Useful Things

Obsecro te, pro meo filio, quem genui in vinculis, Onesimo quondam tibi inutili, nunc vero tibi mihique perutili, quem remisi ad te. Tu autem illum sicut mea viscera suscipe: quem ego volueram apud me ipsum retinere, ut pro te mihi ministraret in vinculis Evangelii: sed citra tuum consilium nihil volui facere; ut non velut ex necessitate bonum tuum esset, sed voluntarium. Non magnum est humilem inclinare se, laudabile vero sublimem virum humiliare se; ideo Apostolus rogat eum, cui imperandi habet potestatem, ut in omnibus forma sit ad profectum meritorum. Onesimum ergo profugum recurrentem ad divinum auxilium, cum esset in custodia urbis Romae, baptizavit Apostolus, videns in illo utilitatis spem. Quem sic commendat, ut suum animum in illo significet idoneum ex inutili factum tam saecularibus, quam divinis obsequiis. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Philomenem Source: Migne PL 17.505c-d

'I beg you, for my son, whom I bore in chains, for Onesimus who was once useless to you, now however most useful to you and to me, whom I return to you. Receive him as my own heart, he whom I wished to keep with me, that as he served me in chains for the Gospel, so he do you, but without your consent I would do nothing, for not from necessity is your good, but from freedom.' 1  It is no great thing for a humble man to bow, but it is praiseworthy for a great man to humble himself; therefore the Apostle asks him, a man who has the power to command, that in everything he conduct himself for the increase of his merits. Thus the fugitive Onesimus' return is for Divine aid, he whom the Apostle baptized when he was in prison in Rome, seeing in him hope of usefulness. Whom he commends as his own soul, signifying that he has been made useful from uselessness, as being brought from worldly things into Divine service. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul To Philemon 1 Philemon 10-14