conciliabitur, B then He will grant petitions more readily, when you have prayed by yourself, when you have applied a pure mind, a vigilant reason, and have not prayed perfunctorily—as many do, whose tongue utters the words of prayer, but whose mind often wanders at home, in the marketplace, or on the road. This, in truth, is the Devil’s entire machinery. For since he knows that at that time we are able to obtain remission of sins, wishing to obstruct for us the harbor of prayer, he rises up at that time, pushing and drawing the mind away from the words, so that we may depart having suffered loss rather than having gained profit. Knowing these things, O man, when you approach God, consider to whom you are approaching; and it is enough for your vigilance that you trust in Him from whom you expect grace. Look into heaven, and consider whom you are addressing. For if anyone, when speaking to a man who is elevated even by a little in human honors, even if he should be the most negligent of all men, still altogether arouses himself and commands his mind to be vigilant; how much more, if we consider that we are speaking with the Lord of the angels, shall we take from this a sufficient argument for attention? C But if another method must be revealed, by which we shall be able to dispel this sloth, I would say this: Often we have finished our prayer, and have departed without having heard the things we were saying. If, therefore, we consider this, let us immediately resume the prayer; if that same thing happens again, even three or four times let us repeat it, and not depart from prayer before we have uttered the whole of it with a vigilant mind. If the Devil senses this—namely, that we do not depart before we have uttered it with zeal and a vigilant spirit—he will at last depart from his ambushes, knowing that nothing further will come of his ambushes than that he forces us to repeat the same prayer often. Beloved, we receive many wounds daily from family, from strangers, in the marketplace, at home, from public matters, from private ones, from neighbors, from friends. Let us apply the remedies of prayer to all those wounds at the time of prayer. For God is able, if we have approached with a vigilant mind, with an ardent spirit, and a fervent conscience, and have asked for forgiveness, to grant us remission of all our offenses; which may we all obtain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
DUBIOUS WORKS.
MONITUM
D This homily was first published by Jean-Baptiste Cotelier in the year 1661, in 4°, p. 41, and it is of a slightly better quality than the other on the Sixth Psalm which Cotelier himself first published. I would scarcely believe, however, that it is the true offspring of Chrysostom; for that writer is too jejune, yet abounding in exclamations and interjections, and it smells of something foreign. Tillemont, though hesitatingly, kept it among the
WORDS OF THE SAME ON DAVID THE KING, AND PAUL THE APOSTLE, CONCERNING REPENTANCE: AND ON VARIOUS PARTS OF THE PSALTER WHICH PERTAIN TO THE END OF CHRIST: AND THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO DESPAIR OF OUR OWN SALVATION
Just now you heard the psalmist David crying out: 2. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy; and according to the multitude of your mercies, blot out my iniquity" (Ps. 50). And again, 12. "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my breast," David cries. But why does the prophet say, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy"? Because where there is mercy, there salvation is free from judgment; where there is mercy, judgment does not sit; where there is mercy, accounts are not demanded. I desire to obtain mercy once: deliver me from my infirmity. And why does David cry, "Create a clean heart in me, O God"? He who had performed so many illustrious deeds, who had raised trophies, who had slain Goliath, and had strangled a lion, and who possessed such great liberty of the Holy Spirit, he says: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy; and according to the multitude of your mercies, blot out my iniquity." When I was a farmer, you made me a king; having made me king, you appointed me a prophet; at the time of war you made me...