The Pearl And Correction

Satis ad correctionem vestram arbitror posse sufficere, fratres dilecti, quod anteriore dominica profecturus nulla vobis sacrarum litterarum spiritualia dona largitus sum, sed tantum vos increpans et arguens pro peccato sine aliqua praedicationis consolatione dimiserim. Volui enim vos hoc ipsum intelligere, quam graviter peccaveritis, quod divina eloquia audire minime meruistis. Haec enim sacerdotum vehemens et copiosa vindicata est indignis quibusque litterarum coelestium sacramenta non credere, nec, sicut ait Dominus, dare sanctum canibus, neque margaritas projicere porcorum pedibus conculcandas. Perdit enim coelestis margaritae gratiam quisquis eam foedissimo peccatori circumdare conatur. Gemma enim, sicut ipsi scitis, nisi auro non convenit, margarita, nonnisi pretiosis monilibus non aptatur. Estote ergo aurum optimum, estote monile pretiosum, ut possit in vobis margarita spiritualis includi. Margarita enim Christus est Dominus, quam negotiator ille dives in Evangelio, venditis omnibus rebus suis, emere festinavit, et maluit omnes, quas habebat, saeculi gemmas amittere, tantum ut unam Christi emeret margaritam. Unde et ego, fratres, pro magnitudine quod admiseratis delicti, nolui vobis pandere evangelicae refectionis eloquia; sed magis ingerere animosae indignationis injuriam, et prius vos verberibus spiritualibus emendare, ac sic margaritae ditare muneribus: malui, inquam, peccatum vestrum incusando acriter increpare, quam leniter dissimulando nutrire. Quisquis enim fratrem non arguit peccantem, quodammodo hortatur. Nolo autem putetis quod non de amore faciam vos saepius verberando. Filius enim qui castigatione dignus est, plus amatur, sicut ait Scriptura sancta: Quem enim diligit Dominus corripit; castigat autem omnem filium quem recipit. Dicite mihi si non dolendum fuerit hoc peccatum, sic vos salutis vestrae immemores tunc fuisse, ut beatissimis apostolis Petro et Paulo honorificentiam minime redderetis, cum ipsos esse sciatis doctores gentium, auctores martyrum, principes sacerdotum, nec volueritis eorum natalem nobiscum festivissimum celebrare, atque illi coelesti interesse convivo in quo pro martyrum tanta laetitia substantiam vitae ipse nobis Dominus ministravit. Vultis autem scire quantis bonis fraudati fueritis? Interrogate, fratres, qui tunc mecum pariter adfuerunt, quam refecti a dominica mensa discesserint, vel quales secum domum spirituales divitias reportaverint. Unum scio, quod si quis illa die honoratus aut dives, ob natalem filii sui ad decimum usque milliarium ad prandium rogavisset, propter accuratas epulas, et inaequales mensuras, absque dubio vos ituros fuisse. Igitur, fratres, quotiescunque martyrum memoriam celebramus, praetermissis omnibus saeculi actibus, sine aliqua dubitatione concurrere debemus, reddere illis honorificentiam qui vobis salutem profusione sui sanguinis pepererunt, qui tanquam sacrata hostia pro nostra propitiatione Domino sunt oblati, praesertim cum dicat ad sanctos suos omnipotens Deus: Qui vos honorat me, honorat, et qui vos spernit, me spernit. Quisquis ergo honorat martyres, honorat et Christum, et qui spenit sanctos, spenit et Dominum. Sanctus Maximus Taurinensis, Homilia CXVII, De Margarita Source: Migne PL 57.527c-530a

It think it enough for your correction, dear brothers, that before the Lord's day for your profit I shall not offer you any spiritual gift from Sacred Scripture but only cry out against you and dispute with you concerning sin without having sent forth any comfort of preaching. For I wish you to understand this, how gravely you have sinned, and because of which you are the least worthy to receive the Divine words. This indeed is a fierce and grave punishment of clergy, that they are thought to be unworthy of the mysteries of the heavenly Scriptures, that, as the Lord said, 'one should not give holy things to dogs, nor cast pearls before swine who will trample on them with their feet.' 1 For he destroys the grace of the heavenly pearl who tries to set it in the filth of the sinner. A jewel, as you know, unless it is placed amid gold does not befit, unless it is part of a precious necklace it is not apt. Be then, that best gold, be that precious necklace, so that the spiritual pearl is able to be set among you. The pearl is Christ our Lord, which that rich merchant in the Gospel, selling all his things, made haste to buy, and he preferred to lose all that he had, the jewels of the age, only that he might buy the pearl of Christ. Whence even I, brothers, on account of the magnitude of crimes you have committed, am unwilling to open to you the speech of the restorative Gospel, but prefer far more to impose on you the wounds of ardent indignation, and beforehand to improve you with spiritual blows, and so then to enrich you with gifts of pearls. I prefer, I say, to cry against your sin with reproof than to feed you easily with lies. He who does not dispute with a sinful brother can in no way improve him. I do not want you to think that is it is on account of a lack of love that I so often strike you. For the son who is worthy of correction is the one more loved, as  Holy Scripture says: 'He whom the Lord loves He corrects, for He admonishes every son he receives.' 2 Say to me rather that he who did not trouble you for this sin would be the one heedless of your salvation, which fault is that to the most blessed Peter and Paul you have hardly returned any honour, when you know them to be teachers of nations, authors of martyrdom, princes of priests, nor do you wish to celebrate their birthday feast with us and be amid that heavenly feast in which, for martyrdom, with such joy the Lord ministers to us the substance of life. You wish to know how many goods you have been deprived? Ask yourselves, brothers, who would stand together with me when they have been cut off from the refreshment of the Lord's table, or what spiritual wealth would they bring with them to the house? One thing I know: if some man honoured or rich, on that day on which is celebrated the birth of his own son, had sent invitation to a meal, whether you be the tenth or the thousandth asked, for the sake of attending a feast, even with unequal measures, without doubt, you all would have come. Therefore, brothers, as many times as we celebrate the memory of the martyrs, removed from all worldly deeds, without hesitation we should run to give them honour, they who for you have given birth to salvation in the shedding of their blood, who as sacred victims have given themselves for our propitiation to the Lord, especially when the almighty God says to his holy ones: 'He who honours me I will honour, and he who spurns me I will spurn.' 3 Whoever, then, honours martyrs, he honours Christ, and he who spurns the saints, he spurns the Lord. Saint Maximus of Turin, Homily 117, On The Pearl 1.Mt 7.6 2 Prov 3.12 3 Lk 10.16