HOMILY 57
HOMILY 57
ON PSALM 147 (147B)
(lt LORIFY THE LORD, 0 Jerusalem; praise your God, 0 . Sion.' We have just heard the venerable priest declare in his sermon that the Jews had been abandoned because of their transgression of the law. How, therefore, does Scripture say: 'Glorify the Lord, 0 Jerusalem, praise your God, 0 Sian'? Then, too, what about the verse that follows?
'He has strengthened the bars of your gates.' Is it of this Jerusalem that the prophet is speaking? Of this Sian? Praise your God. Why? Because He has strengthened the bars of your gates. There are no gates; how, then, are the bars in good condition? 'He has blessed your children within you.'
What is this blessing of Him who said: 'Your deserted house shall be left to yoU'?l 'He has granted peace in your borders.' Where peace has been granted, what peace has been upset by war? 'With the best of wheat he fills you.' Does Jerusalem have the best of wheat?2 Answer, 0 Jew; does Jerusalem have the best of wheat? If it does not, then sheer necessity compels you to a spiritual interpretation that will determine your view of the rest of the psalm. Glorify the Lord, 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the vision of peace;3 Sian, praise your God. Sian signifies a watchtower.4 Now see what 'Glorify the Lord, 0 Jerusalem: means. Wherever there is the vision of peace, wherever there
1 Cf. Luke 13.35.
2 Cf. Homily 13 on Ps. 80, p. 93.
3 Cf. Letter 46.3, PL 22.485 (201).
4 Cf. Letter 75.l, PL 22.686 (452).
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is contemplation of God, there should also be the praise of God. Therefore, 0 Church, glorify the Lord; because you have begun to believe in Him and to possess peace, you have also begun to see peace, Jerusalem, the vision of peace. You, who were formerly the slave of idols, have become the servant of God; therefore, glorify your God. Because you are truly in possession of knowledge and have become Sion-citadel of contemplation-praise the Lord. In other words, 0 Jerusalem, you give glory; 0 Sion, you give praise; you, 0 ecclesiastical soul, you, 0 Church. Do not let the heretics praise, nor the synagogue, but you give praise. Why? Because He has strengthened the bars of your gates.
'The Lord loves the gates of Sion more than any dwelling of Jacob.'5 We have spoken of the prophets as the gates of Sion, so since we know they are called that, let us see what the bars of the gates are. The prophets in truth are the gates of the Church; we cannot enter the Church except through them. Manichaeus tried to enter without the gates and could not. Marcion rejects the Old Testament, but without it, he has not been able to enter the New. We, on the other hand, accept the prophet-gates, and through them make our entrance. Still, let us see what the bars of the gates are.
Many robbers, many thieves conspire to enter through the gates. 'All whoever have come before me were thieves and robbers.'6 Oh, if only the Lord would grant me the privilege of being a bar in the gates of Sionl If any heretic dared to force a way through those gates into the divine economy of the Gospel, I would stand astride them and prevent him.
'He has strengthened the bars of your gates.'
'He has strengthened: Give me any churchman trained in divine Scripture. Let Eunomius come, let Arius come and try to adduce anything from the prophets against us, does not our churchman stand firm as a bar? Does he not refute them with the fixed firmness of a bar? 'He has strengthened the 5 Cf. Ps. 86.2.
6 Cf. John 10.8.
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bars of your gates.' Neatly said, 'strengthened'; whenever you see a man of the Church in debate, do not imagine that it is he who is debating; no, He who gives strength to him is carrying on the disputation.
'With the best of wheat he fills you.' 'Unless the grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it remains alone, but if it die it brings about the salvation of many.'7 Our Lord, the grain of wheat, has fallen into the ground and has multiplied us. This grain of wheat is very fertile, full of marrow, rich, fruitful. 'With the best of wheat he fills you.' Happy the man who perceives the richness of this grain. We have read the Sacred Scriptures. I think the Gospel is the body of Christ; Holy Writ, His teaching. When He says: 'He who does not eat my flesh and drink my blood,'s although the words may be understood in their mystical sense, nevertheless, I say the word of Scripture is truly the body of Christ and His blood;9 it is divine doctrine. If at any time we approach the Sacrament-the faithful understand what I mean-and a tiny crumb should fall, we are appalled. Even so, if at any time we hear the word of God, through which the body and blood of Christ is being poured into our ears, and we yield carelessly to distraction, how responsible are we not for our failing?
He fills you with the best of wheat. The divine word is exceedingly rich, containing within itself every delight. Whatever you desire is found in it, just as the Jews recount that when they were eating manna each one tasted the kind of food he liked. If, for example, he was hungry for an apple, or a pear, or grapes, or bread, or meat, the taste of the manna corresponded to his longing. We, in the flesh of Christ, which is the word of divine doctrine, or the interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures, receive manna in accordance with and in proportion to our desire. If you are a saint, you will find
7 Cf. John 12.24, 25; Letter 54.16, PL 22.559 (293).
8 Cf. John 6.54.
9 Cf. Commentary on Ecclesiastes 3.13, PL 23.1092 (413).
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refreshment; if a sinner, anguish. With the best of wheat He fills you; He does not lose a single fragment. He has blessed your children within you; 'To as many as received him he gave the power of becoming sons of God.'10
'He has granted peace in your borders'; or, as in another psalm: 'In peace is his abode.'l1 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you,'12 'My peace'; not as the world gives peace, for the peace of the world is our warfare. 'My peace I give to you.' Wage war with the world, and you will have My peace. 'He has granted peace in your borders.' The man, therefore, who is not at peace with his brother, is not in the borders of Jerusalem. Someone may say, What shall I do? My brother does not want to be reconciled; am I, therefore, outside the borders of Jerusalem? 'As far as in you lies, be at peace with all men,'13 Scripture says. 'With those who hate peace, I speak of peace';14 you be at peace; if another is angry, the conflict is his and through his struggle peace is born for you. Would you like to know how there is both war and peace? Unhappy Judas came only to betray the Lord, and the Lord offered him the kiss of peace. Judas chose to beget war from that kiss.
'He sends forth his command to the earth.' Answer, a Jew.
If the psalmist was speaking of grain when he said: 'With the best of wheat he fills you,' how, now, does he mean: 'He sends forth his command to the earth'? 'In the beginning was the Word.'15 This Word is sent in the flesh; 'the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among US.'16 'He sends forth his command to the earth.' At that time was fulfilled the prophecy: The earth has yielded its fruits.'17 'He sends forth his command to the earth.' He is speaking of evangelical
10 John 1.12.
11 Cf. Ps. 75.3; d. Letter 125.14, PL 22.1080 (942).
12 John 14.27.
13 Rom. 12.18.
14 Cf. Ps. 119.6,7.
15 John 1.1.
16 John 1.14; d. Against Jovinian 2.29, PL 23.341 (371).
17 Ps, 66.7.
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preaching, of the teachings of the apostles; in fact, the very next words are: 'Swiftly runs his word!' In every land is heard His word, and in the whole world the teaching of the apostles. One man, poor, already old, preached the Gospel from Jerusalem round about as far as Illyricum,18 and 'swiftly runs his word!' Because, too, the word has sped swiftly from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum, the Word itself said, through Paul the Apostle: 'I wish to go to Spain, tOO.'19 Mark well the swiftness of the Word; it is not satisfied with the East; it desires to speed to the West.
'He spreads snow like wool; frost he strews like ashes. He scatters his hail like crumbs.' Note the difficulty, the real obscurity, of the words: 'Before his cold the waters freeze.'
Whose cold? It does not say, but the psalmist continues:
'He sends his word and melts them.' This refers to Him of whom the psalmist had said: 'He sends forth his command to the earth'; He sends His Word. Who sends? God the Father. 'The Word was with God, and the Word was God.'20
We have mentioned the Father and the Son; we cannot believe in a twofold number unless the Trinity be completed.
'He lets his breath21 blow and the waters run.' Where the Father and the Word of God is, there at once is the Holy
Spirit.
Let us go back and review the psalm in sequence. With the best wheat He fills you; He sends forth His' command to the earth; swiftly runs His word! What follows unexpectedly? 'He spreads snow like wool.' The word of the Lord that runs swiftly is spread like snow, and the snow itself is like wool. Just think of the merciful kindness of the LordI The food of the Lord is changed for us into a garment.
John had said of the Lord Savior: 'Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world';22 and Isaia: 'He shall
18 Cf. Rom. 15.19.
19 Cf. Rom. 15.24.
20 John 1.1.
21 Cf. Ps. 147 (147B).l8.
22 John 1.29.
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be led like a Iamb to the slaughter.'23 Of this Iamb, therefore, and of this sheep, is the wool that is like snow. Isaia says:
'Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow.'24 'Cleanse me of sin with hyssop, that I may be purified; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.'25 'He spreads snow like wool.' Take away, 0 Lord, my uncleanness; take away whatever there is of baseness. Grant Your snow,
Your purity, to the minds and hearts of Christians. Unless You cleanse us with the snow of Your purity, we cannot wear
Your garment. Christ is our garment. If we want to possess Christ as our garment, let us be pure as snow.
'Frost he strews like ashes.' The Latin word used here, 'nebulam,' is a very poor translation, for the Greek word homixle follows the concept in the Hebrew text that is expressed by the Latin 'pruinam,' hence, the reading: 'Frost he strews like ashes.' He teaches us and makes us a garment white as snow, and when He has clothed us in His own garment, then He gives us nourishment. 'Frost he strews like ashes.' Mark: 'like ashes.' Do you want to be clean?
Do penance. 'For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle my drink with tears.'26 Do you see now how He strews His frost like ashes? Wonderful mutation of things! From ashes snow is made; from repentance cleanliness is effected.
'He scatters his hail like crumbs.' Just as His bread is broken up into morsels, in the same way hail is broken up into crumbs of ice. Hail is like frozen water;27 hail and water, therefore, have the same difference as water and ice, for water pours, but hail is formed of crystals compressed and clinging together into one solid mass. Whenever water freezes, it crystallizes; consequently, since we cannot take the meat of the divine word in its totality, it is broken up so that we
23 Cf. Isa. 53.7.
24 Isa. 1.18.
25 Ps.50.9.
26 Ps. 101.10.
27 Cf. Commentary on Ezechiel 1.22-27, PL 25.29 (20).
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may partake of it in small pieces.28 This is an obscure point and the difficulty of interpretation does not warrant us to speak more fully.
'Before his cold who shall stand?,29 Whose cold? Some say of hail; others, with truth, say of God. To me, too, it seems that the words: 'Before his cold who shall stand,' refer to God. Of God, I say, 'Who is able to endure His cold?'
What torments does Holy Writ tell us are prepared for sinners? Nothing is hotter than hell-fire, yet gehenna itself is icy.
Gehenna consists of fire, but if anyone grows cold enough, he is sent into the fire of hell. It is written: in the last days the 'charity of the many will grow cold.'30 Whoever becomes cold like that is sent into the fire. May the Lord grant that no cold ever creep into our hearts. We do not commit sin except after charity has grown cold. Furthermore, what does the Apostle say? 'Be fervent in spirit';31 'our God is a consuming fire.'S2 If God is fire, He is fire in order to drive out the cold of the devil.
'Aquilo is the iciest of the winds, though it is called by an honorable name.'.'IS Nicely said, 'is called'; it assumed that name of itself, since the north wind is not honorable.34 If anyone's soul should grow cold, as cold as the north wind; if the warmth of charity should ever grow cold in our heart; if one should sin, should chill, should die-attend very carefully to what I am saying-if one should grow cold, if one should die, [God is a consuming fire]. It is the nature of the dead to be cold; of the living to be warm. If anyone, then, should grow cold and die, God will send His Word and melt him. May the Lord grant that our frigidity, too, may thaw, that this crystal of ice be dissolved and melt. 'He sends his word, and melts them.'
28 Cf. Commentary on lsaia 48.20-22, PL 24.463 (560).
29 Cf. Ps. 147 (147B).17.
30 Matt. 24.12.
31 Rom. 12.11.
32 Cf. Deut. 4.24.
33 Cf. Provo 27.16. LXX; Jerome 'dexter vocatur.'
34 Jerome 'sinister est.' Cf. I,etter 78.4, PL 22.702 (472).
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Give me any sinner who has no regard for God, who has no heat, but is thoroughly frozen and dead; if at the word of God he is roused to compunction and begins to repent and the hardness of his heart is softened, at that moment are the words fulfilled: 'He sends his word and melts them:
The Father sends; the Word is sent; the Holy Spirit is given.
'He lets his breath blow: 'Be fervent in spirit: Cold is not expelled except by the heat of the Holy Spirit. Where are the Eunomians, the Arians, the Macedonians who say: 'We do not rank the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son'?
God the Father sends; the Word is sent; but the cure is not complete, except by the breath of the Holy Spirit. 'He lets his breath blow and the waters run: 'Waters:35 What was hard previously is now made soft. He, who before could render justice to no one, is now a disciple.
Since we have spoken at such length and the remaining verses of the psalm are explicit enough, let us pray the Lord that any hardness in us may soften, that our sins be purged, that we may become as fire, so the chill of the devil-what· ever there is of it in our hearts-may be expelled so that we may grow warm with the Holy Spirit. There is, of course, also a heat that is evil. 'They all burn with adultery, their hearts like an oven for baking cakes:36 But that heat is banished by the heat of the Holy Spirit. To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
35 Cf. Ps. 147 (147B).l8.
36 Cf. Osee 7.4, LXX; cf. Letter 130.10, PL 22.1116 (987).