you are caught in a trial; but remembering the prophet who says, *It is good for me that you have humbled me, that I might learn your statutes* (Ps. 118:71), accept the calamity as a remedy, and use the temptation for a necessary purpose, and you shall be able to attain greater relief; of which may we all be deemed worthy, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
ON PSALM CXXIII
1. *If it had not been the Lord who was on our side.* A What I have often said, I say now also, and will not cease to say, that the fruit of the captivity is great, and sufficient to lead those who attend to it toward philosophy. For see, those who used to run to idols, and who despised God, and who drifted into impiety, what do they say now after the captivity, and how do they attribute their own salvation to God? And the prophet, like a skilled choir-leader, continually commands them to say the same things. For instance, after saying it first himself, he instructs them—as a teacher does his disciples—to say: *Let Israel now say, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive.* For they were unarmed and naked, captives and slaves, and just delivered from evils, and having a city without walls—or rather, not even a city—and after their return they lay as prey ready for everyone. But instead of a wall and a tower, God became these things to them. B Let us, too, say this now: *If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, then they would have swallowed us up alive.* For what would our enemy the devil not have done, if the Lord had not been on our side? Hear what Christ says to Simon: *Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has asked to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail* (Luke 22:31)? For the beast is wicked and insatiable, and if he were not continually bridled, he would have overturned and confounded everything. For if, in the case of the blessed Job, having received a small measure of permission, he tore his house up by the roots, mangled his body, caused such a tragedy, destroyed his substance, buried his children, made worms swarm over his flesh, set his wife against him, and prepared his friends, his enemies, and his servants to say such things, if he were not held by a thousand bridles, how would he not have harmed everyone? For this reason, this one also says: *If it had not been the Lord who was on our side.* For they were indeed very few and of no account, and many attacked them C when they returned. And in this, too, the wisdom of God was revealed, in not giving them safety all at once, but gently and little by little. He did this, keeping them in the knowledge of God, and not allowing the correction that came to them from the captivity to dissipate. Since the deliverance from evils is accustomed to make people more slothful, even in the very giving of good things, He allows them to be continually tempted, so that they might have the temptations as a constant exercise of philosophy. For this reason, He does not always leave men in calamities, D so that they might not faint, nor in stillness, so that they might not become slothful, but He varies their salvation with alternations.
*Then they would have swallowed us up alive.* Do you see how he demonstrates the beast-like nature of those who attack? For there are even men who are such, displaying the cruelty of beasts, or rather, using their own kind even worse than those [beasts] do. For the beast, once it has attacked, lets go of its anger and withdraws, or, if it is warded off, does not come again; but men, having failed many times, attack many times, desiring to taste of their own flesh. Such is anger, not having reason; so the passion seethes and boils. How, then, could such a disease be extinguished? If we consider those who depart day by day, if we calculate our own nature, if we think of death and contemplate it, [remembering] that we are dust and ashes. But if the beauty of the face still deceives your mind, go to the 346 monuments and the tombs of your fathers, and see those who lie there, how they are dissolved into dust, and you will receive much cause from the sight to draw back. But do not judge the weight of the word [to be too harsh]. For just as those who are suffering from fever, when they have been freed from their diseases, require pure air, so too those who are maddened by their passions, if they go to the monuments, as if seizing upon a healthy place, they banish many of their diseases. For indeed, the sight of the sarcophagus is enough to bring even the most desperate man down. From these things, send your mind on to that future, fearful day, to those tortures and those reckonings, to the punishments that have no consolation, where no one will stand by you; with all these things, soothe your passions. And consider also those of men who in the present life fall from wealth to poverty, from glory to dishonor; and if you wish to be angry, be not with your kinsman, but with the wicked demon. You have the place where you can expend the passion: never spend it on him [the kinsman], but set a trap for him [the devil], and never be satisfied in warring against him. *At the anger of their fury against us, then the water would have overwhelmed us, our soul would have passed through the unbearable water.* He calls the [345/346 transition, no space in original] unspeakable wrath of the enemies a torrent and water, for water is what is carried along in disorder, and with much momentum and force, sweeps away whatever it encounters. He does not only speak of the onslaught of evils here, but also of the passing.
2. Let us not, therefore, fall when evils come upon us. For a torrent, whatever it may be, is a cloud that passes by. Whatever you say is grievous, it has an end; whatever you say is terrible, it meets with a limit. For if it had no end, nature would not have sufficed. *But it sweeps many away*, he says. But [this happens] not because of its own momentum, but because of those who are slothful and easily tripped. In order, then, that we may not be swept away, and that we go to its deeper places, let us consider its paths, let us take hold of the holy anchor, so that we may suffer no shipwreck.
IN PSALMUM CXXIII
For the torrent is terrible for a time, and again is humbled beyond measure. *The water would have overwhelmed us.* Another interpreter says: *Then perhaps the waters would have overwhelmed us, passing on against our soul. Perhaps our soul would have passed over the intolerable water.* Another says: *Then they would have passed over our soul, as waters, the proud.* Do you see how great God’s aid is? How, in such great evils, He did not allow them to be submerged? For He allows evils to grow, not that they may overwhelm us, but that He may make us more approved, and provide a greater demonstration of His own power. He calls the enemies "proud" here, who, rushing on more vehemently than any torrent or intolerable water, did them no harm. The cause, however, is God’s protection, the heavenly subsidy, the aid that cannot be overcome. And therefore, when He himself had spoken of the deliverance from evils, He mentions Him who delivered, and that with his highest praise. 5. *Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth. 6. Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers.* Do you see how he shows their own weakness and the others' power? For they invaded them like wild beasts and lions, ready even to feed on their flesh, armed with both strength and fury; but these were weaker than any sparrow. For then the miracles of God are especially shown, when those who are weak overcome the powerful. And the snares were not intolerable only because they were mighty and terrible, full of wrath, and ready even to feed on their flesh: and these were weak and few, who could easily be attacked: but also because they were intercepted in the midst of evils, and surrounded on all sides by difficulties, having wars encompassing them on every side: but He who is endowed with the greatest power, and can preserve from every side, even after dangers and evils have beset us; He has delivered us, he says, with great ease. Which indeed wishing to show, he said thus: *Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers,* showing also how, he subjoined: 8. *Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.* Do you see the virtue of the helper? Do you see his power? He even removed the very means of the snares.
This might also be taken anagogically concerning the devil, and the race of mankind. For it shows how He snatched away, and how He removed his snares: for this has happened since He said to the disciples: *Walk upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy* (Luke 10:19). For there is no longer an open war, nor an equally matched line of battle; but he lies prone and prostrate, while you stand erect, striking him from above: he is enervated, but you are robust and strong. How does it happen, therefore, that he often wins? This happens because of our sloth, because of the laziness of those who sleep. If, therefore, you wish to resist, he dares not engage you in a set battle. But if he overcomes one who is sleeping, that is to be attributed not to his power, but to your negligence. For who would not overcome a person who is sleeping, even if he were the weakest of all? The strong man is bound, all his impediments are snatched away, his power is broken, his dwelling-place is torn down and ruined, his spears have failed. What more do you wish than this? For what cause do you fear him? Why are you afraid? You have been commanded to trample upon him who is enervated: for what reason, I ask, do you tremble? Why do you hesitate and doubt? Do you not consider what kind of person He is who brings you aid? For not only has your enemy become weaker, but your help is even greater. The exultation of the flesh has been compressed, the burden of sin has been taken away, you have received the grace of the Spirit, which has the power of anointing. *For what was impossible to the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and of sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh* (Rom. 8:3-4). He has made your flesh obedient to you, He has gifted you with armor: the breastplate of justice, the girdle of truth, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit; He has given you the earnest, He feeds you with His own body, He offers His own blood for you to drink, He has handed the cross to you like a spear into your hands (Eph. 6). He has bound him, He has cast him to the ground. You have nothing, therefore, with which to defend yourself henceforth, if you are overcome; and if you are defeated, no pardon is to be granted to you. For you have countless opportunities for victory. The snare is broken, he says, and we have been delivered. *Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.* Do you see what kind of Commander you have, what kind of King, He who is the Maker of the universe, He who by a word alone produced so many bodies, such a mass, such a magnitude? Do not lose heart, resist with a strong spirit. Nothing prevents your trophy from standing erect. Knowing these things, therefore, O beloved, let us be sober, let us strive, and let us not sleep, but having cleansed our arms and confirmed the alacrity of our spirit, let us strike the enemy unceasingly, so that when we have carried off a brilliant victory, we may attain with great glory the kingdom of heaven: which may we be granted to attain by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and empire unto ages of ages. Amen.
IN PSALMUM CXXIV
AWhy did he not simply say, "As a mount," but remembers that mount? In order to teach that we ought not to lose heart in calamities, nor be overwhelmed by them, but hanging upon hope in God, to bear all things bravely, wars, battles, and tumults. For just as this mount, which had been at one time deserted and denuded of inhabitants, had returned to its former prosperity, having regained its ancient state, with the inhabitants having returned, and miracles being shown again: even so the brave man, even if he is invaded by countless calamities, will not be overturned. Do not, therefore, seek a life that is free from trouble, and without action, and without toil, but one that is not dragged away by dangers...