HOMILY 56
HOMILY 56
ON PSALM 146 (147A)
[I RAISE THE LORD, because a psalm is good:1 The title Psalm 146 is 'Alleluia.' Those who .... wIth the Hebrew language, are wont to mqUlre mto the significance of the word 'alleluia' when it appears in the title of a psalm. This particular psalm has 'alleluia' not only in its title but also in its prelude. Where our text says,
'Praise the Lord,' the Hebrew says, 'alleluia: Among the Hebrews, God has as many as ten names; He is called Sabaoth,
Saddai, Eloim, EI, even Jao, and Eser Jaia. Along with others, there is also the name Ja, the meaning of which is 'invisible:
As the Hebrew for our word praise is 'allelu,' the Hebrew psalm has, 'allelu Ja,'2 in the same way that it would say: allelu Sabaoth, allelu Saddai, allelu Eloim. As a matter of fact, Theodotion, one of the translators, in his attempt to produce a literal translation, says, alv€iT€ TOV 'let. Why have we made such a point of this? So that we may know that alleluia is the title and theme of this psalm: Praise the Lord.
Since we have digressed, meditate on this explanation in your hearts; otherwise, we shall have to prolong our sermon.
'Praise the Lord, because a psalm is good.' The prophet did not say, a good psalm, but a psalm is good in the absolute sense; it is a good thing to sing a sacred song. To sing, not with the voice, mind you, but with the heart. How many there are who have good voices but because they are sinners, their singing is bad. He sings well who sings in his heart,
1 Cf. Ps. 146 (147A).1.
2 Cf. Letter 26.3, PL 22.430 (132); cf. Commentarioli in ps. 146.1.
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who sings to Christ in his conscience. 'It is fitting to praise him in joyful song:s It is fitting to praise Him with joyful song, not with the voice, but with a good conscience. In such wise, Noe, too, offered holocausts 'and the Lord smelled the sweet odor.'4 There is much more to be said, but we must touch lightly upon the high points and indicate the thought, rather than dwell on the broader meaning of the words.
'The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; the dispersed of Israel he gathers: How Jerusalem is rebuilt and the banished exiles are brought home again has already been told. Since, moreover, these two versicles have been explained and we must not build on another's foundation, let us move on to the rest of the psalm to learn just how Jerusalem is restored, for the prophet has given us a description in the remaining verses.
'He heals the brokenhearted.' You see now how the rebuilding of Jerusalem takes place: The broken heart is mended. 'A heart contrite and humbled, God does not spum.'s 'And binds up their wounds.' You wound your heart and the Lord binds up your wounds. The Samaritan, who was on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho, bound up the wounds of the tom and bruised man he found lying in the road. He is the one to whom the Scripture fittingly applies: 6 'And binds up their wounds.' It refers also to those who are penitent, but of the unrepentant, Scripture says, their wounds 'are not drained, or bandaged, or eased with salve:7
'He tells the number of the stars.' What literal connection is there between, 'binds up their wounds' and 'he tells the number of the stars'? Well, since He healed the brokenhearted and bound up their wounds, after their wounds had been healed, He changed them into stars. 'He tells the 3 Cf. Ps. 146 (147A).1.
4 Cf. Gen. 8.21.
5 Cf. Ps. 50.19.
6 Cf. Commentarioli in ps. 146.3.
7 Isa. 1.6.
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number of the stars.' 'The number.' Many, indeed, had sinned; many there are whom He has healed. 'He tells the number of the stars.' He does not tell the number of the wounded, but the number of those who have already become stars; God tells the number only of those who are worthy of Him. 'He calls each by name.' He speaks of Lucifer and Orion, of the stars that we see in the sky, and it is certainly understandable, for God is wonderful who made heaven and earth and all that they contain. Let us on our part make an effort to understand this daily occurrence in such a way that it may be for our gain. 'He calls each by name.' Would you like to know how stars are made from the brokenhearted? It is written in Genesis that God led Abraham outside and showed him the stars and said to him: 'So shall your posterity be.'8
He calls each by. name. He calls Abraham from Abram; he was Abram in Chaldaea, but in heaven he is called
Abraham. When he is made a star, his name is changed to Abraham. He who formerly was Saul, later in heaven is named Paul. John and James are the sons of thunder; thunder is certainly in the heavens. Thus the stars are numbered; the number of the saints is endless; Christ alone is without number.
'Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; to his wisdom there is no limit.' Mighty in power: 'Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.'9 There is no limit to His wisdom; Christ is wisdom. To Wisdom alone there is no limit.
'The Lord sustains the lowly.' What stars are these? The Lord sustains the lowly. The humble have changed into stars. 'The just shall shine bright like the stars,'10 says Daniel.
'The wicked he casts to the ground.' Note the distinction: the angels fall to the ground; men hasten to heaven. The Lord sustains the lowly; meekness He summons to heaven;
8 Gen. 15.5.
9 1 Cor. 1.24.
10 Cf. Dan. 12.3; d. Letter 53.3, PL 22.542 (273).
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pride He lays low in the dust; the wicked He casts to the ground.
'Sing to the Lord in confession.'n This David fulfilled; he who had given us an example of justice, gave us also an example of penitence. By his repentance he taught us how we ought to repent. See how the holy prophet benefits us, not only in his justice, but also in his sin! 'Sing praise with the harp to our God.' Not a single chord of the virtues should be broken; all the chords should sound together in concert. 'Sing praise with the harp to our God.' The harp has many strings; if one is broken, it cannot play. So, too, the holy man; albeit he is a saint, if he be lacking in one virtue he cannot give voice to his song.
'Who covers the heavens with clouds.' This heaven that we behold cannot be covered over with clouds, but there is another heaven, and there are other clouds. 'Your truth to the clouds.'12 Does this mean that the truth of the Lord reaches to those clouds that are quickly scattered by the blowing of the wind? The truth of God is Christ: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life.'13 Is the truth of Christ, therefore, in those clouds that have no substance in themselves?
Is it possible for truth to be where the wind has the power to disperse and to destroy? 'I will command the clouds not tosend rain upon them,'14 that is, upon the Jews. The clouds are the prophets; the Lord commanded them to rain no rain upon Israel. The word of prophecy has turned to us. If clouds collide, they produce thunder and lightning. 'Who covers the heavens with clouds.' Why did the prophet say that He covers the heavens with clouds? If the clouds are the prophets and the apostles, how does He cover the heavens with the apostles and prophets? The heavens represent divine mysteries. Since, then, divine mysteries are called 'the heavens,' the clouds conceal the divine message from the II Cf. Ps. 146 (147 A).7.
12 Cf. Ps. 35.6.
13 John 14.6; d. Against Jovinian 2.2, PL 23.296 (322).
14 Cf. Isa. 5.6.
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unworthy. Anyone who is unworthy is unable to comprehend divine doctrine; for him it is covered over with clouds.
'Who provides rain for the earth.' The earth needs rain; unless our earth receives the rain which is the fountain of divine instruction, it does not yield fruit. When earth holds the moisture of that doctrine, what is the result?
'Who makes grass sprout on the mountains.' If the psalmist were speaking of mere grass, certainly, it is more apt to grow in the valleys than in mountainous places, for wherever rainfall is more plentiful, the growth is more luxuriant. From the mountains, waters flow down into the valleys, the better for the grass to grow.
'Who gives food to the cattle.' The Scriptures that we read, discuss, hold in our hands, are called mountains. Scripture calls Abraham a mountain, Jeremia a mountain, Isaac a mountain, the prophets holy mountains. These mountains contain grain and grass. If you are man, you receive grain from them; if you are cattle, you receive grass. 'Man and beasts you save, 0 Lord.'15 If you are a brute beast, you receive grass; if you are man, you receive grain. Salvation is yours according to your faith. 'Who makes grass sprout on the mountains, and gives food to the cattle.' If you are man, in the Sacred Scriptures you receive spiritual understanding; if you are a beast of burden, you receive only the letter as does the Jew.
I see an important point here. God who has been praised with such meet praises is drawn down to His meaner creatures: 'to the young ravens when they cry to him.' If the prophet had reference to birds, surely, he would name the eagles or the vultures. 'To the young ravens when they cry to him.' No other bird js mentioned by name except the young ravens, and not the ravens themselves, but their young.
The raven is not saved; but the young born of it are saved.
We are the young ravens, for we are born of idolatrous 15 Ps. 35.7.
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parents.16 We read in Solomon: 'The eye that mocks a father or scorns the speech of his mother, will be plucked out by the ravens in the valley.'17 It did not say the young of the ravens, but the ravens themselves, for he who is a raven cannot be saved. A raven is sent forth from the Ark and does not return. During the flood, it is in the Ark with the rest of the creatures; after the flood, happily it is cast out. In other words, when it is calm and peaceful, the raven cannot be in the Ark of God. When there is a storm or deluge, the raven is there in the midst of it; the calm returns and the raven is in flight. Who are these ravens? Who are the young ravens? I think the black ravens that always prey upon the carcasses of the dead, that always stir up quarrels with their raucous voice, are demons; and those enslaved by demons are just like the ravens and even take on their color. So, as we were saying, our parents, who were the slaves of idols and demons, were ravens, for ravens hover about only where there are filth, dung, and carcasses of the dead. We who are born of ravens do not look for dead bodies, but for the dew. Young ravens, they say, live on dew; that is what biologists tell us.
Would you like to know another mystery about ravens?
Elias, whose name means Lord God; Elias, that is, our Lord and Savior, suffered persecution from the Jews, and received food from the ravens, the people of the Gentiles. 'To the young ravens when they cry to him.' If you cry, you are a young raven; if you are silent, you are an old raven. 'To the young ravens when they cry to him.' We read in the prophet:
'Everyone shall be rescued who calls on the name of the Lord.'18 If we apply this without reserve to ravens, will they also be saved? Answer, 0 Jew, you who follow only the letter of the word. You say that these ravens are really ravens; you do not interpret spiritually but carnally when
16 Cf. Against Vigilantius 7, PL 23.361 (394).
17 Cf. Prov. 30.17.
18 Joel 3.5.
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.you maintain that our verse is written about ravens. If it is written about the young ravens, and it says here: 'To the young ravens when they cry to him,' and: 'Everyone shall be rescued who calls on the name of the Lord,' will the young ravens, therefore, fllso be saved on the day of judgment? We, then, are the young ravens, and we cry to Him and are saved.
In fine, Paul the Apostle wrote to the Church of saints, to those who call upon the name of the Lord.19
'In the strength of the steed he delights not: We promised to be brief, but necessity constrained us to expound more at length. We lied, then, but it was a very useful lie. Would that Herod had lied and sworn a false oath. We, as I say, promised less and have given more because of your prayers.
The hour bids me be silent, but the greatness of the mysteries compels me to speak. 'In the strength of the steed He delights not.' I hear a horse and the neighing of horses, and I cannot pass them by. It is written in the psalter: 'Useless' is the horse for safety';20 and in another place of Holy Writ: 'Horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.'21 It was of precept for the king of Israel not to breed horses.22 Solomon, moreover, who procured chariots from Egypt,23 became the victim of passion. 'In the strength of the steed he delights not'; 'Horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.' 'Lustful stallions they are, each neighs after another's wife,'24 says Jeremia. In horses of that sort, God, to be sure, does not delight. We have commented on the horse. 'Horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.' We have indicated the nature of the horses; let us now identify the riders. I think the horses are men, sinners, and the horsemen are the demons that ride them. If ever, then, it is our experience to have brother turn persecutor, to have one who is called brother maltreat
19 Cf. I Cor. 1.2.
20 Ps.32.17.
21 Exad. 15.1.
22 Cf. Deut. 17.16.
23 Cf. 3 Kings 10.26·29.
24 Jer. 5.8; d. Letter 123.13, PL 22.1054 (909); Against Jovinian 2.37, PL 23.351 (382); Against VigiZantius 2, PL 23.356 (389).
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us as an enemy, we may know that he is a horse. He is the horse, but the devil is his rider that smites us with a spear.
The horse runs and the devil smites; the horse is driven and goaded by spurs and rages madly against its will.
'Nor is he pleased with the legs of Notice that it did not say, with the head of men, or with the hands, but with the legs, which are downward. 'Nor is he pleased with the legs of men.' Legs, just as thighs, usually connote inordinate desire. In fact, even in Ezechiel, God, upward from what resembled His waist, seemed like electrum; from His waist downward, like fire.26 Whatever is above is gold; whatever is below is ready for the purgatory of gehenna. 'Nor is he pleased with the legs of men.' Let us consider this passage in its literal sense. Since the psalmist had said: 'In the strength of the steed he delights not,' and had described man as a warrior, it seems to me that here, where he said, 'nor with the legs,' he is not designating legs, but periknemidas
[covering for the leg]. We see, therefore, that whatever covers the legs does not please God, but that which is above does.
God is not pleased with strength; He is not pleased with the legs of men but with his fear. Strength is not pleasing; fear is. He brings down the warrior, He elevates the beggar; He exalts the humble, He casts down the proud.
'The Lord is pleased with those who fear him.' One fear casts out many fears. Would it not be better to fear one in order not to fear many, than to fear many in order not to fear one? 'With those who hope for his kindness.' They trust not in their own words, but in the compassionate kindness of the Judge. Praise the Lord, for it is good to sing His praise; salvation is for those alone who have hope in his loving kindness. To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
25 Cf. Ps. 146 (147 A).lO.
26 Cf. Ezech. 1.27,28; cf. Commentary on Ezechiel 1.27. PL 25.30 (21).