Good morning, all, I was reading St. Gregory the Great's sermon on tomorrow's Gospel reading and I was struck--convicted, really-- by the following passage: Would, my dear Brethren, that we say not this to our own condemnation, namely: that all who are called by the name of priest, are also named as angels, as the prophet testifies; saying: For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts (Mal. ii. 7). You likewise can reach to the sublimity of this name, if you so wish. For each one among you, in as far as he is able, in as far as he responds to the grace of the heavenly invitation, should he recall his neighbour from evildoing; should he seek to encourage him in doing what is good; when he reminds him of the eternal kingdom, or of the punishment of wrong-doers; whenever he employs words of holy import, he is indeed an angel. And let no one say: I am not capable of giving warning; I am not a fit person to exhort others. Do what you can, lest your single talent, unprofitably employed, be required of you with punishment. For he that had received no more than one talent was careful to bury it in the earth, rather than put it to profit. (Mt. xxv.) We read that in the Tabernacle of God there were not alone golden drinking goblets but, at the command of the Lord, there also were made ladles, or spoons, for filling the drinking vessels. For the goblets here understand fulness of holy doctrine, for the ladles a small and restricted acquaintance with doctrine. One person being filled with the doctrine of sacred truth, inebriates the minds of those that hear him. Through what he says he perfectly fills the cup. Another knows that he cannot give fulness, but because he gives warnings as best he can, he truly offers a taste from his ladle! You, therefore, who live in the Tabernacle of the Lord, that is, in the Holy Church, if you cannot fill up the goblets with the teachings of holy wisdom, as well then as you can, as far as the divine bounty has endowed you, give to your neighbours spoonfuls of the good word! And when you consider that you have yourself made some little progress, draw others along with you; seek to make comrades on the road to God. Should one among you, Brethren, stroll out towards the forum or the baths, he will invite a friend whom he thinks is not busy to keep him company. This simple action of our ordinary life is pleasant to you, and if it be that you are going towards God, give a thought not to journey alone. Hence it is written: He that heareth, let him say: come (Apoc. xxii. 17); so let him who heard in his heart the invitation of divine love, pass on to his neighbours around about him, the message of the invitation. And though a man may not have even bread wherewith to give an alms to the hungry; yet, what is still more precious, he is able to give who possesses but a tongue. For it is a greater thing to strengthen with the nourishment of a word that will feed the mind for ever, than to fill with earthly bread a stomach of perishable flesh. Do not, my dearest Brethren, withhold from your brother the charity of a word. I admonish myself with you, that we abstain from every idle word, that we turn away from useless chatter. In as far as you are able to overcome the tongue, scatter not your words to the wind, since our Judge has said: Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment. (Mt. xii. 36.) The arrow that pierced my heart especially was the bitter realization that I have not been about my Father's business of late. I have not been saying "Come" to those in need of direction whom God has saw fit to put on my path. What a sad sad salvation it would be if I am, through His Grace, able to make it to the gates of Heaven and yet make it there alone. While St Gregory rightly points out that it is the role of a priest to be Our Lord's angel in the world, preaching His message of salvation to the lost, it is not only the priest's role. We are all of us called to preach the Gospel and evangelize the nations. For we are all of us members of the priesthood of believers. Lord forgive me for having lost my zeal and forgotten the charge I was given to keep. Nor can I hide behind my lack of formal education in the faith. Lowly laymen like myself have just as much access to the gifts of the Spirit as the most prestigious prelate, and just as much of an obligation, in as far as I am able, to see to the Great Commission. I may be a mere spoon where others are goblets, but all tools were chosen by God and have a place in His Tabernacle and a job He conmanded for them to do. I read either St Augustine or St. Thomas Aquinus once say something to the effect that one of the greatest acts of charity one can render is to correct an erring soul. Conversely, to knowingly omit to correct is one of the greatest sins. I cannot say that I have been as charitable as I should have been in a world full of people in desperate need of the saving knowledge of Christ. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!