From Gregory the Great, in today’s Office of Readings:

There is something else about the life of the shepherds, dearest brothers, which discourages me greatly. But lest what I claim should seem unjust to anyone, I accuse myself of the very same thing, although I fall into it unwillingly – compelled by the urgency of these barbarous times. I speak of our absorption in external affairs; we accept the duties of office, but by our actions we show that we are attentive to other things. We abandon the ministry of preaching and, in my opinion, are called bishops to our detriment, for we retain the honourable office but fail to practice the virtues proper to it. Those who have been entrusted to us abandon God, and we are silent. They fall into sin, and we do not extend a hand of rebuke.

But how can we who neglect ourselves be able to correct someone else? We are wrapped up in worldly concerns, and the more we devote ourselves to external things, the more insensitive we become in spirit.

For this reason the Church rightfully says about her own feeble members: They made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept. We are set to guard the vineyards but do not guard our own, for we get involved in irrelevant pursuits and neglect the performance of our ministry.

One of the countless reasons to ground our Catholic lives in as much as Catholic Life as we can muster is so that we can see that there are no new problems. St. Gregory the Great died in 604 – 1400 years ago. Human nature has not changed, the tensions and challenges of discipleship have not changed and – here’s the important part – the answers have not changed, in their essence, either. We really don’t have to constantly keep re-inventing the wheel.

And take a look at the biography of St. Callistus I – slave-turned-Pope who ran into trouble with his master for losing a bunch of money, was sent into exile, and eventually, some time after he returned to Rome, ended up as Pope. The crux of his story relates to his origins though – he was known, and reviled by some enemies, for "laxity" in re-admitting, after due public penance, sinners back into Communion, as well as other policies – such as permitting lower clergy to marry and declaring that socio-economic differences were no barrier to Christian marriage.