Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He rebukes, punishes, and deprives of office the shepherds who feed not the flock but themselves. Then, in verse 11, He promises to visit His flock; and in verse 23, He promises to send the true Shepherd, namely Christ, who will gather together, feed, and save the scattered flock (1).
First, therefore, the Prophet in this chapter attacks and punishes those who, though they arrogate to themselves the name of pastor, nevertheless do nothing
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 34:1-31
1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2. Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and you shall say to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who fed themselves: are not the flocks fed by the shepherds? 3. You ate the milk and clothed yourselves with the wool, and you killed what was fat: but you did not feed my flock. 4. What was weak you did not strengthen, and what was sick you did not heal, what was broken you did not bind up, and what was driven away you did not bring back, and what was lost you did not seek: but you ruled over them with harshness and with violence. 5. And my sheep were scattered because there was no shepherd: and they became food for all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. 6. My flocks wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill: and over all the face of the earth my flocks were scattered, and there was no one who searched for them, there was, I say, no one who searched. 7. Therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8. As I live, says the Lord God: because my flocks have become a prey and my sheep have become food for all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd; for my shepherds did not seek my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed my flocks. 9. Therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10. Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I Myself am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease feeding the flock, nor shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore: and I will deliver My flock from their mouth, and it shall no longer be food for them. 11. For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I Myself will seek My sheep and will visit them. 12. As a shepherd visits his flock on the day when he is in the midst of his scattered sheep: so will I visit My sheep and will deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13. And I will bring them out from the peoples and will gather them from the lands, and I will bring them into their own land: and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the streams and in all the inhabited places of the land. 14. In the richest pastures I will feed them, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall be their pasture: there they shall rest in green grass, and in rich pastures they shall feed upon the mountains of Israel. 15. I will feed My sheep and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. 16. What was lost I will seek, and what was driven away I will bring back, and what was broken I will bind up, and what was weak I will strengthen, and what was fat and strong I will guard: and I will feed them with justice. 17. But as for you, My flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. 18. Was it not enough for you to feed on the good pastures? Must you also trample with your feet the rest of your pastures: and when you drank the purest water, must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19. And My sheep fed on what had been trampled by your feet: and what your feet had muddied, this they drank. 20. Therefore thus says the Lord God to you: Behold, I Myself judge between the fat sheep and the lean. 21. Because you pushed with side and shoulder and butted with your horns all the weak sheep until they were scattered abroad: 22. I will save My flock, and it shall no longer be a prey, and I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23. And I will raise up over them one shepherd who shall feed them, My servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. 24. And I the Lord will be their God: and My servant David shall be prince among them: I the Lord have spoken. 25. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will cause the evil beasts to cease from the land: and those who dwell in the desert shall sleep securely in the forests. 26. And I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing: and I will send down the rain in its season: they shall be rains of blessing. 27. And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be in their land without fear: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the chains of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who ruled over them. 28. And they shall no longer be a prey among the nations, nor shall the beasts of the earth devour them: but they shall dwell securely without any terror. 29. And I will raise up for them a renowned planting: and they shall no longer be diminished by famine in the land, nor shall they bear anymore the reproach of the nations. 30. And they shall know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they are My people, the house of Israel: says the Lord God. 31. But you are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men: and I am the Lord your God, says the Lord God.
Verse 2: Woe
2. WOE — that is, I threaten them with eternal destruction: "Prelates are worthy of as many deaths," says St. Gregory, "as the examples of perdition they transmit to their subjects." TO THE SHEPHERDS — both lay, such as kings, princes, magistrates; and sacred, as in the Old Testament were the pontiffs, scribes, and priests: now they are bishops and parish priests (1). WHO FED THEMSELVES — with the milk and flesh of my flock, that is, who sought their own advantage and profit, not the flock's; since it is the duty of a good shepherd to feed the flock entrusted to him, not himself. Hence, explaining, he adds:
First, the Prophet in this chapter attacks and punishes those who, though they arrogate to themselves the name of pastor, do or think of nothing less than what is befitting the pastoral office, first, by accusing them of neglecting the care of their subjects while promoting the care of their own comforts, 1-4; second, by showing the harm that resulted to the commonwealth, 5-6; third, by representing this manner of acting as guilt, 7-8; adding, as punishment for the guilt, the deposition and abolition of these magistrates, 9-10. Second, he makes a promise in God's name, first, concerning the people of Israel, by visiting, gathering, and bringing back, 11-16; feeding, guarding, and restoring, distinguishing, separating the wicked and harmful from the good and innocent, 17-22; second, concerning Christ, as the shepherd and leader of the people to be sent, 23-24; third, concerning the privileges to be granted at the same time, such as peace and security, 25; abundance, freedom, and tranquillity, 26-29; the glory of God redounding to the esteem of the people, 30-31.
Verse 3: YOU ATE THE MILK AND CLOTHED YOURSELVES WITH THE WOOL.
3. YOU ATE THE MILK AND CLOTHED YOURSELVES WITH THE WOOL. — By milk and wool he means the produce and wealth of their subjects, which false and feigned, indeed painted, shepherds were draining. Our translator and the Septuagint, reading chalab, translate it as milk; but the Hebrews, reading with different vowel-points cheleb, translate it as fat, or richness, as if to say: You devoured the fattest things of the flock. But our translator reads better chalab, that is, milk: for the flock customarily provides these three things to the shepherd, namely milk, wool, and meat. By milk Maldonatus aptly understands the stipend of pastors; for a shepherd by his own right feeds on the milk of the flock, as the Apostle says (1 Corinthians 9:7) (1). Wool is whatever they took beyond their salaries, plundering the people. For wool belongs either to the sheep or to their master and owner, not to the shepherd. Therefore the shepherd when shearing despoils either the sheep or their master of his property. The meat represents the inheritances which they seized through fraud, unjust judgments, and murder. Hence he adds: "What was fat you killed," etc.
Hear St. Augustine, Treatise on Pastors, volume 9, chapters 2 and 3: "Let pastors," he says, "receive the sustenance of their need from the people, and the reward of their dispensation from the Lord. For the people are not able to give a reward to those who serve them in the charity of the Gospel: let them not expect a reward except from where the people also receive salvation. Why then are they rebuked, for what are they accused? Because while they took the milk and covered themselves with the wool, they were neglecting the sheep. He who provides milk provides sustenance; he who provides wool provides honour. These are the two things which those who feed themselves seek from the peoples."
WHAT WAS FAT YOU KILLED — you inflicted death upon the rich to seize their wealth. Let those churchmen, pastors, and prelates hear these threats of the Prophet — those who, gaping for profits from the revenues of benefices, seek the wealth of coffers, not of souls; who, piling up benefice upon benefice, pension upon pension, are profiteers rather than beneficiaries. Do they not shear the sheep, and leave them shorn and naked for other wretches to feed, those who resign pastorates, canonries, and bishoprics to others, and reserve almost all the revenues for themselves; so that if a benefice yields a thousand gold pieces annually, they resign two or three hundred with the office, but reserve the remaining eight hundred for themselves under the pretext of a pension? Does not God strike and pierce these directly with His arrow here, saying: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who fed themselves: you ate the milk and clothed yourselves with the wool, and what was fat you killed, but you did not feed My flock"? Does not Jeremiah thunder against these, in chapter 6:13: "From the least to the greatest, all are devoted to avarice, and from prophet to priest, all practice deceit"? And Isaiah, chapter 56:11: "The shepherds themselves have no understanding, all have turned to their own way, each to his own avarice." The ancient decree of the Church is: "A benefice is given on account of the office." How then do these men seize the advantages and profits of the benefice when they do not perform the office but transfer it to another?
Was this the intention of the founders of churches, to feed men doing nothing and idle in them? Would they not, if they could return to us, protest (indeed those dwelling in heaven or in Purgatory do protest) that their legacies and testaments are being overturned, that they bequeathed their goods to the Church to nourish pastors and ministers who would actually in their own person teach, feed, and govern the faithful of Christ — not so that others who contribute nothing to their Church might enjoy them and grow fat? Would they not implore the good faith of God and men that these things be restored to those to whom they themselves bequeathed them?
Truly this is a great iniquity: first, against God and Christ: for the patrimony of Christ, assigned to those ministering in Christ's Church, is diverted from them and transferred to outsiders who do not minister. Second, against each particular Church, which is despoiled of its revenues; and consequently cannot obtain learned and distinguished pastors and ministers, but only poor, wretched, and even ignorant and unfit ones, who accept any small stipend in order to live. And if by chance it obtains a worthier one, he cannot administer the office with the dignity it deserves, indeed cannot even survive. Third, against the people and faithful, who cannot be instructed, corrected, formed, and directed in the Christian life by these wretches as they could be by learned and worthy men. Therefore the salvation of many is endangered — indeed, in fact many perish and are damned because of the ignorance, inexperience, and negligence of the ministers of the Church; who would have been saved if they had obtained worthy ministers, such as the wealth of the Church demanded. Will not Christ on the day of judgment require these souls from such profiteers?
Fourth, against the founders themselves, whose last will, and the very legacies and donations, are overturned, as I have said. For if asked, they would say that their intention was entirely different, that they never consented to these pensions — indeed, these lacerations and dismemberments of their offerings — and never would consent. Fifth, against all the ancient Canons, which forbid these pensions and decree that they be assigned only for a just and serious cause, especially to those who have merited and served the Church, and only — as common custom holds — in such proportion that they do not exceed a third of the revenues of the benefice. Sixth, against the universal Church, to which scandal is thereby given. Heretics laugh and mock wherever they see such trafficking in avarice among the prelates of the Church. The faithful groan. Clerics imitate them, following the examples of pastors and prelates, and gaping after similar pensions. Seventh, against all the ancient and holy Bishops and Fathers, whose decrees, life, and examples are violated. These profits, these pensions, they did not pursue —
and do not serve the altar should not eat from it, should not live from it; nor should they defraud those who do serve of the stipends established for them, and transfer them to themselves. The Apostles, whose successors these are, confidently say to Christ, Matthew 19: "Behold, we have left all things and followed You." How do these men leave not all things but their own, who gape after what belongs to others? Acts 3:6, St. Peter says to the lame man asking for alms: "Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, this I give you." And through this he merited what St. Augustine says on Psalm 103: "Peter truly left the whole world, and Peter received the whole world: as having nothing, and possessing all things." How shall the followers and disciples of St. Peter say these things, who immoderately pile gold upon gold, pension upon pension, benefice upon benefice, and as it were land upon land? Justly did St. Boniface, apostle of Germany and martyr in Frisia in the year of Christ 755, complain of these, and from him the Council of Tribur, chapter 18, found in De consecratione, dist. 1, chapter "Vasa quibus": "Formerly," he says, "golden priests celebrated in wooden vessels; now wooden priests celebrate in golden vessels." And St. Gregory, Homily 17 on the Gospels: "Consider, brothers, how great a condemnation it is to receive the reward of labour without labouring: how great a crime to accept the wages of sinners and to say nothing against sin by preaching."
St. Jerome on Ezekiel 22: "The princes in her midst, like wolves seizing prey, shedding blood — not of bodies," he says, "but of souls; so that they greedily pursue profits, in no way content with the principle that those who serve the altar should live by the altar; but after they have entered the ministry of God, they amass the riches of Croesus."
St. Bernard, Sermon 10 on the Song of Songs, harshly attacks those who, though they have become excessively fat, well-fed, and expanded from the patrimony of the Crucified One, consider the salvation or ruin of souls as nothing: "Those," he says, "who melt down the reproaches, spitting, scourging, nails, lance, cross, and death of Christ — all of these — in the furnace of avarice, and squander them in the acquisition of shameful profit, and hasten to enclose in their purses the price of the universe." See the same author, epistle 2, where among other things he says of these: "Whatever beyond necessary food and simple clothing you retain from the altar is not yours; it is robbery, it is sacrilege." St. Gregory Nazianzen, Apology 1: "The purpose of all spiritual authority," he says, "is, with private advantage set aside, to serve the interests of others."
This, to pass over others, was accomplished in this age by our Holy Lord Gregory XIII, who expended the wealth of the Church for the benefit of the Church and the salvation of souls: he established and endowed up to twenty Colleges; he fed so many thousands of poor people within the city and outside, that Cardinal Baronius, volume 2, year of Christ 172, tells that a statue was erected to him by the Romans on the Capitol, with this inscription: "Eight hundred million sesterces distributed to the needy with singular beneficence," that is, twenty hundred thousand gold pieces. Alexander V, who was elevated from the Order of St. Francis to the Pontificate, was so liberal and lavish toward the poor that he used to say "he had been a rich Bishop, a poor Cardinal, and a beggar Pope." See St. Chrysostom, Homily 38 on St. Matthew.
Finally, among other things concerning pensions, the Council of Trent decrees thus, Session 24, chapter 13: "All cathedral churches whose revenues do not exceed the sum of a thousand ducats, and parishes that do not exceed a hundred ducats, shall not be burdened with any pensions or reservations of revenues." From this, by parity or similarity, deduce the rest. And the Lateran Council under Innocent III, chapter 32, strictly decrees that to all who serve the Church, even vicars, a suitable portion of the revenues be assigned, from which they can live honourably according to their state. O eternal truth, true holiness, holy happiness! Enlighten our darkness, open the eyes of our mind, so that no vanity of love of money may seduce us, defile us, or condemn us. Come, let Your day and Your light dawn, that the shadows may be dispersed. Pour into our hearts justice, that we may render to the Church what is the Church's, and to God what is God's. Pour in temperance, that content with modest food and clothing (for the short journey of this life requires only a modest provision), we may live soberly, justly, and piously in this age, awaiting the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God. Pour in religion and piety, that we may serve not unjust Mammon, but You, our Lord, in holiness and justice all our days. Pour in charity, that we may love the soul more than the money-box, that we may love the poor and needy more than gold and wealth. Pour in wisdom, that we may seek and heap up true riches, which will abide with us forever in heaven, not vain ones that will soon perish on earth. Grant us so to pass through temporal goods that we may not lose those that are eternal. Grant that we may build houses, a name, and a family not among men who will shortly die, but with You and the holy Angels, the blessed and glorious, which will endure and last forever through all ages. Grant that we may be the salt of the earth and the light of the world: that by example more than by word we may draw all to You, and teach them in reality to despise earthly things and love heavenly things, so that on that great decisive day of the world we may deserve to hear from You the Judge: Well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a few things, I will set you over many: enter into the joy of your Lord. Amen.
to proclaim the kingdom of heaven, which Christ and the Apostles preached — namely, to call men from the flesh and earth to the spirit and heaven, to lead men from pride, gluttony, and avarice to humility, temperance, and contempt of wealth. Now how will they preach heavenly riches who wholly gape after earthly ones? How will they fight against avarice who devote themselves to nothing except accumulating pensions? How will they instil eternity and eternal goods who pursue nothing except temporal and perishable things? St. Hilary, Canon 4 on Matthew, explaining that saying of Christ, "You are the salt of the earth," says that the Apostles and their successors are "preachers of heavenly things and, as it were, sowers of eternity, conferring immortality on all bodies upon which their word has been sprinkled. Rightly therefore they are called the salt of the earth, preserving bodies for eternity by the power of their teaching, in the manner of salting." But how will they be "sowers of eternity" who are wholly reapers of temporal things? How will they be the salt of the earth who, like salt that has lost its savour, have been converted to earth and earthly things? Who, as St. Hilary adds, "having lost the sense of the savour they received, cannot give life to what is corrupted, and cast out from the storehouses of the Church, together with those whom they had salted, are trampled underfoot by passers-by."
Finally, Sacred Scripture and the Fathers heavily attack these men. Zechariah cries out, chapter 11:17: "O shepherd and idol, who abandons the flock!" as if to say: You appear to be the shepherd of the people, but in truth you are an idol and a mask of a shepherd: you are feigned and painted, not a living and true shepherd, you who desert the flock and feed yourself. "Feeding themselves" St. Jude blames. The law of the Apostle is: "Those who work in the sanctuary eat of the things of the sanctuary; and those who serve the altar share with the altar" (1 Corinthians 9:13). Therefore those who to the sanctuary
it was not — indeed St. Augustine did not admit it in any of his associates; who, as Possidius testifies, in his episcopate sought not wealth but souls, and therefore distributed his wealth to the poor. Not St. Gregory, whose liberality and almsgiving the Roman Church proclaims. Not St. Ambrose, not St. Chrysostom, not Basil, not Nazianzen, not Athanasius.
The Fathers attack these things as crimes, indeed as sacrileges, and accuse those who gape after them of sacrilege, both because they plunder the patrimony of Christ, and because they make themselves unworthy and unfit for their rank, dignity, and office. For their duty is to say by word and even more by life: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup," He is the one "who will restore my inheritance to me." For a cleric is so called from kleros, that is, lot, because he does not seek a lot on earth, but because, like the Levites and priests of the Old Testament, his lot is the Lord, from whom he awaits his inheritance in heaven. A cleric therefore professes that he does not seek wealth on earth but in heaven, that his heart is fixed in God. Now if anyone devotes himself to earthly gains, he professes the contrary: for he proclaims in reality that his heart is not in heaven but in money; that his lot is not God but mammon. Again, their duty is to preach the kingdom of heaven,
Verse 4: What Was Weak
4. WHAT WAS WEAK — in the Hebrew all these neuter forms are feminine, namely: the weak, the sick, the broken, the cast out, the straying ones you did not bring back: for sheep are understood. DRIVEN AWAY — in Hebrew niddachat, that is, pushed away or cast down, for example, into a pit or into trackless and deviant places: he means the lost and wandering sheep. Hence the Chaldean and Septuagint: the straying one you did not bring back. See St. Gregory explaining these things in Part 2 of the Pastoral Rule, chapter 6, at the end, where he says thus: "The cast-out one is brought back when anyone who has fallen into fault is recalled to the state of justice by the vigour of pastoral solicitude. The binding tightens the fracture,
WITH VIOLENCE — with cruelty, as if to say: Tyrannically (1). 6. MY FLOCKS WANDERED THROUGH ALL THE MOUNTAINS — both by fleeing to idols on the mountains; and by fleeing the cruelty of rulers; and because through the sloth and malice of their pastors they were handed over to the Chaldean enemies, by whom they were partly carried off and partly scattered, fleeing and wandering through forests and mountains.
Verse 10: BEHOLD, I MYSELF AM AGAINST THE SHEPHERDS (the Chaldean: I
10. BEHOLD, I MYSELF AM AGAINST THE SHEPHERDS (the Chaldean: I will send My fury against the governors, or against the shepherds, that is, from the shepherds) I WILL REQUIRE MY FLOCK (I will require it, I say) AT THEIR HAND — as if to say: I will demand an accounting for why the flock has been lost and scattered, and I will demand its death and losses from the shepherds. THAT THEY MAY NO LONGER FEED. — Namely, through Ezra, Nehemiah, etc., and much more through Christ and the Apostles, God deprived the ancient scribes and priests of the office of feeding. IT SHALL NO LONGER BE FOOD FOR THEM — so that they may devour My flock.
Verse 11: BEHOLD I, etc., WILL VISIT (in Hebrew biccartim, that is
11. BEHOLD I, etc., WILL VISIT (in Hebrew biccartim, that is, I will seek) THEM — namely the sheep, that is, the Jews wandering and straying in the Babylonian captivity like sheep; through Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and others I will lead them back to Judea, so that there they may feed and govern them according to the law of Moses. Allegorically, I will feed the faithful, as My sheep, through Christ. For the Prophet gradually rises toward Christ. Hence in verse 23 he speaks of Him literally. Note the word "I will visit." For the Wise Man advises the shepherd and master, Proverbs 27:23, saying: "Know well the state of your flocks, and give attention to your herds." Aristotle relates in Book 1 of the Economics that a Persian, asked what most fattens a horse, replied: "The master's eye." An African, asked what is the best manure for a field, replied: "The master's footsteps," that is, walking in the field and being present. So for fattening the rational sheep and making the field of the Church fruitful, the footsteps and eye of the pastor, that is, his knowledge and presence, are of the greatest value. This is what the very name of pastor and bishop signifies. For pastor comes from feeding; episkopos means the same as watchman. "A bishop," says Chrysostom, Homily 1 on 1 Timothy, "is so called because he inspects all things and watches over everything." Such a bishop and watchman in this age was St. Charles Borromeo, who most diligently visited all his parishes and peoples, even through hidden mountain and cliff paths, in winter and summer, dealing with each one, teaching, instructing, and directing each one in the way of salvation. Truly did the wise man say: "A prelate, that he may preside and be of service to his own, should not be absent from them." So the moon, although it is nearly the smallest of the stars, yet more than all influences the earth and governs it, because it is nearest and closest to the earth.
Verse 12: On A Day Of Clouds And Darkness
12. ON A DAY OF CLOUDS AND DARKNESS — that is, in a time of calamity and captivity (1). 13. I WILL BRING THEM OUT FROM THE PEOPLES — from the Babylonian captivity; also from Ammon, Idumea, Egypt, Persia, Media, where they had been scattered in flight, I will lead them back through Ezra to the green, pleasant, and fruitful places of Judea; and much more, all the nations from the Gentiles and paganism I will bring through the Apostles of Christ to the pastures of the Church.
Verse 16: WHAT WAS BROKEN I WILL BIND UP.
16. WHAT WAS BROKEN I WILL BIND UP. — Note here and in verse 26 all the duties of a true shepherd: first, to feed the flock; second, to make it lie down; third, to strengthen the weak; fourth, to heal the sick; fifth, to bind up the broken; sixth, to bring back the cast-out and straying; seventh, to seek what was lost; eighth, to rule them gently; ninth, to feed the flock with justice; tenth, to guard the fat and strong. All of which are reduced to this one principle, namely: "The shepherd should first feed the flock, not himself." So the Emperor Hadrian, as Spartianus testifies, often said in public address that "he would manage the commonwealth in such a way as to know that it was the property of the people, not his own." For the king is the shepherd of the peoples, says Homer. Therefore he should feed them, not himself (2).
I WILL FEED THEM WITH JUSTICE — that is, I will feed them with mature judgment, wisdom, and discernment, knowing and giving to each what is suitable for them. Second, "with justice," that is, justly, giving to each what is his own and what is due to him by right.
Verse 17: BUT AS FOR YOU, MY FLOCK.
17. BUT AS FOR YOU, MY FLOCK. — Having rebuked the shepherds, He turns to the flock, and rebukes it up to verse 23; the flock, I say, that is the subjects, who while living sumptuously strive to oppress and disturb others. He says therefore that He will judge them, and will place the sheep on the right and the goats on the left: as Christ from this passage promises He will do at the last judgment, Matthew 25:33; hence explaining, He adds: I JUDGE BETWEEN SHEEP AND SHEEP, BETWEEN RAMS AND GOATS. — I judge between the good and the bad, to reward the good and punish the bad. By rams He means the good; by goats, the bad, who wantonly trample the waters with their feet, that is, disturb the peace. St. Gregory, however, also applies this to pastors who preach well but with their foot, that is, by their conduct, muddy the water. For the flock follows deeds, not words. This is what St. Clement says, Book 2 of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter 19: "I will judge comparing bishop with bishop; likewise I will judge comparing layman with layman, and magistrate with magistrate. For these are sheep endowed with reason, and also rams; lest the layman say: I am a sheep and not a shepherd, and I took no care for myself; let the shepherd see to it, he alone will pay the penalty for me. For as a sheep, when it does not follow the good shepherd, is exposed to wolves; so again, when it follows a bad shepherd, the destruction of the sheep by the bad shepherd who will devour it is certain. Therefore murderous shepherds must be shunned."
Verse 18: WAS IT NOT ENOUGH.
18. WAS IT NOT ENOUGH. — He addresses, as I said, not the shepherds, but the goats, that is, the bad and restless subjects. Truly St. Gregory, Book 25 of the Morals, chapter 14: "It is certain," he says,
that the merits of rulers and peoples are so intertwined with each other that often from the fault of the pastors the life of the people grows worse, and often from the merit of the people the life of the pastors changes." THE PUREST WATER — In Hebrew, deep: for what is deep is also most pure. YOU MUDDIED THE REST WITH YOUR FEET — He points to the rich, who, living sumptuously, preferred to waste what was left over, or give it to their dogs and beasts, rather than distribute it to the poor. He therefore places the one sin of mercilessness in place of all the others. Christ does the same in Matthew 25:42: "I was hungry," He says, "and you did not give Me to eat," etc.
Verse 20: I JUDGE BETWEEN THE FAT SHEEP AND THE LEAN
20. I JUDGE BETWEEN THE FAT SHEEP AND THE LEAN. — The "fat sheep" are the rich who oppress the poor; the "lean" are the oppressed poor. So the Chaldean. Maldonatus explains differently: "The fat sheep," he says, are the beneficent and charitable, to whom Christ says: "I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat." The lean are the greedy and destitute of good works, to whom Christ says: "I was hungry, and you did not give Me to eat."
Verse 21: With Side And Shoulder
21. WITH SIDE AND SHOULDER — with the whole body and effort. It is a metaphor from fat and strong oxen that drive the weak from the pastures with their sides, shoulders, and horns. It signifies that the rich seized everything and left nothing for the poor.
Verse 23: And I Will Raise Up Over Them One Shepherd Who Shall Feed Them, My Servant David
23. AND I WILL RAISE UP OVER THEM ONE SHEPHERD WHO SHALL FEED THEM, MY SERVANT DAVID — that is, Christ, whose father and prefiguration was David, the good shepherd and king (1 Samuel 17:34), as also Moses (Exodus 32:11) and Jacob (Genesis 31:38). So St. Ambrose, Book 7, epistle 47: "David," he says, "was certainly a king already deceased; and therefore the true David, truly humble, truly meek, truly strong of hand, the Son of God, is announced by this name." So also St. Augustine, in his book On the Eight Questions of Dulcitius, Question 5. Indeed the Hebrews too, as Rabbi David testifies, understand the Messiah by this shepherd. Hence He calls Him "one shepherd." For He opposes this one to the many pontiffs of the Old Testament, who succeeded one another by equal right; but in the Church there is one shepherd and pontiff, Christ, whom the Roman Pontiffs succeed not by equal but by vicarious right, as the Apostle teaches (Hebrews 7:25). See what was said there. So Isaiah, chapter 40:11, says of Christ: "Like a shepherd He will feed His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs, and carry them in His bosom, He Himself will carry the ewes with young." Hence Christ, John 10:11: "I am the good shepherd," He says, "and I know My sheep, and Mine know Me." Moreover, that Christ is called David is not new. For He is so called in Hosea 3:5: "After this the children of Israel shall return and shall seek the Lord their God and David their king." And Ezekiel 37:24: "My servant David shall be king over them, and there shall be one shepherd for all of them." And verse 25: "My servant David shall be their prince forever." Note: Christ is called the servant of God the Father by reason of
His assumed humanity. See Francisco Suarez, Part 3, Question 20, article 2, disputation 44, section 1. Finally, the modern Jews understand by David Zerubbabel, the leader of those returning from Babylon, but although the Prophet alludes to him and as it were touches upon him in passing, nevertheless these things so august properly belong to Christ alone.
Verse 25: I WILL MAKE WITH THEM A COVENANT OF PEACE
25. I WILL MAKE WITH THEM A COVENANT OF PEACE. — Christ did this when He said, John 14:27: "My peace I leave to you;" and when He instituted the New Testament. For this is entirely a testament of charity and peace. AND I WILL CAUSE THE EVIL BEASTS TO CEASE — that is, vices, and the power of wicked men and demons, as if to say: I will take away from the devil the power he had over men.
Verse 26: I WILL MAKE THEM AND THE PLACES AROUND MY HILL
26. I WILL MAKE THEM AND THE PLACES AROUND MY HILL (the Chaldean says: sanctuary, or temple, that is, the Church) A BLESSING — so that they may be a blessing, that is, blessed, that is, happy and fruitful. I will cause, namely, all things to turn out prosperously, beneficially, and happily for them. THEY SHALL BE RAINS OF BLESSING (that is, rains of fertility and fruitfulness, that is, useful, not harmful). — As if to say: I will give them the evangelical doctrine, which like rain will irrigate their minds — like trees or fields and earth — and will produce and nourish the fruits of virtue for eternity.
Verse 27: When I Have Broken The Chains Of Their Yoke
27. WHEN I HAVE BROKEN THE CHAINS OF THEIR YOKE — which, namely, the devil and sin imposed upon men. AND DELIVERED THEM FROM THE HAND OF THOSE WHO RULE OVER THEM — from the power of the devil, the flesh, the world, and sin. In Hebrew: from the hand of the Chaldeans, and it alludes to that, as I said.
Verse 29: I Will Raise Up For Them A Renowned Planting
29. I WILL RAISE UP FOR THEM A RENOWNED PLANTING — that is, a noble one; the Septuagint says, a plant of peace; the Chaldean, a planting so that they may endure, as if to say: I will raise up for them a famous plant, namely Christ and the Christian people; the Hebrew says, a plant for a name, that is, which will bring them a name and fame. He means Christ, from whose name Christians were to be called, who throughout the whole world, in heaven and on earth, were to be famous forever. The plant signifies God made man, says Vatablus. So in Zechariah 3:8, Christ is called "the Branch" (Oriens), which in Hebrew is the same word tsemach, that is, a shoot.
Note: This renowned shoot, which sprouts from the heavenly and blessed rain, as mentioned above, is Christ; but in many ways. For, first, He Himself, the Holy Spirit showering down upon the Virgin, was conceived and born as a pure shoot; that He might feed us, His sheep, with Himself, as it were a shoot. This is what we sing from St. Ambrose in the Office of the Church: "And may Christ be our food, and may faith be our drink; joyfully let us drink the sober inebriation of the Spirit." Second, in the Eucharist Christ is for us His little sheep not only a shepherd but also a shoot, that is, food. Hence Zechariah says of Him, chapter 9:17: "For what
is His goodness, and what is His beauty, but the grain of the elect and the wine that makes virgins fruitful?" Third, Christ by His doctrine and grace, as by rain, raises up in the mind, that is, in our intellect and will, pious and holy shoots, namely holy inspirations of virtue, so that fed and strengthened by these we may feel no hunger in spirit: but may be nourished, grow, and advance into the perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. Fourth, the shoots of Christ are the Apostles, Martyrs, and Virgins, by whose examples, as by shoots, He feeds us, so that we may imbibe, drink in, and put on the same virtues of zeal, patience, martyrdom, virginity, and chastity. For their examples are for us shoots, that is, nourishment and incentives for virtue. Therefore: "O loving Jesus, good Shepherd, true Bread, feed us, protect us, make us see good things in the land of the living."
THEY SHALL NO LONGER BE DIMINISHED (that is, consumed) BY FAMINE IN THE LAND — as if to say: In the Church there will not be lacking true doctrine to feed the soul; there will be no famine of the word of God; the number of the faithful will not be diminished because of this famine; they will not die of famine, as happened before Christ. OF THE NATIONS — by the nations.
Verse 31: But You
31. BUT YOU — The order is inverted; it should be restored to this: You, O men, are My flock and the sheep of My pasture. He explains the preceding allegory, as if to say: What I called livestock are not brute animals but men, and your shepherd is I, the Lord your God (1). This chapter is a moral passage about the office, dignity, and virtues of the pastors of the Church. Concerning which hear, first, Christ forming His disciples, the future pastors, Matthew 5:13: "You are the salt of the earth," He says. "But if the salt loses its savour, with what shall it be salted? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world," etc. "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
Second, St. Paul depicts in himself a living portrait of the true pastor with eight virtues, as with colours, in 1 Thessalonians 2, as I said there in the synopsis of the chapter. He does the same in Acts 20:28, and 1 Corinthians 2:3ff., and in his second epistle, chapter 1, verse 2ff., also in chapter 4 to the Ephesians, and throughout the entire epistles to Timothy and to Titus.
Third, St. Peter, epistle 1, chapter 5, verse 2: "Feed the flock of God that is among you," he says, "exercising oversight not under compulsion but willingly, according to God; not for shameful gain but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock from the heart; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." From which words you may derive these six rules:
Verse 1: You who are a pastor, feed your flock willingly
1. You who are a pastor, feed your flock willingly. 2. Let the pastor remember that the flock is not his own but God's. 3. Let pastors seek not profit but souls. 4. Let pastors not invade another's flock, nor lord it over their own: let them protect the obedient; let them cut off the rebellious. For, as the Poet says: "Everything must be tried first, but an incurable wound must be cut away with the sword, lest the healthy part be infected." 5. Let pastors govern the Church by word and by the examples of a holy life. 6. Let pastors constantly set before themselves the model of the true Pastor, Christ, and the crown promised by Him.
Those who do not think about these things, nor care about them, and yet wish to be pastors and rule others, drive both themselves and their people into ruin and eternal destruction. The pagans represented this in the story, or rather fable, of Phaethon, who, eager to rule, demanded from the Sun, his father, beyond his powers, the reins and governance of the solar chariot; the Sun his father replied to him: "Son, you ask for punishment instead of a gift." But when the son continued to press, finally the father yielded and granted him the governance of his chariot. But since Phaethon neither knew how nor was able to guide it, with the same chariot, being fiery, he not only scorched the earth but he himself was consumed in flames, as Ovid graphically describes in Metamorphoses Book 2. So those who aspire to rule and dominate, and do not have the qualities and strengths necessary for it, destroy themselves and their own, and plunge into ruin. This is what Christ replied to James and John, who were seeking the first places in His kingdom: "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?" For indeed honour is a burden, and the chair of feeding is the cup of suffering.
Fourth, Gregory Nazianzen, in Oration 21 in praise of St. Athanasius, exhibits in him an illustrious image of a pastor: "Athanasius," he says, "first, was sublime in life but truly humble in spirit; second, endowed with such virtue that no one could aspire to it; third, with such affability that access to his company was easy for all; fourth, gentle and free from anger;
fifth, inclined to compassion; sixth, pleasant in speech, more pleasant in conduct; seventh, angelic in countenance, more angelic in spirit; eighth, gentle in rebuking, powerful in teaching; tempering each so that his rebuke possessed fatherly charity and his praise possessed the gravity worthy of authority; so that there was neither loose softness nor rigid and grim severity; but rather the former bore the name of easiness and kindness, and the latter the name of prudence, and both achieved the praise of prudence. Finally ninth, so conducting himself that he had no great need of speech, because of his conduct which was abundantly sufficient for instruction; nor again did he need the rod much, because of his power and facility in speaking: and he needed the surgical knife much less still, because of the rod moderately applied.
Fifth, Pope St. Gregory wrote the book On Pastoral Care, divided into three parts, worthy to be frequently read by the pastors of the Church, in which among other things he says: "The art of arts is the governance of souls. Therefore the pastor, first, should be clean in thought; second, outstanding in action; third, discreet in silence; fourth, useful in speech; fifth, close to each one by compassion; sixth, raised above all others in contemplation; seventh, a companion of those who do well through humility; eighth, upright against the vices of offenders through zeal for justice; ninth, not diminishing the care of interior things in the occupation with external ones, nor abandoning the provision for external things in solicitude for internal ones; tenth, he should not seek to please men by his own effort, yet he should attend to what he ought to please: he should prudently discern hypocrites; eleventh, let there be discretion in correction, dissimulation, fervour, and gentleness; twelfth, let him be especially intent upon meditations on the sacred law; thirteenth, let him be wholly devoted to the application of God's word toward the sheep of God entrusted to him; fourteenth, let him know that men are to be admonished in one way, women in another; young people in one way, the elderly in another; the rich in one way, the poor in another; the joyful in one way, the sad in another; subjects in one way, prelates in another; servants in one way, masters in another; fifteenth, let him especially pursue the graver vices; sixteenth, let him not propose abstruse things to weak minds; seventeenth, and above all, let him hold the flock in faith, hope, and charity not by voice alone but also by deeds."
Sixth, St. Bernard in the Life of St. Malachy proposes him as a true model of pastors; where among other things he says of him: "From the first day of his conversion until the end of his life, first, he lived without any possessions, even in his bishopric, and so he had no house of his own; second, he ceaselessly went around all the parishes, serving the Gospel and living by the Gospel; third, more often offering the Gospel itself without cost, he lived from his own labours and those of his companions; fourth, if sometimes he had to rest, he did so in holy places, conforming himself to their customs and observances, content with the common life and table; fifth, when he went out to preach, he went on foot with those on foot, though he was a Bishop and Legate." Then comparing him with the false shepherds and hirelings of his own and this age: "They," he says, "first, lord it over the clergy: but he, though free from all, made himself the servant of all. Second, they either eat without evangelizing, or evangelize in order to eat: Malachy, imitating Paul, eats in order to evangelize. Third, they esteem pomp and gain as piety: Malachy claims for his inheritance toil and burden. Fourth, they consider themselves happy if they have enlarged their boundaries: Malachy glories in expanding charity. Fifth, they gather into barns and fill casks to load their tables: Malachy gathers in deserts and solitudes to fill heaven. Sixth, they receive tithes, first-fruits, and offerings, and moreover from Caesar's favour tolls, tributes, and other infinite revenues, and yet they are still anxious about what they shall eat and drink: Malachy, having none of these, yet enriches many from the storehouse of faith. For them there is no end to desire or anxiety: Malachy, desiring nothing, nevertheless does not know how to worry about tomorrow. Seventh, they demand from the poor what they give to the rich: he solicits the rich for the sustenance of the poor. Eighth, they empty the purses of their subjects: he heaps up the altars with vows and peace-offerings for their sins. Ninth, they erect lofty palaces, raise towers and walls to the heavens: Malachy has nowhere to lay his head, and meanwhile does the work of an Evangelist. Tenth, they mount horses with a crowd of men eating bread for nothing, and not their own: Malachy, surrounded by a company of holy Brothers, goes around on foot, carrying the bread of angels, with which he satisfies hungry souls. Eleventh, they do not even know their flocks: he instructs them. Twelfth, they honour the powerful and tyrants: he punishes them."
Finally, St. Bernard in the Sentences: "Three things are necessary for a pastor," he says: "goodness, discipline, and knowledge. Goodness attracts, discipline corrects, knowledge feeds. Goodness makes him lovable, discipline makes him worthy of imitation, knowledge makes him teachable." The same, epistle 245: "Preside," he says, "so that you may be of service by word, example, and prayer; but especially by prayer — not by applause but by lamentation."
So also St. Jordan, the second General of the Dominican Fathers, when asked what was the duty of his order, replied that it was threefold, and was summed up by the Psalmist in Psalm 118 in three words, when he says: "Teach me goodness, discipline, and knowledge." Therefore in a pastor, before all else, integrity of life is required, by which he may shine before his own as an example of virtue. This is the teaching and counsel of St. Eucherius in his paraenetic epistle: "I commend to your soul," he says, "the care of your soul." And St. Gregory, Book 4, epistle 15: "Know that we have taken up the name of pastor not for rest but for labour. Let us therefore show in deed what we are marked with in name." And Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 21, considers most unfit for
governance those "who purge others before they themselves have been purged. For they commit one of two sins: either, because they themselves need pardon, they forgive others beyond measure, so that vice is not only not repressed but is actually taught; or, because they conceal their own vices by the harshness of their authority, so that not their morals give credibility to their dignity but their dignity gives credibility to their morals, in a most inverted order." Tertullian, in On Patience: "Words blush," he says, "when deeds are lacking." St. Jerome, epistle 2: "Let not your works put your speech to shame, lest when you speak, anyone silently reply: Why then do you yourself not do what you say?" And in the epistle to Principia: "However brilliant the doctrine, it is put to shame when one's own conscience reproves it." Again St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 33: "Why," he says, "do we arm the tongue while our hands are bound? For the one who is wise in speech is not wise in my judgment; but he who throws out a few words about virtues, but through what he does demonstrates much, and gains credibility and authority for his speech through his life. For in my judgment, that beauty which is perceived by the eyes is superior to that which is painted in words; and that wisdom which is demonstrated through works exceeds that which shines and sparkles in speech." Again St. Gregory, Book 21 of the Morals, chapter 8, speaking of the prostitute who while sleeping smothered her son,
whom she had nursed while awake (1 Kings 3): "Teachers," he says, "who are awake in knowledge but asleep in their life, while they nourish their hearers through the watches of preaching, yet because they neglect to do what they say, they kill them through the sleep of torpor, and by their negligence they smother those whom they seemed to nourish with the milk of words." St. Paulinus, in his epistle to Jovius, advises him: "Be instructed," he says, "not so much by the tongue as by your life: do not so much discourse about great things as do them." For although subjects must observe that precept of Christ: "Whatever they tell you, observe and do," and that instruction of Eucherius in the paraenetic epistle already cited: "I beseech you, always regard the fault of another (even if he is a superior) as a disgrace, never as an example;" nevertheless human weakness teaches that what Abbot Chaeremon says in Cassian, Conference 11, chapter 4, is very true: "The authority of the teacher will never be effective unless he has fixed it in the heart of the hearer by the effect of his own work." For this reason, concerning St. Athanasius, Nazianzen writes, Oration 21: "So conducting himself that he had no great need of speech, because his conduct was abundantly sufficient for instruction." And of St. Basil he says the same in Oration 20: "Having not much need of speech for the cure of souls." Why? He adds the reason: "Accomplishing very many things by his deeds." Hence "his prayer was thunder, because his life was lightning."