St. Gregory the Great once suggested that when God finally punished a wicked pastor, such punishment would consist of “as many deaths as were examples of perdition given to their subjects.” That is, put more simply: for his eternal punishment, every punishment a bad pastor threatened his people with would be bundled up, saved up to be everlastingly applied to him. That’s what his hell would be like — to feel all the pains he hypocritically warned others about. It is just one of the many warnings found in St. Gregory the Great’s “Pastoral Rule,” but it’s the one I remember most, which scares me the most.
Such warnings, in fact, belong to quite a long tradition. If you read closely, almost any saint you can think of said something at least as critical or as frightening as what St. Gregory wrote.
July 21 – Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time |
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Jer 23:1-6 Ps 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6 Eph 2:13-18 Mk 6:30-34 |
And, of course, it’s scriptural. Jesus said some harsh things about the Pharisees of his day and the scholars of the law. “Woe to you,” the Lord said to them repeatedly and none too politely either (cf. Lk 11:37-54). In Malachi, God warned that he would curse priests who did not listen to him, who didn’t take his words to heart: “I will send a curse upon you and your blessing I will make a curse” (Mal 2:2). And the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews said that Christian leaders would one day have to “give an account” (Heb 13:17). Again, I could go on, but I’ve made my point.
Now I skim the surface of this tradition not to stoke any sort of ill will or justify anyone’s lack of charity at all but simply to underline the seriousness of these words we find in Jeremiah, and likewise the seriousness with which you and I should hear them: “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture — says the LORD” (Jer 23:1).
For the sake of all souls
I, a priest, should hear these words and tremble a little, a bishop even more so. This is not a matter of doom but a matter of truth. We are responsible for what God has asked us to do, and we will be rewarded for it in one beautiful or terrifying way or the other. We will not get a pass; this is all eternally serious. I don’t know, I just think that in our overly casual age, we must remember this — for the sake of all the souls involved.
Which I guess is my simple point: We clergy, anyone in spiritual leadership, need to take these warnings seriously. We must imagine these warnings warn of something real, something we’ll really experience if we prove wicked or unfaithful. I guess I’m saying that we should take passages like this as wake-up calls. And we need wake-up calls.
But I’m focused too much on the clerical side of this passage. It doesn’t speak only to the clergy but to all of us. This passage is quite a hopeful passage, for it tells of a shepherd that can’t fail, that’s not wicked or corrupt. God himself. “I myself with gather the remnant of my flock,” God said through his prophet. And then he talks about “a righteous branch for David” who will “reign and govern wisely” and who will “do what is just and right in the land” (Jer 23:5). Here the Christian mind already hears echo of Jesus’ words: “I am the good shepherd” (Jn 10:11). This passage is not just about warning; it’s also about hope. Because it’s about who will never abandon you even if weak or wicked clergy sometimes do, and that’s the eternal High Priest, he who will never let you down.
And so, pray for your bishops and priests. Hold us to a high standard. Speak truth to us, even when it’s hard for us to hear. Help us repent. Help us be faithful. Love us in sobering honesty. And certainly, don’t let our failures make you forget who is always the better priest. Always remember Jesus, for he will never let you down.