Encouragement

Quote from Letter 7,2 to Columbus, bishop of Numidia. October 596

For as for your complaint that you suffer the enmity of many men, because we contact you frequently with our letters, there is no doubt, most revered brother, that the good suffer the hatred of the wicked, and those intent on divine works are torn apart by the hostility of evil men. But the more these evil things surround you, the more earnestly should you be occupied in looking after the command entrusted to you, and in watching over the protection of Christ's flock.

And the more the opposition of unjust men oppresses you, the more your pastoral care ought to inspire you with greater eagerness and certainty over the promised reward, so that you may be able to offer the profit from the work on you to the heavenly shepherd.

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), II, 451