Speaking My Words

Et dixit ad me: Fili hominis, vade ad domum Israel, et loqueris verba mea ad eos. In eo quod Dominus prophetae dicit, Loqueris verba mea ad eos, quid aliud quam ejus ori frenum moderaminis imponit, ne quae prius intus non audierit, foris dicere praesumat? Nam prophetae falsi sua et non Dei verba loquebantur, de quibus scriptum est: Nolite audire verba prophetarum, qui prophetant vobis, et decipiunt vos; visionem cordis sui loquuntur, non de ore Domini. Et rursum: Non loquebar ad eos, et ipsi prophetabant. Qua ex re quoque colligendum est quia et quisquis expositor in explanatione sacri eloquii, ut fortasse auditoribus placeat, aliquid mentiendo componit, sua et non Domini verba loquitur, si tamen placendi vel seducendi studio mentiatur. Nam si in verbis dominicis virtutem requirens, ipse aliter quam is per quem prolata sunt senserit, etiamsi sub intellectu alio aedificationem charitatis requirat, Domini sunt verba quae narrat, quia ad hoc solum Deus per totam nobis sacram Scripturam loquitur, ut nos ad suum et proximi amorem trahat. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia X Source: Migne PL 76 891A-B

'And He said to me, 'Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.' 1 In this which is said to the Prophet 'Speak my words to them,' is not a certain bridle of moderation placed on his mouth, lest he presume to speak outside what he had not heard before within? For it is of false prophets not to speak the word of God, concerning which it is written, 'Do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak prophecies to you and deceive you, for the vision of their own hearts they speak, not from the mouth of God.' 2 And again, 'I did not speak to them and yet they speak prophecies.' 3 From which it should be understood that even someone who is an exegete in the mysteries of Sacred Scripture, perhaps wishing to please his hearers, may present something deceitfully, speaking his own words and not the words of the Lord, whether he deceives by a zeal to please or to seduce. For if, seeking virtue in the words of the Lord, he expresses something else than what has been written down, even if with his aberrant understanding he is trying to build up love, they are the words of the Lord which he speaks on, and to this alone God through all of Sacred Scripture speaks, that we bear love both to Him and our neighbour. 4 Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 10 1 Ezek 3.4 2 Jer 23.16 3 Jer 23.21 4 Mark 12.30-31