You were onwilling to tell me aboout your most serene mistress [empress Conatantina], how studiously she is reading, and how she is made contrite by her religious texts. For indeed, your presence ought to be a great advantage for her, so that, amid the turbulent affairs which she endures continually, and through which she is drawn abroard, whether she likes it or not, she may always be recalled in mind to the love of the heavenly kingdom. Whenever she sheds tears for her own soul, you should inquire, if she is still contrite through fear, of through love now.
For there are two types of contrition, as you know. One that is afraid of eternal punishments, and the other that longs for heavenly rewards, as a soul thirsting for God is first made contrite by fear, and afterwards by love.
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), II, 47
No comments:
Post a Comment