HOMILY 21
HOMILY 21
ON PSALM 91 (92)
1lP"!:!""'.!!!!'''RHE NINETY-FIRST PSALM is inscribed with the title: 'A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.' There could be no sabbath day without six preceding days. We work for six days, on the seventh day we rest. We cannot sing to the Lord, therefore, save on the day of the sabbath. As long as we are engaged in the works of the world, that is, for the six days, we cannot sing to the Lord. Leviticus says: 'On the sabbath day you shall do no servile work.'l No one, therefore, on the day of the sabbath and on the day of the Lord's rest may do servile work-work pertaining to this world; but he ought to do the work that belongs to the sabbath. Would you know that on the sabbath the priests work in the temple of the Lord? It is not permitted anyone to cut wood on the sabbath; in fact, the man who was discovered gathering wood in the wilderness was stoned to death.2 Neither may one even kindle a fire nor do any kind of work.
You will observe, however, that all the things that the layman is not allowed to do on the sabbath, the priests alone are permitted to do, for they cut wood, enkindle a fire, and perform other services, and immolate victims. Why am I making such a point of this? To show you that it is written in the law that we must withdraw from all worldly pursuits on the sabbath and perform only those works that pertain to God. A psalm, therefore, is a song on the sabbath day when we do not work for the world, but for God. Let us see now
1 Cf. Lev. 23.3.
2 Cf. Num. 15.32-36.
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what we must sing on the sabbath when we are abstaining from the works of the world.
'It is good to confess to the Lord, to sing praise to your name, Most High.'a The psalmist did not say that it is good to sing and after that confess; but note the order; it is good to confess, and it is good to sing. First repent and wash away sin with your tears; then sing to the Lord. 'It is good to confess to the Lord': not to men, but to God; confess your sins to Him who is able to heal you. 'And to sing praise to your name, Most High.'
'To proclaim your kindness at dawn, and your truth throughout the night."
Attend closely: To proclaim Your kindness at dawn and Your truth throughout the night.
Each of these versicles refers in turn to a different versicle.
'It is good to confess to the Lord, to proclaim your kindness at dawn.' If you confess to the Lord, you are proclaiming
His kindness at dawn. 'And to sing praise to your name, Most High.' This versicle is related to the following one:
'and truth throughout the night.' When we confess to the Lord, we are trusting in His mercy; when we sing, we are performing a good work.
'To proclaim your kindness at dawn.' Where are they who take the Scriptures literally? Are we not able to proclaim thekindness of God at noon? Certainly, too, it is the duty of Christians, and monks especially, to confess their sins at night.
What, then, does 'to proclaim your kindness at dawn' mean?
It means this. It is not possible for us to confess to the Lord and obtain His mercy unless a clear light has begun to enlighten our heart. Unless the shades of night have withdrawn and dawn has arrived, we cannot attain the compassionate mercy of God. Then, in truth, do you proclaim at dawn the kindness of God, when the sun of justice has risen in your heart.
'And your truth throughout the night.' The truth of the 3 Cf. Ps. 91 (92).2.
4 Cf. Ps. 91 (92).3.
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Lord does not shine forth in its brilliance save at night. In the daytime it cannot be proclaimed because the weak are not able to sustain its sublimity nor endure its dazzling splendor. For this reason another psalm says of God: 'And he made darkness the cloak about him:5 In other words, the Lord shrouds Himself in darkness. That is how the truth of the Lord is proclaimed at night; it is shrouded, so to speak, in an obscurity of words. In parables, moreover, and enigmatically, the Lord says: 'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'6
We read in Osee that the prophet is bid: 'Go take a harlot wife.'7 The Jews hear this and the heathens, too, and they laugh. Why do they laugh? Because truth is set forth in the darkness of night, not in the light of day. Do you want proof that the truth of God is in the night, and, as it were, cloaked in darkness and enclosed in parables? Moses went up into Mount Sinai; and he went ups in a cloud and in a mist and in darkness, and there he spoke with the Lord.
The Israelites, however, could not see the mysteries of Goel because they had not entered the cloud that covered God.
'With ten-stringed instrument and lyre, with melody upon the harp.' I shall paraphrase this in simple language: Whenever we lift up pure hands in prayer, without deliberate distractions and contention,9 we are playing to the Lord with a ten-stringed instrument. 'With ten-stringed instrument and lyre, with melody upon the harp.' Our body and soul and spirit--our harp-are all in harmony, all their strings in tune.
'For you make me glad, a Lord, by your deeds; at the works of your hands I rejoice: No matter what the Christian looks upon, it becomes for him a source of edification. Nothing injures the monk save sin. Whatever you gaze upon holds a lesson for you. You look up at the sky; you see the sun; you
5 Ps. 17.12.
6 Luke 8.10; Matt. 13.13; Mark 4.12.
7 Osee 1.2.
8 Cf. Exod. 24.15, 16.
9 Cf. 1 Tim. 2.8.
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behold the stars, the moon; these are all grist for your meditation. You ought to reflect upon them and say: 'If the sun, and moon, and heaven, and the stars serve God, why do I not serve Him?' You look down at the ground; you see the tiny animals and everything that is there. Apply this to your soul, learn from it, and say to your soul: 'Everything proceeds at its appointed time, for example, spring and summer, autumn and winter; why do they not change the order of their course? Because all creatures serve God as He ordains.
Heaven obeys, and earth obeys, and I, unhappy man, do not obey.'
Let us focus our attention now on tiny beings.10 I am dismissing ekphants, lions, all the various kinds of animals; I come down to little insects. Consider the bee or the ant; see its body and search into its wisdom-a wisdom far greater than the magnitude of its body! Bees and ants plan ahead for the winter that is to come, but the monk and the Christian give no thought to the judgment that is on its way. The bee and the ant know that they can be imperiled by hunger if they do not labor in the summertime for their winter supply of food; we do not reflect that without good works we shall be tormented in hell. Why have I said all this? Because the psalm says: 'For You make me glad, 0 Lord, by your deeds.:
Whatever I look upon fills me with gladness, for I recognize the Creator and I bless God.
'At the works of your hands I rejoice.' I look at a tree and I reflect upon the bark that clothes it like a garment; I notice how the tree is ready to burst into flower just like a bud.
Then, I muse how like a flower it is, how the blossom fades, and the flower itself becomes a fruit. I meditate on how gradually, day by day, in every season, nature works for me and becomes my food. I ponder over how God in all His creatures labors for me that I may lack nothing; and then I rejoice in You, 0 Lord.
JO Cf. Letter 60.12, PL 22.596 (340).
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'How great are your works, 0 Lord!' This is the versell in which Marcion and Manichaeus make their noisy entrance.
What, pray, are they saying? If God has made all things, and has made them all for the needs of man, why did He have to make bugs and fleas? I shall make my answer to you brief and to the point: in order to expose your frailty, 0 man. You, who set your thoughts in heaven, look down; you are being bitten by a bug and you are trembling. Why do you hold your head on high and even transcend heaven with your thought? Look, you are being bitten by a bugll2 'How great are your works, 0 LordI' Tiny bodies, indeed, but mighty planning. They all have their own proper usefulness.
Just as I marvel at the Lord in the elephant, I wonder at the Lord in the ant. As I proclaim Him in the camel, even so I proclaim Him in the gnat. Look at the gnat, how it is practically a mere dotl3 with its tiny body. Yet in that tiny speck of a body all the parts, every member is distinct from the other. It has six feet, it has two eyes, it has a mouth and a paunch, it has also 'a trumpet for its voice, and it has wings.
If you concentrate on each member by itself, you cannot find the rest of the body and you marvel at the work of God, for where there seems to be no body at all, not a single member is missingl14 'How very deep are your thoughts!' However much I probe,
I cannot fathom them. 'Your judgments, like the mighty deep.'15 'Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!'l6 With Ecclesiastes I, too, shall say: 'I said, "I will acquire wisdom"; but it was beyond me, much farther than before; it is deep, very deep: who can find it out?'l7 What Ecclesiastes is saying is this: Before I turned
11 Cf. Against the Pelagians 1.19, PL 23.536 (715).
12 Cf. Commentary on Joel 2.22-28, PL 25.973 (198).
13 Cf. Against Rufinus 3.28, PL 23.500 (557).
14 Cf. Commentary on Osee 13.3, PL 25.932 (146).
15 Ps. 35.7.
16 Rom. 11.33; cf. Letter 39.2, PL 22.467 (178); Against the Pelagians
1.33, PL 23.551 (731).
17 Cf. Eccles. 7.24,25.
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my thoughts to ponder over God's work, I was not aware of God's magnificence. I said, I must have wisdom; that is, I must inquire into the nature of every cause; and wisdom withdrew farther away from me than it ever was before. By that I mean, formerly I was not in quest of wisdom because
I was unaware of it, and afterwards, when I began to seek it, I could not find it. 'A senseless man knows not, nor does a fool understand this.' Anyone who is not a Christian and does not recognize the Creator in His creatures is a fool.
'Though the wicked flourish like grass.' You have seen generals, you have seen governors, you have observed armies, you have witnessed victories and triumphs. Yesterday they were and today they are no more. 'And all evildoers thrive, they are destined for eternal destruction.' Yesterday, a flower was barely in blossom; today, the flower is not to be seen.
Yesterday, a plant was fresh and green; today, it is dried up and withered. What has become of all that beauty?
Nothing is good save the eternal; nothing is good except the everlasting. Anything that is finite is not to be counted among the good. What good does it do me if yesterday I feasted and today I am dying with hunger? What good to me if in the days gone by I was king and today I am dying in prison? Whatever is passing and has an end is nothing.
Each one of us has come from the world to embrace this state of life. One has left his mother; another, his children; one, his wife; another, his parents. Let us recall our childhood, our youth; let us recall the time when we had wealth and each one through his own efforts possessed whatever he could. Behold, we have crossed over to this life. Where are all those possessions of ours? Reminiscence brings more pain than pleasure. Nothing is good except that which lasts forever.
'While you, 0 Lord, are the Most High forever. For be· hold, your enemies, 0 Lord, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered: If they shall perish, how shall they be scattered? He who has once perished cannot be scattered. It ought to say: Behold they shall be scattered,
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and shall vanish, for, what it means is: Your enemies, 0 Lord, shall perish; since every creature is subject to You, everyone who has been Your enemy is afterwards made a friend; that means, of course, that not man shall perish, but the enemy shall vanish. The one-time enemy will become a friend, so the enemy will perish. 'For behold your enemies shall perish; all the evildoers shall be scattered.' Just as when holy men live together, it is a great grace and blessing; so, likewise, that congregation is the worst kind when sinners live together. The more sinners there are at one time, the worse they are. Indeed, when the tower was being built up against GOd,18 those who were building it were disbanded for their own welfare. The conspiracy was evil; the dispersion was of true benefit even to those who were dispersed.
'You have exalted my horn like the wild bull's.' A horn is always set up in a kingdom. 'Our foes through you we struck down with the horn.'19 As a matter of fact, no animal is immolated to the Lord in the temple unless it is horned.20
In the temple there are three animals sacrificed to the Lord: the bull, the ram, and the buck. Three are sacrificed and all three are horned. Unless one has a horn with which to rout his enemies, he is not worthy to be offered to God. That is why, too, the Lord is described as a horn21 to those who believe in Him; and it was with the horns of the cross that He routed His enemies. On the cross He confounded the devil and his entire army. To be sure, Christ was crucified in His body, but on the cross, it was He who was crucifying there the devils. It was not a cross; it was a symbol of triumph, a banner of victory.22 His whole purpose in mounting the cross was to lift us up from earth. I think the cross of the Savior was the ladder23 that Jacob saw. On that ladder,
18 Cf. Gen. 11.1-9.
19 Cf. Ps. 43.6.
20 Cf. Commentary on lsaia 5.1, PL 24.74-5 (67); on Zacharia 1.18, 19, PL 25.1428 (790); on Habacuc 3.4, PL 25.1313 (639).
21 Cf. Ps. 17.3.
22 Cf. Commentary on Habacuc 3.4, PL 25.1312 (638).
23 Cf. Letter 58.2, PL 22.580 (319).
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angels were descending and ascending; on that ladder, that is, the cross, the Jews were descending and the Gentiles ascending. 'You have exalted my horn like the wild bull's.'
Others may have many horns; I have only one. 'But as for me, God forbid that I shall glory save in the cross of the Lord, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.'24
'And myoid age with the rich oil of mercy.'25 Our old age needs the oil of God. Just as our bodies, when they are wearied from toil (I am speaking very simply for the sake of our guileless brethren who are unable to grasp a more subtle analogy), just as our bodies, when they are tired from manual labor, are refreshed by rubbing them with oil; just as the light in a lamp burns out unless you feed it oil; so, likewise, the light of myoId age requires the oil of God's mercy to keep it burning brightly. Then, too, the apostles ascended Mount Olivet in order that they might be illuminated with the oil of the Lord because they were weary and their lamps were in need of His oil. In line with this thought, the just man says: 'But I, like a green olive tree in the house of God.'26 And in another place Holy Writ says: 'Your children like olive plants around your table.'27
Was there no other mountain, moreover, except Mount Olivet from which the Lord might ascend into the kingdom of heaven? Was there not a higher mountain in Galilee,
Thabor? Why was it necessary for the Lord to ascend into the kingdom of heaven from Mount Olivet? But just realize what Scripture is teaching you. Unless you oil yourselves and your lamps, you shall not be able to ascend into the kingdom of heaven. You have ,to be on Mount Olivet; not in the Valley of the Olives, but on the Mount. Someone may ask: What is this Valley of Olives? The devil, too, has his own olives; he has the philosophers; he has the heretics; they
24 Gal. 6.14.
25 Cf. Ps. 91 (92).11.
26 Ps. 5l.l0.
27 Ps. 127.3.
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also have oil; they also promise the light of knowledge. But those olive groves lead down into the valley: 'Let not the festive oil of sinners anoint my head.'28 Let us pray, then, to the Lord, that our old age and all our labor and all our darkness be illuminated with oil of the Lord.
I am reviewing carefully the places in Scripture where I might find old age mentioned for the first time. Adam lived for 930 years, yet he is not called an old man. Mathusala's life was 969 years, and he is not called an old· man. I am coming down all the way to the Flood, and after the Flood for almost three thousand years, and I find no one who has been called old. Abraham is the first one, and certainly he was much younger than Mathusala, but he is called an old man because his old age had been anointed with rich oil.
In fine, it is written there in the Scripture: 'Abraham died at a good old age; full of days.'29 His was a good old age because it was full of days, for the whole of his life was day and not night. This same attribute is given also to Isaac and to Jacob. They who had served the Lord in the same age, rightly should be called old men of the Lord at the same time.
'Like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow,' a truly fragrant wood, the wood from which the roof of the temple had been constructed. 'Like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow,' a wood that never decays.
'They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.'30 In one place we are planted; in another place we flourish; here we are planted; in the kingdom of God we shall flourish. 'I have planted,' says the Apostle, 'Apollos watered, but God has given the growth.'81 I have been planted in the house of the Lord, I mean in the Church; not in the walls, but in its doctrines:
'For the kingdom of God,' the Lord says, 'is within yoU.'32
28 Cf. Ps. 140.5.
29 Cf. Gen. 25.8. Cf. Commentary on Zacharia 8.4, 5, PL 25.1465 (839).
30 Cf. Against the Pelagians 2.20, PL 23.583 (766).
31 1 Cor. 3.6.
32 Luke 17.21.
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Everyone who has been planted in the house of the Lord, who has grown roots here, brings forth flowers there.
'They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.' These are the eternal dwelling places. What are these courts? Different mansions in heaven. At the same time, note that: 'They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.' Here is the house; there is the court. According to proper order, it should have said court first and then house.
But just see what it means. Even though we seem to be in a house here, nevertheless, when we shall have migrated to the kingdom of heaven, in comparison with the angels and the other powers, we shall not be in the house at all but only in the court. We are at the beginning, not at the end of perfection. We shall not be angels, but like angels. Do not let that seem a slight thing to you, 0 man, if you shall be like an ange1.33
'They shall bear fruit even in old age.' Happy the man who grows more vigorous from day to day; he who grows feeble in age grows feeble likewise in virtue.
We have been talking about the psalter, we have said a few words about the Gospel; we have also mentioned the Apostle.
Let us beg the Lord that everything that we have said-both' that which we have said and that which you have heard-we may fulfill in good works; that we may translate words into works;34 that we, who have been planted here in the house of the Lord, may flourish there in the court of Christ. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
33 Cf. Lettter 75.2, PL 22.687 (453); 108.22. PL 22.900 (717).
34 Cf. Letter 58.2, PL 22.580 (3l9).