HOMILY 6
HOMILY 6
ON PSALM 66 (67)
AY GOD HAVE PITY on us, and bless us.' May He not be our Judge, but may He be merciful to us. 'May
God have pity on us.' It is the voice of the apostles speaking to the assembly of the nations: You have believed in our words, behold you are the Church that has been assembled in the name of God; for this reason do we say, may
God have pity on us and bless us, so that with His blessing He may absolve the first malediction against man in Adam.1
'May he let his face shine upon us.' May we not look upon Him as sorrowful, but as rejoicing. May we not behold Him sorrowful because of our sins, but rejoicing in our virtues; may we not experience Him as Judge, but know Him as Father. 'May he let his face shine upon us.' The face of God, what is it like? As His image, certainly, for as the Apostle2 says, the image of the Father is the Son. With His image; therefore, may He shine upon us, that is, may He shine His image, the Son, upon us in order that He Himself may shine upon us, for the light of the Father is the light of the Son.
He who sees the Father, sees also the Son; and he who sees the Son sees also the Father.3 Where there is no diversity between glory and glory, there glory is one and the same.
'So may your way be known upon earth.' This, indeed, is our petition, that the light of Your countenance, that is, Your image, may shine upon us, Your image which has always been
1 Gen. 3.17; cf. Homily 1 on Ps. I, p. 3.
2 Cf. 2 Cor. 4.4; Col. 1.15.
3 John 14.9.
SAINT JEROME
hidden in You, and is one of Your secret mysteries cloaked in darkness, as it were, in conformity with the Scripture: 'And he made darkness the cloak about him.'4 This is our prayer, that You may shine upon us, that the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations according to the Apostle," may now be clearly shown in us. Why is this our urgent prayeri
Why is this our one desire? Unless You cause the light oj Your image to shine upon us, we cannot know Your way and know as You know. That is the reason behind the following words: 'So may your way be known upon earth,' that Yom majesty which is known in heaven, may be known also by w on earth. 'So may your way be known upon earth.' 'I am way,' He says, 'and the truth, and the life.'6 'So may your wa) be known upon earth,' that we on earth may know it. Ma)
'thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven';7 in order thai Him whom the angels adore in heaven, men also may adon upon earth. Someone may object and say that the way of Goe was known, for 'God is renowned in Juda; in Israel great ii his name:s God was known, but the way of God was nOI known in Judea. The way of God the Father was not knowr among the Judeans; hence, that is why Scripture now says
'Among all nations, your salvation'; not in one people only but in all nations without exception. 'Among all nations your salvation: Where we have in Latin 'salutare'-salvatior
-in the Hebrew it says 'Jesus: As a matter of fact, this i: what the angel says: 'And thou shalt call his name Jesus: £0] he shall save his people:9 'Among all nations your salvation.
See how the apostles' prayer has been fulfilled? His salvatior is known among all nations. Wherever human speech is able to penetrate, there resounds the name of Jesus.
'May the peoples confess to you, 0 God; may all the people 4 Ps. 17.12.
5 Col. 1.26.
6 John 14.6.
7 Matt. 6.10.
8 Ps. 75.2.
9 Matt. 1.21.
HOMILY 6
praise youPO The Hebrew people? No, 'all the peoples'; just as all nations, so all the peoples. 'May the peoples to you, 0 God.' Confess what? Their sins by all means; or else may they admit without any doubt that Your image is in You. May they confess You in the Son; may they see You in Him; may they adore You in Him. 'May the nations be glad and exult,' because they have been set free from the captivity of the devil; because they who formerly were bent over in the adoration of idols, wood and stone, now gaze upon the heavens, erect with uplifted faces. 'Because you rule the peoples in equity.' Wherever there is equity and judgment, there is no joy, but the fear of sinners. How, then, did the psalmist first say: 'May God have pity on us and bless us,' and now say: 'May the nations be glad and exult because you rule the peoples in equity'? This seems to be a contradiction.
If the peoples are in need of mercy, how are they to be glad and exult, since You rule them in equity? Now, wherever there is mercy, there is not judgment; on the other hand, where there is judgment and the justice of the judge, mercy is far from there. Yet the words are clear: 'May the nations be glad and exult.' Why be glad? 'Because you rule the peoples in equity,' for never is Your concern reserved only for the people of one nation; You are the God of all. It is not the.
Jews only who please You; the whole world is Yours.
Someone may say: 'You are forcing the Scripture, that is not what it means.' Let Holy Writ be its own interpreter where it says: 'Because you rule the peoples in equity.' What peoples? 'The nations on the earth you guide.' The nations that formerly were not walking with the right foot, the nations that formerly were not walking on the right path, You have caused to walk in Your way, that they might know Your way upon earth, that they might walk in the one path and not in many paths, that by the one way they might come to You from whom that one way is begotten. We do not go to the Father except through the Son.
10 Cf. Ps. 66 (67).4.
SAINT JEROME
Someone may charge: That is the dogma of the Arians.
Does one come to the Father through the Son?' I say this because through the image, we go to the face, and in the light, we see the light,11 in the Son, we see the Father. This is a mystery and a divine dispensation. Be that as it may, if anyone thinks it blasphemy because we said that the way is the Son, and through the way we go, as it were, to God, let us see what this way itself says: 'No one can come to me, unless my Father draw him to me.'12 In the same way that the Son leads to the Father, in that same way the Father also leads to the Son.
These are human words. Notwithstanding, the Son leads to the Father, and the Father leads to the Son; and they are one nature, one substance.
'May the peoples confess to you, a God.' The psalmist has already said this. He repeats these two versicles once again in this tiny psalm. Above he had said: 'May the peoples confess to you, a God; may all the peoples praise you! May the nations be glad and exult,' and so on; and now again he repeats the versicles. Like apostles they sing to all the nations:
'Much have they oppressed me from my youth, let Israel say, much have they oppressed me from my youth.'13 Notice how they sing first and the multitude of all the nations sings back. So it is now the same with those saying at the beginning of the psalm: 'Mayall the peoples praise you,' and directing the peoples and chanting: 'May the peoples confess to you, a God; may all the peoples praise you'; for they see that they are not responding and for this reason they repeat reproachfully: 'May the peoples confess to you, a God; may all the peoples give praise to you.' We have said this once already; you did not hear; let us sing it again that you may take up the song. Why have we urged not once but twice, that the peoples praise God? Why is this our bidding? Why our exhortation?
11 Cf. Ps. 35.10.
12 Cf. John 6.44.
13 Ps. 128.1, 2.
HOMILY 6
'The earth has yielded her earth, holy Mary who is from our earth, from our seed, from this clay, from this slime, from Adam. 'Dust you are and unto dust you shall return.'15 This earth has yielded its fruit; what it lost in the Garden of Eden, it has found in the Son. 'The earth has yielded her fruit.' First, it brought forth a flower. It says in the Canticle of Canticles: 'I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.'16 This flower has become fruit that we might eat it, that we might consume its flesh. Would you like to know what this fruit is? A Virgin from a virgin, the Lord from the handmaid, God from man, Son from mother, fruit from earth. Listen to what the fruit itself says: 'Unless the grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it cannot bring forth much fruit.'17 'The earth has yielded her fruit'; it has yielded a grain of wheat. Because the grain of wheat has fallen into the ground and died, it produces many fruits.
The fruit is multiplied in the head of grain. Because one had fallen, it rose again with many; one grain of wheat has fallen into the ground and a fruitful harvest came of it.
'The earth has yielded her fruit.' For that reason: 'May the peoples confess to you, 0 God; may all the peoples praise you!
The earth has yielded her fruit.' What is this fruit? 'God, our God, has blessed us, may God bless us.' God, the Father; the Son, for He is our God. 'And they shall call,' the prophet says, 'his name Emmanuel,'ls that is, God with us. 'May God bless us,' our God, the Holy Spirit. Behold the mystery of the Trinity embraced in one tiny verse. 'The earth has yielded her fruit' with many fruits; in this fruit is contained the mystery of the Trinity. 'God, our God, has blessed us.' The God of all through nature has become our God personally.
'May God bless us'; may He banish the ancient curse. A male14 Cf. Ps. 66 (67).7.
15 Gen. 3.19.
16 Cant. 2.1; cf. Letter 22.19, PL 22.406 (102); 75.1, PL 22.686 (452); 130.8, PL 22.11l4 (985).
17 Cf. John 12.24, 25.
18 Cf. Isa. 7.14; Matt. 1.23.
SAINT JEROME
diction drove us out of Paradise; may a benediction lead us back. 'God, our God has blessed us. May God bless us.'
'And may all the ends of the earth fear him!' The prophet did not say, may all the ends of the earth love Him; 'but perfect love casts out fear.'19 Fear is the mark of beginners; love, the sign of the perfect. He who still fears is still a novice; he does not have full and perfect faith; moreover, for him who loves God, all things work together unto good.2Q This seems a brief and simple maxim, but we shall sift and examine it, and in these simple words we shall find a mighty mystery.
We shall discover on the inside that which was hidden from the outside.
'For those who love God all things work together unto goOd.'21 Job, a holy man, was tempted; he lost his sons and his daughters; his home fell into ruins; he lost everything he had; suddenly everything was gone. He was neither father nO! lord; nothing remained sound in his body save his tongue with which he could blaspheme. See the temptor, the devil. 'From the sole of the foot,' Scripture says, 'even to the top of head he struck him with a very grievous ulcer,'22 that is, with leprosy. From the ulcer, vermin spread over his entire body and disease and putrefaction. Only his tongue the devil lefl untouched that he might be able to blaspheme his God. 'Ir: all these things Job sinned not by his lips.'23 Just realize th( magnitude of the temptation; reflect upon the magnitude 01 the virtue. Ponder well and comprehend how the saying 01 the Apostle has been fulfilled: 'For those who love God al things work together unto good.' When Job lost all hi: wealth, when he lost his sons, everything seemed to militate against him, but since he loved the Lord, the evils that befel him worked together for his good. The vermin of his bod; were preparing for him the crown of heaven. Before the time
19 1 John 4.18.
20 Cf. Rom. 8.28.
21 Rom. 8.28.
22 Job 2.7.
23 Job 1.22.
HOMILY 6
he was tempted, God had never spoken to him; after he had been tempted, however, God comes to him and speaks fami· liarly with him, as a friend with his friend. Let calamity strike, let every kind of disaster fall, as long as after the catastrophe,
Christ comes.
We have digressed from the psalm, but not needlessly, for we read the words of Scripture: 'And may all the ends of the earth fear him!' and remarked that fear is the sign of little souls, while love the mark of the perfect. To prove our point, we quoted from the Apostle: 'For those who love God all things work together unto good.' 'And may all the ends of the earth fear him; by no means only Judea, but all the ends of the earth. In accordance with tropologian-allegory-more· over, the psalmist means all lands far and wide, not only the mediate lands, not those that are in the center of earth, but those at the ends of the earth, that are leaving earth and hastening to heaven. Let us, therefore, say at the close of our psalm what the apostles said at the beginning: 'May God have pity on us, and bless us; may he let his face shine upon us, and may he have mercy on us.'