HOMILY 39
HOMILY 39
ON PSALM 114 (1l6A)
II HAVE LOVED the Lord because he will hear my voice .. in supplication.'! The psalmist did not say, I shall love, but I have loved. He does not promise to love, but testifies that he has loved. 'I have loved.' Why have I loved? Because the Lord will grant gracious hearing to my entreaty. I have loved expresses time past; the granting of my request, however, is in the future. Indeed, he did not say,
I have loved because the Lord has so graciously answered my prayer, but I have loved because the Lord will attend my plea.
'Because he has inclined his ear to me.' Because we are little and lowly and unable to lift ourselves up to Him, the Lord stoops down to us and in His compassionate kindness deigns 'to hear us. In fact, because we are men and cannot become gods, God became man and inclined Himself, as it is written: 'He inclined the heavens and came down.'2
Throughout my days I will call upon him.'a Here, the ques· tion naturally arises, how does one call upon the Lord in the daytime and not pray to Him in the nighttime? Further, why does another psalm say: 'At midnight I rise to give you thanks:4 since it is the practice of the saints to pray during the night? And still another psalm says: 'During the hours of night, lift up your hands towards the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.'5 What, then, does our psalmist mean
1 Cf, Ps. II4 (II6A).1.
2 Ps.17.10.
3 Cf. Ps. II4 (II6A).2.
4 Ps. 118.62.
5 Ps. 133.1,2.
HOMILY 39
when he says: Throughout my days I will call upon Him'?
He did not say, I have called, but I will call-in the future.
While we are in the present world, we call upon the Lord in the night; in the future world, we invoke the Lord in the daylight; hence, the psalmist said: Throughout my days'; it is nighttime for sinners, but daytime for me.
'The pains of death encompassed me.'6 It seems to me that the pains of death are evil thoughts. When the soul entertains foul thoughts, it has a longing to sin; whel). it is in labor with sin, death is at hand. 'The snares of the nether world seized upon me.' 0 what unhappy, wretched, miserable creatures we are, for sin is ever ready to ensnare us! If sins are always on our trail, let us run so fast that they will never overtake us. There is, moreover, this difference between the pains of death and the perils of hell: the pains of death are evil thoughts; the perils of hell are evil deeds. To theorize is one thing, however; action-or practice-is another. In the latter, there is grief and anguish; in the former, there is danger and the proximity of death.
'I fell into distress and sorrow.' This is a new slant. The prophet does not say, 'I found rest,' or 'I found satisfaction.'
If he had said, 'trouble came upon me; sorrow caught up with me,' there would be no problem. Instead, what does he say? 'I fell into distress and sorrow.' Looking for trouble, as it were, he fell right into it, for one does not find unless one seeks. The saint does not look for rest, but for tribulation; he knows that 'tribulation works out endurance, and endurance, tried virtue, and tried virtue, hope. And hope does not disappoint.'1 This is parallel to what Jeremia says:
'I have called upon tribulation and misery,'8 'for,' he says, 'your bitter word was to me joy and gladness';9 in this world
I desire nothing but tribulation that I may have happiness and repose in the next. That is why, he says, I now bear
6 Cf. Ps. 114 (116A).3.
7 Rom. 5.3-5; cf. Letter 130.7, PL 22.1112 (982).
8 Cf. Jer. 15.15.
9 Cf. Jer. 15.16.
SAINT JEROME
with bitterness, that afterwards I may have all sweetness. The people of the Lord coming out of Egypt came into Mara which means 'bitter,' and from Mara, into Sinai which means
'temptation.' Again Jeremia says: 'I sat alone because I was filled with bitterness.'lo '0 Lord, save my life!' Neither Greek nor Latin can do justice to the Hebrew idiom. Instead of '0' the Hebrew text has ANNA.l1 'Anna,' moreover, means 'I beg and entreat.'
What it says here, then, is: 'I beseech You, Lord, save my soul.' The prophet is not giving way to sentiments of awe, but to prayers of entreaty,12 for he is in serious trouble and affliction. 'Gracious is the Lord and just; yes, our God is merciful.' Prick up your ears, sinner, the Lord is merciful; but, be careful, f?r the next words say He is also just. If you have sinned much, heed that the Lord is merciful; if you are careless, heed that He is also just. The Lord, nevertheless, seems to be equally merciful and just, ten parts, for example, merciful and ten parts just-to put it clearly for the sake of the less learned. One might say: If my sins were weighed on a scale, I could not possibly have as much good as evil; but this psalm says that the Lord is merciful and justmerciful in regard to sinners, just in regard to the good; my sins are becoming very heavy, and so the Lord's mercy gains the victory. The psalmist, therefore, posited justice once and mercy twice. 'Merciful.' This attribute could apply to the past as well. 'God is merciful,' says the psalmist, to make it known that He is always merciful.
'The Lord keeps the little ones.' If a great man puts on airs and is puffed up with pride, the Lord is not his keeper; if anyone thinks himself very important, the Lord has no pity for him; but if one humbles himself, the Lord takes pity on him and protects him. Holy Writ says of this: 'Look at me and the children, whom the Lord has given me';13 and again: 'I 10 Cf. Jer. 15.17, LXX.
11 Cf. Letter 20.3, PL 22.377 (66).
12 Cf. Letter 20.5, PL 22.378 (67).
13 Isa. 8.18.
HOMILY 39
was brought low, and he saved me.' We understand 'I was brought low and he saved me' in two ways: either I sinned and He saved me; or when I was proud, He humbled and saved me.
'Return, 0 my soul, to your tranquillity: Since it says return to your tranquillity, the soul possessed tranquillity before it lost its peace and serenity. No one returns except to that state or place where he was before. The Lord created us good and of His own choice placed and left us all with Adam in the Garden of Paradise. Because, however, we fell away from that state of happiness through our own decision, and came into the valley of tears, the just man is urging his soul to return thither whence he fell.14 'Return, 0 my soul, to your tranquillity.' This is the place of tribulation; this, the land of fighters; this, the place of tears, where no one walks with security. Everywhere there is danger; if one is in the desert, there are scorpions; if one is in the city, the destructive eye of the meretrix spells his doom; if he is on the sea, there are robbers and pirates. I say this in its figurative sense, of course, for to be slain by bandits is not now a danger to the man of holiness since martyrs, indeed, have won the victory with their blood.
'Return, 0 my soul, to your tranquillity, for the Lord has been good to you: It means, return, 0 my soul, into Paradise, not because you are worthy, but because of the kindness of the Lord. Your going out from Paradise was the work of your own vice; your return, however, was of the compassion of the Lord. Let us, also, say to our own soul: Return to your tranquillity. Our tranquillity is Christ our God. If ever we are in great straits and our thoughts are ready to capitulate to sin, let us cry out: Return, 0 my soul, to your tranquillity.
'He has freed my soul from death.' The prophet has not yet returned to Paradise, but he has already returned, he says, to safety. He said before: 'Return, 0 my soul, to your tran14 Cf. Letter 22.19, PL 22.406 (102).
SAINT JEROME
quillity'; and now as one who is secure: 'For he has delivered my soul from death.' When did He snatch my soul from death? My God suffered for me; for me my God was crucified, and I exclaim: '0 death, where is thy victory? 0 death, where is thy sting?'15 'My eyes from tears.' I cried for grief so that I may laugh for joy; I mourned that everlastingly
I may rejoice. The man who does not weep in the present world will shed tears in the next. 'Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.'16 In contradiction to the world we say: 'Woe to you who laugh now! for you shall moqrn and weep.'17 'My feet from stumbling.' Because my feet were not set firmly upon the rock: 'I almost lost my balance; my feet all but slipped.'ls My feet were saved from stumbling. Why? Because my soul returned to its tranquillity.
'I shall please the Lord in the land of the living.'19 People think that I am a just man, the psalmist is saying, I who have no good works; people think that I am a saint, I who have no good words. So says David and the saints, and the apostles, too, for no sinner utters such words. What does the just man say? I have neither good works nor good words, and I pass for a holy man, and I am praised by men; but I know my conscience, I know with what kind of thoughts my heart is tossed hither and thither; I know how many inordinate desires take hold of me, and: 'I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner to the law of sin.'20
That is why I cry: 'Unhappy man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?'21 Therefore, I pray:
'Cleanse me from my unknown faults! From wanton sin 15 1 Cor. 15.55.
16 Matt. 5.5.
17 Luke 6.25.
18 Ps.72.2.
19 Cf. PS, 114 (116A).9; d. Commentarioli in ps. 114.9.
20 Rom. 7.23; cf. Letter 133.8, PL 22.1157 (lO36).
21 Rom. 7.24.
HOMILY 39
especially restrain your servant:22 From wanton sin. It is not my will to conceive sin; I do not want to entertain bad thoughts, and yet I do; I do not want to entertain evil and, like a captive against my will, I am drawn into evil reflections.
Because it is not in my power either to think or not to think evil, that is why I declare: Surely they are wanton sins that come into my heart, but since I cannot seem to avoid them, I plead: 'Cleanse me from my unknown faults: Unprovoked they come, but because I harbor them, I beg the Lord: 'From wanton sin especially restrain your servant: Why am I saying all this? Because the prophet said: 'I shall please the Lord'; not 'I please: but 'I shall please: for no matter how much I strive here, I cannot be a perfect man, a just man. Consequently, the Apostle also says: 'We know in part and we prophesy in part,'23 and: 'We see now through a mirror in an obscure manner:24
We have drawn out this sermon to such length precisely to emphasize the point that in the present world no one is able to be perfectly just, not David, nor the apostles, nor anyone of the saints. 'No one is clean from sin, not if he lived for but a single day:25 Since the apostles and saints have not dared to say, 'we are saints,' neither have they dared to say,
'I please,' but 'I shall please: The prophet promises for the future what he confesses he has not done in the past: 'I shall please the Lord:
Where shall I please Him? 'In the land of the living:
This land is the land of the dead; the other, the land of the living. Since David, too, was on this earth and actually in the land of promise, when he says: 'I shall please in the land of the living,' he recognizes this world not as the land of the living, but as the land of the dead. Would you like to know
22 Ps. 18.13. 14; d. Against the Pelagians 1.12. PL 23.527 (705); 32; PL 23.550 (730).
23 1 Cor. 13.9.
24 I Cor. 13.12.
25 Cf. Job 14.4. 5; d. Against the Pelagians 1.32. PL 23.549 (729); Against Jovinian 2.2, PL 23.296 (323).
SAINT JEROME
this land of the living? The Lord tells us in the Gospel: 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,'26 and they were dead. But what follows this statement? 'Not the God of the dead, but of the living.' Accordingly, then, what does the just man say? 'I shall please the Lord in the land of the living,' in the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; in other words, when I am truly in the bosom of Abraham, then, shall I please the Lord.
26 Matt. 22.32.