A Good Pastor
by VP
Posted on Sunday September 19, 2021 at 01:00AM in Books
A pastor, undertaking, as he does, to purify the hearts of others, and to wash away every blemish, should be chaste in thoughts and clean of hand. He should be foremost in action , operatione praecipuus, lest he refute by his conduct what he preaches by his lips, lest the limpid stream at which he drinks become muddied by his own footsteps. There is no one who does more harm in the Church than he who possesses the rank of the repute of holiness without the reality.
A pastor should know when to remain silent, so as not to disclose what is secret. And he should have the gift of speech, so that he may be able to announce what should be known, to exhort in sound doctrine, and to convince gainsayers. God Himself rebukes those who fly when the wolf appears, who, like "dumb dogs that are unable to bark," close their mouths in the presence of danger...
A pastor should, in a spirit of humility, be on a level with those who are good, taking precedence of them in nothing, and rejoicing, not that he has a position of authority, but rather that he has an opportunity to confer benefit. For the most part, however, one who rules others is swollen with conceit. He sees all things at his service, all his orders instantly carried out, all his subjects ready to applaud, even though he does ill, and non disposed to contradict. Deluded by these things, he grows overweening in his own conceit, the deference by which he is surrounded blinds him to the truth, he forgets himself, lives on the breath of others, and comes to regard himself as what people say he is, rather than as what he ought know himself to be....
A pastor must not grow remiss in the care of his own soul. He must not become engrossed in secular business. For if the head is feeble vigorous limbs avail not; and in vain does an army pursue the enemy if its leader has lost the way. Nevertheless, secular business must be undertaken sometimes, not for its own sake of with aridity, but our of consideration for others. Those who censure the deeds of delinquents, but pay no heed to their temporal necessities, will never acquire much influence. Truth appeals not to a poor man if mercy does not relieve his wants...
A pastor should not strive anxiously to please men, let him rather direct all his energies to those things which ought to please. A desire to please may easily degenerate into cowardice and complainsancy, for a man may be so anxious not to dull the edge of his popularity that he will not correct his subjects, even when they go astray. The love of the people, therefore, must be sought not for its own sake, not for the pastor's sake, but as a means, as a silken cord, by which their hearts may be drawn to the love of their Maker.