Epistle XXX.
To Narses, the Religious (Narsæ Relegioso).
Gregory to Narses, &c.
When I was sending Romanus the guardian
(defensorem) to the royal city, he sought long your letters, but
they could not be found:
but afterwards they were found among many
letters from other persons, your Sweetness, therein telling me of your
afflictions and tribulations of spirit, and making known the
oppositions to you of bad men. But, I pray you, in all this
recall to your mind what I believe too that you never forget, That all who will live godly in Christ suffer persecution. (2 Tim. iii. 12). And with regard to this I confidently say that you would live less godly if you suffered persecution less. For let us hear what else the same teacher of the Gentiles says to his disciples; Yourselves know, brethren, our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain; for we had before suffered and been shamefully entreated (1 Thess. ii. 1). Lo, most sweet son, the holy preacher declared that his entrance would have been of no effect, if he had not been shamefully entreated; and thy Charity wishes to say good things, but refuses to endure evil things. Wherefore thou must needs gird thyself up more tightly in the midst of adverse circumstances, that adversity itself may the more increase thy desire for the love of and thy earnestness in good works. So the seeds of harvests germinate the more fruitfully for being covered over with frost; so fire is kept down by a blast, that it may grow greater. I know indeed that from the perverse speeches of so many evil tongues thou endurest a violent storm, and bearest in thy soul billows of contradictions. But remember what the says by the Psalmist, I heard thee in the secret place of storm; I proved thee at the waters of contradiction (Psal. lxxx. 8). For, if in the midst of them that contradict thou doest the things that are of , then thou art proved a true worker.
Further, your most sweet Charity has written to me
that I should write something in the way of admonition to the
monasteries which, through your prayers and influence, have been
instituted by our son the lord Paul. But, if they are vessels of
, I know that they have through the grace
of compunction a fountain of wisdom within, and ought not to take in
the little drops of my dryness. Further, your perfect wisdom
recollects that in Paradise there was no rain, but a fountain ascended
from the midst of Paradise to water the face of the ground. Those
souls, then, that through the grace of compunction have a fountain in
themselves have no need of rain from another’s tongue.
Further, you inform me in your letter of the
passing away of the lady Esychia; and I
rejoiced with great exultation that that good soul, which laboured in a
foreign country, has arrived happily at its own. Further, greet
in my behalf my glorious daughters, the lady Dominica and the lady
Eudochia. But, inasmuch as I hear that it is now a long time
since the aforesaid lady Dominica was made a prioress, let your Charity
watch over her in this regard; that, as she is no longer compelled to
serve in the toil of an earthy court, she may fly perfectly from all
noises of this world, devote herself entirely to , and leave no part of herself outside herself; but that she also gather together as many souls as she can to the service of her Creator, that their minds through her word may receive the grace of compunction, and that she herself may so much the more speedily be absolved from all her sins as, through her life and her tongue, the souls of others also shall have broken loose from the bands of sins. Moreover, since no one among men in this world is without sin (and what else is sinning but flying from ?), I say confidently that this my daughter also has some sins. Wherefore, that she may perfectly satisfy her mistress, that is eternal Wisdom, let her, who fled alone, return with many. For the guilt of turning away will be imputed to no one who in returning brings back gain.