Exposition of Psalm 33

1. This psalm seems to have nothing obscure in its text, nothing that needs an expositor; but its title makes us attentive and calls for those who knock. For just as it is here written that blessed is the man who hopes in him (Ps 34:8 (33:9)), so let us all hope that he will open to those who knock. For he would not urge us to knock if he were unwilling to open to those who knock. If it sometimes happens that one who had resolved always to keep the door shut, worn out, rises against his own resolve at the hand of the one knocking and opens, so as not to endure the knocking any longer, how much more ought we to hope that he will open more quickly who says, Knock, and it shall be opened to you (Matt 7:7)? I knock now, with the intention of my heart, at the Lord God, that he may deign to reveal this mystery to us; let your Charity knock with me, by your intention to hear and your humility in praying for us. For it is, as we must admit, a hidden and great mystery.

2. The title of the psalm runs thus: A psalm of David, when he changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he sent him away, and he departed (Ps 34:1 (33:1)). We look in the Scriptures, in the deeds recorded for us about David, for when this happened, just as we find the title of another psalm: When David fled from the face of his son Absalom (Ps 3:1). For we read in the books of Kings and find when David fled from the face of his son Absalom; and it is most true, because it happened, and what happened was written down; and although the title of the psalm is written thus in a mystery, still it is drawn from a deed that was done. So too I believe that what is here written, When he changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he sent him away, and he departed, is written in the books of Kings, where everything pertaining to the deeds of David is written for us; but we do not find it, and yet we find something from which it appears that this is drawn. For it is written that when David was fleeing his persecutor Saul, he betook himself to Achish king of Gath, that is, to the king of a certain nation neighboring the kingdom of the Jews; there he lay hidden, to escape the persecution of Saul. His glory was still recent, the glory for which his good deed earned him envy, when he killed Goliath and in a single battle won glory and security of the kingdom for both king and people. But Saul, who had been in anguish when Goliath challenged them, once Goliath was laid low, began to be his enemy by whose hand he had slain the enemy, and he envied the glory of David; especially because the people, set in exultation and with a chorus now formed, the women sang the glory of David, that Saul had struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands. Stirred by this, because the boy had begun to have greater glory through a single battle and was now set above the king in everyone's praises, Saul, as is the way of the plague of spite and the pride of the world, began to envy and to persecute him. Then David, as I said, had betaken himself to the king of Gath, who was called Achish. But it was suggested to that king that he was harboring one who had begun to have great glory among the people of the Jews, and it was said to him, Is this not David, for whom the Israelite women made a chorus, saying: Saul struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands? (1 Sam 21:11) Now if Saul had begun to envy him on account of this glory, was David not to fear that this king too, to whom he had fled, might wish to crush one whom he could have as an enemy near at hand if he kept him safe? He feared him also, and, as it is written, he changed his countenance before them, and he behaved frantically, and beat upon the gates of the city like a drum, and was carried in his own hands, and fell down at the doors of the gate, and the spittle ran down upon his beard (1 Sam 21:13). That king with whom he was hiding saw him and said to his men, Why have you brought this madman to me? Is he going to come into my house? (1 Sam 21:14-15) And so he sent him away, casting him out; and David withdrew from there unharmed by this feigning of madness. On account of this feigning of madness, then, what is here written seems to belong to that history: A psalm of David, when he changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he sent him away, and he departed. But that man was Achish, not Abimelech. Only the name does not seem to fit, for the deed is designated in almost the very words alike in the Psalms and in the book of Kings where it is written. For this very reason the change of name ought all the more to move us to seek the sacrament. For neither did that take place without cause, although it did take place, but because it prefigured something; nor was this written down without cause, with the name changed.

3. Surely you see, brothers, the depth of the sacraments. If there is no mystery in Goliath's being killed by a boy, there is no mystery in his changing his countenance and behaving frantically and beating upon the gates like a drum and falling at the gates of the city and the doors of the gate, and the spittle running down upon his beard. How can it be that this did not signify something, when indeed the Apostle plainly says, Now these things happened to them as a figure; but they were written for our sake, upon whom the end of the ages has come (1 Cor 10:11)? If the manna signifies nothing, of which the Apostle says, And they ate the same spiritual food (1 Cor 10:3); if it signifies nothing that the sea was divided and the people led through the midst, that they might escape the persecution of Pharaoh, though the Apostle says, For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Cor 10:1-2); if it signifies nothing that water flowed from the struck rock, though the Apostle says, And the rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:4); if, then, those things signify nothing, although they were done; if, finally, the two sons of Abraham, born according to the human order of birth, signify nothing, and yet the Apostle calls those two sons the two Testaments, the Old and the New, and says, These are the two Testaments, which are an allegory (Gal 4:24); if, then, those things signify nothing which you see, on apostolic authority, to have been done in a mystery of things to come, we ought to judge that this also signifies nothing which I just now related to you from the book of Kings about David. Therefore it does not signify nothing, both that the name was changed and that it was said before Abimelech.

4. Attend with me. For everything I have just said pertains, as it were, to the hand of the one knocking; it is not yet opened. We knocked when we said these things; you too knocked when you heard them; let us still knock by praying, that the Lord may open to us. We have the interpretation of the Hebrew names; learned men were not lacking who rendered the names for us from Hebrew into Greek, and from there into Latin. Consulting these names, then, we find that Abimelech is interpreted as "my father's kingdom," and Achish as "how is he." Let us attend to these names; from there it begins to be opened to us who knock. If you ask what Achish is, the answer is "how is he." "How is he" is the saying of one who wonders and does not understand. Abimelech, "my father's kingdom"; David, "strong in hand." David is a figure of Christ, just as Goliath is a figure of the devil; and David's laying Goliath low is Christ, who killed the devil. But what is Christ, who killed the devil? Humility killed pride. When, therefore, I name Christ, my brothers, humility above all is commended to us. For he made a way for us through humility; because through pride we had withdrawn from God, we could not return to him except through humility, and we had no one to set before ourselves to imitate. For the whole mortality of human beings had swollen with pride. And if there existed any man humble in spirit, as were the prophets and patriarchs, the human race disdained to imitate humble men. Therefore, lest a human being disdain to imitate a humble human being, God became humble, so that at least in this way the pride of the human race would not disdain to follow the footsteps of God.

5. Now there was, as you know, a sacrifice of the Jews, formerly according to the order of Aaron in the victims of cattle, and this was in a mystery; there was not yet the sacrifice of the body and blood of the Lord, which the faithful know, and those who have read the Gospel, the sacrifice that is now spread throughout the whole world. Set before your eyes, then, the two sacrifices, both the one according to the order of Aaron and this one according to the order of Melchizedek. For it is written, The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent: you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (Ps 110:4 (109:4)). Of whom is it said, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek? Of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who was Melchizedek? The king of Salem. Salem was a city before, the one that afterward, as the learned have handed down, was called Jerusalem. So before the Jews reigned there, that priest Melchizedek was there, who is described in Genesis as priest of God Most High. He met Abraham when he freed Lot from the hand of his pursuers and laid low those by whom Lot was held, and freed his kinsman; after the freeing of his kinsman, Melchizedek met him. And so great was Melchizedek that by him Abraham was blessed. He brought forth bread and wine, and blessed Abraham, and Abraham gave him tithes. See what he brought forth, and whom he blessed. And it was said afterward, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. David said this in the Spirit, long after Abraham; but Melchizedek lived in the times of Abraham. Of what other does he say, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, except of him whose sacrifice you know?

6. The sacrifice of Aaron, then, was taken away, and there began to be a sacrifice according to the order of Melchizedek. Therefore some unknown one changed his countenance. Who is this unknown one? Let him not be unknown, for our Lord Jesus Christ is known. He willed our salvation to be in his body and blood. And from what did he commend his body and blood? From his humility. For unless he were humble, he would neither be eaten nor drunk. Look at his loftiness: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). Behold the eternal food; but the angels eat it, the heavenly Powers eat it, the celestial Spirits eat it, and in eating they are filled, and what satisfies and gladdens them remains whole. But what human being could reach that food? Whence a heart fit for that food? It was necessary, then, that that table should turn to milk and reach the little ones. And how does food become milk? How is food turned into milk, unless it passes through the flesh? For this is what the mother does. What the mother eats, that the infant eats; but because the infant is less fit to feed on bread, the mother makes the bread flesh, and through the humility of the breast and the juice of milk, she feeds the infant from that same bread. How, then, did the Wisdom of God feed us from that same bread? Because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14). See, then, the humility: for a human being ate the bread of angels, as it is written, He gave them the bread of heaven; man ate the bread of angels (Ps 78:24-25 (77:24-25)); that is, that eternal Word by which the angels are fed, which is equal to the Father, a human being ate; because though he was in the form of God, he did not count it robbery to be equal with God. The angels are filled with him; but he emptied himself, so that a human being might eat the bread of angels, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man; he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross (Phil 2:6-8); so that now from the cross the flesh and blood of the Lord, a new sacrifice, might be commended to us. Because he changed his countenance before Abimelech, that is, before the father's kingdom. For the father's kingdom was the kingdom of the Jews. How the father's kingdom? The kingdom of David, the kingdom of Abraham. For the kingdom of God the Father is the Church rather than the people of the Jews; but according to the flesh, the father's kingdom is the people of Israel. For it was said, And God will give him the throne of David his father (Luke 1:32). It is shown, then, that according to the flesh David is the father of the Lord; but according to divinity Christ is not the son but the Lord of David. The Jews indeed know Christ according to the flesh; according to divinity they do not know him. Therefore he put a question to them and said, Whose son do you say that the Christ is? And they answered, The son of David. And he: How then does David in the spirit call him Lord, when he says: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool under your feet? If, then, David in the spirit calls him Lord, how is he his son? And they could not answer him (Matt 22:42-46); because they knew nothing in the Lord Christ except what was seen with the eyes, not what was understood with the heart. But if they had eyes within, as they had without, from what they saw without they would understand the son of David; from what they understood within they would understand the Lord of David.

7. He changed his countenance, then, before Abimelech. What is before Abimelech? Before the father's kingdom. What is "before the father's kingdom"? Before the Jews. And he sent him away, and he departed. Whom did he send away? He sent away the very people of the Jews, and he departed. You look now for Christ among the Jews, and you do not find him. Why did he send away and depart? Because he changed his countenance. For clinging to that sacrifice according to the order of Aaron, they did not hold the sacrifice according to the order of Melchizedek; and they lost Christ, and the Gentiles began to have him, to whom he had not earlier sent heralds. For to the Jews he had sent heralds; David himself, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the rest of the prophets he had sent, and few from among them came to know him, and those few in comparison with the perishing; for there were many. We read that there were thousands. For it is written, A remnant shall be saved (Isa 10:22; Rom 9:27). But you look now for circumcised Christians, and you do not find them. Yet in the recent times of the faith there were many thousands of Christians from among the circumcision. You look now, and you do not find them. Rightly you do not find them. For he changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he sent him away, and he departed. And before Achish he changed his countenance, and he sent him away, and he departed. For the names were changed so that the change of names might rouse us to the meaning of the mystery; lest we suppose that nothing is narrated or recalled in the Scriptures of the Psalms except what is found done in the books of Kings, and so not seek there the figures of things to come, but take them as mere deeds done. When, therefore, the names are changed, what is said to you? Something here is shut; knock, do not cling to the letter; for the letter kills, but desire the spirit, for the spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6); the spiritual understanding saves the believer.

8. How, then, did he send away king Achish? Attend, brothers. I said Achish is interpreted "how is he." Recall the Gospel: when our Lord Jesus Christ was speaking of his body, he said, Unless one eats my flesh and drinks my blood, he will not have life in himself; for my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed (John 6:53-55). And his disciples who were following him were terrified and shuddered at the saying, and not understanding they supposed that our Lord Jesus Christ was saying something hard, namely, that they were to eat his flesh which they saw, and to drink his blood; and they could not endure it, as though saying, "How is he?" For error and ignorance and folly are in the person of king Achish. For where it is said "how is he," he is not understood; where he is not understood, there is the darkness of ignorance. So in them was the kingdom of ignorance, like king Achish; that is, the kingdom of error ruled over them. But he was saying, Unless one eats my flesh and drinks my blood. Because he had changed his countenance, it seemed like frenzy and madness to give his flesh to be eaten by men, and his blood to be drunk. Therefore David was thought to be, as it were, mad, when Achish himself said, "You have brought this madman to me." Does it not seem madness: "Eat my flesh, and drink my blood"? And in saying, Whoever does not eat my flesh and drink my blood will not have life in himself, he seems to be, as it were, mad. But to king Achish he seems mad, that is, to the foolish and the ignorant. Therefore he sent them away and departed; understanding fled from their heart, lest they be able to grasp him. And what did they say? As it were, "How is he?"—which is what Achish means. For they said, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (John 6:52) They thought the Lord was mad, and did not know what he was saying, and was raving. But he who knew what he was saying, in that change of his countenance and as it were frenzy and madness, was proclaiming the sacraments, and was behaving frantically, and beating upon the gates of the city like a drum.

9. We must ask what it is that he "behaved frantically" and "beat upon the gates like a drum." Not without cause was it said, He fell down at the doors of the gate; not without cause was it said, And the spittle ran down upon his beard; these things were not said in vain. With the reward of understanding, a lengthy sermon ought not to be burdensome. You know, brothers, that the Jews themselves, before whom he changed his countenance, and whom he sent away, and departed, are idle today. If those who lost Christ, whom he sent away and departed, have an empty idleness, we have a fruitful leisure, that we may understand Christ, who sent them away and came to us. Nothing was done in vain, even in that frenzy of David, where it is said that he behaved frantically, and beat upon the gates of the city like a drum, and was carried in his own hands, and fell down at the doors of the gate, and the spittle ran down upon his beard. He behaved frantically; what is he behaved frantically? He had affection. What is it to have affection? Because he had compassion on our infirmities; and therefore he willed to take up that very flesh, in which he might kill death. Having compassion on us, then, he is said to have had affection. Therefore the Apostle reproaches those who are hard and without affection. For reproaching certain people, he says, Without affection, without mercy (Rom 1:31). Where there is affection, there is mercy. Where is there mercy? He had mercy on us from above. For if he had been unwilling to empty himself, remaining in that form in which he was eternally equal to the Father, we should always have remained in death; but to free us from eternal death, to which the sin of pride had led us, he humbled himself, made subject unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore he behaved frantically, because he came even unto death on a cross. And since one who is crucified is stretched out on wood, and to make a drum the skin, that is, the hide, is stretched out on wood, it was said and he beat like a drum, that is, he was crucified, he was stretched out on wood. He behaved frantically, that is, he had affection toward us, so as to lay down his soul for his sheep. He beat like a drum. How? At the gates of the city. The gate is that which is opened to us, so that we may believe in God. We had shut our gates against Christ, and had opened them to the devil; against eternal life we had a closed heart; but the Lord our God, because we human beings had a heart closed against eternal life, and could not see the Word which the angels see, opened the hearts of mortals by the cross, that is, he beat upon the gates of the city like a drum.

10. And he was carried in his own hands. But this, brothers, how could it be done in a human being? Who understands it? For who is carried in his own hands? A man can be carried in the hands of others; in his own hands no one is carried. How it may be understood in David himself, according to the letter, we do not find; but in Christ we do find it. For Christ was carried in his own hands when, commending his very body, he said, This is my body (Matt 26:26). For he was carrying that body in his own hands. This is the humility of our Lord Jesus Christ; it is much commended to human beings. To it he urges us, brothers, that we may live, that is, that we may imitate his humility; that we may strike down Goliath, and holding fast to Christ may conquer pride. For he fell down at the doors of the gate. What is he fell down? He cast himself down to humility. What is at the doors of the gate? At the beginning of faith, by which we are made safe. For no one begins except from the beginning of faith, as it is said in the Song of Songs, You will come, and you will pass over from the beginning of faith (Song 4:8). We are to come face to face, as it is written, Beloved, we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be; we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). We shall see; when? When these things have passed away. Hear also the apostle Paul: We see now through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face (1 Cor 13:12). Before, then, we see face to face the Word which the angels see, we still have need of the doors of the gate, at which the Lord fell down, humbling himself even unto death.

11. What is it that the spittle ran down upon his beard? For in this he changed his countenance before Abimelech, or Achish, and he sent him away, and he departed. He sent away those who did not understand. To whom did he depart? To the Gentiles. Let us, then, understand what they could not. The spittle ran down upon the beard of David; what is spittle? As it were, the words of an infant; for spittle runs from infants. Were they not as it were infantile words: "Eat my flesh, and drink my blood"? But those infantile words veiled his power. For power is understood in the beard. The spittle, then, running down upon his beard, what is it but weak words veiling his power? Your Holiness has understood, I think, the title of this psalm. If we should now wish to expound the psalm, it is to be feared that what you have heard may slip from your hearts. We have expounded the title of this psalm in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; since tomorrow is the Lord's Day, and we owe you a sermon, let us put it off until tomorrow, so that you may also gladly hear the text of the psalm.

Exposition of Psalm 33

1. You who were present yesterday, I do not doubt that you remember our promise. For it is now time, in the name of the Lord, to pay what is owed. He himself inspired us to promise; he himself will grant that we pay, always being debtors of love. For love is the very thing that is always repaid and always owed, as the Apostle says, Owe no one anything, except to love one another (Rom 13:8). We expounded the title of this psalm yesterday; and since its exposition detained us rather long, we deferred expounding the text of the same psalm. Let us hear, then, what the Holy Spirit says, through the mouth of his holy prophet, in this discourse of the psalm, agreeing with the title we treated yesterday. Those who were not present here too seek this debt; but lest perhaps, through so many other delays, we defraud those to whom we must now repay what we owe, let those who are present today and were not present yesterday recognize, as much as they can, what is briefly recalled. And if anything moves them that they ought to inquire about more diligently, they will find our ears open in the name of Christ at other times, so that these matters not be crowded out.

2. We said that it is written in the book of Kings that David, when he was fleeing Saul, wished to hide with a certain king of Gath, named Achish. But since his glory had been recalled there, lest through spite that king to whom he had fled should contrive something against him, he feigned madness, and as though seized by frenzy, he changed his countenance, and, as we read, he behaved frantically, and beat upon the gates of the city like a drum, and was carried in his own hands, and fell down at the doors of the gate. And king Achish said: Why have you brought this man here to me? Do I have need of a madman? (1 Sam 21:13-15) And so he sent him away, that what is here written might be fulfilled: He changed his countenance, and he sent him away, and he departed. Now he sent away king Achish; but here it is said that he changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he sent him away, and he departed. We said, however, that the names were changed so that the sacrament might be shown; lest, if the same name were repeated in the title of the psalm, it should seem that nothing was prophesied to us in a sacrament, but as it were that deeds done were narrated. Each name, then, contains a great sacrament. For Achish is interpreted "how is he"; Abimelech is interpreted "my father's kingdom." In that saying "how is he," ignorance is signified, so that you may understand the word of one wondering and not recognizing; but in that which is said "Abimelech," the kingdom of the Jews is signified. For from the person of Christ it can be said "my father's kingdom," because his father according to the flesh is David, and the kingdom of David was among the nation of the Jews. Before the kingdom of his father, then, he changed his countenance, and he sent him away, and he departed; because there was the sacrifice according to the order of Aaron, and afterward he himself instituted, from his body and blood, the sacrifice according to the order of Melchizedek. He changed his countenance, then, in the priesthood, and sent away the nation of the Jews, and came to the Gentiles. What, then, is he behaved frantically? He was full of affection. For what is so full of affection as the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, seeing our infirmity, in order to free us from eternal death, took up temporal death with so great an injury and reproach? And he beat like a drum; because a drum is not made unless skin is stretched out on wood; and David beat like a drum, signifying that Christ was to be crucified. He beat like a drum at the gates of the city; what are the gates of the city, but our hearts which we had shut against Christ, who from the drum of the cross opened the hearts of mortals? And he was carried in his own hands; how was he carried in his own hands? Because when he commended his very body and his blood, he took into his own hands what the faithful know; and in a certain way he was carrying himself, when he said, This is my body (Matt 26:26). And he fell down at the doors of the gate; that is, he humbled himself. For this is to fall down even to the beginning of our faith. For the door of the gate is the beginning of faith, where the Church begins, and reaches even to the form: so that when it believes those things which it does not see, it may deserve to enjoy them fully, when it begins to see face to face. Such is the title of the psalm; we have heard it briefly: let us now hear the very words of him behaving frantically and beating like a drum at the gate of the city.

3. [v. 2] I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall always be in my mouth (Ps 34:1 (33:2)). Christ says it; let the Christian say it too; because the Christian is in the body of Christ; and for this reason Christ became man, that man might become a Christian, so that the angel said, I will bless the Lord. When shall I bless the Lord? When he does you good? When worldly goods abound? When there is great abundance of grain, oil, wine, gold, silver, slaves, cattle, and this mortal health persists unwounded and uncorrupted, and all things born grow, nothing is carried off by untimely death, all happiness abounds in the house, all things flow round about—then will you bless the Lord? No: but at all times. Therefore both then, and when these things, according to the times and according to the scourges of the Lord our God, are disturbed, taken away, born in lesser number, and what has been born slips away. For these things happen, and from them follow want, need, toil, grief, and temptation. But you who have sung, I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall always be in my mouth, both when he gives these things, bless him, and when he takes these things away, bless him. Because he gives, he takes away; but he does not take himself away from the one who blesses him.

4. But who is it that blesses the Lord at all times, except the one humble in heart? For our Lord taught that very humility in his body and blood; because when he commends his body and blood, he commends his humility, in that which is written in the history itself, in that as it were frenzy of David, which we passed over: And the spittle ran down upon his beard. When the Apostle was being read, you heard the very spittle, but running down upon the beard. Someone says: What spittle did we hear? Was not the Apostle just now read, when he said, The Jews ask for signs, and the Greeks seek wisdom? Just now was read, But we preach, he says, Christ crucified (for then he was beating like a drum), to the Jews indeed a scandal, but to the Gentiles folly; but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God; because what is foolish of God is wiser than men, and what is weak of God is stronger than men (1 Cor 1:22-25). For the spittle signifies folly, the spittle signifies weakness. But if what is foolish of God is wiser than men, and what is weak of God is stronger than men, let not the spittle, as it were, offend you, but attend, because it runs down upon the beard. For as weakness is shown by the spittle, so power by the beard. He covered his power, then, with the body of his weakness; and what was weak outwardly appeared as it were in the spittle; but within, the divine power was veiled as it were by the beard. Therefore humility is commended to us. Be humble, if you wish to bless the Lord at all times, and let his praise always be in your mouth. For Job did not bless the Lord only when all things abounded for him, by which we read that he was rich and happy, both in cattle and in servants and in his house, happy in children and in all things. All were taken away at one time, and he fulfilled what is written in this psalm, saying, The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it has pleased the Lord, so has it been done: blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). Behold, you have an example of one blessing the Lord at all times.

5. [v. 3] But why does a human being bless the Lord at all times? Because he is humble. What is it to be humble? To be unwilling to be praised in oneself. He who wishes to be praised in himself is proud. He who is not proud is humble. Do you not wish, then, to be proud? That you may be able to be humble, say what has been said: In the Lord shall my soul be praised; let the meek hear, and be glad (Ps 34:2 (33:3)). Therefore those who do not wish to be praised in the Lord are not meek, but fierce, harsh, lofty, proud. The Lord wishes to have meek beasts of burden: be a beast of burden of the Lord, that is, be meek. He sits upon you, he himself guides you: do not fear that you may stumble and go headlong. Your infirmity indeed is yours, but attend to who presides over you. You are the colt of a donkey, but you carry Christ. For he too came on the colt of a donkey to the city, and that beast was meek. Was that beast praised? Was it said to the beast, Hosanna, son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Matt 21:9)? The little donkey was carrying; but the one who was carried was praised by those going before and those following. And perhaps the beast was saying, In the Lord shall my soul be praised; let the meek hear, and be glad. That donkey never said it, brothers; but let the people say it who imitate that beast, if they wish to carry their Lord. Perhaps the people are angry, because they are compared to the little donkey on which the Lord sat; and some proud and lofty ones will say to me, "Behold, he has made us donkeys." Let whoever says this be a donkey of the Lord; let him not be a horse and mule, in which there is no understanding. For you know the psalm where it is said, Do not be like the horse and mule, in which there is no understanding (Ps 32:9 (31:9)). For the horse and mule sometimes raise their neck and by their fierceness throw off their rider. They are tamed by bridles, by the muzzle, by blows, until they learn to be subject and to carry their master. But you, before your mouth is beaten with the bridle, be meek, and carry your Lord: do not wish to be praised in yourself, but let him be praised who sits upon you, and you will say, In the Lord shall my soul be praised; let the meek hear, and be glad. For when the unmeek hear, they are not glad, but angry; and they are the ones who say that we have made them donkeys. But those who are meek, let them deign to hear and to be what they hear.

6. [v. 4] There follows, Magnify the Lord with me (Ps 34:3 (33:4)). Who is this who exhorts us to magnify the Lord with him? Whoever he is, brothers, who is in the body of Christ, ought to give his effort to this, that the Lord be magnified with him. For whoever he is, he loves the Lord. And how does he love him? So as not to envy his fellow-lover. For whoever loves carnally must love with a deadly jealousy: if perhaps he could, as a great thing, see naked the one whom he has desired with deadly love, does he wish that another also should see her? He must be wounded by jealousy and spite if another too should see her. And so chastity is preserved if either he sees who is permitted, and another does not see, or not even he himself. The Wisdom of God is not so: we shall see her face to face, and we shall all see her, and no one there will be jealous. She shows herself to all, and is whole, and is chaste to all. They are changed into her, and she is not changed into them. She is the truth, she is God. Have you ever heard, brothers, that our God could be changed? The truth, surpassing all things, is the Word of God, is the Wisdom of God, through whom all things were made; she has her lovers. But what does her lover say? Magnify the Lord with me. I do not wish to magnify the Lord alone, I do not wish to love alone, I do not wish to embrace alone. For if I embrace him, another does not lack a place to put his hands. There is such breadth in Wisdom herself that all souls may embrace her and enjoy her fully. And what shall I say, brothers? Let those be ashamed who so love God that they envy others. Lost men love a charioteer, and whoever loves a charioteer or a hunter wishes that the whole people might love him along with him; and he exhorts and says: Love that pantomime with me, love with me that one and that shameful thing. He cries out among the people, that the shameful thing be loved along with him; and a Christian does not cry out in the Church, that the truth of God be loved along with him! Rouse love in yourselves, then, brothers, and cry out to each one of you, and say, Magnify the Lord with me. Let this fervor be in you. Why are these things recited to you and expounded? If you love God, snatch all who are joined to you to the love of God, and all who are in your house; if the body of Christ, that is, the unity of the Church, is loved by you, snatch them to enjoy it, and say, Magnify the Lord with me.

7. [v. 4] And let us exalt his name together. What is let us exalt his name together? That is, into one. For many manuscripts have it thus: Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name into one. Whether it be said together or into one, the same thing is said. Therefore snatch whom you can, by exhorting, carrying, asking, disputing, giving an account, with meekness, with gentleness; snatch them to love; so that if they magnify the Lord, they may magnify him into one. The party of Donatus too seems to itself to magnify the Lord: what has the whole world done to offend them? Let us say to them, brothers, Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name into one. Why do you wish to magnify the Lord in division? He is one; why do you wish to make two peoples for God? Why do you wish to scatter the body of Christ? For surely he himself was hanging on the cross when he was beating like a drum; and as he hung on the cross, he gave up his spirit; and those who had hung him up came and found that he had given up his spirit, and they did not break his legs; but with the robbers still living on the cross they broke theirs, so that by that very pain, by a shortening of death, they might be freed from that torment, as was wont to be done to the crucified. So the persecutor came, and found that the Lord had quietly laid down his spirit; for he himself said, I have power to lay down my soul (John 10:18). For whom did he lay down his soul? For his whole people, for his whole body. The persecutor came, then, and did not break the legs of Christ; Donatus came and tore apart the Church of Christ. The whole body of Christ on the cross is intact among the hands of persecutors, and among the hands of Christians the body of the Church is not intact. Let us cry out, then, brothers, with groaning, as much as we can, saying, Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name into one. For the Church cries out to them: it is the voice of the Church, crying out to those who have cut themselves off. From what were they torn apart? Through pride. But Christ teaches humility, when he commends his body and blood; which we have said to your Holiness is done and celebrated in this text of the psalm, where the body and blood of Christ are commended, where the humility of Christ is commended, which he deigned to take up for us.

8. [v. 5] I sought the Lord, and he heard me (Ps 34:4 (33:5)). Where did the Lord hear? Within. Where does he give? Within. There you pray, there you are heard, there you are made blessed. You prayed, you were heard, you were made blessed; and the one who stands beside you does not know it: the whole thing was done in secret, as the Lord says in the Gospel, Enter into your chamber, shut your door, and pray in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you (Matt 6:6). When, therefore, you enter your chamber, you enter your heart. Blessed are they who rejoice when they enter their heart, and find nothing evil there. Let your Holiness attend: how those who have wicked wives are unwilling to enter their houses, how they go out to the marketplace and rejoice; the hour has come for them to enter their house, they are saddened: for they are about to enter to weariness, to grumbling, to bitterness, to overthrows; because the house is not well ordered where there is no peace between husband and wife; and it is better for such a one to wander about outside. If, then, those are wretched who, when they return to their own walls, fear lest they be overthrown by some disturbances of their household, how much more wretched are those who are unwilling to return to their own conscience, lest there they be overthrown by the quarrels of their sins! Therefore, that you may be able gladly to return to your heart, cleanse it; for blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matt 5:8). Take away from it the filth of desires, take away the stain of greed, take away the rot of superstitions, take away sacrileges and evil thoughts; hatreds, I do not say against a friend, but even against an enemy: take away all these things; enter into your heart, and you will rejoice there. When you have begun to rejoice there, the very cleanness of your heart will delight you, and will make you pray; just as, if you come to some place where there is silence, where perhaps there is quiet, where the place is clean, you say, "Let us pray here"; and the orderliness of the place delights you, and you believe that God will hear you there. If, then, the cleanness of a visible place delights you, why does the uncleanness of your heart not offend you? Enter, cleanse all things, lift your eyes to God, and at once he will hear you. Cry out, and say, I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and from all my tribulations he delivered me (Ps 34:4 (33:5)). Why? Because when you have been enlightened, when you have begun to have a good conscience here, tribulations remain, because something weak remains, until death is swallowed up in victory, and this mortal puts on immortality: it is necessary that in this world you be scourged; it is necessary that you suffer some temptations and suggestions. God will cleanse all things, will deliver you from all tribulation; seek him.

9. I sought the Lord, and he heard me. Those, then, who are not heard do not seek the Lord. Let your Holiness attend: he did not say, "I sought gold from the Lord, and he heard me"; "I sought old age from the Lord, and he heard me"; "I sought this or that from the Lord, and he heard me." It is one thing to seek something from the Lord, another to seek the Lord himself. I sought, he says, the Lord, and he heard me. But you, when you pray and say, "Kill that enemy of mine," do not seek the Lord, but as it were make yourself a judge over your enemy, and make your God a torturer. How do you know whether the one whose death you seek may not be better than you? Perhaps by this very thing, that he does not seek yours. Therefore do not seek anything outside from the Lord, but seek the Lord himself, and he will hear you, and even while you are still speaking he will say, Behold, I am here (Isa 58:9). What is Behold, I am here? Behold, I am present; what do you wish, what do you seek from me? Whatever I give you is cheaper than I am: have myself, enjoy me, embrace me; you cannot yet wholly; touch me by faith, and you will cleave to me (this God says to you), and the rest of your burdens I will lay down from you, so that you may cleave wholly to me, when I shall have changed this mortal thing of yours into immortality; that you may be equal to my angels, and always see my face, and rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you; because you sought the Lord, and he heard you, and from all your tribulations he delivered you.

10. [v. 6] We said who that exhorter was, that lover who does not wish to embrace alone what he loves, and says, Draw near to him, and be enlightened (Ps 34:5 (33:6)). For he says what he himself has proved. For some spiritual one in the body of Christ, or even our Lord Jesus Christ himself according to the flesh, the head exhorting the other members, what does he say? Draw near to him, and be enlightened. Or rather some spiritual Christian invites us to draw near to our Lord Jesus Christ himself. But let us draw near to him, and be enlightened; not as the Jews drew near to him, to be darkened. For they drew near to him to crucify him: let us draw near to him to receive his body and blood. They by the crucified were darkened; we, by eating and drinking the crucified, are enlightened. Draw near to him, and be enlightened—behold, it is said to the Gentiles. Christ crucified was among the Jews raging and seeing; the Gentiles were absent: behold, those drew near who were in darkness, and those who did not see were enlightened. From where do the Gentiles draw near? By following with faith, by gaping with the heart, by running with love. Your feet are your love. Have two feet, do not be lame. What are the two feet? The two precepts of love, of God and of neighbor. With these feet run to God, draw near to him: because both that you might run he himself exhorted you, and he himself sprinkled his light in such a way that you may follow him magnificently and divinely. And your faces shall not blush. Draw near, he says, to him, and be enlightened; and your faces shall not blush. No face blushes but the proud one. Why? Because he wishes to be lofty, and when he has suffered reproach, or ignominy, or a fall according to the world, or some affliction, he blushes. But do not fear, draw near to him, and you will not blush. Whatever the enemy may have done to you, he seems to be superior to you among men: but you are superior to him before God. "I captured, I bound, I killed." How superior to themselves they seem who say these things! How superior to themselves the Jews seemed when they were buffeting the Lord, when they spat in his face and struck his head with a reed, when they crowned him with thorns, when they wrapped him in an ignominious garment! How superior they were! And he seemed inferior, because he fell down at the doors of the gate: but he did not blush. For he was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world (John 1:9). As, then, light cannot be confounded, so neither does it allow the enlightened to be confounded. Draw near, then, to him, and be enlightened; and your faces shall not blush.

11. [vv. 7-8] But someone says: How do I draw near to him? I am laden with so many evils, so many sins; so many crimes cry out from my conscience; how do I dare to draw near to God? How? If you humble yourself by repentance. But I am ashamed, you say, to do penance. Draw near to him, then, and you will be enlightened, and your face will not blush. For if the fear of being ashamed calls you back from penance, and penance makes you draw near to God: do you not see that you bear the punishment in your face, that your face has blushed for this reason, that it did not draw near to God; and that it did not draw near because it is unwilling to do penance? As the prophet attests: This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him (Ps 34:6 (33:7)). He teaches you how you may be heard. You are not heard for this reason, that you are rich. Lest perhaps you cried out and were not heard, hear why: This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him. Cry out poor, and the Lord hears. And how shall I cry out poor? So that even if you have something, you do not therefore presume on your own strength; so that you understand yourself to be needy, so that you understand yourself to be poor as long as you do not have him who makes you rich. And how did the Lord hear him? And from all, he says, his tribulations he saved him. And how does he save from all tribulations? The angel of the Lord will encamp round about those who fear him, and will deliver them (Ps 34:7 (33:8)). So it is written, brothers; not as some faulty manuscripts have it, "The Lord will send an angel round about those who fear him, and will deliver them"; but thus: The angel of the Lord will encamp round about those who fear him, and will deliver them. Whom did he here call the angel of the Lord, who will encamp round about those who fear him, and will deliver them? Our Lord Jesus Christ himself was called in prophecy the Angel of great counsel, the messenger of great counsel: so the prophets called him (See Isa 9:6 LXX). He himself, then, the Angel of great counsel, that is, the messenger, will encamp upon those who fear the Lord, and will deliver them. Do not fear, then, that you may lie hidden: wherever you fear the Lord, that Angel knows you, who will encamp round about, and will deliver you.

12. [v. 9] Now he wishes openly to speak of that very sacrament, by which he was carried in his own hands. Taste, and see that the Lord is sweet (Ps 34:8 (33:9)). Does not the psalm open itself and show you that as it were madness and steady frenzy, the sane madness and sober drunkenness of that David, who in a figure showed I know not what, when from the person of king Achish they said, "How is he?"—when the Lord was saying, Unless one eats my flesh and drinks my blood, he will not have life in himself? And those in whom Achish reigned, that is, error and ignorance, what did they say? How can this man give us his flesh to eat? If you are ignorant, taste, and see that the Lord is sweet; but if you do not understand, you are king Achish. David will change his countenance, and will withdraw from you, and will send you away, and will depart.

13. Blessed is the man who hopes in him (Ps 34:8 (33:9)). What need is there to expound this at length? Whoever does not hope in the Lord is wretched. Who is it that does not hope in the Lord? He who hopes in himself. Sometimes—and this is worse, my brothers, attend—sometimes human beings are unwilling to hope in themselves, but in other human beings. "So long as so-and-so is safe, you can do nothing to me." And perhaps he is speaking of a man already dead. In this city he says, "So long as that man is safe," and that man is perhaps dead in some other place. And how quickly do men say this; and they do not say, "I trust in God, that he does not permit you to harm me." They do not say, "I trust in my God, that even if he permits you something against me, against my soul he will not permit you." But when they say, "So long as that man is safe," neither do they themselves come to have safety, and they burden those through whom they think to have safety.

14. [vv. 10-11] Fear the Lord, all you his saints, for there is no want to those who fear him (Ps 34:9 (33:10)). For many are unwilling to fear the Lord, lest they suffer hunger. It is said to them: Do not commit fraud. And they say: From where do I feed myself? A craft cannot be without imposture, business cannot be without fraud. But God punishes fraud. Fear God. But if I fear God, I will not have a means to live. Fear the Lord, all you his saints, for there is no want to those who fear him. He promises abundance to the trembling and the doubting, lest perhaps, if he fears the Lord, superfluous things abandon him. Did the Lord feed you when you despised him, and will he abandon you when you fear him? Attend, and do not say: He is rich, and I am poor; I fear the Lord, and he, by not fearing him, has acquired so much, while I, by fearing him, am naked! See what follows: The rich have wanted and gone hungry, but those who seek the Lord shall not be diminished in any good (Ps 34:10 (33:11)). If you take it according to the letter, it seems to deceive you. For you observe many unjust rich people dying amid their riches, not having been made poor while they live; you see them grow old, brought to the end of life amid great stores of riches, the pomp of a funeral celebrated for them with great lavishness, a rich man brought even to the tomb who breathed his last on ivory couches, with his household weeping around; and you say in your mind, if perhaps you know any of his sins and crimes: "I knew how much that man did; behold, he grew old, died in his bed, his household carries him out, so great a pomp of funeral is celebrated: I knew what he did; Scripture has deceived and failed me, where I hear and sing, The rich have wanted and gone hungry. When was that man poor? When did he go hungry? But those who seek the Lord shall not be diminished in any good. Every day I rise to the basilica, every day I genuflect, every day I seek the Lord, and I have no good; that man did not seek the Lord, and amid such great goods he has died!" The snare of scandal chokes the one who thinks thus. For he seeks mortal food on earth, and does not seek the true reward in heaven, and puts his head into the snare of the devil; his throat is constricted, and the devil holds him to do evil, so that thus he imitates that rich man, whom he sees dying amid such great abundance.

15. Do not, then, understand it so. And how shall I understand it? In spiritual goods. But where are they? They are not seen with the eyes, but with the heart. I do not see those goods. He who loves them sees them. I do not see justice. For it is not gold, it is not silver. If it were gold, you would see it; because it is faith, you do not see it. And if you do not see faith, why do you love a faithful servant? Ask yourself what kind of servant you love. Perhaps you have a servant who is handsome, tall, well-built, but a thief, worthless, deceitful; and you have another perhaps small in stature, ugly in face, of foul color, but faithful, thrifty, sober: attend, I beg you, which of these two do you love? If you ask the eyes of the flesh, the handsome unjust one wins with you; if the eyes of the heart, the ugly faithful one wins. You see, then, that what you wish another to display to you, that is, faith, you too should display to him. Why do you rejoice over the one who displays faith to you, and praise him for these goods which are not seen except by the eye of the heart? When you have been filled with spiritual riches, will you be poor? And that rich man was rich for this reason, that he had an ivory couch; and are you poor, whose heart's chamber is full of so many gems of virtues, of justice, truth, love, faith, patience, and endurance! Unfold your riches, if you have them, and compare them to the riches of the rich. Yet that man, in the market, found precious mules and bought them. If you found faith for sale, how much would you give for it, which God wished you to have for free, and you are ungrateful? Therefore those rich ones are in want, they are in want; and, what is more serious, they are in want of bread. Do not perhaps suppose that they are in want of gold and silver, although they are in want of this too. How much did a certain man have, and what satisfied him? He died in want, because he wished to acquire more than he held. They are in want of bread too. Why are they in want of bread too? If you do not understand bread, he said, I am the living bread, who came down from heaven (John 6:51); and, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be filled (Matt 5:6). But those who seek the Lord shall not be diminished in any good. But with what good, we have already said.

16. [v. 12] Come, children, hear me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord (Ps 34:11 (33:12)). You think, brothers, that I say it; suppose that David says it, suppose that the Apostle says it: rather, suppose that our Lord Jesus Christ himself says it: Come, children, hear me. Let us hear him together, hear him through us: for he wishes to teach, that humble one, that one beating like a drum, that one behaving frantically, he wishes to teach us. And what does he say? Come, children, hear me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Let him teach, then; let us offer our ear, let us offer our heart. Let us not open the ears of the flesh and shut those of the heart; but as he himself said in the Gospel, Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear (Matt 11:15). Who would be unwilling to hear Christ teaching through the prophet?

17. [v. 13] Who is the man who wishes for life, and loves to see good days? (Ps 34:12 (33:13)) He asks. Does not everyone among you answer, "I"? Or is there anyone among you who does not love life, that is, who does not wish for life, and does not love to see good days? Do you not every day grumble this, and say this: "How long do we suffer these things? Every day worse and worse: in our parents' time the days were more joyful, the days were better." Oh, if you asked your parents themselves, they would likewise grumble to you about their own days. "Our fathers were blessed, we are wretched, we have evil days; that man ruled, we thought that when he died some relief might be given; worse things have come. O God, show us good days!" Who is the man who wishes for life, and loves to see good days? Let him not seek good days here. He seeks a good thing, but he does not seek it in its own region. As if you were seeking some just man in that country where he did not dwell, it would be said to you: You seek a good man, you seek a great man; seek him, but not here; in vain you seek him here, you will never find him. You seek good days; let us seek them together, but not here. But our fathers had them. You are mistaken: all here have toiled. Read the Scriptures: for this reason God willed them to be written, that we might be consoled. In the times of Elijah there was a famine; our fathers suffered it. The heads of dead beasts of burden were sold for gold; they killed their own and ate them; and two women agreed between themselves to kill their sons and eat them; one killed her son, and both ate him; the other was unwilling to kill her son, and the one who had first killed her son demanded him; and such a quarrel came before the king, they brought themselves before the king, contending about the killing of their sons. From such foods may God turn away those we read about. Always there are evil days in the world, but always good days in God. Abraham had good days, but within, in his heart; he had evil days, when from famine he changed his region, and sought food. So all sought. Did Paul have good days, who says, In hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness (2 Cor 11:27)? But let not servants be angry: the Lord himself did not have good days in this world; reproaches, injuries, the cross, and so many evils he suffered.

18. [v. 14] Let not the Christian, then, grumble; let him look at whose footsteps he follows. But if he loves good days, let him hear the one teaching and saying, Come, children, hear me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What do you wish? Life and good days. Hear, and do: Keep your tongue from evil (Ps 34:13 (33:14)). Do that. "I do not wish to," says the wretched man: "I do not wish to keep my tongue from evil, and I wish for life, and good days." If your laborer were to say to you, "I both lay waste this vineyard and demand wages from you; you brought me to the vineyard that I might prune and trim it, I cut down all the useful wood, I cut off the very trunks of the vines, so that you have nothing here to gather; and when I have done these things, you are to repay me my labor"—would you not call him mad? Would you not drive him from your house before he put his hand to the pruning-hook? Such are the men who both wish to do evil things, and to swear falsely, and to blaspheme against God, and to grumble, and to commit fraud, and to get drunk, and to quarrel, and to commit adultery, and to apply charms, and to go to soothsayers, and to see good days. It is said to him: You cannot, while doing evil, seek a good reward. If you are unjust, will God too be unjust? "What, then, shall I do?" What do you wish? "I wish for life, I wish for good days." Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no guile: that is, fraud to no one, a lie to no one.

19. [v. 15] But what is Turn away from evil (Ps 34:14 (33:15))? It is too little that you harm no one, kill no one, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not commit fraud, do not bear false witness. Turn away from evil: when you have turned away, you say, "I am secure, I have accomplished everything, I shall have life, I shall see good days." Not only turn away from evil, but and do good. It is too little that you do not despoil: clothe the naked. If you have not despoiled, you have turned away from evil; but you will not do good, except when you have taken in a stranger into your house. So, then, turn away from evil, that you may do good. Seek peace, and pursue it. He did not tell you, "You will have peace here": seek it, and pursue it. Where do I pursue it? Where it has gone before. For the Lord is our peace; he rose again and ascended into heaven. Seek peace, and pursue it: because you too, when you have risen, this mortal will be changed, and you will embrace peace, where no one will be troublesome to you. For there is perfect peace, where you will not hunger. For here bread makes peace for you: take away bread, and see what a war there will be within your bowels. The just themselves, how they groan here, brothers! that you may know that we seek peace here, but shall attain it in the end. But let us have it here in part, that we may deserve to have it there in whole. What is "in part"? Let us be of one mind here, let us love our neighbor as ourselves. So love your brother as yourself, have peace with him. But there cannot but arise some quarrels, such as arose even among brothers and among saints, between Barnabas and Paul; but not such as would kill concord, not such as would destroy love. For you yourself sometimes resist yourself, and yet do not hate yourself. For everyone who repents of anything quarrels with himself. He sinned, he returns, he is angry with himself for having done this, for having committed that. He has a quarrel with himself, then, but that quarrel tends toward concord. See how a certain just man quarrels with himself and says, Why are you sad, my soul, and why do you trouble me? Hope in the Lord, for I shall still confess to him (Ps 42:5 (41:6)). When he says to his soul, Why do you trouble me, surely it was troubling him. Perhaps he himself wished to suffer for Christ, and his soul was saddened. And he who knew and said, Why are you sad, my soul, and why do you trouble me, did not yet have peace with himself; but in his mind he clung to Christ, that his soul might follow him, and not trouble him. Seek peace, then, brothers. The Lord said, These things I speak to you, that in me you may have peace. Peace on earth I do not promise you (John 16:33). In this life there is no true peace, nor tranquillity. The joy of immortality, the fellowship of the angels, is promised. But whoever does not seek it while he is here will not have it when he comes there.

20. [v. 16] The eyes of the Lord are upon the just (Ps 34:15 (33:16)). Do not fear, then; toil: the eyes of the Lord are upon you. And his ears to their prayers. What more do you wish? If the head of the household did not hear a grumbling servant in a great house, the servant would complain and say, "How much we suffer here, and no one hears us!" Do you say that of God: "How much I suffer, and no one hears me"? "If he heard me," you perhaps say, "he would take away my tribulation: I cry out, and am in tribulation." Only hold to his ways, and when you are in tribulation he hears you. But he is a physician; you still have something rotten, I know not what. You cry out: but he is still cutting; and he does not withdraw his hand until he has cut as much as seems good. For that physician is cruel who hears a man, and spares the wound and the rot. How do mothers rub their children in the baths for their health? Do not the little ones cry out amid their hands? Are those mothers, then, cruel, that they do not spare, do not heed the tears? Are they not full of tenderness? And yet the children cry out, and are not spared. So too our God is full of love: but for this reason he seems not to hear, that he may heal and spare forever.

21. [v. 17] The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears to their prayers. Perhaps the wicked say: Then I do evil things securely, because the eyes of the Lord are not upon me: God now attends to the just, he does not see me, and whatever I do, I do securely. At once the Holy Spirit, seeing the thoughts of men, added and said, The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears to their prayers; but the countenance of the Lord is against those who do evil things, to cut off their memory from the earth (Ps 34:16 (33:17)).

22. [v. 18] The just cried, and the Lord heard them, and from all their tribulations he delivered them (Ps 34:17 (33:18)). The three young men were just: from the furnace they cried to the Lord, and amid their praises the fires grew cold. The flame could not draw near and harm the innocent and just young men praising God, and he delivered them from the flame. Someone says: Behold, truly the just are those who were heard, as it is written, The just cried, and the Lord heard them, and from all their tribulations he delivered them: but I cried, and he did not deliver me; either I am not just, or I do not do what he commands me, or perhaps he does not see me. Do not fear; only do what he commands; and if he does not deliver you bodily, he will deliver you spiritually. For he who took the three young men from the flame, did he take the Maccabees from the flame? Were they not singing hymns in the fires, were they not breathing their last in the fires? The God of the three young men, is he not also the God of the Maccabees? Those he delivered, and those he did not deliver; rather, he delivered both; but the three young men he so delivered that the carnal too might be confounded; the Maccabees, however, he did not so deliver, in order that those who were persecuting them might go to greater punishments, when they thought they had crushed the martyrs of God. He delivered Peter, when the angel came to him while he was in chains, and said to him, Rise, and go out; and suddenly the chains were loosed, and he followed the angel, and he delivered him (Acts 12:7-10). Had Peter lost his justice, when he did not deliver him from the cross? Did he not deliver him then? And he did deliver him then. Or did he live long that he might become unjust? Perhaps he heard him more afterward than before, when he truly delivered him from all afflictions. For when he first delivered him, how much did he afterward endure! For he sent him afterward where he could suffer no evil.

23. [vv. 19-20] The Lord is near to those who are contrite of heart, and he will save the humble of spirit (Ps 34:18 (33:19)). God is high; let the Christian be humble. If he wishes the high God to draw near to him, let him be humble. Great mysteries, brothers. God is above all things: you raise yourself, and do not touch him; you humble yourself, and he himself descends to you. Many are the tribulations of the just (Ps 34:19 (33:20)). Does he say: Let Christians be just for this reason, let them hear my word for this reason, that they may suffer no tribulation? He does not promise this; but he says, Many are the tribulations of the just. The more, if they are unjust, the fewer tribulations they have; if they are just, they have many. But after few tribulations or none, the unjust will come to eternal tribulation, from which they will never be delivered; but the just, after many tribulations, will come to eternal peace, where they will never suffer anything evil. Many are the tribulations of the just; and from all these the Lord will deliver them.

24. [v. 21] The Lord guards all their bones; not one of these shall be broken (Ps 34:20 (33:21)). And this too, brothers, let us not take carnally. The bones are the supports of the faithful. For as in our flesh the bones make the support, so in the Christian heart faith makes the support. The patience, then, which is in faith, these are the bones within. They are the ones that cannot be broken. The Lord guards all their bones; not one of these shall be broken. If he had said this of our Lord God Jesus Christ—"The Lord guards all the bones of his Son; not one of these shall be broken"—as also in another place it is prefigured of him, when the lamb was said to be slain, and it was said of it, You shall not break a bone of it (Exod 12:46): it was fulfilled in the Lord; because when he hung on the cross, he breathed his last before they came to the cross, and they found the body already lifeless, and were unwilling to break his legs, that what is written might be fulfilled. But he promised this also to the rest of the Christians: The Lord guards all their bones; not one of these shall be broken. Therefore, brothers, if we see some saint suffering tribulations, and perhaps either cut by a physician or so beaten by some persecutor that his bones are broken, let us not say, "That man was not just"; for the Lord promised this to his just ones, of whom he says, The Lord guards all their bones; not one of these shall be broken. Do you wish to see that he meant other bones, which we said are the supports of faith, that is, patience and endurance in all tribulations? For these are the bones that are not broken. Hear, and consider in the very passion of the Lord what I say. The Lord was in the middle, crucified; beside him were two robbers: one insulted, the other believed; one was damned, the other justified; one had his punishment both here and in the time to come, but to the other the Lord said, Amen I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43): and yet those who came did not break the Lord's bones, but broke the robbers'; so the bones of the robber who blasphemed were broken just as the bones of the robber who believed. Where, then, is that which was said, The Lord guards all their bones; not one of these shall be broken? Behold, the one to whom he said, today you shall be with me in paradise, could he not guard all his bones? The Lord answers you: Rather, I did guard them; for the support of his faith could not be broken by those blows by which his legs were broken.

25. [vv. 22-23] The death of sinners is most evil (Ps 34:21 (33:22)). Attend, brothers, because of what we were saying. Truly the Lord is great, and his mercy; truly he who gave us his body to eat, in which he suffered so much, and his blood to drink. How does he regard those who think evil and say: That man died an evil death, he was consumed by beasts: that man was not just, therefore he perished evilly; for otherwise he would not have perished? Is that man, then, just who dies in his house and on his bed? "This, then," you say, "is what I marvel at: that I knew his sins and crimes, and he died well, in his house, within his own threshold, with no injury of pilgrimage, none even at an early age." Hear: The death of sinners is most evil. What seems to you a good death is most evil, if you see within. You see one lying without on the bed; do you see within him snatched away to hell? Hear, brothers, and consider from the Gospel what the most evil death of sinners is. Were there not two in this world, a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted splendidly every day; and another, a poor man who lay at his gate full of sores, and the dogs came and licked his sores, and he desired to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table? Now it happened that the poor man died (that poor man was just), and was carried by the angels into the bosom of Abraham (Luke 16:19-22). One who had seen his body lying at the threshold of the rich man, with no one to bury it, what might he perhaps have said? "So may that enemy of mine die, and that one who persecutes me; so may I see him." He curses the body with spittle, the wounds stink; and that man rests in the bosom of Abraham. If we are Christians, let us believe; if we do not believe, brothers, let no one pretend to be a Christian. Faith leads us through. As the Lord said those things, so they are. Or does the astrologer tell you something, and it is true; and Christ tells you, and it is false? But by what death did that rich man die? What kind of death could there be amid purple and fine linen, how sumptuous, how pompous? What funeral rites were there? With how many spices was that corpse buried? And yet, when he was in torments among the dead, he desired that a drop of water be dripped from the finger of that despised poor man onto his burning tongue, and did not obtain it. Learn, then, what it is: The death of sinners is most evil, and do not inquire of those laid out on couches with precious garments, and flesh wrapped in many riches, displaying the pomp of lamentation, the household mourning, the throng of attendants going before and following as the body is borne out, the marbled and gilded monuments. For if you inquire of these, they answer you falsely, that the death of many—not lightly sinners, but utterly wicked—is the best, who deserved so to be mourned, so embalmed, so covered, so borne out, so buried. But inquire of the Gospel, and it will show your faith the soul of the rich man burning in torments, whom all the honors and attendances availed nothing, which the vanity of the living rendered to his dead body.

26. But because there are many kinds of sin, and it is difficult not to be a sinner, or perhaps in this life impossible, he at once added of what kind of sinners the death is most evil. And those who hate the just one, he says, shall offend (Ps 34:21 (33:22)). What just one, but the one who justifies the ungodly? What just one, but the Lord Jesus Christ, who is also the propitiation for our sins? Those, then, who hate him have the most evil death; because they die in their sins, who are not reconciled to our God through him: for the Lord will redeem the souls of his servants (Ps 34:22 (33:23)). For death is to be understood as either most evil or best according to the soul, not according to the reproaches or honors of bodies which men see. And none of those who hope in him shall offend. This is the measure of human justice: that the mortal life, however much it advances, since it cannot be without fault, in this does not offend, while it hopes in him in whom is the remission of faults. Amen.

Exposition of Psalm 34

1. [vv. 1-2] Let your Charity know that this psalm has been imposed on me to treat by my brothers and fellow bishops at their bidding. They wished that we should all hear something from it. For from him we all hear, from whom we alike learn, and in whose school we are fellow disciples. Its title does not delay us; for it is brief, and not difficult to understand, especially for those nourished in the Church of God. For it has: Of David himself (Ps 35:1 (34:1)). A psalm, then, of David himself: David is interpreted "strong in hand," or "desirable." A psalm, then, of him who is strong in hand and desirable, who conquered our death, who promised us life: in this he is strong in hand, because he conquered our death; in this he is desirable, because he promised eternal life. For what is stronger than this hand, which touched the bier, and the dead man rose? What is stronger than this hand, which conquered the world, armed not with iron but pierced with wood? And what is more desirable than he whom the martyrs, not seeing, wished to die, that they might deserve to come to him? A psalm, then, to him: to him let our heart, to him let our tongue sing worthily—if indeed he himself will deign to grant what it may sing. No one sings worthily to him, except one who has received from him what he can sing. In short, this which we now sing was spoken by his Spirit through his prophet, and in those words where we recognize both ourselves and him. Nor do we do wrong in saying both ourselves and him: since, when he was in heaven, he cried out thus, Why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4)—when no one was touching him, and we were toiling on earth. Therefore let us hear his voice, now that of the body, now that of the head. For this psalm is one calling upon God against enemies in the tribulations of this world: and indeed it is Christ himself, his head being then in tribulation, his body now in tribulation; yet through tribulations giving eternal life to all his members, by promising which he became desirable.

2. Judge, O Lord, those who harm me; fight against those who fight against me (Ps 35:1 (34:1)). If God is for us, who is against us (Rom 8:31)? And from where does God grant us this? Take hold, he says, of arms and shield, and rise up to my aid (Ps 35:2 (34:2)). It is a great spectacle, to see God armed for you. And what is his shield? What are his arms? O Lord, says this man in another place, who here too speaks, you have crowned us as with a shield of your good will (Ps 5:12 (5:13)). But his arms, by which he not only fortifies us but also strikes the enemies, we too will be, if we have advanced well. For as we, that we may be armed, have it from him, so he himself is armed with us. But he is armed with those whom he made; we are armed with those things which we have received from him who made us. The Apostle in a certain place calls these our arms the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6:16-17). He has armed us with such arms as you have heard, praiseworthy and unconquered, insuperable and splendid; spiritual indeed and invisible, because we fight against invisible enemies too. If you see your enemy, let your arms be seen. We are armed with the faith of those things which we do not see, and we lay low enemies whom we do not see. Yet, dearly beloved, do not suppose that these arms are such that what is a shield is always a shield, or what is a helmet is always a helmet, or what is a breastplate is always a breastplate. For with these bodily arms it is so—although even what is made of iron can be changed, so that from a sword an axe may be made—yet we see the Apostle himself say in one place "the breastplate of faith," and in another place "the shield of faith." Therefore faith itself can be both a breastplate and a shield: it is a shield, because it receives and repels the darts of the enemies; it is a breastplate, because it does not allow your inward parts to be pierced. These are our arms; but what are God's? We read in a certain place, Deliver my soul from the ungodly, your sword from the enemies of your hand (Ps 17:13 (16:13)). What he said above, from the ungodly, this in the following verse he says, from the enemies of your hand; and what he said above, my soul, this in the following verse he says, your sword, that is, your blade. Therefore he called his soul the sword of God: Deliver, he says, my soul from the ungodly; that is, from the enemies of your hand deliver your sword. For you take hold of my soul, and you war down my enemies. And what is our soul, however splendid, however drawn out, however sharp, however anointed, however brandished with the light of wisdom and the flashing of brilliance? What is our soul itself, or what can it do, unless God holds it and fights with it? For any blade, however excellently made, if it has no warrior, lies idle. But we had said, concerning our arms, that they are not to be taken as something fixed, so that what is one thing cannot be another: so too in the arms of God we find it. Behold, he called the soul of the just man the sword of God; again he says that the soul of the just man is the seat of God; the soul of the just man is the seat of wisdom. Therefore whatever he wishes, he does with our soul. When it is in his hand, let him use it as he wishes.

3. Let him rise up, then (for so he was invoked), let him take hold of arms, let him rise up to our aid. From where he is to rise up is said to him in another place by the same voice: Rise up, why do you sleep, O Lord? (Ps 44:23 (43:24)) And when he is said to sleep, we sleep; and when he is said to rise up, we are awakened. For the Lord too was sleeping in the boat; and therefore the boat was tossed, because Jesus was sleeping. For if Jesus were keeping watch there, the boat would not be tossed. Your boat is your heart: Jesus in the boat, faith in the heart. If you remember your faith, your heart is not tossed; if you have forgotten your faith, Christ sleeps: watch out for shipwreck. Yet do what remains, that if he has slept he may be awakened; say to him, "Lord, rise up, we perish," that he may rebuke the winds, and there may be a calm in your heart. For all temptations will withdraw, or at least will avail nothing, when Christ, that is, your faith, has kept watch in your heart. What, then, is Rise up? Become known, appear, be perceived. Rise up, then, to my aid.

4. [v. 3] Pour out the sword, and shut up the way against those who persecute me (Ps 35:3 (34:3)). Who are they who persecute you? Perhaps your neighbor, or the one you have injured, or to whom you have done wrong, or who wishes to take away your goods, or against whom you preach the truth, or whose sin you rebuke, or whom by living well you injure though he lives badly. These indeed are also our enemies, and they persecute us; but we are taught to know other enemies, against whom we struggle invisibly, of whom the Apostle warns us, saying, Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, that is, against men; not against those whom you see, but against those whom you do not see; against principalities and powers and the rulers of this world of darkness (Eph 6:12). For when he said rulers of the world (for he was speaking of the devil and his angels), it was to be guarded against that men should understand it badly, and suppose that the world is ruled by the devil and his demons. But because this fabric which we see is called the world, and the world is spoken of in sinners, and in those who love the world, of whom it is said, And the world did not know him (John 1:10); and of whom it is said, The whole world is set in wickedness (1 John 5:19); the Apostle explained of what world they were the rulers: of this darkness, he says. "Rulers of the world," I say, "rulers of this darkness." Again he compels us to understand what he said, this darkness. Of what darkness are the devil and his angels the rulers? Of all unbelievers, of all the wicked, of whom it is said, The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:5). Then, since many from their very number came to believe, what does the same apostle say? For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord (Eph 5:8). Do you not wish to be ruled by the devil? Pass over to the light. And from where will you pass over to the light, unless he pour out the sword, and deliver you from your enemies, and from those who persecute you? How does he pour out the sword? (Since we have already heard what his sword is: for it is the soul of the just man.) Let the just abound, and the sword is poured out, and the way is shut up against the enemies. For concerning that very pouring out of the sword the Apostle, warning us to live justly, in what follows says, That the adversary may stand in awe, having nothing evil to say of us (Titus 2:8). The way is shut up against him, because he cannot find anything to say against the saints.

5. And from where will the just come? Or what do the enemies who persecute us say? Those invisible enemies, what do they say? Do these say nothing? It is suggested above all to the human heart by the enemies who assail us invisibly that God is no helper to us: so that, seeking other helps, we may be found weak, and be captured by those very enemies. This, then, is suggested. Against these voices above all we ought to keep watch, which are shown in another psalm: Many rise up against me; many say to my soul: There is no salvation for him in his God (Ps 3:1-2 (3:2-3)). Against these voices what is said here? Say to my soul: I am your salvation (Ps 35:3 (34:3)). When you have said to my soul, I am your salvation, it will live justly, so that I seek no one for aid besides you.

6. [v. 4] And what follows? Let those be confounded and put to shame who seek my soul (Ps 35:4 (34:4)): for they seek it for this, to destroy it. Would that they sought it well! For in another psalm he reproaches this in men, that there was no one who sought his soul: Flight has failed me, and there is no one who seeks my soul (Ps 142:4 (141:5)). Who is it that says, There is no one who seeks my soul? Is it perhaps he of whom so long before it was foretold, They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones; but they themselves looked and gazed upon me; they divided my garments among them, and over my garment they cast lots (Ps 22:16-18 (21:17-19))? Now all these things were being done before their eyes, and there was no one who sought his soul. Let us call upon him, then, brothers, that he may say to our soul, I am your salvation; and may open its ears, that it may hear him saying, I am your salvation. For he says it, but some grow deaf; whence they rather hear the persecuting enemies when set in tribulation. If anything is lacking, if the soul is in straits, in want of temporal things, it often seeks help from demons, wishes to consult those possessed by demons, seeks soothsayers: the persecuting invisible enemies have approached it, entered, assailed, captured, conquered it by saying, There is no salvation for him in his God. It has grown deaf against the voice saying, I am your salvation. Say to my soul: I am your salvation, that those may be confounded and put to shame who seek my soul, to whom you say, I am your salvation. May I hear him saying to me, I am your salvation. I will seek no other salvation besides the Lord my God. Salvation is suggested to me from a creature; it is from him: and if I lift up my eyes to the mountains, whence help may come to me; yet not from the mountains, but my help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth (Ps 121:1-2 (120:1-2)). In these very temporal straits God comes to aid through a man; he himself is your salvation. Through an angel God comes to aid; he himself is your salvation. All things are subject to him, and for this temporal life indeed he comes to aid, some from here, some from there: but eternal life he gives only from himself. Behold, to one set in straits, what you seek is not at hand, but he whom you seek is present. And seek him who can never be lacking. Let the things he gave be taken away; is he taken away who gave? Let the things he had given be repaid; are those riches themselves, when they have been repaid, and not he who took them away to test, and repaid to console? For he consoles when these things are not lacking to us. He consoles as it were on the way, but only if we understand the way: because this whole life, and all the things you use in this life, ought to be to you as an inn to a traveler, not as a house to a dweller. Remember that you have completed something, that something remains: that you have turned aside for refreshment, not for failing.

7. There are those who say: God is good, great, supreme, invisible, eternal, incorruptible; he will give us eternal life, and that incorruption which he promised in the resurrection; but these worldly and temporal things belong to the demons, and to those powers of this darkness. Saying these things, when they are entangled by love of these things, they abandon God, as one to whom these things do not belong; and they seek, by abominable sacrifices and by I know not what remedies, or by I know not what unlawful persuasion of men, to provide for themselves what is temporal, such as money, a wife, children, and whatever things either console human life as it passes or hinder it as it walks. Against this opinion, with divine providence keeping watch, in order that God might show that all these things belong to him and are in his power—not only the eternal things which he promised for the future, but also the temporal things which he gives on earth to whom he wills, and when he wills opportunely, knowing to whom to give and to whom not to give, like a physician with medicines, knowing the disease of the sick man better than the sick man himself—in order, then, that God might show this, he distributed the times of the Old and New Testament. In the Old Testament are promises of earthly things; in the New, of the kingdom of heaven. Most of the precepts for worshiping God and living rightly are the same both there and here: but because the promise there seems one thing, here another; the command of him who orders and the obedience of him who serves is the same, but the reward, as it were, is not the same. For to them it was said: that you may receive the land of promise, that you may reign in it, that you may overcome your enemies, that you may not be subjugated by them, that all things may abound for you in this land, that you may beget children. These are earthly promises, but nonetheless figurative. Suppose that some so receive them as they are promised: and truly many so received them. For the land was given to the children of Israel, riches were given, children were given even to the barren and the aged who asked God, and who presumed on him alone, and sought no other helper even for these things. They heard in their heart the voice of the Lord, I am your salvation. If for eternal things, why not for temporal? God showed this in the case of that holy man Job: that even the devil himself has no power to take these things away, unless he has received it from that supreme power. He could envy the saint; could he harm him? He could accuse; could he condemn? Was he able to take anything away, was he able to injure even a nail, even a hair, unless he said to God, Stretch out your hand (Job 1:11)? What is Stretch out your hand? Give power. He received it. He tempted; the other was tempted. Yet the one tempted conquered, the tempter was conquered. For God, who had permitted the devil to take those things away, had not abandoned that servant of his within, and to overcome the devil himself he had made the soul of his servant a sword for himself. How much is this worth? I speak of a human being. Conquered in paradise, conqueror on the dunghill. There he was conquered by the devil through a woman, here he conquered the devil and the woman. You have spoken, he says, like one of the foolish women. If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, why should we not endure evil things? (Job 2:10) How well he had heard, I am your salvation!

8. Let those be confounded and put to shame who seek my soul. Look to men. Pray, he says, for your enemies (Matt 5:44). But here it is prophecy. And what are said in the figure of wishing are unfolded with the mind of one prophesying. "Let this be done, and let that be done" is nothing else than "this and that will be." Hear, then, the prophecy thus: Let those be confounded and put to shame who seek my soul. What is let those be confounded and put to shame? They will be confounded and put to shame. For it was done: many were salutarily confounded, many, put to shame, passed over from the persecution of Christ to the fellowship of his members with devout piety: and this would not happen unless they were confounded and put to shame. Therefore he wished them well. But because there are two kinds of those who are conquered—for they are conquered in two ways; either they are conquered so as to be converted to Christ, or they are conquered so as to be damned by Christ—these two very kinds are unfolded here too, obscurely indeed, but they require an understanding reader. Of those who are converted, take what was said: Let those be confounded and put to shame who seek my soul. Let them be turned back (Ps 35:4 (34:4)). Let them not go before, but follow; let them not give counsel, but receive it. For Peter wished to go before the Lord, when the Lord was speaking of his coming passion: he wished to give him counsel as it were of salvation, counsel of salvation from a sick man to a savior. And what did he say to the Lord, who was confirming that future passion of his? Far be it from you, Lord; be merciful to yourself; this shall not be (Matt 16:22). He wished to go before, that the Lord might follow. And he, what? Get behind me, Satan (Matt 16:23). By going before you are Satan; by following you will be a disciple. This, then, to these also: Let them be turned back, and confounded, who think evil against me. For when they have begun to follow behind, they will no longer think evil things, but will desire good things.

9. [vv. 5-6] What of the others? For not all are so conquered that they are converted and believe: many remain in obstinacy, many keep the spirit of going before in their heart; and if they do not bring it forth, yet they are in travail with it, and where they find a place, they bring it forth. Of such, what follows? Let them become like dust before the face of the wind (Ps 35:5 (34:5)). Not so the ungodly, not so, but like the dust which the wind drives from the face of the earth (Ps 1:4). The wind is temptation, the dust the wicked one. When temptation comes, the dust is carried off; it neither stands nor resists. Let them become like dust before the face of the wind: and the angel of the Lord afflicting them. Let their way become darkness and slipperiness (Ps 35:6 (34:6)). A dreadful way. Who would not dread darkness alone? Who would not beware slipperiness alone? In darkness and slipperiness where do you go? Where do you set your foot? These are two great evils of human punishment: darkness, ignorance; slipperiness, lust. Let their way become darkness and slipperiness: and the angel of the Lord pursuing them: so that they cannot stand. For each one, in darkness and slipperiness, when he sees that if he moves his foot he slips, and there is no light before his feet, perhaps does even this, that he waits until it grows light: but there is the angel of the Lord pursuing them. These things to come he foretold for them, not as one wishing that they might happen. And although the prophet too, in the Spirit of God, says these things in the way that God does them, by a sure judgment, good, just, holy, tranquil, not disturbed by anger, not by bitter zeal, not with a mind for exercising enmities, but by the justice of punishing faults; yet it is prophecy.

10. [vv. 7-8] But from where come these so great evils? By what desert? Hear by what desert: For without cause they have hidden the corruption of their snare for me (Ps 35:7 (34:7)). Attend, in our very head, that the Jews did this; they hid the corruption of their snare. For whom did they hide the snare? For one who saw the hearts of those who hid it. Yet among them he was like one ignorant, as though he were deceived, while they were deceived in him, in that they thought they were deceiving him. For he, as it were, was deceived while living among them, because we were so to live among such people that we would without doubt be deceived. He saw his betrayer, and chose him rather for a necessary work. From his evil he worked a great good; and yet he was chosen among the twelve, lest that very number of twelve, so small, should be without an evil one. This is for an example of our patience, since it was necessary that we should live among the wicked; it was necessary that we should bear the wicked, whether knowingly or unknowingly: he furnished an example of patience, that you may not fail when you have begun to live among the wicked. And because that school of Christ did not fail among the twelve, how much more ought we to be firm, when there are fulfilled in the great Church the things that were foretold about the mixture of the wicked? For that school itself did not yet see paid to the seed of Abraham what had been promised, nor the very threshing-floor from which the mass that will fill the granary is to come forth. Why, then, is the chaff not worthily borne in it while it is threshed, until by the last winnowing it is purged? For this will come to the wicked, which you have heard.

11. But yet what is to be done? Without cause they have hidden the corruption of their snare for me. What is without cause? Those to whom I did no evil, whom I in no way harmed. In vain they reproached my soul (Ps 35:7 (34:7)). What is in vain? Saying false things, proving nothing. Let the snare which they do not know come upon them (Ps 35:8 (34:8)). A magnificent recompense; nothing more just. They hid a snare, that I might be ignorant of it: let the snare come upon them which they do not know. For I know their snare. But what snare is to come upon them? That which they do not know. Let us hear, lest perhaps he name it: Let the snare which they do not know come upon them. Did they perhaps hide one, and another is to come upon them? No: but what? Each one is bound by the cords of his own sins. From the very thing by which they wished to deceive, they are deceived. By the very thing by which they tried to harm, they will be harmed. For there follows, And let the trap which they concealed catch them. As if someone prepared a cup of poison for another, and forgetting, drank it; and as if someone dug a pit into which each enemy of his might fall in the dark; and he, forgetting what he had dug, walking that way, falls there first. Indeed, my brothers, so believe, so be certain: so, if there is in you a more excellent measure of prudence, see and perceive: no evil man fails first to harm himself. For suppose malice to be like fire. You wish to set something on fire: that which you bring near burns first; unless it burns, it does not set fire. It is a torch; you apply this torch to set something on fire: does not the very torch you apply burn first, that it may be able to set something on fire? Malice, then, proceeds from you, and whom does it first lay waste but you? Where it is poured forth it harms a branch; where it has its root does it not harm? And indeed I say, it can come to pass that your malice does not harm another; but that it not harm you cannot come to pass. For what harm was done to the holy man Job, of whom we spoke before? As it is said in another psalm, Like a sharp razor you have wrought deceit (Ps 52:2 (51:4)). What happens with a sharp razor? Hairs, superfluous things, are cut off. What, then, do you do to him whom you wish to harm? If the one you wish to harm, being worthless, consents with you to evil, it will not be your malice that harms him, but his own; but if within he himself lacks malice, and submits a clean heart to that voice saying, I am your salvation, you assail him from without, you do not conquer the inner man: yet your malice proceeds from your inner self, and renders you first empty. You are rotten within, from which this worm came forth; within it has left nothing whole. And let the trap which they concealed catch them; and let them fall into that very snare. Not what you perhaps supposed a little before when you heard, Let the snare which they do not know come upon them, that is, as it were something else from a hidden source, unavoidable. Into which, then? Into the very iniquity which they hid from me. Was this not done to the Jews? Their Lord conquered their iniquity; they were conquered by their own iniquity. He rose again for us; they died in themselves.

12. [v. 9] These things, then, to the wicked who wish to harm me: but to me what? But my soul shall exult in the Lord (Ps 35:9 (34:9)): as in him from whom it heard, I am your salvation; as not seeking other riches from outside, as not seeking to flow about with pleasures and earthly goods; but loving its true spouse freely, not wishing to receive from him what may delight, but setting him alone before itself as the one by whom it may be delighted. For what better will be given me than God? God loves me; God loves you. Behold, he has set it before you: ask what you wish. If the Emperor said to you, "Ask what you wish," what tribuneships and countships you would belch forth! How many things you would set before yourself, both to receive and to bestow on others! When God says to you, "Ask what you wish," what will you ask? Shake out your mind, stretch out your greed, extend it as far as you can, and enlarge your desire: not just anyone, but the omnipotent God said, "Ask what you wish." If you are a lover of possessions, you will desire the whole earth, that all who are born may be your tenants or your slaves. And what, when you have possessed the whole earth? You will ask for the sea, in which nevertheless you cannot live. In this greed the fish will surpass you. But perhaps you will possess the islands. Pass beyond these too, ask even for the air, though you cannot fly: extend your desire even to heaven, say that the sun, moon, and stars are yours, because he who made all things said, "Ask what you wish": yet you will find nothing dearer, you will find nothing better, than him who made all things. Ask for him who made them, and in him and from him you will have all that he made. All things are dear, because all things are beautiful: but what is more beautiful than he? They are strong: but what is stronger than he? And he wishes to give nothing more than himself. If you find something better, ask for it. If you ask for something else, you will do him wrong, and harm to yourself, by preferring to him what he made, when he who made you wishes to give you himself. In this love a certain soul said to him, Are you yourself my portion, O Lord? that is, you are my portion. Let those who wish choose for themselves what to possess, let them make portions for themselves of things: You are my portion, I have chosen you for myself. And again, The Lord is the portion of my inheritance (Ps 16:5 (15:5)). Let him possess you, that you may possess him: you will be his estate, you will be his house. He possesses to profit; he is possessed to profit. Is it that you may profit him in anything? For I said to the Lord: You are my God, for you have no need of my goods (Ps 16:2 (15:2)). But my soul shall exult in the Lord. It shall be delighted in his salvation. The salvation of God is Christ. For my eyes have seen your salvation (Luke 2:30).

13. [v. 10] All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like you? (Ps 35:10 (34:10)) Who could worthily say anything about these words? I think they are only to be pronounced, not expounded. Why do you seek this or that? What is like your Lord? You have him before you. All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like you? The unjust have told me of their delights, but not as your law, O Lord. There were persecutors who said, "Adore Saturn, adore Mercury." "I do not worship idols," he says. Lord, who is like you? They have eyes, and do not see; they have ears, and do not hear. Lord, who is like you, who made the eye for seeing, the ear for hearing? "But I do not worship idols," he says, "because a craftsman made them." Worship a tree and a mountain: and did a craftsman not make this too? And here: Lord, who is like you? Earthly things are shown to me; you are the creator of the earth. And from here perhaps they turn to a higher creation, and say to me: Worship the moon, worship that sun, which by its light, like a great lamp, makes day from heaven. And here too plainly I say: Lord, who is like you? You made the moon and the stars, you kindled the sun, you composed the heaven. There are many invisible things that are better. But perhaps here too it is said to me: Worship the angels, adore the angels. And here too I will say: Lord, who is like you? The angels themselves too you created. The angels are nothing except by seeing you. It is better to possess you together with them, than by adoring them to fall away from you.

14. All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like you? O body of Christ, holy Church, let all your bones say, Lord, who is like you? And if the flesh has yielded to persecution, let the bones say, Lord, who is like you? For of the just it was said, The Lord loves all their bones; not one of them shall be broken (Ps 34:20 (33:21)). How many of the just have had their bones broken in persecution? Finally, the just man lives by faith, and Christ justifies the ungodly. But how does he justify, except the one who believes and confesses? Because with the heart one believes unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10). So even that robber, although led from robbery to the judge, and from the judge to the cross, yet on the cross itself was justified: with the heart he believed, with the mouth he confessed. For to one not just and not already justified the Lord would not say, Today you shall be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43): and yet his bones were broken. For when it came to taking down the bodies because of the impending Sabbath, the Lord was found already lifeless, and his bones were not shattered. But those who were living, that they might be taken down, had their legs broken, so that by this pain, being dead, they could be buried. Were the bones of only the one robber who persevered ungodly on the cross broken, and not also of him who with the heart believed unto justice and with the mouth confessed unto salvation? Where, then, is that which was said, The Lord guards all their bones; not one of these shall be broken (Ps 34:20 (33:21)); except that in the body of the Lord all the just are called bones—firm of heart, strong, yielding to no persecutions and temptations so as to consent to evil? And from where could they yield to no temptations, except when the persecutors say: Behold that god, behold what a god that is; let him come, let him bind for you a charm; behold here a certain great priest on the mountain; perhaps you are poor because that god does not help you; supplicate him, and he helps; perhaps you are sick because you do not supplicate him; supplicate him, and you will recover; perhaps for this reason you have no children; supplicate him, and you will have them. But here, if one is of the bones in the body of the Lord, he repels all these voices, and says, Lord, who is like you? Give, if you wish to give, in this life too, what I seek: but if you do not wish, be yourself my life, whom I always seek. From here shall I go forth to you with free brow, if I have adored another, and offended you? Tomorrow perhaps I am to die; with what brow shall I see you? Great is his mercy, both that he warned us to live well, and that he hid from us the last day of our death, lest we promise ourselves anything about the future. I do it today, and I live: tomorrow I do not do it. What if it does not find you tomorrow? Say, then, among the bones of Christ, Lord, who is like you? All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like you?

15. Delivering the needy from the hand of those stronger than he, and the needy and poor from those who plunder him (Ps 35:10 (34:10)). Thus far the psalm was read today, thus far it is to be treated; lest what has been said come into distaste, while we wish to say other things too. Let these things suffice for today, then: Delivering the needy from the hand of those stronger than he. Who is the deliverer, but he who is strong in hand? That David will deliver the needy from the hand of those stronger than he. For the devil had been stronger to hold you, because he conquered the one to whom you consented. But what did the one strong in hand do? No one enters the house of a strong man to plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man (Matt 12:29). By his most sacred, most magnificent power he bound the devil, by pouring out the sword to shut him up, that he might deliver the needy and the poor, who had no helper. For who is a helper to you, except the Lord to whom you say, Lord, my helper and my redeemer (Ps 19:14 (18:15))? If you wish to presume on your own strength, you will fall from where you presumed; if on another's, he wishes to dominate, not to come to your aid. That one alone, then, is to be sought, who both redeemed and made free, and gave his blood to buy them, and made his servants brothers.

Exposition of Psalm 34

1. Let us turn our minds to the rest of the psalm, and beseech our Lord and God both for soundness of understanding and for the fruit of acting well. How far the discussion went yesterday, I believe your Charity remembers: from that very place let us take our beginning today. For we understand here the voice of Christ; that is, the voice of the head and of the body of Christ. When you hear "Christ," do not separate the bridegroom from the bride, and understand that great sacrament: They shall be two in one flesh (Eph 5:31; Gen 2:24). If two in one flesh, why not also in one voice? For the head did not endure temptations here while the body does not endure them; or rather, was there any cause for the head to suffer, except to furnish an example to the body? For the Lord suffered by will, we by necessity; he by compassion, we by condition. Accordingly, his voluntary passion is our necessary consolation; so that when we perhaps endure such things, we may look upon our head, that, admonished by his example, we may say to ourselves: If he, what of us? And as he, so we too. For however much the enemy may have raged, he could come only as far as the death of the body: which body even itself he could not extinguish in the Lord, because on the third day he rose again. What was done in him on the third day, this is done in our body at the end of the world. The hope of our resurrection is deferred; is it taken away? Let us recognize here, then, the voices of Christ, dearly beloved, and let us separate them from the voices of the ungodly. For they are the voices of the body suffering persecution and straits and temptations in this world. But since many here suffer both for their sins and for their crimes, the cause, not the punishment, must be discerned with great vigilance. For a criminal can have a punishment like a martyr's, yet an unlike cause. There were three on the cross: one the Savior, another to be saved, another to be damned: the punishment of all equal, but the cause unequal.

2. [vv. 11-12] Let our head, then, say, Unjust witnesses rising up asked me of things I did not know (Ps 35:11 (34:11)). But let us say to our head: Lord, what did you not know? Was there indeed anything you did not know? Did you not know the hearts of those who questioned you? Had you not foreseen their treacheries? Had you not knowingly given yourself into their hands? Had you not come to suffer from them? What, then, did you not know? He did not know sin: and he did not know this sin, not as though by not judging it, but by not committing it. There are such ways of speaking even in daily use, when you say of someone, "He does not know how to stand," that is, because he does not stand; and, "He does not know how to do good," because he does not do good. "He does not know how to do evil," because he does not do evil. What is foreign to the deed is foreign to the conscience; what is foreign to the conscience seems foreign even to knowledge. So God is said not to know, just as art does not know faults; and yet through art the things known are judged. This, then, our head answers us who question, from the truth of his own Gospel, when we have said, Lord, what did you not know? What could you have been asked which you did not know? He answers: I did not know iniquities, I was asked about iniquities. You have it in the Gospel, if you do not believe that I am ignorant of iniquities, that I am ignorant even of the iniquitous themselves, to whom I shall say at the end, I do not know you; depart from me, you who work iniquity (Matt 7:23). Did he not know those whom he was condemning? Or can he justly condemn, unless he is a good knower? And yet the good knower did not lie in saying, I do not know you: that is, you are not fitted to my body, you do not cleave to my rules; you are faults; but I am the art itself, which has no fault, and in which one learns only not to commit a fault. Unjust witnesses rising up asked me of things I did not know. What did Christ so not know as to blaspheme? On this he was questioned by his persecutors, and because he spoke the truth, he was judged to have blasphemed. But by whom? Of whom there follows: They repaid me evil for good, and barrenness to my soul (Ps 35:12 (34:12)). I brought fruitfulness, they repaid barrenness; I life, they death; I honor, they reproaches; I medicine, they wounds; and in all these things which they repaid, there was indeed barrenness. This barrenness he cursed in the tree, where, seeking fruit, he found none. There were leaves, and there was no fruit: there were words, and there were no deeds. See in words abundance, and in deeds barrenness: you who preach against stealing, steal; you who say not to commit adultery, commit adultery (Rom 2:21-22). Such were those who asked Christ of things he did not know.

3. [v. 13] But as for me, when they were troublesome to me, I put on sackcloth, and humbled my soul in fasting; and my prayer shall be turned into my own bosom (Ps 35:13 (34:13)). We are indeed taught, brothers, that we belong to the body of Christ, that we are members of Christ: and we are admonished, in all our tribulation, not to think how we may answer our enemies, but how by praying we may render God favorable, and above all that we not be conquered by temptation; and then, that even those who persecute us may be converted to the soundness of justice. There is no greater, no better business in tribulation than to withdraw from that noise which is without, and to go into the inner sanctuaries of the mind; there to call upon God, where no one sees the one groaning and being aided; to shut the door of that chamber against every trouble brought from without, to humble oneself in confession of sin, to magnify and praise God, both as he corrects and as he consoles: this in every way is to be held to. Yet we have said this in the body, that is, in us: but in our Lord Jesus Christ what such do we recognize? With the Gospel examined and most diligently searched, we do not find that the Lord, in any passion and tribulation of his, put on sackcloth. We read indeed that he fasted after he was baptized: but we have heard of no sackcloth there, we have read of none; and he fasted not yet when the Jews were persecuting, but when the devil was tempting. I do not say that the Lord fasted at the time when they were asking him of things he did not know, and when they were repaying evil for good, by harassing, persecuting, seizing, scourging, wounding, killing: but yet in all these things, brothers, if with pious curiosity we lift the veil a little, and search the inner parts of this Scripture with the intent eye of the heart, we find that the Lord did this too. He calls his flesh, perhaps, the sackcloth of its mortality. Why sackcloth? Because of the likeness of the flesh of sin. For the Apostle says, God sent his Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin, that from sin he might condemn sin in the flesh (Rom 8:3): that is, he clothed his Son in sackcloth, that from the sackcloth he might condemn the goats. Not because there was sin—I do not say in the Word of God, but not even, I say, in that holy soul and mind of the man whom the Word of God and Wisdom had fitted to himself for the unity of person; nor was there in that very body any sin—but there was the likeness of the flesh of sin in the Lord; because death is only from sin, and that body indeed was mortal. For unless it were mortal, it would not die; if it did not die, it would not rise again; if it did not rise again, it would not show us an example of eternal life. So, then, that death is called sin, which was made for sin, just as we say "the Greek tongue," "the Latin tongue," not the very member of flesh, but what is done through the member of flesh. For the tongue among our members is one of the rest, like the eyes, nose, ears, and the others: but the Greek tongue is Greek words; not because the words are the tongue, but because the words are through the tongue. You say of someone, "I recognized his face," speaking of a member of the body: and you also say, "I recognized the hand of the absent one," not the hand on the body, but the writing made through the hand which was on the body. So, then, the sin of the Lord, which was made from sin, because from it he took flesh, from that very mass which had earned death from sin. For—to say it more quickly—Mary from Adam was mortal because of sin, Adam died because of sin, and the flesh of the Lord from Mary died for the blotting out of sins. With this sackcloth the Lord clothed himself: and therefore he was not recognized, because under the sackcloth he lay hidden. When they, he says, were troublesome to me, I put on sackcloth: that is, they raged, I lay hidden. For if he were unwilling to lie hidden, he could not even die, since at one point of time he put forth a certain drop of his power—if even a drop it is to be called—when they wished to seize him, and at his one question, Whom do you seek? they all went backward and fell (John 18:6). He would not have humbled so great a power in his passion, unless he lay hidden under the sackcloth.

4. So, then, I put on sackcloth, and humbled my soul in fasting. Again, if we have understood the sackcloth, how do we understand the fasting? Did Christ wish to eat, when he sought fruit on the tree, and would have eaten if he had found it? Did Christ wish to drink, when he said to the Samaritan woman, Give me to drink (John 4:7), when he said on the cross, I thirst (John 19:28)? What did Christ hunger for, what did he thirst for, but our good works? For in those who were crucifying and persecuting, because he had found no good works, he was fasting: for they repaid barrenness to his soul. For what a fast his was, who scarcely found one robber to taste on the cross! For the apostles had fled, and had hidden themselves in the crowd. And that Peter who had promised that he would persevere even to the death of the Lord had now three times denied, had now wept, and was still hiding in the crowd, was still afraid lest he be recognized. Finally, when they saw him dead, they all despaired even of salvation itself: whom, despairing, he found after the resurrection, and speaking with them found them grieving and mourning, hoping nothing now. For some of them spoke with him thus, when he said, What are you talking about among yourselves? For they were speaking about him: You alone, they said, are a stranger in Jerusalem, and have not known what our priests and rulers did concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was mighty in deeds and words, how they crucified and killed him? But we were hoping that he was the one to redeem Israel (Luke 24:17-21). The Lord would have remained in a great fast, had he not refreshed those whom he devoured. For he refreshed them, consoled them, confirmed them, and converted them into his body. So in this way too our Lord was in a fast.

5. And my prayer, he says, shall be turned into my own bosom. In this verse plainly there is a great bosom, and may the Lord grant that it become penetrable to us. For in the bosom a secret is recognized. And indeed, brothers, we too are well admonished to pray thus in our own bosom, where God sees, where God hears, where no human eye penetrates, where none sees but he who comes to aid; where Susanna prayed, and when her voice was not heard by men, yet it was heard by God. And we are well admonished of this: but in our Lord we ought to understand something more, because he too prayed. And indeed we do not recognize his sackcloth in the Gospel according to the letter. Nor his fast at the time of the passion according to the letter: and so we have expounded those things as said in allegory and likeness, as we could. But his prayer we have heard even from the cross: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Ps 22:1 (21:2); Matt 27:46) But there too we were present. For when did the Father forsake him, from whom he never departed? We read also that Jesus prayed alone on the mountain, we read that he spent the night in prayer; even at the time of his very passion. Into my own bosom, then, shall my prayer be turned. I know not what better thing to understand about the Lord: meanwhile now what occurs—perhaps something better will occur afterward, either to me or to someone better—into my own bosom shall my prayer be turned, I understand this to be said because he had the Father in his bosom. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself (2 Cor 5:19). He had within himself the one to whom he prayed: he was not far from him, because he himself had said, I am in the Father, and the Father is in me (John 14:11). But because prayer belongs rather to the man himself—for according to what Christ is as Word, he does not pray, but hears, and does not seek to be aided, but with the Father aids all—what is My prayer shall be turned into my own bosom, but, in myself the humanity, in myself, intercedes the divinity?

6. [v. 14] As a neighbor, as our brother, so I pleased; as one mourning and saddened, so was I humbled (Ps 35:14 (34:14)). He looks to his body: now let us here see ourselves. When we rejoice in prayer, when our mind is made serene, not by the prosperity of the world, but by the light of truth: whoever feels this light knows what I say, and sees here, and recognizes what was said, As a neighbor, as our brother, so I pleased. For so does the soul then please God, not placed far off; In him, it says, we are moved and have our being (Acts 17:28): as a brother, as one near, as a friend. But if it is not such that it can so rejoice, so shine, so draw near, so cleave, and sees itself far from there, let it do what follows: As one mourning and saddened, so was I humbled. As our brother, so I pleased, he said, drawing near: As one mourning and saddened, so was I humbled, he said, removed and placed far off. For what does one mourn, but what he desires and does not have? And sometimes both happen in one man, that at one time he draws near, and at another is made far: he draws near by the light of truth, he is made far by the cloud of the flesh. For we do not, brothers, draw near to God, who is everywhere and is contained by no place, through places, nor are we removed from him through places. To draw near to him is to become like him; to withdraw from him is to become unlike him. When you see two things nearly alike, do you not say, "This is near to that"? And when unlike things are shown to you, although held in one place and often in one hand, do you not say, "This appearance is far from that"? You hold both, you join both, and you say, "This thing is far from that": not indeed in place, but in unlikeness. If, then, you wish to draw near, be like; if you do not wish to be like, you will go far off. But when you are like, rejoice; when unlike, groan: that groaning may rouse desire, or rather desire may rouse groaning, and that through groaning you may draw near, you who had begun to go far off. Did not Peter draw near, when he said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt 16:16)? And again the same man was made far by saying, Lord, far be it from you, this shall not be (Matt 16:22). Finally, as to a neighbor, what did he say to the one drawing near? Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona (Matt 16:17). As to one going far off and unlike, what did he say? Get behind me, Satan (Matt 16:23). To the one drawing near: Flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, he said, but my Father who is in heaven (Matt 16:17): his light flooded you, by his light you shine. But when, made far off, he contradicted the future passion of the Lord for our salvation, You do not relish, he said, the things that are of God, but the things that are of men (Matt 16:23). Rightly, setting both things together, a certain man in a psalm says, I said in my ecstasy: I am cast away from before your eyes (Ps 31:22 (30:23)). He would not say it in ecstasy unless he drew near: for ecstasy is an excess of the mind. He poured out his soul above himself, and drew near to God: and through a certain cloud, and the weight of the flesh, again cast down to earth, recalling where he had been, and seeing where he was, he said, I am cast away from before your eyes. Therefore, As a neighbor, as our brother, so I pleased, may he grant that it come to pass in us. But when it does not come to pass, let at least this come to pass: As one mourning and saddened, so was I humbled.

7. [v. 15] And against me they rejoiced and gathered together, into one. They glad, I sad. But just now we heard in the Gospel, Blessed are those who mourn (Matt 5:4). If blessed are those who mourn, wretched are those who laugh. Against me they rejoiced and gathered together: scourges were gathered upon me, and they did not know it (Ps 35:15 (34:15)). Since they asked me of things I did not know, they themselves too did not know whom they were questioning.

8. [v. 16] They tempted me, and mocked me with mockery (Ps 35:16 (34:16)). That is, they derided me, they insulted me: this to the head, this to the body. Attend, brothers, to the glory of the Church which now is; look back at its past reproaches, look back at how Christians were once put to flight on every side, and wherever found, mocked, beaten, killed, thrown to beasts, burned, and men rejoiced against them. What to the head, this also to the body. For as to the Lord on the cross, so to his body in all that persecution which has now taken place: nor do persecutions of them even now cease. Wherever they find a Christian, they are wont to insult, harass, deride, to call him dull, witless, of no heart, of no skill. Let them do whatever they wish, Christ is in heaven: let them do whatever they wish, he has honored his punishment, he has now fixed his cross on the foreheads of all: the ungodly is permitted to insult, but not permitted to rage; yet from what the tongue brings forth, it is understood what he bears in his heart. They gnashed at me with their teeth (Ps 35:16 (34:16)).

9. [v. 17] Lord, when will you look on? Restore my soul from their malice, my only one from the lions (Ps 35:17 (34:17)). For to us it is slow, and from our person this is said: When will you look on? that is, when shall we see vengeance on those who insult us? When will the judge, worn out by weariness, hear that widow? Yet our judge defers our salvation not by weariness, but by love; by reason, not by want; not because he cannot even now come to aid, but that the number of us all may be fulfilled even to the end. And yet what do we say out of desire? Lord, when will you look on? Restore my soul from their malice, my only one from the lions: that is, my Church from the raging powers.

10. [v. 18] Finally, do you wish to know what that only one is? Read what follows: I will confess to you, O Lord, in a great Church; among a weighty people I will praise you (Ps 35:18 (34:18)). Plainly in a great Church I will confess to you, among a weighty people I will praise you. For confession is made in every multitude, but not in all is God praised: the whole multitude hears our confession, but not in all the multitude is there praise of God. For in this whole multitude, that is, in the Church which is spread throughout the whole world, there is chaff and grain: the chaff flies away, the grain remains; therefore among a weighty people I will praise you. Among the weighty people, whom the wind of temptation does not carry off, among these God is praised. For in the chaff he is always blasphemed. When our chaff is regarded, what is said? "Behold how Christians live, behold what Christians do"; and there comes to pass what is written, For my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you (Rom 2:24). Wickedly, enviously, you inspect the threshing-floor, you who are wholly in the chaff; the grains do not easily meet you: seek, and you will find a weighty people, among whom you may praise the Lord. Do you wish to find it? Be such yourself. For if you are not such, it is hard that not all should seem to you such as you are: And comparing, says the Apostle, themselves with themselves (2 Cor 10:12), they do not understand. Among a weighty people I will praise you.

11. [vv. 19-21] Let them not insult me who are my adversaries unjustly (Ps 35:19 (34:19)): for they insult me over my chaff. Who hate me without cause: that is, those whom I in no way harmed. And wink with their eyes: that is, the hypocrites, the dissemblers. For to me indeed they spoke peaceful things (Ps 35:20 (34:20)). What is winking with their eyes? Declaring with the face what they do not bear in the heart. And who are they who wink with their eyes? For to me indeed they spoke peaceful things; and in their anger they thought deceitfully. And they opened wide their mouth against me (Ps 35:21 (34:21)). First winking with their eyes, those lions seeking to seize and devour, first fawning, they spoke peaceful things, and in their anger they thought deceitfully. What peaceful things did they speak? Master, we know that you accept no one's person, and teach the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or is it not lawful? (Matt 22:16-17) To me indeed they spoke peaceful things. What, then? Did you not recognize them, and did they deceive you by winking with their eyes? Rather, he recognized them; therefore he said, Why do you tempt me, hypocrites? (Matt 22:18) Afterward they opened wide their mouth against me, crying, Crucify, crucify! (Luke 23:21) They said: Aha, aha, our eyes have seen (Ps 35:21 (34:21)). This now by way of insult: Aha, aha, prophesy to us, Christ (Matt 26:68). As their peace was feigned, when they tempted him about the coin, so now their praise is insulting. They said: Aha, aha, our eyes have seen: that is, your deeds, your wonders. This is the Christ. If he is the Christ, let him come down from the cross, and we believe him. He saved others, he cannot save himself (Matt 27:42). Our eyes have seen. This is the whole of what he boasted, that he called himself the Son of God. But the Lord, suffering, clung to the cross: he had not lost his power, but was showing his wisdom. For what was great for him to come down from the cross, who afterward could rise from the tomb? But he would have seemed to yield to those insulting him: and this was fitting, that, rising, he should show himself to his own, and not to them, in a great sacrament; because his resurrection signified new life, and new life is known to friends, not to enemies.

12. [v. 22] You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent (Ps 35:22 (34:22)). What is do not be silent? Judge. For of judgment it is said in a certain place, I have kept silence; shall I always keep silence? (Isa 42:14) And of the deferral of judgment it is said to the sinner, These things you did, and I kept silence; you suspected iniquity, that I would be like you (Ps 50:21 (49:21)). How is he silent who speaks through the prophets, who speaks with his own mouth in the Gospel, who speaks through the evangelists, who speaks through us when we speak the truth? What, then? He is silent from judgment, not from precept, not from teaching. But this judgment of his the prophet in a certain way invokes, and foretells: You have seen, O Lord; do not keep silence: that is, because you will not be silent, because it is necessary that you judge. Lord, do not depart from me. Until judgment comes, do not depart from me, as you promised: Behold, I am with you even to the consummation of the world (Matt 28:20).

13. [v. 23] Rise up, O Lord, and attend to my judgment (Ps 35:23 (34:23)). To what judgment? Because you have been afflicted, because you have been tortured by toils and griefs? Do not many wicked also suffer these things? To what judgment? Are you just because you suffer these things? No: but what? To my judgment. How does it follow? Attend to my judgment, my God and my Lord, to my cause. Not to my punishment, but to my cause: not to that which the robber has in common with me, but to that of which blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice (Matt 5:10). For this cause is distinguished. For the punishment is alike for the good and the wicked. And so it is not the punishment that makes martyrs, but the cause. For if the punishment made martyrs, all the mines would be full of martyrs, all chains would drag martyrs, all who are struck with the sword would be crowned. Therefore let the cause be discerned. Let no one say: Because I suffer, I am just. Because he who first suffered, suffered for justice: therefore he added a great exception: Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice. For many who have a good cause inflict persecution; and those who have a bad cause suffer persecution. For if persecution could not be inflicted well, it would not be said in the psalm, The one who secretly slandered his neighbor, him I persecuted (Ps 101:5 (100:5)). Then, brothers, does not a good and just father persecute a dissolute son? He persecutes his vices, not him; not what he begot, but what the son added. The physician, indeed, who is brought for healing, is he not often armed with iron? But against the wound, not against the man. He cuts, that he may heal: and yet when he cuts the sick man, the man grieves, cries out, resists, and if perhaps he has lost his mind through fever, he even strikes the physician; nor yet does the physician desist from the patient's health; he does what he knows, he disregards the one cursing and reviling. Are not all the lethargic roused, lest they be pressed by heavy sleep into death? And this they suffer from their sons, whom they begot most dear; and a son is not dear unless he is troublesome to a sleeping father. The lethargic are roused, the frenzied are bound: but yet both are loved. Let no one, then, say: I suffer persecution: let him not winnow the punishment, but prove the cause; lest, if he do not prove the cause, he be numbered with the wicked. Therefore how vigilantly, how excellently he here commended it: Lord, attend to my judgment, not to my punishments: my God and my Lord, to my cause.

14. [vv. 24-26] Judge me, O Lord, according to my justice (Ps 35:24 (34:24)). That is, according to my cause. Not according to my punishment, but according to my justice, O Lord my God; that is, according to this judge me.

15. And let them not insult me: my enemies. Let them not say in their heart: Aha, aha, to our soul (Ps 35:25 (34:25)); that is: We have done what we could, we killed, we took away. Let them not say: Show that they did nothing. Let them not say: We have swallowed him up. Whence those martyrs say, If the Lord had not been with us, perhaps they would have swallowed us up alive (Ps 124:1-3 (123:1-3)). What is they would have swallowed us up? They would have transferred us into their body. For you swallow this, what you transfer into your body. The world wishes to swallow you: you, swallow the world, transfer it into your body, slay and eat. Which was said to Peter, Slay and eat (Acts 10:13): kill in them what they are, make them what you are. But they, on the contrary, if they have persuaded you to ungodliness, you are swallowed up by them. Not when they persecute you are you swallowed up by them; but when they persuade you of what they are. Nor let them say: We have swallowed him up. You, swallow up the body of the pagans. Why the body of the pagans? It wishes to swallow you; do to it what it wishes to do to you. Therefore perhaps that calf was ground up and put into water, and given to drink, that the body of the ungodly might be swallowed up by Israel. Let them be ashamed and put to shame together who rejoice at my evils; let them be clothed with confusion and shame (Ps 35:26 (34:26)): so that we may swallow them up, ashamed and confounded. Who speak malice against me: let them be ashamed, let them be confounded.

16. [vv. 27-28] What of you now, head with the members? Let them exult and be glad who wish my justice (Ps 35:27 (34:27)): those who have clung to my body. And let them always say: Let the Lord be magnified, who wish the peace of his servant. And my tongue shall meditate on your justice, all the day your praise (Ps 35:28 (34:28)). And whose tongue endures to meditate all day on the praise of God? Behold, just now the sermon has become a little longer, and you grow weary. Who endures to praise God all day? I suggest a remedy, by which you may praise God all day, if you wish. Whatever you do, do it well, and you have praised God. When you sing a hymn, you praise God: what does your tongue do, except that your conscience too praise? You have ceased from singing the hymn, you withdraw to be refreshed: do not get drunk, and you have praised God. You withdraw to sleep: do not rise to do evil, and you have praised God. You do business: do not commit fraud, and you have praised God. You till a field: do not stir up a lawsuit, and you have praised God. In the innocence of your works prepare yourself to praise God all day.

Exposition of Psalm 35

1. [v. 2] Let your Charity attend a little to the text and the mysteries of this psalm; and let us run through it, because in many places it is clear: but where the need of obscurity compels us to linger, you will endure it for the fruit of learning. The unjust man said within himself that he would transgress: there is no fear of God before his eyes (Ps 36:1 (35:2)). He speaks not of one man, but of the kind of unjust men, who are adversaries to themselves by not understanding so as to live well; not because they cannot, but because they will not. For it is one thing when someone tries to understand something and through the infirmity of the flesh cannot, as Scripture says in a certain place, Because the body that is corrupted weighs down the soul, and the earthly dwelling presses down the mind that thinks of many things (Wis 9:15): but it is another thing when the human heart acts more perniciously against itself, so that what it could understand, if good will were added, it does not understand, not because it is difficult, but because the will is opposed. And this happens while they love their sins and hate the precepts of God. For the word of God is your adversary, if you are a friend of your iniquity: but if you are an adversary of your iniquity, the word of God is your friend, and an adversary of your iniquity. If, then, you hate your iniquity, you join yourself to the word of God; and you will be two against destroying it, you and the word of God. For you by yourself, of your own strength, can do nothing: he helps you who sent you his word, and the iniquity is conquered. If you hate it, and God has forgiven, you will be free: but if you love it, it is contrary to you to understand whatever is said against it. Suppose a man seeks how the Son is equal to the Father; he has believed, he seeks to understand, he cannot yet. For it is a great matter, and desires greater strength to be grasped; and there is the beginning of faith which guards the soul until it is strengthened. It is nourished with milk that it may reach the constitution and firmness of more solid food; that it may understand, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). Before it can do this, it is nourished in faith: and it tries to understand, that it may understand as much as God shall have granted. Does it also understand this with effort: What you do not wish to be done to you, do not do to another (Tob 4:16); so that, because you do not wish to suffer iniquity, you do not do iniquity; because you do not wish to suffer deceit and treachery, you do not lay snares for another? But when you do not wish to understand this, it is attributed to your will. Therefore the unjust man said within himself that he would transgress: he resolved to transgress.

2. But does the one who resolves to transgress say this publicly, and not within himself? Why within himself? Because man does not see him. What, then, because man does not see him, in the very heart, where he says to himself that he will transgress, does God not see there? God sees there. But what follows? There is no fear of God before his eyes. Before his eyes is the fear of men. For he does not dare publicly to profess iniquity, lest he be either rebuked or condemned by men. But he withdraws from the sight of men: where? To himself: he leads himself within, and no one sees him: where he meditates deceits and treacheries and transgressions, no one sees. He could not even there, within himself, meditate, if he considered that God sees him: but because there is no fear of God before his eyes, when he has withdrawn from the sight of men to his own heart, whom does he fear there? Is not God present there? But there is no fear of God in his sight.

3. [v. 3] He meditates, then, deceits: and there follows—(Does it perhaps lie hidden from him that God sees there? Even this is shown, which I had begun to say: it lies hidden from him, but from one who wills it; because he acted against himself by being unwilling to understand.)—For he acted deceitfully in his sight (Ps 36:2 (35:3)). In whose sight? Of him whose fear is not before the eyes of the one who acted deceitfully. So as to find out his iniquity, and hate it. This man acted so as not to find it out. For there are men who, as it were, try to seek out their iniquity, and are afraid to find it; because if they find it, it is said to them: Withdraw from it: this you did before you knew, you did iniquity while you were in ignorance; God grants pardon: now you have come to know it; let it go, that pardon may easily be granted to your ignorance, and that with free brow you may say to God, Remember not the sins of my youth and of my ignorance (Ps 25:7 (24:7)). For this reason he seeks it, for this reason he is afraid lest he find it: for he seeks deceitfully. When does a man say, "I did not know it was a sin"? When he has seen that it is a sin, and has ceased to do that very sin, which he was doing for this reason, that he was ignorant of it; then he truly wished to know his iniquity so as to find it out, and hate it. But now many act deceitfully, so as to find out their iniquity, that is, they do not from the heart act to find it out and hate it. But because in the very inquiry there is deceit, in the finding there will be a defense of the iniquity. For when he has found his iniquity, behold, it is now manifest to him that it is iniquity. "Do not do it," you say. And he who was acting deceitfully so as to find it out, now has found it, and does not hate it: for what does he say? "How many do this, and who does not do it? And will God destroy them all? Or surely he says this: If God were unwilling that these things be done, would the men who commit them be alive?" You see that you were acting deceitfully to find out your iniquity? For if you were acting not deceitfully, but sincerely, you would already have found it out and hated it: now you have found it out and you defend it: deceitfully, then, were you acting when you sought.

4. [v. 4] The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he was unwilling to understand, that he might act well (Ps 36:3 (35:4)). You see that he attributes it to the will: for there are men who wish to understand and cannot; but there are men who are unwilling to understand, and therefore do not understand. He was unwilling to understand, that he might act well.

5. [v. 5] He meditated iniquity on his bed (Ps 36:4 (35:5)). What did he say, on his bed? The unjust man said within himself that he would transgress: what he said above, within himself, this he here said, on his bed. Our bed is our heart: there we suffer the tumult of a bad conscience, and there we rest, when there is a good conscience. Let one who loves the bed of his heart do something good there. There is the bed where the Lord Jesus Christ commands us to pray: Enter into your chamber, and shut your door. What is shut your door? Do not expect from God such things as are outside, but those that are within: And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you (Matt 6:6). Who is it that does not shut the door? He who asks such things of God for a great prize, and there sets all his prayers, that he may receive the goods that are of this world. Your door is open, the crowd sees when you pray. What is it to shut your door? That you ask of God what God alone knows how to give you. What is this, for the sake of which you shut the door and ask? What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man (1 Cor 2:9). And perhaps it has not ascended into your very bed, that is, into your heart. But God knows what he is going to give you. And when will it be? When the Lord is revealed, when the judge appears. For what is more manifest than what he is going to say to those set on the right? Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt 25:34). Those who will be on the left will hear these things, and will groan with fruitless repentance; because, when they lived thus, they were unwilling to do it fruitfully. How will they groan? Because there is no place of correction for them. But they too will hear: Go into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41). This is the evil hearing. For the just will rejoice at the good hearing; for so it is written, The just shall be in everlasting remembrance; he shall not fear the evil hearing (Ps 112:6-7 (111:6-7)). From what evil hearing? Which those will hear: Go into the eternal fire. God, then, who can do beyond what we ask or understand, seeks our hidden groaning, that we may please in his sight, and not, as it were, boast of our justice before men. For he who wishes to please men by his justice, not with the end that the men who see him may praise God, but with the intention that he himself be praised, does not shut the door against the noise: because the door is open to that noise, and God does not hear in the way he wishes to hear. Let us labor, then, to cleanse our heart, our bed, where it can be well with us. Your Charity knows how many things many people suffer in public, in the forum, in quarrels, in contentions, in the troubles of business: how each one, wearied by business outside, runs to his house that he may rest there, and takes pains to finish quickly the business that is outside, and to betake himself to rest in his house. For each one has his house for this reason, that he may rest there. But if there too he suffers troubles, where can he rest? What then? It is good that he have rest at least in his own house. But if he suffers enemies outside, within perhaps a bad wife; he goes out in public: when he wishes to rest from the things that are outside, he enters his house: but when neither there does he rest, nor outside does he rest, where will rest be? At least in the chamber of the heart, that you may betake yourself to the inner parts of your conscience. If there perhaps you have found a wife who does not make bitterness for you, the wisdom of God; join yourself with her, rest within in your chamber; let not the smoke of a bad conscience cast you out from there. But that man, in order to meditate deceits, betook himself there of which this Scripture speaks, where men do not see; and there he meditated such things that not even in his own heart did he rest. He meditated iniquity on his bed.

6. He stood by every way that is not good (Ps 36:4 (35:5)). What is he stood by? He sinned perseveringly. Whence also of a certain godly and good man it is said, And in the way of sinners he has not stood (Ps 1:1). As that man did not stand, so this man stood by. But malice he did not hate. There is the end, there the fruit: if he cannot be without malice, let him at least hate it. For when you hate it, it scarcely creeps up on you to make you do anything evil. For there is sin in the mortal body: but what does the Apostle say? Let not sin reign in your mortal body, so as to obey its desires (Rom 6:12). When does it begin not to be? When there is fulfilled in us what he says: When this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality (1 Cor 15:54). Before this comes to pass, there is the delight of iniquity in the body; but greater is the delight of the pleasure of the word of wisdom, of the precept of God. Conquer sin and its will. Hate sin and iniquity, that you may join yourself to God who with you will hate it. Already joined in mind to the law of God, in mind you serve the law of God. And if in the flesh you therefore serve the law of sin, because there are in you certain carnal delights, then there will be none when you will no longer fight. It is one thing not to fight, and to be in true and perpetual peace; another to fight and conquer; another to fight and be conquered; another not even to fight, but to be dragged. For there are men, indeed, who do not fight, such as is this one of whom he speaks: for when he says, He did not hate malice; how does he fight against that which he does not hate? This man is dragged by malice, and does not fight. But there are those who begin to fight; but because they presume on their own strength, in order that God may show them that he himself conquers if a man subjoins himself to God, even fighting they are conquered, and when they have, as it were, begun to hold justice, they become proud, and are dashed down. These fight, but are conquered. But who is it that fights and is not conquered? He who says, I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind (Rom 7:23). See one fighting: but he does not presume on his own strength, therefore he will be victor. For what follows? Wretched man that I am, who will free me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:24-25). He presumes on him who commanded him to fight, and conquers the enemy aided by the one who commands. But this man did not hate malice.

7. [v. 6] O Lord, your mercy is in heaven, and your truth reaches even to the clouds (Ps 36:5 (35:6)). I know not what mercy of his he means, which is in heaven. For there is a mercy of the Lord even on earth. You have it written, The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord (Ps 33:5 (32:5)). Of what mercy, then, does he speak, when he says, O Lord, your mercy is in heaven? The gifts of God are partly temporal and earthly, partly eternal and heavenly: he who worships God for this reason, that he may receive these earthly and temporal things, which are available to all, is as yet, as it were, like a beast; he uses indeed the mercy of God, but not that which is set apart, which will be given to none but the just, the holy, the good alone. What are the gifts that abound for all? Of him who makes his sun rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust (Matt 5:45). Who does not have this mercy of God, first that he should exist, that he should be distinguished from beasts, that he should be a rational animal, who can understand God, then enjoy this light, this air, rain, fruits, the diversity of seasons, earthly comforts, health of body, the affection of friends, the welfare of his own household? All are good, and are gifts of God. Do not suppose, brothers, that anyone can give these except the one God. Whoever, then, expect these things only from the Lord, there is much difference between these and those who seek them either from demons, or from soothsayers, or from astrologers. For these latter are wretched in two ways, because they both desire earthly goods alone, and do not ask them from him who gives all goods. But those who desire these goods, and wish to be happy in these goods, and ask these alone from God, are indeed better, because they ask from God; but they are still in peril. Someone says: Why are they in peril? Because sometimes they consider human affairs, and see all these earthly goods, which they desire, possessed and abounding among the ungodly and the unjust, and they think that they have lost the reward of worshiping God, because what the wicked have, they too have, though they worship God whom the others do not worship; or sometimes those who worship do not have them, and those have them who blaspheme: therefore they are still in peril.

8. But this man truly understood what mercy he was beseeching from God. O Lord, your mercy is in heaven, and your truth reaches even to the clouds: that is, a certain mercy which you grant to your saints is heavenly, not earthly; eternal, not temporal. And how were you able to announce it to men? Because your truth reaches even to the clouds. For who could know the heavenly mercy of God, unless God announced it to men? How did he announce it? By sending his truth even to the clouds. What are the clouds? The preachers of the word of God. Whence in a certain place God was angry at a certain vineyard. For your Charity understands, I think; you have heard Isaiah the prophet, where he says of a certain vineyard, I waited that it should bring forth a grape, but it brought forth thorns. And lest anyone should suppose he was speaking of that visible vineyard, he thus concluded: But the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel; and the man of Judah is his beloved sprout. Therefore he was rebuking that very vineyard, which he waited should bring forth a grape, but it brought forth thorns. And what does he say? I will command my clouds not to rain upon it. Angry, God said this: I will command my clouds not to rain upon it (Isa 5:2-6): and truly it was done. For the apostle-preachers were sent. So we have it in the Acts of the Apostles, that the apostle Paul wished to preach to the Jews, and found there not a grape, but thorns: for they began to repay evil for good, and to persecute. And he said, as though fulfilling what was said, I will command my clouds not to rain upon it: To you we were sent, but because you have rejected the word of God, behold, we turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). So it was fulfilled: I will command my clouds not to rain upon it. Truth came even to the clouds: therefore the mercy of God which is in heaven, and not on earth, could be announced to us. And truly, brothers, the clouds are the preachers of the word of truth. When God threatens through the preachers, he thunders through the clouds. When God works miracles through the preachers, he flashes through the clouds, terrifies through the clouds, and irrigates through rain. These preachers, then, through whom the Gospel of God is preached, are the clouds of God. Let us hope, then, for mercy, but that which is in heaven.

9. [v. 7] Your justice is like the mountains of God: your judgments are like a great deep (Ps 36:6 (35:7)). Who are the mountains of God? Those who were called clouds are themselves also the mountains of God: the great preachers, the mountains of God. And just as, when the sun rises, it first clothes the mountains with light, and from there the light descends to the lowest parts of the earth: so when our Lord Jesus Christ came, he first shone on the height of the apostles, first illumined the mountains, and so his light descended to the valley of the earth. And therefore in a certain place he says in the psalm, I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where help shall come to me (Ps 121:1 (120:1)). But do not suppose that the mountains themselves will give you help: for they receive what they give, they do not give of their own. And if you remain in the mountains, your hope will not be firm: but in him who illumines the mountains ought to be your hope and your presumption. But help will come to you from the mountains, because the Scriptures were ministered to you through the mountains, through the great preachers of truth: but do not fix your hope in them. Hear what he says consequently: I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where help shall come to me. What then? Do the mountains give you help? No: hear what follows: My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth (Ps 121:2 (120:2)). From the mountains comes help, but not from the mountains. And from whom? From the Lord, who made heaven and earth. There were other mountains, by which each one, when he steered his ship, would make shipwreck. For there arose leaders of heresies, and they were mountains. Arius was a mountain, Donatus was a mountain. Maximian just now has, as it were, become a mountain. Many, attending to these mountains, and desiring land, when they wish to be freed from the waves, are driven to the rocks, and have made shipwreck on land. By such mountains he was not seduced who said, In the Lord I trust; how do you say to my soul: Migrate to the mountains like a sparrow? (Ps 11:1 (10:2)) I will not have my hope in Arius, I will not in Donatus: My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Learn how much you should presume on God, and how much you should attribute to men; because cursed is everyone who places his hope in man (Jer 17:5). Most modestly and humbly the holy apostle Paul, truly zealous for the Church, but for the bridegroom, not for himself, and shuddering at them when they wished to say, I am of Paul, I of Apollos (1 Cor 1:12); took up his own person rather to trample and despise it, that he might glorify Christ: Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Cor 1:13) He thrusts away from himself, but in order to send to Christ. He does not wish to be loved by the bride in place of the bridegroom, nor as the friend of the bridegroom. For the apostles are friends of the bridegroom. For this bridegroom that humble John too, who was thought to be the Christ, was zealous. Whence he says, I am not the Christ, but he who comes after me is greater than I, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to loose (John 1:20, 27). Truly, because he humbled himself so much, he showed that he was not the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom; and therefore he says, He who has the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom's voice (John 3:29). And if the friend of the bridegroom is a mountain, yet the mountain does not have light from itself: but it hears, and rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. We, he says, have received of his fullness (John 1:16). Of whose fullness? Of him who was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world (John 1:9). For this bridegroom, then, the Apostle too was zealous for the Church, saying, So let a man regard us as ministers of Christ, and dispensers of the mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1): this is, I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where help shall come to me. So let a man regard us as ministers of Christ, and dispensers of the mysteries of God. But lest again your hope be fixed in the mountains and not in God, hear: I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase; and, Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase (1 Cor 3:6-7). Now, then, you have said, I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where help shall come to me: but because neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters; say, My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth: and, Your justice is like the mountains of God, that is, the mountains are filled with your justice.

10. Your judgments are like a great deep. By the deep he means the depth of sins, into which each one comes by despising God; as he says in a certain place, God gave them up to the desires of their heart, to do what is not fitting. Let your Charity attend. It is a great matter, a great matter that is being treated. What is this? God gave them up to the desires of their heart, to do what is not fitting. If, then, God gave them up to the desires of their heart, to do what is not fitting, do they therefore do those so great evils? As though someone should pose the question: If God does this, that they do what is not fitting, what did they themselves do? Hidden is what you have heard: God gave them up to the desires of their heart. Therefore there was a desire which they were unwilling to conquer, to which they should be handed over by the judgment of God. But that they should be held worthy to be handed over, see what he said above of them: Who, when they had known God, did not glorify him as God, or give thanks: but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. Whence? From pride. For saying they were wise, they became fools. From there now follows: God gave them up to the desires of their heart (Rom 1:21-24). Because, then, they were proud and ungrateful, they were held worthy to be handed over to the desires of their heart, and they became a great deep, so that they not only sinned, but even acted deceitfully, lest they understand their iniquity, and hate it. This is the depth of malice, that they were unwilling to find it out and hate it. But how each one comes to this depth, see: The judgments of God are a great deep. As the mountains of God are his justice, who through his grace become great: so also through his judgments they become in the depth, who are sunk into the lowest parts. By this, then, let the mountains delight you, by this turn away from the deep, and turn to that which is said, My help is from the Lord. But whence? Because I lifted up my eyes to the mountains. What is this? Let me say it in plain terms: In the Church of Christ you find a deep, you find also mountains; you find there fewer good ones, because the mountains are few, the deep is wide, that is, many living badly, away from the wrath of God, because they acted so as to be handed over to the desires of their heart, so that now they defend their sins, and do not confess, but say: Why? What have I done? And he did that; and he did this. Now they even wish to defend what the divine word reproves: it is a deep. Therefore in a certain place Scripture says, hear the deep: The sinner, it says, when he has come into the depth of evils, despises (Prov 18:3). Behold, your judgments are like a great deep. But you are not yet a mountain, you are not yet a deep: flee the deep, attend to the mountains; but neither remain in the mountains. For your help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

11. [v. 8] Men and beasts you will save, O Lord; as your mercy is multiplied, O God (Ps 36:6 (35:7)). Because he said, "Your mercy is in heaven," in order that it may be known to be on earth too, he says, Men and beasts you will save, O Lord; as your mercy is multiplied, O God. Great is your mercy, and manifold is your mercy, O God: and this you give both to men and to beasts. For the salvation of men is from whom? From God. Is the salvation of beasts not from God? For he who made man, he himself made the beasts too; he who made both, saves both: but the salvation of beasts is temporal. But there are those who ask of God as a great thing what he gave to beasts. Your mercy is multiplied, O God, so that it is given not only to men, but also to beasts—this carnal and temporal salvation which is given to men.

12. Do men, then, have something set apart with God, which the beasts do not deserve, and to which the beasts do not attain? They have, plainly. And where is that which they have? But the children of men shall hope under the cover of your wings (Ps 36:7 (35:8)). Let your Charity attend to a most sweet saying: Men and beasts you will save. Now he said men and beasts, but then, the children of men: as though men were one thing, and the children of men another. Sometimes in the Scriptures men are generally called the children of men, sometimes in a certain way they are properly called the children of men, in a certain proper signification, so that not all men are understood: especially when it has a distinction. For not without cause is it set there: Men and beasts you will save, O Lord: but the children of men: as though, these being set apart, he guards the children of men separately. Separated from whom? Not only from the beasts, but also from those men who seek the salvation of beasts from God, and desire this as a great thing. Who, then, are the children of men? Those who hope under the cover of his wings. For those men with the beasts rejoice in the thing, but the children of men rejoice in hope: those pursue present goods with the beasts, these hope for future goods with the angels. Why, then, with this distinction are the former called men, and the latter called the children of men? For in a certain place Scripture says thus: What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you visit him? (Ps 8:4 (8:5)) What is man that you are mindful of him? You are mindful of him as of one absent; but the son of man you visit as present. What is it, you are mindful of man? Men and beasts you will save, O Lord: because to the wicked too you give salvation, and to those who do not desire the kingdom of heaven. For he protects them, and does not desert them in his own way, as his cattle: and he does not desert them; yet he is, as it were, mindful of the absent. But the one he visits is a son of man; and it is said to him, But the children of men shall hope under the cover of your wings. And if you wish to distinguish these two kinds of men, attend first to two men, Adam and Christ. Hear the Apostle: For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive (1 Cor 15:22). We are born of Adam, that we may die: we rise again through Christ, that we may live forever. When we bear the image of the earthly man, we are men: when we bear the image of the heavenly man, we are children of men; because Christ was called the Son of man. For Adam was a man, but was not a son of man: therefore those belong to Adam who desire carnal goods, and this temporal salvation. We exhort them to be children of men, who hope under the cover of his wings, and desire that mercy which is in heaven, and which was announced through the clouds. But if they cannot yet, let them at least, meanwhile, not desire temporal goods except from the one God: so let them serve even in the Old Testament, that they may come to the New.

13. For that people too desired earthly goods, and the kingdom of Jerusalem, the subjection of their enemies, abundance of fruits, their own welfare, the welfare of their children. Such things they desired, and such things they received; they were kept under the Law. They desired from God the goods which he gives even to the beasts, because the Son of man had not yet come to them, that they might be children of men: yet they already had clouds announcing the Son of man. The prophets came to them, they announced Christ: and there were certain ones there who understood, and had future hope, that they might receive the mercy which is in heaven. There were there those who desired only carnal things and earthly and temporal happiness. Their feet slipped to making or adoring idols. For when he admonished them, and scourged them in all the things in which they delighted, and took these away, they suffered famine, wars, pestilences, diseases, and they turned to idols. Such goods, which they ought to have desired from God as a great thing, they desired from idols, and forsook God. For they observed those very goods which they sought abounding among the ungodly and the wicked, and they thought they worshiped God in vain, because he did not give an earthly reward. O man! you are a laborer of God; afterward is the time for receiving the reward: why do you now demand the reward before you labor? If a laborer come to your house, will you give the reward beforehand, unless he has completed his work? For you would judge him perverse, if he said: First I will receive the reward, and then I will work. You grow angry. But why are you angry? Because he did not have faith in a lying man. How will God not be angry, when you do not have faith in the truth itself? What he has promised you, he will give: he does not deceive, because he who promised is truth. But you fear lest perhaps he have not what to give? He is omnipotent. Do not fear lest there be no one to give; he is immortal. Do not fear lest a successor come to him; he is everlasting: be secure. If you are willing to presume on your laborer all day, you too believe God all your life; because your life is a moment of time to God. And you will be what? But the children of men shall hope under the cover of your wings.

14. [v. 9] They shall be inebriated with the plenty of your house (Ps 36:8 (35:9)). He promises us something great, I know not what. He wishes to say it, and does not say it: can he not, or do we not grasp it? I dare to say, my brothers, that even of the holy tongues and hearts through which the truth was announced to us, neither could what they announced be said, nor be thought. For the matter is great and ineffable: and they themselves saw it in part, in an enigma, as the Apostle says, We see now in part, in an enigma, but then face to face (1 Cor 13:12). Behold, seeing in an enigma they thus poured forth. What shall we be, when we shall see face to face what they were in travail with in heart, and could not bring forth with the tongue so that men might grasp it? For what need was there for him to say, They shall be inebriated with the plenty of your house? He sought a word from which to speak of human affairs, that he might say something: and because he saw men gorging themselves in drunkenness, taking wine immoderately, and losing their mind; he saw what he might say, that when that ineffable joy has been received, the human mind in a certain way perishes, and becomes divine, and is inebriated with the plenty of the house of God. Whence also in another psalm it is said, How glorious is your inebriating cup! (Ps 23:5 (22:5)) With this cup the martyrs were already inebriated, when, going to their passion, they did not recognize their own. What is so drunken as not to recognize a weeping wife, not children, not parents? They did not recognize them, they did not think them to be before their eyes. Do not wonder; they were drunk. From what were they drunk? See: they had received a cup from which to be inebriated. Whence that man too gives thanks to God, saying, What shall I render to the Lord for all the things that he has rendered to me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord (Ps 116:12-13 (115:3-4)). Therefore, brothers, let us be children of men, and hope under the cover of his wings, and be inebriated with the plenty of his house. As I could, I have spoken, and how I can, I see, and as I see, I cannot say. They shall be inebriated with the plenty of your house: and you will give them to drink of the torrent of your delight. A torrent is called water coming with force. There will be a force of the mercy of God, to irrigate and inebriate those who now place their hope under the shade of his wings. What is that delight? As it were a torrent inebriating the thirsty. Now, then, let one who thirsts place his hope: let one who thirsts have hope, inebriated he will have the reality: before he has the reality, let him thirst in hope. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be filled (Matt 5:6).

15. [v. 10] From what fountain, then, will you be irrigated, and from where flows so great a torrent of his delight? For with you, he says, is the fountain of life (Ps 36:9 (35:10)). What is the fountain of life, but Christ? He came to you in the flesh, that he might bedew your thirsting throat: he will satisfy the one who hopes, who bedewed the one who thirsted. For with you is the fountain of life, in your light we shall see light. Here the fountain is one thing, the light another: there it is not so. For what is the fountain, that is also the light: and whatever you wish, that you call it, because it is not what you call it; because you cannot find a fitting name, it does not remain in one name. If you should say that it is only light, it would be said to you: Why then was it said to me that I should hunger and thirst? For who is there who eats light? That plainly was rightly said to me: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matt 5:8): if it is light, let me prepare my eyes. Prepare also your throat; because that which is light, is also a fountain: a fountain, because it satisfies the thirsty; light, because it enlightens the blind. Here at times light is in one place, the fountain in another. For sometimes fountains flow even in darkness; and sometimes in the desert you endure the sun, you find no fountain: here, then, these two can be separated, but there you will not be wearied, because it is a fountain; you will not be darkened, because it is light.

16. [v. 11] Extend your mercy to those who know you, and your justice to those who are upright of heart (Ps 36:10 (35:11)). As we have often said, those are upright of heart who follow in this life the will of God. The will of God is sometimes that you be healthy, sometimes that you be sick: if, when you are healthy, the will of God is sweet, and when you are sick, the will of God is bitter; you are not upright of heart. Why? Because you do not wish to direct your will to the will of God, but to bend God's will to yours. His is upright, but you are crooked: your will must be corrected to his, not his bent to you: and you will have an upright heart. It is well with you in this world, let God be blessed who consoles: it is hard in the world, let God be blessed because he amends and tests: and you will be upright of heart, saying, I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall always be in my mouth (Ps 34:1 (33:2)).

17. [v. 12] Let not the foot of pride come to me (Ps 36:11 (35:12)). Surely he has already said: Under the shade of your wings the children of men shall hope, and they shall be inebriated with the plenty of your house. When one has begun to be more abundantly irrigated by this fountain, let him beware lest he grow proud. For it was not lacking to Adam the first man: but the foot of pride came to him, and the hand of the sinner moved him, that is, the proud hand of the devil. As he who seduced him said, I will set my seat in the North (See Isa 14:13): so he persuaded him, Taste, and you shall be as gods (Gen 3:5). By pride, then, we fell, so that we came to this mortality. And because pride had wounded us, humility makes us sound. God came humble, that he might cure man of so great a wound of pride. He came, because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. He was seized by the Jews, he was insulted. You have heard, when the Gospel was read, what they said, and to whom they said it: You have a demon (John 8:48): and he did not say, You yourselves have a demon, because you are in your sins, and the devil possesses your hearts. He did not say this, which if he said, he would say truly; but it was not the time to say this, lest he seem not to preach the truth, but to return a curse. He let pass what he heard, as though he had not heard it. For he was a physician, and had come to cure a frenzied man. As a physician does not heed whatever he hears from a frenzied man, but how the frenzied man may recover and become sound; nor, if he even receive a blow from him, does he heed it; the frenzied man makes new wounds for the physician, the physician heals the old fever: so the Lord too came to the sick man, came to the frenzied man, that whatever he heard, whatever he suffered, he might disregard, by this very thing teaching them humility, that, taught by humility, they might be healed of pride; from which this man begs to be freed, saying, Let not the foot of pride come to me; and let not the hand of the sinner move me. For if the foot of pride comes, the hand of the sinner moves. What is the hand of the sinner? The working of one who counsels evil. Have you become proud? He who counsels evil quickly corrupts you. Humble, fix yourself in God, and do not greatly heed what is said to you. Hence it is that elsewhere it is said, Cleanse me from my hidden faults, and from the faults of others spare your servant (Ps 19:12-13 (18:13-14)). What is from my hidden faults? Let not the foot of pride come to me. What is And from the faults of others spare your servant? Let not the hand of the sinner move me. Guard what is within, and you will not fear what is without.

18. [v. 13] But why do you fear this so much? As though it were said: There fell all who work iniquity (Ps 36:12 (35:13)); so that they came to that deep, of which it was said, Your judgments are like a great deep; so that they came to that depth where the sinners who despise have fallen. They fell: where did they first fall? In the foot of pride. Hear the foot of pride: Who, when they had known God, did not glorify him as God. The foot of pride, then, came to them, whence they came into the depth: God gave them up to the desires of their heart, to do what is not fitting (Rom 1:21, 24). The root of sin, and the head of sin, he feared who said, Let not the foot of pride come to me. Why did he call it that foot? Because by being proud he forsook God, and departed: he called the foot, the affection. Let not the foot of pride come to me; and let not the hand of the sinner move me: that is, let not the works of the sinner move me away from you, so that I should wish to imitate them. But why does he say this against pride: There fell those who work iniquity? Because those who are now unjust fell in pride. Therefore, when the Lord made the Church cautious, he said: She shall watch your head, he says, and you her heel (Gen 3:15). The serpent watches when the foot of pride comes to you, when you slip, that he may cast you down; but you, watch his head: the beginning of all sin is pride (Sir 10:13). There fell those who work iniquity: they were driven out, and could not stand: first he who did not stand in the truth, then through him those whom God put out of paradise. Whence that humble one who says he is not worthy to loose the strap of the sandal is not driven out, but stands and hears him, and rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom's voice, and not because of his own, lest the foot of pride come to him, and he be driven out, and not be able to stand.

19. And if with labor we have been wearisome to some of you, we have finished the psalm, the weariness has passed, and we shall rejoice that the whole psalm has been expounded. In the middle, now fearing lest I burden you, I was about to leave off: but I considered that our purpose would be cut short, and that we should not return to the half so well as if we ran through the whole; and I preferred to be burdensome to you, rather than, the matter being unfinished, to keep the remainder. For tomorrow's sermon also is owed you: pray for us, that we may be able to render it, and bring hungering throats and devout hearts.

Exposition of Psalm 36

1. The last day, to come terribly, is heard of by those who are unwilling to be secure by living well, and wish for a long time to live badly. But usefully God willed that day to be hidden, so that the heart may always be ready to await what it knows will come, and does not know when it will come. But because our Lord Jesus Christ was sent to us as a teacher, he said that even the Son of man did not know that day, because it was not in his office of teaching that it should be known by us through him. For the Father knows nothing that the Son does not know: since the very knowledge of the Father is that which is his wisdom: but his wisdom is his Son, his Word. But because it did not profit us to know what indeed he knew who had come to teach us—yet not this, which it did not profit us to know—he both, as a teacher, taught something, and, as a teacher, did not teach something. For as a teacher he knew both how to teach what profited, and not to teach what was harmful. And so, by a certain manner of speaking, the Son is said not to know what he does not teach: that is, he is said not to know what he makes us not know, as we speak daily, by a certain manner of speaking, as I have said. For we call a day glad, because it makes us glad; and a day sad, because it makes us sad; and cold sluggish, because it makes us sluggish. As, on the contrary, it is said by the Lord, "Now I have known." It was said to Abraham, Now I have known that you fear God (Gen 22:12). This God knew even before that testing. For that testing was made for this reason, that we might know what God already knew, and that it might be written for our teaching, what before the proof he knew: and perhaps Abraham himself did not yet know what strength his faith had: for each one comes to know himself, as it were questioned, by temptation: as Peter certainly did not know what strength his faith had, when he said to the Lord, I am with you even unto death (Luke 22:33). But the Lord, who knew him, foretold where he would fail, foreannouncing to him his infirmity, as though the vein of his heart had been touched. Accordingly Peter, who before the temptation presumed on himself, in the temptation learned himself. So, then, we think it not absurd that our father Abraham too came to know the strength of his faith, when, bidden to immolate his only son, he did not doubt nor tremble to offer to the one who had given; because, as he did not know whence he was going to give one not yet born, so he believed that he could restore the one immolated. God said, then, "Now I have known": which we understand, "Now I have made you know": according to the manners of speaking we have commended: cold sluggish, that makes sluggish; and a glad day, that makes glad: so knowing, that makes one know. Hence is that: The Lord your God tempts you, that he may know whether you love him (Deut 13:3). For you would assuredly attribute to our Lord God, the supreme God, the true God, a great ignorance—which you will understand to be sacrilegious, if you take it thus: The Lord tempts you that he may know, as though he himself conceived knowledge from our temptation, in which before there was ignorance. But what is it: He tempts you, that he may know? He tempts you, that he may make you know. Receive, then, from the contrary, the rule of understanding; and as, when you hear God say, I have known, you understand, "I have made you know": so when you hear of the Son of man, that is, of Christ, that he does not know that day, understand it said that he makes us not know it. But what is it, that he makes us not know? That he hides it, so that what does not profit to be disclosed to us, may not be known. This is what I said, that the good teacher knows what to disclose, knows what to read out: as we read that he put off certain things. Whence we understand that not all things are to be brought forth, which those to whom they are brought forth cannot grasp. For he says elsewhere, I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now (John 16:12). The Apostle too says, I could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, as to little ones in Christ I gave you milk to drink, not food: for neither were you able; but neither indeed are you yet able (1 Cor 3:1-2). To what does this discourse tend? That, since we know the last day is to come, and we usefully know it is to come, and usefully are ignorant when it is to come, we may have a heart ready by living well; and not only not fear that day to come, but even love it. For that day, as it increases labor for the unfaithful, so for the faithful it ends it. But which of these two you wish to be, before it comes, is now in your power; when it has come, it will not be. Choose, then, while there is time: because what God mercifully hides, he mercifully defers.

2. But now, because in whatever kind of life, that has some profession, not all are found upright, not all reprobate, from this it appears, because of certain kinds of men, which we just now heard set forth through likenesses in the Gospel, it is thus concluded: One shall be taken, and one shall be left (Luke 17:34-36). The good shall be taken, the wicked shall be left. Two are seen in the field; the profession is the same, but not the same heart. Men see the profession, God knows the heart. Whatever the field signify, one shall be taken, and one shall be left. Not as though half shall be taken, and half left: but he means two kinds of men. And though one of them be among the few, the other among the many: one shall be taken, and one shall be left: that is, one kind shall be taken, and the other left. So in the bed, so in the mill. Perhaps you await what these things are: you see they are covered, and wrapped in certain likenesses. One thing can seem so to me, another to someone else: but neither do I, by what I shall have said, prescribe to another against a better understanding, nor he to me against accepting both, if both agree with faith. For it seems to me that those labor in the field who preside over churches; as the Apostle says, You are God's tillage, God's building. For he calls himself an architect, when he says, As a wise architect I laid the foundation: and a farmer, when he says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase (1 Cor 3:9, 10, 6). In the mill, then, he said two women, not two men; I believe, because this figure pertains to the peoples: because the prelates rule, the peoples are ruled. And I think the mill means this world; because it is turned by a certain wheel of the times, and grinds down its lovers. There are, then, those who do not withdraw from the actions of the world: but yet there too some work well, others badly; some make for themselves friends of the mammon of iniquity, by whom they may be received into eternal dwellings, to whom it is said, I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; others neglect these things, to whom it is said there, I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat (Matt 25:35, 42). Accordingly, because, of those who are occupied in the business and works of this world, some love to do good to the needy, others neglect it: as of the two women in the mill, one shall be taken, and one shall be left. But the bed I think is set for rest: because there are those who neither wish to endure the actions of the world, as are married men having houses, households, children; nor do anything in the Church, as the prelates who labor as in tillage; but, as though weak for these things, they withdraw to leisure, and love to be at rest; as if mindful of their infirmity, not committing themselves to great actions, and in a certain way on the couch of their infirmity beseeching God. And this profession too has good ones, has feigned ones: accordingly of these too one shall be taken, and one shall be left. To whatever profession you turn, prepare yourself to endure the feigned: otherwise, if you do not prepare yourself, you will find what you did not hope, and you will fail or be disturbed. He, then, makes you ready for all things who speaks to you, while there is a time both for him to speak, not yet to judge, and for you to hear, not yet to repent in vain. For now repentance is not in vain: then it will be in vain. For then it will not be that men will not repent of having lived badly: but in no way does the justice of God recall to them what their own injustice lost. For it is just with God that now he should impart mercy, then exercise judgment. Therefore now there is no silence. Or is there silence? Let anyone reprove, let him murmur, if this Scripture is not recited and sung throughout the whole world; if it ceases even to be carried for sale through the public places.

3. [vv. 1-2] But truly this disturbs you, a Christian man, that you see those living badly happy, flowing about with abundance of these things, healthy, eminent in proud dignities, having a sound household, the joys of their own, the homage of clients, the most excellent powers, nothing sad interrupting their life: you see most worthless characters, you observe most copious resources; and your heart says that there is no divine judgment, that all things are borne by chance and winnowed by fortuitous motions. For if God, you say, regarded human affairs, would his iniquity flourish, and my innocence labor? Every disease of the soul has in the Scriptures its own medicine: he, then, who is so sick as to say these things in his heart, let him drink the potion of this psalm. What is it? Let us look again at what you were saying. What was I saying, you say, except what you see? The wicked flourish, the good labor: how does God see these things? Receive, drink: he himself, of whom you murmur these things, has tempered this potion for you: only do not refuse the most healthful cup; apply through the ear the mouth of your heart, and drink what you hear: Be not envious of the malicious, nor emulate those who do iniquity. For like grass they shall quickly wither, and like the herbs of the meadow they shall quickly fall (Ps 37:1-2 (36:1-2)). What seems long to you, is quick to God: subjoin yourself to God, and it will be quick to you. What he says grass, this we understand by the herbs of the meadow. There are certain cheap things, holding the surface of the earth, having no deep root. Accordingly through winter they are green: but when the summer sun begins to grow hot, they will wither. Now, then, it is the time of winter, your glory does not yet appear: but if the root of your love is deep, as of many trees through winter, the cold passes, summer will come, that is, the day of judgment: then the greenness of the grass will wither, then the glory of the trees will appear. For you are dead, says the Apostle: as trees are seen through winter, as it were dry, as it were dead. What hope, then, if we are dead? Within is the root: where our root is, there too is our life; for there is our love. And your life, he says, is hidden with Christ in God. When does he wither who has a root thus? But when will our spring be? when our summer? when does the dignity of leaves clothe us round about, and the abundance of fruits enrich us? when will this be? Hear what follows: When Christ shall appear, your life, then you also shall appear with him in glory (Col 3:3-4). What, then, now? Be not envious of the malicious, nor emulate those who do iniquity. For like grass they shall quickly wither, and like the herbs of the meadow they shall quickly fall.

4. [vv. 3-4] What, then, of you? Hope in the Lord (Ps 37:3 (36:3)). For they hope not in the Lord: their hope is mortal, their hope is falling, fragile, fleeting, transitory, it will be empty. Hope in the Lord. Behold, I hope; what do I do? And do goodness. Do not the malice which you regard in those flourishing badly: do goodness, and inhabit the earth. Lest perhaps you do goodness outside the habitation of the earth. For the earth of the Lord is his Church: this he waters, this he cultivates, that farmer the Father. For many, as it were, exercise good works, but because they do not inhabit the earth, they do not belong to the farmer. Therefore do goodness, not outside the earth, but inhabit the earth. And what shall I have? And you shall be fed in its riches. What are the riches of that earth? Its riches are its Lord, its riches are its God. He is the one to whom it is said, My portion, O Lord (Ps 119:57 (118:57)). He is the one of whom it is said, The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup (Ps 16:5 (15:5)). In a recent sermon we commended to your Charity both that God is our possession, and that we are the possession of God. Hear that the riches of this earth are he himself: see what follows: Delight in the Lord. As though you had asked and said: Show me the riches of that earth, in which you bid me dwell; Delight, he says, in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart (Ps 37:4 (36:4)).

5. Take note distinctly of the petitions of your heart. Distinguish the petitions of your heart from the petitions of your flesh, distinguish as much as you can. Nor was it said in vain in a certain psalm, God of my heart. For there it follows and says, And my portion is God forever (Ps 73:26 (72:26)). For example, a man is blind in body, he asks to be given sight. Let him ask these things, because God does these things too, and God grants these things: but the wicked too ask these things. This is a petition of the flesh. A man is sick, he asks to be made well: he is made well, who is to die. This too is a petition of the flesh: and whatever such things there are. What is the petition of the heart? As the petition of the flesh is to wish one's eyes to be restored, that is, to see this light, which can be seen with such eyes: so the petition of the heart pertains to another light. For blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matt 5:8). Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart.

6. [vv. 5-6] Behold, I desire, I ask, I wish: shall I myself fulfill it? No. Who, then? Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will do it (Ps 37:5 (36:5)). Show him what you suffer, show him what you wish. For what do you suffer? The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh (Gal 5:17). What, then, do you wish? Wretched man that I am, who will free me from the body of this death? And because he himself will do it, when you have revealed your way to him, see what follows: The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:24-25). What, then, will he do, since it was said, Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will do it: what will he do? And he will bring forth your justice like light. For now your justice is hidden: it is a matter of faith, not yet of sight. You believe something so as to do it, you do not yet see what you believe. But when you have begun to see what you have believed, your justice will be brought forth into light: because your justice was your faith. For the just lives by faith (Rom 1:17).

7. And he will bring forth your justice like light, and your judgment like the noonday (Ps 37:6 (36:6)): that is, the bright light. It was too little to say, like light. For we call it light even when it grows pale at dawn, we call it light even when the sun rises: but the light is never brighter than at midday. Not only, then, will he bring forth your justice like light, but your judgment will be like noonday. For now you judge that you should follow Christ; this you have resolved, this you have chosen, this is your judgment: no one has shown you what he promised: you still hold the promiser, but you await the giver: in the judgment of your faith, then, you have chosen to follow what you do not see. Your judgment is hidden, it is still rebuked and derided by unbelievers: What have you believed? What has Christ promised you? That you will be immortal, and he will give you eternal life? Where is this? When will he give it? When can it come to pass? Yet you judge it better to follow Christ promising what you do not see, than the ungodly rebuking you for having believed what you do not yet see. And this is your judgment: and what your judgment is, does not yet appear: in this world it is, as it were, night. When, then, will he bring forth your judgment like noonday? When Christ, our life, shall appear, then you also shall appear with him in glory. When the day of judgment comes, and Christ comes, and gathers all nations to be judged, what will be then? Where will the ungodly hide his faithlessness, when I shall see my faith? What, then, now? Straits, tribulations, and temptations. And blessed is he who endures: because he who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved (Matt 10:22). Let him not yield to those who insult, lest he choose to flourish here so as to become grass from a tree.

8. [vv. 7-9] What, then, ought I to do? Hear what you ought: Be subject to the Lord, and beseech him (Ps 37:7 (36:7)). Let this be your life, to obey his precepts. For this is to be subject to him, and to beseech him, until he give what he promised. Let the good work persevere, let prayer too persevere. For one ought always to pray, and not to fail (Luke 18:1). In what do you appear subject? By doing what he commanded. But you do not yet receive the reward, perhaps because you cannot yet receive it. For he can already give, but you cannot receive. Be exercised in works, labor in the vineyard: when the day is finished, ask for the reward: faithful is he who brought you to the vineyard. Be subject to the Lord, and beseech him.

9. Behold, I do it; I am subject to the Lord, and beseech him. But what seems to you? That worthless neighbor, doing evil and flourishing; his thefts, his adulteries, his plunderings I know; in all things lifted up, proud, exalted through iniquity, he does not deign to recognize me: in these things how shall I endure? That is a disease, drink against it: Do not be envious of him who prospers in his way (Ps 37:7 (36:7)). He prospers, but in his way: you labor, but in the way of God. To him is prosperity in the way, in the arriving unhappiness: to you labor in the way, in the arriving happiness; because the way of the ungodly shall perish. The Lord knows the angers of the just, and the way of the ungodly shall perish (Ps 1:6). You walk these ways which the Lord knows; and if you labor in them, they do not deceive you. But the way of the ungodly is a transitory happiness: when the way is finished, the happiness is accomplished. Why? Because that way is broad, and its end leads down into the depth of hell. But your way is narrow, and few enter by it: but to what breadth they come you ought to consider. Do not be envious of him who prospers in his way. In the man who does iniquity, cease from anger, and forsake indignation (Ps 37:8 (36:8)). Why are you indignant? Why through this wrath and indignation do you either blaspheme, or nearly blaspheme? In the man who does iniquity, cease from anger, and forsake indignation. Do you not know to what this anger provokes you? You are about to say to God that he is unjust; to that it goes. Behold, why is that man happy, and that one unhappy? See what it brings forth: choke the evil conception. Cease from anger, and forsake indignation, so that now, coming to your senses, you may say, My eye was troubled by anger (Ps 6:7 (6:8)). What eye, but the eye of faith? I ask the eye of your faith: You believed in Christ; why did you believe? What did he promise you? If Christ promised you the happiness of this world, murmur against Christ, murmur against him, when you see the unbeliever happy. What happiness did he promise you? What but in the resurrection of the dead? But what in this life? What he himself had: what he himself, I say. Or do you disdain, servant and disciple, what your Lord, what your master had? Do you not hear from him, The servant is not greater than his lord, and the disciple is not above the master (John 13:16; Matt 10:24)? He suffered for you griefs, scourges, reproaches, the cross, death. And which of these was owed to the just one? what was not owed to you, a sinner? Therefore keep your eye straight, lest it be troubled by anger: Cease from anger, and forsake indignation. Do not be envious so as to do evil: as it were by imitating the one who, by doing evil, flourishes for a time. Do not be envious so as to do evil. For those who do evil shall be cut off (Ps 37:9 (36:9)). But I see their happiness. Believe him who says, They shall be cut off: because he sees better than you, whose eye anger cannot trouble. For those who do evil shall be cut off. But those who endure the Lord. Not anyone deceitful, but the very truth: not anyone less powerful, but the omnipotent. But those who endure the Lord, they shall possess the earth by inheritance. What earth, but that Jerusalem, with love of which whoever burns will come to peace?

10. [v. 10] But how long does the sinner flourish? how long shall I endure? You are in a hurry: that will quickly be which to you is long. Infirmity makes that seem long which is quick. How are the desires of the sick found? Nothing is so long as that the cup be tempered for one who thirsts. Surely it is hurried by his own people, lest perhaps the sick man take offense. When will it be done? when will it be cooked? when will it be given? There is speed in those who serve you, but your infirmity thinks long what is quickly done. Therefore see our physician soothing the sick man who says: How long shall I endure? how long will it be? And yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be (Ps 37:10 (36:10)). Among sinners certainly you groan, over a sinner you groan: a little while, and he shall not be. Lest perhaps, because I said to you, But those who endure the Lord, they shall possess the earth by inheritance, you should think this endurance very long; endure a little, you will receive without end what you endure. Yet a little while: a little. Recall the years from Adam to the present day, run through the Scriptures: yesterday, almost, he fell from paradise. So many ages have been measured out and rolled away. Where are the times past? So the few that remain will surely pass. If you lived all that time, from when Adam was sent from paradise to the present day, surely you would see that your life had not been long, which had so flown away. But how great is the life of each single man? Add however many years, draw out the longest old age, what is it? Is it not the morning breeze? Therefore let the day of judgment be far off, when there will be the recompense of the unjust and the just: your last day certainly cannot be far off. Prepare yourself for this. For such as you go forth from this life, such are you rendered to that life. After this little life you will not yet be where the saints will be, to whom it will be said, Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world (Matt 25:34). You will not yet be there, who does not know? But you will already be able to be there, where that rich man, proud and barren, in the midst of his torments saw from afar resting that poor man once full of sores. Set in that rest, surely you await secure the day of the judge, when you may receive your body too, when you may be changed, so as to be made equal to the angel. Therefore how great is it, that we hurry, and say: When will it be? Will it be slow? This our children will say, and this our grandchildren will say: and when each successive generation is to say these things, so passes what is still to be for a little while, just as has passed the whole that is now past. O weak one! Yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be.

11. And you will seek his place, and not find it (Ps 37:10 (36:10)). He shows what he meant by he shall not be: not because he will not be at all, but because he will not be able to be of any use. For if he is not to be at all, neither will he be tormented: already, then, security would be given to the sinner, so that he says: I will do whatever I wish as long as I live, afterward I shall not be. Will there be no one to grieve, no one to be tormented? And where is, Go into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41)? But perhaps those sent into that fire will not be, and will be consumed. It would not be said to them, Go into the eternal fire; because for those who are not to be, it would not be eternal. And yet what is to be there for them—whether utter consumption, or grief and torment—the Lord did not pass over in silence, saying, There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 8:12). How, then, will they weep and gnash their teeth, if they will not be? How, then, is it here, Yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be, except as in the following verse he expounded it: And you will seek his place, and not find it? What is his place? His use. For does the sinner have any use? He has. Here God uses him to prove the just, as he used the devil to prove Job, as he used Judas to betray Christ. There is, then, in this life something to be done with the sinner. Here, then, is his place, just as in the goldsmith's furnace there is a place for chaff. The chaff burns, that the gold may be purged: so the ungodly rages, that the just may be proved. But when the time of our proving has passed, when there will be none to be proved, there will be none through whom they may be proved. Is it, because we said, "There will be none to be proved," that they themselves will not be? But because there will now be no need of sinners through whom the just may be proved: And you will seek his place, and not find it. Now seek the place of the sinner, you will find it. Of a sinner God has made a scourge, he has given him honor too, he has given him power too. For sometimes he does this; he gives the sinner power, by him human affairs are scourged, by him the godly are amended. To that sinner will be rendered what is owed: and yet something has been made of him whereby the godly profits, whereby the ungodly fails. You will seek his place, and not find it.

12. [v. 11] But the meek shall possess the earth by inheritance (Ps 37:11 (36:11)). That is the earth of which we have often spoken, the holy Jerusalem, which will be freed from this pilgrimage, and will live forever with God and from God. Therefore they shall possess the earth by inheritance. What will be their delights? And they shall be delighted in the multitude of peace. Let that ungodly man be delighted here in the multitude of gold, in the multitude of silver, in the multitude of slaves, in the multitude, finally, of baths, of roses, of wine, of the most sumptuous and luxurious banquets. Is this the power you envy, is this the flower that delights you? Even if it were always so, would it not be lamentable? But what will your delights be? And they shall be delighted in the multitude of peace. Your gold is peace, your silver is peace, your estates are peace, your life is peace, your God is peace. Whatever you desire will be peace to you. Because here, what is gold cannot be silver to you; what is wine cannot be bread to you; what is light to you cannot be drink: your God will be the whole to you. You will eat him, that you may not hunger; you will drink him, that you may not thirst; you will be enlightened by him, that you may not be blind; you will be supported by him, that you may not fail; he will possess you whole and entire, himself whole and entire. You will not suffer straits there with him with whom you possess the whole: you will have the whole, and he too will have the whole; because you and he will be one, which one whole he too will have who possesses you. These are the remnants for the man of peace (Ps 37:37 (36:37)). This we have sung: which verse is indeed far in this psalm from these treated verses. But because we have sung it, we ought to close with it. Only be you secure; guard innocence, it is a precious thing. You wish to steal something, I suppose, that you may acquire: see where you put your hand, and from where you take. By this you wish to acquire, by this you lose: you acquire money, you lose innocence. Let your heart rather wake up: you who wished to acquire money and lose innocence, rather lose money: Guard innocence, and look to uprightness (Ps 37:37 (36:37)), because God will direct you, so that all things whatsoever he wishes, you too may wish: for that is uprightness. For if you do not wish what God wishes, you will be crooked, and your crookedness will not allow you to be made level with the straight. Guard, then, innocence, look to uprightness: and do not suppose that, this life being finished, the man is finished; because there are remnants for the man of peace.

Exposition of Psalm 36

1. To speak to your Charity about this psalm we were both bidden, and we had to obey. For the Lord willed, because of the excess of rain, to delay our departure; and it was commanded us that our tongue should not here be idle toward you, since you are always the business of our heart, as we are of yours. We had already commended the will of God in this psalm, what he wishes to teach us, what to admonish, against what to be cautious, and what to endure, and what to hope. For two kinds of men, of the just and of the wicked, are mingled in this earth and in this life. Each of these kinds has its own intentions of heart. The kind of the just strives toward the heights through humility: the kind of the wicked weighs down toward the depths through exaltation. For the one depresses itself that it may rise, the other lifts itself up that it may fall. From this it comes that one kind endures, the other is endured; and it is the purpose of the just to win even the wicked themselves to eternal life, but the purpose of the wicked to repay evil for good, and, if it can be done, to deprive even of temporal life those who wish them eternal life. For the unjust bears with difficulty the just, and the just the unjust: they are a burden to each other. No one doubts that these two are a burden to each other, but with diverse intentions. For the just is a burden to the unjust for this reason, that he does not wish him to be unjust, but to become just, and he both desires this with prayers and strives for it with deeds: but the unjust so hates the just that he does not wish him to exist, not that he wishes him to be good. For the more good he is, the more is he a burden to that man's iniquity. And he labors indeed, if it can be done, to make him unjust; but if he cannot, to take him out of the way, and to remove him from his weariness and trouble. But even if he has made him unjust, he will nonetheless be a burden to him. For not only is the just a burden to the unjust, but even two unjust men scarcely endure each other: and when they seem to love each other, they owe each other complicity, not friendship. But they then agree with each other when they conspire to the destruction of the just, not because they love each other, but because they hate together the one who was to be loved. Against this kind of men our Lord God enjoins on us tolerance and that affection of love which we know in the Gospel, the Lord commanding us and saying, Love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you (Matt 5:44; Luke 6:27). As also the Apostle: Be not conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good (Rom 12:21). Contend with the evil man, but out of goodness. For this is the true contention, or rather the wholesome struggle, that one be good against the evil, not that there be two evil men.

2. [vv. 12-13] Therefore look to the psalm. The first parts have already been treated, these follow. The sinner shall watch the just, and shall gnash at him with his teeth: but the Lord shall deride him (Ps 37:12-13 (36:12-13)). Whom? The sinner, of course, gnashing at the just with his teeth. But why shall the Lord deride him? Because he foresees that his day will come. He seems harsh, when he threatens the just, not knowing the hour of his own tomorrow: but the Lord sees, and foresees his day. What day? In which he will repay to each according to his works. For he treasures up for himself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God (Rom 2:5). But the Lord foresees, while you do not foresee; he who foresees has shown you. You were ignorant of the day of the unjust, on which he is to pay the penalty: but he who knows has not hidden it from you. It is no small part of knowledge to be joined to one who knows. He has the eyes of knowing, do you have those of believing. What God sees, believe you. For the day of the unjust will come, which God foresees. What day? Of each one's vengeance. For it is necessary that vengeance be taken on the ungodly, vengeance be taken on the unjust, whether he convert himself, or not convert himself. For if he converts himself, this very thing is avenged in him; that the iniquity has perished. Did not the Lord deride, foreseeing the days of two unjust men, both Judas the betrayer and Saul the persecutor? Of the one he foresaw the day for punishment, of the other for justice. In both vengeance was taken: the one was appointed to the fires of hell, the other was laid low by a heavenly voice. Therefore you too, whatever unjust man you endure, through the eyes of faith foresee with God his days; and when you see him raging against you, say to yourself: He, either corrected, will be with me; or persevering, will not be with me.

3. [vv. 14-16] What then? Does the injustice of the unjust harm you, and not harm him? How can it be that his iniquity, which through his indignation and hatred goes forth to injure you, does not first lay waste himself within, before it assails you outside? Adversity presses your body, but iniquity rots his soul. For whatever he brings forth against you, returns upon him. For his persecution makes you purified, him guilty. Whom, then, does it harm more? Behold, by raging he has despoiled you: who is struck with the heavier loss, he who loses money, or he who loses faith? They know how to grieve over those losses who have the inner eye. For to many gold gleams, faith does not gleam. They have eyes by which they may see gold: by which they may see faith, they do not have. For if they had and saw it, they would surely love it more: and yet when faith is broken to them, they cry out, they make a grievance, and say: O faith! where is faith? You love it that you may exact it; love it that you may display it. Therefore, because all who persecute the just are struck with a heavier loss, and are afflicted with a heavier destruction, when in them the very soul is laid waste; there follows, and the psalm shows this: The sinners have drawn the sword, they have bent their bow: to cast down the needy and poor, to slay the upright of heart. Let their sword enter into their own heart (Ps 37:14-15 (36:14-15)). It is easy that his sword, that is, his blade, reach your body, as the sword of the persecutors reached the bodies of the martyrs; but, the body struck, the heart remained unhurt: but the heart of the one who drew the sword against the body of the just plainly did not remain unhurt. This psalm testifies to it. He did not say, "Let their sword enter into their body": but, Let their sword enter into their own heart. They wished to kill in the body; let them die in the soul. For those whose bodies they wished to slay the Lord made secure, saying to them, Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul (Matt 10:28). But what is it, to rage with the sword, and not be able to kill anything but the body of the enemy, and to be able to kill one's own soul? They are foolish, they rage against themselves, they are mad, they do not see themselves: as if someone wished to drive iron through his own body, that he might cut the tunic of another. You attend to where you have arrived, and do not attend to what you have pierced through: you have cut his garment, your own flesh. It is established, then, that what the wicked harm themselves, and that they do themselves more harm, than what they seem to do to those whom they hate. Let their sword, then, enter into their own heart. It is the sentence of the Lord; it cannot be otherwise. And let their bow be broken. What is let their bow be broken? Let their treacheries be frustrated. For above he had said, The sinners have drawn the sword, they have bent their bow. By the drawing of the sword he wished open assault to be understood: by the bending of the bow he wished hidden treacheries to be understood. Behold, his sword destroys him, and the contrivance of his treacheries is frustrated. What is "is frustrated"? It harms the just in nothing. How, then, did it harm him in nothing—him, for example, whom he so despoiled, whom by taking away his goods he reduced to straits? He has what to sing: Better is a little to the just than the many riches of sinners (Ps 37:16 (36:16)).

4. [v. 17] But the wicked are powerful, and do many things, and the effecting of things is at their disposal; speed of acting, obedience follows their command. Is it always so? Because the arms of the sinners shall be broken (Ps 37:17 (36:17)). Their arms, then, their power. What will he do in hell? Or what that rich man does, who among the living feasted, among the dead was tormented? The arms, then, of the sinners shall be broken. But the Lord confirms the just. How does he confirm them? what does he say to them? What is said in another psalm: Endure the Lord, act manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, and endure the Lord (Ps 27:14 (26:14)). What is this: Endure the Lord? You labor for a time, you will not labor forever: brief is your trouble, eternal will be your blessedness: for a little you grieve, without end you will rejoice. But amid your troubles you begin to slip? There is set before you the example also of the passions of Christ. See what he endured for you, who had no reason to endure it. However much you suffer, you will not come to those insults, to those scourges, to that ignominious garment, to that crown of thorns, to that cross, finally, you will not come, because it has now even been removed from the punishment of the human race. For when, under the ancients, the wicked were crucified, now no one is crucified. It has been honored, and ended. It has ended as a punishment, it remains in glory. From the places of execution it has made a passage to the foreheads of emperors. He who gave so great honor to his punishments, what does he keep for his faithful? By these things, then, by these words, by these addresses, by such an example the Lord confirms the just. Let the sinners rage as much as they wish, and as much as they are permitted: the Lord confirms the just. Whatever happens to the just, let him impute it to the divine will, not to the power of the enemy. He can rage: to strike, if God is unwilling, he cannot. And if God wills that he strike, he knows how to receive his own: For whom the Lord loves, he chastises: but he scourges every son whom he receives (Heb 12:6; Prov 3:12). Why, then, does the unjust applaud himself, because my Father has made him a scourge for me? He takes him up for service, he trains me for an inheritance. Nor ought we to attend to how much he permits to the unjust, but how much he keeps for the just.

5. But we ought to wish even for those through whom we are scourged, that they may be converted, and be scourged. For so he was training his faithful, who had made for himself a scourge of Saul, but afterward converted Saul too. And when the Lord said to holy Ananias, by whom Saul was baptized, that Saul was to be received, because he was a vessel of election; Ananias answered, fearing and shuddering at the heard report of Saul the persecutor: Lord, I have heard, he said, of this man, how great persecutions he has made against your saints in Jerusalem, and now, having received letters, he goes, that wherever he finds those calling on your name, he may drag and bind them, and bring them to the high priests. And, on the contrary, the Lord: Let be, he said; I will show him what he must suffer for my name (Acts 9:13-16). I will repay him, he says, I will avenge myself on him; and he will suffer for my name, who rages against my name. I train, or have trained, others through him; I will train him too through others. This was done, and we know how much Saul endured, far more than he had done, as a greedy collector he received back with interest what he had given.

6. But see whether in him was fulfilled what the psalm now says: But the Lord confirms the just. Not only, says the same Paul, when he was suffering many evils, but we even glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience, patience trial, trial hope, but hope does not confound, because the love of God is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Rom 5:3-5). Well; plainly now just, now confirmed. As, then, those who assailed him, now confirmed, harmed him in nothing, so neither did he harm those whom he persecuted. But the Lord, he says, confirms the just. Hear other voices of the confirmed just one. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or persecution? (Rom 8:35) How did he cling, who by such things was not separated? But the Lord confirms the just. Certain prophets had come down from Jerusalem, and, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied to this same Paul that he would suffer many things in Jerusalem: so that one of them, Agabus by name, loosing his belt, bound himself, as is wont to be done, that by these signs of things the prophet might show the future, saying, As you see me bound, so must this man be bound in Jerusalem. But the brothers, when Saul, now Paul, was admonished by the response, began to deter him from committing himself to such great perils, and by warning and asking to call him back lest he go to Jerusalem. But he, who was now in the number of those of whom it was said, But the Lord confirms the just, said, Why do you break my heart? I do not make my soul precious to myself. For he had already said to those whom he had brought forth in the Gospel, And I myself will be spent for your souls (2 Cor 12:15). For I, he said, am ready not only to be bound, but even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 21:11-13).

7. [v. 18] The Lord, then, confirms the just. How does he confirm them? The Lord knows the ways of the spotless (Ps 37:18 (36:18)). When they suffer evils, they are believed by the ignorant to walk evil ways, by those who do not know how to see the ways of the spotless. He who knows them knows by what straight way he leads his meek ones. Whence he said in another psalm, He will direct the meek in judgment, he will teach the gentle his ways (Ps 25:9 (24:9)). How do you think men detested the poor man full of sores lying before the rich man's gate as they passed by? How perhaps they spat on him with nostrils stopped? But the Lord knew to keep paradise for him. And how did they wish for themselves the life of the one who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted splendidly every day? But the Lord, who foresaw his days, knew his future torments, and torments without end. Therefore, The Lord knows the ways of the spotless.

8. And their inheritance shall be forever (Ps 37:18 (36:18)). This we hold in faith: is the Lord in faith? The Lord knows those things in so great a manifestation as we cannot tell, even when we shall be made equal to the angels. For not so manifest to us will be the things that will be manifest, as they are manifest to him who cannot even be changed. Yet of us too what was said? Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be: we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). There is kept for us, then, an utterly sweet spectacle, I know not what: and even if it can be thought in some part in an enigma and through a mirror, yet in no way can the beauty of that sweetness be told, which God keeps for those who fear him, and perfects for those who hope in him (See Ps 31:19 (30:20)). For this our hearts are prepared in all the tribulations and temptations of this life. Do not wonder that you are prepared in labors: you are prepared for something great. Whence that voice of the confirmed just one: The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom 8:18). What will our future glory be, but to be made equal to the angels, and to see God? How much does he confer on a blind man, who heals his eyes for him, that he may see this light? When he has been made well, he does not find what worthy thing to repay his healer: for however much he gives him, what will he give such as that which the other granted? Suppose he gives the most—he will give gold, and much gold he will give: the other granted light. That he may know that he gives nothing, let him see in darkness what he gives. What, then, shall we give to that physician, who heals our inner eyes, to see a certain eternal light, which is he himself? what shall we give him? Let us seek, let us find, if we can; and in the straits of our seeking let us cry out, What shall I render to the Lord for all the things that he has rendered to me? And what does he find? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord (Ps 116:12-13 (115:3-4)). Can you, he says, drink the cup which I am to drink? (Matt 20:22) Hence to Peter: Do you love me? Feed my sheep (John 21:17): for whom he might drink the cup of the Lord. But the Lord confirms the just. The Lord knows the ways of the spotless, and their inheritance shall be forever.

9. [v. 19] They shall not be confounded in the evil time (Ps 37:19 (36:19)). What is They shall not be confounded in the evil time? In the day of tribulation, in the day of straits they shall not be confounded: as one is confounded whom hope deceives. Who is it that is confounded? He who says: I have not found what I hoped for. Not undeservedly: for you hoped in yourself, or you hoped in a man, a friend: but cursed is he who places his hope in man. You are confounded, because hope deceived you, hope placed in a lie deceived you: for every man is a liar (Ps 116:11 (115:2)). But if you place your hope in your God, you will not be confounded; because he in whom you placed your hope cannot be deceived. Whence also that confirmed just man whom I recalled a little before, set in the evil time, in the day of tribulation, because he was not confounded, what does he say? We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience, patience trial, trial hope, but hope does not confound. Whence does hope not confound? Because it is placed in God. Therefore it follows: Because the love of God is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:3-5). The Holy Spirit has already been given to us; how does he deceive us, whose pledge we hold such? They shall not be confounded in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. For there is here a certain satisfying of them. For the days of this life are days of famine: others hungering, they are satisfied. For whence would that man glory, saying, We glory in tribulations, if within he suffered want? Straits were seen outside, but within there was breadth.

10. [v. 20] But what does the evil man do when he begins to be in tribulation? Outside he has nothing, all has been taken away; in his conscience there is no consolation: there is nowhere to go out, because things are hard; there is nowhere to go in, because things are evil. Deservedly there comes to him what follows: Because the sinners shall perish (Ps 37:20 (36:20)). For those who have nowhere a place, how shall they not perish? Consolation is not in external things, is not in internal things. For those things are outside us, from which there is no consolation. And all who do not have God serve money, friendships, glory, the resources of the world, and whatever bodily goods there are; they cannot be consoled inwardly, as that man was consoled who was full of inner fatness, and from that very fatness belched forth: The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, as it pleased the Lord, so has it been done; blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). Therefore for those sinners there is no place in the things that are outside, because there they suffer tribulations: their conscience does not console them; it is not well with them in their own company, because it cannot be well with an evil man. But whoever is evil, it is ill with him in his own company: he must be tormented by himself as his own torment. For he himself is his own punishment, whom his own conscience torments. He flees from an enemy wherever he can; from himself, where will he flee?

11. Thus a certain man from the party of Donatus had come to us, accused and excommunicated by his own people, seeking here what he had lost there. But because he could not be received except in the rank in which he ought: for he did not forsake that party as one in good standing among them, so that it might appear that he had acted not by necessity, but by choice: because, then, he could not there have what he sought—but he sought a vain exaltation and a false honor—and because here he did not find what he had lost there, he too perished. He groaned, wounded, and was not consoled: for in his conscience were horrible silent stings. We tried to console him from the word of God: but he was not of the wise ants, which gather for themselves in summer whence to live in winter. For when things are tranquil, then a man ought to gather for himself the word of God, and store it in the inmost recesses of his heart, just as the ant hides in its cavernous chambers the labors of summer. For during summer there is leisure to do this: but winter comes, that is, tribulation comes upon him; and unless he find within what to eat, he must perish of hunger. This man, then, had not gathered for himself the word of God; winter came upon him, he did not find here what he sought, he could be consoled only from there, but from the word of God in no way. Within himself he had nothing, outside he did not find what he sought: he burned with the torches of indignations and griefs, his mind was violently agitated, and so long secretly, until it even broke forth into certain groans, so that it sounded among the brothers, and he did not know he was heard. We saw, and grieved vehemently, God knows, at so great a punishment of the soul, so great crosses, so great hells, so great torments. What more? Impatient of the humble place, which, if he were wise, could be for him a wholesome place, he showed himself to be such that he was even cast out. Nor from this ought we to despair, brothers, of others, who perhaps have chosen the truth, and have not followed necessity. For so far is it from being right to despair of the rest, that I do not despair even of this man, as long as he lives. For of no living man is one to despair. This, then, brothers, on this occasion your Charity ought to know, lest perhaps anyone tell you otherwise. For their subdeacon, who, when no charge was being stirred against him there, chose the catholic peace and unity, and, leaving them, came; came truly as one choosing what is good, not as one repudiated by the wicked: so he was received, that we rejoice in his conversion, and commend him to your prayers. For God is powerful, who can make him better and better. But of no one is anything to be pronounced in either direction, whether for good or for evil. For as long as one lives here, tomorrow's day is always unknown. They shall not be confounded in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied: because the sinners shall perish.

12. But the enemies of the Lord, as soon as they shall be glorified and exalted, failing like smoke they shall fail (Ps 37:20 (36:20)). From the very likeness recognize the thing which he has insinuated. Smoke, breaking forth from the place of fire, is lifted up on high, and by that very rising swells into a great ball: but the larger that ball is, the more empty it becomes; for, from that greatness not founded and made solid, but hanging and inflated, it goes into the breezes and dissolves, so that you may see that its very greatness was a harm to it. For the more it is raised up, the more extended, the more diffused on every side into a larger compass, the thinner it becomes, and failing, and not appearing. But the enemies of the Lord, as soon as they shall be glorified and exalted, failing like smoke they shall fail. Of such it was said, As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so these too withstand the truth: men corrupt in mind, reprobate concerning the faith. But whence do they withstand the truth, except by the inflation of their swelling, going into the winds, lifting themselves up as though just and great? But what does he say of them? As of smoke: But they shall proceed no further; for their madness shall be manifest to all, as that of those too was (2 Tim 3:8-9). But the enemies of the Lord, as soon as they shall be glorified and exalted, failing like smoke they shall fail.

13. [v. 21] The sinner borrows, and will not repay (Ps 37:21 (36:21)). He receives, and will not return. What will he not return? Thanksgiving. For what does God wish from you, or what does God require, except what profits you? And how much has the sinner received, for which he will not repay? He has received that he should exist, he has received that he should be a human being, and that there should be much difference between him and the beast; he has received the form of a body, he has received in the body the distinction of the senses, eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, nostrils for smelling, the palate for tasting, hands for handling, feet for walking, and the very health of the body. But still these things we have in common with the beast: he has received also more, that is, a mind that can understand, that can grasp the truth, that can distinguish the just from the unjust, that can search out, desire the Creator, praise and cleave to him. All these things the sinner too has received, but by not living well he does not return what he owes. Therefore the sinner borrows, and will not repay, will not return to him from whom he received, will not give thanks: rather indeed he will repay evil for good, blasphemies, murmuring against God, indignation. Therefore he borrows, and will not repay: but the just shows mercy, and lends. The one, then, has nothing, this one has. See the want, see the riches. The one receives, and will not repay: this one shows mercy, and lends; it abounds for him. What if he is poor? Even so he is rich. Do you only direct godly eyes to his riches. For you look at the empty chest, you do not look at the conscience full of God. Outwardly he does not have means, but inwardly he has love. Out of love how much he disburses, and is not exhausted! For if outside he has means, that very love gives, but out of what it has: but if it does not find outside what to give, it gives goodwill, it furnishes counsel, if it can; it furnishes help, if it can: at the last, if it can aid neither by counsel nor by help, it aids at least by wish, or it prays for the afflicted, and perhaps he himself is heard more than the one who offers bread. He always has whence to give, whose breast is full of love. This is the love, which is also called good will. God requires no more from you than what within he gave you. For good will cannot be idle. For one not having good will, even if money be left over for you, does not hold it out to the poor: the poor themselves furnish to one another out of good will, they are not unfruitful to one another. You see a blind man led by one who sees: because he had no coins to give the needy, he lent his eyes to one who did not have them. Whence did it come about that he should lend his members to one who does not have them, except because within was good will, the treasure of the poor? In which treasure there is most sweet rest, and true security. To lose it neither is a thief admitted, nor is shipwreck feared. He keeps with himself what within he has, he escapes naked, and is full. The just, then, shows mercy, and lends.

14. [v. 22] For those who bless him shall possess the earth by inheritance (Ps 37:22 (36:22)): like that just one, truly the only just one and the one who justifies, who was both poor here, and brought great riches, by which to make rich those whom he found poor. For it is he who by the Holy Spirit enriched the hearts of the poor, and the souls emptied by confessing sins he filled with the wealth of justice; who could make a fisherman rich, by leaving his nets, despising what he had, drawing in what he did not have. For the weak things of the world God chose, that he might confound the strong (1 Cor 1:27). And not from an orator did he win a fisherman, but from a fisherman he gained an orator, from a fisherman he gained a senator, from a fisherman he gained an emperor. For those who bless him shall possess the earth by inheritance: they will be his coheirs, in that land of the living, of which it is said in another psalm, You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living (Ps 142:5 (141:6)). You are my very portion, he says to God, and he did not hesitate to make God his portion. They shall possess the earth by inheritance. But those who curse him shall perish. But that those who bless may bless, was granted to them. For we have come to those who curse, and they have been made blessing ones: and now thus have those who cursed him perished, when by his gift they were made to bless him whom by their own evil they cursed, but by his own good they bless.

15. [v. 23] See what follows: By the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall will his way (Ps 37:23 (36:23)). That a man himself may will the way of the Lord, by the Lord himself are his steps directed. For if the Lord did not direct the steps of a man, they were so crooked that they would always go through crooked things, and by following bent paths could not return. But he came, and called, and redeemed, and shed his blood: this price he gave, these good things he did, and evil things he suffered. Attend to what he did; he is God: attend to what he suffered; he is man. Who is this God-man? If you, O man, had not forsaken God, God would not have become man for you. For it was too little for you, for his recompense or for his gift, that he made you also a man, unless a man too were made for you? For it is he who directed our steps, that we might will his way. By the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall will his way.

16. Now, when you follow the way of Christ, do not promise yourself the prosperities of the world. He walked through hard things, but promised great things. Follow. Do not attend only to where you are going, but also to where you will arrive. You will endure hard temporal things, but you will come to glad eternal things. If you wish to bear the labor, attend to the reward. For even a laborer in the vineyard would fail, unless he attended to what he would receive. But when you attend to what you will receive, all that you suffer will be cheap to you, nor will you judge them worthy in exchange for which you receive that. You will marvel that so much is given for so little labor. For surely, brothers, for eternal rest eternal labor was to be undergone; and, about to receive eternal happiness, you would have to sustain eternal sufferings: but if you sustained eternal labor, when would you come to eternal happiness? So it comes about that, necessarily, your tribulation is temporal, and, it being finished, you come to infinite happiness. But yet, brothers, the tribulation could be long for eternal happiness. For example, that since our happiness will have no end, our misery and our labor and our tribulations should be long-lasting. For even if they were of a thousand years, weigh a thousand years against eternity: what do you weigh, however great a finite amount, with the infinite? Ten thousand years, ten times a hundred thousand, if it must be said, and thousands of thousands, which have an end, cannot be compared with eternity. To this is added, that God willed not only your labor to be temporal, but also brief. The whole life of man is of few days, even if glad things were not mingled with hard ones, which are surely more and longer than the hard; and therefore the hard things are briefer and fewer, that we may be able to endure. If, then, through his whole life a man were in labors and in hardships, in griefs, in torments, in prison, in blows, in hunger and thirst all his days, all hours, through his whole life even to the age of old age, few days are the whole life of man: this labor accomplished, the eternal kingdom will come, happiness without end will come, equality with the angels will come, the inheritance of Christ will come, Christ the coheir will come. For how great a labor how great a reward we receive! Veteran men who labor in military service, and are engaged amid wounds for so many years, begin to serve from youth, go out old; and that they may have the few quiet days of their old age, when that very age begins to weigh on them whom wars do not weigh down, how many hard things they endure; what journeys, what cold, what suns, what necessities, what wounds, what perils! And they do not attend, in suffering all these things, to anything but those few quiet days of old age, to which they do not know whether they will come. Therefore by the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall will his way. Hence I had begun to say: if you wish the way of Christ, and are truly a Christian—for he is a Christian who does not spurn the way of Christ, but wishes to follow the way of Christ through his sufferings—do not wish to go by any other way than that by which he himself went. It seems hard, but it is the safe way: another perhaps has delights, but is full of robbers. And he shall will his way.

17. [v. 24] When he falls, he shall not be troubled, for the Lord confirms his hand (Ps 37:24 (36:24)). Behold what it is, to will the way of Christ. Let it happen to him that he suffer some tribulation, some dishonor, some reproach, some affliction, some losses, and whatever other things abound in this life for the human race: he sets before himself his Lord, how many kinds of temptations he suffered: and he shall not be troubled when he falls, because the Lord confirms his hand; because he suffered first. For what will you fear, O man, whose steps have been directed, that you should will the way of the Lord? What will you fear? Griefs? Christ was scourged. Will you fear reproaches? He heard, You have a demon, who cast out demons. Perhaps the faction and conspiracy of the wicked? It was conspired against him. Perhaps you cannot show your conscience good in some accusation, and you suffer violence in that false witnesses are heard against you. Against him first they spoke false witness, not only before his death, but even after the resurrection. False witnesses were brought in, that he might be condemned by the judges: false witnesses, the guards, came to the tomb. He rose again with so great a miracle; the earth, shaken, betrayed the Lord rising. There too was earth guarding earth; but the harder earth could not be changed. It announced true things, but was seduced by a false reward. For those guards told the Jews what they had seen, and what had happened: they received money, and it was said to them, Say that, while you slept, his disciples came, and took him away (Matt 28:13). Behold false witnesses, and against him rising. But how great the blindness in false witnesses, how great the blindness, brothers! For this false witnesses are wont to suffer, that they be blinded, and speak against themselves, not knowing whence it may appear that they are false witnesses. For what did they say against themselves? While we slept, his disciples came, and took him away. What is this? Who is it that gives testimony? He who was sleeping. Such men, telling this, I would not believe, not even if they told me their dreams. Foolish madness! if you were awake, why did you permit it? if you were asleep, how did you know?

18. So too these sons of theirs, as you remember, and it is not to be passed over on this occasion. For the more we seek their salvation, the more ought we to recall their vanity. Behold, the body of Christ suffers false witnesses, the body endures what went before in the head. It is no wonder, and even now there are not lacking to the body of Christ, spread through the whole world, those who say: Offspring of betrayers. You speak false witness. There I convict you of being a false witness, by following out a few words. You say to me: You are a betrayer. I say to you: You are a liar. But you nowhere and never prove my betrayal: I prove your lie here, in these very words of yours, now. Surely there you said that we sharpen our swords: I recite the deeds of your Circumcellions. Surely there you said that you let pass the things taken away: I recite the Acts, where you made a procuration for exacting them. Surely there you said: We alone offer the Gospels: I recite so many orders of judges, by which you persecuted those divided from you: I recite the Petition to the Apostate emperor, to whom you said that justice alone has a place with him. Or does perhaps the apostasy of Julian seem to you a part of the Gospel? Behold, I hold you a liar. What have you said about me that ought to be believed? Even if I did not find whence to show that you speak falsely, it is enough that I show you to be a liar. What do you say? Such as you are, such are the rest too. For deservedly you sent such words to all: you wished to abound in the fellowship of liars, lest you alone should blush for the lie.

19. But, he says, let the judgment of our fathers against Caecilian stand. Why will it stand? Because bishops judged. Let that too stand against you which the Maximianists judged. For first—what I believe you know—bishops agreeing with Maximian, while he was still his deacon, came to Carthage, as the Tractatoria has it, which they even attached to the Acts, when they were litigating about a house with the procurator of that man who lets pass the things taken away. So first they sent a Tractatoria about him, complaining that he was unwilling to come out to them: for of this above all they complained. See how God repaid them what they said about Caecilian. A wonderful likeness: God willed, after so many years, to throw back in their face what was done, so that they should find no way at all to dissemble or escape. They would say that they had forgotten what was done before; God does not allow them to forget: and would that it might avail them for salvation! For God did this in his mercy, if they consider what was done. Set, then, before your eyes, brothers, the unity of the whole world at that time, from which these men divided themselves against Caecilian: set now also the party of Donatus, from which the Maximianists divided themselves against Primian. What those did then to Caecilian, this these now did to Primian. Therefore the Maximianists call themselves even more truthful than the Donatists, because they truly imitated the deeds of their elders. For they raised up Maximian against Primian, just as those raised up Majorinus against Caecilian; and these complained about Primian, just as those about Caecilian. For if you remember, those said this, that Caecilian was unwilling to come out to them, mindful of his conscience; but he knew their faction: so these too complain that Primian was unwilling to come out to them. Why is it granted to Primian to know the faction of the Maximianists, and not granted to Caecilian to know the faction of the Donatists? Maximian was not yet ordained, charges were being spoken about Primian: bishops came, they wished that he come out to them: he did not go out, as their Tractatoria, inserted into the Acts, shows. He did not go out: I do not disapprove, rather I even praise it. If you saw some faction, you ought not to proceed to factious men, but to keep your cause for a better judgment of your party. For a great part of Donatus's party remained, where Primian could clear himself: therefore he was unwilling to go out to those who had already conspired in a faction. You see how we praise your counsel against the Maximianists; attend well also to the cause of Caecilian: you do not wish to as a brother; judge as a stranger. You were unwilling to go out, saying to yourself what? These have conspired in a faction against my safety, they are corrupted against me: if I commit myself to them, I prejudge my own cause: I will not go out to them, let my cause be kept for better and weightier authorities. Good counsel. What if Caecilian said this? Although you will labor to show what other things Lucilla corrupted those people with against you, and perhaps you will not find it; which he then knew so well that afterward it was opened up in the Acts. But you saw something hidden, I know not what; something to be feared was reported to you. I grant this caution to your fear: you did rightly, not to proceed to such men; for there were others who could judge concerning you. Now attend to Caecilian: you kept Numidia for yourself, he the whole world. But if you wish the sentences of the Donatists then to avail against him, let the sentences of the Maximianists now avail against you: bishops condemned him; bishops condemned you too. Why did you afterward plead your cause, and prevail there over the Maximianists; just as he afterward pleaded his cause, and prevailed there over the Donatists? What, then, was done then, seems to be rolled back before our eyes in a wonderful and manifest example, that the Maximianists complain of such things about Primian as all these complained about Caecilian. It is wonderful, brothers, how I am moved, how I give thanks to God: because truly the mercy of God shaped an example to enlighten these men, if they are wise. Accordingly, if you please, a little, brothers, because God has put this too into our hands, hear the council of the Maximianists. (And as he treated it, he read out the council of the Maximianists.)

20. To the most holy brothers and colleagues throughout all Africa.—Their whole unity is throughout Africa. But here the Catholic Church is with them: in other parts of the world, however, they are not with the Catholic Church. (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—To the most holy brothers and colleagues established throughout all Africa, that is, throughout the Proconsular province, Numidia, Mauretania, Byzacena, and Tripoli; but also to the presbyters and deacons, and to all the peoples serving with us in the truth of the Gospel: Victorinus, Fortunatus, Victorianus, Migginus, Saturninus, Constantius, Candorius, Innocentius, Cresconius, Florentius, Salvius, another Salvius, Donatus, Geminius, Praetextatus.—(And as he read it, he said:) This is the bishop of Assuras, whom they afterward received: the one who pronounced sentence against himself, they afterward received. (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—Maximianus, Theodorus, Anastasius, Donatianus, Donatus, another Donatus, Pomponius, Pancratius, Ianuarius, Secundinus, Pascasius, Cresconius, Rogatianus, another Maximianus, Benenatus, Gaianus, Victorinus, Guntasius, Quintasius, Felicianus.—(And as he read it, he said:) This is the bishop of Musti, who is still alive; but perhaps it is another from elsewhere. Afterward, subscribing, they give also the places from which each one was. (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—Salvius, Migginus, Proculus, Latinus, and the rest of us who were at the council at Cabarsussi, eternal salvation in the Lord. Let no one be ignorant, most beloved brothers, that it belongs to the priests of God, not by the impulse of their own will, but of the divine law, both to pronounce sentence against the guilty, and rightly and deservedly to remove from them a sentence inflicted on the innocent. For he will lie under no light peril, whoever either spares the guilty, or attempts to undo the innocent: especially since it is written, " You shall not slay the innocent and the just, and you shall not, by acquittal, acquit the guilty." Admonished, therefore, by this edict of the law, it was necessary for us to hear and discuss the cause of Primian, whom the holy people of the Church of Carthage had obtained as bishop into the fold of God, the elders of that same Church demanding it by letters; to the end that, all things being explained, we might either, as was to be desired, clear him as innocent; or surely show him as guilty to be condemned by his own merits. For most desirable was it to us, that the holy people of the Church of Carthage should rejoice to be exalted by such a bishop as would be held holy in all things and reprehensible in nothing. For this reason indeed the priest of the Lord ought to be such, that what the people could not avail for themselves before God, he himself may deserve to obtain for the people what he asks: because it is written, " If the people sin, the priest shall pray for them; but if the priest sin, who shall pray for him?"—(And as he read it, treating it, he said:) The apostles too wrote to the peoples that they should pray for them, and the apostles, praying, said, Forgive us our debts (Matt 6:12); and the apostle John said, We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:1-2). But that was written about that priest whom these men do not understand, that the people might be admonished in the prophecy that they ought to recognize such a priest, for whom no one could pray. But who is he for whom no one prays, except the one who intercedes for all? Because, then, the priesthood was then Levitical, where the priest entered into the holies, and offered victims for the people; but it had an image, not the truth, of a certain future priest; for then the priests themselves too were sinners, like other men: God, wishing through prophecy to admonish the people that such a priest was already to be desired, who would intercede for all, and for whom no one would pray, designating such a one, admonished and said, If the people sin, the priest shall pray for them; but if the priest sin, who shall pray for him? And so, O people, choose such a priest, for whom you are not compelled to pray, but of whose prayer for you you can be secure. He is our Lord Jesus Christ, the one priest, the one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5). (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—The scandals of Primian, then, and his singular wickedness, so provoked the heavenly judgment against him, that it was necessary utterly to cut off the author of these crimes: who, recently ordained,—(And as he read it, treating it, he said:) Now, now his crimes are spoken. (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—impelling the presbyters of the aforesaid people to the conspiracy of an impious plot, demanded of them, as by a kind of precarious right, that they should, without hesitation, promise to lend their consent to condemning four deacons, excellent men, approved by singular merits, namely Maximian, Rogatian, Donatus, and likewise Salgamius.—(And as he read it, treating it, he said:) Among these four was that author of the schism, cutting a piece from a piece, and not grieving that he himself was cut off from the whole. (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—Stupefied at his evil presumption, when they had refused the matter by silence, he did not hesitate to fulfill by himself the crime he had devised, to such a degree that he thought a sentence should be brought forth against the deacon Maximian, a man, as is known to all, innocent, without cause, without accuser, without witness, absent and lying in bed.—(And as he read it, treating it, he said:) See the crime! (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—Who already before would condemn clerics with no unlike fury. For when he was joining incestuous persons, against the law and the decrees of all the priests, to holy communion, and when, with the greatest part of the people opposing, he was approached even by letters of the most noble elders, that he should himself correct what he had committed, possessed by his own rashness he disdained to amend it. Moved, therefore, by these things, the elders of the aforesaid Church sent letters and legates to the whole assembly, by which not without tears they besought that we should come to them the more fervently, in order that, the balance being weighed, the charges being explored, the reputation of the Church might be cleared. When, accordingly, we came according to the letters of the aforementioned, he, growing hot with his own characteristic disposition, utterly declined our coming.—(And as he read it, treating it, he said:) You know what was charged against him, that the party of Donatus has now been made incestuous. This was in their rule: Such as those were with whom there had been communion, such all became, and the whole mass. And so, if these men speak the truth, the whole party of Donatus is now incestuous. Let the Numidians plainly come out, and say: It does not pertain to us if you have admitted to your communion those incestuous men, whoever they are: could it harm us, set so far away? If, then, you who are in Numidia do not wish what is done at Carthage to harm you; could what is done in Africa harm the whole world? Always whence they defend themselves, thence they accuse themselves, and excuse us. (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—He utterly declined our coming. (And as he read it, he said:) Which they complained about Caecilian. (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—Who, everywhere kicking with rebellious spirit, remained in evil, so that, having hired a multitude of abandoned men—(And as he read it, he said:) Now this is more. This they did not say about Caecilian: see what things. (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—and having procured officers, they besieged the doors of the basilicas,—(And as he read it, he said:) Lest the bishops should enter. (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—who forbade us the faculty of entering and performing the solemnities. Whether it befits a bishop to do this, whether it is lawful for Christians to commit it, whether the Gospels attest this, let whoever is a lover or asserter of the truth prove or judge. For this a brother once our own inflicted on us, which a stranger would never do.—(And as he read it, he said:) What more? They say many things and condemn the man: but let us now read the condemnation itself. (And as he treated it, he read out:)—We have decreed, all the priests of God, the Holy Spirit being present, this same Primian: first, that he subrogated other bishops over living bishops; that he mingled incestuous persons with the communion of the saints; that he attempted to constrain presbyters to enter a conspiracy; that he had the presbyter Fortunatus thrown into a sewer, when he had succored the sick with baptism; that he refused communion to the presbyter Demetrius, to compel him to disown his son; that the same presbyter was rebuked, because he had received bishops in hospitality; that the aforesaid Primian sent a multitude to overthrow the houses of Christians; that bishops together with clerics were besieged, and afterward stoned by his satellites; that the elders were beaten in the basilica, because they took it ill that the Claudianists were admitted to communion; that he thought innocent clerics were to be condemned; that he was unwilling to present himself to us to be heard, when he barred with a multitude and with officials the doors of the basilicas, lest we should enter; that he injuriously rejected the legates sent by us to him; that he usurped many places, first by force, then by judicial authority.—(And as he read it, he said:) A passer-over of the things taken away: though the apostle Paul says, Dare any of you, having a matter against another, be judged before the unjust, and not before the saints? (1 Cor 6:1) See what a crime they charged against him, that he was unwilling to plead about the places before bishops, but before a judge. (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—Besides his other unlawful deeds, which for the honor of our pen we have passed over in silence, he is condemned in perpetuity from the priestly assembly: lest, he being soothed, the Church of God be stained either with contagion or with some crime. This same thing the apostle Paul exhorts and admonishes: " Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother walking disorderly." And so, not unmindful of the purity of the Church, we have thought it conducive to admonish all the holy fellow priests, and all clerics, and all peoples who remember themselves to be Christians, by this our Tractatoria, that all should, with diligent care, shun his communion, as of one condemned. For he himself will render account of his own destruction, who shall attempt, by not hearing this our decree, to violate it. It has pleased us indeed, and the Holy Spirit, that a time be reserved for the slow to convert, on this condition, that whoever of the fellow priests or clerics, unmindful of their own salvation, shall, from the day of the condemnation of the aforesaid Primian, that is, from the eighth day before the Kalends of July to the eighth day before the Kalends of January, have less withdrawn from the communion of the condemned Primian, be constrained by such a sentence. The laity also, unless they shall, from the aforesaid day of his condemnation, within the day of the coming Easter, have separated themselves from his fellowship, that no one can, except through penance, if indeed they remember themselves, be reformed to the Church. I, Victorinus, bishop of Munatiana, have subscribed. I, Fortunatus, bishop of Dionysiana, have subscribed. I, Victorianus, bishop of Carcabiana, have subscribed. I, Florentius of Adrumetum, bishop, have subscribed. I, Migginus of Elephantaria, bishop, have subscribed. I, Innocentius, bishop of Thebalta, have subscribed. I, Miggin, on behalf of my colleague Salvius, bishop of Membressa, have subscribed. I, Salvius, bishop of Ausafa, have subscribed. I, Donatus, bishop of Sabrata, have subscribed. I, Gemelius of Tanabae, bishop, have subscribed.—(And as he read it, he said:) From among those very condemners subscribed also Praetextatus of Assuras, and Felicianus of Musti. (And as he treated it, he read out the following:)—I, Praetextatus, bishop of Assuras, have subscribed. I, Maximianus, bishop of Stabata, have subscribed. I, Datianus, bishop of Camiceta, have subscribed. I, Donatus, bishop of Fisciana, have subscribed. I, Theodorus, bishop of Usula, have subscribed. I, Victorianus, by order of my colleague bishop Agnosius, have subscribed. I, Donatus, bishop of Cebresuta, have subscribed. I, Natalicus, bishop of Thelae, have subscribed. I, Pomponius, bishop of Macriana, have subscribed. I, Pancratius, bishop of Baliana, have subscribed. I, Ianuarius, bishop of Aquae, have subscribed. I, Secundus, bishop of Iacondiana, have subscribed. I, Pascasius of Vicus Augusti, bishop, have subscribed. I, Creso, bishop of Coniustiacum, have subscribed. I, Rogatianus, bishop, have subscribed. I, Maximianus, bishop of Erummina, have subscribed. I, Benenatus, bishop of Tuguta, have subscribed. I, Ritanus, bishop, have subscribed. I, Gaianus, bishop of Tiguala, have subscribed. I, Victorinus, bishop of Leptis Magna, have subscribed. I, Guntasius, bishop of Benefa, have subscribed. I, Quintasius, bishop of Capsa, have subscribed. I, Felicianus, bishop of Musti, have subscribed. I, Victorianus, by delegation of bishop Migginus, have subscribed. I, Miggius, bishop, have subscribed. I, Latinus, bishop of Mugia, have subscribed. I, Proculus, bishop of Girba, have subscribed. I, Donatus, bishop of Sabrata, on behalf of my brother and colleague Marratius, have subscribed. I, Proculus of Girba, on behalf of my colleague Gallio, have subscribed. I, Secundianus, bishop of Prisiana, have subscribed. I, Helpidius, bishop of Tusdrita, have subscribed. I, Donatus, bishop of Samurdata, have subscribed. I, Getulicus, bishop of Victoriana, have subscribed. I, Annibonius, bishop of Robaute, have subscribed. Likewise I, Annibonius, asked by my colleague the bishop of Augendiara, have subscribed. I, Tertullus, bishop of Abita, have subscribed. I, Primulianus, bishop, have subscribed. I, Secundinus, bishop of Arusiana, have subscribed. I, Maximus, bishop of Pittana, have subscribed. I, Crescentianus, bishop of Murra, have subscribed. I, Donatus, bishop of Belma, have subscribed. I, Perseverantius, bishop of Teberte, have subscribed. I, Faustinus, bishop of Bina, have subscribed. I, Victor, bishop of Altiburita, have subscribed. [All, fifty-three in number.] (And as he read it, treating it, he said:)

21. Deign to attend a little. This is your condemnation. We say to him: What do you wish? Should it have weight, or not have weight? I favor you: I say plainly that all these spoke false things against you; and hear why I would believe it: Because before other judges you obtained your cause, and these were condemned. If, then, for this reason I believe you innocent, because, not going out to the factious, you showed your innocence elsewhere, so that those who condemned you deserved condemnation; deign to accept Caecilian as innocent, who was unwilling to go out to your elders, and so kept his cause for the whole world, just as you kept yours for the council of the Numidians. If the see of Bagai made you innocent, how much more shall the Apostolic See make him so? Or do you wish those to avail who first condemned? If they avail; they avail against you. For those neither availed nor will avail against Caecilian: yet attend to what the judges decide against you.

22. Now here they dare to say: But we who afterward condemned the Maximianists were more in number. Let your sentence, then, avail against Felician, and theirs will avail against Caecilian. When they held a council at Bagai, they condemned Felician too: now Felician is within: either a guilty man was received, or an innocent man was condemned. If, then, you receive a guilty man for the peace of Donatus; yield to all the nations for the peace of Christ: but if through your error an innocent man was condemned; could three hundred and ten err in condemning Felician, and could seventy not err in condemning Caecilian? What, then, do you say? When you hear it said to you, "The Maximianists condemned you first," you run back, and say: But we were more in number who condemned the Maximianists. To both you are quickly answered, that those elders of yours too first condemned Caecilian. If the first avail, let the Primianists yield to the council of the Maximianists: if the more in number avail, let the Donatists yield to the whole world: nothing, I judge, is more just. The Maximianists are few: but they are first. The guilty does not make another guilty. If you think this, how could you, condemned, condemn? because among the condemners he himself too was inscribed, nor did they keep a place for one pleading his cause. But otherwise with Caecilian: a place was kept for him as a man pleading his cause, as the very sentence has it; because he was not received into communion except cleared. But this man is found here condemned by the judges, there among the judges condemning. But suppose this was the equity of the council of Bagai: we grant the whole, plainly. The Maximianists condemned you wrongly: those elders of yours condemned Caecilian wrongly too. You cleared yourself at Bagai: he cleared himself in the overseas judgment. To this judgment the whole world consented. What will you say? We are more in number than the Maximianists. Be more in number: let us, then, deal with number: see how great the difference is. The Maximianists condemned you absent, when you were unwilling to go out to them: this indeed is alike, for so those too condemned Caecilian absent, when he had avoided their faction: but you in turn had sentences pronounced against them absent in the council of Bagai: whereas Caecilian, present, was cleared with his adversary present. Then another great difference: the Numidian judges before whom you might clear yourself, you yourself approached, you appointed; the Maximianists did not ask for them: but before those judges Donatus was conquered by Caecilian, whom the party of Donatus had demanded as judges. The Maximianists now answer you, and rightly say: We first came to you from your province, bishops of the diocese belonging to you; and we wished to hear your cause: you despised us, you did not go out to us. If you feared our judgment, let us at least choose judges together, do not go to whomever you wished. See how great the difference. But then the Donatists themselves by their letters petitioned the Emperor, that he should appoint judges: they disapproved those before whom they were conquered, whom, before they were conquered, they had petitioned for: others were given at their request, and there they were conquered: they appealed to the Emperor, and there they were conquered. The Maximianist was conquered once, absent, and is silent: and the Donatist, conquered three times, present, is not silent?

23. But you contend about number with the Maximianists. As I said, I favor you. Three hundred and ten are more than a hundred, or however many there were who condemned Primian from the party of Maximian: do you think that thousands of bishops throughout the whole world who condemned Donatus from the party of Caecilian have no weight with you? But you will say to me: Did thousands of bishops from the whole world condemn the Donatists? Excellently, they did not condemn them. Why did they not condemn them? Because they were not present at the judgment. If they were not present at the judgment, for this reason they did not condemn them, because they utterly did not know that cause. From the innocent why did you separate yourself? There comes here to you from the whole world one baptized, whom you wish to rebaptize: and you, now exercising a deadly ministry, and wishing to repeat what is given once and is not lost, he approaches with a loud voice and groaning, and says to you: What is it that you wish to do? to rebaptize me? says some man of Mesopotamia, some Syrian, some man of Pontus, or one set further off. You answer: Because you do not have baptism. Why? Read the Epistles of the Apostle written to me. There comes some man from Galatia, from Pontus, there comes some man from Philadelphia, to which Churches John wrote; there comes one from Colossae, there comes one from Philippi, from Thessalonica: Do I not have baptism, I to whom the Apostle wrote, through whom you have it? Do you dare to read my epistle, you who detest my peace?

Exposition of Psalm 36

1. [v. 25] The last part of this psalm had remained with you undiscussed and untreated. Accordingly, as I see, not indeed according to our arrangement, but yet not apart from his arrangement, the Lord has recalled us to pay the debt. Be attentive, then, brothers, that, if we can with God's help, we may even now pay what we know we owe. Who is it that says what we just now sang? I was young, and behold I have grown old, and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread (Ps 37:25 (36:25)). If it speaks as one man, how long a time is the age of one man; and what great thing is it that a man, set in some one part of the earth, through his whole life so brief, as human life is brief, although he came from youth to old age, did not see the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread? It is not to be wondered at. For it could come to pass that before his life there was some just man seeking bread, it could come to pass that in another part of the earth, not where he was. Then hear another thing that troubles: Behold, each one of you, who perhaps has now grown old, looking back at the courses of his age already accomplished, when he has turned over in thought those whom he has known, perhaps does not meet a just man seeking bread, or the son of a just man seeking bread: but yet he looks back to the divine Scriptures, and finds the just Abraham straitened, and suffering famine in his region, having changed for another region; he finds his son Isaac too, for the cause of the same famine, having gone into other regions seeking bread. And how will it be true: I have never seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread? And even if he finds this true in the span of his own life; yet otherwise he finds it in the divine reading, which is more faithful than the life of men.

2. What, then, do we do? Let your pious studies aid us, that we may inspect in these verses of the psalm the will of God, what he wishes us to understand. For there is fear lest each weak one, not grasping how to understand the Scriptures spiritually, go to human examples and see that sometimes good servants of God are in some need and want of seeking bread; especially also that he think of the apostle Paul, who says, In hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness (2 Cor 11:27): and be scandalized within himself, saying: Is what I sang really true? is it really true that, standing in the church, I sounded forth with so devout a voice, I have never seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread? The Scriptures deceive us, let him say within himself; and let all his members be loosed from good work; which members within—and this is more serious—being relaxed even in the inner man, let him now desist from good work, and say to himself: Why do I work well? Why do I break my bread to the hungry, and clothe the naked, and bring the homeless into my house, attending to what is written, I have never seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread: when I see so many men living well, very often laboring under hunger? But if perhaps I err, so as to suppose that both he who lives well and he who lives badly live well, and God knows him otherwise, that is, to be unjust, whom I think just; what do I do about Abraham, whom Scripture itself commends as just? what do I do about the apostle Paul himself, who says, Be imitators of me, as I too am of Christ (1 Cor 11:1)? Or that I too should be amid such evils as he endured, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness?

3. One thinking thus, and, as I said, with all his inner members loosed from the faculty of good work, can we, brothers, like a paralytic, take him up, and open the roof of this Scripture, and let him down to the Lord? For you see that it is obscure. Further, if it is obscure, it is roofed over: and I behold a certain man paralytic in mind. And I see this roof, and under this roof I recognize that Christ lies hidden. I will do, as much as I can, what was praised in those who, the roof being opened, let down the paralytic to Christ, that he might say to him, Be steadfast, son, for your sins are forgiven you. For so he made the inner man well from his paralysis, by forgiving sins, and by binding fast faith. But there were men there who did not have eyes to see that the inner paralytic was now healed, and they thought the healing physician was blaspheming. Who is this, they say, who forgives sins? This man blasphemes. Who can forgive sins, but God alone? (Matt 9:2-3; Luke 5:20-21) And because he was God, he heard those thinking such things. They thought this true thing about God, but they did not see God present. The physician, then, did something also in the body of the paralytic, that he might heal the inner paralysis of those too who said such things. For he did what they might see, and gave what they might believe. Come, then, whoever you are so weak and languishing in heart, that, attending to human examples, you wish to desist from good works, and are loosed by a certain inner paralysis; come, if we can, this roof being opened, let us let you down to the Lord.

4. For the Lord himself, in his body, which is the Church, was younger in the first times, and behold he has now grown old. You know, and recognize, and understand, because in this you are set, and so you have believed, that our head is Christ; the body of that head we are. Is it we alone, and not also those who were before us? All who from the beginning of the world were just, have Christ as head. For they believed that he would come, whom we now believe to have come; and in his faith they too were healed, in whose faith we too are: that he himself might be the head of the whole city Jerusalem, all the faithful being numbered together from the beginning to the end, the legions and armies of angels being joined too, so that there may be that one city under one king, and a certain one province under one emperor, happy in perpetual peace and welfare, praising God without end, blessed without end. But the body of Christ, which is the Church, like a certain one man, was at first younger, and behold now in the end of the world it is in a fat old age; since of it was said, He shall still be multiplied in a fat old age (Ps 92:14 (91:15)). It has been multiplied through all nations, and it is its voice, attending, as one man, to his first age, and this latest, who looked back through all things, because he has all ages known through the Scriptures; and he says, exulting and admonishing: I was young, in the first times of the world; and behold I have grown old, I am also in the latest times of the world; and I have never seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.

5. We have recognized the man younger and old, and, as it were, the roof being opened, we have come to Christ. But who is the just one, who was not seen forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread? If you understand the bread, you understand him. For the bread is the word of God, which never departs from the mouth of the just. For in his head too this just one, tempted, answered this. For when the devil said to the Lord himself, hungering and suffering famine, Tell these stones to become bread; he answered, Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God (Matt 4:3-4; Luke 4:3-4). Then, my brothers, attend, when the just man does not do the will of God. For he always does it, and lives according to his will. The will of God does not depart from his heart: because the will of God, it is the law of God. And what was said of such a one? And on his law he shall meditate day and night (Ps 1:2). That bread you eat for one hour, and let go; that bread of the word, day and night. For when you hear, or when you read, you eat; when you think of it, you chew the cud, that you may be a clean animal, not unclean. Which wisdom too signifies through Solomon, saying, A desirable treasure rests in the mouth of the wise; but the foolish man swallows it down (Prov 21:20). For he who swallows it down, so that what he has devoured does not appear in him, has forgotten what he heard. But he who has not forgotten, thinks, and by thinking chews the cud, by chewing the cud is delighted. Whence it is said, Holy thought shall keep you (Prov 2:11). And behold, if holy thought keeps you in the chewing of this bread, you have never seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.

6. [v. 26] All the day he shows mercy, and lends (Ps 37:26 (36:26)). In Latin "feneratur" is said both of one who gives a loan and of one who receives it: but this is said more plainly if we say "fenerat." What is it to us what the grammarians wish? You understand better in our barbarism than in our eloquence you would be left deserted. Therefore this just one all the day shows mercy, and lends. But let not money-lenders rejoice. For we have found a certain lender, just as we found a certain bread: so that everywhere, the roof being opened, we may come to Christ. I do not wish you to be money-lenders, and for this reason I do not wish it, because God does not wish it. For if I were unwilling, and God willing, do it: but if God is unwilling, even if I willed it, he who did it would do it to his own harm. Whence does it appear that God does not wish this? It is said in another place, He who has not given his money at interest (Ps 15:5 (14:5)). And how detestable, how hateful, how execrable it is, I think that the money-lenders themselves too know. But again I myself, rather our God, who forbids you to be a money-lender, commands you to be a money-lender; and it is said to you: Lend to God. If you lend to a man, you have hope; and if you lend to God, will you not have hope? If you have lent to a man, that is, given your money on loan, you expect to receive from him something more than you gave: not money alone, but something more than you gave, whether it be grain, or wine, or oil, or anything else; if you expect to receive more than you gave, you are a money-lender, and in this to be disapproved, not praised. What then, you say, do I do, that I may be a profitable lender? Attend to what the money-lender does. He wishes certainly to give less, and to receive more: do you too do this; give little things, receive great ones. See how widely your interest grows. Give temporal things, receive eternal ones: give earth, receive heaven. And to whom shall I give, perhaps you say? The Lord himself comes forth whom you may lend to, who commanded you not to lend at interest. Hear the Scripture, how you may lend to the Lord: He lends to the Lord, it says, who shows mercy to the poor (Prov 19:17). For the Lord does not need from you, but you have another who needs from you: to him you hold out, he receives. For the poor man does not have what to repay you: and yet he himself wishes to repay, and does not find what; there remains in him only the good will of praying for you. But when the poor man prays for you, he says, as it were, to God: Lord, I have received a loan, stand surety for me. Accordingly, even if you do not hold the poor man as a repayer, yet you hold a suitable surety. Behold, God says to you from his Scripture: Give securely, I repay. As sureties are wont to say? what do they say? I repay, I receive, you give to me. Do we think God says this too: I receive, you give to me? Plainly if God, who is Christ, which is not doubted, himself said, I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. And when they said, When did we see you hungering? to show himself the surety of the poor, the sponsor of all his members; because he is the head, they the members, and when the members receive, the head receives: When you did it, he says, to one of these least of mine, you did it to me (Matt 25:35, 37, 40). Come, greedy money-lender, see what you have given, see what you are about to receive! If you had given a little money, and he to whom you had given, for your little money, were to give you a great farm, incomparably more valuable than the money you had given; how many thanks you would give, with how great joy you would be lifted up! Hear what a possession he gives whom you have lent to: Come, blessed of my Father, receive. What? what you gave? Far be it. You gave earthly things, which, if you had not given, would rot in the earth. For what would you have done with them, if you had not given them? What was about to perish in the earth, has been kept in heaven. Therefore what was kept, this we are about to receive. The merit has been kept: your treasure has been made your merit. For see what you are about to receive: Receive the kingdom, which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world. On the contrary, those who were unwilling to lend, what will they hear? Go into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. And what is the kingdom called which we receive? Attend to what follows: These shall go into eternal burning, but the just into eternal life (Matt 25:34, 41, 46). For this strive, this buy, for this lend. You have Christ sitting in heaven, asking on earth. We have found how the just man lends. All the day he shows mercy, and lends.

7. And his seed shall be in blessing (Ps 37:26 (36:26)). And here let no carnal thought arise. We see many sons of the just dying of hunger: how, then, shall his seed be in blessing? His seed is his remnant, whence here he sows, and afterward will reap. For the Apostle says, But in doing good let us not fail: for in due time we shall reap, untiring. And so, while we have time, he says, let us work good toward all (Gal 6:9-10). This is your seed, which will be in blessing. You commit it to the earth, and gather so much more: you commit it to Christ, and lose it? See that very seed more expressly named by the Apostle, when he was speaking of alms. For this he says: He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows in blessings, of blessings shall also reap (2 Cor 9:6). But you labor perhaps when you sow, and you grieve when you show mercy, because you see the wretched. For it will be better that someday we shall not have those to whom we may give these things. When all shall be changed into incorruption, no one will hunger to whom you may hold out bread, no one will thirst to whom you may give drink, no one will be naked whom you may clothe, no one a stranger whom you may take in: but here, amid hardships, temptations, griefs, groans, we cast the seed. But look to another psalm: Going they went, and wept, casting their seeds. Attend, because his seed shall be in blessing: But coming they shall come with exultation, carrying their sheaves (Ps 126:6 (125:6)).

8. [v. 27] See, then, what follows, and do not be slothful: Turn away from evil, and do good (Ps 37:27 (36:27)). Do not think it enough for you, if you do not despoil the clothed. For by not despoiling the clothed, you have turned away from evil: but do not wither and be barren. So do not despoil the clothed, but clothe the naked: for this is to turn away from evil, and to do good. And what shall I have from it, you will say? Already he has commended to you, whom you lend to, what he will give you: he will give you eternal life; give to him securely. Hear also what follows: Turn away from evil, and do good; and dwell forever and ever. And do not suppose, when you give, that no one sees you; or that God forsakes you, when perhaps you have given to a poor man, and some loss has followed, or some sadness over a lost thing, and you say to yourself: What did it profit me to have done good works? I think God does not love the men who do good. Whence this murmuring of yours, whence this clamor, except because these voices abound? Each one now recognizes these voices, either in his own mouth, or in the mouth of his neighbor, or in the mouth of his friend. May God blot them out, and root out the thorns from his field: may he plant good produce, and a fruit-bearing tree. For why are you saddened, O man, that you gave to a poor man, and lost other things? Do you not see that you have lost what you did not give? Why do you not look to your God? Where is faith? why does it sleep so? Rouse it in your heart. Attend to what the Lord himself said to you, when he was exhorting you to good works of this kind: Make for yourselves purses that do not grow old, a treasure that does not fail in the heavens, where no thief draws near (Luke 12:33). This, then, recall, when you bewail a loss. Why do you weep, foolish one of little heart, or of unsound heart? Why have you lost, except because you did not lend to me? Why have you lost? Who took it from you? You will answer: A thief. Had I not forewarned you of this, that you should not put it where a thief could draw near? If, then, he who has lost grieves, let him grieve at this, that he did not put it where it could not perish.

9. [v. 28] For the Lord loves judgment, and will not forsake his saints (Ps 37:28 (36:28)). When the saints suffer labors, do not suppose that God does not judge, or judges perversely. He who admonishes you to judge justly, will he himself judge perversely? He loves judgment, and will not forsake his saints. But how the life of the saints is hidden with him, so that those who now labor on the earth, like trees in winter not having fruit and leaves, when he appears, as a new sun risen, what lived in the root may appear in the fruits. He loves, then, judgment, and will not forsake his saints. But does a saint labor in hunger? God will not forsake him: he scourges every son whom he receives. You despise him when he is scourged, you tremble when he is enriched. For whence is he scourged? By temporal afflictions. When will he be enriched? When he hears, Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world (Matt 25:34). Do not, then, be slothful to be scourged, that you may be among those who deserve to be received. So far does he love judgment, that he does not forsake the saints, whom he scourges for a time. And since he scourges every son whom he receives, he spared not even his Only-begotten, in whom he found no fault. For the Lord loves judgment, and will not forsake his saints. Because, then, he will not forsake them, will he perhaps give them this which you love here, to live many years, to grow old? You do not attend to the fact that, if you wish old age to come, you wish for that of which, when it comes, you complain. Let not your soul, then, whether evil, or weak, or little, say: How is it true, The Lord loves judgment, and will not forsake his saints? Truly he did not forsake the three young men in the furnace praising him; the fire did not touch them: were not his saints the Maccabees, who in the fires failed in flesh, not in faith? But this, you say, has a greater question, that, since they failed not in faith, he forsook them. Hear what follows: They shall be preserved forever. You wished them a few years, which if the Lord gave them, he would not forsake his saints. Visibly he did not forsake the three young men, hiddenly he did not forsake the Maccabees: to those he gave even temporal life, to confound the unbelievers; but those he hiddenly crowned, to judge the impiety of the persecutor: yet neither those, nor these did he forsake, who will not forsake his saints. And the three young men received nothing great, if they were not preserved forever. They shall be preserved forever.

10. But the unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the ungodly shall perish (Ps 37:28 (36:28)). As his seed will be in blessing, so the seed of the ungodly shall perish. For the seed of the ungodly is the works of the ungodly. For we find again the son of an ungodly man flourishing in the world, and sometimes becoming just, and flourishing in Christ. See, then, how you take it, so as to open the roof, and come to Christ: do not take it carnally, for you will be deceived. But the seed of the ungodly, all the works of the ungodly, shall perish, shall have no fruit: for a time they avail something; afterward they will seek, and not find, what they did. For this will be the voice of those who lose what they did: What did pride profit us, or what did the boasting of riches confer on us? All those things have passed away like a shadow (Wis 5:8-9). Therefore the seed of the ungodly shall perish.

11. [v. 29] The just shall possess the earth by inheritance (Ps 37:29 (36:29)). Again let greed not creep in, nor promise you some great farm, lest what here you are bidden to despise, there you hope for. There is a certain earth of the living, the kingdom of the saints. Whence it is said, You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living (Ps 142:5 (141:6)). For if that is your life, understand what kind of earth you are about to receive. That is the earth of the living: but this is the earth of the dying, about to receive the dead whom it nourished alive. Such, then, as that earth, such too the life itself: if eternal life, eternal earth. And how an eternal earth? And they shall dwell forever and ever upon it. Another earth, then, it will be where we shall dwell forever and ever. For of this it was said, Heaven and earth shall pass away (Matt 24:35).

12. [vv. 30-32] The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom (Ps 37:30 (36:30)). Behold, that is the bread: see how gladly this just man eats, how he turns wisdom over in his mouth. And his tongue shall speak judgment. The law of his God is in his heart (Ps 37:31 (36:31)). Lest perhaps you should suppose him to have in his mouth what he does not have in his heart: lest perhaps you should reckon him among those of whom it was said, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Isa 29:13; Matt 15:8): And his tongue shall speak judgment. The law of his God is in his heart. And what does it profit him? And his steps shall not be supplanted. The word of God in the heart frees from the snare, the word of God in the heart frees from the crooked way, the word of God in the heart frees from the slippery place. He is with you, whose word does not depart from you. But what evil does he suffer whom God guards? You set a guard in the vineyard, and against thieves you are secure; and that guard can sleep, and himself fall, and let in a thief: but he who guards Israel neither sleeps nor will slumber (Ps 121:4 (120:4)). The law of his God is in his heart: and his steps shall not be supplanted. Let him live secure, then, and among the wicked live secure, and among the ungodly live secure. For what evil can the ungodly or the unjust do to the just? Behold, see what follows: The sinner watches the just, and seeks to put him to death (Ps 37:32 (36:32)). For he says what was foretold in the book of Wisdom: He is grievous to us even to behold, because his life is unlike that of others (Wis 2:15). He seeks, then, to put him to death. What? Does the Lord who guards, who dwells with him, who does not depart from his mouth, from his heart, let him go? Where is that which was said above, And he will not forsake his saints?

13. [v. 33] Therefore, The sinner watches the just, and seeks to put him to death: but the Lord will not forsake him in his hands (Ps 37:33 (36:33)). Why, then, did he forsake the martyrs in the hands of the ungodly? Why did they do to them whatever they wished? Some they struck with the sword, some they crucified, some they exposed to beasts, some they burned in fires, some, leading them in chains, they wore out with long-lasting decay. Surely the Lord will not forsake his saints: But the Lord will not forsake him in his hands. Finally, why did he leave his own Son in the hands of the Jews? Here too open the roof, if you wish to be bound fast in every inner member; come to the Lord: hear what another Scripture says, foreseeing that the Lord would suffer from the ungodly, what does it say? The earth was given into the hands of the ungodly (Job 9:24). What is The earth was given into the hands of the ungodly? The flesh was given into the hands of the persecutors. But God did not there leave his just one: from the captured flesh he leads forth an unconquered soul. God would leave his just one in the hands of the ungodly, if he made him consent to the ungodly: against which evil he prays in another psalm, and says, Do not hand me over, O Lord, from my desire to the sinner (Ps 140:8 (139:9)). There is need that, from your desire, you not be handed over to the sinner, lest, when you desire the present life, you rush upon him, and lose the eternal. From what desire ought one not to be handed over to the sinner? From that of which likewise it is said, And I did not desire the day of man, you know (Jer 17:16). For he who desires and covets the day of man, when his adversary has threatened him, that he will take away from him the human day, because he will kill him, and he will lose this life; he who does not hope for another life, fails, and consents to the enemy. But he who hears the Lord saying, Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul (Matt 10:28); even if the earth is given into the hands of the ungodly, the earth being captured, the spirit escapes; the spirit escaping, the earth too will rise again. The spirit is changed to the Lord, the earth will be changed into heaven. For nothing of that very earth perishes which is given for a time into the hands of the ungodly: The hairs of your head are numbered (Matt 10:30). Therefore there is security, but only if God is within. But if the devil is driven out, God is admitted. But the Lord will not forsake him in his hands. Nor will he condemn him, when he is judged. Some copies have: And when he judges him, judgment shall be given for him. Now for him is said when judgment is held with him: for we can speak so as to say to a man: Judge for me, that is, hear my cause. When, then, God shall have begun to hear the cause of his just one—since all must be presented before the tribunal of Christ, and stand, that there each one may receive the things he did through the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor 5:10)—when, then, it has come to that judgment, he will not condemn him, even if for a time he seems condemned by man. Even though the proconsul pronounced sentence against Cyprian: the earthly seat is one thing, the tribunal of the heavens another; from the lower he received sentence, from the higher a crown. Nor will he condemn him, when he is judged.

14. [vv. 34, 36] But when will it be? Do not suppose now: it is the time of labor, the time of seed, the time of cold: even amid the winds, even amid the rains, sow; do not be slothful: summer will come to gladden you, in which you will rejoice to have sown. What, then, do I do now? Wait for the Lord (Ps 37:34 (36:34)). And while I wait, what do I do? And keep his ways. And if I keep them, what do I receive? And he will exalt you, that you may possess the earth by inheritance. What earth? Again, lest some farm come to mind: that of which it is said, Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world (Matt 25:34). What of those who put us in straits, among whom we groaned, whose scandals we endured, for whom, as they raged, we prayed in vain; what will become of them? It follows: When the sinners perish, you shall see. And how soon you shall see it: you will be at the right hand, they at the left. But this belongs to the eyes of faith. Those who do not have those eyes of faith grieve at the happiness of the ungodly, and think themselves just without cause, because they see the ungodly flourish here. But he who has that eye of faith, what does he say? I saw the ungodly highly exalted, and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon (Ps 37:35 (36:35)). And suppose that he was highly exalted, suppose that he was lifted up: what follows? And I passed by, and behold he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found (Ps 37:36 (36:36)). Why was he not, and his place was not found? Because you passed by. But if you still think carnally, and this earthly happiness seems to you true happiness, you have not yet passed by: either you are equal to him, or below him: advance, and pass by; and when, by advancing, you have passed by, you attend to him by faith, you see his last things, and you say to yourself: Behold, this is not the one who had so swelled up; as if you were passing by smoke. For this too was said in this psalm above: Failing like smoke they shall fail. Smoke is raised on high, and goes into a swelling ball: the more it is lifted up, the more it swells. But when you have passed by, attend to what is behind you: for behind you is the smoke, if before you is God. Do not attend to the things behind out of desire, as the wife of Lot attended, and remained on the way: but look back out of contempt, and you will see the ungodly nowhere, and you will seek his place. What is his place? In a way he has power, he has riches, he has a certain rank of his own in human affairs, so that many obey him, so that he commands and is heard. This place will not be, but will pass away, so that you may say, I passed by, and behold he was not. What is I passed by? I advanced, I came to spiritual things, I entered into the sanctuary of God, that I might attend to the last things: and behold he was not, and I sought him, and his place was not found.

15. [v. 37] Guard innocence (Ps 37:37 (36:37)). Hold it, as when you were greedy, you held your purse: as you held your purse, lest it be wrested from you by a thief; so guard innocence, lest it be wrested from you by the devil. Let that be your sure patrimony, of which there are rich and poor. Guard innocence. What does it profit you, gain of gold, and loss of innocence? Guard innocence, and look to uprightness. Have straight eyes, that you may see uprightness: not crooked ones, with which you see evil men; and distorted, so that to you God too seems distorted and crooked, because he favors the ungodly, and persecutes the faithful. Do you not see how distorted a thing you see? Correct your eyes, and look to uprightness. What uprightness? Do not attend to present things. And what will you see? Because there are remnants for the man of peace. What is there are remnants? When you are dead, you will not be dead: this is, there are remnants. There will be something for him even after this life; this is that seed which will be in blessing. Whence the Lord: He who believes in me, he says, although he die, shall live (John 11:25): Because there are remnants for the man of peace.

16. [v. 38] But the unjust shall perish together (Ps 37:38 (36:38)). What is together? Forever; or, all at once into one. The remnants of the ungodly shall perish. But there are remnants for the man of peace: therefore those who are not peaceful are ungodly. For blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Matt 5:9).

17. [vv. 39-40] But the salvation of the just is from the Lord, and he is their protector in the time of tribulation: and the Lord will help them, and deliver them, and rescue them from the sinners (Ps 37:39-40 (36:39-40)). Let the just, then, now endure the sinners, let the wheat endure the tares, let the wheat endure the chaff; because the time of separation will come, and the good seed will be rescued from that which will be consumed by fire: the one will be put into the granary, the other into eternal conflagration; because for this reason the just and the unjust were at first together, that the one might supplant, the other be proved; but afterward that the one might be condemned, the other crowned.

18. Thanks to God, brothers, we have paid the debt in the name of Christ; but love always holds us as debtors. For that is the one thing which, even if it is paid daily, is always owed. We have said many things against the Donatists, we have read out to you many things, many documents, many things beyond the canon of the Scriptures, they compelling us. For even if they reprove this, that we read such things to you; let us be reproved, while you are instructed. For we can answer them in this part too thus: I have become foolish, you compelled me (2 Cor 12:11). Yet, brothers, before all things guard our inheritance, of which we are secure that we are in the testament of our Father: not in some frivolous document of some man, but in the testament of our Father. From this we are secure; because he who made the testament lives: he who made the testament for his heir, he himself will judge concerning his testament. In human affairs the testator is one, the judge another: and yet he who holds the testament prevails before a judge other than himself, not before another judge who is dead. How secure, then, is our victory, when he will judge who made the testament! for even though Christ died for a time, yet now he lives forever.

19. Let them, then, say against us whatever they wish: let us love them even against their will. For we know, brothers, we know their tongues: on account of which let us not be angry at them; bear patiently with us. For they see that in the cause they have nothing, and they turn their tongues against us, and begin to say evil things about us, many things which they know, many things which they do not know. The things they know are our past: for we were once, as the Apostle says, foolish and unbelieving, and reprobate to every good work (Titus 3:3; 1:16). In perverse error we were foolish and raving, we do not deny it; and the more we do not deny our past, the more we praise God who pardoned us. What, then, heretic, do you let go the cause, and go to the man? For what am I? what am I? Am I the Catholic Church? am I the inheritance of Christ spread through the nations? It is enough for me to be in it. You reproach my past evils; what great thing do you do? I am more severe upon my evils than you: what you reproached, I condemned. Would that you would imitate it, so that your error too might someday become past! These are the past evils which they know, especially in this city. For here we lived badly, which I confess: and as much as I rejoice over the grace of God, so over my past, what shall I say? Do I grieve? I would grieve, if I still were what I was. But what shall I say? Do I rejoice? Neither can I say this: for would that I had never been it! Yet whatever I was, in the name of Christ it is past. But what they now reprove, they do not know. There are things still in me which they may reprove: but yet it is much for them to know these. I do many things in my thoughts, fighting against my evil suggestions, and having a long-lasting and almost continual conflict with the temptations of the enemy wishing to subvert me. I groan to God in my weakness; and he knows what my heart is in travail with, he who knows my offspring. But to me it is a very small thing to be judged by you, or by a human day, says the Apostle; but neither do I judge myself (1 Cor 4:3): for I know myself better than they do, but God better than I. Let them not, then, insult you over us; may Christ not allow it. For they say: And who are they? and whence are they? we knew them here as evil men; where were they baptized? If they knew us well, they know that we once sailed; they know that we went on pilgrimage; they know that we went away as some, and came back as others. We were not baptized here: but where we were baptized, the Church is known to the whole world. And many are our brothers, who both know that we were baptized, and were baptized with us. It is easy, then, to know this, if any of the brothers is concerned about it. But shall we satisfy these men, and show them something of the testimony of the Church, with which they do not communicate? Deservedly they do not know us baptized in Christ across the sea, because across the sea too they do not have Christ. For he has Christ across the sea too, who across the sea too holds the communion of the universal Church. How can he know where I was baptized, when his communion scarcely crosses the sea? Yet, my brothers, what shall I say to them? Suspect what you wish about us. If we are good, we are wheat in the Church of Christ: if we are bad, we are chaff in the Church of Christ, yet we do not withdraw from the threshing-floor. You who by the wind of temptation flew outside, what are you? The wind does not take the wheat from the threshing-floor. From the very fact, then, of where you are, recognize what you are.

20. But who are you, he says, who speak so much against us? Whoever I am, attend to what is said, not by whom it is said. But to the sinner, he says, the Lord says: Why do you take my testament into your mouth? (Ps 50:16 (49:16)) Let the Lord say this to the sinner: perhaps there is a kind of sinner to whom the Lord rightly says this; but to whatever sinner the Lord says this, he says it for this reason, that it does not profit the sinner when he speaks the law of God. Does it not profit the hearers too? Both kinds we have in the Church, the Lord saying so, both of the good and of the bad. For when the good preach, what do they say? Be imitators of me, as I too am of Christ (1 Cor 11:1). Of the good what is said? But be a pattern of the faithful (1 Tim 4:12). This we labor to be: but what we are, he knows to whom we groan. Of the bad, however, something else was said: Upon the seat of Moses the scribes and Pharisees have sat down; what they say, do; but what they do, do not do (Matt 23:2-3). You see that on the seat of Moses, which the seat of Christ succeeded, even bad men sit: and yet by speaking good things they do no harm to the hearers. Why have you, on account of the bad, forsaken the seat itself? Return to peace, return to the concord which does not offend you. If I speak good things, and do good things, imitate me: but if I do not do what I say, you have the counsel of the Lord; what I say, do; but what I do, do not do; yet do not withdraw from the catholic seat. Behold, in the name of Christ we are about to go, and they will say many things. What is the end? Quickly despise our cause. Say nothing to them except, Brothers, answer to the matter. Augustine is a bishop in the Catholic Church, he carries his own burden, he is to render account to God: I know him among the good; if he is bad, he himself knows it; if he is good, not even so is he my hope. This before all things I have learned in the Catholic Church, that my hope be not in man. Deservedly, then, you reprove men, because you have placed your hope in man. Surely when they reprove us, you too despise it. For we know what place we have in your heart, because we know what place you have in our heart. Do not contend for us against them. Whatever they say about us, pass over quickly: lest, laboring for the cause of our defense, you let go your own cause. For this they do craftily: unwilling and afraid that we should speak of the cause itself, they thrust at us things by which to call us away; so that, while we are intent on clearing ourselves, we may be silent about convicting them. For indeed, you who call me bad, I too say innumerable other things: quickly take it out of the way, finish my cause, deal with the matter, attend to the cause of the Church, see where you are. Let truth speak to you from wherever; hungering, receive it; lest bread never come to you, while, fastidious and slanderous, you always seek what to reprove in the little vessel.

Exposition of Psalm 37

1. Opportunely to what we sang, I declare my iniquity, and I will take care for my sin (Ps 38:18 (37:19)), this woman answered from the Gospel reading. For the Lord, looking on her iniquities, called her a dog, saying, It is not good to throw the children's bread to dogs (Matt 15:26). But she, who knew how to declare her iniquity, and to take care for her sin, did not deny what the truth said; but, confessing her misery, she rather obtained mercy, taking care for her sin. For she had asked that her daughter be cured, perhaps signifying in the daughter her own life. Attend, then, to the whole psalm, as much as we can, while we consider and treat it. May the Lord be present to our hearts, that we may here wholesomely find our voices, and, as we find them, bring them forth, neither finding them with difficulty, nor bringing them forth unskillfully.

2. [v. 1] Its title is, A psalm of David himself, for a remembrance of the sabbath (Ps 38:1 (37:1)). We seek what is written for us of holy David the prophet, from whose seed is our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh: and among the good things known to us about him through the Scriptures, we do not find that he ever remembered the sabbath. For why would he so remember it, according to that observance of the Jews by which they observed the sabbath; why would he so remember what necessarily came among the seven days? It was, then, to be observed, not so to be remembered. But no one remembers except what is not set in his presence. For example: in this city you remember Carthage, where you once were; and on today's day you remember yesterday's day, or that of a former year, or any earlier one, and some deed of yours which you have already done, or some place where you were, or some matter at which you were present. What does this remembrance of the sabbath mean, my brothers? what soul so remembers the sabbath? what is this sabbath? For with groaning he remembers it. And when the psalm was read, you heard, and now when we go over it again, you will hear how great the mourning is, how great the groaning, how great the weeping, what misery. But happy is he who is so wretched. Whence also the Lord in the Gospel called certain mourners blessed. Whence blessed, if mourning? whence blessed, if wretched? Rather he would be wretched if he were not mourning. Such a one, then, let us understand here too as remembering the sabbath, some mourner: and would that we ourselves were that "some one"! For there is a certain one grieving, groaning, mourning, remembering the sabbath. The sabbath is rest. Without doubt this man was in some unrest, who with groaning remembered rest.

3. [v. 2] He, accordingly, narrates and commends to God the unrest which he suffered, fearing something more grievous than was where he was. For that he is in evil, he says openly, and there is no need of an interpreter, nor of suspicion, nor of conjecture: in what evil he is, is not doubted from his words, nor is there need that we seek it, but that we understand what he says. And unless he feared something worse than that by which he was held, he would not so begin: O Lord, rebuke me not in your indignation, nor amend me in your wrath (Ps 38:1 (37:2)). For it will be that some will be amended in the wrath of God, and rebuked in his indignation. And perhaps not all who are rebuked will be amended: but yet some will be saved in amendment. It will be, indeed, because amendment is named: yet so, as it were, through fire. But there will be some who will be rebuked, and not amended. For surely he will rebuke those to whom he will say, I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me not drink: and the rest which there he pursues, rebuking a certain inhumanity and barrenness in the wicked set at the left, to whom it is said, Go into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41-42). Dreading these more grievous things, apart from this life, in whose evils he laments and groans, he asks and says, O Lord, rebuke me not in your indignation. Let me not be among those to whom you will say, Go into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. Nor amend me in your wrath: that in this life you may cleanse me, and render me such, that I no longer need the amending fire, on account of those who will be saved, yet so, as it were, through fire. Why? except because here they build upon the foundation wood, hay, stubble? But let them build gold, silver, precious stones, and they would be secure from both fires; not only from that eternal one which will torment the ungodly forever, but also from that which will amend those who will be saved through fire. For it is said, But he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (1 Cor 3:12-15). And because it is said, he will be saved, that fire is despised. So plainly, although saved through fire, yet that fire will be more grievous than whatever a man can suffer in this life. And you know how great things the wicked have suffered here, and can suffer: yet they have suffered as great as the good too were able to suffer. For what did any malefactor, robber, adulterer, criminal, sacrilegious man endure by the laws, which a martyr did not endure in the confession of Christ? These evils, then, which are here, are far easier: and yet see how, that men may not suffer them, they do whatever you command. How much better do they do what God commands, lest they suffer those more grievous things?

4. [v. 3] But why does he ask not to be rebuked in indignation, nor amended in wrath? As if saying to God: Since these things which I suffer are now many, are great, I ask that they may suffice. And he begins to enumerate them, satisfying God, offering those things which he suffers, lest he suffer worse: Because your arrows are fixed in me, and you have confirmed your hand upon me (Ps 38:2 (37:3)).

5. [v. 4] There is no health in my flesh from the face of your wrath (Ps 38:3 (37:4)). Now he was speaking of these things which he suffered here: and yet this now is of the wrath of the Lord, because it is of the vengeance of the Lord. Of what vengeance? Which he took from Adam. For it was not that he was not avenged on him, or that God had said in vain, You shall die the death (Gen 2:17): or that we suffer anything in this life, except from that death which we earned by the first sin. For indeed we carry a mortal body (which surely would not be mortal), full of temptations, full of anxieties, subject to bodily griefs, subject to wants, mutable, languid even when it is healthy, because surely it is not yet fully healthy. For whence did he say, There is no health in my flesh, except because that which is called the health of this life, to those who understand well and remember the sabbath, is surely not health? For if you do not eat, hunger disquiets you. This is a kind of natural disease: because nature has been made for us a punishment from the vengeance. What was a punishment to the first man, is nature to us. Whence the Apostle says, We too were by nature children of wrath, as also the rest (Eph 2:3). By nature children of wrath, that is, carrying the vengeance. But why does he say, We were? Because in hope we now are not: for in reality we still are. But we say better that which we are in hope, because we are certain of the hope. For our hope is not uncertain, that we should doubt of it. Hear that very glory in hope. In ourselves, he says, we groan, awaiting the adoption, the redemption of our body (Rom 8:23). What then? Are you not yet redeemed, O Paul? has the price not yet been paid for you? Has that blood not already been shed? is it not the very price of us all? Plainly it is. But see what he says: For in hope we have been saved: but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he hope for it? But if we hope for what we do not see, by patience we await it (Rom 8:24-25). But what does he await by patience? Salvation. The salvation of what thing? Of the body itself: because he said this, the redemption of our body. If he awaited the salvation of the body, that was not the salvation which he had. Hunger, thirst kills, if it is not aided. For the medicine of hunger is food, and the medicine of thirst is drink, and the medicine of weariness is sleep. Take away these medicines, see whether the things that exist do not kill. If, these being set aside, there are no diseases, there is health. But if you have something that can kill you, unless you eat; do not boast of health, but, groaning, await the redemption of your body. Rejoice that you are redeemed; but not yet in reality, in hope you are secure. For indeed, if you do not groan in hope, you will not come to the reality. This, then, is not health, he says: There is no health in my flesh from the face of your wrath. Whence, then, the arrows fixed? The very punishment, the very vengeance, and perhaps the griefs which here it is necessary to suffer, both of mind and of body, these he calls the arrows. For of these arrows holy Job too made mention, and when he was in those griefs, he said the arrows of the Lord were fixed in him. Yet we are wont to take the words of God too as arrows: but could this man so grieve to be struck by these? The words of God, like arrows, rouse love, not grief. Or is it that love itself too cannot be without grief? For whatever we love and do not have, we must grieve. For he both loves and does not grieve, who has what he loves: but he who loves, as I said, and does not yet have what he loves, must groan in grief. Hence that in the person of the Church, the bride of Christ in the Song of Songs: For I am wounded with love (Song 2:5). She said she was wounded with love: for she loved something, and did not yet hold it; she grieved, because she did not yet have it. Therefore if she grieved, she was wounded: but this wound carried her off to true health. He who has not been wounded with this wound cannot come to true health. Will he, then, always be wounded in the wound? We can, accordingly, take the arrows fixed thus too, that is, your words are fixed in my heart, and from those very words of yours it has come about that I remember the sabbath; and that very remembrance of the sabbath, and not yet the retaining of it, makes me not yet rejoice, and recognize that there is no health even in this flesh, nor ought it to be called so, when I compare this health with that health which I shall have in eternal rest, where this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality; and I see that, in comparison with that health, this health is a disease.

6. There is no peace for my bones from the face of my sins (Ps 38:3 (37:4)). It is wont to be asked whose voice it is; and some take it to be Christ's, on account of certain things here said about the passion of Christ, to which we shall come a little later, and we shall recognize that they are said about the passion of Christ. But There is no peace for my bones from the face of my sins, how would he say it who had no sin? The necessity of understanding constrains us, then, to recognize, as it were, the full and whole Christ, that is, head and body. For when Christ speaks, sometimes he speaks from the person of the head alone, which is the Savior himself, born of the Virgin Mary; sometimes from the person of his body, which is the holy Church, spread throughout the whole world. And we are in his body, if at least our faith in him is sincere, and our hope sure, and our love kindled: we are in his body, and his members, and we find ourselves speaking there, the Apostle saying, For we are members of his body (Eph 5:30); and in many places the Apostle says this. For if we say the words are not Christ's, then neither will those words be Christ's: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? For there too you have, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my transgressions; just as here you have, from the face of my sins; so there too you have, the words of my transgressions (Ps 22:1-2 (21:2-3)). And if Christ is surely without sin and without transgression, we begin to suppose that those words are not of that psalm. And it is very hard and contrary that that psalm should not pertain to Christ, where we have his passion so open, as if it were recited from the Gospel. For there we have, They divided my garments among them, and over my garment they cast lots (Ps 22:18 (21:19)). What of the fact that the Lord himself, hanging on the cross, brought forth with his own mouth the first verse of that very psalm, and said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matt 27:46) What did he wish to be understood, except that that whole psalm pertained to him, because he pronounced its head himself? But where it follows and says, The words of my transgressions, there is no doubt that it is the voice of Christ. Whence, then, the sins, except from the body which is the Church? Because the body of Christ and the head speaks. Why does it speak as one? Because they shall be, he says, two in one flesh. This sacrament is great, says the Apostle, but I speak in Christ and in the Church (Eph 5:31-32). Whence also, when he himself was speaking in the Gospel, answering those who had brought a question about putting away a wife, he said, Have you not read what is written, that God from the beginning made them male and female, and a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh? Therefore now not two, but one flesh (Matt 19:4-6). If, then, he himself said, Now not two, but one flesh; what wonder if one flesh, one tongue, the same words, as of one flesh, head and body? Let us so hear, as one: but yet head as head, and body as body. The persons are not divided, but the dignity is distinguished: because the head saves, the body is saved. Let the head display mercy, the body weep over its misery. The head is for cleansing, the body for confessing sins: yet one voice, where it is not written when the body speaks, when the head; but we, in hearing, distinguish; while he speaks as one. For why should he not say, of my sins, who said, I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me not drink; I was a stranger, and you took me not in; I was sick, and in prison, and you visited me not? Surely the Lord was not in prison. Why should he not say this, who, when it was said to him, When did we see you hungering and thirsting, or in prison, and did not minister to you? answered, that he had said this from the person of his body: When you did it not to one of these least of mine, neither did you do it to me (Matt 25:42-45)? Why should he not say, from the face of my sins, who said to Saul, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4)—he who surely in heaven was now suffering no persecutor? But as there the head spoke for the body, so here too the head speaks the voices of the body, even when you hear the voices of the head. But neither, when you hear the voices of the body, separate the head; nor, when you hear the voices of the head, separate the body: because now not two, but one flesh.

7. There is no health in my flesh from the face of your wrath (Ps 38:3 (37:4)). But perhaps God was angry at you unjustly, O Adam, O human race, God was angry unjustly! because you said, now recognizing your very punishment, now a man set in the body of Christ, There is no health in my flesh from the face of your wrath. Set forth the justice of the wrath of God: lest you seem to excuse yourself, and accuse him. Follow on, and say whence the wrath of the Lord. There is no health in my flesh from the face of your wrath: there is no peace for my bones. He repeated what he said, There is no health in my flesh: for this is, there is no peace for my bones. But he did not repeat, from the face of your wrath: but he stated the cause of the wrath of God: There is no peace, he says, for my bones from the face of my sins.

8. [v. 5] Because my iniquities have gone over my head, like a heavy burden they have been made heavy upon me (Ps 38:4 (37:5)). And here he put the cause first, and subjoined the effect; he said what, and whence it came: My iniquities have gone over my head. For no one is proud, except the unjust, whose head is lifted up. He is lifted up who raises his head against God. You heard, when the reading of the book of Ecclesiasticus was read, The beginning of a man's pride is to apostatize from God (Sir 10:12). That one who first was unwilling to hear the precept, his iniquity lifted up his head against God. And because his iniquities lifted up his head, what did God do to him? Like a heavy burden they have been made heavy upon me. It is of lightness to lift up the head, as though he carries nothing who lifts up the head. Because, then, what can be lifted up is light, he receives a weight by which he can be pressed down. For his labor is turned upon his head, and his iniquity descends upon his crown. Like a heavy burden they have been made heavy upon me.

9. [v. 6] My sores have putrefied and stunk (Ps 38:5 (37:6)). Now he who has sores is not healthy. Add that the sores themselves have putrefied and stunk. Whence did they stink? Because they putrefied. Now how this is to be explained in human life, who does not know? Let one have a sound sense of smell of the soul, he perceives how sins stink. To which stench of sins that fragrance was contrary, of which the Apostle says, We are the good fragrance of Christ to God, in every place, among those who are being saved (2 Cor 2:15). But whence, except from hope? Whence, except from the remembrance of the sabbath? For one thing we bewail in this life, another we presume on in that life. What is bewailed, stinks: what is presumed on, is fragrant. Therefore, unless there were that fragrance which invited us, we would never remember the sabbath. But because we have through the Spirit that very fragrance, so that we may say to our bridegroom, After the fragrance of your ointments we shall run (Song 1:3); we turn our smelling away from our own stenches, and, turning ourselves to him, we breathe again a little. But unless our evils too smell to us, we never confess with these groans: My sores have putrefied and stunk. Whence? From the face of my foolishness. Whence he said above, From the face of my sins: thence now, From the face of my foolishness.

10. [v. 7] I have been afflicted with miseries, and bowed down even to the end (Ps 38:6 (37:7)). Whence has he been bowed down? Because he was lifted up. If you are humble, you are raised up; if you are lifted up, you are bowed down: for there will not be lacking to God a weight by which to bow you down. That will be the weight, the burden of your sins: this will be folded back upon your head, and you will be bowed down. But what is it to be bowed down? Not to be able to raise oneself up. Such a woman the Lord found, for eighteen years bent: she could not raise herself up. Such are those who have their heart on the earth. But truly, because that woman found the Lord, and he healed her, let her have her heart above. Yet, insofar as she is bowed down, she still groans. For he is bowed down who says, For the body that is corrupted weighs down the soul, and the earthly dwelling presses down the mind that thinks of many things (Wis 9:15). In these things let him groan, that he may receive that other, let him remember the sabbath, that he may deserve to come to the sabbath. For what the Jews celebrated was a sign. A sign of what thing? Of that which this man remembers, who says, I have been afflicted with miseries, and bowed down even to the end. What is even to the end? Even to death. All the day I walked saddened. All the day, without intermission. This he means by all the day, all my life. But from when did he know it? From when he began to remember the sabbath. For as long as he remembers what he does not yet have, do you not wish that he walk saddened? All the day I walked saddened.

11. [v. 8] Because my soul is filled with illusions, and there is no health in my flesh (Ps 38:7 (37:8)). Where, then, is the whole man, is soul and flesh. The soul is filled with illusions, the flesh has no health: what remains whence there may be gladness? Ought he not to be saddened? All the day I walked saddened. Let there be sadness for us, until both our soul be stripped of illusions, and our body be clothed with health. For that is true health, which is immortality. But how great the illusions of the soul are, if I should wish to say it, when is there time enough? For whose soul does not suffer these? It is a brief thing I admonish, how our soul is filled with illusions. From the face of those very illusions, sometimes we are scarcely permitted to pray. We do not know how to think of bodies except images; and often there rush in those we do not seek, and we wish to go from this to that, and to pass from that to the other; and sometimes you wish to return to what you were thinking of, and to let go that from which you are thinking, and something else occurs to you: you wish to remember what you had forgotten; and it does not come into your mind, and rather something else comes which you did not wish. Where was that which you had forgotten? For why did it afterward come into mind, when it was no longer sought? But when it was sought, there occurred for it innumerable things which were not sought. I have spoken a brief matter, brothers: I have sprinkled something on you, by which, having received it, thinking of the rest yourselves, you may find what it is to bewail the illusions of our soul. It received, then, the punishment of illusion, it lost the truth. For as illusion is the punishment of the soul, so truth is the reward of the soul. But while we were set in these illusions, truth came to us, and found us covered with illusions, took up our flesh, or rather from us, that is, from the human race. It appeared to the eyes of the flesh, that through faith it might heal those to whom it was about to show the truth: so that, the eye being healed, the truth might be laid open. For he himself is the truth, which he promised us, when his flesh was seen, that faith might be begun, whose reward would be truth. For Christ did not show himself on earth, but showed his flesh. For if he showed himself, the Jews would see him and recognize him: but if they had recognized him, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. But perhaps the disciples saw him, when they said to him, Show us the Father, and it suffices us (John 14:8). And he, to show that he had not been seen by them, subjoined, So long a time am I with you, and you have not known me? Philip, he who sees me sees also the Father (John 14:9). If, then, they saw Christ, how did they still seek the Father? For if they saw Christ, they would see also the Father. Not yet, therefore, did they see Christ, who desired the Father to be shown to them. Hear that they did not yet see: he promised that as a reward in another place, saying, He who loves me keeps my commandments: and he who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him. And as if it were said to him: What will you give him, loving him? And I will show, he says, myself to him (John 14:21). If, then, he promised this as a reward to those who love him, that he will show himself to them; it is manifest that that vision of truth is promised us such, that, when it is seen, we shall no longer say, My soul is filled with illusions.

12. [v. 9] I have been weakened and humbled exceedingly (Ps 38:8 (37:9)). He who remembers the height of the sabbath, he himself sees how much he has been humbled. For he who cannot think what that height of rest is, does not see where he now is. Therefore another psalm said, I said in my ecstasy: I am cast away from before your eyes (Ps 31:22 (30:23)). For, his mind being taken up, he saw something sublime, I know not what; and what he saw, he was not yet wholly there: and by a certain, if it may be said, as it were flashing of the eternal light made, where he felt that he was not there—which he could in some way understand—he saw where he was, and how, by human evils, he had been weakened and confined: and he said, I said in my ecstasy: I am cast away from before your eyes. It is something such, what I saw in ecstasy, that from it I perceive how far off I am, who am not yet there. He was already there who said he was taken up into the third heaven, and there heard ineffable words, which it is not lawful for a man to speak. But he was recalled to us, that he might groan, first to be perfected in weakness, and so afterward be clothed with power: yet encouraged, because he saw something of those things, for the dispensation of his office, he added, saying, I heard ineffable words, which it is not lawful for a man to speak (2 Cor 12:2-4). Now, then, what need is there that you seek from me or from anyone the things which it is not lawful for a man to speak: if it was not lawful for him to speak, who was permitted to hear? Yet let us bewail and groan in confession, let us recognize where we are, let us remember the sabbath, and patiently await what he promised, who showed us in himself too an example of patience. I have been weakened and humbled exceedingly.

13. I roared from the groaning of my heart (Ps 38:8 (37:9)). You often notice servants of God interrupting with groans, and the cause is sought: and nothing appears but the groan of some servant of God; if at least it has reached the ears of a man set near him. For there is a hidden groan which is not heard by man: yet if so great a thought of some desire has occupied the heart, that the wound of the inner man is expressed with a clearer voice, the cause is sought; and a man says within himself: Perhaps it is that whence he groans, and perhaps that was done to him. Who can understand, except he in whose eyes and ears he groans? Therefore I roared, he says, from the groaning of my heart: because men, if ever they hear the groan of a man, often hear the groan of the flesh; they do not hear one groaning from the groaning of the heart. Someone has taken away his goods; he roared, but not from the groaning of the heart: another, because he carried out his son; another, because his wife; another, because his vineyard was hailed on, because his vat soured, because some man plundered his beast of burden; another, because he suffered some loss; another, because he fears a hostile man: all these roar from the groaning of the flesh. But the servant of God, because he roars from the remembrance of the sabbath, where is the kingdom of God, which flesh and blood shall not possess: I roared, he says, from the groaning of my heart.

14. [v. 10] And who recognized whence he was roaring? He subjoined, And all my desire is before you (Ps 38:9 (37:10)). For not before men, who cannot see the heart: but all my desire is before you. Let your desire be before him; and the Father who sees in secret will reward you. For your very desire is your prayer: and if the desire is continual, the prayer is continual. For not in vain did the Apostle say, Praying without intermission (1 Thess 5:17). Do we without intermission bend the knee, prostrate the body, or lift up the hands, that he should say, Pray without intermission? Or if we say we pray thus, this, I think, we cannot do without intermission. There is another, inner, prayer without intermission, which is desire. Whatever else you do, if you desire that sabbath, you do not intermit praying. If you do not wish to intermit praying, do not intermit desiring. Your continual desire is your continual voice. You will be silent, if you cease to love. Who were silent? Those of whom it was said, Because iniquity has abounded, the love of many shall grow cold (Matt 24:12). The coldness of love is the silence of the heart: the flagrancy of love is the cry of the heart. If love always remains, you always cry; if you always cry, you always desire; if you desire, you remember rest. And before whom your heart's roaring is, you ought to understand. Now what kind of desire ought to be before the eyes of God, consider. Is it that our enemy should die, which men desire as though justly? For sometimes we pray for what we ought not. Let us see what men pray as though justly. For they pray that someone may die, and that the inheritance may come to them. But even those who pray that their enemies may die, let them hear the Lord saying, Pray for your enemies (Matt 5:44). Let them not, then, pray this, that their enemies may die: but let them pray this, that they may be corrected; and their enemies will be dead; for, now corrected, they will not be enemies. And all my desire is before you. What if the desire is before him, and the groan itself is not before him? How can this be, when the desire itself has the groan as its voice? Therefore it follows: And my groaning is not hidden from you. From you it is not hidden, but from many men it is hidden. Sometimes a humble servant of God seems to say, And my groaning is not hidden from you. Sometimes a servant of God seems even to laugh: is that desire dead in the heart? But if the desire is within, the groan too is within: it does not always reach the ears of men, but it never withdraws from the ears of God.

15. [v. 11] My heart is troubled (Ps 38:10 (37:11)). Whence is it troubled? And my strength has forsaken me. Often something sudden rushes in; there comes a troubling of the heart: the earth trembles, thunder is given from heaven, a horrible onset or crash happens, a lion perhaps is seen in the way; there comes a troubling: robbers lie in wait; there comes a troubling of the heart, there is dread, anxiety is struck in from every side. Whence this? Because my strength has forsaken me. For if that strength remained, what would be feared? Whatever were announced, whatever raged, whatever sounded, whatever fell, whatever was dreadful, would not terrify. But whence that perturbation? My strength has forsaken me. Whence has strength forsaken? And the light of my eyes is not with me. The light of his eyes, then, had hidden itself from Adam. For the light of his eyes was God himself: whom, when he had offended, he fled to the shade, and hid himself among the trees of paradise. He dreaded the face of God, and sought the shade of the trees. Now among the trees he did not have the light of his eyes, in which he was wont to rejoice. If, then, he from the origin, and we from the propagation; and these members return to him, the second or latest Adam, because the latest Adam was made into a life-giving spirit; and they cry from his body in this confession, And the light of my eyes is not with me: now confessing, now redeemed, now in the body of Christ he is, and the light of his eyes is not with him? Plainly it is not with him: but it is indeed, as it were, of those still remembering the sabbath, as of those seeing in hope; but it is not yet that light of which it is said, I will show myself to him (John 14:21). There is something of light, because we are children of God, and surely we hold this in faith: but it is not yet that light which we shall see. For it has not yet appeared what we shall be: we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). For now it is the light of faith and the light of hope. For as long as we are in the body, we are pilgrims away from the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:6-7). And as long as we hope for what we do not see, by patience we await it (Rom 8:25). These, then, are the voices of pilgrims, not yet set in the homeland. And he rightly says, and truly says, and, if he is not deceitful, truthfully confesses: And the light of my eyes is not with me. These things a man suffers within, there with himself, in himself, and himself, from no one to no one but himself: these he has deserved to be his own punishment to himself, whatever he enumerated above.

16. [v. 12] But is this the only thing a man suffers? For he suffers from himself within, but from without from those among whom he lives: he suffers his own evils, and is forced to suffer the evils of others too. Hence are those two voices: Cleanse me from my hidden faults, O Lord, and from the faults of others spare your servant (Ps 19:12-13 (18:13-14)). Now he has confessed his own hidden things, from which he desires to be cleansed: let him speak also of the faults of others, from which he wishes to be spared. My friends. What shall I now say of enemies? My friends and my neighbors drew near against me, and stood (Ps 38:11 (37:12)). This which he says, they stood against me, understand. For if they stood against me, they fell against themselves. My friends and my neighbors drew near against me, and stood. Now let us understand the voices of the head, now let our head begin to dawn in the passion. But again, when the head has begun to speak, do not separate the body from it. If the head was unwilling to separate itself from the voices of the body, shall the body dare to separate itself from the passions of the head? Suffer in Christ; because, as it were, Christ sinned in your weakness. For just now he spoke your sins as if from his own mouth, and called them his own. For he said, From the face of my sins, which were not his. As, then, he willed our sins to be his on account of his body, so let us too will his passions to be ours on account of our head. For he did not suffer enemies from among friends, and we not. Rather let us too prepare for this, to feast at the same table: let us not refuse such a cup, that we may find, through his humility, the desire of his loftiness. For he answered those who wished to cling to his loftiness, while they did not yet consider his humility, and said to them, Can you drink the cup which I am to drink? (Matt 20:22) Therefore those passions of the Lord too are our passions: and each one, if he serves God well, keeps the faith well, displays what he owes, and conducts himself justly among men, I would see whether he does not suffer even what Christ here enumerates in his passion.

17. My friends and my neighbors drew near against me, and stood: and my neighbors stood far off (Ps 38:11 (37:12)). Which neighbors drew near, and which neighbors stood far off? The Jews were neighbors, because they were kinsmen: they drew near, both when they crucified him. The apostles too were neighbors: and yet they stood far off, lest they suffer with him. This can also be understood thus: My friends, that is, those who feigned themselves my friends. For they feigned themselves friends, when they said, We know that you teach the way of God in truth: when they wished to tempt him, whether tribute should be paid to Caesar, when he convicted them out of their own mouth, they wished to seem friends: but he did not need that anyone should bear him witness about man; for he himself knew what was in man: so that when they had spoken friendly words, he answered them, Why do you tempt me, hypocrites? (Matt 22:16-18) Therefore My friends and my neighbors drew near against me, and stood: and my neighbors stood far off. You know what I said. I said the neighbors drew near, and yet stood far off. For they drew near in body, but stood far off in heart. Who so near in body as those who lifted him onto the cross? Who so far off in heart as those who blasphemed? Hear that farness from the prophet Isaiah, see that nearness and farness: This people honors me with their lips: behold, it draws near in body: But their heart is far from me (Isa 29:13). The same near, the same far: near in lips, far in heart. Yet because the apostles, fearing, stood far off, we take it more freely and plainly of them, that we understand some to have drawn near, others to have stood far off: since Peter too, who had more boldly followed, was still so far off that, questioned and disturbed, he denied the Lord three times, with whom he had promised he would die. He afterward, that from far off he might become near, heard after the resurrection, Do you love me? and said, I love you. And by saying it he drew near, who by denying had been made far, until by the threefold voice of love he loosed the threefold voice of denial. And my neighbors stood far off.

18. [v. 13] And they did violence who sought my soul (Ps 38:12 (37:13)). Now it is manifest who sought his soul: those who did not have his soul, because they were not in his body. Those who sought his soul were far from his soul: but they sought to kill it. For his soul is sought also for good. For in another place he reproaches certain ones, saying, And there is no one who seeks my soul (Ps 142:4 (141:5)). He reproaches some not seeking his soul, and again he reproaches others seeking his soul. Who is it that seeks his soul well? He who imitates his passions. Who are they who sought his soul badly? Those who did him violence, and crucified him.

19. It follows: Those who sought my evils spoke vanity (Ps 38:12 (37:13)). What is Those who sought my evils? They sought many, and did not find them. Perhaps he says this: They sought my crimes. For they sought what they might say against him, and did not find. For they sought evils from the good, they sought crimes from the innocent: when would they find them in one who had no sin? But because they sought sins in one who had no sin, it remained that they should feign what they did not find. Therefore: Those who sought my evils spoke vanity, not truth. And they meditated deceit all the day: that is, they meditated falsehood without ceasing. You know how many false witnesses were spoken against the Lord, before he suffered. You know how many false witnesses were spoken, even when he had risen. For those soldiers, guards of the tomb, of whom Isaiah said, I will set the wicked for his burial (Isa 53:9) (for they were wicked, and were unwilling to speak the truth, and, corrupted, sowed a lie): attend to what vanity they spoke. They too were questioned, and said, While we slept, his disciples came, and took him away (Matt 28:13). This is to speak vanity. For if they were sleeping, whence did they know what had been done?

20. [vv. 14-15] Therefore he says: But I, like a deaf man, was not hearing (Ps 38:13 (37:14)). He who did not answer to the things he heard, was as one not hearing. But I, like a deaf man, was not hearing: and like a mute man not opening his mouth. And he repeats the same: And I became like a man not hearing, and not having in his mouth retorts. As though there were nothing for him to say to them, as though there were nothing whence he might rebuke them. Had he not already before rebuked many things, said many things, and said, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites (Matt 23:13), and many such things? Yet when he suffered, he said none of these: not because he had nothing to say, but he awaited that they should fulfill all things, and that all the prophecies about him should be fulfilled, of whom it had been said, And like a sheep before its shearer without voice, so he opened not his mouth (Isa 53:7). It behooved him, then, to be silent in the passion, who was not to be silent in the judgment. For he had come to be judged, who would afterward come to judge: and therefore to judge with great power, because he was judged with great humility.

21. [v. 16] Because in you, O Lord, I have hoped; you will hear, O Lord my God (Ps 38:15 (37:16)). As if it were said to him: Why did you not open your mouth? why did you not say, Spare me? why, hanging on the cross, did you not rebuke the wicked? It follows and says, Because in you, O Lord, I have hoped; you will hear, O Lord my God. He has admonished you what to do, if perhaps tribulation should come upon you. For you seek to defend yourself, and perhaps no one accepts your defense. Now you are perturbed, as though you had lost your cause, because you have no one's defense or testimony. Guard within your innocence, where no one oppresses your cause. False witness has prevailed against you, but among men: will it prevail with God, where your cause is to be pleaded? When God is the judge, there will be no other witness than your conscience. Between the just judge and your conscience fear nothing but your cause: if you have not a bad cause, you will dread no accuser, you will refute no false witness, you will seek no true one. Only bring a good conscience, that you may be able to say, Because in you, O Lord, I have hoped; you will hear, O Lord my God.

22. [v. 17] Because I said: Lest at any time my enemies exult over me, and while my feet are shaken, they spoke great things against me (Ps 38:16 (37:17)). Again he returns to the weakness of his body, and again that head attends to his feet: it is not so in heaven, that he forsakes what he has on earth: he attends plainly, and sees us. For sometimes, as this life is, our feet are shaken, and they slip in some sin: there rise up the most worthless tongues of enemies. From this, then, we understand, even when they were silent, what they sought. The unmerciful then speak harshly, rejoicing that they have found what they ought to have grieved over. And I said: Lest at any time my enemies insult over me. I said this, and yet perhaps for amendment you made them speak great things about me, while my feet were shaken, that is, they were lifted up, they said many evil things, when I was shaken. For they ought to have had mercy on the weak, not to insult; as the Apostle says, Brothers, if a man be overtaken in some fault, you who are spiritual instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness. And he embraces why: looking, he says, to yourself, lest you too be tempted (Gal 6:1). These men were not such as those of whom he says, And while my feet were shaken, they spoke great things against me: but they were such as those of whom he says elsewhere, Those who press me will exult if I am moved (Ps 13:4 (12:5)).

23. [v. 18] Because I am ready for scourges (Ps 38:17 (37:18)). Altogether magnificently, as though he said: For this I was born, to bear scourges. For he would not be born except of Adam, to whom scourges are owed. But sometimes sinners in this life are either not scourged, or scourged less; because their intention is now despaired of. But those for whom eternal life is prepared, must be scourged here; because that saying is true: Son, do not fail in the discipline of the Lord, nor be wearied when you are rebuked by him: for whom the Lord loves, he chastises; but he scourges every son whom he receives (Heb 12:5-6; Prov 3:11-12). Therefore let not my enemies insult, let them not speak great things: and if my Father scourges me, I am ready for scourges; because an inheritance is being prepared for me. You do not wish the scourge, the inheritance is not given to you. For every son must be scourged. So far is every one scourged, that he spared not even him who had no sin. Because I am ready for scourges.

24. [vv. 18-19] And my grief is before me always (Ps 38:17 (37:18)). What grief? Perhaps over the scourge. And truly, my brothers, truly I say to you, men grieve over their scourges; why they are scourged they do not grieve. This man was not so. Hear, my brothers: When someone suffers a loss, he is more inclined to say, "I have suffered undeservedly," than to consider why he has suffered; grieving over the loss of money, not over the loss of justice. If you have sinned, grieve for your inner treasure: you have nothing in the house, but perhaps you are emptier in heart: but if the heart is full of its own good, of your God; why do you not say, The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so has it been done; blessed be the name of the Lord? Whence, then, did this man grieve? over the scourge by which he was scourged? Far be it. And my grief, he says, is before me always. And as if we said, what grief? whence the grief? Because I declare my iniquity, and I will take care for my sin (Ps 38:18 (37:19)). Behold whence the grief. Not grief over the scourge: over the wound, not over the medicine. For the scourge is a medicine against sins. Hear, brothers: we are Christians; and yet very often, if anyone's son dies, he bewails him; if he sins, he does not bewail him. Then he would bewail, then he would grieve, when he saw him sinning; then he would set a limit, then teach a norm of living, give discipline: or if he did, and the son did not hear, then he was to be bewailed; then worse off, dead, living dissolutely, than ending dissoluteness by dying: then, therefore, when he was doing these things in your house, he was not only dead, but also stank. These things are to be grieved over, those are to be endured: those to be borne, these to be bewailed. And to be bewailed, as you heard this man bewail: Because I declare my iniquity, and I will take care for my sin. Do not be secure, when you have confessed your sin, as though always prepared to confess and to commit the sin. So declare your iniquity, that you take care for your sin. What is it, to take care for your sin? To take care for your wound. If you said, "I will take care for my wound"; what would be understood, except, "I will give effort that it be healed"? For this is to take care for a fault, always to strive, always to attend, always studiously and diligently to act so that you heal the sin. Behold, from day to day you bewail your sin, but perhaps the tears run, and the hands are idle. Let alms be given, let sins be redeemed, let the needy rejoice over your gift, that you too may rejoice over the gift of God. He is in need, you too are in need: he is in need toward you, you too are in need toward God. You despise one who is in need of you, will God not despise you who are in need of him? Therefore fill the want of the needy, that God may fill your inner parts. This is: I will take care for my sin, I will do all things whatsoever are to be done, to abolish and heal my sin. And I will take care for my sin.

25. [v. 20] But my enemies live (Ps 38:19 (37:20)). It is well with them, they rejoice in the happiness of the world, where I labor, and roar from the groaning of my heart. How do his enemies live, since he already said of them that they spoke vanity? Hear too in another psalm: Whose sons are like new plants established. But above he had said, Whose mouth has spoken vanity, their daughters adorned like the likeness of a temple; their storehouses full, overflowing from this into that; their oxen fat; their sheep fruitful, multiplying in their goings forth: there is no breach of the hedge, nor cry in their streets. Therefore my enemies live: this is life, this they praise, this they love, this they have to their own harm. For what follows? They called blessed the people that has these things. But what of you, who take care for your sin? what of you, who declare your iniquity? Blessed, he says, is the people whose God is the Lord himself (Ps 144:13-15 (143:13-15)). But my enemies live: and they have been confirmed over me, and those who hate me unjustly have been multiplied. What is, who hate me unjustly? They hate one who wishes them good. Who, if they returned evil for evil, would not be good; who, if they returned not good for good, would be ungrateful: but they return evil for good who hate unjustly. Such were the Jews: Christ came to them with good things, they returned to him evil for good. Beware of this evil, brothers: it creeps in quickly. Because we said, The Jews were such: let not each one of you suppose himself far exempted. Let some brother of yours rebuke you, wishing you good; you hate him, and you are such. And see how quickly it happens, how easily: and avoid so great an evil, so nimble a sin.

26. [v. 21] They slandered me who repay evil for good, because I followed after justice (Ps 38:20 (37:21)). For this reason, evil for good. What is, I followed after justice? I did not let go: lest perhaps you should always understand "persecution" in an evil sense, he said followed after, followed completely: Because I followed after justice. And hear our head wailing in the passion: And they cast me away, the beloved, like an abominated dead man. It was too little to say dead, why abominated? Because crucified. For this death of the cross was a great abomination among them, they not understanding that it was said in prophecy, Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree (Deut 21:23; Gal 3:13). For he himself did not bring death, but found it here propagated from the curse of the first man: and, taking up that same death of ours, he hung on the tree the death which had come from sin. Therefore, lest some should think, as certain heretics think, that our Lord Jesus Christ had a false flesh, and did not loose a true death on the cross; the prophet intended this, and said, Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree. He showed, then, that the Son of God too died a true death, which was owed to mortal flesh: lest, it not being a curse, you should think him not truly dead. But because that death was not false, but had descended from that propagation which had come from the curse, when God said, You shall die the death (Gen 2:17): altogether, because a true death reached even to him, that a true life might reach to us; even the curse of death reached to him, that the blessing of life might reach to us. And they cast me away, the beloved, like an abominated dead man.

27. [v. 22] Forsake me not, O Lord my God; depart not from me (Ps 38:21 (37:22)). Let us say it in him, let us say it through him; for he himself intercedes for us: and let us say, Forsake me not, O Lord my God. And yet he had said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? and he says, My God, depart not from me. If he does not withdraw from the body, did he withdraw from the head? Whose voice, then, was it, except the first man's. Therefore, from him, showing himself to bear true flesh, he says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? God did not forsake him. If he does not forsake you believing in him, would the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, forsake Christ? But he had transfigured in himself the person of the first man. We know, the Apostle saying, that our old man was crucified with him (Rom 6:6). But we would not be rid of our oldness, unless he were crucified in weakness. For he came for this, that we might be renewed in him: because by desiring him and imitating his passion we are renewed. Therefore it was the voice of weakness, it was our voice, by which it was said, Why have you forsaken me? Hence there it was said, The words of my transgressions: as though he said: These words from the person of the sinner were transfigured into me. Depart not from me.

28. [v. 23] Attend to my help, O Lord of my salvation (Ps 38:22 (37:23)). This is the salvation, brothers, the salvation about which the prophets inquired, as the apostle Peter says: and they did not receive who inquired; but they inquired and foretold, and we came and found what they inquired about. And behold, we too have not yet received; and there will be born after us, and they will find what they too will not receive, and will pass over: that all together, at the end of the day, with the patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles, may receive the denarius of salvation. For you know the hired men or laborers led at different times to the vineyard, yet they received the wage alike (Matt 20:1-16). The prophets, then, and the apostles, and the martyrs, and we, and those who will be after us even to the end of the world, at that very end are to receive everlasting salvation; that, contemplating the glory of God, and beholding his face, we may praise him forever, without failing, without any punishment of iniquity, without any perversity of sin, praising God, and no longer sighing, but cleaving to him for whom even to the end we sighed, and in hope we rejoiced. For in that city we shall be, where our good is God, our light is God, our bread is God, our life is God: whatever is our good, away from which, as pilgrims, we labor, in him we shall find it. In him will be the rest, which now, remembering, we must grieve over. For we remember that sabbath, in whose remembrance so great things have been said, and we ought to say so great things, and, saying them, never to be silent, not with the mouth, but with the heart: because we are so silent with the mouth that we may be able to cry out with the heart.

Exposition of Psalm 38

1. [v. 1] The title of this psalm, which we just now sang and have undertaken to treat, is: To the end, for Jeduthun, a Canticle of David himself (Ps 39:1 (38:1)). The voices, then, of a certain man, who is called Jeduthun, are to be awaited and heard: and if each one of us can be Jeduthun, in what he sings he finds himself, and hears himself. For you may see who was called Jeduthun according to the ancient birth of men: but let us hear what this name is interpreted, and in the very interpretation of the name let us seek the understanding of truth. As, then, inquiring, we have been able to find in those names which have been interpreted for us from the Hebrew tongue into Latin by students of the divine letters, Jeduthun is interpreted, "Leaping over them." Who, then, is this one leaping over? or whom did he leap over? because "Leaping over" is not set down bare; but, "Leaping over them." For does he sing by leaping over, or leap over by singing? Whether he sings by leaping over, or leaps over by singing, yet a Canticle of one leaping over we sang a little before: whether we too are leaping over, let God see, to whom we sang. But if anyone sang leaping over, let him rejoice that he is what he sang: but if anyone sang still cleaving to the earth, let him desire to be what he sang. For certain ones cleaving to the ground, bent toward the earth, thinking of the things that are lowest, placing their hope in passing things, this one leaped over who is called "Leaping over them." For whom did he leap over, but those remaining?

2. You know that certain psalms are entitled "A Canticle of degrees": and there indeed, in the Greek tongue, it is evident enough what anabathmoi means. For anabathmoi are degrees, but of those ascending, not descending. The Latin, because it could not say it properly, said it generally: and since it called them degrees, it left it ambiguous whether they were of those ascending or descending. But because there are no speeches nor discourses whose voices are not heard, the preceding tongue expounds the following; and what was ambiguous in one is made certain in another. As, then, there one ascending sings, so here one leaping over. But this ascent and this leaping over is not with feet, not with ladders, not with wings; and yet, if you attend to the inner man, both with feet, and ladders, and wings. For if not with feet, how does the inner man say, Let not the foot of pride come to me (Ps 36:11 (35:12))? If not with ladders, what are those which Jacob saw, where there were angels ascending and descending (Gen 28:12)? If not with wings, who is it that says, Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly, and rest? (Ps 55:6 (54:7)) But in bodily things feet are one thing, ladders another, wings another. But within, both feet, and ladders, and wings are the affections of a good will. With these let us walk, with these let us ascend, with these let us fly. When, then, anyone hears this man leaping over, and chooses to imitate him, let him not seek by lightness of body to leap over ditches, or to fly over by leaping some rather lofty things: but, as far as it pertains to bodies, I say: for he leaps over ditches too. Things burned with fire and dug out, which shall perish at the rebuke of your countenance (Ps 80:16 (79:17)). For what are the things burned with fire and dug out, which shall perish at the rebuke of the Lord, but sins? Burned with fire are those which evil-burning cupidity makes: and dug out are those which evil-lying timidity makes. For hence are all sins, either by coveting, or by fearing. Let this man, then, leap over all things by which he could be held on the earth: let him raise his ladders, let him put forth his wings, let him see whether anyone here recognizes himself: rather indeed, in the grace of the Lord many recognize themselves, who perhaps, now holding the world cheap, and all the things that delight in the world, choose to live rightly, while here they live in certain spiritual joys. And whence will these be to those still walking upon the earth, except from the divine words, from the word of God, from some parable of the Scriptures searched out and investigated, from the sweetness of the finding, which the labor of the inquiry preceded? There are certain holy and good delights in books. For they are not in gold and silver, in feasts and luxury, in hunting and fishing, in play and jest, in theatrical trifles, in the affecting and grasping of ruinous honors; for there are no true joys in all these, and in these books there are none: rather indeed let that soul leaping over those lowest things, and delighted in these, say—because it says the truth and says it secure—The unjust have told me of their delights, but not as your law, O Lord (Ps 119:85 (118:85)). Let this Jeduthun still come, let him leap over those who delight in lowest things; and let him be delighted in these, and rejoice in the word of the Lord, in the delight of the law of the Most High. But what do we say? And from here too must one leap over to something else? Or does he have thus far where to leap over who desires to leap over? Let us rather hear his voices. For now this one leaping over seems to me to have dwelt in the words of God, and there to have learned these things, which we are about to hear.

3. [v. 2] I said: I will keep my ways, that I may not transgress in my tongue (Ps 39:1 (38:2)). You may believe that, by reading, discoursing, preaching, admonishing, rebuking, exhorting, when he was engaged in work, when he was exercised in certain human difficulties, a man acting among men, although now leaping over those who do not delight in these things (because it is difficult that anyone not slip and sin with the tongue, and he who has not sinned with the tongue, as it is written, he is a perfect man (Jas 3:2)) had perhaps said something to be repented of, and there had slipped from his mouth things which he would wish to recall, and could not. For not in vain is the tongue in a wet place, except because it slips easily. Seeing, then, how difficult it was, that a man should have the necessity of speaking, and in speaking should not say something which he would wish not to have said; and being affected with weariness from these sins, he sought to avoid such things. He suffers this difficulty, this one leaping over. Let him not judge me who is not yet leaping over: let him leap over, and experience what I speak; for then he will be both a witness and a son of truth. When, therefore, these things had happened to him, he had resolved not to speak, lest he say something which he would repent of having spoken. This his first words indicate: I said: I will keep my ways, that I may not transgress in my tongue. Keep, then, your ways, O Jeduthun, and do not transgress in your tongue: weigh what you are about to say, examine it, consult the inner truth, and so bring it forth to the outer hearer. You seek these things very often in the perturbation of affairs, in the occupation of minds, while the very weakness of the soul, which the body that is corrupted weighs down, both wishes to hear and to speak, to hear within, to speak without, sometimes, perturbed by the zeal of speaking, fails by the negligence of recognizing: and in these things says something which perhaps ought not to be said. Against these things silence is the better remedy. For the sinner stands, a sinner by a certain proper mark, someone proud and envious; he hears the one speaking, leaping over, he catches the words, he sets snares; it is difficult that he should not find something not said as it ought to have been said: nor by hearing does he pardon, but by envying he slanders. Against these this Jeduthun, leaping over them, had chosen to be silent; whence he sang thus: I said: I will keep my ways, that I may not transgress in my tongue. As long as I am caught by the slanderous, or am hunted, even if I am not caught: I will keep my ways, that I may not transgress in my tongue. Although I have leaped over earthly delights, although the flitting affections of temporal things do not catch me, although I now despise these lowest things, and rise to better ones; yet in those very better ones the delight of understanding before God suffices me: what need have I to speak things to be caught at, and to give an opening to slanderers? I said, then: I will keep my ways, that I may not transgress in my tongue. I set a guard to my mouth. Why this? On account of the godly, on account of the studious, on account of the faithful and the holy? Far be it. They hear in such a way that what they approve they praise: but what they disapprove among many things they perhaps praise, they give pardon rather than prepare slander. On account of whom, then, do you wish to keep your ways, that you may not transgress in your tongue, and set a guard to your mouth? Hear: While the sinner stands against me. He does not stand toward me, but stands against me. What shall I finally say, whereby I may satisfy? I speak of spiritual things to a carnal man, seeing and hearing without, deaf and blind within. For the animal man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14). But unless he were found animal, when would he slander? Blessed is he who tells the word to a hearing ear, not to the ear of a sinner standing against him. For such, many stood around and raged around, when he was led like a sheep to be slain, and like a lamb before its shearer, without voice, so he opened not his mouth (Isa 53:7). For what would you say to the swollen, the turbulent, the slanderous, the litigious, the wordy? What would you say, holy and godly, and leaping over them in religion: when, even to those gladly hearing, desiring to learn, gaping for the food of truth, eagerly receiving, the Lord too says, I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now (John 16:12)? And the Apostle: I could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal: yet not to be despaired of, but to be nourished. For it follows: As to little ones in Christ I gave you milk to drink, not food; for you were not yet able. Therefore say even now: But neither indeed are you yet able (1 Cor 3:1-2). Do not, then, hasten to hear what you do not grasp, but grow that you may grasp. So we address a little one, to be nourished in the bosom of mother Church with godly milk, and to be made fit for the food of the Lord's table. But what such thing should I say to a sinner standing against me, thinking or feigning himself fit for the things he does not grasp; so that when I have said it to him, and he has not grasped it, he should think not that he did not grasp it, but that I failed? Therefore on account of this sinner standing against me, I set a guard to my mouth.

4. [v. 3] And what followed? I became deaf, and was humbled, and was silent from good things (Ps 39:2 (38:3)). For this one leaping over suffers difficulty on a certain step, which he has now leaped over; and he seeks to leap over from there too, to avoid this difficulty. I feared to sin, so that I would not speak, that I might impose silence on myself; for this I had said: I will keep my ways, that I may not transgress in my tongue: and while I fear to speak lest I sin, I became deaf, and was humbled, and was silent from good things. While I too much fear lest I speak some evil things, I kept silent about all good things: I became deaf, and was humbled, and was silent from good things. For whence did I speak good things, except because I heard? For to my hearing you will give exultation and gladness (Ps 51:8 (50:10)). And the friend of the bridegroom stands, and hears him, and rejoices with joy because of the voice, not his own, but the bridegroom's (John 3:29). That he may say true things, he hears what he is to say. For he who speaks a lie, speaks of his own (John 8:44). Therefore this man suffered something sad and troublesome; and by this his confession he admonishes that what he suffered is to be guarded against, not imitated. For by fearing too much, as I said, lest he speak some things not good, he resolved to speak nothing even good: and because he resolved to be silent, he began not to hear. For you stand, if you are leaping over, you await to hear from God what you are to say to men: between rich God, and the needy man seeking what he may hear, you run between, leaping over, you who can both hear from here, and speak this way: if you choose not to speak this way, you will not deserve to hear from there: you despise the poor, you are despised by the rich. Have you forgotten that you are a servant, whom the Lord set over his household to give rations to his fellow servants? Why, then, do you seek to receive, what you are slothful to dispense? Deservedly, then, because what you had received you were unwilling to speak, you are hindered from receiving what you desired to receive. For you wished something, you had something: give what you have, that you may deserve to receive what you do not have. So, when I had, as it were, set a guard to my mouth, and had enjoined silence on myself, because I saw speech everywhere dangerous; there came to pass in me, he says, what I did not wish; I became deaf, and was humbled: I did not humble myself; but, was humbled. I became deaf, and was humbled, and was silent from good things. I began not to speak good things, while I fear lest I speak some evil things: and I reproved my own counsel. For I was silent from good things. And my grief was renewed. For from a certain grief which the slanderers and reprovers had inflicted on me, I had, as it were, rested in silence, and that grief which had been made by slanderers had ceased: but when I was silent from good things, my grief was renewed. I began to grieve more that I had kept silent about the things I ought to speak, than I had grieved that I had spoken the things I ought not to speak. My grief was renewed.

5. [vv. 4-5] And in my meditation a fire shall burn (Ps 39:3 (38:4)). My heart began to be restless. I saw the senseless, and I pined away, I did not rebuke; and as I thus kept silent, the zeal of your house consumed me. For I looked to my Lord saying, Wicked and slothful servant, you should have given my money to the bankers, and I, coming, would have exacted it with interest (Matt 25:26-27). And what follows, may God turn away from his dispensers: Let him be cast into the outer darkness, bound hand and foot, a servant, not an overthrower bent on destroying, but slothful in dispensing (Matt 25:30). What ought those to expect who have consumed with luxury, if those are condemned who have kept with sloth? In my meditation a fire shall burn. And set in this fluctuation of speaking and being silent, between those who are ready to slander, and those who long to be instructed, between the abundant and the needy, made a reproach to those who abounded, and a contempt to the proud, looking to those blessed who hunger and thirst for justice; laboring in both, afflicted in both; in peril lest he cast pearls before swine, in peril lest he not dispense rations to his fellow servants: in this heat he sought another, better place than this dispensation, in which a man so labors and is imperiled; and sighing toward a certain end, where he would not suffer these things, toward that end, I say, in which the Lord is to say to the good dispenser, Enter into the joy of your Lord (Matt 25:21): I spoke, he says, with my tongue. Amid these heats, amid these perils, amid these difficulties, because the law of the Lord so delights, that yet, on account of the abundance of scandals, the love of many grows cold: amid these heats, then: I spoke, he says, with my tongue. To whom? Not to the hearer whom I wish to instruct, but to the hearer-of-prayers by whom I wish to be instructed. I spoke with my tongue, to him from whom I hear within, if I hear any good thing, if I hear any true thing. What did you speak? Make known to me, O Lord, my end (Ps 39:4 (38:5)), he says. For I have leaped over certain things, and have come to certain things; and those things to which I came are better than those from which I leaped over: but there still remains what is to be leaped over. For we shall not remain here, where we suffer temptations, where scandals, where hearers and slanderers. Make known to me my end: the end which I lack, not the course which is at hand for me.

6. He means that end which the Apostle, running, beheld, and confessed about his own imperfection, beholding one thing in himself, seeking another elsewhere. For he says, Not that I have already received, or am already perfect, brothers, I do not reckon myself to have apprehended. And lest you should say: If the Apostle has not apprehended, have I apprehended? if the Apostle is not perfect, am I perfect? see what he does, attend to what he says. What, then, do you do, O Apostle? Have you not yet apprehended, are you not yet perfect? What do you do? to what action do you exhort me? what do you set before me to imitate and follow? But one thing, he says, forgetting the things that are behind, stretched out toward the things that are before, according to my intention I follow toward the prize of the supernal calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:12-14): according to intention, not yet according to arrival, not yet according to apprehension. Let us not slip back to where we have already leaped over, nor remain in the things to which we have already come. Let us run, let us be intent, we are on the way: and be not so secure about the things you have passed, as solicitous for those to which you have not yet come. Forgetting, he says, the things that are behind, stretched out toward the things that are before, according to my intention I follow toward the prize of the supernal calling of God in Christ Jesus. For he himself is the end. But one thing, this is that one thing: Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us (John 14:8). But one thing, which is also called one in another psalm: One thing I have asked of the Lord, this I will seek. Forgetting the things that are behind, stretched out toward the things that are before: One thing I have asked of the Lord, this I will seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. For what? That I may contemplate the delight of the Lord (Ps 27:4 (26:4)). For there I shall rejoice over a companion, I shall not fear an adversary: for there a fellow contemplator with me will be a friend, not a slanderer an enemy. This this Jeduthun desired, that it be made known to him while he was here, so that he might know what he lacked; and that he might not so much rejoice over those things to which he had come, as desire those to which he had not yet come; and, certain things being now leaped over, that he might not remain on the way, but be carried by desire into the supernal regions; until he who had leaped over certain things might leap over all, and from a certain besprinkling of the Lord's drops coming from the cloud of the Scriptures, might come like a stag to the fountain of life, and in that light see light, and be hidden in the countenance of God from the disturbance of men: where he would say: It is well, I want nothing further, I love all here, I fear no one here. A good desire, a holy desire. You who already have this, rejoice with us; and pray that we may have it perseveringly, lest amid scandals we fail. For we too ask this same thing for you. For it is not that we are worthy to pray for you, and you unworthy to pray for us. The Apostle commended himself to his hearers to whom he preached the word of God. Pray, then, for us, brothers, that we may both well see what is to be seen, and well say what is to be said. But this desire, I know, is in few: nor do they best understand me, except those who have tasted whence I speak. Yet we speak to all, both to those having such desire, and to those not yet having it: to those having it, that they may sigh with us in it; to those not having it, that they may shake off sloth, leap over lowest things, come to the sweetness of the Lord's law, not remain in the delights of the unjust. For many tell many things, and many praise many things, the unjust unjust things. And truly those unjust things too have a delight, but not as your law, O Lord. Let those, then, say with us who believe that we too say these things. For this business is within, it can be shown by no words. But let him who does this believe that it is in another too: let him not think that he alone has received what is of God. Let Jeduthun, then, say in these things: Make known to me, O Lord, my end.

7. And the number of my days, which is (Ps 39:4 (38:5)). I seek the number of my days which is. So I can say, so I can understand, a number without number, just as years without years can be spoken of. For where there are years, there is, of course, as it were a number; and yet: You are the very same, and your years shall not fail (Ps 102:27 (101:28)). Make known to me the number of my days, but that which is. What then? Is this number in which you are, not? Plainly, if I attend well, it is not: if I cleave to it, it as it were is; if I leap over it, it is not: if, shaking myself from these things, I contemplate the supernal, if I compare the passing things with those that remain, I see what is true: but what seems to be more than it is? Shall I say that these are my days? These, I say, shall I say are days; and shall I rashly give so great a word to this course of falling things? So, then, I myself, failing, almost am not, that there has slipped from me who said, I am who am (Exod 3:14). Is there, then, any number of days? Truly there is, and it is without end. But in these days I shall say there is something, if I hold the day about which you ask me whether it is: that you may at least ask me, hold that whence you ask me. Do you hold this day? If you held yesterday, you hold today too. But yesterday, you say, I do not hold, because it now is not: but this one in which I am, and which is with me, I hold. So, then, has it slipped from you how much of it has passed since the first light? Did not this day begin from the first hour? Give me its first hour? give me also its second; for perhaps it too has flown away. The third, you say, I will give you: for perhaps in it we now are. Surely, then, these days exist, and there is a third day: and if you will give the third, you will give not a day, but an hour. Yet not even this do I grant you, if you have somehow leaped over these things with me. Give me at least the third hour, give me the very one in which you are. For if something of it has already passed, and something of it still remains; neither what has passed can you give me, because it now is not; nor what remains, because it not yet is. What will you give me of this hour, which is now being transacted? What will you give me of that to which I may commit this word, that I may say, It is? When you say the very "It is," surely it is one syllable, and is one moment, and the syllable has three letters: in the very stroke you do not reach the second letter of this word, unless the first is finished; the third will not sound, unless the second too has passed. What will you give me of this one syllable? And do you hold days, who do not hold one syllable? With moments flying away all things are snatched off, a torrent of things flows; of which torrent he who is on the way drank for us, who has now exalted his head (Ps 110:7 (109:7)). These days, then, are not: they almost go before they come; and when they have come, they cannot stand: they join themselves, they follow each other, and do not hold themselves. Nothing is recalled from the past: what is to come is awaited as about to pass; it is not yet had, while it has not come; it is not held, when it has come. The number, then, of my days which is: not this one which is not, and which more difficultly and dangerously disturbs me, both is and is not; nor can we say that to be which does not stand, nor that not to be which comes and passes. I seek that simple "Is": I seek the true "Is": I seek the genuine "Is": that "Is" which is in that Jerusalem the bride of my Lord, where there will be no death, there will be no failing, there will be no passing day, but an abiding one, which is neither preceded by yesterday, nor driven on by tomorrow. This, I say, the number of my days which is, make known to me.

8. That I may know what is lacking to me (Ps 39:4 (38:5)). For this is lacking to me, laboring here; and as long as it is lacking to me, I do not call myself perfect: as long as I do not receive this, I say, Not that I have already received, or am already perfect; but I follow toward the prize of the supernal calling of God (Phil 3:12-14): this I shall receive as the reward of my course. A certain dwelling will be the end of the running; and in that dwelling a homeland without pilgrimage, without sedition, without temptation. Therefore: Make known to me this number of my days which is, that I may know what is lacking to me; because I am not yet there: lest I be proud of that in which I now am, so that I be found in him not having my own justice. For in comparison with that which is, attending to these things which are not so, and seeing more to be lacking to me than present to me, I shall be more humble from what is lacking, than more lifted up from what is present. For those who think they have something while they live here, by being proud do not receive what is lacking; because they think great what is present: for he who thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, seduces himself (Gal 6:3). Nor are these great for this reason: for inflation and swelling imitate greatness, but do not have health.

9. [v. 6] Now, then, this one leaping over, doing something hidden in the heart, which no one knows except him who likewise does it; as though, his end being made known to him, obtaining what he asked, the number of his days being made known to him, not that which passes, but that which is, attends to these things which he leaped over, and compares them with the higher knowledge: and as if you should say to him: Why did you desire the number of your days which is? for what do you say of these days? attending to that other, he says these things: Behold, you have set my days old (Ps 39:5 (38:6)). For these grow old, I want new ones, new ones never growing old; so that I may say, The old things have passed away, behold they have become new: now in hope, then in reality. For, renewed by faith and hope, how many old things do we still do? For we are not so clothed with Christ that we now bear nothing from Adam. See the Adam growing old, and Christ being renewed in us: And though, he says, our outer man is corrupted, yet the inner is renewed from day to day (2 Cor 4:16). Therefore, attending to sin, to mortality, to the times flying past, to groaning and labor and sweat, to ages succeeding, not remaining, passing without our perceiving it from infancy to old age, attending to these things, let us see here the old man, the old day, the old song, the Old Testament: but turned to the inner man, to the things that are to be renewed, in place of those that will be changed, let us find the new man, the new day, the new song, the New Testament; and so let us love this newness, that we may not there fear oldness. Now, then, in this course we pass from the old to the new: that very passage is transacted when the outer things are corrupted, and the inner renewed; until even this very thing which is outwardly corrupted, pays its debt to nature, comes to death, and this too is renewed in the resurrection. Then truly all things will become new, the rest which are now in hope. You do something, then, now, by stripping yourself of old things, and running into new ones. Running, then, into new things, and stretched out toward the things that are before: Make known to me, O Lord, my end, and the number of my days which is, that I may know what is lacking to me. Behold, he still drags Adam, and so hastens to Christ. Behold, he says, you have set my days old. Old days from Adam, those old days you have set: they grow old daily; and so grow old, that sometime they are even consumed. And my substance is as nothing before you. Before you, O Lord, my substance is as nothing, before you who see this: and I, when I see this, see it before you, before men I do not see it. For what shall I say? with what words shall I show that what I am is nothing in comparison with that which is? But it is said within, it is somehow felt within. Before you, O Lord, where your eyes are, not where the eyes of men are: what, where your eyes are? My substance is as nothing.

10. Yet all things are vanity, every man living. Yet: for what was he saying? Behold now I have leaped over all mortal things, and despised the lowest, trampled earthly things, ascended to the delight of the law of the Lord, fluctuated in the dispensation of the numbers of the Lord's days, desired even that end, of which there is no end; I desired the number of my days which is, because the number of these days is not; behold, I am now such, so great things have I leaped over, I so gape after the things that stand: Yet, such as I am here, as long as I am here, as long as I am in this world, as long as I carry mortal flesh, as long as human life on earth is a temptation, as long as amid scandals I sigh, as long as I fear lest I fall who stand, as long as both my evils and my goods are uncertain to me, all things are vanity, every man living. Every one, I say, both cleaving and leaping over, and Jeduthun himself still pertains to all vanity: because all things are vanity, and vanity of vanities: what abundance is there for a man in all his labor, with which he himself labors under the sun (Eccl 1:2-3)? Is Jeduthun too still under the sun? He has something under the sun, he has something beyond the sun. Under the sun he has to wake, to sleep, to eat, to drink, to hunger, to thirst, to flourish, to be wearied, to become a boy, to become young, to grow old, to have uncertain the things he desires and fears: all these things under the sun Jeduthun too has, even he who leaps over them. Whence, then, leaping over? From that desire: Make known to me, O Lord, my end. For this desire is beyond the sun, it is not under the sun. Under the sun are all visible things: whatever is not visible, is not under the sun. Not visible is faith, not visible is hope, not visible is love, not visible is kindness, not visible, finally, is that chaste fear remaining forever and ever. Having sweetness and consolation in all these things, Jeduthun, and conversing beyond the sun, because his conversation is in the heavens (Phil 3:20), from these things which he still has under the sun, groans; and he despises these and grieves, in those he burns which he desires. He spoke of those, let him speak also of these. You heard the things to be desired, hear the things to be despised. Yet all things are vanity, every man living.

11. [v. 7] Although in an image a man walks (Ps 39:6 (38:7)). In what image, except of him who said, Let us make man to our image and likeness (Gen 1:26)? Although in an image a man walks. For therefore although, because this image is something great. And this although, there followed yet: so that what you heard, although, is beyond the sun; but this which follows, yet, is under the sun; and that pertains to truth, this to vanity. Although, then, in an image a man walks: yet he is disturbed in vain. Hear his disturbance, and see whether it is not vain: that you may trample it, leap over it, and dwell in the heights, where this vanity is not. What vanity? He treasures up, and does not know for whom he will gather these things. O insane vanity! Blessed is he whose hope is the Lord, and who has not looked back to vanities and lying follies (Ps 40:4 (39:5)). I seem to you to be raving, greedy one, when I say these things: these words seem to you old wives' tales. For you, forsooth, a man of great counsel and great prudence, devise daily kinds of acquiring money, from business, from agriculture, perhaps also from eloquence, from the consulting of law, from military service, you add also from usury. A man of sense, you let pass nothing at all, whence coin upon coin, and in secret it may be more diligently scraped together. You plunder a man, you beware a plunderer; what you do you fear to suffer, and in that which you suffer you do not correct yourself. But you do not suffer: for you are a prudent man, you keep well, you not only gather well: you have where to put it, to whom to commit it, how nothing may perish of what you have gathered. I question your heart, I examine your prudence: Behold, you have gathered, behold, you have so kept it, that you can lose nothing of the things you kept; tell me for whom you keep it? I do not deal with you, I do not recall, I do not exaggerate whatever other evil the greed of your vanity has: this one thing I set forth, this I examine, which the occasion of the reading of this psalm gives me. Plainly you gather, you treasure up: I do not say: Lest perhaps while you gather, you be gathered: I do not say: Lest perhaps when you wish to be a plunderer, you be plunder: this I will say more openly; for perhaps, blind with greed, you have not heard or understood: I do not say, I say, Lest perhaps when you wish to be the plunderer of a lesser, you be the plunder of a greater. For you do not perceive that you are in the sea, nor discern the smaller fish devoured by the larger. I do not say these things, I do not say the difficulties and perils in the very acquiring of money, how great things they suffer who gather it, in how many things they are imperiled, in almost everything they see death: I pass over all these. Plainly you gather with none contradicting, you keep with none taking away: shake out your heart, and so great a prudence by which you deride me, by which you think me foolish in speaking these things; and tell me: you treasure up; for whom will you gather these things? I see what you wish to say, as though what you wish to say has not occurred to him: you are about to say, For my children I keep it. This is the voice of piety, the excuse of iniquity: For my children, you say, I keep it. You keep it even for your children. Did Jeduthun, then, not know this? He knew it plainly, but he reckoned it among the old days, and therefore despised it; because he was hastening to the new days.

12. For behold, I examine you with your children: you keep, about to pass away, for those about to pass away, rather indeed passing away for those passing away. For I said you were about to pass away, as though you now remained. This very today: from when we began to speak even to this moment, you perceive that we have grown old. For you do not discern even the growth of your hairs; and now while you stand, while you are here, while you do something, while you speak, your hairs grow in you: for they did not suddenly grow, that you should seek a barber. The age, then, is transacted, flying away, both in those who understand, and those who do not perceive, and those badly occupied with other things. You pass, and you keep for your passing son. First I ask this of you: Do you know that the one for whom you keep it is going to possess it? or, if he is not yet born, do you know he is going to be born? You keep for your children, it is uncertain whether they are to be or to possess; nor do you lay up the treasure where it is to be laid up. For your Lord would not give such counsel to his servant, that he should lose his peculium. You are a servant with a peculium, of a certain great head of a household. What you love and what you have, he himself gave you, and he does not wish you to lose what he gave you, who will give even himself to you. But neither, I say, does he wish you to lose this which he gave you for a time. It is much, it overflows, it surpasses the strength of your need, it is now surely reckoned superfluous: nor do I wish you to lose this, says your Lord. And what do I do? Move it elsewhere; where you have put it is not a safe place. Surely you wish to serve greed: see lest perhaps my counsel agree even with greed itself. For you wish to have what you have, and not to lose it: I show you a place where you may put it. Do not treasure up on the earth, not knowing for whom you gather these things, and afterward how he is to consume it who will possess it, who will hold it. For perhaps, himself possessed, he will possess; and what he has from you he will not hold. Perhaps while you keep for him, before he comes you will lose it. To your solicitude I give counsel: Treasure up for yourselves treasure in heaven (Matt 6:20). If here on earth you wished to keep riches, you would seek a granary: perhaps you would not entrust it to your house, on account of your domestics: you would commit it to the bankers' street: for there a fall is difficult, a thief does not easily draw near, all things are well kept. Why do you think these things, except because you have nothing better where to keep it? What if I will give you something better? I will tell you: Do not commit it to this less suitable one, but there is a certain suitable one, commit it to him: he has great granaries, where riches cannot perish; he is great, rich above all the rich. Now perhaps you are about to say: And when do I dare to commit to such a one? What if he himself exhorts you? Recognize him, he is not only a head of a household, but is also your Lord. I do not wish, he says, my servant, that you lose your peculium, recognize where to put it: why do you put it there where you can lose it; where, even if you do not lose it, you cannot remain perpetually? There is another place, to which I will transfer you. Let what you have go before you; do not fear to lose it; I was the giver, I will be the keeper. This your Lord says to you: question your faith, see whether you are willing to believe him. You are about to say: I count as lost what I do not see, here I want to see it. While you wish to see it here, neither here will you see it, and there you will have nothing. You have I know not what treasures hidden in the earth; when you go forth, you do not carry them with you. You came to hear the sermon, to gather inner riches, you think of outer ones: have you brought them here with you? Behold, not even now do you see them. You believe you have at home what you know you put there: do you know you have not lost it? How many have returned to their homes, and not found what they had put there? At this perhaps the hearts of the covetous have trembled; and because I said many often returned to their home, and did not find what they had put there, each one said in his heart: Far be it, Bishop; wish good, pray for us; far be it that it happen, far be it that it be so; I trust in God, that what I put I find safe. You trust in God, and do not trust God himself? I trust in Christ, that what I put will be safe, no one will draw near, no one will take it away. You wish to be secure by trusting in Christ, that you lose nothing of your house: you will rather be secure by trusting Christ, so as to put it where he gave counsel. Or are you secure about your servant, and solicitous about your Lord? secure about your house, and solicitous about heaven? But I, you say, how do I put it in heaven? I have given you counsel: where I say, put it: how it may reach heaven, I do not wish you to know. Put it in the hands of the poor, give to the needy: what is it to you how it reaches there? Shall I not bring through what I receive? Or have you forgotten: When you did it to one of these least of mine, you did it to me (Matt 25:40)? If some friend of yours had certain pools or cisterns, and various receptacles of buildings for keeping some liquid, of wine or oil, and you sought where to hide or keep your fruits, and he said to you: I keep them for you: and he had to those receptacles certain hidden channels and passages, so that through these might go secretly what was poured openly: and he said to you: What you have, pour here: but you saw that this was not the place where you thought to put it, and you feared to pour it: would not he, who knew certain hidden contrivances of his places, say to you: Pour securely, from here it reaches there; you do not see by what way, but believe me, who built it? For he built, through whom all things were made, dwellings for us all: there he wishes what we have to go before, lest we lose it here on earth. But when you keep it on earth, tell me for whom you will gather it? You have children: count one more, and give something to Christ too. He treasures up, and does not know for whom he will gather these things: he is disturbed in vain.

13. [v. 8] And now: when, says this Jeduthun, looking back at a certain vanity, looking up at a certain truth, set in the middle, having something below him, something above him (below him he has what he leaped over, above him he has whither he stretches himself): And now, he says, when I have leaped over certain things, when I have trampled many things, when I am no longer held by temporal things; I am not yet perfect, I have not yet received. For in hope we have been saved: but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he hope for it? But if we hope for what we do not see, by patience we await it (Rom 8:24-25). Therefore: And now what is my expectation? is it not the Lord? (Ps 39:7 (38:8)) He himself is my expectation, who gave all these things which I despise: he himself will give me also himself, who is above all things, and through whom all things were made, and by whom I was made among all things, he himself is my expectation, the Lord. You see Jeduthun, brothers, you see how he waits. Let no one, then, call himself perfect here: he deceives himself, he beguiles himself, he seduces himself, he cannot have perfection here. And what does it profit, that he loses humility? And now what is my expectation? is it not the Lord? When he has come, he is no longer awaited; then will be that perfection: but now, however much Jeduthun has leaped over, he still waits. And my substance is before you always. Now advancing, now tending to him, and beginning somewhat to be: my substance is before you always. But this substance is also before men. You have gold, you have silver, slaves, estates, trees, cattle, servants; these can be seen even by men: there is a certain substance always before you. And my substance is before you always.

14. [v. 9] From all my iniquities deliver me (Ps 39:8 (38:9)). Many things I have leaped over, many things indeed I have leaped over: but if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). Many things I have leaped over; but still I beat my breast, and say, Forgive us our debts, as we too forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12). You, then, my expectation, my end: For the end of the Law is Christ, unto justice to everyone who believes (Rom 10:4). From all, not only from those, lest I roll back into the things I have leaped over: but from all altogether, on account of which I now say, beating my breast, Forgive us our debts. From all my iniquities deliver me: being thus wise, and holding what the Apostle says, As many of us, then, as are perfect, let us be of this mind. For when he said he was not yet perfect, there immediately following he said, As many of us, then, as are perfect, let us be of this mind. What is, As many as are perfect? Just before you had said, Not that I have already received, or am already perfect. Follow the order of the sayings. But one thing, forgetting the things that are behind, stretched out toward the things that are before, according to my intention I follow, toward the prize of the supernal calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:13-15). Therefore not yet perfect, because he follows toward the prize of the supernal calling of God, which he has not yet found, to which he has not yet come. But if he is not perfect, because he has not come there, which of us is perfect? Yet he follows and says, As many of us as are perfect, let us be of this mind. Are you not perfect, O Apostle, and we perfect? But has it slipped from you that he just now said he was not perfect? For he does not say: As many as are perfect, be of this mind; but: As many, he says, as are perfect, let us be of this mind: when a little before he had said, Not that I have already received, or am already perfect. Therefore you cannot here be perfect in any other way, except by knowing that you cannot be perfect here. This, then, will be your perfection, that you have so leaped over certain things, that you hasten to certain things; that you have so leaped over certain things, that there remains another to which, all things being transacted, you must leap over. This is the safe faith. For whoever thinks he has now arrived, sets himself on high, that he may fall.

15. Because, then, I am thus minded, because I call myself both imperfect and perfect: imperfect indeed, because I have not yet received something which I wish; but perfect, because I know this very thing that is lacking to me: because, then, I am thus minded, because I despise human things, because I do not wish to rejoice in perishing things, because I am derided by the greedy man boasting himself that he is prudent, and deriding me as though I were foolish, because I act thus, because I take this way: You have made me, he says, a reproach to the foolish (Ps 39:8 (38:9)). You willed me to live among them, to preach the truth among them, who love vanity; and I cannot but be derided by them: because we have been made a spectacle to this world, and to angels, and to men; angels praising, men reproaching: rather, both angels praising and blaming, and men praising and blaming. On the right and on the left we have arms, in which we war, through glory and ignobility, through infamy and good fame, as seducers and truthful (2 Cor 6:8). These among angels, these among men: because among the angels too there are holy angels, whom by living well we please; and there are prevaricating angels, whom by living well we displease: and among men there are holy men, to whom our life is pleasing; there are most worthless men, who deride our good life. And these are arms, those on the right, those on the left; yet both are arms: with both arms, both right and left, I use, both with those praising and those blaming, both with those bestowing honor and those inflicting ignominy: with both these arms I struggle with the devil, with both I strike him: with prosperous things, if I am not corrupted; with adverse, if I am not broken.

16. [vv. 10-11] You have made me, then, a reproach to the foolish. I became deaf, and did not open my mouth (Ps 39:9 (38:10)). But against the foolish I became deaf, and did not open my mouth. For to whom should I say what is transacted in me? For I would hear what the Lord God speaks in me, since he will speak peace to his people: but there is no peace for the ungodly, says the Lord (Isa 57:21). I became deaf, and did not open my mouth. Because you are he who made me. Did you therefore not open your mouth, because it is God who made you? It is wonderful. For did God not make your mouth for speaking? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? he who formed the eye, does he not see (Ps 94:9 (93:9))? God gave you a mouth for speaking: and do you say, I became deaf, and did not open my mouth: because you are he who made me? Or does Because you are he who made me pertain to the following verse? Because you are he who made me, remove from me your scourges. Because you are he who made me, do not destroy me: only strike me that I may advance, not that I may fail: only beat me that I may be brought forth, not that I may be broken in pieces. Because you are he who made me, remove from me your scourges.

17. [v. 12] From the strength of your hand I have failed in rebukes (Ps 39:10 (38:11)): that is, when you rebuked me, I failed. And what is your rebuking, except what follows? For iniquity you have chastened a man, and you have made my soul to pine away like a spider. It is much that this Jeduthun understands: if anyone understands with him, if anyone leaps over with him. For he says that in the rebukes of God he has failed, and wishes the scourges to be removed from him, since he himself is he who made him. He who made, let him himself remake; and he who created, let him himself recreate. But yet that he so failed, that he wished himself both to be recreated and reformed, do we think, brothers, it was done without cause? For iniquity, he says, you have chastened a man. The whole of what I failed, that I am weak, that I cry from the depth, this whole is for iniquity: and in this you have instructed, not condemned: For iniquity you have chastened a man. Hear this more plainly from another psalm: It is good for me that you have humbled me, that I may learn your justifications (Ps 119:71 (118:71)). And I was humbled, and it is good for me: and it is a punishment, and it is grace. What does he keep after the punishment, who through grace displays the punishment? For he himself is he of whom it was said, I was humbled, and he saved me (Ps 116:6 (114:6)): and, It is good for me that you have humbled me, that I may learn your justifications. For iniquity you have chastened a man. And that which is written, You who form grief in a precept (Ps 94:20 (93:20)), could be said to God only by one leaping over; because only by one leaping over could it be seen. You form, he says, grief in a precept, you make for me a precept out of grief. You shape my very grief: you do not leave it shapeless, but shape it: and my grief, shaped, inflicted by you, will be a precept to me, that I may be freed by you. For "you form," it was said, you form grief, you shape grief, you mould grief, you do not feign grief: as a craftsman forms, whence the potter too is named from forming. Therefore: For iniquity you have chastened a man. I see myself in evils, I see myself in punishment, and with you I do not see iniquity. If, then, I am in punishment and with you there is no iniquity, does it not remain that for iniquity you have instructed a man?

18. And how have you chastened? Tell the very instruction, O Jeduthun, how were you instructed? And you have made my soul to pine away like a spider. This is the instruction. What is more wasting than a spider? I mean the animal itself. Although, what is more wasting than the very webs of spiders? Attend to the animal itself, how wasting it is. Set your finger upon it lightly, it is ruin: nothing at all is more wasting. Such you have made my soul, he says, by instructing me for iniquity. When the instruction made me weak, a certain strength was a vice. I see that some have flown ahead, and understood: but the slower are not to be deserted by the swifter, that they may together take the way of the discourse. This I said, understand this: If the instruction of the just God made this weakness, a certain strength was a vice. By a certain strength a man displeased, that he might be instructed by weakness: because by a certain pride he displeased, that he might be instructed by humility. All the proud say they are strong. Therefore many conquered, coming from the east and the west, so as to recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven: why did they conquer? Because they were unwilling to be strong. What is, they were unwilling to be strong? They feared to presume on themselves: they did not establish their own justice, that they might be subjected to the justice of God. Finally, when the Lord said this: Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom, that is, the Jews, ignorant of the justice of God, and wishing to establish their own, shall go into the outer darkness; recall that faith of a certain Centurion, one from the people of the Gentiles, so weak in himself, so not strong, that he said, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. He was not worthy to receive Christ into his house, and had already received him in his heart. For that master of humility, the Son of man, had already found in his breast where to recline his head. To this word of the Centurion the Lord, looking back, said to those following him, Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel (Matt 8:8-11). This weak one he found, the Israelites strong he found, so that between the two he said, The healthy do not need a physician, but those who are ill (Matt 9:12). On account of this, then, that is, on account of this humility: Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom shall go into the outer darkness. Behold, you are mortal, behold, you carry rotting flesh, and like one of the princes you shall fall: like men you shall die, and shall fall like the devil. What does the medicine of mortality profit you? The devil is proud, as an angel not having mortal flesh: but you who have received mortal flesh, and not even this profits you, that you be humbled by so great weakness, like one of the princes you shall fall. This, then, is the first grace of the benefit of God, to reduce us to the confession of weakness, that whatever good we can do, whatever power we have, we may be in him: so that he who glories, may glory in the Lord. When I am weak, he says, then am I strong (2 Cor 12:10). For iniquity you have chastened a man: and you have made my soul to pine away like a spider.

19. Yet in vain is every man living disturbed (Ps 39:11 (38:12)). He returns to that which a little before he recalled: although here he advances, in vain is every man living disturbed: living, of course, in uncertainty. For who is secure even about his own good? He is disturbed in vain. Let him cast his care upon the Lord, upon him let him cast whatever he is solicitous about, let him himself nourish, let him himself guard. For what in this earth is certain, except death? Consider all things altogether, whether good or evil of this life, whether in justice itself, or in iniquity itself: what here is certain, except death? You have advanced: what you are today, you know; what you will be tomorrow, you do not know. You are a sinner: what you are today, you know; what you will be tomorrow, you do not know. You hope for money; it is uncertain whether it will come. You hope for a wife; it is uncertain whether you will receive her, or what kind you will receive. You hope for children; it is uncertain whether they will be born: they are born; it is uncertain whether they will live: they live; it is uncertain whether they will advance or fail. Wherever you turn, all things uncertain: death alone certain. You are poor; it is uncertain whether you will grow rich: unlearned; it is uncertain whether you will be instructed: feeble; it is uncertain whether you will recover. You are born; it is certain that you will die: and in this very thing, that death itself is certain, the day of death is uncertain. Amid these uncertain things, where death alone is certain, whose hour too is uncertain, and which alone is much guarded against, which in no way is avoided, every man living is disturbed in vain.

20. [v. 13] Therefore, amid these things now leaping over, now engaged in certain higher things, despising these lowest ones, set amid these: Hear, he says, my prayer (Ps 39:12 (38:13)). Over what do I rejoice, over what do I groan? Over the things transacted I rejoice, for the things that remain I groan. Hear my prayer and my supplication: with your ears perceive my tears. For is it that, because I have leaped over so great things, because I have transcended so great things, I now do not weep? Do I not much rather weep? For he who adds knowledge, adds grief (Eccl 1:18). The more I desire what is absent, do I not the more groan until it comes, the more weep until it comes? Is it not the more, the more scandals increase, the more iniquity abounds, the more the love of many grows cold? I say, Who will give water to my head, and to my eyes a fountain of tears? (Jer 9:1) Hear my prayer and my supplication: with your ears perceive my tears. Be not silent toward me. Let me not grow deaf forever. Be not silent toward me: let me hear you. For secretly God speaks, to many he speaks in the heart: and there is a great sound there in the great silence of the heart, when with a great voice he says, I am your salvation. Say, he says, to my soul: I am your salvation (Ps 35:3 (34:3)). By this voice, by which God says to the soul, I am your salvation, he desires not to be silent toward him. Be not silent toward me.

21. Because I am a sojourner with you (Ps 39:12 (38:13)). But with whom a sojourner? When I was with the devil, I was a sojourner, but I had a bad landlord: but now I am indeed with you, but still a sojourner. What is, a sojourner? Whence I am about to migrate, not where I am perpetually to remain. Where I am perpetually to remain, let it be called my house: whence I am about to migrate, I am a sojourner: but yet I am a sojourner with my God, with whom, a house being received, I am to remain. But what is the house, whither I must migrate from this sojourning? Recognize that house, of which the Apostle says, We have a dwelling from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Cor 5:1). If this house is eternal in the heavens, when we have come to it, we shall not be sojourners. For how will you be a sojourner in an eternal house? But here, where the master of the house is to say: Migrate, and you do not know when he is to say it, be ready. But by desiring the eternal house you will be ready. And do not be angry at him, because when he wills he says: Migrate. For he did not make a bond with you, and bind himself by a certain agreement, and you came as a renter of the house at a fixed rent for a fixed time: when your Lord wills, you are to migrate. For therefore you remain for free. Because I am a sojourner with you, and a pilgrim. Therefore there the homeland, there the house: a sojourner with you, and a pilgrim. And here too is understood, with you. For many are pilgrims with the devil: but those who have now believed and are faithful, are indeed pilgrims, because they have not yet come to that homeland and house, but yet they are with God. For as long as we are in the body, we are pilgrims away from the Lord: and we are eager, whether remaining here, or pilgrims, to be pleasing to him (2 Cor 5:6, 9). And a pilgrim and a sojourner: like all my fathers. If, then, like all my fathers, shall I say that I am not to migrate, when they have migrated? Am I to remain on another condition than they remained?

22. [v. 14] What, then, remains for me to ask, since hence without doubt I am to migrate? Forgive me, that I may be refreshed before I go (Ps 39:13 (38:14)). See, see, Jeduthun, what knots you have to be forgiven you, which forgiven, you wish to be refreshed before you go. For you have certain heats, from which you wish to be refreshed, and you say, Let me be refreshed; and you say, Forgive me. What will he forgive you, except perhaps that scruple where you say, and whence you say, Forgive us our debts (Matt 6:12)? Forgive me before I go, and I shall be no more. Make me free from sins before I go, lest I go with sins. Forgive me, that I may rest in my conscience, that it may be unburdened of the heat of solicitude: by which solicitude I take care for my sin. Forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before all things, before I go, and I shall be no more. For if you do not forgive me, that I may be refreshed, I shall go and shall not be. Before I go: whither if I go, I shall now not be. Forgive me, that I may be refreshed. A question has arisen, how he will now not be. Behold, does he not now go to rest? Which God turn away from Jeduthun! For Jeduthun will plainly go, he will go to rest. But suppose someone unjust, not Jeduthun, not leaping over; here treasuring up, brooding over his hoard, unjust, proud, boastful, lifted up, a despiser of the poor lying before his door: will he too not be? What is it, then, I shall be no more? For if that rich man was not, who is it who was burning? who is it who desired a drop of water to be dripped onto his tongue from the finger of Lazarus? who is it who said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus (Luke 16:24)? Surely there was one who spoke, and there was one who burned: and who rises again at the end, and who is condemned with the devil in eternal fire. What is it, then, I shall be no more, unless this Jeduthun look back at what it is to be, and not to be? For he saw that end, with what heart he could, with what edge of mind he was able, which he had desired to be shown to him, saying, Make known to me, O Lord, my end. He saw the number of his days which is: he attended that, below all the things that are, in comparison with that, to be, is not to be; and he said that he was not. For those things remain; these are mutable, mortal, fragile: and the grief itself eternal, full of corruption, for this is not ended, that it may be ended without end. He looked back, then, to that blessed region, the blessed homeland, the blessed house, where the saints are partakers of everlasting life and unchangeable truth: and he feared to go outside, where there is no being; desiring to be there, where there is the highest being. On account of this comparison, then, set between the two, still fearing, he says, Forgive me, that I may be refreshed before I go, and I shall be no more. For if you do not forgive me my sins, I shall go forever from you. And from whom shall I go forever? From him who said, I am who am: from him who said, Say to the children of Israel: He who is has sent me to you (Exod 3:14). From him, then, who truly is, he who goes to the contrary, goes to not being.

23. And so, my brothers, even if I have been burdensome to the labor of your body, bear it; because I too have labored: and truly I say, that this labor you make for yourselves. For if I perceived that you were wearied of what is said, I would quickly be silent.

Exposition of Psalm 39

1. All the things which our Lord Jesus Christ foretold, partly we know to have been done, partly we hope will be: yet all will be fulfilled, because the truth says these things, and as faithfully as it says them, so faithful ones it requires. He who believes, will rejoice when they come: he who does not believe, will be confounded when they come. Yet they will come, whether men are willing or unwilling, whether believing or not believing, as the Apostle says, If we deny him, he too will deny us: if we do not believe, he remains faithful, he cannot deny himself (2 Tim 2:12-13). Yet before all things, brothers, remember this brief thing, and hold what we just now all heard from the Gospel. He who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved (Matt 10:22). Now our fathers were delivered up to councils, they pleaded their causes before the enemies whom they loved; they showed them both as much correction as they could, and as much love as they were able: and the just blood was shed, and by that blood, as by a sowing made throughout the whole world, the harvest of the Church arose. But the time following is one of scandals and dissimulation and temptations, through those who say, Behold, here is Christ, behold, there (Matt 24:23). That enemy of ours was then a lion, when he openly raged: now he is a dragon, when he secretly lies in wait. But he to whom it was said, You shall trample the lion and the dragon (Ps 91:13 (90:13)), since we are his body and his members, as he trampled the lion openly raging by the feet of our fathers, and dragging the martyrs to passions, so now let him trample the dragon, lest he lie in wait for us. Of which dragon, making us cautious, the Apostle says, I have prepared you to present a chaste virgin to one husband, Christ: but I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his cunning, so too your minds be corrupted from the chastity which is in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 11:2-3). This serpent, then, the ancient adulterer, seeks the virginity to be corrupted, not of the flesh, but of the heart. But just as an adulterous man rejoices in his wickedness when he corrupts the flesh; so too the devil rejoices when he corrupts the mind. And as our fathers had need of patience against the lion, so we have need of vigilance against the dragon. Yet persecution, whether from the lion or from the dragon, never ceases for the Church: and he is more to be feared when he deceives, than when he rages. At that time he forced Christians to deny Christ; but at this time he teaches Christians to deny Christ: then he forced, now he teaches. Then, therefore, he brought in violences, now treacheries: then he seemed to roar, now slippery and wandering he is seen with difficulty. But how then he forced Christians to deny Christ, is open. For they were dragged to deny Christ, and confessing Christ they were crowned. But now he teaches them to deny Christ; and therefore he deceives, because he who is taught to deny Christ, seems to himself, as it were, not to withdraw from Christ. For now what is said by heretical men to a catholic Christian? Come, be a Christian. Is "be" said for this, that he may say: I am not? It is one thing, far different: Come, be a Christian; another: Come, deny Christ. An open evil, the roar of a lion, is heard from afar, guarded against from afar. The slippery dragon applies himself, the serpent creeping with hidden slidings, stealing up with a gentle trail, murmuring with a cunning hiss, and does not say: Deny Christ. For who would hear him, when the martyrs are crowned? But he says: Be a Christian. And that man, struck by the wonderful voice, if he is not yet penetrated by the poison, answers: I am plainly a Christian. But if he is moved, and is caught by the tooth of the dragon, he answers: Why do you say to me: Be a Christian? what then, am I not a Christian? And he: No. Am I then not? No. Then now make me a Christian, if I am not. Come. But when you begin to be questioned by the bishop what you are, do not say, I am a Christian, or I am a believer, but say that you are not, that you may be able to be. For when he has heard the confession of a faithful Christian, he does not dare to rebaptize: but when he has heard that he is not, he gives him, as it were, what he did not have; so that he himself may be, as it were, outside fault, because he acts according to his voice. Here I ask of you, heretic, why you think yourself outside fault. What do I hear by this voice? that you do not deny, but he denies? If he who denies has fault, what of him who teaches the one who denies to deny? Are you then truly outside fault, because you make by teaching a Christian what the pagan made by threatening? And what do you do? Do you take away what he has, because he denied what he has? You do not make him not have it, but have it to his punishment. For what he has, he has. That baptism is, as it were, a character imprinted: it adorned the soldier, it convicts the deserter. For what do you do? You set Christ upon Christ. If you were simple, you would not double Christ. Then, I ask you, have you forgotten that Christ is a stone, and The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner (Ps 118:22 (117:22))? If, then, Christ is a stone, and you wish to set Christ upon Christ, has it slipped from you what you heard in the Gospel, that stone shall not stand upon stone (Matt 24:2)? But so great is the value of the joining of love, that although many living stones come together in the structure of God's temple, one stone is made of all. But you have cut yourself off; you call back from building, you call to ruin; and these treacheries abound, and do not rest: and we see, and we endure, and as far as we can we try to repress, by disputing, convicting, conferring, terrifying, yet in all things loving. And when, as we do these things, they persevere in evil, and our heart pines away over the deaths of brothers, when it grieves over those who are outside, fears for those who are within, through manifold straits and unceasing temptations, with which this life abounds, what shall we do? For from the abundance of iniquity comes a certain torpor of love: because iniquity has abounded, the love of many grows cold (Matt 24:12). And what shall we do, except what follows, if at least with his help we can: He who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved (Matt 10:22)?

2. [vv. 2-3] Therefore let us say what this psalm says: Waiting I waited for the Lord. Waiting I waited, (Ps 40:1 (39:2)) not any promising man, who can deceive and be deceived; not any consoling man, who can pine away with his own sadness before he refreshes me. Let a brother man console me when he is sad with me; together let us groan, together let us weep, together let us pray, together let us wait; whom, except the Lord who does not take away his promises, but defers them? He will surely fulfill, he will fulfill; because he has already fulfilled many things: and we ought to fear nothing about the truth of God, even if he had as yet fulfilled nothing. Behold, let us suppose it thus, that he has promised all things, and not yet given anything: he is a suitable promiser, a faithful repayer; only be you a godly demander, even if little, even if weak, demand mercy. Do you not see tender lambs strike the udders of their mothers with their heads, that they may be satisfied with milk? Waiting, he says, I waited for the Lord. And what did he? Did he turn away from you, or despise you waiting, or perhaps not see you? Plainly not so. But what? And he attended to me, and heard my supplication. He attended, and heard. Behold, not in vain did you wait: his eyes are upon you, his ears toward you. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears unto their prayers (Ps 34:15 (33:16)). What then, when you did evil, when you blasphemed him, did he not see? did he not hear? And where is that which is said in that very psalm: But the countenance of the Lord is upon those who do evil? But for what? To cut off their memory from the earth (Ps 34:16 (33:17)). Therefore even when you were evil, he attended to you, but he did not attend for you. Accordingly this man, who waiting waited for the Lord, it was too little for him to say, He attended to me: He attended to me, he says, that is, by consoling he attended, that he might profit me. What did he attend? And he heard my supplication.

3. [v. 4] And what did he grant you? what did he do for you? And he led me out of the lake of misery, and from the mud of the slime: and he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps. And he put into my mouth a new song, a hymn to our God (Ps 40:2-3 (39:3-4)). He has granted great goods, and is still a debtor: but he who now holds these things repaid, let him believe concerning the rest, who ought to have believed even before he received anything. By the very deeds our Lord has persuaded us that he is a faithful promiser, a generous giver. What, then, has he now done? He led me out of the lake of misery. What is the lake of misery? The depth of iniquity, from carnal lusts. For this is, and from the mud of the slime. Whence did he lead you out? From a certain depth. Whence in another psalm you cried, Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord (Ps 130:1 (129:1)). And those who now cry from the depth, are not utterly in the depth: the very cry now lifts them. There are others more deeply in the depth, who do not even perceive that they are in the depth. Such are the proud despisers, not godly supplicants, not tearful criers: but such as Scripture designates in another place: The sinner, when he has come into the depth of evils, despises (Prov 18:3). For he to whom it is too little to be a sinner, unless he be also not a confessor of his sins, but a defender, is more deeply in the depth. But that man who cried out from the depth, has now lifted his head from the bottom of the depth to cry: he was heard, he was led out of the lake of misery, and from the mud of the slime. Now he has faith, which he did not have; he has hope, without which he was; he walks in Christ, who erred in the devil. For therefore, He set, he says, my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps. And the rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:4). Let us be upon the rock, let our steps be directed: yet it is still necessary that we walk, that we may come to something. For the apostle Paul, now upon the rock, his feet now directed, what did he say? Not that I have already received, or am already perfect: brothers, I do not reckon myself to have apprehended (Phil 3:12-13). What, then, has been granted you, if you have not apprehended? Whence do you give thanks, when you say, But I obtained mercy (1 Tim 1:13)? Because his feet have been directed, because he now walks upon the rock. For what does he say? But one thing, forgetting the things that are behind. What is behind? The lake of misery. What is behind? The mud of the slime, carnal lusts, the darkness of iniquities. Forgetting the things that are behind, stretched out toward the things that are before. He would not call himself stretched out, if he had already arrived. For the mind is stretched out by the desire of the thing coveted, not by the gladness of the thing obtained. Toward the things that are before, he says, stretched out, I follow toward the prize of the supernal calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:13-14). He was running, he was following toward the prize. And in another place, now near the prize: I have finished the course (2 Tim 4:7), he says. When, therefore, he said, I follow toward the prize of the supernal calling, because his feet were now directed upon the rock, he was now walking the good way: he had whence to give thanks, he had what to ask, giving thanks for things received, asking for things owed. Of what things received? Of the pardon of sins, of the illumination of faith, of the strength of hope, of the flame of love. But whence did he still hold the Lord a debtor? For the rest, he says, there remains for me a crown of justice. Still, then, something is owed me. What is owed? A crown of justice, which the Lord will repay me in that day, the just judge (2 Tim 4:8). First a kind father, that he might lead out of the lake of misery, that he might forgive sins, that he might free from the mud of the slime: afterward a just judge, repaying to the one who walks well what he promised, to whom he first granted that he might walk well. The just judge, then, will repay: but to whom? He who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved (Matt 10:22).

4. [v. 4] He put into my mouth a new song (Ps 40:3 (39:4)). What new song? A hymn to our God. Perhaps you used to say hymns to strange gods, old hymns; because the old man used to say them: let the new man be made; let the new man say a new song: renewed, let him love new things by which he is renewed. For what is more ancient than God, who is before all things, and without end, and without beginning? He becomes new to you when you return; because by departing you had become old, and you had said, I have grown old among all my enemies (Ps 6:7 (6:8)). We say, then, a hymn to our God, and the hymn itself frees us. For praising I will call upon the Lord, and I shall be saved from my enemies (Ps 18:3 (17:4)). For a hymn is a song of praise. Call upon him praising, not reproaching. For when you call upon God to press your enemy, when you wish to rejoice over another's evil, and for this evil you call upon God, you make him a partner of your malice. If you make him a partner of malice, then you do not call upon him praising, but reproaching. For you think God such as you are. Whence in another place it is said to you: These things you did, and I kept silence; you suspected iniquity, that I would be like you (Ps 50:21 (49:21)). Praising, then, call upon the Lord: do not think him like you, that you may become like him. For be perfect as your Father, who makes his sun rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust (Matt 5:48, 45). So, then, praise the Lord, that you wish no evil to your enemies. And how much good, you say, would I wish them? As much as to yourself. For they are not going to receive it from yours, that they may be good, nor will what is given them be diminished from you. Your enemy, because he is evil, is an enemy: he becomes good, and will be a friend, and will be a companion; so that you may together wish to possess what you loved, he will now be a brother. Praising, then, call upon him, say a hymn to your God. The sacrifice of praise, he says, shall glorify me (Ps 50:23 (49:23)). And what? will there be greater glory to God, because you glorify him? or do we add glory to God, when we say to him, I glorify you, my God? or do we make him holier, when we say, I bless you, my God? He, when he blesses us, makes us holier, makes us happier; when he glorifies us, makes us more glorious, makes us more honored: when we glorify him, it profits us, not him. For how do we glorify him? By calling him glorious, not by making him so. Accordingly, what did he say following, when he said, The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me? Lest you should suppose you grant something to God by offering him the sacrifice of praise: And there is the way, he says, in which I will show him the salvation of God (Ps 50:23 (49:23)). You see that it will profit you to praise God, not God. Do you praise God? You walk the way. Do you reproach God? You have lost the way.

5. And he put into my mouth a new song, a hymn to our God. Perhaps someone asks what person speaks in this psalm. Briefly I would say, it is Christ. But as you know, brothers, and it must often be said, Christ sometimes speaks from himself, that is, from our head: for he himself is the Savior of the body, our head, the Son of God born of the Virgin, suffering for us, rising again to justify us, sitting at the right hand of God to intercede for us, about to render all things in the judgment, good things to the good, evil to the evil. He is our head, he deigned to become the head of the body, by taking flesh from us, in which he might die for us: which also he raised up for our sake, that in that flesh of the resurrection he might furnish us an example, that we might learn to hope for what we despaired of, and might now have feet upon the rock, might walk in Christ. He speaks, then, sometimes from our head, he speaks sometimes also from us, that is, from his members: because even when he said, I was hungry, and you gave me to eat (Matt 25:35), he was speaking from his members, not from himself. And when he said, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4) the head was crying out for the members: and yet he did not say: Why do you persecute my members? but, why do you persecute me? If in us he himself suffers, in him we too shall be crowned. This is the love of Christ. What can be compared to it? Of this matter he put a hymn into our mouth, and says this from his members.

6. The just shall see, and shall fear, and shall hope in the Lord. The just shall see (Ps 40:3 (39:4)). What just? The faithful: because the just lives by faith (Rom 1:17). For in the Church this order exists: some go before, others follow: and those who go before furnish themselves as an example to those following; and those who follow imitate those going before. But do even those who furnish themselves as an example to those following follow no one? If they follow no one, they will err. Therefore they too follow someone, Christ himself. Whoever are the better in the Church, for whom no man remains whom they may imitate, because by advancing they have surpassed all, Christ himself remains for them, whom even to the end they may follow. And you discern the ordered degrees through the apostle Paul, saying, Be imitators of me, as I too am of Christ (1 Cor 11:1). Therefore let those who now have their steps directed on the rock be a pattern to the faithful: But be, he says, a pattern to the faithful (1 Tim 4:12). These faithful are the just, who, attending to those who go before them in good, by imitating follow. How do they follow? The just shall see, and shall fear. They will see, and will fear to follow evil ways, when they see certain better ones now choosing good ways; and they say in their mind, as travelers are wont to say, attending to others walking with confidence on the way, while they themselves are still uncertain of the way, and as it were fluctuating which way they should go, they say to themselves: Not in vain do these go this way, since they go where we wish to go; and why do they go this way with great confidence, except because to go that way is destructive? The just, then, shall see, and shall fear. They see a narrow way this way, they see a broad way that way: this way they see few, that way many. But if you are just, do not count, but weigh; bring an even balance, not a deceitful one, because you are called just: The just shall see, and shall fear, was said of you. Do not, then, count the crowds of men walking the broad ways, filling tomorrow's circus, celebrating by shouting the Birthday of the city, disgracing the city itself by living badly. Do not, then, attend to them; they are many, and who counts them? But few by the narrow way. Bring forth, I say, the balance, weigh: see against how few grains how much chaff you lift. Let the faithful just who follow do this. What of those who go before? Let them not be proud, let them not exalt themselves, let them not deceive those following. How can they deceive those following? By promising them salvation in themselves. What, then, ought those who follow to do? The just shall see, and shall fear, and shall hope in the Lord: not in those by whom they are preceded: but by attending to those going before them, they indeed follow and imitate, but because they consider from whom those received that they should go before, they hope in him. Therefore, although they imitate these, yet they place their hope in him, from whom these too received whence they are such. The just shall see, and shall fear, and shall hope in the Lord: just as in another psalm: I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, we understand the mountains, all the bright and great spiritual men of the Church, great in solidity, not in swelling. Through them all Scripture has been dispensed to us; they are prophets, they are evangelists, they are good teachers: thither I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence help shall come to me. And lest you should think the help human, it follows and says, My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth (Ps 121:1-2 (120:1-2)). The just shall see, and shall fear, and shall hope in the Lord.

7. [v. 5] Come now, you who wish to hope in the Lord, who see and fear, let them fear to walk evil ways, broad ways; let them choose the narrow way, where the steps of certain ones are now directed upon the rock: what they ought to do, let them now hear. Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, and who has not looked back to vanities and lying follies (Ps 40:4 (39:5)). Behold, the way you wished to go, behold the crowd of the broad way: not in vain does it lead to the amphitheater, not in vain does it lead to death. The broad way is death-bearing: its breadth delights for a time, its end is narrow forever. But the crowds make a din, the crowds hasten, the crowds rejoice together, the crowds run together. Do not imitate, do not be turned aside; they are vanities, and lying follies. Let the Lord your God be your hope: do not hope for anything else from the Lord your God, but let your Lord himself be your hope. For many hope money from God, many hope from God passing and perishing honors, anything else from God except God himself: but you, seek your God himself: rather indeed, the other things being despised, go on to him; forgetting other things, remember him; leaving other things behind, stretch yourself toward him. He surely corrected you when turned away, he leads you straight, he leads you through: therefore let him himself be your hope, who leads and leads through. Whither does earthly greed lead and lead through? You sought farms, you desired to possess land, you shut out your neighbors; they being shut out, you gaped after other neighbors; and so long you extended your greed, until you came to the shores: coming to the shores, you covet the islands; the land possessed, you wish perhaps to seize heaven. Leave all loves: more beautiful is he who made heaven and earth.

8. Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, and who has not looked back to vanities and lying follies. For whence lying follies? A lying folly, a truthful soundness. The things you see you think good, you are deceived: you are not sound, by too much fever you have been made frenzied; what you love is not true. You praise the charioteer, you shout for the charioteer, you are mad over the charioteer. It is vanity, it is lying folly. It is not so, he says: nothing better, nothing more delightful. What do I do for the fevered? If there is mercy in you, pray for such people. For the physician himself too, very often in desperation, turns to those who stand around weeping in the house, who hang upon his mouth to hear his judgment about the sick and imperiled one: the physician stands doubtful, he does not see good to promise, he fears to pronounce evil, lest he terrify; this one plainly conceives a modest judgment: God is good, can do all things, pray for him. Which, then, of these mad ones shall I lay hold of? Who will hear me? which of them will not call us wretched? Because we are not mad with them, they think we have lost the great and varied pleasures in which they themselves are mad: nor do they see that they are liars. When I give that one an egg even unbidden, or hold out the saving cup to the wounded; and how shall I refresh, when I find one? Lest by fasting he fail, and not reach health, I exhort that he refresh himself: he makes fists, he wishes to rage against the physician. And if he strike, let him be loved; and if he do injury, let him not be abandoned: he is to return to his mind, he is to give thanks. How many here recognize themselves, see one another in turn, and speak of themselves in the Church of God; in the bosom of holy Church they attend to their now good studies about the word of God, about the offices and services of love, about frequenting the flock of Christ not withdrawing from the Church, they see and speak to one another about one another. Who is this circus-fan? Who is this lover and praiser of that hunter, that actor? He speaks of another, and that one of himself. Surely these things are so, surely we rejoice over such people. If we rejoice over such people, let us not despair over such people. Let us pray for them, dearly beloved brothers: thence grows the number of the saints, from the number that was of the ungodly. And he has not looked back to vanities and lying follies. That man conquered, joined such a horse, he announces, he wishes to be as it were divine: he affects divinity by losing the fountain of divinity: and often he announces, and often he is deceived. Why this? Because they are lying follies. But why do the things they say sometimes come about? That they may lead away the mad, that, by loving there the appearance of truth, they may run into the snare of falsehood: let them be behind, let them be left, let them be cut off. If they were our members, let them be mortified: Mortify, he says, your members which are upon the earth (Col 3:5). Let God be our hope. He who made all things, is better than all things; he who made beautiful things, is more beautiful than all; he who made strong things, is stronger; he who made great things, is greater: whatever you have loved, he will be to you. Learn to love in the creature the Creator, and in the work the maker; lest what was made by him hold you, and you lose him by whom you yourself too were made. Therefore: Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, and who has not looked back to vanities and lying follies.

9. [v. 6] Perhaps he is about to say to us, whoever, struck by this verse, has wished to be corrected, and whom that fear of the justice of faith has occupied, and, willing, has begun to walk the narrow way; he is about to say to us: I will not endure to walk, if I shall watch nothing. What, then, do we do, brothers? Are we to dismiss him without a spectacle? He will die, he will not hold out, he will not follow us. What, then, do we do? Let us give spectacles for spectacles. And what spectacles are we to give to a Christian man, whom we wish to call back from those spectacles? I give thanks to our Lord God: in the following verse of the psalm he has shown us what spectacles we ought to furnish and show to spectators wishing to watch spectacles. Behold, let him be turned away from the circus, from the theater, from the amphitheater, let him seek what he may watch, let him plainly seek; we do not abandon him without a spectacle. What shall we give for those? Hear what follows: You have done many things, O Lord my God, your wonders (Ps 40:5 (39:6)). He was gazing at the miracles of men, let him attend to the wonders of God. The Lord has done many wonders of his; let him look at these. Why have those grown cheap to him? He praises a charioteer guiding four horses, and running without fault and offense: did the Lord perhaps not do such spiritual miracles? Let him guide luxury, let him guide cowardice, let him guide injustice, let him guide imprudence, those motions which, too much slipped, make these vices, let him guide them and subject them to himself, and hold the reins, and not be carried off; let him lead where he wishes, not be dragged where he does not wish. He praised the charioteer, the charioteer will be praised: he shouted that the charioteer be covered with a garment, he will be clothed with immortality. These gifts, these spectacles God puts on. He cries from heaven: I watch you; struggle, I will help; conquer, I will crown. You have done many things, O Lord my God, your wonders; and in your thoughts there is none who is like you. Now watch the actor. For a man learned with great effort to walk on a rope, and, hanging, he held you in suspense. Attend to that exhibitor of greater spectacles. This one learned to walk on a rope, did he make anyone walk on the sea? Forget your theater, attend to our Peter, not a rope-walker, but, so to speak, a sea-walker. Walk you too, not on those waters, where Peter, signifying something, walked, but on others; because this world is a sea. It has noxious bitterness, it has waves of tribulations, tempests of temptations; it has men like fish rejoicing over another's evil, and as it were devouring one another: walk here, trample this. You wish to watch; be a spectacle. Lest you fail, see the one going before and saying, We have been made a spectacle to this world, and to angels, and to men (1 Cor 4:9). Tread the sea, lest you be sunk in the sea. You will not go, you will not tread, unless he commands who first walked on the sea. For so Peter says: If it is you, bid me come to you upon the waters. And because it was he, he heard the one asking, granted to the one desiring, called the one walking, raised the one sinking (Matt 14:28-31). These wonders the Lord did, gaze at these; let the eye of the watcher be faith. And do you such things; because even if the winds disturb, even if the waves roar, and human fragility brings you to some doubt of your salvation, you have how to cry; you say, Lord, I perish. He does not allow to perish who bade you walk. Because you now walk upon the rock, you do not even fear the sea: if you are without the rock, you are sunk in the sea, because one must walk upon such a rock as was not sunk in the sea.

10. See the wonders of God. I have announced, and I have spoken, they have been multiplied beyond number (Ps 40:5 (39:6)). There is a number, there are those beyond number. The number is fixed, pertaining to that heavenly Jerusalem. For the Lord knows who are his, Christians fearing, Christians faithful, Christians keeping the precepts, walking the ways of God, abstaining from sins, confessing if they have fallen: these pertain to the number. But are they alone? There are also those beyond number. For although now they are few, few in comparison with the multitude of the greater throngs: with how great crowds the churches are filled, the walls are packed, men press one another with crushings, they almost suffocate one another by the multitude. Again, from these very ones, if there is a public show, there is running to the amphitheater: these are beyond number. But for this we say these things, that they may be in the number: because they are not present, they do not hear from us; but when you go out, let them hear from you. I have announced, he says, and I have spoken. Christ says it: he himself announced from our head, he himself announced from his members, he himself sent announcers, he himself sent apostles: into all the earth their sound went out, and to the ends of the world their words (Ps 19:4 (18:5); Rom 10:18). How many of the faithful gather, how many crowds run together, many truly converted, many falsely converted; and fewer are the truly converted, more the falsely converted; because they have been multiplied beyond number.

11. [v. 7] I have announced and I have spoken, they have been multiplied beyond number. Sacrifice and oblation you did not wish (Ps 40:6 (39:7)). These are the wonders of God, these are the thoughts of God, to which no one is like: that that watcher may be led away from curiosity, and may seek with us these better, more fruitful things, over which, when found, he will rejoice; and so will rejoice, that he will not fear lest the one he loves be conquered: for he loves a charioteer, over whose defeat he bears insults. When the charioteer conquers, he himself is clothed. Is the poor man who shouts for him? The victor himself is clothed, for the conquered one he is insulted. Why do you take reproach for the one with whom you do not share a garment? Here something else in our spectacles. All indeed run, the apostle Paul said, in that stadium, in that spectacle, yet one receives the prize (1 Cor 9:24): the rest withdraw conquered. And they persevered in running: but when one has received it, the rest remain who likewise labored. Here it is not so. As many as run, let them run perseveringly, all receive: and he who comes first waits, that he may be crowned with the latter. For this contest love makes, not greed: all who run love one another, and that very love is the course.

12. Sacrifice and oblation you did not wish, says the psalm to God. For the ancients, when as yet the true sacrifice which the faithful know was foretold in figures, celebrated the figures of the thing to come: many knowing, but more being ignorant. For the prophets and holy patriarchs knew what they celebrated: but the rest, the unjust, carnal multitude, was such that there might be made of it what it signified should come afterward: and it came, that first sacrifice being taken away, the holocausts of rams, of goats, of calves, and the other victims being taken away; God did not wish those things. Why did he not wish those things? why did he first wish them? Because all those things were as it were words of one promising; and words of promise, when what they promise has come, are no longer uttered. So long is each one a promiser, until he gives: when he has given, he changes the words. He no longer says: I will give, what he said he would give; but he says: I have given: he has changed the word. Why did this word first please him, and why did he change it? Because it was the word of its own time, and for its own time it pleased. When it was being promised, then it was being said: but when what was promised has been given, the words of promise are taken away, the words of fulfillment are given. Those sacrifices, then, as words of promise, were taken away. What is it that has been given, the fulfillment? The body which you know, which not all of you know; which would that you who know it, all knew not unto judgment. See when it was said; for Christ is our Lord, now speaking from his members, now speaking from his own person. Sacrifice, he says, and oblation you did not wish. What then? Are we now in this time dismissed without a sacrifice? Far be it. But a body you have perfected for me. Therefore you did not wish those things, that you might perfect this: those you wished before you perfected this. The perfection of the things promised took away the promising words. For if they are still promising, what was promised is not yet fulfilled. This was being promised by certain signs: the promising signs are taken away, because the promised truth has been exhibited. In this body we are, we are partakers of this body, what we receive we know: and you who do not know it shall know it, and when you have learned, would that you not receive it unto judgment. For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself (1 Cor 11:29). A body has been perfected for us, let us be perfected in the body.

13. [v. 8] Sacrifice and oblation you did not wish, but a body you have perfected for me. Holocausts also for sin you did not require: then I said: Behold, I come (Ps 40:6-7 (39:7-8)). Must it be expounded: Sacrifice and oblation you did not wish, but a body you have perfected for me? Holocausts also for sin you did not require: which he required before. Then I said: Behold, I come. It is time that the things which were being promised should come, because the things through which they were promised are taken away. And truly, my brothers, attend to those things taken away, these fulfilled. Let the Jewish people now give me a priest. Where are their sacrifices? Surely they have perished, surely they are taken away now. Would we then reject them? We reject them now: because if you now wish to do them, it is out of time, it is not opportune, it does not fit. You still promise, I have already received. There remained for them something to celebrate, lest they remain altogether without a sign. For Cain, the elder brother, who killed the younger brother, received a sign, lest anyone kill him, as it is written in Genesis: God set a sign upon Cain, that no one might kill him (Gen 4:15). Accordingly that Jewish nation too remains. All nations subject to Roman law have flowed together into Roman law, they have shared their superstitions; afterward they began to be separated from there through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: but that nation has so remained with its sign, with the sign of circumcision, with the sign of unleavened bread it has so remained: Cain was not killed, was not killed, he has his sign. He was cursed by the earth, which opened its mouth to receive the blood of his brother from his hand. For he shed the blood, did not receive it: he shed it, another earth received it: and by that earth which opened its mouth and received it, he was cursed: and that very earth which received the blood with its mouth, is the Church. By this, then, he was cursed. And that blood cries from the earth to me. For of this earth the Lord said: The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the earth (Gen 4:10). It cries, he says, to me from the earth. It cries to the Lord: but he who shed the blood is deaf, because he does not drink. They, then, are thus, like Cain with the sign. But the sacrifices which were made there, are taken away; and what remained to them for the sign of Cain, is now perfected, and they do not know it. They kill a lamb, they eat unleavened bread: Our Passover, Christ, has been immolated (1 Cor 5:7). Behold, I recognize the lamb slain, because Christ has been immolated. What of the unleavened bread? And so, he says, let us celebrate the feast, not in the old leaven, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness: (he shows what is old, the old is meal, it sours), but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Cor 5:8). They have remained in the shadow, they cannot bear the sun of glory: we are now in the light, we hold the body of Christ, we hold the blood of Christ. If we have a new life, let us sing a new song, a hymn to our God. Holocausts for sin you did not require: then I said: Behold, I come.

14. [v. 9] In the head of the book it is written of me, that I should do your will: my God, I willed it, and your law in the midst of my heart (Ps 40:7-8 (39:8-9)). Behold, he looked back to the members, behold, he himself too did the will of the Father. But in what head of the book is it written of him? Perhaps in the head of this book of Psalms. For why should we seek far, or inquire into other books? Behold, in the head of this book of Psalms, it is written: Blessed is the man who has not gone in the counsel of the ungodly, and in the way of sinners has not stood, and in the seat of pestilences has not sat, but in the law of the Lord was his will: this is: My God, I willed it, and your law in the midst of my heart: this is, and on his law he shall meditate day and night (Ps 1:1-2).

15. [v. 10] I have well announced your justice in a great Church (Ps 40:9 (39:10)). He addresses his members, he exhorts them to do what he did. He announced, let us announce; he suffered, let us suffer with him; he was glorified, we shall be glorified together with him. I have announced your justice in a great Church. How great? Throughout the whole world. How great? In all nations. Why in all nations? Because it is the seed of Abraham, in whom all nations shall be blessed. Why in all nations? Because into all the earth their sound went out. In a great Church. Behold, my lips I will not restrain, O Lord, you have known. My lips speak, I will not restrain them from speaking. My lips indeed sound to the ears of men, but you have known my heart. My lips I will not restrain, O Lord, you have known. One thing a man hears, another God recognizes. Lest the announcement should be in the lips alone, and it should be said of us, What they say to you, do; but what they do, do not do (Matt 23:3): or to that very people, praising God with the mouth, not with the heart, it should be said, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Isa 29:13; Matt 15:8): sound with the lips, draw near with the heart. For with the heart one believes unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10). Such was that robber found, hanging on the cross with the Lord, recognizing on the cross the Lord. Others did not recognize him doing miracles, that man recognized him hanging on the wood. He was fixed in all his members; his hands clung to the nails, his feet were transfixed, his whole body was joined to the wood; that body was not free for the other members, the tongue was free and the heart: with the heart he believed, with the mouth he confessed. Remember me, he said, Lord, when you come into your kingdom. He hoped his salvation far in the future, and was content to receive it after a long time: he hoped for the long term, the day was not deferred. He said, Remember me, when you come into your kingdom: he answered, Amen I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise. Today, he says, you shall be with me in paradise (Luke 23:42-43). Paradise has happy trees: today with me on the wood of the cross, today with me on the wood of salvation.

16. Behold, my lips I will not restrain, O Lord, you have known (Ps 40:9 (39:10)): let him not believe with the heart, and from fear restrain his lips from announcing what he believed. For there are Christians, they have faith in the heart, even if among bitter pagans, wretchedly urbane, sordid, unbelieving, inept, insulting, if they have begun to be harassed, because they are Christians; they have faith in the heart, and fear to confess with the lips, they restrain their lips from sounding what they know, from sounding what they have within. But the Lord reproves these: He who is ashamed of me before men, I will be confounded about him before my Father (Matt 10:33; Mark 8:38), that is, I will not know him: because he was ashamed to confess me before men, I will not confess him before my Father. Let the lips, then, say what the heart has: this against fear. Let the heart have what the lips say: this against pretense. For sometimes there is fear, and you do not dare to say what you know, what you believe: sometimes there is pretense, you say it, and do not have it in the heart. Let your lips agree with your heart. Seeking peace from God, be at peace with yourself: let there not be between your mouth and your heart an evil quarrel. Behold, my lips I will not restrain, O Lord, you have known. How that man? what did the Lord know? Within in the heart, where man does not see. Therefore that man too: I believed, he says. Behold, he has the heart, he now has what God may see: let him not restrain his lips. He does not restrain them. For what does he say? Wherefore I have spoken. And because he spoke what he believed, seeking what he might render to the Lord for all the things he rendered to him, he adds: I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord (Ps 116:10, 12-13 (115:1, 3-4)). He did not shudder at the Lord saying, Can you drink the cup which I am to drink? (Matt 20:22) For he confesses with the lips what he had in the heart, he comes to the passion. And because he comes to the passion, what did the enemy harm? Surely precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his just ones (Ps 116:15 (115:6)). The deaths in which the pagans raged, in those we today are refreshed. We celebrate the birthday of the martyrs, we set before ourselves the examples of the martyrs, we attend to their faith, how they were found, how they were dragged, how they stood before the judges. In the Catholic Church having nothing of pretense, compacted by the joining of unity, they confessed Christ: the head which had gone before, like the members, they longed to follow. But who longed? Patient in torments, faithful in confession, truthful in speech. For they hurled into the faces of those questioning them the arrows of God, and wounded them to anger; they wounded many also to salvation. All these things we set before ourselves, and gaze at them, and desire to imitate. These are Christian spectacles, these God sees from above, to these he exhorts, in these he helps; for these struggles he sets and gives prizes. Behold, my lips I will not restrain. See lest you fear, and restrain your lips. O Lord, you have known: because there is in the heart too what sounds in the lips.

17. [v. 11] I have not hidden your justice in my heart (Ps 40:10 (39:11)). What is, your justice? My faith: because the just lives by faith. As, for instance, the persecutor questions under penalty, which they were once permitted: What are you? a pagan, or a Christian? A Christian. This is his justice: he believed, he lives by faith. He does not hide his justice in his heart. He did not say within himself: I believe indeed in Christ, but to this persecutor of mine, raging and threatening, I will not say what I have believed: my God knows within my heart that I believe, he himself knows that I do not renounce him. Behold, you say you have this within in the heart: in the lips what? Am I not a Christian? Against your heart your lips bear witness. I have not hidden your justice in my heart.

18. Your truth and your salvation I have told (Ps 40:10 (39:11)). I have told your Christ, that is, Your truth and your salvation I have told. Whence is Christ truth? I am the truth (John 14:6). Whence is Christ his salvation? Simeon recognized the infant in the hands of his mother in the temple, and said, For my eyes have seen your salvation (Luke 2:30). The old man recognized the infant, made a boy in the boy, renewed by faith. For he had received a response, and said this: the Lord had told him that he would not depart from this life before he saw the salvation of God. This salvation of God it is good that it be shown to men: but let them cry, Show us, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your salvation (Ps 85:7 (84:8)). But the salvation of God is in all nations: because when he had said in a certain place, May God have mercy on us, and bless us, may he make his countenance shine upon us, that we may know your way on the earth, he added: among all nations your salvation (Ps 67:1-2 (66:2-3)). First he said: That we may know your way on the earth, and there followed: among all nations your salvation. As if it were said to him: What is the way which you desire to know? Men come to the way, does the way come to men? Our way came to men, found them wandering, called to itself those walking outside. In me, he says, walk, and you will not err: I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Lest you should say: Where is the way of God? to what region shall I go? what mountain shall I ascend? what plains shall I seek out? Do you seek the way of God? The salvation of God is the way of God, and this is everywhere: because among all nations is your salvation. Your truth and your salvation I have told.

19. I have not hidden your mercy and your truth from the great assembly (Ps 40:10 (39:11)). Let us be there, let us too be numbered in this body, let us not hide the mercy of the Lord and the truth of the Lord. Do you wish to hear the mercy of the Lord? Withdraw from sins, he will forgive sins. Do you wish to hear the truth of the Lord? Hold to justice, justice will be crowned. For now mercy is preached to you, afterward truth will be displayed. For God is not so merciful that he be unjust; nor so just that he be not merciful. Is the mercy small to you? He will not impute all the former things: you have lived badly up to the present day, you still live, live well today, this mercy you will not hide. If this is the mercy, what is the truth? All nations will be gathered before him, and he will divide them as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats; he will set the sheep at the right, the goats at the left. To the sheep what? Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you. To the goats what? Go into the eternal fire (Matt 25:32-34, 41). There is no place for repentance there. Because you despised the mercy of God, you will feel the truth: but if you did not despise the mercy, you will rejoice in the truth.

20. [vv. 12-13] But you, O Lord, do not put your mercies far from me (Ps 40:11 (39:12)). He looked back to the wounded members. Because I have not hidden your mercy and your truth from the great assembly, from the Church of the unity of the whole world: attend to the wounded members, attend to the offenders and sinners, and do not remove your mercies. Your mercy and your truth have always upheld me. I would not dare to be converted, unless secure about remission: I would not hold out to persevere, unless secure about the promise. Your mercy and your truth have always upheld me. I attend that you are good, I attend that you are just: I love the good, I fear the just. Love and fear lead me through: because your mercy and your truth have always upheld me. Why do they themselves uphold, and the eye is not to be turned away from them? Because evils have surrounded me, of which there is no number (Ps 40:12 (39:13)). Who counts sins? who counts iniquities, others' and his own? Under what heap did he groan who said, Cleanse me from my hidden faults, O Lord, and from the faults of others spare your servant (Ps 19:12-13 (18:13-14)). Our own were few, others' are added: I fear for myself, I fear for the good brother, I endure the bad brother; and under this heap what shall we be, if the mercy of God cease? But you, O Lord, do not put far: be near. To whom is the Lord near? To those who are contrite of heart. Far from the proud, near to the humble. For the Lord is exalted, and regards the lowly. But let not those who are proud think they lie hidden: for the lofty things he knows from afar. He knew from afar the Pharisee boasting himself, he came near to the confessing Publican. The one boasted his merits, and covered his wounds: the other did not boast merits, but offered wounds. He had come to the physician, he knew he was languishing, he knew he was to be healed: he did not dare lift his eyes to heaven, he beat his breast: he did not spare himself, that the other might spare him; he recognized himself, that the other might pardon him; he punished himself, that the other might free him (Luke 18:11-13). Such are the voices here; let us hear them piously, and love them piously: with the heart, the tongue, all our marrow let us say these things. Let no one think himself just: he lives who speaks; he lives, and would that he might live! Still he lives here, still he lives with death: and if the spirit is life because of justice, yet the body is dead because of sin. And the body that is corrupted weighs down the soul, and the earthly dwelling presses down the mind that thinks of many things (Wis 9:15). It belongs to you, then, to cry, it belongs to groan, it belongs to confess, not to exalt yourself, not to boast yourself, not to glory in your own merits: because even if you have something to rejoice over, what is it that you have not received? Because evils have surrounded me, of which there is no number.

21. My iniquities have taken hold of me, and I could not see (Ps 40:12 (39:13)). There is something for us to see: what presses us so that we do not see? Is it not iniquity? Your eye, that you might not be able to see this light, was perhaps pressed by inrushing humor, pressed perhaps by smoke, dust, something thrown in; and you could not lift your wounded eye to this light: what, then, will you lift your wounded heart to God? Is it not first to be healed that you may see? Are you not found proud, when you say: First let me see, and so I will believe? Who says it? For who, about to see, says: Let me see, and so I will believe? I am about to show the light, rather indeed the light itself wishes to show itself. To whom? To a blind man it cannot, he does not see. Whence does he not see? With the eye weighed down by many sins. For what does he say? My iniquities have taken hold of me, and I could not see. Let the iniquities, then, be removed, let the sins be forgiven, let the weight be lifted from the eye, let what is wounded be healed, let the biting precept be applied like an eye-salve. First do what is enjoined on you: heal the heart, cleanse the heart, love your enemy. And who loves his enemy? This the physician commands; it is bitter, but wholesome. What shall I do for you, he says? You have been so afflicted, that from it you may be healed. And he says more: To the healed it will not be burdensome, healed you will delightfully love your enemy; you, strive that you may be healed. In tribulations, in straits, in temptations be strong, hold out: it is the hand of a physician, not of a robber. Behold, he says, the precepts received, and faith retained, first I will heal the heart, as you bid: the heart healed and cleansed, what shall I see? Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. In this way, he says, I cannot. My iniquities have taken hold of me, and I could not see.

22. They have been multiplied beyond the hairs of my head (Ps 40:12 (39:13)). He recalls the hairs of the head to the multitude of number. Who counts the hairs of his head? Much less sins, which exceed the number of hairs. They seem small, but they are many. You have guarded against great ones; you no longer commit adultery, you no longer commit murder, you do not seize others' goods, you do not blaspheme, you do not bear false witness: these are the masses of sins. You have guarded against great ones, what do you do about the small? Or do you not fear the small? You have thrown off the mass, see lest you be buried by sand. They have been multiplied beyond the hairs of my head.

23. [vv. 13-14] And my heart has forsaken me (Ps 40:12 (39:13)). What wonder is it, if your heart is deserted by your God, when it has deserted itself? What is, my heart has forsaken me? My heart is not fit to know itself. This he said, My heart has forsaken me: With my heart I wish to see the Lord, and I cannot, on account of the multitude of my sins: it is too little, not even my heart grasps itself. For no one grasps himself, let no one presume about himself. Did Peter grasp his heart with his heart, who said, I will be with you even unto death (John 13:37)? In the heart was a false presumption, in the heart lay hidden a true fear: and the heart was not fit to grasp the heart. The sick heart lay hidden, but lay open to the physician. What was pronounced about him, this was fulfilled. God knew in him what he himself did not know in himself; because his heart had forsaken him, his heart lay hidden from his heart. And my heart has forsaken me. What then? what do we cry? what do we say? Let it please you, O Lord, to deliver me: as though he said, If you will, you can cleanse me (Matt 8:2). Let it please you to deliver me, O Lord, look to my help (Ps 40:13 (39:14)). The members in penitence, the members set in griefs, the members crying under the irons of the physician, but hoping. O Lord, look to my help.

24. [v. 15] Let them be confounded and put to shame together, who seek my soul to take it away (Ps 40:14 (39:15)). For in a certain place he accuses, and says, I looked to the right, and saw, and there was no one who sought my soul (Ps 142:4 (141:5)); that is, there was no one who imitated me. Christ speaks in the passion: And I attended to the right, that is, not to the ungodly Jews, but to that right itself, to the apostles themselves; and there was no one who sought my soul. So far was there no one who sought my soul, that he who had presumed denied my soul. But because a man is sought in two ways, either that you may enjoy him, or that you may persecute him: therefore here he means others, whom he wishes to be confounded and put to shame, who seek his soul. But lest you should understand it thus, as when he complains of certain ones not seeking his soul; to take it away, he says, that is, they seek my soul unto death: he added, Let them be confounded and put to shame. And truly many sought his soul, and were confounded and put to shame; they sought his soul, and, as it seemed to them, took away his soul: but he had power to lay down his soul, and had power to take up his soul again. Therefore they rejoiced when he laid it down, they were confounded when he took it up. Let them be confounded and put to shame together, who seek my soul to take it away.

25. Let them be turned back, and put to shame, who wish me evils. Let them be turned back (Ps 40:14 (39:15)): let us not take this in an evil sense either. He wishes them well; and it is the voice of him who said from the cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). Why, then, does he say to them, that they should turn back? Because those who before were proud so as to fall behind, are made humble so as to rise again. For when they are in front, they wish to go before the Lord, they wish to be better than the Lord: but if they are behind, they recognize him better, him first, themselves later, that he may go before, they follow. Accordingly he so refuted Peter giving himself bad counsel. For the Lord was to suffer for our salvation, and was foretelling what would come about that very passion: and Peter said, Far be it, Lord; be merciful to yourself, this shall not be. He wished to go before the Lord, and to give counsel to the master. But the Lord, that he might not make him one going before, but one following: Get behind me, Satan (Matt 16:22-23), he said. Therefore, he says, you are Satan, because you wish to go before the one you ought to follow: but if you are behind, and follow, you are no longer Satan. What then? Upon this rock I will build my Church (Matt 16:18).

26. [vv. 16-17] Let them be turned back and put to shame, who wish me evils (Ps 40:14 (39:15)). They are ill-willing, who, even when they bless, as far as is in their heart, curse. You say to someone: Be a Christian: Be a Christian, but you. He said a good thing, but it is not imputed to him what he said, but with what mind he said it: as it was imputed even to the Jews, when the man born blind was made seeing: when they pressed him with insults and urged him, he said to them, Do you too wish to be his disciples? And they cursed him. This the evangelist says: They cursed him, saying: You be his disciple (John 9:27-28). While they cursed, the Lord blessed: he did what they said, but repaid them for what they cursed. Let them be turned back, and put to shame, who wish me evils. But there are others, not good, who wish good things, and these too are to be guarded against. For just as those curse, and speak our good things, but with an evil mind; so many our evil things with a good mind. This I say: He who says to you, Be a Christian, says your good with an evil mind: but he who says to you thus, No one is better than you; if in evil deeds, since the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul, and he who does iniquitous things is blessed; speaks your evils by praising. As the former said your good things by cursing, so this one your evils by blessing: but flee both kinds of enemy, beware both. The one rages, the other flatters; both evil: the one is angry, and the other deceitful in praise; the one is a reprover, the other a praiser: but both the one in reproof is an enemy, and the other in praise is deceitful. Beware both, against both pray. For he who prayed, Let them be turned back, and confounded, who wish me evils, looked back at another kind, deceitfully ill-willing, and falsely well-speaking: Let them at once bear their confusion, who say to me, Aha, aha (Ps 40:15 (39:16)). They praise falsely: A great man, a good man, lettered, learned, but why a Christian? They praise those things of yours which you would not wish to be praised: they reprove that over which you rejoice. But if perhaps you say: What do you praise in me, O man, that I am a good man, that I am a just man? If you think this, Christ made me this, praise him. But that man: Far be it; do not do yourself wrong, you yourself made yourself such. Let them be confounded, who say to me: Aha, aha. And what follows? Let all who seek you exult and rejoice, O Lord. They do not seek me, but they seek you: they do not say to me, Aha, aha; but they see me glory in you, if I have any glory. For he who glories, let him glory in the Lord (1 Cor 1:31). Let all who seek you exult and rejoice, O Lord, and let them always say: Let the Lord be magnified. Because even if a just man is made from a sinner, give glory to him who justifies the ungodly. Whether, then, one be a sinner, let him be praised who calls to pardon: or whether one already walk in the way of justice, let him be praised who calls to a crown. Let the Lord always be magnified, by those who love your salvation.

27. [v. 18] But I: to whom they wished evils. But I: whose soul they sought, to take it away. But turn yourself to another kind of men. But I, to whom they said, Aha, aha, am needy and poor (Ps 40:17 (39:18)). There is nothing in me of my own to be praised. Let him tear my sackcloth, let him cover me with his robe. For I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20). If Christ lives in you, and all the good you have is Christ's, all that you will have is Christ's: what are you of yourself? I am needy and poor. But I am not rich, because I am not proud. Rich was that one who said, I give you thanks, O Lord, that I am not as the rest of men: but the Publican was poor, who said, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:11, 13). The one belched from his fullness, the other wept from his hunger. I am needy and poor. And what will you do, O needy and poor one? Beg before the door of God; knock, and it shall be opened to you. But I am needy and poor: the Lord will have care of me. Cast your care upon the Lord, and hope in him, and he will do it. What will you care for yourself? what will you provide for yourself? Let him who made you have care of you. He who had care of you before you existed, how will he not have care now that you are already what he willed you to be? For now you are faithful, now you walk in the way of justice. Will he not have care of you, who makes his sun rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust? you, now just, living by faith, will he neglect, desert, dismiss? Rather indeed both here he cherishes, and here he helps, and here he supplies necessary things, and cuts off the harmful. By giving he consoles that you may remain, by taking away he corrects that you may not perish. The Lord has care of you, be secure. He carries you who made you: do not fall from the hand of your maker: if you fall from the hand of the maker, you will be broken. But that you may remain in the hand of the maker, good will does it. Say, My God willed it, and he himself will carry, and he himself will hold. Cast yourself upon him; do not think it empty, as though you were to be thrown headlong: let it not so seem to you. He said: I fill heaven and earth. Nowhere is he lacking to you: do you not be lacking to him, do not be lacking to yourself. The Lord has care of me.

28. You are my helper and my protector: my God, do not delay (Ps 40:17 (39:18)). He calls upon, he implores, he fears lest he fail: Do not delay. What is, Do not delay? Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would be saved (Matt 24:22): just now it was read, of the days of tribulations. For as one man he asks God, the members of Christ, the body of Christ spread everywhere, one beggar, one poor man; because that one is poor too, who, being rich, was made poor, of whom the Apostle says, Though he was rich, he was made poor, that by his poverty you might be enriched (2 Cor 8:9): the true poor he enriches, the false rich he makes poor. He cries to him: From the ends of the earth I cried to you, when my soul was wearied (Ps 61:2 (60:3)). There will come days of tribulations and of greater tribulations: they will come, as Scripture says; and the more the days advance, the more the tribulations are increased. Let no one promise himself what the Gospel does not promise. My brothers, I beseech you, attend to our Scriptures, whether they have deceived in anything; whether they have said anything, and it happened otherwise than they said: it is necessary that to the end all things so come about, as they have said. Our Scriptures do not promise us in this world anything but tribulations, oppressions, straits, increases of griefs, an abundance of temptations. For these above all let us prepare ourselves, lest, unprepared, we fail. Woe to those who are with child and giving suck (Matt 24:19): just now you heard. They are with child, who swell with hope: those giving suck, that is, nursing, are those who have now obtained what they coveted. For a pregnant woman swells in hope of a son, she does not yet see the son: but she who now suckles, embraces what she hoped. Therefore let us set, for example, a likeness: This estate of my neighbor is good: oh, that it were mine; I would join it, and would make of this farm and that a unity. Greed too loves unity: what it loves is good, but where it ought to be loved, it does not know. Behold, it has coveted the neighbor's estate; but this neighbor is rich, not needy, having honor, having even power, from whose power perhaps even something is to be feared for you, nothing to be hoped from his farm: hoping nothing, the soul does not conceive, is not pregnant. But if a poor neighbor is near, who either is set in such need that he can sell, or can be pressed so as to be forced to sell, the eye is cast on it, the estate is hoped for: the soul is made pregnant, it hopes it can obtain the little estate and possession of the poor neighbor. And when this poor man suffers need, he comes to his richer neighbor, whom perhaps he is wont to wait on, to defer to, to rise up for when he comes, to greet with bowed head: Give to me, I beg you; I suffer need, I am pressed by a creditor. And the other: I have nothing now in my hands. If he wished to sell, he would have it. We recognize this: there were such in us, let them no longer be in us. Did we not live yesterday, and do we live today? There is place for correcting; that separation has not yet been made, of some to the right, of others to the left; we are not yet among the dead, where that rich man was, thirsting and desiring a drop: let us hear while we live, let us be corrected. Let us not hope for others' things, and pregnant, swell: nor let us come to them, and by obtaining them kiss them as sons. For woe to those who are with child and giving suck in those days. The heart must be changed, the heart must be lifted up, the heart must not dwell here: it is an evil region. Let it suffice that we must still be here in the flesh; what is not necessary, let it not be done: let the day's evil suffice it; let us dwell with our heart above. If you have risen with Christ, he says to the faithful, he says to those receiving the body and blood of the Lord: If you have risen with Christ, relish the things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:1-3). For what is promised you does not appear: and it is now prepared, but you do not see it. You wish to be made pregnant, be made pregnant from here; let that be your hope: your offspring will be certain, it will not be a miscarriage, not temporal: you will embrace what you have brought forth forever. For so it is said through Isaiah: We have conceived, and brought forth the spirit of salvation (Isa 26:18 LXX). Therefore it is behind, and is not given now, but will be given. How great things have been given, my brothers, who numbers them according to the Scriptures? There it is written of the Church, and it is seen that it is; there it is written of idols that they shall not be, and it is seen that they are not; there it is written that the Jews would lose the kingdom, and it is seen; there it is written of heretics, that they would be, and it is seen: there it is written also of the day of judgment; there it is written also of the reward of the good, and of the punishment of the evil: in all things we find God faithful; in the last will he fail and deceive? The Lord will have care of me. You are my helper and my protector: my God, do not delay. Unless those days were lessened, no flesh would hold out: but for the sake of the elect they will be shortened (Matt 24:22). Those days will be of tribulation, but not so long as they are feared. Quickly they will pass; the rest that comes will not pass. Although long, the evil ought to be borne for an infinite good.

Exposition of Psalm 40

1. Since the solemn day of the martyrs has dawned; on account of the glory of the passion of Christ, the emperor of the martyrs, who did not spare himself by commanding his soldiers to the fight, but fought first, conquered first, that he might exhort those fighting by his example, and aid them by his majesty, and crown them by his promise: let us hear something in this psalm which pertains to his passion. But we commend rather often, nor does it weary us to repeat what is useful for you to retain, that our Lord Jesus Christ very often speaks from himself, that is, from his own person, which is our head; very often from the person of his body, which are we and his Church; but in such a way that the words sound as from the mouth of one man, that we may understand that head and body subsist in the unity of integrity, and are not separated from one another; like that marriage of which it was said, They shall be two in one flesh (Gen 2:24). If, then, we recognize two in one flesh, let us recognize two in one voice. First, what, answering the reader, we sang, although it be from the middle of the psalm, yet let us take from here the beginning of the discourse. My enemies spoke evil things to me: When will he die, and his name perish? (Ps 41:5 (40:6)) This is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ: but see whether the members too are not understood there. This too was said, when our Lord himself walked here on earth in the flesh. For when they saw the multitude follow his authority, and his divinity and majesty presented by miracles; when the Jews saw this, of whom the Lord himself set forth a likeness, that they said, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours (Matt 21:38), they said among themselves, that is, to one another, whence is the voice of that high priest Caiaphas: You see that a great crowd follows him, and the world has gone after him: if we let him live, the Romans will come, and take away from us both our place and our nation. It is expedient that one man die, rather than the whole nation perish. But the evangelist expounded to us the words of one not knowing what he said, and said: But this he did not say of himself; but being high priest he prophesied that Jesus must die for the people and the nation (John 11:48-51). Yet they, when they saw the people go after him, said: When will he die, and his name perish? that is, when we have killed him, his name will no longer be on earth, nor will he, being dead, seduce any; but by his very slaying men will understand that they were following a man, that in him there was no hope of salvation; and they will forsake his name, and it will not be. He died; and his name did not perish, but his name was sown: he died: but it was a grain, by whose dying the harvest would at once rise up. When, then, our Lord Jesus Christ was glorified, they began much more and in much more numerous fashion to believe in him; and his members began to hear what the head heard. Now, then, our Lord Jesus Christ being set in heaven, and he himself laboring in us on earth, his enemies still said: When will he die, and his name perish? For from this the devil stirred up persecutions in the Church to destroy the name of Christ. Unless perhaps you think, brothers, that those pagans, when they raged against Christians, did not say this to themselves, to blot out the name of Christ from the earth. That Christ might die again, not in the head, but in his body, the martyrs too were slain. The holy blood shed availed to multiply the Church, to the sowing was added also the death of the martyrs. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his just ones (Ps 116:15 (115:6)). Christians were multiplied more and more, and that was not fulfilled which the enemies said: When will he die, and his name perish? Still even now it is said. The pagans sit, and count for themselves the years, they hear their fanatics saying: Sometime there will be no Christians, and those idols are to be worshiped, as they were worshiped before, still they say: When will he die, and his name perish? Twice conquered, or thrice, be wise: Christ has died, his name will not perish; the martyrs have died, the Church has been multiplied the more, the name of Christ grows through all nations. He who foretold of his own death and of his resurrection, who foretold of the deaths of his martyrs and of the crown, he himself foretold also of his Church to come: if he spoke truly twice, did he lie the third time? Vain, then, is what you believe against him; it is better that you believe in him, that you may understand concerning the needy and poor (Ps 41:1 (40:2)); since he was made poor, though he was rich, that by his poverty, he says, you might be enriched (2 Cor 8:9). But now, because he was made poor, he is despised, and it is said: He was a man. What was he? He died, he was crucified; you worship a man, you have hope in a man, you adore a dead man. You are deceived. Understand concerning the needy and poor, that by his poverty you may be made rich. What is, Understand concerning the needy and poor? That you may receive Christ himself as needy and poor, saying in another psalm, But I am needy and poor, the Lord has care of me (Ps 40:17 (39:18)). What is it to understand concerning the needy and poor? Because he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man (Phil 2:7): rich with the Father, and poor with us; rich in heaven, poor on earth; rich God, poor man. Does this, then, disturb you, that you see a man, that you behold flesh, that you regard death, that you deride the cross? does this disturb you? Understand concerning the needy and poor. What is this? Understand that where weakness is exposed to you, there divinity lies hidden. Rich, because he is so; poor, because you were so. But yet his poverty is our riches: as his weakness is our strength; as his foolishness is our wisdom; as his mortality is our immortality. What it is to be poor, attend: not when you measure it by the poverty of others. He came to fill the poor, who was made poor. Therefore open the bosom of faith; receive the poor one, lest you remain poor.

2. [v. 2] Blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and poor: in the evil day the Lord will deliver him (Ps 41:1 (40:2)). For the evil day will come: whether you will or not, it will come; the day of judgment will be at hand, an evil day, if you do not understand concerning the needy and poor. For what now you are unwilling to believe, will be manifest in the end. But you will not escape, when it is manifest, because you do not believe while it is hidden. You are invited to believe what you do not see, lest, when you see, you blush. Understand, then, concerning the needy and poor, that is, concerning Christ; understand in him the hidden riches, whom you see poor. For in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden (Col 2:3). From this he will deliver you in the evil day, from that which he is God: but from that which he is man, both that which was human in him he raised up, and changed to the better, lifted to heaven. But he who is God, who willed to have one person in man and with man, could neither decrease nor increase, neither die nor rise again. He died from the weakness of man, but God does not die. For that the Word of God does not die, do not wonder, when the soul does not die in the martyr. Did we not just now hear the Lord himself saying, Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul (Matt 10:28)? Therefore, when the martyrs die, the souls of the martyrs are not dead, and when Christ died, was the Word to die? Surely the Word of God is much more than the soul of man: because the soul of man was made by God; and if it was made by God, it was made through the Word: because all things were made through him. Therefore neither does the Word die, since the soul made through the Word does not die. But as we rightly say: The man has died, even though his soul does not die; so we rightly say: Christ has died, even though his divinity does not die. Dead whence? Because needy and poor. Let not his death constrain you, and turn you from beholding the divinity. Blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and poor. Regard also the poor, the needy, the hungry and thirsty, the pilgrims, the naked, the sick, those set in prison; understand also concerning such a poor one, because even if you understand concerning such a one, you understand concerning him who said, I was hungry, I was thirsty, naked, a stranger, sick, in prison (Matt 25:35-36). So in the malign day the Lord will deliver you.

3. [v. 3] And see your blessedness. The Lord preserve him (Ps 41:2 (40:3)). The prophet rightly wishes well to the man understanding concerning the needy and poor. This wish is a promise; let those who do this await it secure. The Lord preserve him, and give him life. What is, preserve him, and give him life? To what does give him life pertain? To the future life. For he is given life who was dead. But can a dead man understand concerning the needy and poor? But he promises us that giving of life, of which the Apostle says: The body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of justice: but if he who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life also to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit dwelling in you (Rom 8:10-11). This, then, is the giving of life which is promised to him who understands concerning the needy and poor. But because the Apostle says to Timothy, Having the promise of the present life and of the future (1 Tim 4:8); lest those who understand concerning the needy and poor should think that they are indeed to be received into heaven, but neglected on earth; and should hope for nothing but what is to be forever, but should think that what pertains to the present God does not care for in his saints and faithful; where he said what we ought above all to await, The Lord preserve him, and give him life; he looked back to this life, And make him blessed, he says, on the earth. Lift up, then, your eyes to these promises with Christian faith: God does not desert you on earth, and promises something in heaven. For many bad Christians, inspectors of almanacs, and inquirers and observers of seasons and days, when they begin to be rebuked for it by us, or by certain good and better Christians, why they do these things, answer: These things are necessary for this time; but we are Christians on account of eternal life; for this we believed in Christ, that he might give us eternal life; for this temporal life in which we are engaged does not pertain to his care. It remains, that they say this briefly, that God is to be worshiped for the sake of eternal life, and the devil for the sake of the present life. Christ himself answers them: You cannot serve two masters (Matt 6:24). You worship one for what you expect in heaven, and worship another for what you expect on earth: how much better do you worship the one who made heaven and earth? He who took care that there should be earth, does he neglect his image on earth? Therefore: The Lord preserve him and give him life, the one understanding concerning the needy and poor. Moreover, although he give life forever, let him make him blessed on the earth.

4. And let him not deliver him into the hands of his enemy (Ps 41:2 (40:3)). That enemy is the devil. Let no one regard a human enemy of his, when he hears these words. Now perhaps he was thinking of his neighbor, of the one who had a lawsuit with him in the forum, of the one who wishes to take away his possession, who wishes to press him to sell his house to him. Do not think of these things; but think of that enemy, of whom the Lord says, An enemy man did this (Matt 13:28). For he is the one who suggests that God be worshiped for the sake of earthly things; because this enemy cannot overthrow the Christian name: for he saw himself conquered by the fame and praises of Christ, he saw, in the fact that he slew the martyrs of Christ, them crowned, and himself triumphed over; and he began to be unable to persuade men of this, that Christ is nothing; and because by disparaging Christ he now hardly deceives; by praising Christ he tries to deceive. Before, what did he say? Whom do you worship? A dead Jew, crucified, a man of no moment, who could not drive death from himself. When in his name he saw the human race run, saw that in the name of the crucified the temples are overthrown, the idols broken, the sacrifices extinguished; and all these things foretold in the prophets are attended to by men, stupefied with wonder, and now closing the heart against the disparagement of Christ; he clothes himself in the praises of Christ, and began to deter from the faith in another way. Great is the Christian law, that law is powerful, divine, ineffable: but who fulfills it? In the name of our Savior trample the lion and the dragon. Openly reproving, the lion roared; cunningly praising, the dragon lies in wait. Let those come to the faith who doubted: let them not say: Who fulfills this? If they presume on their own strength, they will not fulfill it. By presuming on the grace of God let them believe, by presuming let them come, let them come to be helped, not judged. All the faithful live in the name of Christ, each according to his degree fulfilling the precepts of Christ, whether married, or celibate and virgins, they live as much as the Lord grants them to live; nor do they presume on their own strength, but they know that they ought to glory in him. For what do you have that you have not received? But if you have received, why do you glory as if you had not received (1 Cor 4:7)? Do not say to me: Who fulfills it? He fulfills it in me, who came rich to the poor: poor indeed to the poor, but full to the empty. Thinking these things, because he understands concerning the needy and poor, and does not spurn the poverty of Christ, he understands the riches of Christ, he is made blessed on the earth: and he is not delivered into the hands of his enemy, who wishes to persuade him that God be worshiped for the sake of heavenly things, the devil for the sake of earthly things. Let him not deliver him into the hands of his enemy.

5. [v. 4] May the Lord bring him help (Ps 41:3 (40:4)). But where? Perhaps in heaven, perhaps in eternal life, so that there remains the worship of the devil for earthly want, for the needs of this life? Far be it. You have the promise of the present life and of the future. He came to you on earth, through whom heaven and earth were made. Finally, attend to what he says: May the Lord bring him help upon the bed of his grief. The bed of grief is the weakness of the flesh. Do not say: I cannot hold and carry and bridle my flesh: you are helped that you may be able. May the Lord bring you help upon the bed of your grief. The bed carried you, you did not carry the bed; but you were a paralytic within: he is present who says to you, Take up your pallet, and go into your house (Matt 9:6). May the Lord bring him help upon the bed of his grief. And he turns himself to the Lord, as though it were asked: Why, then, when God brings us help, do we suffer such great evils in this life, such great scandals, such great labors, such great unrest of the flesh and of the world? he turns himself to God, and as it were setting forth to us the counsel of his medicine: His whole couch, he says, you have turned in his weakness. What is, His whole couch you have turned in his weakness? By the couch is understood something earthly. Every weak soul in this life seeks for itself something earthly where it may rest; since it can hardly perpetually bear the intention of labor and of a mind stretched out toward God: it acquires for itself something on earth where it may rest and in a way recline by a certain pause, such as are those things which even the innocent love. For we are not now to speak of the lusts of the wicked, because many take their rest in theaters, many take their rest in the circus, in the amphitheater, many in dice; many in the luxury of taverns, many in the lust of adulteries, many in the violences of plunderings, many in the deceit and treacheries of frauds: men take their rest in all these things. What is, take their rest? They are delighted there. But let us remove all these things, let us come to the innocent man: he takes his rest in his house, in his household, in his wife, in his children, in his poverty, in his little estate, in the young plant set with his own hands, in some building made by his own care: the innocent take their rest in these things. But yet God, wishing us to have love only of eternal life, mingles bitterness even with these as it were innocent delights; so that in these too we suffer tribulations, and he turns our whole couch in our weakness. His whole couch you have turned in his weakness. Let him not, then, complain, when in these things which he innocently has, he suffers some tribulations. He is taught to love better things through the bitterness of lower ones: lest the traveler, tending toward the homeland, love the inn instead of his house. His whole couch you have turned in his weakness.

6. [v. 5] But why these things? Because he scourges every son whom he receives. Why these things? Because to sinning man it was said, In the labor of your countenance you shall eat your bread (Gen 3:19). Therefore, because man ought to recognize that these corrections, in which our whole couch is turned in our weakness, he suffers on account of sins; let him turn himself, and say what follows: I said: Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you (Ps 41:4 (40:5)). O Lord, exercise me in tribulations: you judge that every son whom you are to receive is to be scourged, you who spared not even your Only-begotten. He indeed was scourged without sin: but I say, Have mercy on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. If he was cut who had no rottenness, if that medicine of ours did not refuse the medicinal fire; ought we impatiently to bear the burning and cutting physician, that is, the one exercising us in all tribulations, and healing us from sin? Let us plainly commit ourselves to the hand of the physician; for he does not err, so as to cut the sound instead of the rotten: he knows what he inspects, he knows the vice, because he himself made the nature; he distinguishes what he himself founded, what came in from our lust. He knows that he gave a precept to sound man, lest he incur sickness; that he said in paradise: Eat this, and do not this. The sound man did not hear the physician's precept, that he might not fall; let at least the sick man hear, that he may rise. I said: Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. In my deeds, in my sins I do not accuse fortune, I do not say: This fate did to me; I do not say: Venus made me an adulterer, and Mars made me a robber, and Saturn made me greedy. I said: Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. Did Christ say this? did that head of ours without sin say this? did he who paid what he did not seize? did he, alone free among the dead? For free among the dead, because without sin: because everyone who commits sin is the servant of sin (John 8:34). Did he himself, then? Rather he himself from his members, because the voice of his members is his voice; because the voice of our head too is our voice. For we were in him, when he said, My soul is sorrowful even unto death (Matt 26:38). For he did not fear to die, who had come to die; nor refuse to die, who had power to lay down his soul, and had power to take it up again: but the members were speaking in the head, and the head was speaking for the members. In him, then, we find our voice: Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. For we were in him, when he said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? For in that very psalm where this verse is in the head, there follows consequently: The words of my transgressions (Ps 22:1-2 (21:2-3)). Of what transgressions in him, except because our old man was crucified together with him, that the body of sin might be emptied out, and we no longer serve sin (Rom 6:6)? To him and in him let us say: I said: Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.

7. [v. 6] My enemies spoke evil things to me: When will he die, and his name perish? (Ps 41:5 (40:6)) We have already said these things, and from here we began; and that we may say other things, there is no need to repeat what has been impressed on your ears and hearts by so recent a discourse.

8. [v. 7] And they came in to see (Ps 41:6 (40:7)). What Christ suffered, the Church too suffers; what the head suffered, the members too suffer. For is the servant greater than his lord, or the disciple above the master? If they have persecuted me, he says, they will persecute you also. If they have called the head of the household Beelzebub, how much more his domestics (John 15:20; Matt 10:25)? They came in to see. That Judas was at our head, he came in to our head to see, that is, to spy: not to have what he might believe, but to find what he might betray. Behold, he came in to see, and this example was set forth in our head. What of those members after the assumption of our head? Does not the apostle Paul say: On account of false brothers brought in secretly, who came in secretly to spy out our liberty (Gal 2:4)? Therefore these too came in to see, for they are hypocrites, evil dissemblers joining themselves with a feigned love, catching all the movements, all the words of the saints, seeking snares in all things. And what becomes of them? See what follows: Their heart spoke vain things (Ps 41:6 (40:7)): that is, they speak as it were out of a feigned love; what they speak is vain, it is not true, it is not solid. And because they catch at something whence they may find an accusation, what does he say? They gathered iniquity to themselves. For preparing slanders, the enemies, as it were, seem great to themselves, because they have something to accuse. To themselves they gathered iniquity. To themselves, he says, not to me. As Judas to himself, not to Christ, so also the dissemblers of the Church to themselves, not to us: because of them too it is said elsewhere, And iniquity has lied to itself (Ps 27:12 (26:12)). They gathered iniquity to themselves. And because they came in to see: They went outside, and spoke. He who came in to see, went outside and spoke. Would that he were within, and spoke true things! he would not go outside where he speaks false things. He is a betrayer and persecutor, gone outside he speaks. If you pertain to the members of Christ, come within, cleave to the head. Endure the tares if you are wheat; endure the chaff, if you are grain; endure the bad fish within the nets, if you are a good fish. Why before the time of winnowing have you flown away? Why before the time of harvest have you even rooted up the grains together with yourself? Why before you came to the shore have you broken the nets? They went outside, and spoke.

9. [v. 8] Against me all my enemies whispered together (Ps 41:7 (40:8)). Against me all together: how much better with me together? What is, against me together? With one counsel, one conspiracy. Christ, then, speaks to them: You agree against me, agree with me: why against me? why not with me? If you always had the "together," you would not divide yourselves into schisms. For the Apostle says: I beseech you, brothers, that you all say the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you (1 Cor 1:10). Against me all my enemies whispered together: against me they devised evils for me. Rather for themselves, because they gathered iniquity to themselves: but therefore for me, because they are to be weighed from their own mind. For it was not because they could do nothing, that they wished to do nothing. For the devil too desired to extinguish Christ, and Judas wished to kill Christ; but Christ being killed and rising again, we have been given life: yet to the devil and Judas the wage of an evil will is repaid, not of our salvation. For that you may know that each is to be weighed from his mind for the recompense of either reward or punishment, we find men to have said a good thing to someone, and such a good thing as we desire, and yet they were called revilers. When the Jews, seeing with the body, blind in heart, were being convicted by that man once blind, now enlightened both in body and in heart: that man now seeing said to them, Do you too wish to be his disciples? And they, says the Gospel, reviled him, saying: You be his disciple (John 9:27-28). May this befall us all, which they said by reviling. That reviling was called so from the ill-willing error of those saying it, not from any evil in the words: with what mind they said it, not what they said, did he attend, who narrated that they reviled. Against me they devised evils for me. And what evils to Christ, what evils to the martyrs? God turns all things to good.

10. [v. 9] An iniquitous word they appointed against me (Ps 41:8 (40:9)). What iniquitous word? Attend to the head itself: Let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours (Matt 21:38). Fools! how will the inheritance be yours? because you have killed him? Behold, both you have killed him, and the inheritance will not be yours. Does not he who sleeps add that he should rise again? (Ps 41:8 (40:9)) When you exulted that you had killed him, he slept: for he says also in another psalm, I slept. They raged, and wished to kill: I slept. For if I had been unwilling, I would not even have slept. I slept: because I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it up again (John 10:18). I slept, and took rest, and rose up (Ps 3:5 (3:6)). Let the Jews, then, rage, let the earth be delivered into the hands of the ungodly, let the flesh be permitted to the hands of the persecutors, let them hang on the wood, transfix with nails, pierce with a lance: Does not he who sleeps add that he should rise again? Why did he sleep? Because Adam was a figure of him who was to come: and Adam slept, when Eve was made from his side. Adam in the figure of Christ, Eve in the figure of the Church: whence she was called the mother of the living. When was Eve fashioned? While Adam slept. When did the sacraments of the Church flow forth from the side of Christ? When he slept on the cross. Does not he who sleeps add that he should rise again?

11. [v. 10] And whence did he sleep? From that one who came in to see, and gathered iniquity to himself. For the man of my peace, in whom I hoped, who ate my bread, has enlarged the heel against me (Ps 41:9 (40:10)). He raised his foot against me: he wished to trample me. Who is this man of his peace? Judas. And in him Christ hoped, because he said, in whom I hoped? Did he not know him from the beginning? did he not know, before he was born, that he would be such? had he not said to all his disciples, I have chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil (John 6:70)? How, then, did he hope in him, except because he himself is in his members, and what many faithful hoped about Judas, the Lord transfigured into himself? For when many who had believed in Christ saw Judas walk among the twelve disciples, some hoped in him; because he was such as the rest also: but Christ, because he was in his members hoping this, as he is in those hungering and thirsting; as he said I was hungry, so he said I hoped. Accordingly, if we say to him thus, Lord, when did you hope? as it was said to him, Lord, when were you hungry? as he there said to us, When you did it to one of these least of mine, you did it to me (Matt 25:40); so he can say: When one of these least of mine hoped, I hoped. In whom did I hope? The man of my peace, in whom I hoped, who ate my bread. How did he point him out in the passion, from these words of prophecy? By the morsel he designated him, that it might appear it was said of him, Who ate my bread (John 13:26). Again, when he came to betray him, he gave him a kiss, that it might appear it was said of him, The man of my peace.

12. [v. 11] But you, O Lord, have mercy on me (Ps 41:10 (40:11)). This from the form of a servant, this from the form of the needy and poor. For blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and poor. Have mercy on me, and raise me up, and I will repay them. See, when it was said, it has now been done. For the Jews killed Christ, lest they lose their place: he being killed, they lost their place; uprooted from the kingdom, they were scattered. Raised up, he repaid them tribulation: he repaid it for admonition, not yet for damnation. For that city in which the people roared, like a lion seizing and roaring, crying out, Crucify, crucify (Luke 23:21), the Jews being uprooted from it, has Christians, is inhabited by no Jew. The Church of Christ has been planted there, whence the thorns of the Synagogue were uprooted. Accordingly truly their fire blazed up, as in thorns: but the Lord was as green wood. This he himself said, when certain women bewailed Christ as about to die: Do not weep over me, but over yourselves weep, and over your children: from this foretelling: Raise me up, and I will repay them. For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry? (Luke 23:28, 31) When could green wood be consumed by the fire of thorns? For they blazed up like fire in thorns. The fire consumes the thorns, and when applied to any green wood, is hardly kindled, for the moisture of the wood resists the slow and weak flame, yet one fit for consuming thorns. And raise me up, and I will repay them. Lest perhaps indeed, brothers, you think the Son less powerful than the Father, from the fact that he said, Raise me up, as though he himself could not raise himself. For he raised up that which could die: that is, the flesh died, the flesh was raised up. Yet lest you should think that God the Father of Christ could raise Christ, that is, the flesh of his Son; and Christ himself, although he is the Word of God equal to the Father, could not raise his own flesh: hear from the Gospel: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. But this the evangelist, lest we should doubt even from this, said, he says, of the temple of his body (John 2:19, 21), and raise me up, and I will repay them.

13. [v. 12] In this I have known that you willed me, because my enemy will not rejoice over me (Ps 41:11 (40:12)). Because the Jews rejoiced, when they saw Christ crucified; they thought they had fulfilled their will to harm: they saw the accomplished fruit of their cruelty, Christ hanging on the cross; they shook the head: If he is the Son of God, let him come down from the cross (Matt 27:40). He did not come down, who could: he was not demonstrating power, but teaching patience. For if, when they said these things, he had come down from the cross, he would have seemed, as it were, to yield to those insulting him, and would have been believed conquered, unable to bear reproaches: rather he remained on the cross while they insulted, fixed while they wagged. For therefore they wagged the head, because they did not cleave to the true head. He plainly taught us patience. For he did the stronger thing, who was unwilling to do what the Jews provoked. For it is much more powerful to rise from the tomb, than to come down from the cross. Because my enemy will not rejoice over me. They rejoiced, then, then: Christ rose again, Christ was glorified. They see now the human race converted in his name, now let them insult, now let them wag the head: rather now let them fix the head; or if they wag the head, let them wag it being amazed and wondering. For now they say: Is this perhaps he whom Moses and the prophets foretold? For of him they said: Like a sheep he was led to be slain, and like a lamb before its shearer without voice, so he opened not his mouth: by his wounds we are healed (Isa 53:7, 5). For we see that this crucified one leads the human race after him; and not without cause did our fathers say, Let us kill him, lest the world go after him (John 11:48; 12:19). Perhaps it would not go after him, if he had not been killed. In this I have known that you willed me, because my enemy will not rejoice over me.

14. [vv. 13-14] But me, on account of my innocence, you have upheld (Ps 41:12 (40:13)). Truly innocence: integrity without sin, repayment without debt, scourging without desert. On account of my innocence you have upheld me, and confirmed me in your sight forever. You confirmed me forever, you weakened me for a time: you confirmed me in your sight, you weakened me in the sight of men. What then? Praises to him, glory to him. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel (Ps 41:13 (40:14)). For he is the God of Israel, our God, the God of Jacob, the God of the younger son, the God of the younger people. Let no one say: This he said of the Jews, I am not Israel. Rather the Jews are not Israel. For the elder son, he is the elder people, reprobated; the younger, the beloved people. The elder shall serve the younger (Gen 25:23), now it is fulfilled: now, brothers, the Jews serve us, they are as it were our book-carriers, they carry codices for us who study. Hear in what the Jews serve us, and not without cause. That elder brother Cain, who killed his younger brother, received a sign lest he be killed, that is, that the people itself may remain. Among them are the prophets and the Law; in which Law and in which prophets Christ was foretold. When we deal with the pagans, and show that this now comes about in the Church of Christ, which was foretold before about the name of Christ, about the head and body of Christ, lest they should think we have feigned those predictions, and from these things which have happened, as though they were to be, that we have written them, we bring forth the codices of the Jews. The Jews surely are our enemies, the adversary is convicted from the papers of an enemy. All things, then, the Lord distributed, all things he ordained for our salvation. He foretold before us, he fulfilled it in our time, and what he has not yet fulfilled, he will fulfill. And so we hold the repayer, that we may believe the debtor: because even those things which he has not yet given, he will give; just as those which he had not yet given, he has given. If anyone wishes to prove where they are written, let him read Moses and the prophets. If some enemy makes a din, and says: You have feigned the prophecies for yourselves; let the codices of the Jews be brought forth, because the elder shall serve the younger. There let them read these things foretold, which we now see fulfilled, and let us all say: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, from age and unto age: and let all the people say: So be it, so be it.

Exposition of Psalm 41

1. [v. 2] It is long since our soul has desired to rejoice with you in the word of God, and to greet you in him who is our help and our salvation. What, then, the Lord gives, hear through us, and in him exult with us in his word, and in his truth and in his love. For we have taken up a psalm, of which we are to speak to you, suited to your desire. For the psalm itself began from a certain holy desire, and he who sings thus says: As the deer desires for the fountains of waters, so my soul desires for you, O God (Ps 42:1 (41:2)). Who, then, is it that says this? If we will, it is we. And why do you seek outside who it may be, when it is in your power to be what you seek? Yet it is not one man, but it is one body: but the body of Christ is the Church. Nor is such a desire found in all who enter the Church: but yet whoever have tasted the sweetness of the Lord, and recognize in this Canticle what is savory to them, let them not think themselves alone; but let them believe that such seeds are scattered in the Lord's field, throughout the whole world, and that this is the voice of a certain Christian unity: As the deer desires for the fountains of waters, so my soul desires for you, O God. And indeed it is not badly understood to be the voice of those who, being catechumens, hasten to the grace of the holy laver. Whence also this psalm is solemnly sung, that they may so desire the fountain of the remission of sins, as the deer desires for the fountains of waters. Let this be so, and let this understanding have its place in the Church, both true and solemn. Yet, brothers, it seems to me that even in Baptism such a desire is not yet satisfied for the faithful: but perhaps, if they know where they are pilgrims, and whither they must pass over, they are even more ardently inflamed.

2. [v. 1] In short, its title is: To the end, for understanding, to the sons of Korah, a psalm (Ps 42:1 (41:1)). We find the sons of Korah in other titles of the Psalms too, and we remember to have already treated, and spoken what this name means: yet now this title is to be recalled, in such a way that what we have already said does not, as it were, prejudge us, so that we should not say it again: for not everywhere we said it were all present. Korah was perhaps some man, as he was, and had sons who were called the sons of Korah: yet let us search the secret of the sacrament, that this name may bring forth the mystery with which it is pregnant. For it is a matter of great sacrament, that Christians be called the sons of Korah. Whence the sons of Korah? Sons of the bridegroom, sons of Christ. For they were called Christians, sons of the bridegroom. Why, then, is Christ Korah? Because Korah is interpreted "Bald." This is much more remote. I was asking why Christ is Korah: I ask more intently why Christ seems to pertain to "Bald-place." Does it not already occur that he was crucified in the place of Calvary? It occurs altogether. Therefore the sons of the bridegroom, sons of his passion, sons redeemed by his blood, sons of his cross, bearing on the forehead what the enemies fixed in the place of Calvary, are called the sons of Korah: to them this psalm is sung for understanding. Let us, then, be roused by understanding; and if it is sung to us, let us understand. What are we to understand? for what understanding is this psalm sung? I dare to say: for the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, through the things that are made, are understood and seen (Rom 1:20). Come, brothers, take my avidity, share this desire with me: together let us love, together let us burn in this thirst, together let us run to the fountain of understanding. Let us desire, then, like the deer, the fountain; except that fountain which those to be baptized desire on account of the remission of sins, let us, already baptized, desire that fountain of which another Scripture says: For with you is the fountain of life. For he himself is both fountain and light: since in your light we shall see light. If he is both fountain and light; rightly he is also understanding, because he both satisfies the soul avid to know; and everyone who understands is illumined by a certain light, not corporeal, not carnal, not exterior, but interior. There is, then, brothers, a certain light within, which those do not have who do not understand. Whence the Apostle now addresses those who desire this fountain of life, and crop something from it, beseeching, and saying: That you now no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk in the vanity of their mind, darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, on account of the blindness of their heart (Eph 4:17-18). If, then, those are darkened in understanding, that is, because they do not understand, they are darkened; therefore those who understand are illumined. Run to the fountains, desire the fountains of waters. With God is the fountain of life and an inexhaustible fountain: in his light is an undarkenable light. Desire this light, a certain fountain, a certain light such as your eyes do not know; to seeing which light the inner eye is prepared, to drinking which fountain the inner thirst burns. Run to the fountain, desire the fountain: but do not just anyhow, do not run like just any animal; run like the deer. What is, like the deer? Let there be no slowness in running, run nimbly, nimbly desire the fountain. For we find a mark of swiftness in the deer.

3. [v. 2] But perhaps Scripture wished us to consider not this alone in the deer, but also something else. Hear what else is in the deer. It kills serpents, and after the killing of the serpents it burns with a greater thirst, the serpents being slain it runs the more keenly to the fountains. The serpents are your vices: consume the serpents of iniquity, then you will the more desire the fountain of truth. Greed perhaps hisses something dark in you, and hisses against the word of God, hisses against the precept of God: and because it is said to you, Despise something, that you may not do iniquity; if you prefer to do iniquity, rather than despise some temporal advantage, you choose to be bitten by the serpent, rather than to slay the serpent. When, therefore, you still favor your vice, your cupidity, your greed, your serpent; when do I find in you such a desire, by which you may run to the fountain of waters? when do you covet the fountain of wisdom, while you still labor in the poison of malice? Kill in yourself whatever is contrary to truth: and when you see yourself as it were free from perverse cupidities, do not remain as though there were nothing to desire. For there is something to which you may lift yourself; if you have already wrought in yourself, so that there be no hinderer against you. For perhaps you will now say to me, if you are a deer: God knows that I am no longer greedy, that I no longer covet anyone's property, that I do not burn with the cupidity of adultery, that I do not pine away with the hatred and envy of anyone, and other such things; you will say: I do not have these things: and you seek perhaps whence you may be delighted. Desire whence you may be delighted; desire for the fountains of waters: God has whence to refresh you, and to fill you coming to him, and thirsting after the killing of the serpents, like a swift deer.

4. There is another thing which you may note in the deer. It is handed down of the deer, and by some they have even been seen; for such a thing would not be written of them, unless it were first seen: it is said, then, that the deer, whether when they walk in their column, or when, swimming, they make for other parts of the lands, place the burdens of their heads upon one another in turn, so that one goes before, and those follow who place their heads upon him, and above them others following, and then others, until the column ends: but that one who bore the weight of the head in the first place, wearied, returns to the rear, that another may succeed him, to bear what he was bearing, and that he may refresh his weariness, his head being laid, as the others too were laying theirs: so by bearing in turn what is heavy, they both accomplish the way, and do not desert one another. Does not the Apostle address certain deer, saying: Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal 6:2)?

5. [v. 3] Such a deer, then, set in faith, not yet seeing what he believes, desiring to understand what he loves, suffers also adversaries not deer, darkened in understanding, set in inner darkness, blinded by the cupidity of vices; moreover insulting and saying to the man who believes, and who does not show what he believes: Where is your God? (Ps 42:3 (41:4)) What, then, this deer did against these words, let us hear, that we too, if we can, may do it. First he expressed his thirst: As the deer, he says, desires for the fountains of waters, so my soul desires for you, O God. What if the deer desires for the fountains of waters for the sake of washing? Whether, then, for the sake of drinking or of washing, we do not know. Hear what follows, and do not ask: My soul has thirsted for the living God. What I say: As the deer desires for the fountains of waters, so my soul desires for you, O God, this I say: My soul has thirsted for the living God. For what did it thirst? When shall I come and appear before the face of God? This is what I thirst, to come and appear. I thirst in pilgrimage, I thirst on the way: I shall be satisfied at the arrival. But when shall I come? And what is quick to God, is slow to desire. When shall I come and appear before the face of God? From that desire is also this, from which it is cried elsewhere: One thing I have asked of the Lord, this I will seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Why this? That I may contemplate, he says, the delight of the Lord (Ps 27:4 (26:4)). When shall I come and appear before the face of the Lord?

6. [v. 4] Meanwhile, while I meditate, while I run, while I am on the way, before I come, before I appear: My tears have been bread to me day and night, while it is said to me daily: Where is your God? (Ps 42:3 (41:4)) They have been to me, he says, not bitterness, but bread. Sweet to me were those very tears: thirsting for that fountain, because I could not yet drink, the more avidly I ate my tears. For he did not say: My tears have been made my drink, lest he should seem to have desired them as the fountains of waters: but, that thirst being preserved by which I burn, by which I am snatched to the fountains of waters, my tears have been made my bread, while I am deferred. And surely, eating his tears, without doubt he thirsts the more for the fountains. For day and night my tears have been made my bread. That food which is called bread, men eat by day, by night they sleep: but the bread of tears is eaten both by day and by night: whether you take the whole time, day and night; or understand the day for the prosperity of this world, but the night for the adversity of this world. Whether, he says, in the prosperous things of the world, or in the adverse things of the world, I pour out the tears of my desire, I do not abandon the avidity of my desire: and when it is well in the world, it is ill with me, before I shall appear before the face of God. Why, then, do you compel me to rejoice, as it were, if some prosperity of this world has smiled? is it not deceitful? is it not fluid, falling, mortal? is it not temporal, flitting, transitory? does it not have more of deception than of delight? Why, then, should my tears not be made my bread in it too? Since even when the felicity of the world shines round about, as long as we are in the body, we are pilgrims away from the Lord; and it is said to me daily: Where is your God? Because if a pagan says this to me, I cannot say to him too, Where is your God? For he points to his god with his finger. For he stretches out his finger to some stone, and says: Behold, this is my god. Where is your God? When I have derided the stone, and he who pointed it out has blushed, he lifts his eye from the stone, looks up at heaven, and perhaps, pointing his finger to the sun, again says: Behold, this is my god. Where is your God? He found what he might show to the eyes of flesh: I, however, not as though I had not whom I might show, but he has not eyes with which I might show him. For he could show to the eyes of my body his god the sun: with what eyes shall I show the creator of the sun?

7. Yet, by hearing daily, Where is your God? and being fed on my daily tears, day and night I meditated on what I heard: Where is your God? I too myself sought my God, that if I could, not only might I believe, but also might see something. For I see what my God has made, but I do not see my God himself who made these things. But since, like a deer, I desire for the fountains of waters, and with him is the fountain of life, and the psalm was written for understanding to the sons of Korah, and the invisible things of God are seen, understood through the things that are made; what shall I do, that I may find my God? I will consider the earth: the earth was made. There is great beauty of the lands; but it has a craftsman. Great are the wonders of seeds and of the things that beget; but all these have a creator. I look at the greatness of the sea poured round, I am astonished, I marvel; I seek the craftsman: I look up at the heaven and the beauty of the stars; I admire the splendor of the sun, sufficient to bring forth the day, the moon consoling the darkness of night. These things are wonderful, these are to be praised, or even to be marveled at; for these are not earthly, but already heavenly. Not yet does my thirst stand there: I marvel at these, I praise these; but I thirst for him who made these. I return to myself, and I scrutinize who I myself am, who seek such things: I find that I have a body and a soul; one which I rule, the other by which I am ruled; the body to serve, the soul to command. I discern that the soul is something better than the body, and I see that the inquirer into such things is not the body, but the soul: and yet all these things which I surveyed, I recognize that I surveyed them through the body. I praised the earth, I knew it by the eyes; I praised the sea, I knew it by the eyes; the heaven, the stars, the sun and moon I praised, I knew them by the eyes. The eyes are members of the flesh, they are windows of the mind: he is within who sees through these; when by some thought he is absent, they open in vain. My God who made these things, which I see with the eyes, is not to be sought with these eyes. Let the mind itself also behold something through itself: whether there is something which I perceive not through the eyes, as colors and light; not through the ears, as song and sound; not through the nostrils, as the sweetness of odors; not through the palate and tongue, as taste; not through the whole body, as hardness and softness, rigor and heat, roughness and smoothness which I handle; but whether there is something within which I may see. What is, see within? That which is neither color, nor sound, nor odor, nor taste, nor heat, nor cold, nor hardness, nor softness. Let it then be told me, what color wisdom has. When we think of justice, and within, in the very thought, enjoy its beauty, what sounds to the ears? what rises like a vapor to the nostrils? what is brought to the mouth, what is handled and delights? And it is both within, and beautiful, and praised, and seen: and if these eyes are in darkness, the mind enjoys its light. What was that which Tobit saw, when, seeing, the blind man gave counsel of life to his son? There is, then, something which the mind itself, the ruler, governor, dweller of the body, sees; which it perceives not through the eyes of the body, not through the ears, not through the nostrils, not through the palate, not through the touch of the body, but through itself: and surely better what is through itself, than what is through its servant. For it sees itself through itself, and the mind itself, that it may know itself, sees itself. Nor surely, that it may see itself, does it seek the aid of bodily eyes: rather indeed from all the senses of the body, as from things hindering and clamoring, it withdraws itself to itself, that it may see itself in itself, that it may know itself in itself. But is the God of the mind anything such, as the mind is? God indeed cannot be seen except by the mind, yet not in such a way as the mind can be seen. For the mind seeks something which is God, of which let not those insult who say: Where is your God? It seeks a certain unchangeable truth, a substance without defect. The mind itself is not such: it fails, advances; knows, is ignorant; remembers, forgets; now wills that, now does not will it. This changeableness does not fall upon God. If I say: God is changeable, those will insult me who say: Where is your God?

8. [v. 5] Seeking, then, my God in visible and bodily things, and not finding him; seeking his substance in myself, as though he were something such as I am, and not finding this either; I perceive that my God is something above the soul. Therefore, that I might touch him: These things I meditated, and I poured out my soul above myself (Ps 42:4 (41:5)). When would my soul attain what is sought above my soul, unless my soul were poured out above itself? For if it remained in itself, it would see nothing other than itself: and when it saw itself, it would surely not see its God. Let my insulters now say: Where is your God? let them say it: I, as long as I do not see, as long as I am deferred, eat day and night my tears. Let them still say: Where is your God? I seek my God in every body, whether earthly or heavenly, and find him not: I seek his substance in my soul, and find it not: yet I meditated the inquiry into my God, and, through the things that are made, desiring to behold the invisible things of my God understood, I poured out my soul above myself; and there now remains none whom I may touch, except my God. For there is the house of my God, above my soul: there he dwells, thence he beholds me, thence he created me, thence he governs me, thence he counsels me, thence he rouses me, thence he calls me, thence he directs me, thence he leads me, thence he leads me through.

9. For he who has his highest house in secret, has also a tabernacle on earth. His tabernacle on earth is his Church, still on pilgrimage. But here he is to be sought, because in the tabernacle is found the way by which one comes to the house. For indeed, when I poured out my soul above myself to attain my God, why did I do this? Because I will enter into the place of the tabernacle (Ps 42:4 (41:5)). For outside the place of the tabernacle I shall wander, seeking my God. Because I will enter into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God. Into the place of the tabernacle I will enter, of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God. For now I marvel at many things in the tabernacle. Behold how many things I marvel at in the tabernacle! For the tabernacle of God on earth is the faithful men: I marvel in them at the obedience of their very members; because sin does not reign in them so as to obey its desires, nor do they present their members as arms of iniquity to sin, but present them to the living God in good works: I marvel that the bodily members serve the soul serving God. I regard also the soul itself obeying God, distributing the works of its action, bridling lusts, driving out ignorance, stretching itself to bear all hard and harsh things, expending justice and love on others. I marvel also at these virtues in the soul: but still I walk in the place of the tabernacle. I pass over these too: and although the tabernacle is wonderful, I am astonished when I come even to the house of God. Of which house he says in another psalm, when he had set himself a certain hard and difficult question, why in this earth it is for the most part well with the evil, and ill with the good, and says: I undertook to know this, it is labor before me, until I enter into the sanctuary of God, and understand in the last things (Ps 73:16-17 (72:16-17)). For there is the fountain of understanding, in the sanctuary of God, in the house of God. There he understood in the last things, and solved the question about the felicity of the iniquitous, and the labor of the just. How did he solve it? Because the evil, when they are here deferred, are kept for punishments without end; and the good, when they here labor, are exercised, that in the end they may obtain the inheritance. And this he knew in the sanctuary of God, he understood in the last things. Ascending the tabernacle, he came to the house of God. Yet, while he marvels at the members of the tabernacle, he was so led to the house of God, by following a certain sweetness, an interior and hidden delight, I know not what, as though from the house of God some instrument sounded sweetly: and while he walked in the tabernacle, hearing a certain interior sound, led by sweetness, following what sounded, withdrawing himself from all the din of flesh and blood, he came even to the house of God. For he so recalls his way and his leading, as though we said to him: You marvel at the tabernacle on this earth; how did you come to the secret of the house of God? In the voice, he says, of exultation and confession, the sound of one celebrating a festivity. When men celebrate festivities here, even of their luxury, they have the custom of setting up instruments before their houses, or of placing musicians, or any music serving and enticing to luxury. And when these things are heard, what do we who pass by say? What is going on here? And it is answered us, that there are certain feasts. They are celebrating, he says, a birthday, there are nuptials here; so that those songs may not seem foolish, but luxury be excused by festivity. In the house of God there is an everlasting festivity. For not something is celebrated there and passes away. The everlasting festival, the choir of angels: the present countenance of God, joy without failing. This festal day is such that it is neither opened by a beginning, nor closed by an end. From that eternal and perpetual festivity there sounds something tuneful and sweet to the ears of the heart: but only if the world does not make a din. To one walking in this tabernacle, and considering the wonders of God in the redemption of the faithful, the sound of that festivity soothes the ear, and snatches the deer to the fountains of waters.

10. [v. 6] But because, brothers, as long as we are in this body, we are pilgrims away from the Lord, and the body that is corrupted weighs down the soul, and the earthly dwelling presses down the mind that thinks of many things: even if, somehow, the mists being dispersed, by walking through desire, we come at times to this sound, so that, by straining, we grasp something of that house of God; yet by a certain weight of our weakness we fall back to our accustomed things, and slip down to these usual things. And as there we had found whence we might rejoice, so here there will not be lacking what we may groan over. For indeed this deer, eating day and night his tears, snatched by desire to the fountains of waters, namely the interior sweetness of God, pouring out his soul above himself, that he might touch what is above his soul, walking into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God, and led by the pleasantness of an interior and intelligible sound, so as to despise all exterior things, and be snatched into interior things; yet is still a man, still here he groans, still he carries fragile flesh, still amid the scandals of this world he is imperiled. He looked back, then, to himself, as it were coming from there, and said to himself, set amid these sadnesses, and comparing these things with those which he had entered to see, and after seeing which he had gone out: Why, he says, are you sad, my soul, and why do you trouble me? (Ps 42:5 (41:6)) Behold, we have now been gladdened by a certain interior sweetness, behold, with the edge of the mind we have been able to behold something unchangeable, even if cursorily and snatchingly: why do you still trouble me, why are you still sad? For you do not doubt about your God. For you do not lack what you may say to yourself, against those who say: Where is your God? I have now perceived something unchangeable, why do you still trouble me? Hope in God. And as if his soul answered him in silence: Why do I trouble you, except because I am not yet there, where that sweet thing is, by which I was so snatched as it were in passing? Do I now drink of that fountain, fearing nothing? do I now dread no scandal? am I now secure about all lusts as though subdued and conquered? Does not the devil my enemy keep watch against me? does he not daily stretch out for me the snares of deception? Do you not wish that I trouble you, set in the world, and still a pilgrim away from the house of my God? But: Hope in God, he answers his troubling soul, and as it were rendering the reason of its perturbation, on account of the evils with which this world abounds. Meanwhile, dwell in hope. For hope that is seen is not hope: but if we hope for what we do not see, by patience we await it (Rom 8:24-25).

11. [v. 7] Hope in God. Why Hope? Because I will confess to him. What will you confess to him? The salvation of my countenance, my God (Ps 42:5 (41:6)). From myself there cannot be salvation to me; this I will say, this I will confess: The salvation of my countenance is my God. For indeed, that he may fear in these things which he somehow knows as understood, he looked back again solicitous lest the enemy creep up: he does not yet say: I am safe on every side. For indeed, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, in ourselves we groan, awaiting the adoption, the redemption of our body. That salvation being made perfect in us, we shall be living in the house of God without end, and without end praising him to whom it was said: Blessed are they who dwell in your house, forever and ever they shall praise you (Ps 84:4 (83:5)). This is not yet, because the salvation which is promised is not yet: but I confess to my God in hope, and say to him: The salvation of my countenance, my God. For in hope we have been saved: but hope that is seen is not hope. Persevere, then, that you may arrive; persevere until salvation comes. Hear your very God speaking to you from within: Endure the Lord, act manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, and endure the Lord (Ps 27:14 (26:14)); since he who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved (Matt 10:22). Why, then, are you sad, my soul, and why do you trouble me? Hope in God, because I will confess to him. This is my confession, The salvation of my countenance, my God.

12. Unto myself my soul has been troubled (Ps 42:6 (41:7)). Is it troubled unto God? Unto me it has been troubled. By the unchangeable it was refreshed, by the changeable it was perturbed. I know that the justice of my God abides: whether mine abides, I do not know. For the Apostle terrifies me, saying: He who thinks he stands, let him see lest he fall (1 Cor 10:12). Therefore, because there is no firmness in me for myself, nor is there hope to me from myself: unto myself my soul has been troubled. Do you wish it not to be troubled? Let it not remain in yourself, and say: To you, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul (Ps 25:1 (24:1)). Hear this more plainly. Do not hope from yourself, but from your God. For if you hope from yourself, your soul is troubled unto you; because it has not yet found whence it may be secure about you. Therefore, since unto me my soul has been troubled, what remains but humility, that the soul may not presume of itself? What remains, but that it make itself altogether least, that it humble itself, that it may deserve to be exalted? Let it attribute nothing to itself, that to it may be attributed by him what is useful. Therefore, because unto me my soul has been troubled, and pride makes this perturbation: Therefore I have remembered you, O Lord, from the land of Jordan and Hermon, from the little mountain (Ps 42:6 (41:7)). Whence have I remembered you? From the little mountain, and from the land of Jordan. Perhaps from Baptism, where is the remission of sins. For indeed no one runs to the remission of sins, except one who is displeasing to himself; no one runs to the remission of sins, except one who confesses himself a sinner; no one confesses himself a sinner, except by humbling himself to God. Therefore from the land of Jordan I have remembered you, and from the little mountain: not from the great mountain; that from the little mountain you may make me great: because he who exalts himself shall be humbled; and he who humbles himself shall be exalted (Luke 14:11). But if you seek also the interpretations of the names, Jordan is "Their descent." Descend, then, that you may be lifted up; do not be lifted up, lest you be dashed down: And from Hermon, the little mountain. Hermon is interpreted "Anathematizing." Anathematize yourself, by being displeasing to yourself: for you will be pleasing to God, if you are pleasing to yourself. Therefore, because God grants us all good things, because he himself is good, not because we are worthy; because he is merciful, not because we have deserved it in anything; from the land of Jordan and Hermon I have remembered God. And because he is humbly remembered, exalted he will deserve to enjoy: because he is not exalted in himself who glories in the Lord.

13. [v. 8] Deep calls to deep, in the voice of your cataracts (Ps 42:7 (41:8)). I can perhaps finish the psalm, aided by your zeal, whose fervor I see. But about your labor I do not much care, that you hear it; when you see even me who speak so sweating in these labors. Looking at me laboring, surely you labor together: for I do not labor for myself, but for you. Therefore hear; because I see you willing. Deep calls to deep, in the voice of your cataracts: he said to God who remembered him from the land of Jordan and Hermon: this he said in wonder: Deep calls to deep, in the voice of your cataracts. What deep, that calls what deep? Truly, because this understanding is a deep. For a deep is a certain impenetrable, incomprehensible depth: and it is especially wont to be said of a multitude of waters. For there is the height, there the depth: which cannot be penetrated to the bottom. In short, in a certain place it was said: Your judgments are a great deep (Ps 36:6 (35:7)): Scripture wishing to commend this, that the judgments of God are not comprehended. What deep, then, calls what deep? If a deep is a depth, do we suppose that the heart of man is not a deep? For what is deeper than this deep? Men can speak, can be seen through the working of the members, be heard in speech: but whose thought is penetrated, whose heart is inspected? What he is doing within, what he can do within, what he is transacting within, what he is arranging within, what he wills within, what he does not will within, who shall comprehend? I think it is not absurd to understand man as the deep, of whom it is said elsewhere: Man shall approach, and a deep heart, and God shall be exalted (Ps 64:6-7 (63:7-8)). If, then, man is a deep, how does deep call to deep? Does man call to man? does he call as God is called? No. But he calls, it is said, calls to himself. For it was said of someone: He calls upon death: that is, he so lives that he calls death to himself. For there is no man who makes a prayer, and calls upon death: but by living badly men call upon death. Deep calls to deep, man to man. So wisdom is learned, so faith is learned, when deep calls to deep. The holy preachers of the word of God call to the deep. Are they not themselves also a deep? That you may know that they too are a deep, the Apostle says: It is a small thing that I be judged by you, or by a human day. But how great a deep, hear further: For neither do I judge myself (1 Cor 4:3). Do you believe so great a depth to be in man, which lies hidden from the very man in whom it is? How great a depth of weakness lay hidden in Peter, when he did not know what was being transacted within him, and rashly promised that he would die with the Lord or for the Lord! how great a deep he was! Which deep, yet, was bare to the eyes of God. For Christ foretold to him this, which he himself was ignorant of in himself. Therefore every man, though holy, though just, though advancing in many things, is a deep, and calls to a deep, when he preaches to man something of faith, something of truth, for the sake of eternal life. But then is the deep useful to the deep that is called, when it is done in the voice of your cataracts. Deep calls to deep, man gains man: yet not in his own voice, but in the voice of your cataracts.

14. Receive another understanding: Deep calls to deep, in the voice of your cataracts (Ps 42:7 (41:8)). I who tremble, when unto me my soul has been troubled, I feared vehemently at your judgments: for your judgments are a great deep (Ps 36:6 (35:7)), and, deep calls to deep. For under this mortal flesh, laborious, sinful, full of troubles and scandals, subject to lusts, there is a certain damnation from your judgment: because you said to the sinner, You shall die the death, and, In the sweat of your countenance you shall eat your bread (Gen 2:17; 3:19). This is the first deep of your judgment. But if men live badly here, deep calls to deep: because they pass from punishment to punishment, and from darkness to darkness, and from depth to depth, and from torment to torment, and from the ardor of cupidity into the flames of hell. Therefore this man perhaps feared this, when he said: Unto myself my soul has been troubled: therefore I have remembered you, O Lord, from the land of Jordan and Hermon. I ought to be humble. For I shuddered at your judgments, I feared vehemently your judgments: therefore unto me my soul has been troubled. And what judgments of yours did I fear? Are these judgments of yours small? They are great, they are hard, they are troublesome: but would that they were the only ones! Deep calls to deep, in the voice of your cataracts. Because you threaten, you say that even after those labors there remains another damnation: In the voice of your cataracts, deep calls to deep. Whither, then, shall I go from your face, and whither shall I flee from your spirit; if deep calls to deep, if after these labors more grievous ones are feared?

15. All your suspensions and your waves have come in over me (Ps 42:7 (41:8)). The waves in the things I feel, the suspensions in the things you threaten. My every suffering is your wave: my every threat is your suspension. In the waves this deep calls, in the suspensions it calls the other deep. In that I labor, all are your waves: in that you threaten more grievously, all your suspensions have come in over me. For he who threatens does not press, but suspends. But because you free, I have said this to my soul: Hope in God, because I will yet confess to him; he speaks the confession itself: he repeats the confirmation of hope: the salvation of my countenance, my God. Because evils are the more frequent, the sweeter will be your mercy.

16. [v. 9] Therefore it follows: In the day the Lord has commanded his mercy, and by night he will declare it (Ps 42:8 (41:9)). No one has leisure to hear in tribulation. Attend when it is well with you; hear when it is well with you: learn, when you are tranquil, the discipline of wisdom, and gather the word of God like food. For when anyone is in tribulation, what he secure heard ought to profit him. For in prosperous things God commands you his mercy, if you serve him faithfully; because he frees you from tribulation; but he does not declare to you that very mercy, which he commanded you by day, except by night. When tribulation itself comes, then he does not desert you with aid: he shows you that it was true what he commanded you by day. For it is written in a certain place: Beautiful is the mercy of the Lord in the time of tribulation, like clouds of rain in the time of drought (Sir 35:20 (35:26)). In the day the Lord has commanded his mercy, and by night he will declare it. He does not show you that he comes to your aid, unless tribulation comes to you, from which you may be delivered by him who promised you by day. Therefore we are admonished to imitate the ant. For as the prosperity of the world is signified by day, the adversity of the world is signified by night: so in another way the prosperity of the world is signified by summer, the adversity of the world is signified by winter. And what does the ant do? In summer it gathers what may profit it in winter. Therefore when it is summer, when it is well with you, when you are tranquil, hear the word of the Lord. For whence can it come about that in this storm of this world you cross this whole sea without tribulation? whence can it come about? to whom of men has this befallen? If it has befallen anyone, that very tranquillity is the more to be feared. In the day the Lord has commanded his mercy, and by night he will declare it.

17. [vv. 9-10] What, then, shall you do in this pilgrimage? what shall you do? With me is a prayer to the God of my life (Ps 42:8 (41:9)). This here I do, a deer thirsting and desiring for the fountains of waters, recalling the sweetness of that voice by which I was led through the tabernacle even to the house of God: as long as this body which is corrupted weighs down the soul: With me is a prayer to the God of my life. For not, that I may supplicate God, am I to buy from overseas places; nor, that my God may hear me, shall I sail, that I may bring frankincense and spices from afar, or lead a calf or a ram from the herd: With me is a prayer to the God of my life. Within I have a victim which I may immolate, within I have incense which I may set on, within I have a sacrifice by which I may bend my God: A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit (Ps 51:17 (50:19)). What sacrifice of a troubled spirit I have within, hear: I will say to God: You are my upholder, why have you forgotten me? For I so labor here, as though you had forgotten me. But you exercise me: and I know that you defer to me, you do not take away from me, what you promised: but yet, why have you forgotten me? As though from our voice our head too cried: God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Ps 22:1 (21:2)) I will say to God: You are my upholder, why have you forgotten me?

18. [v. 11] Why have you cast me off? (Ps 42:9 (41:10)) from that height of the fountain of understanding of unchangeable truth, Why have you cast me off? Why, by the heaviness and weight of my iniquity, gaping now toward there, am I cast down to these things? This voice says in another place: I said in my ecstasy, where it saw something great, I know not what, by an excess of mind: I said in my ecstasy: I am cast away from before your eyes (Ps 31:22 (30:23)). For it compared these things in which it was with those to which it had been raised, and saw itself cast far away from before the eyes of God, as here too: Why have you cast me off, and why do I go sad, while the enemy afflicts me, while he breaks my bones, that tempter the devil, with scandals everywhere increasing, by whose abundance the love of many grows cold? When we see the strong of the Church for the most part yield to scandals, does not the body of Christ say: The enemy breaks my bones? For the bones are the strong, and sometimes the strong themselves yield to temptations. When anyone considers these things from the body of Christ, from the voice of the body of Christ, does he not cry out: Why have you cast me off, and why do I go sad, while the enemy afflicts me, while he breaks my bones? Not only my flesh, but even my bones: so that in those in whom some strength was thought to be, you see them yield in temptations, that the rest, the weak, may despair, when they see the strong succumb. How great these perils, my brothers!

19. [vv. 11-12] They have reproached me who trouble me (Ps 42:10 (41:11)). Again that voice: While they say to me daily: Where is your God? And especially these things they say in the temptations of the Church: Where is your God? How much the martyrs heard this, strong and patient for the name of Christ, how much it was said to them: Where is your God? Let him free you, if he can. For men saw their torments from without, the crowns within they did not see. They have reproached me who trouble me, while they say to me daily: Where is your God? And I, on account of these things, since unto me my soul has been troubled, what else shall I say to it than that: Why are you sad, my soul, and why do you trouble me? And as if answering: Do you not wish that I trouble you, set here amid such great evils? sighing for good things, thirsting and laboring, do you not wish that I trouble you? Hope in God, because I will yet confess to him. He speaks the confession itself, he repeats the confirmation of hope: The salvation of my countenance and my God.

Exposition of Psalm 42

1. This psalm is short: it so satisfies the minds of the hearers, that it is not troublesome to the stomachs of the fasting. Let our soul be fed from it, which he who sings in this psalm says is sad: sad, I believe, from some fasting of his, or rather from some hunger of his. For fasting is of the will, hunger of necessity. The Church hungers, the body of Christ hungers, and that man spread everywhere, whose head is above, the members below: his voice in all the Psalms, whether singing or groaning, or rejoicing in hope, or sighing in the reality, we ought to have most known and most familiar, as our own. We must not, then, dwell long, that we may insinuate to you who speaks: let each one be in the body of Christ, and he will speak here.

2. [v. 1] You all know, however, who advance, and who groan for that heavenly city, who know their pilgrimage, who hold to the way, who in the desire of that most stable land have fixed hope like an anchor: you know, then, that this kind of men, this good seed, this wheat of Christ, groans among the tares; and this until the time of harvest comes, that is, even to the end of the world, as the truth which does not deceive expounds. Groaning, then, among the tares, that is, among evil men, among the deceitful and seducers, whether turbulent with anger, or venomous with treacheries; observing that he is together with them as in one field throughout the whole world, receiving one rain, blown upon alike, and alike nourished with them amid adversities, having alike these common gifts of God, granted in common to the evil and the good by him who makes his sun rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust: seeing, then, the seed of Abraham, the holy seed, how many things it now has in common with the evil, from whom one day it is to be separated, born alike, allotted the same condition of the human race, alike bearing mortal bodies, using together the light, the fountains, the fruits, the prosperities and adversities of the world, whether famine, or abundance, whether peace, or war, whether health, or pestilence; seeing how many things it has in common with the evil, with whom yet it has not a common cause, he breaks forth into this voice: Judge me, O God, and discern my cause from the unholy nation (Ps 43:1 (42:1)). Judge, he says, me, O God: I do not fear your judgment, because I know your mercy. Judge me, O God, and discern my cause from the unholy nation. Now meanwhile in this pilgrimage you do not yet discern my place, because I live together with the tares even to the time of harvest; you do not yet discern my rain, you do not yet discern my light: discern my cause. Let there be a difference between him who believes in you, and him who does not believe in you. The weakness is equal, but the conscience unequal: the labor equal, but the desire unequal. The desire of the ungodly shall perish: but about the desire of the just, unless he who promised were certain, we ought to doubt. The end of our desire is the promiser himself. He will give himself, because he gave himself: he will give himself, immortal, to the immortal, because he gave himself, mortal, to the mortal. Judge me, O God, and discern my cause from the unholy nation. From the iniquitous and deceitful man deliver me: this is, from the unholy nation. From the man, from a certain kind of man, because a certain man and a certain man, and of these two one shall be taken, and one shall be left.

3. [v. 2] And since patience is needed for bearing, even to the harvest, a certain, if it may be said, undiscerned discernment; for they are together, and therefore are not yet discerned; but the tares are tares, and the wheat is wheat, and therefore they are already discerned; since, then, fortitude is needed, to be implored from him who commanded that we be strong, and unless he himself makes us strong, we shall not be what he commanded, from him who said, He who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved (Matt 10:22); lest the soul itself, by arrogating fortitude to itself, be weakened, he at once adds: Because you are, O God, my strength; why have you cast me off, and why do I go sad, while the enemy afflicts me? (Ps 43:2 (42:2)) He seeks the cause of his sadness. Why, he says, do I go sad, while the enemy afflicts me? I walk sad, the enemy afflicts me with daily temptations, putting in either what we may evilly love, or what we may evilly fear: and the soul fighting against both, even if not captured, yet imperiled, is drawn together by sadness, and says to God: Why? Let it, then, ask of him, and hear why. For it seeks in the psalm the cause of its sadness, saying: Why have you cast me off, and why do I go sad? Let it hear from Isaiah, let the reading which was just now recited succor it: A spirit, he says, shall go forth from me, and every breath I have made: on account of a little sin I saddened him, and turned my face away from him; and he was saddened, and went sad in his ways (Isa 57:16-17 LXX). Why, then, did you ask: Why have you cast me off, and why do I go sad? You have heard: on account of sin. The cause of your sadness is sin, let the cause of your gladness be justice. You wished to sin, and were unwilling to labor; so that it was too little for you that you should be unjust, unless you wished him too to be unjust, by whom you were unwilling to be punished in yourself. Look back at a better voice in another psalm: It is good for me that you have humbled me, that I may learn your justifications (Ps 119:71 (118:71)). Lifted up, I had learned my iniquities, humbled let me learn your justifications. Why do I go sad, while the enemy afflicts me? You complain of the enemy; truly he afflicts, but you gave him place. And now you have something to do: choose counsel, admit the king, shut out the tyrant.

4. [v. 3] But that he may do this, what he says, what he supplicates, what he prays, attend. Pray what you hear, pray when you hear; let this be the voice of us all: Send forth your light and your truth; they have led me forth and led me through to your holy mountain, and to your tabernacles (Ps 43:3 (42:3)). Because that very light of yours and truth of yours: these two names, one thing. For what else is the light of God, but the truth of God? or what is the truth of God, but the light of God? And both of these one Christ. I am the light of the world: he who believes in me will not walk in darkness (John 8:12). I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He himself the light, he himself the truth. Let him come, then, and deliver us, discerning now our cause from the unholy nation; let him deliver us from the iniquitous and deceitful man: let him separate the wheat from the tares: because he himself will send his angels in the time of harvest, to gather out of his kingdom all scandals, and to cast them into the burning fire, but to gather his wheat into the granary (Matt 13:30, 41-42). Let him send forth his light and his truth; because these have now led us forth and led us through to his holy mountain and to his tabernacles. We have a pledge, we hope for the reward. His holy mountain, his holy Church. That is the mountain which grew from the smallest stone, according to the vision of Daniel, shattering the kingdoms of the lands; and growing so much that it filled the whole face of the earth (Dan 2:34-35). On this mountain he says he was heard, who says: With my voice I cried to the Lord, and he heard me from his holy mountain (Ps 3:4 (3:5)). Whoever was outside this mountain, let him not hope to be heard unto eternal life. For many are heard unto many things. Let them not applaud themselves that they are heard: the demons were heard, that they might be sent into the swine (Matt 8:31-32). Let us covet to be heard unto eternal life, on account of the desire by which we say: Send forth your light and your truth. That light requires the eye of the heart: For blessed, he says, are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matt 5:8). Now we are on his mountain, that is, in his Church, and in his tabernacle. The tabernacle is of those on pilgrimage, the house of those dwelling together: there is also the tabernacle of those on pilgrimage and warring. When you hear tabernacle, understand war, beware the enemy. But what will the house be? Blessed are they who dwell in your house, forever and ever they shall praise you (Ps 84:4 (83:5)).

5. [v. 4] Now, then, led to the tabernacle, and set on his holy mountain, what hope do we bear? And I will go in to the altar of God (Ps 43:4 (42:4)). For there is a certain sublime invisible altar, to which the unjust does not draw near. To that altar he alone draws near, who draws near secure to this one: there he will find his life, who in this one discerns his cause. And I will go in to the altar of God: from his holy mountain, and from his tabernacle, from his holy Church, I will go in to the sublime altar of God. What sacrifice is there? He himself who enters is taken up as a holocaust. I will go in to the altar of God. What is it that he says, to the altar of God? To God who gladdens my youth. Youth signifies newness: as though he said: To God who gladdens my newness. He gladdens my newness, who saddened my oldness. For I go now sad in oldness, but then I shall stand rejoicing in newness. I will confess to you on the harp, O God, my God. What is it to confess on the harp, and to confess on the psaltery? For not always on the harp, nor always on the psaltery. These two instruments of musicians have between them a distinct and discerned principle, worthy of consideration and of commendation to memory. Both these are carried and touched by the hands, and signify certain bodily works of ours. Both are good, if one knows how to make music on the psaltery, if one knows how to play the harp. But because that instrument is called a psaltery, which has the sounding-box on the upper part; that is, the drum and hollow wood on which the strings, resting, resound: but the harp has that same hollow and sonorous wood on the lower part: our works are to be discerned, when they are on the psaltery, when on the harp, yet both pleasing to God and sweet to his hearing. When, then, from the precepts of God we do something, obeying and hearkening to his commands to fulfill his precepts; where we act and do not suffer, it is the psaltery. For so the angels too act: for they suffer nothing. But when we suffer something of tribulations, temptations, scandals on this earth; because we suffer only from the lower part, that is, from the fact that we are mortal, from the fact that we owe something of tribulations to our first cause, and because we suffer many things from those who are not from above, it is the harp. For the sweet sound comes from the lower part: we suffer and make music, or rather we sing and play the harp. When the Apostle said that he evangelized and preached the Gospel throughout the whole world by the precept of God; because he said he had received that Gospel not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, the strings sounded from above: but when he said, We glory in tribulations; knowing that tribulation works patience, patience trial, trial hope (Rom 5:3-4); the harp sounded from the lower part indeed, but yet sweetly. For all patience is sweet to God. But if in those very tribulations you fail, you have broken the harp. Why, then, did he just now say, I will confess to you on the harp? On account of what he had said: Why do I go sad, while the enemy afflicts me? For he was suffering something from the lower affliction, and yet in that very thing he wished to please God, and was eager to give thanks to God, strong in tribulations: and because he could not be without tribulation, he owed patience to God: I will confess to you on the harp, O God, my God.

6. [v. 5] And again to his soul, that from that lower sounding wood it may take a sound: Why are you sad, he says, my soul, and why do you trouble me? (Ps 43:5 (42:5)) I am in tribulations, in languors, in sorrows, why do you trouble me, O soul? Who says it? to whom does he say it? To the soul he says it, we all know; for it is plain, to it the speech is directed. Why are you sad, my soul, and why do you trouble me? The person speaking is sought. Does the flesh speak to the soul, when the flesh does not speak without the soul? For it is more proper that the soul address the flesh, than that the flesh address the soul. But because he did not say: Why are you sad, my flesh, but said: Why are you sad, my soul? (For if he addressed the flesh, perhaps he would not say: Why are you sad; but: Why do you grieve? For the grief of the soul is called sadness: but the trouble that happens in the body can be called grief, it cannot be called sadness. But from the grief of the body the soul is for the most part saddened. Yet it matters what grieves, and what is saddened. For the flesh grieves, the soul is sad; and this voice is open: Why are you sad, my soul?) The soul, then, does not address the flesh; because he did not say: Why are you sad, my flesh? nor the flesh the soul; because it is absurd that the lower should address the higher. Therefore we understand that we have something where the image of God is, namely the mind and reason. That very mind was calling upon the light of God and the truth of God. It is that by which we grasp the just and unjust; it is that by which we discern the true from the false; it is that which is called the understanding, which understanding the beasts lack; which understanding whoever neglects in himself, and sets after other things, and so casts away as though he did not have it, hears from the psalm: Do not be like the horse and mule, in which there is no understanding (Ps 32:9 (31:9)). Our understanding, then, addresses our soul. It is withered in tribulations, wearied in anguish, drawn together in temptations, sick in labors. The mind raises it, taking truth from above, and says: Why are you sad, my soul, and why do you trouble me?

7. See whether this address is not in that conflict of the Apostle, prefiguring in himself certain ones, and perhaps us, and saying: I delight in the law of God according to the inner man, but I see another law in my members, that is, certain carnal motions: and in a certain struggle and as it were despair, he calls upon the grace of God: Wretched man that I am, who will free me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:22-25). Such ones thus fighting the Lord himself too deigned to prefigure in himself, when he said: My soul is sad even unto death (Matt 26:38). For he knew that to which he had come. He dreaded the passion who had said: I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it up again; no one takes it from me, but I myself lay it down of myself, and take it up again (John 10:18)? But he who said, My soul is sad even unto death, figured certain of his members in himself. For very often the mind now believes well and knows well that a man will be, according to his faith, in the bosom of Abraham: it believes this, and yet, when some crisis of death comes, it is troubled by a certain familiarity with this world; it raises its hearing to that inner voice of God, it hears the reasonable song within. For so from above in silence something sounds, not to the ears, but to the minds; so that whoever hears that melody is affected with weariness toward bodily noise, and this whole human life is to him a certain tumult, hindering the hearing of a certain supernal sound too delightful, and incomparable, and ineffable. And truly when it so happens from some perturbation, a man suffers violence, addressing his soul: Why are you sad, my soul, and why do you trouble me? Or is it perhaps because a purified life is hard to find, when he judges who knows how to judge purely and clearly? Because, even if a life is now approvable among men, so that men do not justly have anything now to reprove: the examination proceeds from his eyes, the rule proceeds making things even without deceit, and finds in a man certain things which God reproves, which men did not see to be reproved, nor he himself within who is to be judged. Fearing these things the soul is perhaps troubled: the mind addresses it, as if saying: Why do you fear about sins, because you cannot avoid them all? Hope in the Lord, because I will confess to him. Certain things the present address heals, the rest a faithful confession purges. Plainly fear, if you call yourself just; if you do not have that voice from another psalm: Enter not into judgment with your servant. Why: Enter not into judgment with your servant? Your mercy I need. For if you exhibit judgment without mercy, where shall I go? If you mark iniquities, O Lord, Lord, who shall stand? Enter not into judgment with your servant, because in your sight shall no living man be justified (Ps 143:2 (142:2); Ps 130:3 (129:3)). Therefore if no living man shall be justified in your sight, because whoever lives here, however justly he lives, woe to him if God enter into judgment with him. For from another prophet he thus rebukes the arrogant and proud: Why do you wish to contend in judgment with me? All of you have forsaken me, says the Lord (Jer 2:29). Do not, then, contend in judgment: give effort to be just; and however much you are, confess yourself a sinner; always hope for mercy: and in this humble confession secure address your soul troubling you, and tumultuous against you. Why are you sad, my soul, and why do you trouble me? Perhaps you wished to hope in yourself: Hope in the Lord, do not in yourself. For what are you in yourself? what are you of yourself? Let him be health in you, who took up wounds for you. Hope, he says, in the Lord, because I will confess to him. What will you confess to him? The salvation of my countenance, my God. You are the salvation of my countenance, you will heal me. Sick, I speak to you: I recognize the physician, I do not boast myself sound. What is it, I recognize the physician, I do not boast myself sound? What is said in another psalm: I said, Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you (Ps 41:4 (40:5)).

8. This voice, brothers, is safe: but be vigilant in good works. Touch the psaltery, by obeying the precepts: touch the harp, by enduring sufferings. Break your bread to the hungry (Isa 58:7), you heard from Isaiah: do not think fasting suffices. Fasting chastises you, it does not refresh another. Your straits will be fruitful, if you furnish breadth to another. Behold, you have defrauded your soul: to whom will you give what you took from yourself? where will you put what you denied yourself? How many poor can the meal we have omitted today fatten! So fast, that while another eats you may rejoice to have dined, on account of your prayers, that you may be heard. For there he says: While you are still speaking I will say: Behold, I am here; if you break your bread from the heart to the hungry (Isa 58:9, 7): because for the most part it is done by the sad and the murmuring, that they may be rid of the weariness of the one asking, not that they may refresh the bowels of the needy: But God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7). If you give bread sad, you have lost both the bread and the merit. Therefore do it from the heart: that he who sees within, while you are still speaking, may say: Behold, I am here. How quickly the prayers of those who do good are received: and this is the justice of man in this life, fasting, almsgiving, prayer. Do you wish your prayer to fly to God? Make it two wings, fasting and almsgiving. Let the light of God and the truth of God find us such, that they may find us secure, when they come to free us from death, who has already come to undergo death for us. Amen.

Exposition of Psalm 43

1. This psalm is entitled "to the sons of Korah," as its title shows. Now Korah is interpreted "Baldness" or "Calvary," and we find in the Gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in the place of Calvary. Therefore it is clear that this psalm is sung to the sons of his passion. And we have on this point a most evident and most firm testimony of the apostle Paul: for at the time when the Church labored in the persecutions of the Gentiles, he took from here a verse, which he might interpose for the exhortation and consolation of patience. For here it is said what he set in his Epistle: For your sake we are put to death all the day, we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter (Ps 44:22 (43:23); Rom 8:36). Let us hear, then, the voice of the martyrs in the psalm: and see what a good cause the voice of the martyrs has, when it says: For your sake. For the Lord too added, on account of justice, when he said: Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice (Matt 5:10): lest anyone suffering persecution should seek glory from the punishment itself, not having a good cause. And hence, exhorting his own, he said: Blessed shall you be when men have done or said this and that to you, for my sake. Hence, then, the voice: For your sake we are put to death all the day.

2. [v. 1] Now it is a counsel of God of great consideration and great depth, what was the cause that, when he had led our fathers the patriarchs, and that whole people of Israel, out of Egypt with a most strong hand, and had drowned their pursuing enemies in the sea, and had led them through the gainsaying nations, and, the enemies being warred down, had set them in the land of promise, and had wrought great victories from the fewness of his own amid the great multitude of enemies: afterward it pleased him as it were to turn himself away from his people, so that his saints suffered a slaughter of killing and of death, and no one resisted, no one defended, no one prohibited; as though he turned his face from their groanings, as though he had forgotten them, as though he himself were not the God who, with a mighty hand and an exalted arm, by most evident power set our fathers, that is, that people, as I said, freed from Egypt, the nations being conquered and driven from their land, in the kingdom, all marveling that often the many were conquered by the few. This, then, in the groaning of confession begins to be sung in this psalm. For these things were not done in vain, except that it might be understood why they were done. Accordingly, because they were done, is manifest: why they were done, must be more deeply sought. Therefore the title does not have only, to the sons of Korah; but: For understanding, to the sons of Korah. This is also in that psalm whose first verse the Lord himself said from the cross: My God, my God, look upon me, why have you forsaken me? For transfiguring us into what he said, and into his body (because we too are his body, he our head), he said the voice from the cross not as his own, but as ours. For God never forsook him, nor did he ever withdraw from the Father; but on account of us he said this: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? For there follows: Far from my salvation are the words of my transgressions. And he showed from whose person he said this; for in him no transgression could be found. I will cry to you, he says in that psalm, by day, and you will not hear; and by night, it is of course understood, and you will not hear; but he added: and not unto folly for me (Ps 22:1-2 (21:2-3)), that is, this very thing that you will not hear, is not unto folly for me, but unto understanding. What is, unto understanding you will not hear? that is, you will not hear me unto temporal things, that I may understand that eternal things are to be desired from you. God, then, does not forsake, and when he seems to forsake, he takes away what you evilly desired, and teaches what you ought rightly to desire. For if God always favored us in these prosperities, so that all things abounded to us, and we suffered no tribulation in this time of our mortality, no oppressions or straits; we would say only that these are the highest goods which God grants his servants, and we would desire no greater from him. But for this reason he mingles with this evilly-sweet life the bitternesses of tribulations, that another life, which is wholesomely sweet, may be sought; this is: For understanding, to the sons of Korah. Finally, let us hear the psalm, and there rather let us see this.

3. [vv. 2-3] O God, with our ears we have heard; our fathers have announced to us, the work which you wrought in their days, and in the days of old (Ps 44:1 (43:2)). Marveling why in these days he had, as it were, deserted those whom he willed to exercise in sufferings, they recall the past things which they heard from their fathers, as though saying: Our fathers did not relate to us the things which we suffer. For in that other psalm too he said this: In you our fathers hoped, they hoped, and you delivered them: but I am a worm, and not a man, the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people (Ps 22:4-6 (21:5-7)). They hoped, and you freed them: but did I hope, and you forsook me; and in vain did I believe in you, and in vain is my name written with you, and your name written in me? These things, then, our fathers told us. Your hand destroyed the nations, and you planted them; you weakened the peoples, and you cast them out: that is, you cast out the peoples from their land, that you might bring these in and plant them, and confirm their kingdom by your mercy. These things we have heard from our fathers.

4. [v. 4] But perhaps they could do these things for this reason, because they were strong, because warriors, because unconquered, because trained, because warlike? Far be it. Our fathers did not tell us this, Scripture does not have this; but what does it have, except what follows? For not in their sword did they possess the land by inheritance, and their arm did not save them; but your right hand, and your arm, and the illumination of your countenance. Your right hand, your power; your arm, your Son himself. And the illumination of your countenance: what is this? Because you were present to them with such signs, that you were understood to be present. For when God is present to us by some miracle, do we see his face itself with our eyes? But by the effect of the miracle he insinuates his presence to men. Finally all who marvel at deeds of this kind, what do they say? I saw God present. But your right hand, and your arm, and the illumination of your countenance: because you were well pleased in them: this is, you so dealt with them, that you were well pleased in them, so that whoever attended how it was dealt with them, would say that truly God is with them, and God acts them.

5. [v. 5] What then? Was there one then, and another now? Far be it. For what follows? You are he, my king and my God. You are he, for you have not been changed. I see the times changed, the creator of the times is not changed. You are he, my king and my God. You are wont to lead me, you are wont to rule me, you are wont to come to my aid. Who command salvation for Jacob. What is, Who command? Even if you, through your very substance and nature by which you are whatever you are, are hidden, nor through what you are were you present to the fathers, so that they saw you face to face; yet through any creature you command salvation for Jacob. For that vision face to face is reserved for those freed in the resurrection. And those fathers, even of the New Testament, although they saw your revealed mysteries, although they announced revealed secrets; yet they said that they see in a mirror and in an enigma: but that the vision face to face is reserved for the future, when there shall come what the Apostle himself says: For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God; but when Christ shall appear, your life, then you also shall appear with him in glory (Col 3:3-4). Then, therefore, that vision face to face is reserved for us, of which John too says: Beloved, we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be; we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). Even if, then, at that time our fathers did not see you face to face according to what you are, even if that vision is reserved in the resurrection, yet even if angels were present, you command salvation for Jacob. Not only are you present through yourself, but through whatever creature of yours you may be present, you command this for the salvation of your servants which you yourself through yourself do; but this is done for the salvation of your servants which those do to whom you command. Since, then, you yourself are my king and my God, and you command salvation for Jacob, why do we now suffer these things?

6. [v. 6] But perhaps only past things have been related to us, but about the future nothing such is to be hoped. Rather indeed it is to be hoped. In you we will winnow our enemies (Ps 44:5 (43:6)). Therefore our fathers have shown us the work which you wrought in their days, and in the days of old: because your hand destroyed the nations, you cast out the peoples and planted them. These are past things: but about the future what will be? In you we will winnow our enemies: there will come a time when all the enemies of Christians, like chaff are winnowed, like dust are winnowed, and cast off the earth. Therefore, if both the past things have been so related to us, and such future things foretold; in the midst of present things why do we labor, except for understanding, to the sons of Korah? In you we will winnow our enemies: and in your name we will despise those who rise up against us. This about the future.

7. [v. 7] For I will not hope in my bow (Ps 44:6 (43:7)): as neither did the fathers in their sword. And my sword will not save me.

8. [v. 8] For you have saved us from those who afflict us (Ps 44:7 (43:8)). And this too is said in a figure of the past for the future: but for this reason it is said as past, because it is as certain as if it were done. Attend to why the prophets for the most part say things as though they were past, when future things are foretold, not done. For of the Lord himself the future passion was foretold, and yet: They dug, he says, my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones: he did not say: They will dig, and will number. But they themselves considered and gazed upon me: he did not say: They will consider and will gaze. They divided my garments among them (Ps 22:16-18 (21:17-19)): he did not say, they will divide. All these are said as though past, when they are future; because to God even future things are as certain as if they were past. For to us the things that are past are certain; the things that are future are uncertain. For we know that something has happened, and it cannot come about that what has happened has not happened. Give a prophet to whom the future is as certain as the past is to you: and as for you that which you remember to have been done, it cannot come about that it was not done, so for him that which he knows is future, it cannot come about that it not be done. Therefore from security the things which are still future are said as past. This, then, we hope. For you have saved us from those who afflict us, and those who hate us you have confounded.

9. [v. 9] In God we shall be praised all the day (Ps 44:8 (43:9)). See how he mingles also words of future time, that you may understand that the past things which were said too were foretold about the future. In God we shall be praised all the day: and in your name we will confess forever. What: we shall be praised? What: we will confess? Because from all who afflict us you have delivered us, because you will give us a perpetual kingdom, because there shall be fulfilled in us: Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord, forever and ever they shall praise you (Ps 84:4 (83:5)).

10. [v. 10] These future things, then, being certain to us, and those past things, since we have heard them from our fathers, what now? But now you have cast us off and confounded us (Ps 44:9 (43:10)). You have confounded us, not in our conscience, but in the face of men. For there was a time when Christians were afflicted, when everywhere they fled, when everywhere it was said, He is a Christian, as though it pertained to insult and to reproach. Where, then, is that God of ours, our king, who commands salvation for Jacob? Where is he who did all the things which our fathers related to us? Where is he who is to do all the things which he revealed to us through his Spirit? Has he been changed? But these things happen for understanding, to the sons of Korah. For we ought to understand something, why he willed us to suffer all these things in the meantime. All which? But now you have cast us off and confounded us: and you will not go forth, O God, in our powers. We advance against our enemies, and you do not advance with us: we see them, they prevail, and we are weak. Where is that power of yours? where is your right hand and your might? where is the sea dried up? where the pursuing Egyptians overwhelmed by the waves? where Amalek resisting, overcome by the sign of the cross? And you will not go forth, O God, in our powers.

11. [v. 11] But you have turned us back behind, before our enemies (Ps 44:10 (43:11)): so that, as it were, they are in front, we behind; they accounted victors, we conquered. And those who hate us plundered for themselves: what, but us?

12. [v. 12] You have given us like sheep for food, and among the nations you have scattered us (Ps 44:11 (43:12)): we have been eaten by the nations. By these are signified those who so suffered, that they were turned into the body of the Gentiles. For the Church bewails them, as her members devoured.

13. [v. 13] You have sold your people without a price (Ps 44:12 (43:13)). For we saw whom you gave, we did not see what you received. And there was no multitude in their jubilations. For when Christians fled from their pursuing idolatrous enemies, were there congregations and jubilations to God? Were hymns sung together from the churches of God, which are wont to be sung together in peace, and to resound to the ears of God with the sweet harmony of the brotherhood? And there was no multitude in their jubilations.

14. [vv. 14-15] You have set us as a reproach to our neighbors, a mocking and a derision to those who are round about us. You have set us as a likeness among the nations (Ps 44:13-14 (43:14-15)). What is, as a likeness? When men cursing give a likeness of the one they detest: So may you die, so may you be punished. How many such things were then said? So may you be crucified. And today there are not lacking enemies of Christ, those very Jews, against whom, when we defend Christ, they say to us: So may you die as he did. For they would not have inflicted that death, unless they had vehemently shuddered to die in that manner; or what mystery it would have, if they had been able to understand. When the blind man is anointed, he does not see the eye-salve in the hand of the physician. For the cross itself was made even for those persecutors. From it they were afterward healed, and believed in him whom they themselves killed. You have set us as a likeness among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples: a shaking of the head for insulting. And they spoke with their lips, and shook the head (Ps 22:7 (21:8)). This to the Lord, this also to all his saints, whom they could persecute, seize, mock, betray, afflict, kill.

15. [vv. 16-17] All the day my shame is against me, and the confusion of my face has covered me: from the voice of one reproaching and speaking against me (Ps 44:15-16 (43:16-17)): that is, from the voice of those insulting and casting a crime at me, because I worship you, because I confess you: and casting a crime at me about that name, from which all my crimes will be blotted out. From the voice of one reproaching and speaking against me, that is, speaking against me. From the face of the enemy and persecutor. And what is this understanding? The past things which were said, will not happen in us: the future things which are hoped for, do not appear. The past things: in your great glory the people was led out of Egypt, freed from the pursuers, led through the nations, the nations being cast out, set in the kingdom. What future things? The people is to be led out of this Egypt of the world, Christ being the leader, appearing in his glory; the saints to be set at the right, the iniquitous at the left, the iniquitous to be damned with the devil in eternal punishment; the kingdom to be received from Christ with the saints forever. These are the future things, those the past. In the midst what? Tribulations. Why? That it may appear how much the soul worshiping God worships God; that it may be seen whether it worships him freely from whom it freely received salvation. For if God says to you: What did you give me that I should make you? Surely, if, being made, you earned me, you had not earned me before I made you. What shall we say to him, who first freely made us, because he is good, not because we merited anything? Then, about that very repair, about the second birth, what shall we say? That our merits brought it about that that perpetual salvation should be sent us by the Lord? Far be it. If our merits did anything, it would come to our damnation. He did not come to the inspection of merits, but to the remission of sins. You were not, and you were made: what did you give to God? You were evil, and you were freed: what did you give to God? What did you not freely receive from him? Deservedly it is called grace too, because it is given freely. It is required of you, then, that you too worship him freely: not because he gives temporal things, but because he grants eternal things.

16. But see lest you think of those eternal things otherwise, and by thinking of eternal things carnally, you nonetheless do not worship God freely. For what? If you worship God for this reason, that he gives you a farm, will you not worship him, because he takes from you the farm? But perhaps you say: I will worship him for this reason, that he will give me an estate, yet not a temporal one. Nonetheless you still bear a corrupt mind: for you do not worship with chaste love, you still demand a reward. For you wish to have in the future world those things which here it is necessary that you leave behind: you wish to change carnal pleasure, not to amputate it. Fasting is not praised in him who keeps his belly for a luxurious supper. For sometimes men are invited to a great supper, and when they wish to come to it avid, they fast: is this fasting to be reckoned to continence, and not rather to luxury? Do not, then, hope that such things are to be given you by God, as he here bids you despise. For the Jews hoped these things, therefore they were troubled in that question. For they too hope for the resurrection, but they hope to rise again to such pleasures of the body as they here love. Therefore when that question was set before them by the Sadducees, who do not believe the resurrection, about that woman who married seven brothers succeeding one another, whose wife she would be in the resurrection, they failed, and could not answer. But when it was set before the Lord, because such a resurrection is promised us, not one in which such pleasures are sought again, but one in which eternal joys about God himself are obtained, the Lord answered, and said: You err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God: for in the resurrection they will neither marry, nor take wives: for they will not begin to die. That is, there a successor is not sought, where there will be no one departing. And what will it be? But they will be, he says, equal to the angels of God (Matt 22:29-30). Unless perhaps you think that the angels rejoice in daily feasts, and in the wine by which you make yourself drunk, or perhaps suppose that the angels have wives. None of these things is among the angels. Whence do the angels rejoice, except whence the Lord says: Do you not know that their angels always see the face of the Father? (Matt 18:10) If, then, the angels rejoice at the face of the Father, prepare yourself for such joy: or do you find anything better than to see the face of God? Woe to such a love of yours, if you even suspect anything more beautiful than he is from whom is all that is beautiful, which might hold you so that you do not deserve to think of him. The Lord was in the flesh, and appeared a man to men. How did he appear? I have already said, a man to men. What great thing did he appear? Flesh to flesh. What great thing did he appear, of whom it was said: We saw him, and he had no form nor comeliness (Isa 53:2)? Who had no form nor comeliness? He of whom likewise it is said: Beautiful in form beyond the sons of men (Ps 45:2 (44:3)). As man, he had no form nor comeliness; but beautiful in form from this, that he is beyond the sons of men. Therefore showing that deformed form of the flesh to the eyes of those beholding, what does he say? He who loves me, keeps my commandments; and he who loves me, will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will show him myself (John 14:21). Him whom they saw, he promised to show them. But what is this? As if he said: You see the form of a servant, the form of God is hidden: by this I coax you, that I reserve for you; with this I nourish you, little ones, with that I feed the grown. Therefore, that this faith of ours by which we are cleansed may be prepared for invisible things, this is, that for understanding, to the sons of Korah all these things were done, that there should be taken from the saints the things they had, and that the temporal life itself should be taken from them: that not for the sake of these very temporal things they should worship the eternal one himself, but by chaste love of him should endure all these things which they suffered for a time.

17. [vv. 18-19] In short, because the sons of Korah understood this, what do they say? All these things have come upon us, and we have not forgotten you (Ps 44:17 (43:18)). What is, and we have not forgotten you? And we have not acted iniquitously in your testament: and our heart has not withdrawn behind: and you have turned aside our paths from your way (Ps 44:18 (43:19)). Behold, here is the understanding, that our heart has not withdrawn behind, that we have not forgotten you, that we have not acted iniquitously in your testament, set in great tribulations and persecutions of the nations. You have turned aside our paths from your way. For our paths were in the pleasures of the world; our paths were in the prosperities of temporal things: you took away our paths from your way, and showed us how strait and narrow is the way that leads to life. And you have turned aside our paths from your way. What is, you have turned aside our paths from your way? As though he said to us: You are set in tribulation, you suffer many things, many things which you loved in this world you have lost: but I have not dismissed you from the way, which I teach you, narrow as it is. You were seeking broad paths: what do I say to you? By this one is the going to eternal life: by the one you wish to walk, you go to death. How broad and spacious is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who walk by it! How strait and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few are those who walk by it! (Matt 7:13-14) Who are the few? Those who endure tribulations, who endure temptations, who in all these troubles do not fail; who do not rejoice at the word for an hour, and in the time of tribulation, as though the sun being risen, wither away, but have the root of love, as we heard what was just now read in the Gospel. The root, I say, of love have, that when the sun has risen, it may not burn you, but nourish you. All these things have come upon us, and we have not forgotten you; and we have not acted iniquitously in your testament; and our heart has not withdrawn behind. But because we do all these things amid tribulations, now walking in the narrow way, you have turned aside our paths from your way.

18. [v. 20] For you have humbled us in the place of affliction (Ps 44:19 (43:20)). Therefore you will exalt us in the place of strength. And the shadow of death has covered us. For this mortality is the shadow of death. True death is damnation with the devil.

19. [v. 21] If we have forgotten the name of our God (Ps 44:20 (43:21)). This is the understanding of the sons of Korah. And if we have stretched out our hands to a strange god.

20. [v. 22] Will not God seek out these things? For he knows the secrets of the heart (Ps 44:21 (43:22)). He knows, and seeks out: if he knows the secrets of the heart, what does he do there? Will not God seek out these things? He knows in himself, he seeks out on account of us. For for this reason God sometimes seeks out, and says that it becomes known to him, what he makes become known to you. He tells you his work, not his knowledge. We say for the most part: A glad day, when it is serene: does the day itself rejoice? But we call it glad, because it makes us glad. And we say: A sad heaven. For there is no such sense in the clouds: but because men seeing the face of heaven of this kind are saddened, it is called sad, because it makes them sad. So God too is said to know, when he makes us know. God says to Abraham: Now I have known that you fear God (Gen 22:12). Did he not know before? But Abraham himself did not know himself: because in that very temptation he became known to himself. For for the most part a man thinks he can do what he cannot, or thinks he cannot do what he can; a questioning comes to him from the divine dispensation, and through the questioning he is made known to himself; and God is said to have known, what he made him know. Did Peter know himself, when he said to the physician: I am with you even unto death (John 13:37)? The physician knew, the vein being inspected, what was being transacted within in the sick man; the sick man did not know. The access of temptation came; and the physician proved his judgment, the sick man lost his presumption. So, then, God both knows, and seeks out. He knows. How does he himself seek out? On account of you, that you may find yourself, and give thanks to him who made you. Will not God seek out these things?

21. For he knows the secrets of the heart (Ps 44:21 (43:22)). What is, he knows the secrets? what secrets? Because for your sake we are put to death all the day, we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter (Ps 44:22 (43:23)). For you can see a man put to death; why he is put to death, you do not know: God knows this; the matter is in secret. But someone says to me: Behold, he is held for the name of Christ, he confesses the name of Christ. Why do not heretics too confess the name of Christ, and yet do not die for his sake? Plainly in the Catholic Church itself, I say, do you think there have been lacking, or can be lacking, those who would suffer for the sake of human glory? If such men were lacking, the Apostle would not say: If I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing (1 Cor 13:3). He knew, then, that there could be certain ones who would do this from boasting, not from love. Therefore it is obscure; God alone sees this, we cannot. He alone can judge, who knows the secrets of the heart. Because for your sake we are put to death all the day, we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter. I have already said, that hence too the apostle Paul placed a testimony for exhorting the martyrs, lest they fail in the tribulations undertaken for the name of Christ.

22. [v. 23] Rise up, why do you sleep, O Lord? (Ps 44:23 (43:24)) To whom does he say it? and who says it? Will not rather he be said to sleep and snore, who speaks such things, Rise up, why do you sleep, O Lord? He answers you: I know what I say: I know that he who guards Israel does not sleep (Ps 121:4 (120:4)): but yet the martyrs cry, Rise up, why do you sleep, O Lord? O Lord Jesus! you were killed, you slept in the passion, you have now risen again for us. For we know that you have risen again for us. Why have you risen? The nations which persecute us think you dead, do not believe that you have risen. Rise up, then, for them too. Why do you sleep, not to us, but to them? For if they now believed that you had risen, could they persecute those who believe in you? But why do they persecute? Blot out, kill I know not whom, who have believed in you, I know not what man, evilly dead? Still you sleep to them: rise up, that they may understand that you have risen, and may rest. Finally it came about, while the martyrs die, and say these things, they sleep, and rouse Christ, truly dead, by their fallings asleep; Christ rose again in a certain way among the nations, that is, was believed to have risen: so little by little they too, by believing converted to Christ, made a great number, which the persecutors would fear, and the persecutions ceased. Whence? Because Christ rose again among the nations, who slept to them while they did not yet believe. Rise up, and do not cast us off unto the end.

23. [v. 24] Why do you turn away your face? (Ps 44:24 (43:25)) as though you were not present, as though you had forgotten us. You forget our want, and our tribulation.

24. [v. 25] For our soul has been humbled in the dust (Ps 44:25 (43:26)). Where has it been humbled? In the dust, that is, the dust persecutes us. Those persecute us, of whom you said: Not so the ungodly, not so; but like the dust which the wind drives from the face of the earth (Ps 1:4). Our soul has been humbled in the dust; our belly has clung to the earth. He seems to me to have expressed the punishment of excessive humbling, by which, when anyone prostrates himself, his belly clings to the earth. For whoever is so humbled as to bend the knees, still has whither he may be humbled: but whoever is so humbled that his belly clings to the earth, has no further whither he may be humbled. For if he should wish further, it will no longer be to humble, but to overwhelm. Therefore perhaps he means this: We have been too much humbled in this dust, we have no further whither we may be humbled: now the humbling has come even to the utmost, let mercy too come.

25. Or perhaps, brothers, the Church bewails by this voice those whom those who persecuted persuaded to ungodliness: so that those who endured say this: Our soul has been humbled in the dust? That is, amid the hands of this dust, amid the hands of the ungodly and persecutors: Our soul has been humbled in the dust, to this end, that we might call upon you, that you might give aid from tribulation: but our belly has clung to the earth, that is, our belly has consented to the ungodliness of this dust; for this is said by It has clung. For if, when you love and burn with love, you rightly say to God: My soul has clung after you (Ps 63:8 (62:9)); and: For me to cling to God is good (Ps 73:28 (72:28)): but you then cling to God, when you consent to God: not without cause is it said, about that belly which clung to the earth, except that those are signified who, not enduring persecution, consented to the iniquitous: for so they clung to the earth. But why are they called the belly, except because they are carnal: so that the mouth of the Church is in the saints, is in the spiritual; the belly of the Church is in the carnal? And so the mouth of the Church is prominent; the belly is hidden, as softer and weaker. This Scripture signifies in a certain place, where someone says he received a book; and the book itself was sweet, he says, in my mouth, and bitter in my belly (Rev 10:9-10). What is this, except because the highest precepts which the spiritual grasp, the carnal do not grasp; and the things over which the spiritual rejoice, the carnal are saddened? This book, brothers, what does it have? Sell all that you have, and give to the poor. How sweet in the mouth of the Church! It is done by all the spiritual. But say to any carnal one: Do this; he more easily withdraws from you sad, like that rich man from the Lord, than he does what was said (Matt 19:21-22). But why did he withdraw sad, except because that book is sweet in the mouth, and bitter in the belly? You gave some gold and silver; it came to this point, that unless you lose, you perhaps commit some sin, perhaps inflict an injury on the Church, are compelled to blaspheme: and so, set in straits, either of the loss of money, or of the loss of justice, it is said to you: Rather lose the money, lest you lose justice: but you, to whom justice is not sweet in the mouth, but you are still weak in those members which the Church reckons in the belly, saddened, choose sometimes to lose something of justice, rather than even a coin of money; and you strike yourself with a heavier loss, filling your purse, and emptying your heart. Perhaps, then, of these he said: Our belly has clung to the earth.

26. [v. 26] Rise up, O Lord, help us (Ps 44:26 (43:27)). And truly, dearly beloved, he rose up and helped. For when he rose up, that is, when he rose again, and became known to the nations, the persecutions ceasing, even those who had clung to the earth were drawn out of the earth, and, doing penance, were restored to the body of Christ, although weak, although imperfect, that there might be fulfilled in them: Your eyes saw my imperfect thing, and in your book all shall be written (Ps 139:16 (138:16)). Rise up, O Lord, help us: and redeem us for your name's sake: this is, freely; for your name's sake, not for my merit; because you deigned to do it, not because I am worthy that you should do it for me. For even this very thing, that we have not forgotten you, and that our heart has not withdrawn behind, that we have not stretched out our hands to a strange god, except by your help, whence could we? unless by your addressing and exhorting within, not deserting, whence should we be able? Therefore, whether suffering in tribulations, or rejoicing in prosperities, redeem us; not for our merit, but for your name's sake.

Exposition of Psalm 44

1. [v. 1] This psalm, as we sang it with you with exultation, so I ask that you consider it with us with attention. For it is sung about the holy nuptials, about the bridegroom and the bride, about the king and the people, about the Savior and those who are to be saved. He who comes to the nuptials with a wedding garment, seeking the glory of the bridegroom, not his own, not only gladly hears, which is wont to be the case even with men seeking spectacles, displaying no deeds; but even commits it to the heart, that it may not there be idle, but bud, break forth, grow, be perfected, be taken up. For we who must be those to whom this is sung, ought to be sons of Korah, which the title of the psalm has. For these were certain men: yet every inscription of the divine Letters hints something to those who understand, and desires not only a hearer, but also one who recognizes. For we ask the force of the Hebrew word, what Korah is: and, as the interpretations of all the words set in Scripture have it, it is reported to us that the sons of Korah are interpreted the sons of the Bald one. Which name do not take in mockery, lest we be found in a childish sense, such children as we read in the book of Kings, insulting Elisha the holy prophet, and crying after him: Go up, bald-head, go up, bald-head. For such foolishly garrulous children, and cursing to their own ruin, beasts coming out of the wood devoured. This is written, and where it is written we have recalled: those who remember, let them recognize; those who do not remember, let them read; those who have not read, let them believe (2 Kgs 2:23-24). That, then, which that deed prefigured for the future, ought not to lay hold of us. For in those children were signified foolish men, having the sense of ignorance; such as the Apostle does not wish us to be, where he says: Do not be children in your minds (1 Cor 14:20). And because the Lord invited us to the imitation of children, when he set a little one before himself, and said: Unless one becomes as this child, he will not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:3); there too the Apostle, cautious, where he calls back from a childish mind, calls again to childlike imitation: Do not, he says, become children in your minds, but in malice be little ones, that you may be perfect in your minds (1 Cor 14:20). Let him whom it delights to imitate a child, be delighted not by inexperience, but by innocence. But those, out of inexperience, insulted the bald holy man of God, and cried after him: Bald-head, bald-head. It came about that they were consumed by beasts: and they figured men in the same childish mind foolishly deriding a certain bald man; because he was crucified in the place of Calvary. Such men, then, were possessed as it were by beasts, that is, by demons, by the devil and his angels, who works in the sons of disobedience. Such were the children who, standing before the consecrated wood, wagged the head, and said: If he is the Son of God, let him come down from the cross (Matt 27:40). Of this one we are the sons, because we are sons of the bridegroom: and to us is inscribed this psalm, whose title is said: To the sons of Korah, for the things that shall be changed.

2. What shall I expound what it is, for the things that shall be changed? What shall I say? This everyone who is changed recognizes. He who hears these things, For the things that shall be changed, let him see what he was, and what now he is. And first let him see the world itself changed; lately adoring idols, now adoring God; lately serving the things which it made, now him by whom it was made. For the things that shall be changed, see when it was said. Now already the remaining pagans dread the things changed: and those who do not wish to be changed, see the churches filled, the temples deserted; here a throng, there a solitude. They marvel at the things changed, let them read the things foretold: let them lend an ear to the promiser, let them believe the one who fulfills. But each one of us too, brothers, is changed from the old man into the new; from unbelieving he becomes faithful, from a plunderer a giver, chaste from an adulterer, beneficent from a malefactor. Therefore let it be sung to us, For the things that shall be changed: and so let there begin to be described, through whom they were changed.

3. For there follows: For the things that shall be changed, to the sons of Korah, for understanding, a Canticle for the beloved. For that beloved was seen by his persecutors, but not unto understanding. For if they had understood, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8). For this understanding he himself sought other eyes, when he said: He who sees me, sees also the Father (John 14:9). Let the psalm now sound him: let us rejoice in the nuptials, and we shall be with those who become the nuptials who are invited to the nuptials; and those invited are themselves the bride. For the bride is the Church, the bridegroom Christ. Certain songs are wont to be said by the learned for those taking wives and marrying, which are called epithalamia; whatever is sung there, is sung to the honor of the bridegroom and bride: or is it perhaps that even in these nuptials, to which we are invited, there is no bridal chamber? And whence does another psalm say: In the sun he set his tabernacle, and he himself as a bridegroom coming forth from his bridal chamber (Ps 19:4-5 (18:5-6))? The nuptial conjunction, the Word and flesh: the bridal chamber of this conjunction, the womb of the Virgin. For the flesh itself is conjoined to the Word: whence also it is said: Now not two, but one flesh (Matt 19:6). The Church was taken up from the human race, so that the head of the Church should be that very flesh conjoined to the Word, and the rest who believe should be the members of that head. For do you wish to see who came to the nuptials? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). Let the bride rejoice, beloved by God. When beloved? While still foul. For all, says the Apostle, have sinned, and need the glory of God (Rom 3:23). And again: For Christ died for the ungodly (Rom 5:6). She was loved foul, that she might not remain foul. For not truly was the foul thing loved, because the foulness was not loved: for if it loved this, it would preserve it: it overthrew the foulness, it formed beauty. To what kind did he come, and what kind did he make? Let him now come in the prophetic words; behold, let the bridegroom himself come forth to us: let us love him; or if we find anything foul in him, let us not love him. Behold, he himself found many foul things, and loved us: if we find anything foul in him, let us not love him. Because even this very thing that he put on flesh, so that of him too it was said, We saw him, and he had no form nor comeliness (Isa 53:2); if you consider the mercy by which he was made it, even there he is beautiful. But the prophet bore the person of the Jews, when he said: We saw him, and he had no form nor comeliness. Why? Because not unto understanding. But to those who understand, even the Word was made flesh (John 1:14), there is great beauty. But far be it from me to glory, said one of the friends of the bridegroom, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 6:14). It is too little that you not blush at it, unless you even glory. Why, then, had he no form nor comeliness? Because Christ crucified is to the Jews indeed a scandal, to the Gentiles folly. But why did he have comeliness even on the cross? Because what is foolish of God is wiser than men; and what is weak of God is stronger than men (1 Cor 1:23, 25). To us, then, who now believe, let the bridegroom everywhere meet us beautiful. Beautiful God, the Word with God: beautiful in the womb of the Virgin, where he did not lose divinity, and took humanity: beautiful the Word born an infant; because even when he was an infant, when he was suckled, when he was carried in the hands, the heavens spoke, the angels said praises, the star directed the Magi, he was adored in the manger, food of the meek. Beautiful, then, in heaven, beautiful on earth; beautiful in the womb, beautiful in the hands of his parents; beautiful in miracles, beautiful in scourges; beautiful inviting to life, beautiful not caring for death; beautiful laying down his soul, beautiful taking it up; beautiful on the wood, beautiful in the tomb, beautiful in heaven. Hear the Canticle unto understanding, and let not the weakness of the flesh turn your eyes from the splendor of his beauty. The highest and true beauty is justice: there you will not see him beautiful, where you find him unjust: if everywhere just, everywhere comely. Let him come, then, to be beheld by us with the eyes of the mind, described by a certain praiser of his, a prophet: behold, he begins.

4. [v. 2] My heart has belched forth a good word (Ps 45:1 (44:2)). Who says it, the Father, or the Prophet? For some understood the person of the Father saying: My heart has belched forth a good word, commending to us a certain ineffable birth. Lest perhaps you should think something was taken up, whence God might beget the Son; as a man takes to himself something whence he may beget sons, namely a marriage, without which a man cannot procreate offspring: lest, then, you should think that God needed some marriage, whence he might beget the Son: It has belched forth, he says, my heart a good word. Today your heart, O man, begets a counsel, and does not seek a wife: through the counsel born from your heart you build something; and that building, before it stands in the work, stands in the counsel; and there is already in that through which you are about to make it, what you are about to make: and you praise the building not yet existing, not yet in the appearance of an edifice, but in the bringing-forth of the counsel; nor does another praise your counsel, unless either you have indicated it, or he has seen what you made. Therefore if through the Word are all things, and the Word is of God; inspect the building made through the Word, and from this edifice marvel at the counsel. What a Word it is through which heaven and earth were made, and all the adornment of heaven, all the fecundity of the earth, the spread of the sea, the extension of the air, the gleam of the stars, the brightness of the sun and moon? These things are seen: transcend these too; think of the angels, Principalities, Thrones, Dominions, Powers: all things were made through him. Whence, then, were these good things made? Because that was belched forth through which they should be made, the good Word. Therefore the good Word: and to the Word itself it was said: Good Master. And the Word itself answered: Why do you ask me about the good? No one is good, but the one God (Mark 10:17-18). It was said: Good Master; and he says: Why do you ask me about the good? He added too: No one is good, but the one God. How, then, is he himself too good, except because he is God? But not only God, but with the Father one God. For by saying: No one is good, but the one God, he did not separate himself, but united himself. My heart has belched forth a good word. Let God the Father have said this about his good Word and beneficent good for us, through which good alone we can somehow be good.

5. There follows: I tell my works to the king (Ps 45:1 (44:2)). Does the Father still speak? If the Father still speaks, let us seek also this, how we may understand it according to the true and catholic faith: I tell my works to the king. For if the Father tells his works to his Son our king; what works will the Father tell to the Son, when all the works of the Father were made through the Son? Or does perhaps I tell my works to the king, the very I tell, signify the generation of the Son? I fear lest this sometimes cannot be understood by the slower: yet I will say it; let him follow who can, lest by my not saying it he who can does not follow. We read it said in another psalm: Once has God spoken (Ps 62:11 (61:12)). So often he has spoken through the prophets, so often through the apostles, today too he speaks through his saints, and he says: Once has God spoken. Whence has he spoken once, except on account of the one Word? But as My heart has belched forth a good word we understood there the generation of the Son; it seems to me a repetition is made in the following sentence, so that what was said: My heart has belched forth a good word, is repeated in that which he says: I tell. For what is, I tell? I bring forth the Word. And whence does God bring forth the Word, except from his heart, from his inmost being? You do not speak except what you bring forth from your heart; your word which sounds and passes, is not brought forth from elsewhere: and do you marvel that God so speaks? But the speaking of God is eternal. You say something now, because you were silent a little before: or behold now you do not yet bring forth a word; but when you have begun to bring it forth, you break the silence in a way, and beget a word which before was not. Not so did God beget the Word: the speaking of God is without beginning, and without end; and yet he speaks one Word. Let him speak another, if what he has said has passed. But since both he by whom it is said remains, and what is said remains; and it is said once and is not ended; and that very "once" is said without beginning, nor is it said twice, because what is said once does not pass. This, then, is: My heart has belched forth a good word, which is: I tell my works to the king. Why, then, My works do I tell? Because in the Word itself are all the works of God. For whatever God was to make in the creature, was already in the Word; nor would it be in things, unless it were in the Word: as in you too it would not be in the building, unless it were in the counsel. As in the Gospel it is said: What was made, in him was life (John 1:3-4). There was, then, what was made, but it was in the Word: and all the works of God were there, and the works were not yet: but the Word was, and this Word was God, and was with God, and was the Son of God, and was with the Father one God. I tell my works to the king. Let him hear the one telling, who understands the Word; and let him see, with the Father, the everlasting Word, in which are even the things that are future, in which the things that have passed have not departed. These works of God in the Word, as in the Word, as in the Only-begotten, as in the Word of God.

6. What, then, follows? My tongue is the pen of a scribe writing swiftly (Ps 45:1 (44:2)). What likeness, my brothers, what likeness has the tongue of God with the pen of a scribe? What likeness has the rock with Christ? what likeness has the lamb with the Savior? what likeness has the lion with the strength of the Only-begotten? Yet these things have been said: and unless they were said, in no way would we be informed through these visible things toward the invisible. So, then, this humble likeness of the pen, let us neither compare to that excellence, nor yet reject. For I ask why he said his tongue is the pen of a scribe writing swiftly? But however swiftly a scribe writes, he is not compared to that swiftness, of which another psalm says: His word runs even unto swiftness (Ps 147:15 (147:4)). But it seems to me, as far as human understanding dares, that this too can be taken as said from the person of the Father: My tongue is the pen of a scribe. Because what is said by the tongue sounds and passes; what is written, remains: since, then, God says the Word, and the Word which is said does not sound and pass, but is both said and remains; God preferred to compare this to writings rather than to sounds. But that he added, writing swiftly, impelled the mind to understanding: but let it not remain sluggish, by looking back at copyists, or by looking back at any swift shorthand-writers; but if it attends to this, it will remain there. The very swiftly, let it think swiftly; and let it see why it was said, swiftly. The swiftly of God is such, that nothing is swifter. For in writings letter is written after letter, syllable after syllable, word after word; nor is one passed to the second, unless the first is written out. But there nothing is swifter, where there are not many words, nor yet is anything passed over, since in one are all things.

7. [v. 3] Behold now that Word so brought forth, eternal, coeternal from the eternal, the bridegroom will come. Beautiful in form beyond the sons of men (Ps 45:2 (44:3)). Beyond the sons of men: why not also beyond the angels? What did he wish to say: Beyond the sons of men, except because a man? Lest you should think Christ the man any ordinary man, he said: Beautiful in form beyond the sons of men. A man too beyond the sons of men; even among the sons of men, beyond the sons of men; even from the sons of men, beyond the sons of men. Grace is poured out on your lips. The Law was given through Moses; Grace and truth were made through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Grace is poured out on your lips. Deservedly was I aided, because I delight in the law of God according to the inner man. But another law in my members fights against the law of my mind, and leads me captive in the law of sin, which is in my members. Wretched man that I am, who will free me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:22-25). Grace, then, is poured out on your lips. He came to us with the word of grace, with the kiss of grace. What is sweeter than this grace? To what does this grace pertain? Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered (Ps 32:1 (31:1); Rom 4:7). If a severe judge came, and did not bring that grace poured out on his lips, who would hope anything about salvation? Who would not fear for himself that which was owed to the sinner? He, coming with grace, did not exact what was owed, he paid what he did not owe. For did not the sinner owe death? Or was anything owed to you, a sinner, except punishment? He forgave your debts, and paid out his own that were not owed. Great grace. Why grace? Because freely given. Therefore it is allowed you to give him thanks, it is not allowed to repay; for you cannot. He sought what he might repay, and said: What shall I render to the Lord for all the things that he has rendered to me? And he found as it were something: I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord (Ps 116:12-13 (115:3-4)). Do you repay him this, that you take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord? Who gave you that cup of salvation? He remained in the giving of thanks, for in the repaying he failed. Find what you may give to God, which you have not received from him; and you will have repaid the favor. But beware lest, while you seek what you may repay him which you have not received from him, you find your own sin. This plainly you did not receive from him, but neither ought you to give it to him. This the Jews gave, they repaid evil for good; they received from him rain, and gave not fruit, but the thorns of griefs. Therefore whatever good you wish to give to God in yourself, you do not find that you have received it except from God. This is the grace of God poured out on the lips. He made you, he made you freely. For there was not one to whom he should grant it before he made it. You had perished, he sought you; and, found, he called you back. The past things he did not impute, the future he promised. Truly grace is poured out on your lips.

8. Therefore, he says, God has blessed you forever (Ps 45:2 (44:3)). It is labored, that this can be understood as still said by God the Father: Therefore God has blessed you forever. It seems more aptly taken from the person of the Prophet. And sudden changes of persons, and altogether unforeseen, are found in the holy books of the Scriptures; and if one attends, the divine pages are full of them. Lord, free my soul from iniquitous lips and from a deceitful tongue; and at once: What may be given to you, or what added to you against a deceitful tongue? One person was there, another here: there of the one asking, here of the one coming to aid. The sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals that lay waste. Another person: What may be given to you, or what added to you; and in what follows it becomes another: Woe is me! that my sojourning has been made far off (Ps 120:2-5 (119:2-5)). In a few verses so frequent a change of persons admonishes the understanding: it does not express the place where it is changed; it is not said: This a man said, this God said; but from the very words it is made for us to understand what pertains to man, what to God. Now man was saying: My heart has belched forth a good word, I tell my works to the king. Man was saying it, he who wrote the psalm was saying it; but from the person of God he was saying it: he begins to say it also from his own: Therefore God has blessed you forever. For God had said: Grace is poured out on your lips, to him whom he had made beautiful beyond the sons of men, the man too whom, as God before all things, he had brought forth, the eternal the coeternal. The Prophet, then, was filled with a certain ineffable joy, and attending to what God the Father revealed to a man about his Son, he who could say these things even from the person of God: Therefore, he says, God has blessed you forever. Why? On account of grace. For to what does that grace pertain? To the kingdom of heaven. For the first Testament had promised the land: and there was one reward, or promise, for those set under the Law, another for those under Grace: the land of the Canaanites for the Jews set under the Law, the kingdom of heaven for Christians set under Grace. And so what pertained to those set under the Law, the kingdom, that land passed away: the kingdom of heaven which pertains to those set under Grace does not pass away. Therefore here, God has blessed you, not for a time, but forever.

9. There were not lacking those who preferred that all the earlier words too be taken from the person of the Prophet: and they wished this which was said, My heart has belched forth a good word, to be understood from the Prophet, as it were saying a hymn. (For whoever says a hymn to God, his heart belches forth a good word: as he who blasphemes against God, his heart belches forth an evil word.) So that even that which was added, I tell my works to the king, they wished to signify that the highest work of man is none other than to praise God. It is his to please you by his appearance, it pertains to you to praise him in thanksgiving. If your works are not the praise of God, you begin to love yourself; and you will pertain to those of whom the Apostle says: For men will be lovers of themselves (2 Tim 3:2). Be displeasing to yourself, let him who made you be pleasing to you; because in this you are displeasing to yourself, in that which you yourself made in yourself. Let your work, then, be the praise of God, let your heart belch forth a good word. Tell, then, your works to the king: because that you might tell them, the king made it, and he himself granted what you might offer. Render to him of his own, lest, having received a part of your patrimony, you wish to go far off and prodigally lose it on harlots, and feed swine. Recall this from the Gospel. But of us too it was said: He was dead, and lived again; he had perished, and was found (Luke 15:32).

10. My tongue is the pen of a scribe writing swiftly (Ps 45:1 (44:2)). There were not lacking those who so understood that the Prophet said the things which he wrote, and therefore compared his tongue to the pen of a scribe. But writing swiftly they wished him to mean, that he signified that he was writing things which were swiftly to come, so that to write swiftly is understood to write swift things, that is, to write things that would not delay. For God did not delay to bring forth Christ. How quickly it is felt to be rolled away, what is recognized as accomplished! Recall the generations before you, you will find Adam, as it were, made yesterday. So we read all things done from the very beginning: therefore they were done swiftly. The day of judgment too will be swift; anticipate its swiftness: it will come swiftly, more swiftly do you change. The face of the judge will be present, but see what the Prophet says: Let us anticipate his face in confession (Ps 95:2 (94:2)). Grace is poured out on your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever.

11. [v. 4] Gird your sword about your thigh, most mighty one (Ps 45:3 (44:4)). Your sword, what, except your word? With that sword he laid low the enemies, with that sword he divided son from father, daughter from mother, daughter-in-law from mother-in-law. We read these things in the Gospel: I came not to send peace, but a sword. And there will be in one house five divided against one another, two against three, and three against two will be divided: that is, son against father, daughter against mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law (Matt 10:34; Luke 12:52-53). By what sword was this division made, except the one which Christ brought? And truly, brothers, even by daily examples we see these things. It pleases some young man to serve God, it displeases his father; they are divided against each other: the one promises an earthly inheritance, the other loves the heavenly; the one promises one thing, the other chooses another. Let not the father think an injury done him; God alone is preferred to him: and yet he quarrels with his son wishing to serve God. But that spiritual sword separating is stronger than carnal nature joining. This happens too with daughter against mother, much more even with daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. For sometimes in one house a daughter-in-law and a mother-in-law are found heretical and catholic. And where this sword is bravely received, we do not fear rebaptism. The daughter could be divided against her mother, and the daughter-in-law cannot against her mother-in-law?

12. This was done generally too in the human race, the son was divided against the father. For we were once sons of the devil. To the still unbelieving it was said: You are of your father the devil (John 8:44). And all our unbelief, whence, except from our father the devil? not by his creating, but by our imitating him. Now indeed you see the son divided against the father. That sword comes; he renounces the devil: he finds another father, he finds another mother. The one offering himself for imitation, begot unto destruction: the two parents we have found beget unto eternal life. The son was divided against the father. The daughter was divided against her mother: that people which believed from among the Jews, was divided against the Synagogue. The daughter-in-law too was divided against her mother-in-law: the people coming from the Gentiles is called the daughter-in-law; because the bridegroom Christ is the son of the Synagogue. For whence was the Son of God born according to the flesh? From that Synagogue. He who left father and mother, and clung to his wife, that they might be two in one flesh: not by our conjecture, but with the Apostle attesting, and saying: This sacrament is great, but I speak in Christ and in the Church (Eph 5:31-32). For he left the father in a way: he did not leave him altogether as for separation, but for the taking up of human flesh. How did he leave? Because, though he was in the form of God, he did not count it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil 2:6-7). How did he leave the mother too? The nation of the Jews, that Synagogue clinging to the old sacraments. To that figure pertains what he said: Who is my mother, or who are my brothers? (Matt 12:48) For he was teaching within, they were standing outside. See whether the Jews are not now so. Christ teaches in the Church, they stand outside. What, then, is the mother-in-law? The mother of the bridegroom. The mother of the bridegroom our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Synagogue. Accordingly his daughter-in-law, the Church, which, coming from the Gentiles, did not consent to carnal circumcision, was divided against her mother-in-law. Gird your sword. About the power of this sword we were speaking, when we said these things.

13. Gird your sword, your discourse: about your thigh, most mighty one, having the sword about the thigh. What is, about the thigh? what does it signify by the thigh? The flesh. Whence is that: There shall not fail a prince from Judah, and a leader from his thighs (Gen 49:10). Did not Abraham himself too, to whom was promised the seed in which all nations should be blessed, when he sent his servant to seek and bring a wife for his son, whence should come that holy seed in which all nations should be blessed; holding by faith that in that, as it were, humility of seed was the greatness of the name, that is, that the Son of God would come from the sons of men through the seed of Abraham, make that very servant whom he was sending swear to him thus? Put, he said, your hand under my thigh, and so swear (Gen 24:2-3). As if he said: Put your hand to the altar, or to the Gospel, or to the Prophet, or to something holy. Under my thigh, he said, put your hand: having confidence, and not revering the unseemliness, but understanding the truth. Therefore: Gird your sword about your thigh, most mighty one. Most mighty one even about the thigh: because what is weak of God is stronger than men. Most mighty one.

14. [v. 5] In your beauty and your comeliness (Ps 45:4 (44:5)). Take it as justice, by which you are always beautiful and comely. And aim, and prosperously advance, and reign. Do we not see it? Surely it is now done. Attend to the world; he has aimed, prosperously advanced, and reigns; all nations are subjected. What was that to see in the spirit? What now it is to experience in truth. When these things were said, Christ did not yet so reign, had not yet aimed, had not yet advanced: they were foretold; they have been exhibited, now we hold them: in many things we have God the repayer, in few the debtor. Aim, and prosperously advance, and reign.

15. On account of truth, and meekness, and justice (Ps 45:4 (44:5)). Truth was rendered, when truth arose from the earth, and justice looked down from heaven (Ps 85:11 (84:12)). Christ was presented to the expectation of the human race, that in the seed of Abraham all nations should be blessed. The Gospel was preached; it is truth. What of meekness? The martyrs suffered, and thence much advanced, and the kingdom of God was promoted through all nations: because the martyrs suffered, and neither failed, nor resisted; saying all things, hiding nothing; ready for all things, refusing nothing. Great meekness! The body of Christ did this, it learned it in its head. He first, like a sheep, was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer did not open his mouth: so meek, that hanging on the cross he said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). What on account of justice? He will come too, to judge, and to repay to each one according to his works. He spoke truth, endured iniquity, will bring equity. And your right hand shall lead you wonderfully. We are his right hand, he his own right hand. For he is God, we men. By his right hand he was led, that is, by his power. For the power which the Father has, he himself too has, and the immortality of the Father he himself too has; the divinity of the Father he has, the eternity of the Father he has, the virtue of the Father he has. His right hand shall lead him wonderfully, doing divine things, suffering human things, laying low the malices of men by his goodness. Still he is being led even where he is not yet, and his right hand leads him. For this leads him, which he himself granted to his saints. Your right hand shall lead you wonderfully.

16. [v. 6] Your arrows are sharp, most mighty (Ps 45:5 (44:6)): words piercing the heart, rousing love. Whence it is said in the Song of Songs: For I am wounded with love (Song 2:5). For she says she is wounded with love, that is, she says she loves, she says she burns, sighs for the bridegroom, from whom she received the arrow of the word. Your arrows are sharp, most mighty: both piercing, and effective: sharp, most mighty. The peoples shall fall under you. Who fell? Those who were struck, and fell. We see the peoples subjected to Christ, falling we do not see. He expounds where they fall: in the heart. There they raised themselves against Christ, there they fall before Christ. Saul blasphemed Christ, he was raised up: he supplicates Christ, he fell, he was prostrated: the enemy of Christ was killed, that the disciple of Christ might live. From heaven the arrow was sent forth, Saul was struck in the heart, not yet Paul, still Saul, still raised up, not yet prostrated: he received the arrow, he fell in the heart. For not where he was prostrated in the face, there did he fall, but where he said: Lord, what do you bid me do? (Acts 9:6) Just now you were going to bind the Christians and lead them to punishment; and now you say to Christ: What do you bid me do? O sharp arrow, most mighty, by receiving which Saul fell, that he might be Paul! As he, so the peoples too: attend to the nations, see them subjected to Christ. Therefore: The peoples shall fall under you, in the heart of the king's enemies: this is, in the heart of your enemies. For him he calls king, him he knows as king. The peoples shall fall under you, in the heart of the king's enemies. They were enemies: they received your arrows, they fell before you. From enemies they were made friends: the enemies died, the friends live. This is: For the things that shall be changed. We seek to understand the single words, the single verses: yet we so seek, that no one doubt it is said of Christ. The peoples shall fall under you, in the heart of the king's enemies.

17. [v. 7] Your throne, O God, is forever and ever (Ps 45:6 (44:7)). Because God has blessed you forever, on account of the grace poured out on your lips. Now there was a throne of the temporal Jewish kingdom, pertaining to those who were under the Law, not to those who were under Grace: he came to free those who were under the Law, and to set them under Grace. His throne is forever and ever. Why? Because that first throne was of the temporal kingdom. Whence now a throne forever and ever? Because it is God's. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. O divinity of eternity! For God could not have a temporal throne. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A rod of directing is the rod of your kingdom. A rod of directing is that which directs men. They were crooked, they were distorted: they desired to reign for themselves, they loved themselves, they loved their own evil deeds; they did not subject their own will to God, but wished to bend the will of God to their lusts. For the sinner and iniquitous man is for the most part angry at God, because he does not rain; and he does not wish God to be angry at him, because he himself does flow. And to this almost men daily sit, to dispute against God: This he ought to have done, this he did not do well. You forsooth see what you do, and he does not know? You are distorted, he is straight. The distorted, when do you join it to the straight? It cannot be made to line up. As if you should set crooked wood on a level pavement; it is not joined, does not cohere, is not fitted to the pavement: the pavement is everywhere level; but that is crooked, it is not fitted to the level. Therefore the will of God is level, yours is crooked: for this reason it seems to you crooked, because you cannot be fitted to it: direct yourself to it, do not wish to bend it to yourself; because you cannot, you try in vain: it is always straight. Do you wish to cling to it? Be corrected. It will be the rod of him who rules you, a rod of directing. Hence a king (rex) too is named from ruling (regere). But he does not rule who does not correct (corrigere). For this our king is the king of the righteous. As a priest from sanctifying us, so a king from ruling us. But what does he say in another place? With the holy you will be holy, and with the innocent man innocent, and with the elect elect, and with the perverse you will be perverse (Ps 18:25-26 (17:26-27)): not because God is perverse, but because the perverse think him perverse. The good pleases you, God is good: it displeases you, God is as it were crooked. God is crooked to you, your own crookedness does this: for his rectitude always remains. Hear in another psalm: How good is the God of Israel to the upright of heart! (Ps 73:1 (72:1))

18. [v. 8] A rod of directing is the rod of your kingdom. You have loved justice, and hated iniquity (Ps 45:7 (44:8)). See the rod of directing: You have loved justice, and hated iniquity. Draw near to that rod, let Christ be king for you: let that rod rule you, lest it break you. For that rod is of iron, inflexible. And what was said? You shall rule them in a rod of iron, and like a potter's vessel you shall break them (Ps 2:9). Some he rules, others he breaks: he rules the spiritual, he breaks the carnal. Therefore draw near to that rod. What do you fear in it? This is the whole rod: You have loved justice, and hated iniquity. What do you fear? But perhaps you were iniquitous: for you hear your king, that he hates iniquity, and you fear. There is something you can do. What does he hate? Iniquity: surely not you? But is iniquity in you? God hates it, do you too hate it: that you both hate one thing. For you will be a friend of God, if you hate what he hates. So too you will love what he loves. Let your iniquity be displeasing to you in yourself, and let his creature be pleasing to you. For you are a man iniquitous. I have said two names; two names, man and iniquitous: in these two names one is of nature, the other of fault; one God made for you, the other you made: love what God made, hate what you made, because he himself too hates this. See how you now begin to be joined to him, when you hate what he hates. He is to punish sin, because a rod of directing is the rod of his kingdom. But will he not punish sin? But he cannot. Sin must be punished: if it were not to be punished, it would not be sin. Anticipate him: you do not wish that he himself punish, do you punish. For therefore he still spares, defers, holds his hand, bends the bow, that is, his threats. Would he cry out that he would strike only, if he wished to strike? He defers his hand, then, from your sins: do not you defer. Turn yourself to punishing your sins, because sins cannot be unpunished. It will have to be punished, then, either by you, or by him: do you acknowledge, that he may pardon. Attend to the example in that psalm of penitence: Turn away your face from my sins (Ps 51:9 (50:11)). Did he say: From me? For in another place he openly says: Turn not away your face from me (Ps 27:9 (26:9)). Therefore: Turn away your face from my sins: I do not wish you to see my sins. Because the seeing of God is to take notice. Hence even a judge, that which he punishes, is said to take notice (animadvertere), that is, to turn the mind there; to intend, of course, to punishing, because he is a judge. So God too is a judge. Turn away your face from my sins. Do not you turn away your face from them, if you wish God to turn his face from them. See how he offers this to God in that same psalm: My misdeed I, he says, acknowledge, and my sin is before me always (Ps 51:3 (50:5)). This he does not wish to be before God, which he wishes to be before himself. A rod of directing is the rod of your kingdom. Let no one flatter himself too much about the mercy of God; it is a rod of directing. Do we say that God is not merciful? What is more merciful than he, who spares all sinners, than he who, in all who turn to him, does not heed past things? So love him as merciful, that you wish him to be truthful: for mercy cannot take justice from him, nor justice mercy. Meanwhile, as long as he defers, do not you defer: since a rod of directing is the rod of his kingdom.

19. You have loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, your God, has anointed you (Ps 45:7 (44:8)). Therefore he anointed you, that you might love justice, and hate iniquity. And see how he says: Therefore God, your God, has anointed you. O you God, your God anointed you. God is anointed by God. For in Latin the same case of the noun is thought to be repeated: but in Greek there is a most evident distinction, because one is the noun of the one addressed, and the other of the one who addresses: He anointed you, O God. O you God, your God anointed you: as if he said: Therefore your God anointed you, O you God. So take it, so understand it, so in Greek it is most evident. Who, then, is this God anointed by God? Let the Jews tell us. These Scriptures are common. God was anointed by God: you hear "anointed," understand Christ. For Christ is from "chrism": this name by which he is called Christ, is of anointing. Nor were kings and priests anointed anywhere else, except in that kingdom where Christ was prophesied and anointed, and whence the name of Christ was to come: it is nowhere else at all, in no nation, in no kingdom. God, then, was anointed by God: with what oil, except spiritual? For the visible oil is in the sign, the invisible oil is in the sacrament, the spiritual oil is within. God was anointed for us, and sent for us: and he himself was God, that he might be anointed, he was man: but he was man in such a way that he was God; he was God in such a way that he did not disdain to be man: true man, true God; in nothing deceitful, in nothing false; because everywhere truthful, everywhere truth. God, then, a man, and therefore God anointed, because the God-man, and he was made Christ.

20. This was figured in that Jacob set a stone for himself at his head, and slept. The patriarch Jacob set a stone for himself at his head; and sleeping with that stone set at his head, he saw, the heavens opened, a ladder from heaven to earth, and angels ascending and descending: at this sight he awoke, anointed the stone, and departed. In that stone he understood Christ, therefore he anointed it. See from when Christ is foretold. What does that anointing of a stone mean, especially among the patriarchs, who worshiped one God? But it was done in a figure, and they departed. For he did not anoint the stone, and come there always to adore, and to make sacrifices there. The mystery was expressed, sacrilege not begun. And see the stone: The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner (Ps 118:22 (117:22)). And because the head of the man is Christ (1 Cor 11:3), therefore the stone at the head. Attend to a great sacrament: the stone Christ. A living stone, says Peter, rejected by men, but chosen by God (1 Pet 2:4). And the stone at the head, because the head of the man is Christ. And the stone anointed, because from "chrism" Christ is named. And the ladder is seen, Christ revealing it, from earth to heaven, or from heaven to earth, and angels ascending and descending. What this is, we shall see better, when we have recalled the gospel testimony from the Lord himself. You know that Jacob himself is Israel. For when he wrestled with the angel and prevailed, and was blessed by him over whom he prevailed, his name was changed, so that he was called Israel: just as the people Israel prevailed over Christ, so as to crucify him; and yet in those who believed in Christ, he was blessed by the very one over whom he prevailed. But many did not believe, hence the lameness of Jacob. A blessing and a lameness. A blessing in those who believed: for afterward we know that many from that people believed. But a lameness in those who did not believe. And because more did not believe, and few believed; therefore, that the lameness might be made, he touched the breadth of his thigh. What is the breadth of his thigh? The multitude of the race. See, then, that ladder: the Lord, when he saw Nathanael in the Gospel, said: Behold a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile (John 1:47). For so it is said of Jacob himself: And Jacob was without guile, dwelling at home (Gen 25:27 LXX): recalling this, the Lord, seeing Nathanael without guile from that nation and from that people: Behold a true Israelite, he said, in whom there is no guile. He called him an Israelite, in whom there was no guile, on account of Jacob. And that Nathanael: Whence do you know me? And the Lord: When you were under the fig tree I saw you: that is, when you were in that people set under the Law, which protected that people with a carnal shadow, there I saw you. What is, there I saw you? There I had mercy on you. But he, recalling that he had been even under the fig tree in truth, marveling, because he thought himself seen by no one when he was there, confesses and says: You are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel. Who said this? He who had heard that he was a true Israelite, and there was no guile in him. And the Lord: Because I said to you: I saw you under the fig tree, you have believed; you shall see greater things than these (John 1:48-50). He speaks with Israel, with Jacob, with him who had set a stone for himself at his head. You shall see greater things than these. What greater things? Because now that stone is at the head. Amen I say to you, you shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending over the Son of man (John 1:51). Let the angels of God ascend and descend by that ladder, let this be done in the Church, the angels of God are announcers of the truth: let them ascend and see: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Let them descend, and see, that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14). Let them ascend, that they may raise the great: let them descend, that they may nourish the little. See Paul ascending: Whether we have been in ecstasy, it is to God. See him descending: Whether we are sober, it is for you (2 Cor 5:13). See him ascending: We speak wisdom among the perfect. See him descending: Milk I gave you to drink, not food (1 Cor 2:6; 3:2). This is done in the Church: the angels of God ascend and descend over the Son of man: because the Son of man is above, to whom they ascend with the heart, that is, his head; and below is the Son of man, that is, his body. His members are here, the head is above: there is ascending to the head, descending to the members. Christ there, Christ here. For if there only, and not here; whence that voice: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4) For who was troublesome to him in heaven? No one, neither the Jews, nor Saul, nor the tempting devil; no one there troublesome to him: but just as in the framework of the human body, when the foot is trodden on, the tongue cries out.

21. You have loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, your God, has anointed you (Ps 45:7 (44:8)). We have spoken of the anointed God, that is, of Christ. The name of Christ could not be said more openly, than that the anointed God should be said. As beautiful in form beyond the sons of men; so anointed, with the oil of gladness beyond his fellows. For who are his fellows? The sons of men: since he himself, the Son of man, became a partaker of their mortality, that he might make them partakers of his immortality.

22. [vv. 9-10] Myrrh and aloes and cassia from your garments (Ps 45:8 (44:9)). Good odors from your garments. His garments are his saints, his elect, his whole Church, which he displays to himself like a garment, without spot and wrinkle: on account of the spot, washing in his blood; on account of the wrinkle, stretching on the cross. Hence the good odor which is signified by certain named spices. Hear that least one, Paul, the fringe of the garment which the woman in the flux of blood touched, and was healed; hear him saying: We are the good odor of Christ in every place, both among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing (2 Cor 2:15). He did not say: A good odor among those who are being saved, and an evil odor among those who are perishing; but: As far as pertains to us, we are a good odor, both among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing. That a man be saved by a good odor is neither improbable nor incredible: but that a man perish by a good odor, what is the reason? A great force, a great truth: even if it cannot be grasped, it is so. For that you may know it is grasped with difficulty, he at once added: And for these who is fit? Who understands that men die by a good odor? Yet I will say something, brothers. Behold Paul himself preached the Gospel; many loved him, the preacher of the Gospel, many envied him: those who loved him were saved by the good odor; those who envied him perished by the good odor. Therefore even to those perishing it is not an evil odor, but a good odor. For they envied him the more, because so good a grace prevailed in him: for no one envies a wretched man. He was glorious, then, in the preaching of the word of God, and living according to the rule of that rod of directing: and those loved him who loved Christ in him, who followed the good odor; the bride herself loved the friend of her bridegroom, she who says in the Song of Songs: After the odor of your ointments we will run (Song 1:3). But those, the more they saw him in the glory of preaching the Gospel and in a blameless life, the more they were tormented with envy, and were killed by the good odor.

23. [v. 10] Myrrh and aloes and cassia from your garments, from the ivory houses, from which the daughters of kings have delighted you (Ps 45:8-9 (44:9-10)). The ivory houses, the great houses, the royal houses, whichever you choose, from there the daughters of kings have delighted Christ. Do you wish to take the ivory houses spiritually? Take the great houses, and great tabernacles of God, the hearts of the saints, and those very kings ruling the flesh, subjugating to themselves the crowds of human affections, chastising the body, and bringing it into servitude: because from there the daughters of kings have delighted him. For all the souls which were born when those preached and evangelized, are daughters of kings: and the churches, the daughters of the apostles, are daughters of kings. For he is the King of kings (1 Tim 6:15): but those are kings of whom it was said: You shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt 19:28). They preached the word of truth, and begot churches, not for themselves, but for him. To this sacrament pertains what is written in the Law: If a brother die, let his brother take his wife, and raise up seed for his brother (Deut 25:5). Let his brother take the wife, and raise up seed, not for himself, but for his brother. Christ said: Tell my brothers (Matt 28:10). He said in the psalm: I will declare your name to my brothers (Ps 22:22 (21:23)). Christ died, rose again, ascended, made himself absent in body: his brothers took up his wife, to beget sons by the preaching of the Gospel, not through themselves, but through the Gospel, on account of the name of the brother. For in Christ Jesus, he says, through the Gospel, I begot you (1 Cor 4:15). And so, raising up seed for their brother, however many they begot, they named not Paulians or Petrians, but Christians. See whether this sense is not awake even in these verses. For when he said, from the ivory houses, he said of the royal, ample, beautiful, smooth ones, such as are the hearts of the saints: he added: From which the daughters of kings have delighted you, in your honor. The daughters indeed of kings, the daughters of your apostles: but, in your honor, because they raised up seed for their brother. Therefore those very ones whom Paul had raised up for his brother, when he saw them running to his own name, he cried out: Was Paul crucified for you? For what does the Law say? And let the one born have the name of the dead. To the dead let him be born, by the name of the dead let him be called. Paul keeps this law: those wishing to be called by his name, he calls back: Was Paul crucified for you? Look to the dead: Was Paul crucified for you? And what then? When you begot them, what if you had imposed your name on them? No. For he says: Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Cor 1:13) The daughters of kings have delighted you in your honor. Hold, keep, in your honor. This is to have the wedding garment, to seek his honor, his glory. Understand also the daughters of kings to be cities which believed in Christ, and were founded by kings: and from the ivory houses, the rich, the proud, the lofty. The daughters of kings have delighted you in your honor: because they did not seek the honor of their fathers, but sought your honor. Let there be shown me at Rome a temple of Romulus in so great honor, as I there show the memorial of Peter. In Peter who is honored, except he who died for us? For we are Christians, not Petrians. Even if born through the dead brother, yet surnamed by the name of the dead. Through him born, but for him born. Behold Rome, behold Carthage, behold other and other cities are daughters of kings; and they have delighted their king in his honor; and from all is made a certain one queen.

24. What a wedding song? Behold, amid songs full of cheerfulness, she too, the bride, comes forth. For the bridegroom was coming, he was being described, on him was all our attention: let her too come forth. The queen stood at your right hand (Ps 45:9 (44:10)). She who is at the left, is not a queen. For there will stand a certain one at the left too, to whom it will be said: Go into the eternal fire. But at the right will stand she to whom it will be said: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt 25:41, 34). The queen stood at your right hand, in a gilded vestment, surrounded with variety. What is the vestment of this queen? It is both precious, and varied: the sacraments of doctrine in all the various tongues. One tongue African, another Syrian, another Greek, another Hebrew, another this and that: these tongues make the variety of the vestment of this queen. But as all the variety of the vestment agrees in unity, so too all the tongues to one faith. In the vestment let there be variety, let there be no rending. Behold, we have understood the variety from the diversity of tongues, and we have understood the vestment on account of the unity: but in that very variety what is the gold? Wisdom itself. Whatever the variety of tongues, one gold is preached: not different gold, but variety from gold. For the same wisdom, the same doctrine and discipline all the tongues preach. Variety in the tongues, gold in the sentences.

25. [v. 11] The Prophet addresses this queen (for he gladly sings to her), and each one of us; if at least we know where we are, and try to belong to that body, and by faith and hope belong to it, united in the members of Christ. For he addresses us: Hear, daughter, and see (Ps 45:10 (44:11)). He addresses her as one of the fathers, because they are daughters of kings: whether a prophet addresses, whether an apostle addresses, as a daughter (for so we say, Our fathers the prophets, our fathers the apostles: if we are to them as fathers, they to us as sons), and one paternal voice addresses the one daughter. Hear, daughter, and see. First hear, afterward see. For it came to us with the Gospel, and there was preached to us what we do not yet see, and by hearing we believed, by believing we shall see; as the bridegroom himself says through the Prophet: A people whom I did not know, served me; in the hearing of the ear it obeyed me (Ps 18:43-44 (17:44-45)). What is, in the hearing of the ear? Because it did not see. The Jews saw, and crucified: the Gentiles did not see, and believed. Let the queen come from the Gentiles in a gilded vestment, surrounded with variety: let her come from the Gentiles, let her come surrounded with all tongues, in the unity of wisdom; let it be said to her: Hear, daughter, and see. If you will not hear, you will not see. Hear that you may cleanse the heart by faith, as the Apostle says in the Acts of the Apostles: By faith cleansing their hearts (Acts 15:9). For for this we hear, that we may believe before we see, that by believing we may cleanse the heart, whence we may be able to see. Hear, that you may believe, cleanse the heart by faith. And when I have cleansed the heart, what shall I see? Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matt 5:8). Hear, daughter, and see; and incline your ear. It is too little to hear, hear humbly: Incline your ear. And forget your people and the house of your father. There was a certain people, and a certain house of your father, in which you were born, the people of Babylon, having the devil as king. From wherever the Gentiles came, they came from the father the devil: but they renounced the father the devil. Forget your people and the house of your father. He begot you foul, when he made you a sinner: he regenerates you beautiful who justifies the ungodly woman. Forget your people, and the house of your father.

26. [v. 12] Because the king has desired your beauty (Ps 45:11 (44:12)). What beauty, except that which he himself made? He has desired the beauty. Whose beauty? Of the sinner, the iniquitous, the ungodly, such as she was with her father the devil, and with her own people? No, but that of which it is said: Who is this that comes up made white? (Song 8:5) Therefore before she was not white, afterward made white. Because if your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow (Isa 1:18). The king has desired your beauty. What king? Because he himself is your God. Now see whether you ought not to forsake that father of yours, and that people of yours, and come to this king, your God: he is your God, he is your king. Your king, and he himself is your bridegroom. You marry a king, God, dowered by him, adorned by him, redeemed by him, healed by him. Whatever you have whereby you may please him, you have from him.

27. [v. 13] And the daughters of Tyre will adore him with gifts (Ps 45:12 (44:13)). Your very king, your God, the daughters of Tyre will adore with gifts. The daughters of Tyre, the daughters of the Gentiles: from a part to the whole. Tyre, neighboring this land where the prophecy was, signified the Gentiles who would believe in Christ. From there was that Canaanite woman, who first was called a dog: for that you may know she was from there, the Gospel speaks thus: He withdrew to the parts of Tyre and Sidon, and behold a Canaanite woman, coming out from those borders, cried out, and the rest which is there narrated. She who first was a dog with her father and among her people, by crying and coming to this king, made comely by believing in him, what did she deserve to hear? O woman, great is your faith (Matt 15:21-22, 28). The king has desired your beauty. And the daughters of Tyre will adore him with gifts. With what gifts? So this king wishes to be come to, and wishes his treasures to be filled: and he himself granted whence they may be filled, and by you let them be filled. Let them come, he says, let them adore him with gifts. What is, with gifts? Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves dig through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither thief nor moth corrupts. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matt 6:19-21). Come with gifts: Give alms, and all things are clean to you (Luke 11:41). Come with gifts to him who says: I desire mercy rather than sacrifice (Matt 9:13; Hos 6:6). To that temple which was before a shadow of the future, there was coming with bulls and rams, with goats, with various animals fit for sacrifice, that in that blood one thing might be done, another signified. Now already the blood itself, which all those things figured, has come: the King himself has come, and he himself wishes gifts. What gifts? Alms. For he himself will judge, and he himself will impute the gifts to certain ones. Come, he says, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Why? I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was naked, and you clothed me; a stranger, and you took me in; sick and in prison, and you visited me. These are the gifts with which the daughters of Tyre adore the king: because when they said, When did we see you? he who is both above and below, on account of those ascending and descending: When you did it, he says, to one of these least of mine, you did it to me (Matt 25:34-40).

28. The daughters of Tyre will adore him with gifts (Ps 45:12 (44:13)). And who the daughters of Tyre are, and how they will adore him with gifts, he wished to say more plainly: The rich of the people will entreat your countenance. These daughters of Tyre adoring with gifts, are the rich of the people, whom that friend of the bridegroom addresses: Charge the rich of this world not to be high-minded, nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches; but in the living God, who furnishes us all things abundantly to enjoy: let them be rich in good works, let them give easily, let them share. Let them adore with gifts; but they do not lose them: secure let them put where they may always find them. Let them treasure up for themselves a good foundation for the future, that they may lay hold on true life (1 Tim 6:17-19). By adoring with gifts, they will entreat your countenance. For they run together to the Church, and there give alms. Lest they be outside, that is, lest, being set outside, they be made so, let them do it in the Church. For the countenance of this bride and queen will profit those who do it. Therefore those who sold their goods, entreating the countenance of this queen with gifts, came; and the things they carried, they set at the feet of the apostles. Love was fervent in the Church, the countenance of the queen was the Church, the countenance of the queen was the homage of the daughters of Tyre, that is, of the rich adoring with gifts. The rich of the people will entreat your countenance. And those who will entreat the countenance, and whose countenance they will entreat, all one bride, all one queen, mother and sons together, the whole pertaining to Christ, pertaining to the head.

29. [vv. 14-15] But because these works and these alms are done for the boasting of men, hence the Lord himself says: Beware of doing your justice before men to be seen by them (Matt 6:1). But how they ought to be done even publicly, on account of the countenance of the bride, he says: Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt 5:16): not that you may seek your own glory in the good works which you do publicly, but the glory of God. And who knows, he says, whether I seek the glory of God, or my own glory? Because I give to the poor, I am seen: with what mind I give, who sees? Let it suffice you that he sees; he sees who will repay. Within he loves who within sees: within he loves, within let him be loved who makes the inner man and that very beauty. Do not, as it were, be delighted with the outer eyes, because you are seen, and because you are praised; attend to what here follows: All the glory of her, the king's daughter, is within (Ps 45:13 (44:14)). Outwardly there is not only the gilded and varied vestment, but within he who loved her beauty knows her beautiful. What are the inner things of beauty? Of the conscience. There Christ sees, there Christ loves, there Christ addresses, there Christ punishes, there Christ crowns. Let your almsgiving, then, be in secret; because all the glory of her, the king's daughter, is within. In golden fringes, surrounded with variety. The beauty is within: but in the golden fringes the variety of tongues, the ornament of doctrine. What do these profit, if there is not that beauty within?

30. Virgins shall be brought to the king after her (Ps 45:14 (44:15)). Truly it has come about. The Church believed, the Church was made throughout all nations. Now how do virgins desire to please that king? Whence are they incited? Because the Church went before. Virgins shall be brought to the king after her: those near her shall be brought to you. For those who are brought are not strangers, but those near her, pertaining to her. And because he said, to the king; turned to him he said, to you: those near her shall be brought to you.

31. [v. 16] They shall be brought in gladness and exultation, they shall be led into the temple of the king (Ps 45:15 (44:16)). The temple of the king is the Church herself, the Church herself enters into the temple. Whence is the temple built? Of men who enter into the temple. What are the living stones, except the faithful of God? They shall be led into the temple of the king. For there are virgins outside the temple of the king, heretical nuns: they are indeed virgins, but what will it profit them unless they be led into the temple of the king? The temple of the king is in unity: the temple of the king is not ruinous, not torn apart, not divided. The joining of the living stones is love. They shall be led into the temple of the king.

32. [v. 17] For your fathers sons have been born to you (Ps 45:16 (44:17)). Nothing more evident. Attend now to the temple of the king itself, because hence he speaks on account of the unity spread throughout the whole world: because those who wished to be virgins, unless they be led into the temple of the king, cannot please the bridegroom. For your fathers sons have been born to you. The apostles begot you: they were sent, they preached, they are fathers. But could they always be with us bodily? Even though one of them said: I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ is much better; to remain in the flesh is necessary on your account (Phil 1:23-24). He said this indeed, but how long could he remain here? Even to this time? even to a later time? Was the Church, then, deserted by their departure? Far be it. For your fathers sons have been born to you. What is, For your fathers sons have been born to you? The fathers were the apostles sent; for the apostles sons have been born to you, bishops have been appointed. For today the bishops, who are throughout the whole world, whence are they born? The Church herself calls them fathers, she herself begot them, and she herself set them in the seats of the fathers. Do not, then, think yourself deserted, because you do not see Peter, because you do not see Paul, because you do not see those through whom you were born: from your own offspring fatherhood has grown for you. For your fathers sons have been born to you: you will appoint them princes over all the earth. See the temple of the king, how widely spread: that those virgins who are not led into the temple of the king may know that they do not pertain to these nuptials. For your fathers sons have been born to you: you will appoint them princes over all the earth. This is the Catholic Church: her sons are appointed princes over all the earth, her sons are appointed in place of the fathers. Let those recognize who have been cut off, let them come to unity, let them be led into the temple of the king. God set his temple everywhere, he firmly fixed everywhere the foundations of the prophets and apostles. The Church begot sons, she appointed them in place of her fathers princes over all the earth.

33. [v. 18] They will be mindful of your name in every generation and generation. Therefore the peoples will confess to you (Ps 45:17 (44:18)). What, then, does it profit to confess, and to confess outside the temple? What does it profit to pray, and not to pray on the mountain? With my voice, he says, I cried to the Lord, and he heard me from his holy mountain (Ps 3:4 (3:5)). From what mountain? Of which it was said: A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden (Matt 5:14). From what mountain? Which Daniel saw grown from a small stone, and break all the kingdoms of the lands, and fill the whole face of the earth. There let him adore who wishes to receive, there let him ask who wishes to be heard, there let him confess who wishes to be pardoned. Therefore the peoples will confess to you forever, and unto ages of ages. Because even in that eternal life there will indeed no longer be the groaning of sins, yet in the divine praises of that supernal and perpetual city there will not be lacking an everlasting confession of so great a felicity. For to that very city, to which another psalm sings: Glorious things have been said of you, O city of God (Ps 87:3 (86:3)); to the bride herself of Christ, to the queen herself, the daughter of the king, and spouse of the king; because her princes are mindful of her name in every generation and generation, that is, as long as this world, which is carried on through many generations, passes, bearing the care of love for her, that, freed from this world, she may reign together with God forever; on account of this, to her the peoples will confess forever, with the hearts of all there conspicuous and manifest, luminous with perfect love, so that she may know herself wholly most fully, who here in her many parts is hidden from herself. Whence we are admonished by the Apostle to judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, and illumine the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the thoughts of the heart, and there be praise to each one from God (1 Cor 4:5). For that holy city itself will in a way confess to itself, when its peoples of which it consists will confess to the city itself forever; so that it may be hidden from itself in no part, there being in it no one of whom anything is hidden.

Exposition of Psalm 45

1. [v. 1] We now speak to your Charity certain things as most known, in which we ought not to linger: because the things you know ought to be briefly recalled. Let us understand that we are the sons of Korah. For I recall to you who know, that Korah is interpreted "Baldness"; and that our Lord, since he was crucified in the place of Calvary, drew to himself many, like that grain which, unless it had been put to death, would remain alone; and that those who were drawn were called the sons of Korah: this in a mystery. But there were certain sons of Korah at that time, when these things were sung: but the spirit ought to give us life, not the letter to veil us. Let us, then, here understand, and see whether the things that follow, that is, what the context of the psalm itself has, agree with us: and we find ourselves here, if at least we cling to the members of him whose body's head is in heaven, ascending from that passion, that he may draw up with himself in abundance those who lay in humility, bearing fruit in endurance. Now it was said: To the end, for the sons of Korah, for the hidden things, a psalm (Ps 46:1 (45:1)). It is hidden, then; but that very one who was crucified in the place of Calvary, you know that he tore the veil, that the secrets of the temple might be laid open. Accordingly, because the cross of our Lord was a key, by which the closed might be opened; let us believe that he will be present to us, that these hidden things may be revealed. What it has of to the end, we ought always to understand Christ. For the end of the Law is Christ, unto justice to everyone who believes (Rom 10:4). But it is called the end, not because it consumes, but because it perfects. For we call food finished which was eaten, and a tunic finished which was woven: the former to consumption, the latter to perfection. Because, then, we have nowhere to tend beyond, when we have come to Christ, he himself is called the end of our course. Nor ought we to think that, when we have come to him, we ought to strive for something more, that we may come even to the Father. For Philip too thought this, when he said to him: Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. When he says, it suffices us, he seeks the end of satiety and of perfection. And he: So long a time, he says, am I with you, and you have not known me? Philip, he who sees me, sees also the Father (John 14:8-9). In him, then, we have the Father, because he himself is in the Father, and the Father in him, and he and the Father are one.

2. [v. 2] What, then, does he who sings admonish here, where we ought to recognize our voice, if at least we have the affection of this voice? Our God is a refuge and strength (Ps 46:1 (45:2)). There are certain refuges where there is no strength, to which when anyone flees, he is rather weakened than strengthened. You flee, for example, to someone great in the world, to make a powerful friend for yourself: it seems to you a refuge. Yet so uncertain are the things of this world, and the falls of the powerful so daily increase, that when you have come to such a refuge, you begin to fear there more. For before you feared only for your cause; but when you have fled to such a one, you will fear about him too. For many, when they had fled to such refuges, when those to whom they had fled fell, were sought out themselves too: whom no one would seek, if they had not fled to such things. Our refuge is not such, but our refuge is strength. When we have fled there, we shall be firm.

3. A helper in the tribulations which have found us exceedingly (Ps 46:1 (45:2)). Many are the tribulations, and in every tribulation one must flee to God: whether the tribulation be in family matters, or in the health of the body, or about the peril of those most dear, or about some matter necessary for the support of this life, there ought to be altogether no other refuge for a Christian man than his Savior, than his God, to whom when he has fled, let him be strong. For he will not be strong in himself, nor will he be strength to himself; but he will be strength to him, who has become his refuge. Yet, dearly beloved, among all the tribulations of the human soul, there is no greater tribulation than the conscience of sins. For if there be no wound there, and that which is called the conscience be sound within the man; wherever else he suffers tribulations, he will flee thither, and there he will find God. But if there is no rest there on account of the abundance of iniquity, since there too God is not; what will the man do? whither will he flee, when he begins to suffer tribulations? He will flee from the field to the city, from the public to the house, from the house into the bedchamber, and tribulation follows. From the bedchamber he now has nowhere to flee, except into his inner chamber. Further, if there is a tumult there, if the smoke of iniquity, if the flame of crime, he cannot flee thither: he is driven from there; and when he is driven from there, he is driven from himself. And behold he finds his enemy where he had fled: himself, whither shall he flee? Wherever he flees, he drags himself after himself: and wherever he drags such a self, he torments himself about himself. These are the tribulations which find a man exceedingly: for more bitter ones there are not: they are so much not more bitter, as they are not more inward. See, dearly beloved, when timbers are cut down and tested by carpenters; sometimes on the surface they seem as it were damaged and rotten: but the carpenter inspects, as it were, the inner marrow of the wood, and if he knows the wood is sound within, he promises that it will last in the building; nor will he be very anxious about the surface damage, when he reports that what is within is sound. Further, in a man inwardly the conscience is found: what, then, does it profit, if what is outside is sound, and the marrow of the conscience is rotted? These are strait, and altogether vehement, and, as the psalm itself says, exceeding tribulations: yet even in these the Lord has been made a helper, by forgiving sins. For the consciences of the iniquitous nothing heals but pardon. For if a debtor of the treasury, having confessed, says he has great tribulations, and looking at the straits of his family means, when he sees that he cannot be solvent; on account of the collectors threatening every year, he says he suffers great tribulations, nor does he anywhere breathe again except in the hope of a pardon of earthly things: how much more the debtor of punishments from the abundance of his sins, when he shall repay what he owes from a bad conscience, when, if he repays, he himself perishes? For to repay this debt is to suffer punishments. It remains, then, that we can be secure about his pardon: if at least, having received pardon, we do not again return to contracting debts.

4. These sons of Korah, then, are perhaps understood to be those to whom Peter spoke in the Acts of the Apostles, when they had been made attentive to the wonders of the coming of the Holy Spirit, when all on whom he had come spoke with all tongues. For he announced Christ to them, him who had been able to do such great things by sending the Holy Spirit. They, considering how contemptible he was whom they had crucified with their own hands, when he was killed by them, how high and exalted he had been made with God, who filled the unlearned with the Holy Spirit, and made the tongues of the simple eloquent, compunct in heart, said: What shall we do? These were the exceeding tribulations which had found them. For they themselves did not find their sins, but their sins were found in them by the recalling of the apostles. Therefore the tribulations found them, they themselves did not find the tribulations. For when, without anyone's admonition, a man himself considers his deed, and asks God, what does he say? I found tribulation and grief, and I called upon the name of the Lord (Ps 116:3-4 (114:3-4)). There is one tribulation, then, which you find, another which finds you. In both, however, whether that which finds you, or that which you find, that he may drive away both, he is to be asked who is a helper in tribulations. For both that man, when he found, said this: And I called upon the name of the Lord: and these in the tribulations by which they said they were found, said this: Our God is a refuge and strength, a helper in the tribulations which have found us exceedingly. But because he was made a helper, whence was he made one? Compunct, he says, in heart, they said: What shall we do? As though in great despair. So great is he whom we killed, where shall we be? And Peter: Do penance, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and your sins are forgiven you (Acts 2:37-38). For nothing graver than this sin could they conceive. What graver sin of the sick, than the killing of the physician? what graver thing can the sick man do, than if he kill his physician? When this is forgiven, what is not forgiven? From him, then, to whom it was said, A refuge and strength, they received great security. Let each one of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: in the name of him whom you killed, be baptized, and your sins are forgiven you. The physician you have recognized even afterward, now secure drink the blood which you shed.

5. [v. 3] In short, having received so great security, what do they say? Therefore we will not fear, when the earth shall be troubled (Ps 46:2 (45:3)). A little before solicitous, suddenly secure, set from exceeding tribulations into great tranquillity. For Christ was sleeping to them, therefore they were troubled: Christ was roused, as we just now heard in the Gospel, he commanded the winds, and they were stilled. Since Christ is in the heart of each one through faith, it is signified to us that his heart, like a ship, is troubled in the tempest of this world, who forgets his faith: as though, Christ sleeping, it is troubled; but, Christ being roused, there comes a calm. In short, the Lord himself, what does he say? Where is your faith? (Luke 8:25) Christ roused, roused the faith: that what was done in the ship, might be done in their hearts. A helper in the tribulations which have found us exceedingly: he brought it about that there should be great tranquillity there.

6. See that very tranquillity: Therefore we will not fear, when the earth shall be troubled, and the mountains shall be transferred into the heart of the sea (Ps 46:2 (45:3)). Then we will not fear. Let us seek the mountains transferred; and if we can find them, it is manifest that this is our security. For the Lord said to his disciples: If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: Be taken up and cast into the sea, and it shall be done (Matt 17:20). Perhaps, to this mountain, he said of himself; for he was called a mountain: In the last times the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest. But this mountain is set above the other mountains: because the apostles too are mountains, bearing this mountain. Therefore it follows: In the last times the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, prepared on the summit of the mountains (Isa 2:2). He transcends, then, the summits of all mountains, and is set on the summit of all mountains; since the mountains are those announcing the mountain. But the sea signifies this world, in comparison with which sea the nation of the Jews seemed as it were land. For it was not covered with the bitterness of idolatry, but was as it were dry land surrounded by the bitterness of the Gentiles as by a sea. It was to come about that the earth would be troubled, that is, that very Jewish nation; and the mountains would be transferred into the heart of the sea, that is, first the great mountain himself, prepared on the summit of the mountains. For he deserted the Jewish nation, and was made known among the Gentiles; he was transferred from the land to the sea. By whom transferring? By the apostles, to whom he had said: If you have faith in you like a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: Be taken up and cast into the sea, and it shall be done: that is, by your most faithful preaching it shall come about that this mountain, that is, I myself, may be preached among the Gentiles, glorified among the Gentiles, recognized among the Gentiles, and that there may come about what was foretold of me: A people whom I did not know, served me (Ps 18:43 (17:44)). But when were those mountains too transferred? This too let the Scripture of God show us. When the Apostle preached to the Jews, they rejected the word; and the apostle Paul said: To you we were sent, but because you have rejected the word of God, we go to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). The mountains were transferred into the heart of the sea. For truly the Gentiles believed the mountains, so that in the heart of the sea those mountains were: not like the Jews, of whom it was said: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Isa 29:13; Matt 15:8). For this the Lord promises even about the New Testament, saying through the prophet: I will give my laws in their hearts (Jer 31:33; Heb 8:10). These laws, these precepts, given through the apostles to the faith and belief of all the Gentiles, are called mountains transferred into the heart of the sea. Then we will not fear. Who will not fear? Those of us who were compunct in heart, lest we be made of the number of the reprobate Jews, like broken branches. For certain of them believed, and clung to the preaching apostles. Let those, then, fear whom the mountains deserted: we have not withdrawn from the mountains; and when they were transferred into the heart of the sea, we followed.

7. [v. 4] What now follows from the fact that the mountains were transferred into the heart of the sea? Attend and see the truth. For these things, when they were said, were obscure, because they had not yet happened: but now who does not recognize them as done? Let the divine page be your book, that you may hear these things: let the world be your book, that you may see these things. In these codices none read them except those who know letters: in the whole world let even the unlettered read. What, then, came about, while the mountains were transferred into the heart of the sea? Its waters sounded and were troubled (Ps 46:3 (45:4)). When the Gospel was preached: What is this? This man seems to be an announcer of foreign demons (Acts 17:18): this the Athenians. But the Ephesians, with what a tumult they wished to kill the apostles, when in the theater for their Diana they made so great a din, that they cried out: Great is Diana of the Ephesians (Acts 19:28)? Among which waves and the sounding of the sea those did not fear who had fled to that refuge. In short, the apostle Paul wished to enter into the theater, and was called back by the disciples, because it was still necessary that he remain in the flesh on their account (Acts 19:30). But yet Its waters sounded and were troubled: the mountains were troubled in his strength. Whose? Of the sea, or rather of God, of whom it was said: A refuge and strength, a helper in the tribulations which have found us exceedingly? For the mountains were troubled, that is, the powers of this world. For there are some mountains of God, others mountains of the world: the mountains of the world, whose head is the devil; the mountains of God, whose head is Christ. But through these mountains those mountains were troubled. Then they raised their voices against the Christians, when the mountains were troubled by the sounding waves: and the mountains were troubled, and there was made a great earthquake with the moving of the water. But to whom these things? To that city founded on the rock. The waters sound, the mountains are troubled, the Gospel being announced. What of you, city of God? Hear what follows.

8. [v. 5] The rushing of the river gladdens the city of God (Ps 46:4 (45:5)). When the mountains are troubled, when the sea rages, God does not desert his city by the rushing of the river. What is this rushing of the river? That inundation of the Holy Spirit, of which the Lord said: If anyone thirsts, let him come and drink: he who believes in me, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly. Therefore these rivers flowed from the belly of Paul, Peter, John, the other apostles, the other faithful evangelists. When these rivers flowed from one river, many rushings of the river gladden the city of God. For that you may know this was said of the Holy Spirit, in the same Gospel consequently the evangelist says: But this he said of the Spirit, whom those were to receive who were to believe in him. But the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:37-39). Jesus being glorified after the resurrection, glorified after the ascension, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came, filled the believers, they spoke with tongues, they began to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Hence the city of God was gladdened, while the sea was troubled by the sounding of its waters, while the mountains were troubled, seeking what they should do, how they might drive away the new doctrine, how they might root out the race of Christians from the earth. Against whom? Against the rushings of the river gladdening the city of God. Hence too he showed of what river he spoke, because he signified the Holy Spirit: The rushing of the river gladdens the city of God. And what follows? The Most High has sanctified his tabernacle. If, then, the name of sanctification follows, it is manifest that those rushings of the river are to be understood of the Holy Spirit, by whom every godly soul believing in Christ is sanctified, that it may become a citizen of the city of God.

9. [v. 6] God is in the midst of it, and it shall not be moved (Ps 46:5 (45:6)). Let the sea rage, let the mountains be troubled: God is in the midst of it, and it shall not be moved. What is, in the midst of it? As though God stood in one place, and those who believe in him surrounded him. Is God, then, encompassed by place, and are the things that surround him broad, and is he who is surrounded in a strait? Far be it. Think nothing such of God, who is contained by no place, whose seat is the conscience of the godly: and so the seat of God is in the hearts of men, that if a man falls from God, God remains in himself, not as it were falling by not finding where he may be. For he rather lifts you up, that you may be in him, than leans on you, so that, if you withdraw yourself, he should fall. If he withdraws himself, you will fall: if you withdraw yourself, he will not fall. What, then, is, God is in the midst of it? This signifies that God is equal to all, and does not accept persons. For as that which is in the middle has equal spaces to all the ends; so God is said to be in the middle, equally caring for all. God is in the midst of it, and it shall not be moved. Whence shall it not be moved? Because God is in the midst of it. God will help it with his countenance. He is the helper in the tribulations which have found us exceedingly. God will help it with his countenance. What is, with his countenance? With his showing. How does God show himself, that we may see his countenance? Now I recall, you have learned God present, we have learned through works. When from him we receive some help, so that we do not at all doubt it has been granted us by the Lord, the countenance of God is with us. God will help it with his countenance.

10. [v. 7] The nations were troubled (Ps 46:6 (45:7)). And how troubled? for what were they troubled? That they might cast down the city of God, in whose midst is God? that they might overthrow the sanctified tabernacle, which God helps with his countenance? No. But now the nations were wholesomely troubled. For what follows? And the kingdoms were bowed down. The kingdoms, he says, were bowed down: now no longer erect, to rage; but bowed down, to adore. When were the kingdoms bowed down? When there came about what was foretold in another psalm: All the kings of the earth shall adore him, all the nations shall serve him (Ps 72:11 (71:11)). What thing brought it about that the kingdoms were bowed down? What thing, hear: The Most High gave his voice, and the earth was moved. The possessed of idols sounded forth like frogs from the marshes, the more tumultuously, the more sordidly from mud and mire. And what is the din of frogs to the thunders of the clouds? For from there the Most High gave his voice, and the earth was moved: he thundered from his clouds. What are his clouds? His apostles, his preachers, through whom he thundered by precepts, flashed by miracles. They are the clouds who are also the mountains: mountains on account of their height and firmness, clouds on account of their rain and abundance. For these clouds irrigated the earth, of which it was said: The Most High gave his voice, and the earth was moved. For of these clouds he threatens a certain barren vineyard, whence the mountains were transferred into the heart of the sea: I will command, he says, my clouds not to rain a shower upon it (Isa 5:6). This was fulfilled in what we recalled, when the mountains were transferred into the heart of the sea: when it was said: To you we were sent, but because you have rejected the word of God, we go to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46): it was fulfilled: I will command my clouds not to rain a shower upon it. In short, that very Jewish nation has now so remained, like a dry fleece on the threshing-floor. For this too you know happened in a certain miracle. The threshing-floor was dry, the fleece alone was wet: but the rain did not appear on the fleece (Judg 6:37-40). So too the sacrament of the New Testament did not appear in the nation of the Jews. What there was a fleece, here a veil: for the sacrament was veiled in the fleece. But on the threshing-floor, in all the Gentiles, the Gospel of Christ lies open: the rain is manifest, the grace of Christ is bare; for it is not covered with a veil. But that the rain might come out of it, the fleece was wrung. For by their oppression they shut out Christ from themselves, and the Lord now from his clouds rained upon the threshing-floor, the dry fleece remained. From there, then, the Most High gave his voice, from these clouds, by which voice the kingdoms were bowed down, and adored.

11. [v. 8] The Lord of powers is with us, our upholder the God of Jacob (Ps 46:7 (45:8)). Not any man, not any power, not even an angel, not any creature, whether earthly or heavenly, but the Lord of powers is with us, our upholder the God of Jacob. He who sent the angels, came after the angels, came that the angels might serve him, came that he might make men equal to the angels. Great grace. If God is for us, who is against us? The Lord of powers is with us. What Lord of powers is with us. If God is for us, I say, who is against us? He who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how has he not with him also given us all things? (Rom 8:31-32) Therefore let us be secure, in tranquillity of heart let us nourish a good conscience from the bread of the Lord. The Lord of powers is with us, our upholder the God of Jacob. However great your weakness, see who upholds you. Someone is sick, a physician is brought; the physician calls the sick man his charge. Who has taken him up? He. Great hope of health, a great physician has taken him up. What physician? Every physician except him is a man: every physician who comes to the sick man can be sick on another day, except him. Our upholder the God of Jacob. Make yourself a little infant altogether, such as are taken up by their parents. For those who are not taken up, are exposed: those who are taken up, are nourished. Do you think God so took you up, as your mother took you up an infant? Not so, but forever. For your voice is in that psalm: Because my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord has taken me up (Ps 27:10 (26:10)). Our upholder the God of Jacob.

12. [v. 9] Come, and see the works of the Lord (Ps 46:8 (45:9)). Now about this upholding what has the Lord done? Consider the world, come, and see. For if you do not come, you do not see; if you do not see, you do not believe; if you do not believe, you stand far off: if you believe, you come; if you believe, you see. For how is one to come to this mountain? With the feet? with ships? with wings? with horses? As far as pertains to the spaces of places, do not be busy, do not be troubled, he himself comes to you. For from a small stone he grew, and was made a great mountain, so that he filled the whole face of the earth. Why, then, do you wish to come to him through lands, who has filled the lands? Behold, he has now come; awake: by growing he knocks even at the sleeping; if at least there is not in them so great a sleep that even against the mountain coming they grow hard, but they hear: Rise, you who sleep, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you (Eph 5:14). For it was much for the Jews to see the stone. For that stone was still small: deservedly they despised even the small one, by despising they stumbled, and by stumbling they were shattered; it remains that they be ground to pieces. For of that stone it was said: He who stumbles on that stone shall be shattered; on whom it shall come, it shall grind him to pieces (Matt 21:44). It is one thing to be shattered, another to be ground to pieces: to be shattered is less than to be ground to pieces: but the lofty one coming grinds to pieces no one, except him whom the lowly one lying shattered. For now, before our Lord come, he lay lowly to the Jews, and they stumbled on him, and were shattered: he will come afterward in his judgment bright and high, great and mighty; not weak that he be judged, but strong that he may judge, and may grind to pieces those who were shattered by stumbling on him. For a stone of stumbling and a rock of scandal he himself is to those who do not believe (1 Pet 2:7-8). Therefore, dearly beloved, it is no wonder if the Jews did not recognize him whom, as a small stone lying before their feet, they despised: those are to be wondered at who still do not wish to recognize so great a mountain. The Jews stumbled on the small stone by not seeing it, the heretics stumble on the mountain. For now that stone has grown; now we say to them: Behold, the prophecy of Daniel is fulfilled: that stone which was small, has become a great mountain, and has filled the whole earth (Dan 2:35). Why do you stumble on it, and not ascend onto it? Who is so blind as to stumble on a mountain? As though he came to you for this, that you might have something to stumble on, and not have something to ascend onto. Come, let us ascend to the mountain of the Lord (Isa 2:3). Isaiah says this: Come, let us ascend. What is, Come, let us ascend? Come, is believe; let us ascend, let us advance. But those neither wish to come, nor to ascend, nor to believe, nor to advance. They bark against the mountain. Now by stumbling on it so often they have been shattered, and they do not wish to ascend, always choosing to stumble. Let us say to them: Come, and see the works of the Lord, the prodigies which he has set upon the earth. They are called prodigies, because they portend something, those signs of miracles which were done when the world believed. And what came of it, and what did they portend?

13. [v. 10] Taking away wars even to the ends of the earth (Ps 46:9 (45:10)). This we do not yet see fulfilled: there are still wars, there are wars among the nations for the kingdom; among sects, among Jews, pagans, Christians, heretics, there are wars, wars increase; some contending for truth, others for falsehood. Not yet, then, is it fulfilled: Taking away wars even to the ends of the earth: but perhaps it will be fulfilled. Or is it fulfilled even now? In certain ones it is fulfilled: in the wheat it is fulfilled, in the tares it is not yet fulfilled. What, then, is this: Taking away wars even to the ends of the earth? Does he mean wars by which war is made against God? For who wars against God? Impiety. And what can impiety do to God? Nothing. What does an earthen vessel do, dashed against a rock, however vehemently it be dashed? It comes with so much greater harm to itself, the greater the force with which it comes. These wars were great, were frequent. Against God impiety fought, and the earthen vessels were ground to pieces: men presuming on themselves, prevailing much by their own strength. Of which thing the shield too Job spoke of a certain impious man: He ran against God on the thick neck of his shield (Job 15:26). What is, on the thick neck of his shield? Presuming too much on his own protection. Were those such, who said: Our God is a refuge and strength, a helper in the tribulations which have found us exceedingly? or in another psalm: For I will not hope in my bow, and my arm will not save me (Ps 44:6 (43:7))? When anyone recognizes that in himself he is nothing, and has no help from himself, his arms are broken in him, the wars are stilled. Such wars, then, that voice of the Most High from the holy clouds blotted out, by which the earth was moved, and the kingdoms were bowed down: it took away these wars even to the ends of the earth. He will break the bow, and shatter the arms, and burn the shields with fire. The bow, the arms, the shields, the fire. The bow is treachery; the arms, open assault; the shield, the vain protection of presumption. The fire by which these are burned, is that of which the Lord says: I came to send fire on the earth (Luke 12:49). Of which fire the psalm says: And there is no one who hides himself from its heat (Ps 19:6 (18:7)). This fire being fervent, no arms of impiety will remain in us, it is necessary that all be shattered, ground to pieces, burned. May you remain unarmed, having no help of your own: and the more weak you are, having no arms of your own, the more he upholds you, of whom it was said: Our upholder the God of Jacob. For you were strong as it were through yourself, you are troubled in yourself. Lose the arms on which you presumed: hear the Lord saying: My grace is sufficient for you. Say you too: When I am weak, then am I strong (2 Cor 12:9-10). It is the voice of the Apostle. He had lost all his arms, as it were of his own strength, who said: But I will not glory, except in my weaknesses (2 Cor 12:5): as if he said: I do not run against God on the thick neck of my shield, I who was first a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but for this I obtained mercy, that in me Christ Jesus might show all his long-suffering toward those who are to believe in him unto eternal life (1 Tim 1:13, 16). Taking away wars even to the ends of the earth. But when the Lord upholds us, does he dismiss us unarmed? He arms us, but with other arms, evangelical, of truth, of continence, of salvation, of hope, of faith, of love. These arms we shall have, but not from ourselves. But the arms which we had of ourselves, were burned: if at least we have been kindled by that fire of the Holy Spirit, of which it is said: And he will burn the shields with fire. You who desired to be mighty in yourself, God made you weak, that he might make you strong from himself, because you were weak from yourself.

14. [v. 11] What, then, follows? Be still. To what end? And see that I am God (Ps 46:10 (45:11)). This is: Not you, but I am God: I created, I recreate; I formed, I reform; I made, I remake. If you could not make yourself, how can you remake yourself? This the contentious tumult of the human mind does not see: to which contentious tumult it is said: Be still, that is, restrain your minds from contradictions. Do not argue and, as it were, arm yourselves against God: otherwise there live arms not yet burned by that fire. But if they have been burned: Be still; because you have nothing wherewith to fight. But if you have been still in yourselves, and have asked all things from me, you who first presumed on yourselves: Be still, and you will see that I am God.

15. [v. 12] I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth (Ps 46:10 (45:11)). A little before I had said that by the name of earth the nation of the Jews is signified, by the name of sea the rest of the nations. The mountains were transferred into the heart of the sea: the nations were troubled, the kingdoms were bowed down, the Most High gave his voice, and the earth was moved. The Lord of powers is with us, our upholder the God of Jacob. Miracles were done among the nations, the faith of the nations is fulfilled, the arms of human presumption burn: there is stillness in tranquillity of heart, that God may be recognized as the author of all his gifts. And after this glorification, does he desert even the people of the Jews, of whom the Apostle says: For I say to you, that you be not wise in your own eyes, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should enter? That is, until the mountains should be transferred here, the clouds should rain here, the Lord should here bow down the kingdoms by his thunder, until the fullness of the Gentiles should enter. And what afterward? And so all Israel should be saved (Rom 11:25-26). Therefore here too, keeping that very order: I will be exalted, he says, among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth: that is, both in the sea and in the earth; that now all may say what follows: The Lord of powers is with us, our upholder the God of Jacob.

Exposition of Psalm 46

1. The Lord our God has, through the holy Books, the holy Scriptures, in manifold and various ways spread abroad to us the faith in which we live, and from which we live; varying indeed the sacraments of words, yet commending one faith. For one and the same thing is for this reason said in many ways, that by the very manner of saying it the distaste may be varied, but by the concord one thing may be held. And so in this psalm which we heard sung, to which by singing we responded, we are to say the things which you know: and yet perhaps, the Lord aiding and granting, we shall bring to you some sweetness, when the things you knew in this place and that, you also, being admonished, chew over again. For by that very rumination, in which God signifies the clean animals, he wished to insinuate this, that every man ought so to put what he hears into his heart, that he be not afterward slothful to think of it: so that when he hears, he is like one eating; but when he recalls the things heard into memory, and reconsiders them with most sweet thought, he becomes like one ruminating. In another way, then, the same things are said, and make us sweetly think of what we know, and gladly hear the same things; because the manner of saying is varied, and the old matter is by the very manner of saying renewed.

2. [v. 1] The title of the psalm runs thus: To the end, for the sons of Korah, a psalm of David himself (Ps 47:1 (46:1)). These sons of Korah some others of the titles of the Psalms have too, and they indicate a sweet mystery, they insinuate a great sacrament: where let us both gladly understand ourselves, and recognize in the title ourselves who hear and read, and, as in a mirror set before us, behold who we are. Who are the sons of Korah? There was a certain man Korah by name, for so some man was called: yet when the things that are written are read, and the divine word is found speaking to certain ones, who are not well understood to be sons of that one man who was called Korah; the mind recurs to the mystery, that it may seek what Korah signifies. For because it is a Hebrew word, it is of course spoken and interpreted into the Greek tongue and into the Latin tongue. And it has now been done; many Hebrew names have been interpreted for us: and we inspect, and find Korah interpreted "Bald." Much more have you attended. It was obscure when the sons of Korah were said, is it not more obscure when the sons of the bald one are said? Who are these sons of the bald one? Or perhaps the sons of the bridegroom? Because the bridegroom was crucified in the place of Calvary. Recall the Gospel, where they crucified the Lord, and you will find him crucified in the place of Calvary. Accordingly those who deride his cross are devoured by demons as by beasts. For a certain Scripture signified this too. When the prophet of God Elisha was going up, children cried out after him, deriding: Go up, bald-head, go up, bald-head: but he, not so much cruelly as mystically, made those children be devoured by bears coming out. If those children were not devoured, would they live even now? or could they not, born mortal, be cut off even by a fever? Yet the mystery would not be shown in them, whereby the later ones might be terrified. Let no one, then, deride the cross of the Lord: the Jews were possessed by demons and devoured. For in the place of Calvary, crucifying Christ, and lifting him on the cross, as it were they themselves said with a childish sense, not understanding what they said: Go up, bald-head. For what is, Go up? Crucify, crucify (Luke 23:21). For childhood is set forth for imitation, the humility; and again childhood is set forth for avoiding, the foolishness. Childhood is set forth for imitating the humility by the Lord, when he called children to himself, and when they were forbidden by him, he said: Let them come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 19:14). The example of childhood for avoiding foolishness is set forth by the Apostle: Brothers, do not be children in your senses. And again he sets it forth for imitation: But in malice be infants, that you may be perfect in your minds (1 Cor 14:20). For the sons of Korah. The psalm is sung: therefore it was sung for Christians. Let us hear it as the sons of that bridegroom, whom senseless children crucified in the place of Calvary. For they deserved to be devoured by beasts, we to be crowned by angels. For we recognize the humility of our Lord, and do not blush at it. We do not blush at his being mystically called bald, on account of the place of Calvary. For by that very cross on which he was insulted, he did not allow our forehead to be bald, because he marked it with his wood. In short, that you may know that these things are said to us, see what is said.

3. [v. 2] All you nations, clap your hands (Ps 47:1 (46:2)). Was the people of the Jews all the nations? But blindness in part happened to Israel, that senseless children might cry, Bald-head, bald-head; and so the Lord was crucified in the place of Calvary, that by his blood shed he might redeem the nations, and there might be fulfilled what the Apostle says: Blindness in part happened to Israel, that the fullness of the Gentiles might enter (Rom 11:25). Let the vain and dull and senseless insult, then, and say: Bald-head, bald-head: but you, redeemed by his blood, which was shed in the place of Calvary: All you nations, clap your hands, that the grace of God has reached you. Clap your hands. What is, clap? Rejoice. But why with your hands? Because by good works. Do not rejoice with the mouth, and be idle with the hands. If you rejoice, clap your hands. Let the hands of the nations be seen by him who deigned to grant joys. What is, the hands of the nations? The deeds of those who work well. All you nations, clap your hands: shout to God with the voice of exultation. Both with the voice, and with the hands. If only with the voice, not well; because the hands are slothful: if only with the hands, neither this well; because the tongue is mute: let the hands and tongue agree; let the one confess, the others work. Shout to God with the voice of exultation.

4. [v. 3] For the Lord is high, terrible (Ps 47:2 (46:3)). That high one, as it were laughable by descending, by ascending into heaven was made terrible. A great king over all the earth. Not only over the Jews: for over them too he is king. For from there the apostles too believed, from there too many thousands of men sold their goods, and set the prices at the feet of the apostles: and there was fulfilled in them what was inscribed in the title of the cross: King of the Jews (John 19:19). For he is king even of the Jews. But it is too little of the Jews. All you nations, clap your hands: for he is king of all the earth, God. For it does not suffice him to have one nation under him: therefore he gave so great a price from his side, that he might buy the whole world. A great king over all the earth.

5. [v. 4] He has subjected the peoples to us, and the nations under our feet (Ps 47:3 (46:4)). Whom has he subjected, and to whom? Who are they who speak? Perhaps the Jews? Plainly if the apostles, plainly if the saints. For to these God has subjected peoples and nations, so that those are today honored among the nations, who deserved to be killed by their own fellow citizens: just as their Lord was killed by his fellow citizens, and is honored among the nations, crucified by his own, adored by strangers, but bought by his deeds. For he bought us for this, that we should not be strangers to him. Do you think, then, that they are the voices of the apostles: He has subjected the peoples to us, and the nations under our feet? I do not know. It would be a wonder if the apostles spoke so proudly, as to rejoice that the nations are set under their feet, that is, Christians under the feet of the apostles. For they rather rejoice that we are with them under the feet of him who died for us. For under the feet of Paul there were running those who wished to be of Paul; and he said to them: Was Paul crucified for you? (1 Cor 1:13) What, then, here? what are we to receive? He has subjected the peoples to us, and the nations under our feet. All who pertain to the inheritance of Christ are among all the nations, and all who do not pertain to the inheritance of Christ are among all the nations: and you see the Church of Christ so exalted in the name of Christ, that all not yet believing in Christ lie under the feet of Christians. For how many not yet Christians now run to the Church, ask the help of the Church; they wish to be aided temporally, even if they do not yet wish to reign with us forever. Since all seek the help of the Church, even those who are not yet in the Church, has he not subjected the peoples and the nations under our feet?

6. [v. 5] He has chosen for us his inheritance, the beauty of Jacob which he loved (Ps 47:4 (46:5)). A certain beauty of Jacob he has chosen for us, his inheritance, Jacob. Two brothers were Esau and Jacob; in the mother's womb both struggled, and from the struggle the mother's bowels were shaken: and there, since there were two, the younger was chosen, and set before the elder, and it was said: Two peoples are in your womb, and the elder shall serve the younger (Gen 25:23). Through all the nations the elder, through all the nations the younger: but the younger in the good Christians, the elect, the godly, the faithful; the elder in the proud, the unworthy, the sinners, the obstinate, defending their sins rather than confessing them; such as was the very people of the Jews too, ignorant of the justice of God, and wishing to establish their own. But because it was said: The elder shall serve the younger, it is manifest that the ungodly will be subjected to the godly, and the proud will be subjected to the humble. First was born Esau, and afterward was born Jacob: but he who was born later was set before the firstborn, who through gluttony lost his birthright. So you have it written: He desired lentils, and his brother said to him: If you wish that I give it to you, give me your birthright. He loved more what he had carnally coveted, than what he had spiritually deserved by being born first: and he laid down his birthright, that he might eat lentils. But we find lentils to be the food of the Egyptians; for there it abounds in Egypt. Whence the Alexandrian lentil is magnified, and comes even to our lands, as though lentils were not born here. Therefore by desiring Egyptian food, he lost the primacy. So too the people of the Jews, of whom it was said: They were turned back in heart into Egypt (Acts 7:39), in a way desired lentils, and lost the primacy. He has chosen for us his inheritance, the beauty of Jacob which he loved.

7. [v. 6] God has ascended in jubilation (Ps 47:5 (46:6)). That very God of ours, the Lord Christ, has ascended in jubilation. The Lord in the voice of the trumpet. He has ascended: whither, except whither we know? Whither the Jews did not follow him, not even with their eyes. For exalted on the cross they derided him, ascending into heaven they did not see him. God has ascended in jubilation. What is jubilation, except the wonder of joy, which cannot be unfolded in words? How the disciples, rejoicing, wondered, seeing him whom they had bewailed dead go into heaven: truly for this joy words did not suffice, it remained to jubilate what no one could unfold. There too was the voice of the trumpet, that voice of the angels. For it was said: Like a trumpet lift up your voice (Isa 58:1). The angels preached the ascension of the Lord: they saw the disciples clinging, the Lord ascending, wondering, astonished, saying nothing, but jubilating in heart: and now the voice of the trumpet in the clear voice of the angels: Men of Galilee, why do you stand? This is Jesus. As though they did not know that it was Jesus. Had they not seen him before themselves a little before? had they not heard him speaking with them? Surely they not only saw the appearance of the one present, but also handled the members. Did they, then, not know that it was Jesus? But by that very wonder, for the joy of jubilation, as it were with minds estranged, the angels speak: It is Jesus himself. As if: If you believe him, it is he by whose crucifixion your feet tottered, by whose killing and burial you thought you had lost your hope; behold it is Jesus himself. He has ascended before you; so will he come, as you see him going into heaven (Acts 1:11): the body indeed is taken from your eyes, but God is not separated from your hearts: see him ascending, believe in him absent, hope for him coming; but yet through his hidden mercy perceive him even present. For he who ascended into heaven, that he might be taken from your eyes, promised you, saying: Behold, I am with you even to the consummation of the world (Matt 28:20). Deservedly the Apostle too addressed us thus: The Lord is near, be anxious about nothing (Phil 4:5-6). Christ sits above the heavens, and the heavens are far off, and he himself who sits there is near. The Lord in the voice of the trumpet. Therefore you, sons of Korah, if you have now understood yourselves, and behold here yourselves, you too rejoice, because you see here yourselves.

8. [v. 7] Sing to our God, sing (Ps 47:6 (46:7)). Him whom, as a man, those derided who are alienated from God, sing to our God. For he is not only man, but also God. Man from the seed of David, God the Lord of David, having flesh from the Jews: whose are the fathers, says the Apostle, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh. From the Jews, then, is Christ, but according to the flesh. But who is this Christ, who is from the Jews according to the flesh? Who is over all things God blessed forever (Rom 9:5). God before the flesh, God in the flesh, God with the flesh. And not only before the flesh God, but before the earth God, whence the flesh was made; nor only before the earth God, whence the flesh was made, but also before heaven God, which was made first; before the day God, which was made first; before all the angels God, Christ himself God: since in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: all things were made through him, and without him was made nothing (John 1:1, 3). He is before all things, through whom all things were made. Sing, then, to our God, sing.

9. [v. 8] For God is king of all the earth (Ps 47:7 (46:8)). What then? Even before, was he not God of all the earth? Was he not God both of heaven and earth, since surely through him all things were made? Who could say he was not his God? But not all men recognized their God; and where he was recognized, as it were there only God was. God was known in Judea (Ps 76:1 (75:2)): it was not yet said to the sons of Korah: All you nations, clap your hands. For that God known in Judea is the God of all the earth. Now he is recognized by all, because there has been fulfilled what Isaiah says: He, your God, who delivered you, shall be called the God of the whole earth (Isa 54:5). For God is king of all the earth: sing with understanding. He teaches us and admonishes us to sing with understanding: let us not seek the sound of the ear, but the light of the heart. Sing, he says, with understanding. The nations, whence you were called to be Christians, adored gods made with hands, and sang to them; but not with understanding. If they sang with understanding, they would not adore stones. When a man of sense sang to a senseless stone, did he sing with understanding? But now, brothers, we do not see with our eyes whom we adore, and yet, corrected, we adore. Much more is God commended to us, because we do not see him with our eyes. If we saw him with our eyes, perhaps we would despise him. For the Jews too despised Christ seen, the Gentiles adored him unseen. For to them it was said: Sing with understanding. Do not be like the horse and mule, in which there is no understanding (Ps 32:9 (31:9)).

10. [v. 9] The Lord will reign over all the nations (Ps 47:8 (46:9)). He who reigned over one nation, will reign, he says, over all the nations. When these things were said, God reigned over one nation: it was a prophecy, the thing was not yet shown. Thanks to God, now we see fulfilled what was foretold before. God wrote us a bond before the time, the time being fulfilled he repaid us. God will reign over all the nations, it is a promise. God sits upon his holy seat. What was then promised as future, is now recognized and held as fulfilled. God sits upon his holy seat. What is his holy seat? Perhaps the heavens; and it is well understood. For Christ ascended, as we know, with the body in which he was crucified, and sits at the right hand of the Father: thence we await him to come to judge the living and the dead. He sits upon his holy seat. Are the heavens his holy seat? Do you too wish to be his seat? Do not think you cannot be: prepare for him a place in your heart; he comes, and gladly sits. He at least is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. And what does Scripture say of Wisdom herself? The soul of the just man is the seat of wisdom. If, then, the soul of the just man is the seat of wisdom; let your soul be just, and you will be the royal chair of wisdom. And truly, brothers, all men who live well, who act well, who converse according to godly love, does not God sit in them, and himself command? The soul obeys God sitting in it, and itself commands the members. For your soul commands your member, whither the foot is to move, whither the hand, whither the eye, whither the ear, and itself commands the members as its servants: but it too serves within the Lord sitting in it. It cannot well command the inferior, unless it has not disdained to serve the superior. God sits upon his holy seat.

11. [v. 10] The princes of the peoples have come together with the God of Abraham (Ps 47:9 (46:10)). The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. It is true, God said this, and the Jews grew proud over it, and said: We are the sons of Abraham. Growing proud over the paternal name, bearing his flesh, not holding his faith; clinging by seed, degenerating in morals. In short, the Lord, what does he say to them growing so proud? If you are the sons of Abraham, do the deeds of Abraham (John 8:39). Likewise what did John say to them coming and trembling, certain of them, who wished to correct themselves by repenting? Brood of vipers. For they were iniquitous, they were lost, they were sinners, they were ungodly: they came to the baptism of John: and what does he say to them? Brood of vipers. They called themselves sons of Abraham, and he called them sons of vipers. Was Abraham a viper? But because by living badly they had imitated demons, and had been made their sons, whom by imitating they lived badly: Brood, he says, of vipers, who has shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Make, then, fruit worthy of repentance: and do not say among yourselves: We have Abraham for father, and as it were grow proud over the race of Abraham; for God is able from these stones to raise up sons to Abraham (Matt 3:7-9). For Abraham will not remain without sons, if God condemns you: for he is able both to condemn those he hates, and to render to him those he promised. And whence will he render him sons, if he condemns the Hebrews begotten of his flesh? From these stones. He showed them the stones in the desert. Who were the stones, except the Gentiles, who adored stones? Why stones? By adoring stones, they had been called stones: because the psalm had foretold: Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them (Ps 115:8 (113:16)). Yet from those very stones he rendered sons to Abraham: now all who adored stones, turned to the Lord have been made sons of Abraham; not by drawing flesh from him, but by imitating his faith. The princes, then, of the peoples have come together with the God of Abraham. The princes of the peoples: the princes of the Gentiles, not the princes of one people, but the princes of all the peoples, have come together with the God of Abraham.

12. Of these very princes was that Centurion too, of whom you heard just now when the Gospel was read. For he was a Centurion having honor and power among men, he was a prince of the princes of the peoples. To Christ coming to him he sent his friends, rather indeed to Christ passing by he sent his friends; and he asked that he cure his servant, who was perilously sick: and when the Lord himself wished to come, he charged him this: I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, having soldiers under me. See how he kept the order: first he recalled that he was under another, and afterward that others were under him. I am under authority, and in authority; I am both under someone, and over some. And I say to this one: Go, and he goes; and to another: Come, and he comes; and to my servant: Do this, and he does it. As though he said: If I, set under authority, command those who are under me, you who are set under no one's authority, cannot you command your creature, when all things were made through you, and without you was made nothing? Say, then, the word, he says, and my servant will be healed. For that you should enter into my house, I am not worthy. He feared to bring Christ within his walls, and Christ was already within his heart: now his soul was the seat of him, now there sat he who sought out the humble. Turned, finally, Christ marveled, and said to those following him: Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel (Matt 8:8-10; Luke 7:6-9). And as another evangelist narrates the same thing, the Lord follows, and says: Therefore I say to you, that many shall come from the East and the West, and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. For this Centurion was not of the people of Israel. For in the people of Israel the proud repelled God from themselves: among the princes of the Gentiles was found a humble man, who invited God to himself. Jesus, marveling at his faith, reproves the unbelief of the Jews. For they seemed to themselves healthy, when they were more perilously sick, when, not recognizing the physician, they killed him. When, then, he reproved and repudiated their pride, what does he say? Therefore I say to you, that many shall come from the East and the West, not pertaining to the kinship of Israel: many shall come to whom he said: All you nations, clap your hands; and they shall recline with Abraham in the kingdom of heaven. Abraham did not beget them by his flesh; and coming they shall recline with him in the kingdom of heaven, and shall be his sons. Why his sons? Not born of flesh, but by following his faith. But the sons of the kingdom, that is, the Jews, shall go into the outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 8:11-12). Those born of the flesh of Abraham shall be damned into the outer darkness, and those who imitated the faith of Abraham shall recline with him in the kingdom of heaven. Deservedly, then, here too: The princes of the peoples have come together with the God of Abraham.

13. And what of those who pertained to the God of Abraham? For the strong gods of the earth have been exceedingly lifted up (Ps 47:9 (46:10)). Those who were gods, that people of God, that vine of God, of which it is said: Judge between me and my vineyard (Isa 5:3), shall go into the outer darkness, shall not recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, do not come together with the God of Abraham. Why? Because the strong gods of the earth. Those who were strong gods of the earth, presuming on the earth. On what earth? on themselves: because every man is earth. For to man it was said: You are earth, and into earth you shall go (Gen 3:19). But a man ought to presume on God, and thence hope for help, not on himself. For the earth does not rain for itself, nor shine for itself: but as the earth awaits from heaven rain and light, so a man ought to await from God mercy and truth. Those, then, strong gods of the earth, have been exceedingly lifted up, that is, they grew exceedingly proud: they did not think a physician necessary for themselves, and therefore they remained in their sickness, and by that very sickness were led to death. The natural branches were cut off, that the humble wild olive might be grafted in. Because the strong gods of the earth have been exceedingly lifted up. Let us, then, brothers, hold humility, love, godliness; because we were called when they were reproved, and by their very example let us fear to grow proud.

Exposition of Psalm 47

1. [v. 1] The title of the psalm is, A Praise of a Canticle, to the sons of Korah, on the second day of the sabbath (Ps 48:1 (47:1)). Of this which the Lord deigns to grant, receive it as the sons of the firmament. For on the second day of the sabbath, that is, after the first day, which we call the Lord's Day, which is also called the second weekday, was made the firmament of heaven, rather the firmament heaven. For God called the firmament heaven. But on the first day he had made the light, and divided it from the darkness; and had called the light, day, and the darkness, night (Gen 1:5-8). But as the context of this psalm indicates, God said something even beforehand in that work of his, which should be fulfilled in us: and according to the condition of this creature the ages have run. For not in vain does the Lord say of Moses: For he wrote of me (John 5:46): except that all things that are written, even when God founded the creature, can be interpreted to the signification of things to come; so that you may understand that God made the light, when Christ rose from the dead. For then truly that light was divided from the darkness, when immortality was separated from mortality. What, then, follows, except that for the head there should be made the body too, which is the Church? In short, there is also a psalm on the first day of the sabbath, in which most openly the resurrection of the Lord is declared: for there it is said: Lift up the gates, you princes, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the King of glory shall enter in (Ps 24:7 (23:7)). What more evident than that Christ is the King of glory? of whom it was said: If they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8). The second day of the sabbath, then, we ought to understand as nothing but the Church of Christ: but the Church of Christ in the saints, the Church of Christ in those who are written in heaven, the Church of Christ in those who do not yield to the temptations of this world. For these are worthy of the name of firmament. Therefore the Church of Christ in those who are firm, of whom the Apostle says: But we who are firm ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak (Rom 15:1), is called the firmament. Of this it is sung in the psalm: let us hear, recognize, be associated, glory, reign. For hear and recognize that it is called firmament even in the apostolic Letters: Which is, he says, the Church of the living God, the pillar and firmament of truth (1 Tim 3:15). Of this firmament it is sung to the sons of Korah, whom you know to be the sons of the bridegroom crucified in the place of Calvary. For Korah is interpreted "Baldness." It follows in this psalm, which is inscribed, on the second day of the sabbath.

2. [v. 2] Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised (Ps 48:1 (47:2)). Behold the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised: but do the unfaithful praise the Lord? Do even those who believe and live badly praise the Lord, through whom it comes about that the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles? do they praise the Lord? Or indeed, even if they praise, is their praise accepted, when it is written: Praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner (Sir 15:9)? You have said, then: The Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised: but here, where. In the city of our God, in his holy mountain. Of this it is said elsewhere: Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord? The innocent of hands and clean of heart (Ps 24:3-4 (23:3-4)). In these the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised: that is, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. This is the city set on a mountain, which cannot be hidden: this is the lamp which is not hidden under the bushel, known to all, spread abroad to all (Matt 5:14-15). But not all are its citizens, but those in whom the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised. What, then, is this city, let us see, lest perhaps, because it was said: In the city of our God, in his holy mountain, we ought to seek this mountain, where we too may be heard. For not in vain is it said in another psalm: With my voice I cried to the Lord, and he heard me from his holy mountain (Ps 3:4 (3:5)). This mountain, then, helped you that you might be heard. For if you did not ascend it, lying below you could cry, but could not be heard. Who, then, is this mountain, brothers? With great care to be inquired into, with great solicitude to be investigated; with labor too to be occupied and ascended. But if it is in some part of the lands, what shall we do? Shall we go on pilgrimage from our land, that we may be able to come to that mountain? Rather then we go on pilgrimage, if we are not in it. For it is our city, if we are members of the king, who is the head of that city. Where, then, is this mountain? If it has held some region, we must labor, as I said, to come to it. But why are you busy? Would that you be not slothful to ascend the mountain, as the mountain was not slow to come to the sleeper. For there was a certain cornerstone, contemptible, on which the Jews stumbled, cut from a certain mountain without hands, that is, coming from the kingdom of the Jews without hands, because human work did not approach Mary, of whom Christ was born. But if this stone, where the Jews stumbled on it, there remained, you would have nowhere to ascend. But what came about? What does the prophecy of Daniel say? What, except that this stone grew, and was made a great mountain? How great? So great that it filled the whole face of the earth. Therefore this mountain, by growing and filling the whole face of the earth, came to us. Why, then, do we seek the mountain as though absent, and not now ascend onto it as present, that in us may be the Lord great, and exceedingly to be praised?

3. [v. 3] In short, lest you should not recognize this mountain in this psalm too, and should think it to be sought in some part of the lands, see what follows: when he had said: In the city of our God, in his holy mountain, what did he add? Spreading wide the exultations of the whole earth, the mountains of Zion (Ps 48:2 (47:3)). Zion is one mountain: why, then, mountains? Or is it because to Zion pertained even those who came from a different quarter, that they might meet one another in the cornerstone, and there should be made those two walls like two mountains, one from the circumcision, the other from the uncircumcision; one from the Jews, the other from the Gentiles: now no longer adverse; even if diverse, because from a diverse quarter, now in the corner not even diverse? For he himself, he says, is our peace, who made both one (Eph 2:14). That very cornerstone, the stone which the builders rejected, has become the head of the corner (Ps 118:22 (117:22)). The mountain joined in himself two mountains. One house, and two houses: two on account of those coming from a diverse quarter, one on account of the cornerstone, in which both are joined to one another. Hear this too: The mountains of Zion; the sides of the north, the city of the great king. For you had understood Zion as a certain one place, where Jerusalem was founded, and in it there met you only the people from the circumcision; which indeed was gathered from the remnants by Christ, but for the greater part was, as it were, winnowed away like chaff. For it is written: The remnants shall be saved (Isa 10:22; Rom 9:27). But attend to the Gentiles too, see the wild olive too grafted into the fatness of the olive (Rom 11:17). Behold the Gentiles: The sides of the north: the sides of the north have been joined to the city of the great king. The north is wont to be contrary to Zion: for Zion is in the south, the north over against the south. Who is this north, except he who said: I will set my seat in the north, and I will be like the Most High (Isa 14:13-14)? The devil had held the kingdom of the ungodly, and had possessed the Gentiles serving idols, adoring demons: and the whole, whatever there was of the human race everywhere through the world, by clinging to him, had been made the north. But since he who binds the strong man, takes away his vessels, and makes his vessels his own, men, freed from the unbelief and superstition of demons, believing in Christ, were aligned to that city, met in the corner that wall coming from the circumcision, and there was made the city of the great king what had been the sides of the north. Therefore in another Scripture too it is said: From the north clouds of golden color; in these is the great glory and honor of the Almighty (Job 37:22 LXX). For great is the glory of the physician, when from despair the sick man recovers. From the north clouds, and not black clouds, not dark, not foul, but of golden color. Whence, except from grace illuminating through Christ? Behold: The sides of the north, the city of the great king. Sides indeed, because they had clung to the devil. For whoever cling to anyone are called his sides. For of some men too we are wont to speak thus: He is a good man, but he has bad sides: that is, he himself excels in probity, but they who are joined to him are malign. The sides of the north, then, were those who clung to the devil: whence came that son too, of whom we just now heard, that he was dead, and lived again; he had perished, and was found. For by going into a far country, he had come even to the north, and there, as you heard, he had clung to one of the princes of that region (Luke 15:13-15). He was made, then, a side of the north, by clinging to the prince of that region: but because the city of the great king is gathered even from the side of the north, returning to himself, he said: I will rise, and go to my father. And his father met him, who says of him: He was dead, and lived again; he had perished, and was found. That fatted calf was the cornerstone. In short, the elder son too, who was unwilling to feast, exhorted by the father, entered: and the two walls now, like those two sons coming to the calf, made the city of the great king.

4. [v. 4] Let this psalm follow, then, and say: God shall be known in its houses (Ps 48:3 (47:4)). Now in houses on account of the mountains, on account of the two walls, on account of the two sons. God shall be known in its houses. But he commends grace, therefore he added: When he shall uphold it. For what would that city be, unless he had upheld it? Would it not at once fall, unless it had such a foundation? For other foundation no one can lay, except that which has been laid, which is Christ Jesus (1 Cor 3:11). Let no one, then, glory in his own merits; but he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. Because then it is that great city, then in it the Lord is recognized, when he shall uphold it: as the physician upholds the sick man to be cured, not as he is to be loved. For the physician hates the fever. The physician does not love the sick man, and the physician loves the sick man: if he loved the sick man, he would always wish him sick; again, if he did not love the sick man, he would not come to the sick man: but he loves the sick man, to make him well. Therefore the Lord upheld this city, and was recognized in it, that is, his grace was recognized in that city; because whatever that city which glories in the Lord has, it does not have from itself. For on account of this it is said: For what do you have that you have not received? But if you have received, why do you glory as if you had not received? (1 Cor 4:7) God shall be known in its houses, when he shall uphold it.

5. [vv. 5-7] For behold the kings of the earth have been gathered together (Ps 48:4 (47:5)). Now behold those sides of the north, see how they come, see how they say: Come, let us ascend to the mountain of the Lord: for he has announced to us his way, that we may enter into it (Isa 2:3). Behold the kings of the earth have been gathered together, and have come together into one. Into what one, except into that cornerstone? They themselves, seeing, so marveled. After the wonder of the miracles and glory of Christ, what followed? They were troubled, they were moved, trembling laid hold of them. Whence did trembling lay hold of them, except from the conscience of their sins? Let the kings, then, run after the king, let the kings recognize the king. Hence elsewhere: But I, he says, have been set king by him over Zion his holy mountain, preaching the precept of the Lord: The Lord said to me: You are my Son, this day have I begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and your possession the ends of the earth; you shall rule them with a rod of iron, and like a potter's vessel you shall break them (Ps 2:6-9). The king set on Zion was heard, then, and possession was handed over to him even to the ends of the world of the earth. The kings ought to fear, lest they lose the kingdom, lest the kingdom be taken from them, as the wretched Herod feared, and for the sake of a little one killed the little ones. But fearing to lose the kingdom, he did not deserve to recognize the king. Would that he too had adored the king with the Magi! that, not by seeking the kingdom badly, he had lost the innocents, and, guilty, perished. For as far as pertained to him, he lost the innocents: but as far as pertained to Christ, even as a little one he crowned the little ones dying for him. Therefore the kings ought to have feared when it was said: But I have been set king by him, and an inheritance even to the ends of the earth he who set me king will give me. But why do you envy, kings? See, do not envy. For that king is far otherwise who said: My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). Do not, then, fear lest the kingdom of this world be taken from you: a kingdom will be given you, but of the heavens, where that king is. Therefore what follows there? And now, kings, understand. You were now preparing to envy: understand; it is said of another king, whose kingdom is not of this world. Deservedly, then, the kings were gathered together into one, they were troubled, trembling laid hold of them. Hence to them too this is said: And now, kings, understand, be instructed, all you who judge the earth. Serve the Lord in fear, and exult in him with trembling (Ps 2:10-11). And what did they do? There griefs as of one giving birth. What are griefs as of one giving birth, except the griefs of one repenting? See that very conceiving of grief and giving birth: From your fear, says Isaiah, we conceived, and gave birth to the Spirit of salvation (Isa 26:18 LXX). So, then, the kings conceived from the fear of Christ, that by giving birth they might bring forth salvation by believing in him whom they feared. There griefs as of one giving birth. Where you hear of one giving birth, await the offspring. The old man gives birth, but the new man is born. There griefs as of one giving birth.

6. [v. 8] With a violent wind you will shatter the ships of Tarshish (Ps 48:7 (47:8)). Briefly it is understood, you will overthrow the pride of the nations. But whence from this history is the overthrow of the pride of the nations said? On account of the ships of Tarshish. The learned have sought what city Tarshish is, that is, what city is signified by this name: and to some it seemed that Cilicia was called Tarshish, from the fact that its metropolis is called Tarsus. Of which city was the apostle Paul too, born in Tarsus of Cilicia. But some understood it to be Carthage: perhaps once so named, or by some manner of speaking so signified. For in the prophet Isaiah it is found thus: Howl, you ships of Carthage (Isa 23:1 LXX). But in Ezekiel by different interpreters, by some it was interpreted Carthage, by others Tarshish; and by this diversity of interpreters it can be understood that this was called Tarshish which was called Carthage. But it is manifest that the beginnings of the kingdom of Carthage flourished with ships, and so flourished, that among the other nations it excelled in trafficking and seafaring. For when Dido, fleeing her brother, came down to the lands of Africa, where she founded Carthage, she had taken the ships which were prepared for trade in her region for her flight, the princes of that region consenting with her: and those very ships, even when Carthage was founded, did not cease from trafficking. And hence that city became too proud, so that fittingly by its ships is understood the pride of the nations, presuming on uncertain things as on the blasts of the winds. Let it now not presume on its sailing, and as it were on the prosperity of this world, as of the sea: let our foundation be in Zion; there we ought to be made firm, not blown about by every wind of doctrine (Eph 4:14). Whoever, then, had swelled from the uncertain things of this life, let them be overthrown; and let all the pride of the nations be subjected to Christ, who shatters with a violent wind the ships of Tarshish: not of any city, but of Tarshish. How with a violent wind? With a most powerful fear. For so all pride trembled at him about to judge, that it believed in the humble one, lest it dread the exalted one.