examination of the heart 428 was shown? Christ, the Son of God, crucified for you and for all mankind. Look at Him! It is fitting and necessary that you imitate Him, not sparing yourself for the salvation of your neighbor, treating everyone kindly, praying for your enemies, exposing yourself to the divine justice for sinners, taking refuge with God in afflictions, [f.137r] and persevering in good works. This pattern and model was shown to you on the mountain. If you refuse to imitate it, then desist from your intention of consuming Christ. For he who hides himself to avoid working with Christ and for Christ is unworthy to be nourished by Christ. After Holy Communion 1. “a hireling” (Jn 10:12). That Great Bishop of the world most clearly and truly depicted the hirelings, saying: “He is called a hireling, who not out of deep love, but for temporal rewards pastures the Lord’s sheep.”205 As for you, be on your guard that you serve the Lord with no other intention than the pure love of Him, so that you do not earn the name of a hireling and do not lose the reward. For what does it mean to be God’s hired servant? It is to hunt after a little glory from good deeds; to boast; to deny oneself untruthfully; to be inconstant in rejecting the world; to hope for honor as a reward for one’s works; not to be completely dispossessed; to look backwards. A hireling is crafty. He first puts his hand to the plow, and then, either prompted by a hope for better comfort, or deterred by the enormity of work, or allured by the sweetness of leisure, or charmed by the sweetness of his previous vices, he flees, forsakes his religious cross, runs away, and thus loses and does not save his soul; neither does he save the soul of another. See to it, therefore, that you are steady in whatever work you do, so that you may receive not only the name of a good shepherd 205 Gregorius Magnus, XL Homiliarum in Evangelia: Liber I — Homilia XIV (Joan. X, 11-16), in: PL, vol. 76, Ateliers catholiques du Petit-Montrouge, Paris 1857, p. 1128 (n. 1485). Cf. GFGH, p. 108 (Homily 15).
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