HOMILY 23
HOMILY 23
ON PSALM 95 (96)
HE NINETY-FIFTH PSALM is distinguished by the title:
'A song of David when the house was being built after the captivity.'1 A title such as this brims with mystery; it embodies the whole mystical meaning and plan of our salvation. 'A song of David, when the house was being built after the captivity.' The Jews interpret this title as follows: A song of David after the Babylonian Captivity when the temple was rebuilt under Esdra, Zorobabel, and Jesus, the son of Josedech, a song of David. According, then, to the Jews, David knew in his spirit five hundred years before that the temple would be rebuilt. So they assert. If the interpretation is as you say, 0 Jews, what is the meaning of the next verse: 'Sing to the Lord a new song'; and, then, the verse: Tell his glory among the nations'? What is this new song? ''\That nations are these? You see, therefore, that your explanation, clinging to 'the letter that kills,'2 is altogether impossible; the words: 'When the house was being built after the captivity,' must be understood mystically.
Would that my house were built after captivity! Many of us have been captured; many have been led into Babylon; many have borne the heavy yoke of Nabuchodonosor; many have been sent into the fiery furnace and have burned there; many have destroyed the temple of the Lord and have torn down the house of God within them. Unhappy Judas was the house of God when he was an apostle. The devil came
1 Cf. Ps. 95 (96).1, LXX.
2 Cf. 2 Cor. 3.6.
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and Judas took the morsel; immediately Satan entered into him, his house was torn down, and was never rebuilt because he did not repent. If, after sinning, one sincerely repents, his house is rebuilt after captivity.
Let us, therefore, pray the Lord first of all, that our house may not be overthrown, that the Chaldaean and Assyrian may not come and destroy the temple of Christ within us.
If, however, it should be overturned, we can be saved by the plank that is a second refuge in our shipwreck.s 'When the house was being built after the captivity.' Every day this house of Christ is being restored in the penitent. In fact, the psalmist did not say: 'When the house has been built,' lest it seem already to have happened and belong to the past, but he specified 'it was being built' in order to show that his rebuilding takes place every day. So far, we have been speaking of our souls, but it is possible to make another application, namely, when the Church of Christ was being prepared after the fall. Now let us review the verse that follows upon the title.
'Sing to the Lord a new song.' 0 happy repentancel Even though you fall, nevertheless, if you repent, you are pronounced a new house of Christ. 'Sing to the Lord a new song.'
A new house is worthy of a new song. 'Sing to the Lord a new song.' Who is to sing? 'Sing to the Lord, all the earth.'4 If this psalm refers to the temple of Jerusalem, 0 Jew, why is all the earth summoned to give praise to the Lord? 'Sing to the Lord, all the earth.' This versicle vanquishes at once both the Jew and Novatian. 'Sing to the Lord, all the earth'; not Jerusalem only, but the whole world. Here, the Jew falls.
'Sing to the Lord, all the earth.' Novatian is undone. How so? Because it is Novatian who says: There are some sins for which we must repent, for instance, lying, perjury, theft; but for the fornicator, for the murderer, there is no repentance possible. But listen, I beg, to what the psalm says: 'Sing to 3 Cf. Letter 122.4, PL 22.1046 (889); 130.9, PL 22.1115 (986).
4 Cf. Ps. 95 (96).1.
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the Lord, all the earth.' 'All the earth,' includes the adulterer, the murderer; all sin is earthbound. If, moreover, every sin without exception bears the stamp of earth, no matter what sin you have committed, repent and in every respect you will be saved.
'Sing to the Lord; bless his name: The Lord's name is Savior because of His work of salvation in us. 'Sing to the Lord; announce his salvation, day after day.' What is the meaning of 'announce his salvation day after day'? The guileless man understands it this way: Praise the Lord every day, that is, one day after another, or, praise Him today; praise Him again tomorrow. This interpretation certainly is obvious, but to me there is another deeper meaning beneath the words. 'Announce his salvation day after day.' The Savior cannot be praised except in daylight. The prophet should have said, praise the Lord day and night, if he were speaking of day in its usual sense, but if we take the words in their literal meaning, we are faced with the problem: Are we not able to praise the Lord again at night if we praise
Him during the daytime? Learn, therefore, what it means.
Whenever you praise the Lord, praise Him always in light, not in the darkness of sins, but in the light of virtues. May the sun of Christ rise in your soul always that always a new light may shine in you.
'Announce his salvation day after day.' Let us examine this versicle from another angle. There are two days, not three, nor four, nor five; there are two days, the Old Testament and the New. Christ shines forth in both. Do not praise Him in the Old Testament only, lest you be a Jew; do not praise Him only in the New Testament, lest you be a Manichaean. Praise Him day after day, in the Old and in the New Testament; these two days make one and the same light. That is why it is written in Leviticus: 'Any animal that is cloven-footed and chews the cud is clean.'5 If, however, it has an uncleft hoof, it is not clean. The Jew is single5 Cf. Lev. 11.3.
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hoofed and, therefore, is unclean. Manichaeus has an undivided hoof, hence, is unclean. Moreover, because he is single-hoofed, he does not ruminate; once he has swallowed his food, he does not regurgitate it and chew it over and over again until it is very fine, in order that food, that had been coarse, may be sent down again into his' stomach refined. Truly does this saying pertain to divine mysteries:
'Any animal that is cloven-footed and chews the cud is clean.'
The Jew is single-hoofed, for he believes in only one Testament and does not ruminate. Indeed, he reads merely the letter and does not reflect upon it; he looks for no deeper meaning than the literal message of the word. The man of the Church, however, is cloven-footed and ruminates; he believes in both Testaments and often ponders deeply over both, and whatever lies buried in the letter, he brings forth in the spirit.
Why have I insisted upon all this? Because it is written:
'announce his salvation, day after day.' That, by the way, is the reason why the apostles are sent out two by two; that is why we have not one eye but two eyes; that is why we have two ears, two nostrils, two lips, two hands, two feet. We have nothing in us that is single, except that which is unsightly; and so the members of our body bear witness to the mystical teachings in the two Testaments.
'Give to the Lord, you families of nations, give to the Lord glory and praise.'6 If this psalm refers to the temple of Jerusalem, what is the meaning behind the words: 'Give to the Lord, you families of nations, give to the Lord glory and praise'? The multitude of nations, the calling of the Gentiles, constitutes the Church. 'Give to the Lord glory and praise.'
When we honor the presence of the Lord in our body, then we are giving Him praise and glory. 'Give to the Lord the glory due his name!' The servant's glory is glory, likewise, for the 6 Cf. Commentarioli in ps. 95.7.
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master. 'He who receives you, receives me.'7 Happy that servant through whom the master receives honor and glory.
'Bring gifts, and enter his courts,' 'a sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to God.'s 'Bring gifts.' Bring up your gifts. What kind of gifts? The gifts of yourselves. Virginity is a holocaust to Christ; all chastity, whether in virginity, widowhood, or continence, is a sacrificial offering to Christ.9 I am going to mention a new thought here: chastity is the sacrificial gift that brings and gives itself.
'Bring gifts, and enter his courts; worship the Lord in his holy court.'lO In this verse, I see many courts and again I see one court. Bring gifts, and come into His courts-many courts. On the other hand, worship the Lord in His holy court-one court. Notice that it is not possible from one court to enter many courts; but it is possible from many to enter into one. Would you like to hear this same mystery from another place in Holy Writ? There is that merchant who had many pearls and sold all that he had to buy one pearlY Michea, too, says: 'Stand beside the roads of the Lord, ask the pathways of the Lord.'12 Unless we stand in the crossroads, we cannot find the one road. What are we to understand by the many pearls, the many roads, the many courts, so that we may find the one pearl, the one road, the one court?13 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Moses, Jesus son of Nave; Isaia, Jeremia, Ezechiel, the twelve prophets; David,
Solomon; all were courts. They are our courts; they are the courts we enter first; and from them we arrive later at the court of the Gospels and there we find Christ.
7 Matt. 10.40.
8 Rom. 12.1; cf. Commentarioli in ps. 95.8; Letter 66.12, PL 22.646
(401-402.); 118.5, PL 22.964 (796); 130.2, PL 22.1107 (976).
9 Cf. Against ]ovinian 1.13, PL 23.240 (258).
10 Cf. Ps. 95 (96).8, 9.
II Cf. Matt. 13.46; d. Letter 54.11, PL 22.555 (289).
12 Cf. Jer. 6.16.
13 Cf. Commentary on lsaia 26.2-4, PL 24.294 (344); Letter 54.11, PL 22.555 (289); 107.5, PL 22.872 (683); Commentary on Ep. to Titus 1.2-4,
PL 26.595 (693).
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'Tremble before him, all the earth: Attend to what the psalmist says! Heaven does not tremble in the presence of God, but earthly minded man regards the Lord anxiously, and is greatly disturbed, and trembles. 'Say among the nations: The Lord is king: Unless the earth tremble and withdraw from its worldly pursuits, the Lord will not reign among the nations.
'He has made the world firm, not to be moved.' No need to restore order except where previous order has been disturbed.14 Accordingly, therefore, we, and the whole human race, know God by nature.15 There are no peoples, indeed, who do not naturally know their Creator. Granted that sticks and stones are worshiped; nevertheless, their worshipers grasp the fact that there is something greater than they, and in their very error reveal their discernment; there is no nation that does not naturally know there is a God. The Gentiles worship idols, adore sticks and stones, but if by chance they fall into dispute and if they swear any oath, they do not say:
'These stones see, these pieces of wood are witness,' but, 'God sees, and God hears.'
Understand, then, what the Scripture means: 'He has made the world firm, not to be moved.' In very truth, Christ came and made firm the human race that had been disturbed, so that it may not be moved for all eternity. His cross is the pillar of mankind; on this pillar He has built His house.
When I say the cross, I am not thinking of the wood, but of the Passion. This cross, moreover, is in Britain, and in India, and in the whole habitable world. Furthermore, what is the warning in the Gospel? 'Unless you take up my cross, and daily follow me.'16 Mark what it says: Unless your soul has been made as ready for the cross as Mine was for you, you cannot be My disciples.
14 Cf. commentary on Ecclesiastes 1, PL 23.1074 (394); Commentarioli in ps. 17.36; 95.10.
15 Cf. Commentarioli in ps. IS.7.
16 Cf. Luke 9.23.
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Happy the man who bears in his heart the cross and the Resurrection, the place of Christ's nativity, and the place of His Ascension! Happy the man who has Bethlehem in his heart, in whose heart Christ is born every day! In fact, what does Bethlehem mean? The house of bread. Let us be the house of Bread, of Him who came down from heaven.
Every day Christ is crucified in us; we are crucified to the world; Christ is crucified in us. Happy the man in whose heart Christ rises daily,17 and He will rise every day, if every day the sinner repents his sins, even slight ones. Happy the man who daily from Mount Olivet ascends to the kingdom of heaven, where the Lord keeps His green olive trees, where the light of Christ rises, where the Lord has His olive groves.
'But I, like a green olive tree in the house of the Lord.'18
Let us also light our lamp from the oil of this olive tree, and straightway with Christ we shall enter the kingdom of heaven. 'He has made the world firm, not to be moved': the the whole inhabited world in which He Himself dwells.
(The Greek oecumene has a clearer connotation19 than the Latin 'habitatio.') Let us pray that our oecumene, too, be made firm for the indwelling of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, for unless our oecumene is the dwelling place of the Trinity, it cannot be fixed and firm.
There is much more that we should say, especially because it is the Feast of the Dedication. The Dedication festal days always occur in bad weather; they fall in rainy weather; they come in the winter season. Then, too, it is written in the Gospel: 'At Jerusalem on the Feast of Dedication, the Lord was walking in the temple, in Solomon's porch, because it was winter and it was raining.'20 Notice what it says. On the festal days of the Dedication, He was walking on the porch because it was stormy and raining. Whenever anyone desires
17 Cf. Commentary on Ephesians 1.18-20, PL 26.490 (564).
18 Ps.51.10.
19 Cf. Letter 140.6, PL 22.1171 (1054); Commentary on lsaia 13.11, PL
24.157 (172); 26.18, PL 24.303 (356).
20 Cf. John 10.22-24.
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to restore himself in Christ; when the house is built after the captivity; whenever anyone desires to rebuild his house and rebuild it for Christ; whenever anyone is ready to forsake the world and give himself entirely to Christ; at once a storm arises, winter comes, and the rains pour down. But Christ, nay rather the poor in Christ, comprehending that the days of Dedication are at hand, beholding the storm, seeing the floods, feeling the winter, brave the floods and seek refuge in the porch of Solomon; they find shelter in the peace of Christ. Peace-bearer is, indeed, the meaning of the name of the Solomon who said: 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to YOU.'21 Let us, therefore, walk in the porch of Solomon; let us be sheltered by His majesty; let us hold fast to His assistance; let us sing with the Canticle of Canticles: 'winter is past, the rains are over and gone,'22 in Christ Jesus.
21 John 14.27.
22 Cant. 2.11; cf. Letter 78.1, PL 22.700 (470); 121.4, PL 22.1Q15 (861); Against Jovinian 1.30, PL 23.263 (285).