Shamelessness And Hardness

Omnis quippe domus Israel attrita fronte est, et duro corde. Cum domus Israel attrita fronte esse perhibetur, quid aliud sentiendum, quidve cogitandum est, nisi quod frontem cordis in impudentia atterit culpa frequens, ut quo crebrius committitur, eo de illa committentis animus minus verecundetur? Atque ideo ad tantam cordis duritiam quandoque peccator pervenit, ut jam in correptione sensibilis non sit, quia qui usu peccandi induruit nullo modo corripientis verbum, id est manum palpantis, sentit, sicut Judaeae quoque crebrius delinquenti dicitur: Frons mulieris meretricis facta est tibi, noluisti erubescere. Vel certe attrita frons est in hujus mundi actibus assueta, quia sicut sunt nonnulli qui quietem cunctis mundi praemiis atque honoribus praeponunt, ita nonnulli ut in hoc mundo aliquid esse videantur terrenis laboribus insudant, insistunt causis, permiscentur jurgiis. Et quamvis se corpore deficere inter labores sentiant, amore tamen terrenarum rerum devicti, delectabiliter fatigantur. Quibus per prophetam dicitur: Ephraim vitula docta diligere trituram. Vitula etenim in tritura areae assueta, etiam si relaxatur a labore, sponte redit. Sic quibusdam pravis mentibus nihil est laboriosius quam si eis praecipitur ut in hujus mundi actibus non laborent. Nam saepe quidam repulsi ab actione terrena deprecantur ut redeant, rogant ut premantur, grave se incurrisse periculum quietem putant. Attrita ergo fronte sunt, qui non solum labores non fugiunt, sed neque importuni videri in laboribus qui sibi negantur erubescunt. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia X Migne PL 76 891-892

Since all the house of Israel has a smooth brow and a hard heart. 1  When all the house of Israel has a smooth brow, what should be understood, or what should be thought, unless the brow of the heart is smoothed over with impudence on account of frequent sin, that most thickly it is joined, by which the soul is less abashed? And therefore when the sinner comes to such hardness of heart, he may be already insensible to correction, because by sinning he has inured himself to any word of correction, that is, the testing hand he feels like the Jews to whom being gravely in error it is said, 'The brow of the whore is yours and you are unwilling to be ashamed.' 2 Or certainly the brow is smoothed by the custom of worldly acts, because like not a few who prefer much worldly reward and honours to quiet, thus there are not a few in this world who care not to be seen sweating in terrestrial labours, struggling in business, and embroiled in quarrels. And although the body wastes away in these labours, with such love of worldly things are they conquered, that they delight in the exhaustion of it. Concerning which it is said by the Prophet. 'Ephraim is a trained calf that loves to tread down.' 3 For the calf is accustomed to tread the threshing floor, and even if it is released from its labour, by its own will it returns to it. So it is with depraved mind that there is nothing so laborious that one may teach them not to labour in worldly deeds. For often when they are drawn from worldly affairs that entreat that they may return to them, and demand that they be kept in subjection, thinking that to come into rest is a grave peril. Smooth, therefore, is their brow, who do not only refuse to flee labour, but neither do they blush, that is they do not blush to be seen embroiled in troublesome labours. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 10 1 Ezek 3.8 2 Jer 3.5 3 Hos 10.11