Golden-Worded

Today is the memorial of St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop of Ravenna, Doctor of the Church. In his day, Ravenna was the primary city of the Western Roman Empire, so he was in a position of considerable importance and influence. When Eutyches was deposed and condemned by a synod under St. Flavian of Constantinople and the Pope confirmed the decision, Eutyches appealed to Chrysologus; St. Peter replied by telling him that he should submit to the authority of the synod and of the Bishop of Rome. Most of his writings have vanished, but a fair number of his short homilies survive, all of which are excellent.

Let us do penance, brothers, let us do penance right away, because we no longer have any extended period of time, the very hour is quickly coming to an end for us, and the imminence of judgment is already preventing us from the opportunity to make amends. Let your penance get up and running, so that judgment may not outrun it, since the fact that the Lord has not yet come, that he still waits, and that he delays, means that his desire is for us to return to him and not to perish.

[Peter Chrysologus, Selected Sermons, Volume 3, Palardy, tr. Catholic University of America Press (Washington, DC: 2005) Sermon 167, section 5.]