and how much he speaks. If indeed one of these is defective, his speech will not be apt. For it is written, 'If rightly you offer, and rightly do not discriminate, you sin.'1 Rightly indeed we offer when with good desire we perform good works, but rightly we do not discern, if judgment in our good work we neglect. Consider even what we should say, as given by the voice of Paul: 'Our words should always be seasoned with the salt of grace.' 2 Yet we must also give thought to whom we speak because often a word of correction is received by this person but not another, and often the same person according to the affair reacts differently. Whence Nathan the Prophet struck David after his adultery with a strong sense of correction. He who when David spoke of the one who stole the sheep saying, 'The son of death is the man you did this,'  immediately replied, 'You are the man.' 3 Yet when he spoke during the rule of Solomon, 4 because fault he lacked, before him he prostrated himself humbly. In one and the same person, then, because the matter is different, even the prophetic word was different. Also we should consider when we should speak, because often if correction is delayed, later it is kindly received. And yet some do languish if that which should be said at that time is omitted. Thus that wise wife seeing Nabal drunk was unwilling to cry out sharply against his fault then, but when the wine had passed though him with words of correction she more usefully struck him. 5 And then the Prophet announces that adulating tongues should not be overlooked to a later time, saying, 'Let then be confounded instantly and let them blush who said to me 'All is well, All is well.' 6 For adulation, if we suffer it for a time, so it grows, and little by little it softens the soul, and from the rigor of its rectitude it slides away into pleasure at such words. But lest it be allowed to grow, instantly it should be cast away. And again we should consider the manner in which we speak. For often words which call one man to salvation, wound another. Whence Paul the Apostle admonished Titus, saying, 'Dispute with all your strength.' 7 And then Timothy he exhorted, saying, 'Dispute, entreat, cry out in all patience and care for teaching.' 8 Why is it that for one there is power, and to another is commanded patience, unless that he perceives that the one inclines more to lenience and the other more to a fiery spirit? Thus to the lenient he enjoins the authority of the power of the severe word, but he who has a fiery spirit he would have him tempered with patience, lest more than is just he should blaze, and not recall the wounded to salvation but wound the healthy.   Pope Saint Gregory the Great, on Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 11 1 Gen 4.7 LXX 2 Colos 4.6 3 2 Kings 12.5  4 2 Kings 12.7 5 1 Kings 25. 36-37 6 Ps 69.4 7 Titus 2.15 8 2 Tim 4.2