a wife, and she received you, that you might cultivate chastity. Do you desire to abstain from lust? Persuade your husband of this also, so that there may be a double crown, namely chastity and concord, so that there may not be chastity and fighting, peace and war. For when you are eager for continence, but he is burning with lust, Paul forbids it, lest anyone fornicate (1 Cor. 6:18); immediately he is perturbed, and as it were agitated by certain waves. “Do not deprive one another, unless by agreement.” For where there is peace, there all things are good; where there is peace, even chastity shines; where there is concord, continence is crowned; but where there is war, chastity is cut down. Do not therefore deprive one another, unless perhaps by agreement. Since Paul, the matchmaker of the world, surpasses any matchmaker. And for that reason he does not fear to say: A “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled” (Heb. 13:4). For the Lord Himself came to this marriage, and dignified it with His presence, and offered gifts. For He changed water into wine. Run, therefore, as much as you wish; but when you are exhausted, accept the remedy of sexual intercourse, lest Satan tempt you. “Let every man therefore have his own wife” (1 Cor. 7:2). For these three things exist: virginity, marriage, fornication; marriage holds the middle place, fornication the lowest, virginity the highest. Virginity has a crown, marriage a moderate praise, fornication punishment and torment. See, therefore, how you contain yourself, and whether you can bear the weakness of the body; and do not bring it into your mind to ascend above measure, lest you descend beyond measure. For just as he who is about to dive enters into the water in such a measure as he is able to emerge, and when he enters, he considers how much he ought to emerge, so also you: consider with yourself how much you can bear, lest otherwise you descend beyond measure. For all these things let us give thanks to Christ, because to Him are glory and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.
On the remaining parts of the fiftieth Psalm, and on repentance.
B I wish to pay you the remains of yesterday’s table today; but when you hear of remains and a table, O beloved, beware of suspecting anything sensible. For we do not cut up meat into pieces, but we provide spiritual senses. We do not pour out pure wine, but we instill discourse into your minds. For at a sensible table, if meats are kept for one or two days, they rot and perish; but in the senses of the mind, if they remain for a whole year, they return their flower and sweetness of odor. The meats remained, and in time they were corrupted; the senses remained, and they never cease to return their fragrance. If anyone eats meats, he departs into corruption; if anyone eats senses, he is led to incorruption. If anyone eats meats, he belches up much stench; if anyone eats senses that have the odor of sweetness, he belches up much virtue, and affects his neighbor with pleasure. Therefore the prophet, C because he had eaten such foods, said: “My heart belched forth a good word” (Ps. 44:2). [b][Waves are again stirred up, but let the mind remain stable: bodies are shaken, but let the ear be tranquil. Look, therefore, and diligently attend your mind to those things which I shall say. All of you have seen the king and prophet struggling, falling, rising again, conquering, crowned, proclaimed. The remedy for wounds is the hope of salvation. — You have seen sin approaching, and having been slaughtered through repentance. For sin made an assault like a bear, and cast you down; but repentance entered, and recalled him from the fall. The remedy for wounds essentially was the hope of salvation. You have seen how the prophet entered, and rebuked the prophet. You have seen the king wisely bearing the rebuke, receiving the incision, and thus being freed from the sore. You have seen the Lord’s kindness shining forth, and recalling the dead to life. You have seen him saying: "I have sinned against the Lord"; and again the prophet: "The Lord also has taken away your sin." A more expeditious medicine and repulsion of the disease. Through works he had sinned, through words he confessed. God assented, the wound was taken from the middle, and health returned. D But the prophet did not think that this was sufficient for himself, but after the rebuke, after the correction and healing, after the utterance of words, after the treatment of the wounds, he wrote this Psalm for this argument, that his calamity might become a medicine for posterity, and his shipwreck might become a port for them, and that through those things which he himself had suffered, and had received health, others who might have fallen into the same disease might enjoy the same sort of medicine and cure. Who, therefore, is this Psalm, and what is its inscription? Let us hear, I pray, diligently. “Unto the end, a psalm of David.” [a][The inscription itself clearly hands down to us what the argument of this Psalm is; indeed, the very words of the Psalm sufficiently indicate the depth of the sentiment. This, however, is worth knowing: that this Psalm contains a prediction of future events as well. Whence also it is inscribed, "Unto the end." By which words it is indicated that this prophecy was to have an end. Nor indeed let anyone doubt whether the great David was gifted with prophetic grace at the time when he was engaged in repentance. For that this can be seen through other Psalms as well, in which he emits confession.] For as in others, so in this Psalm also he has clearly taught us this, that he was not at all deprived of the grace of the Spirit. "And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me" (Ps. 50:13). [For he did not petition that it be provided to him, but that it might not be taken away. Being illuminated by it, and looking forward, as [he saw] that the people who were subject to his rule would fall, and by what punishments they would be afflicted, and having been oppressed by captivity would migrate into Babylon, he wrote this Psalm, both to bring a medicine to his own wounds, and to compose a corresponding pharmaceutical remedy for his people.] "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy: and according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity" (Ps. 50:3). [Both to the most divine David, and to the captive people, and to those among us who are badly affected, these words are appropriate. For huge wounds have need of corresponding pharmaceuticals. On account of which also the great David was a suppliant, that the whole mercy might be poured out upon him, and the entire fountain of mercies might obliterate the footprints of sin. But he rightly calls iniquity a delinquency: for it has a double transgression of the law.] "Blot out my iniquity." You heard the prophet saying: "The Lord also has taken away your sin": why, therefore, do you ask for more? I remain, he says, in the giving of thanks, I remain in the preaching of divine praise. My sin has been taken away, and I also desire the scar to be removed; the ulcer has been removed, but I also desire to receive back my beauty.
A What humanity of the Master! Where did he descend? God says to a man: "Why do you persecute me?" He imitates his own Father. For he also says to the Hebrew people: "My people, what have I done to you, or how have I wronged you, or how have I troubled you? Answer me" (Mic. 6:3). And his Son says to Saul: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (Act. 9:4). What then says he? "Who are you, Lord?" He immediately confessed the mastery. Do you see a grateful soul? "Who are you, Lord?" "I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you persecute." O the wisdom of the Master! Why did he not say, "I am the Son of God, I am the Word in the beginning, I am he who sits at the right hand of the Father, I am he 585 who exists in the form of God, I am he who stretched out the heaven, I am he who established the earth, I am he who spread out the sea, I am he who made the angels, I am he who is everywhere present and fills all things, I am he who was born of the Father before the ages"? Why did he not say those venerable, lofty, and great things, but rather, "I am Jesus the Nazarene, he from the city below"? Because the persecutor was ignorant of him. For if he had known him, he would not have persecuted him. He was ignorant that he had been born of the Father, but that he was from Nazareth, he knew. If, therefore, he had said to him that "I am the Son of God, the Word in the beginning, who made the heaven," he would have been able to say, "Another is that one, and another is he whom I persecute." Do you understand what I have said? If he had said to him those great and lofty things, he would have been able to say: "It is another, it is not this one who was crucified." But in order that he might learn that he was persecuting Him who became flesh, who took the form of a servant, who lived among us, who was crucified, who died, who was buried, who rose again, he from the region below, he says: "I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you persecute," whom you have seen and recognize, who lived with you. For this reason he immediately confessed the mastery. The Master descended as much as the servant was able to ascend; and for this reason he was shown mercy. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy." And the Canaanite woman flees to this harbor: "Have mercy on me; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon" (Matt. 15:22). For where there is mercy, there is no examination; where there is mercy, no court sits; where there is mercy, no accounting is required; where there is mercy, salvation is without examination; where there is mercy, an apology is granted. I seek only to be shown mercy. For what reason do you demand an accounting from me? Once I seek mercy, an uncurious salvation. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy." You said "great," tell me how great? I do not know; that it is great, I know; I am not able to measure it, I am not able to comprehend it. I do not know the quantity of the magnitude; the mind does not grasp it, the tongue does not interpret it. I see the fruit of mercy is great. For if it were not very great, few would have been saved. His Son also demonstrates this mercy. For having come, he saved everyone through mercy. "Have mercy on me, O God," the harbor without waves, filled with serenity. Great is the noise of my sins, but great is the security of my Master's philanthropy. He became a man; this is mercy. He came into a virginal womb; this is philanthropy. He became what you are, so that you might become what you were not; this is mercy. And having come, whom did he call immediately? The Magi. After them, whom? A tax collector. After him? A harlot. After her? A thief. After him, whom? A blasphemer. B He called from the start the first-fruits of those who had previously sinned, so that no one after this might despair of his own salvation. Are you impious? Consider the Magi. Are you a tax collector? Consider the tax collector. Are you unclean? Consider the harlot. Are you a murderer? Consider the thief. Are you a lawbreaker? Consider the blasphemer Paul, and after this an apostle; formerly a persecutor, and after this an evangelist; formerly an adulterer, and after this a bridesman; formerly a weed, and after this wheat; formerly a wolf, and after this a shepherd; formerly lead, and after this gold; 586 formerly a pirate and a submarine robber, and after this a pilot; formerly one ravaging the Church, and after this one entrusted with the Church; formerly one cutting down the vines, and after this a planter; formerly one tearing down the temple, and after this a builder. Have you seen excessive malice? Have you seen flourishing virtue? Have you seen the madness of a servant? Have you seen the philanthropy of a Master? Do not say to me, "I am a blasphemer"; do not say to me, "I am a persecutor, I am unclean." You have examples of everyone. Flee to whichever harbor you wish. Do you wish to be in the New [Testament]? Do you wish to be in the Old? In the New is Paul, in the Old is David. Do not say to me excuses, do not say to me hesitation. You have sinned? Repent. Ten thousand times have you sinned? Ten thousand times repent. I am constantly applying these remedies, and I am calming the inflammation. For I know how great is the disgrace of the conscience of those who have sinned; I know how great is the despair. The devil stands by sharpening his sword and saying these words: "At least you have shamed your youth, you have lost your entire life. Formerly you were a fornicator, after this you robbed, you were greedy, you were gluttonous, you blasphemed. What hope is there for your salvation? You are lost. Henceforth, enjoy at least the present life." These are the devil's words, but mine are the opposite. Are you lost? But you can be saved. Have you been a fornicator? But you can live temperately. Have you committed adultery? But you can obtain salvation. Have you fallen? But you can rise. Is your repentance small? But the Master's philanthropy is great. Have I murdered? But repent. Have you been greedy? But be regretful. Have you committed adultery? But desist. Have you been wounded? But be healed. As long as you breathe, on the last day, even if you are lying on that very bed, gasping for breath, about to depart from this theater and this life, then repent. The scarcity of time does not hinder the philanthropy of God. Do not say to me, "How, and in what manner? I am filled with sores, and I am full of wounds; on the last day can I confess?" You can, and you can indeed. Pray, do an act of mercy, leave something to the poor in your will. You are casting it there, and your work remains. And do not bring to me the opinion of the heretics; do not say to me: "How am I saved?" When God is performing the work, do not demand accountings; whenever He heals, do not despair. A doctor stands cutting and applying infinite remedies, and you do not say, "How does he heal?" but you yield to the art. You yield to the art of a fellow servant and you do not be curious; and to the philanthropy of God will you not be yielding? Do not say, "How," but marvel, do not ask; be struck with awe, but glorify. For I also ask you, how was the thief saved? He finished his whole life in murders, in slaughter, in blood; he broke through walls, he plundered wealth; he did not regret, he did not repent while he was on earth. Among men he was condemned, and by God he was crowned. He was not lord of his own life, and he became lord of a kingdom. He lost the things here, and he received the things there. How did he receive them? Tell me. With one word. For what did he say? "Remember me" (Luke 23:42). O strange and paradoxical things! The first-fruits of the calling, the tyranny of sin. Because the affairs of the world were poorly disposed—for some were tyrannized by impiety, and others in Judaism and despair were held by sin—for this reason, therefore, having come...
to the rescue of his own creation, and after these things they crucified Him, their own Master and the Master of all.
The thief, however, did not see these things, yet he was reproached, insulted, and reviled, and yet he was not caused to stumble, but confessed Him to be King. You see that he did not receive mercy simply, but also brought something himself? For no one is saved by mercy alone, but he also brings his own faith. Again, the publican, who was a plunderer and greedy, how did he attain salvation? Christ was passing by, and said to him: "Follow me," and he rose and followed Him. Just as the thief brought the word, so the publican brought the following. Just as for those who are sick and afflicted with incurable diseases, when a physician enters and advises the sick man that there is need of many kinds of ingredients to prepare the remedy, and he says he is unable to provide them because he is poor, and the physician says, "Give me this and that, and I will supply all the rest from my own resources"—even so does God. "Give me confession," He says, "and tears and repentance; and I will bestow the rest upon you out of my benevolence."
5. B And He asks David to perform these things. What, then, did David do? What did David offer? "Have mercy on me," and, "Wash me more thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." As if he were saying, "Already, indeed, through the prophet Nathan, you have granted me forgiveness, and you have applied to me all sorts of calamities, like cauterizations and incisions; but I have need of washings, as one who has contracted great stench from the sin. Once more, Lord, wash me, that you may wipe away all the filth of sin." What then did David do? What did he offer in return? He committed murder and adultery, but he offered tears and confession and says: "For I acknowledge mine iniquity." It is a contract. God gives, and he who is being saved also gives. God gave mercy; in return, he who received salvation gave confession. What do you provide, David, so that you may receive salvation, so that I may mix the remedy? "For I acknowledge mine iniquity." This is what you provide? Is there any man who does not know his own sin? Indeed there is. For how many are there who sin, and are bold in their spirit? How many are there who plunder, and do not even know that they are plundering? How many are covetous, and do not even perceive it? How many strip widows, and gaze greedily after others? How many oppress orphans, and do not mourn, nor shed tears, nor confess their sins? How then can they attain salvation, since they do not know that they are sinning?
Do you see the prophet crying out and saying, "For I acknowledge mine iniquity?" Even after God has erased it, I do not consign it to oblivion, nor did I receive a forgetfulness of the sin after it was done; but I am constantly seeing the images of the evils and the transgressions I committed, and at night I dream of them, and during the day I imagine them. "For I acknowledge mine iniquity, and my sin is ever before me." O nobility of soul! For He did not grant a forgetfulness of the sin, but rather he wrote it down so that he might be forgiven. As with a representation, he saw the adultery every day, every day he saw the rot. "And my sin is ever before me." I see it myself, and do you, Lord, see it as I write it down, and do You erase it. See how it comes to pass. If you remember it, God will forget it; if you forget it, God will remember it. For He himself says through the prophet, "And I will not remember your sins, and you shall not remember them either." For if you remember the magnitude of the sin, you will always remember the magnitude of the benefactions. If you remember it, he says, do not forget the grace, and do not remember the sin; but if you do remember, these are the saints—they repented of their transgressions, and remembered their sins. Not as those who have forgotten their sins; if they do anything good, they bring it into the middle. "I did a good deed," David says, "so that your Master may say of it, 'I did...'"
'" A a deed.' But you say, 'I did it,' and you diminish it; if your Master says it, He increases it. How, I ask? You give to a poor man, and if you are asked there, how do you speak? 'I saw a poor man hungry, and I fed him.' How does He speak? He does not just say it thus; but how? *I was hungry, and you fed me* (Matt. 25:35). Leave it to the One who can speak grandly; permit the One who speaks and magnifies to say these things; but as for your sins, you speak of them, that He may blot them out. But are you ashamed to speak because you have sinned? Speak of them daily in your prayer. And what does it matter? Shall I not say them? Speak to your fellow-servant who reproaches you, speak to God who heals them. For if you do not speak, God is not ignorant of them. Does He wish to learn them from you? When you were doing them, He was present; when you were working them, He stood by, He knew. You were doing them, and you were not ashamed. You were not ashamed of the deeds that shame you, and are you ashamed of the words that justify you? Speak here, that you may not have to speak there. Speak, and weep. Your sins are written in a book; your tears are a sponge. Weep, and they are blotted out; weep, and the book is found clean there. A great sponge are the tears for sins; great is the power of tears. Shall I tell you how much tears avail? B What seems to you a great achievement? But attend with precision to what I say. What seems to you a great achievement? You will say, martyrdom; *for greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his soul for his friends* (John 15:13). The greatest achievement of martyrdom is that the martyrs shed blood. For the deeds of the martyrs are manifest. The martyrs shed blood, the sinners shed tears. And that you may learn that tears have equal power, did not the harlot shed blood? Did she not shed a fountain of tears, and blot out her sins? And why do I mention a harlot, an unclean woman? The pillar of the Church, the foundation of faith, the head of the choir of the apostles, Peter, did he not deny Christ once, twice, and thrice? Did he not shed blood? Did he not shed fountains of tears, and weep, and wipe away his sin? *And my lawlessness I know. C* Do you not have a book at home, and do you write your daily account? Have a book in your conscience, and write your daily sins. It is as if one said: When you recline on your bed, and no one disturbs you, before sleep comes, bring the book into the middle and ponder your sins, saying within yourself: "Did I sin today? In word or in deed?" 6. The prophet also counsels this: *Be angry, and do not sin; what you say in your hearts, be pricked in your beds* (Ps. 4:5). By day you have no leisure; there is the fear of rulers, the conversation of companions, the care of business, the thought of child-rearing, the solicitude of a wife, and the concern for the table, and countless things drag you about. But when you come to your bed, to the harbor without waves, and no one disturbs you, speak to your heart and to your soul: "We have spent today, O soul; what good have we wrought, or what evil did we do?" And remember Gehenna, that by fear you may increase the good, and remove the evil. If you are in bed and remember your sins, weep, and you can blot them out in bed. Entreat your God, and thus commit your soul to sleep, testifying to your sins. Render an account to Him, and your God will render an account to you. What is heavy or burdensome about pondering daily sins while in bed? And when you ponder them, hang your mind, scrape it, open it to the fear of Gehenna, apply to it a cutting that carries no pain; make of yourself a fearful tribunal, make your mind lighter, that on the next day you may be more sluggish in committing sins. *Because I know my lawlessness, and my sin is before me continually*. D *Against you only have I sinned, and done the evil before you*. What is this that you say? "I was a king, I was fearing you only. I was a king, I did not fear the one I had wronged. He was my soldier, he could not punish me; but I am concerned for you, lest you require an account of me. Against you only have I sinned, and done the evil before you." [Having enjoyed many and great gifts from you, I returned the gifts with the opposite, daring to do things forbidden by the law. For he does not say this, that I did not wrong Uriah; for he wronged both that man and the wife of that man; but the greatest lawlessness was dared against God himself, who had chosen him and made him king. And well he added, *I did the evil before you*. For this the history also remembers; for it says the deed was done, the evil before the Lord. But from the captive people this having happened, it must be understood thus: *Against you only have I sinned*. Being ungrateful for your gifts, he says, and I have transgressed the laws laid down for you, and having enjoyed many good things, I have become ungrateful regarding these things; but having wronged the Babylonians in nothing, I have been greatly wronged by them. *That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged*. To himself, he says, I became a cause of evils; but your justice shines forth even so. For when judgement occurs, and those things done to me by you are brought into the middle, and those things dared by me are examined alongside them, you will be declared just and philanthropic; but I will be found lawless and ungrateful. The *That* therefore is not here indicative of cause. For not for this did David himself or the people sin, so that God might be justified; but on the contrary, even the sin having been committed by these, the justice of God is revealed, for He has made provision for him and for them.] *That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged*. What is it that he says? "I have sinned against you; if there be a tribunal, you prevail; if any one judges, you prevail." How? Because he saw God always wishing to be judged with men... *Hear, O mountains, O foundations of the earth; because there is a judgement for God against his people*; and again, *My people, what have I done to you? Or what have I troubled you with? Or what have I grieved you with? Answer me*; and elsewhere: *Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord has spoken: I have begotten and exalted sons; but they have rejected me*; and everywhere he saw God being judged with men; he says to Him, "With you are the victories; *That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged*. Being a man, a farmer, you made me king; having become king, you made me a prophet. I cast down Goliath...
not by the strength of the body, but by the power of faith. I wore purple. You cast out another and brought me in; you gave me most ample riches. B *Ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum judicaris.* If you, he says, expose my sins, while I do not, I am condemned. Therefore, I have need of mercy: "For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins my mother conceived me." Of old, he says, and from the beginning, sin overcame nature, for the transgression of the divine command preceded the conception of Eve. For Adam, after he had transgressed and been cast out of paradise, knew his wife Eve; and she conceived and bore Cain.
The operation of sin is not natural. This, then, is what he wishes to say: Sin, which overcame the authors of our race, made for itself a certain way and path through the succession of the race. But by all these things we are taught that the operation of sin is not natural—for otherwise we would be immune from punishment—but that nature, being shaken by the affects of the soul, is prone to a fall; yet the mind, through the help and aid of labors, obtains the victory. Therefore, he does not here accuse marriage, as some foolishly supposed, interpreting these words in that way: "In iniquities I was conceived"; but he brings into the middle that wickedness committed by the first parents, and says that it became the fountain of these fluxes. For if they had not sinned, he says, they would not have undergone the punishment of death; and if they had not been mortal, they would have been free from corruption; furthermore, to incorruption would have been joined immunity from the perturbations of the soul; while that prevailed, there would have been no place for sin. But after they sinned, they were delivered to corruption; and having become corruptible, they begot such children also; and such offspring are accompanied by lusts, and fears, and pleasures. Against these the reason contends: if it conquers, it is celebrated as if by the voice of a herald; but if it succumbs, it is overwhelmed with ignominy. Symmachus, moreover, instead of *concepit* (iniquities), put *utero gestavit*.
8. "For behold, you have loved truth." In this way you judge, and some you punish, while others you crown, because you love the truth. And loving the truth, and having the imbecility of our nature in view, grant pardon to those who seek remedies. "The uncertain and hidden things of your wisdom, you have made manifest to me." Omitting the mention of the kingdom, he made mention of prophecy. You exalted me with such honor that you revealed your Son to me, and gave him to be known. I learned that you have a Son who is a sharer of your throne; I learned that he was to become man. I announced to the whole world the Gospels, the cross, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension: I spoke of his descent, and his ascent, and his sitting at [your] right hand. I spoke of the vocation of the Church, the salvation of the nations, the rejection of the Jews, the election of the apostles. "For behold, the uncertain and hidden things of your wisdom you have made manifest to me." You honored me so much, he says, you loved me so much, that you even disclosed to me the greatest mystery, that is, your Son. And where was it revealed to him? Hear from the prophet himself how he narrates his descent from heaven: What is the advent of Christ? "He shall descend like rain upon a fleece" (Ps. LXXI, 6). What is this? Because when the Son of God came, he did not come in such a way as to shake the world, nor did he send forth lightnings and thunders, nor did he approach with bare divinity; for all things would have perished if he had come with bare divinity. And not even the mountains themselves could have borne his advent; for "He looks upon the earth and makes it tremble; he touches the mountains and they smoke" (Ps. CIII, 32). The sun would have been extinguished, the moon darkened, the sea dried up, the earth would have perished, and our nature would have been removed from the midst. Therefore, he put on flesh, and came gently and without noise—with no one, not even the devil himself, much less anyone else, knowing it—and dwelt in the virginal womb. C O new and strange things! The fleece melts, and the womb does not melt! Mountains waste away, and the womb bears God! How should I explain this? How should I declare it? O the madness of the heretics! How did the handmaid bear the Lord? You who inquire into heavenly things, tell me of the lower ones: how was he, who is everywhere present, in the womb, and was not enclosed? For he was in the womb, and he sat on the throne. But how this is, I do not know; I accept it by faith, I do not curiously inquire with my mind. Yet that he would come without noise, bringing no perturbation or tumult. "He shall descend like rain upon a fleece." He did not say, "Upon the earth," but, "Upon a fleece." For rain, when it falls upon the earth, produces a sound; but falling upon wool and a fleece, it emits no noise, for the softness of the wool breaks the force of the falling water.
...that he might come, not disturbing, not bringing tumult, not destroying, not breaking down, "He shall descend like rain upon a fleece." You have told of his descent, which was devoid of all noise; tell also of his betrayal: "He who was eating my bread, has magnified his supplantation against me" (Ps. XL, 10). Tell of the envy of the Jews: "They hated me without a cause" (Ps. XXXIV, 9). Tell of his judgment: "Why did the nations rage, and the peoples meditate vain things? The kings of the earth stood, and the princes assembled in one against the Lord and against his Christ" (Ps. II, 1-2). Tell also of his cross: "They dug my hands and my feet; they numbered all my bones" (Ps. XXI, 17-18). Tell of his food and drink: "They gave for my food gall, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink" (Ps. LXVIII, 22). Tell of the ejection of the Jews: "I will not accept from your house calves, nor from your flocks he-goats" (Ps. XLIX, 9). Tell of the vocation of the nations: "All nations, clap your hands; shout unto God with a voice of exultation; for the Lord is high, terrible, a great King over all the earth" (Ps. XLVI, 2-3). Tell of the curses cast upon him by the Jews: "He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him, because he wants him" (Ps. XXI, 8). Tell of his burial: "They laid me in a lower pit" (Ps. LXXXVII, 7). Tell of his resurrection: "Because you will not leave my soul in hell, nor will you give your holy one to see corruption" (Ps. XV, 10). Tell also of his ascension: "God ascended in jubilation, the Lord in the voice of the trumpet" (Ps. XLVI, 6). Tell of his sitting: "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet" (Ps. CIX, 1). Tell also of the glory of the Church: "The queen stood at your right hand, in gilded vesture, girt about with variety" (Ps. XLIV, 10). Tell of the choir of virgins: "Virgins shall be brought after her" (Ibid. v. 15). Tell of the election of the apostles: "Instead of your fathers, your sons are born to you" (Ibid. v. 17). Tell of baptism: "He brought me up upon the water of refreshment" (Ps. XXII, 2). Tell also of the mysteries: "You prepared a table in my sight against those who trouble me" (Ibid. v. 5). Tell also of the anointing: "You have fattened my head with oil, and how excellent is your cup that inebriates me!" (Ibid. v. 6). Tell also of the petition of the nations: "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession" (Ps. II, 8). "For behold, the uncertain and hidden things of your wisdom, you have made manifest to me." I, for my part, he says, who after so many benefits labored under the vice of an ungrateful mind, consider myself worthy of no pardon. For you did not merely place me on the royal throne, but you also indicated to me beforehand those things which were to happen at a long-distant time; and things which were obscure to others, you made conspicuous to me; so that I even handed down to others the incarnation of your only-begotten Son, and his salutary passion and resurrection. All these things, having been previously taught by your holy Spirit, I ask in supplication from you, that I may be made a participant of that grace which I prophesy to others. D
A Therefore I cry out: "Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow." For only the gift of baptism is able to work this cleansing. Therefore he says that he is in need of that grace which was about to be given to all men. For that alone is able to wash me accurately and bestow upon me the whiteness of snow. That hyssop produces no forgiveness of sins is easy to learn from the Mosaic writings. Therefore, hyssop is an enigma referring to other things. For by hyssop in Egypt, applying the blood of the sheep to the doorposts, they escaped the hands of the destroyer. Those things were a type of the saving passions. For here too there is blood, and a saving wood, and salvation provided to those who approach with faith. "You shall make me hear gladness and joy; the bones that were humbled shall rejoice." Fill my ears, he says, with this joy, B promising the perfect cleansing, so that gladness may permeate all the parts of the body, and the bones that were now humbled by austerity may flourish again and take back their own strength. Do not look, he says, upon the lawless acts dared by me, but upon me who lament them, and blot out my lawlessness. What do you want, O prophet? Your sin has been undone, your punishment has disappeared. I am not satisfied with these things; I have a benevolent Master, who gives more than I ask. And what do you want? I was a prophet, and I want to be a prophet again. I seek that boldness of speech, the gift of the Spirit, the great grace. Grace has departed from me, like a dove seeing mud; like a bee, I wish for it to return. "Turn your face from my sins, and blot out all my lawlessness." Tell me what you want clearly. "Create a clean heart in me, O God." C Since I have received the old age of sin, renew me by your benevolence. These things he also promised through Ezekiel the prophet to those held captive in Babylon: "For I will give them," he says, "a new heart and a new spirit." By "spirit" he does not mean the all-holy Spirit, but the impulse of the rational faculty; that is, having disciplined you with this long training, and having taught you what fruits sin produces, I will prepare you to choose virtue. This the blessed David also asked for here: that his injured heart might be renewed and his rational faculty strengthened, so that he might run the straight path. "And renew a right spirit within my inward parts." Restore it to me again, and I will speak to you; I seek that friendship, that communion. For what does it matter that I have been released from punishment? For me, punishment is not to converse with you. I love you, and I am frantic. I cannot see your essence, for it is invisible; but I see your works from your love, and I leap for joy. I did not see you, but I saw the heaven, and I leaped, and I said: "The heavens declare the glory of God." I saw the earth, and I said: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof." I saw the sea, and I rejoiced, and I said: "This is the sea, the great and wide one." I saw the day and the night, and I cried out to you: "Yours is the day, and yours is the night; you prepared the light and the sun." I saw the mountains, and marvelling I said: "The high mountains are for the hinds." And just as one who loves, even if he does not see the beloved, sees his garment or his shoes, rejoices and leaps, and receives, as it were, some consolation of love; so too I rove over the body of creation, raving and maddened, always saying to you: "As the hind longs for the fountains of waters, so my soul longs for you, O God, the strong, the living; when shall I come and appear before God?" You are King, you have a diadem; what do you want? Let these things go; I seek that beauty, I want prophecy. I despise this power, I have no regard for these leaves of mud, and night, and dream, and grass. D I seek my beauty. When shall it come? I cannot endure the delay, since I have lost this boldness of speech, which sin barrier-walled upon coming. "Create a clean heart in me, O God." And I do not seek a clean heart alone, but also its Dweller. "And renew a right spirit within my inward parts." He well said, "Renew," for the house was built from above. Sin made it old, your grace will renew it. "Cast me not away from your face; and take not your holy Spirit from me." Clearly, therefore, through these words we have learned that he was not stripped of the grace of the holy Spirit. For, as one who had not been stripped, he does not beg to receive it back, but entreats not to be deprived of it, nor to become destitute of divine providence. For here he called providence "face." "Restore to me the gladness of your salvation; and strengthen me with a guiding spirit." He entreated to keep what he had not lost, that is, the grace of the Spirit; but he entreats to receive back what he had thrown away, and this was the joy in God. I enjoyed, he says, every gladness when I had great boldness of speech toward you, Master; but now, stripped of this, I have been deprived of joy. The slavery of pleasure stripped me of my boldness of speech. Therefore I entreat that my mind may recover its former leadership, and recover its authority over the passions. For here again he called the self-mastering reason a "guiding spirit." And what will you give me, O David, if you receive the Spirit? "I will teach the lawless your ways, and the ungodly shall turn back to you." If I receive the Spirit, I will converse with the inhabited world: "All you nations, clap your hands, shout to God with a voice of gladness; for the Lord is most high, terrible, a great King over all the earth." If I receive the Spirit, I say: "Have dominion in the midst of your enemies." If I receive the Spirit, I say: "No man shall give to God an expiation for himself, and the price of the redemption of his soul"; and again I say: "Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation"; and again: "All lawlessness shall stop her mouth." If I receive the Spirit, I say: "Turn away from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it." I will relate your acts of kindness toward me, and I will say: "Come, hear, and I will relate to you, all you who fear God, how much he has done for my soul." "I will teach the lawless your ways, and the ungodly shall turn back to you." And where are the Jewish things? Do you not sacrifice sheep or calves to me? You do not seek these, "for you desired not sacrifice and offering; whole burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not seek." You said: "I will not receive calves from your house, nor he-goats from your flocks. Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise." You do not want these, but you seek the things of your Son; you want the turn from error, and the choice of truth; you want that sacrifice. "Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation." Constantly, he pivots to the memory of the murder of Uriah. For this he had already indicated in the preface: "My sin is before me continually." "My tongue shall rejoice in your righteousness." Symmachus interpreted this as follows: "My tongue shall speak of your mercy." For I will not be silent having enjoyed forgiveness, but I will continue praising you, and relating your graces. "O Lord, you shall open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise." For sin is accustomed to bind the tongue, and to stop the mouth. The prophet therefore entreats, through forgiveness, to partake of his former boldness of speech, and to stir his tongue to hymnody. "For if you had desired sacrifice, I would have given it; you will not be pleased with whole burnt offerings." These things also harmonize with what was said in the psalm before this. For we heard God saying there: "I will not receive calves from your house." Therefore, hearing the divine voice, he fittingly said, "For if you had desired sacrifice, I would have given it," and the rest. For you, he says, have said that you are not pleased with the sacrifices of irrational animals, on account of which I will offer the sacrifice that pleases you. Since, therefore, I do not want these, what do you give me? I have another sacrifice, which you have pleased to...
B accept; a broken and humbled heart God will not despise. The victim, he says, that is pleasing and delightful to you, our God, is humility. Therefore, with my heart especially humbled and, as it were, attenuated, I will offer a sacrifice pleasing to you. In place of a sacrifice, I will immolate to you the submission of my soul: only dissolve my sin, and bestow upon me the Holy Spirit.
That it is far superior to the Jewish sacrifice, there is no doubt; and this not only now, but even at that time. For those three youths who were in the Babylonian furnace, and changed the flame into dew—youths, I say, and elders, the few and those more powerful than the many, prisoners and stronger than kings; those, I say, who had lost their country but had not lost their faith, the naked and the clothed, the poor and the wealthy, servants who were better than those who were free, who turned the furnace into dew and changed the elements, who extinguished the power and capacity of fire, who though bound by the tyrant were loosened by the fire—did they not use suppliant words to this effect? "We have sinned, we have acted unjustly, we have committed iniquity, departing from you. There is no ruler, nor prophet, nor prince, nor holocaust, nor place for offering firstfruits before you, that we might find mercy: but with a contrite soul and a spirit of humility may we be accepted" (Dan. 3:29, 38). *A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: a broken and humbled heart God will not despise.*
The Psalm is to be understood regarding the Jews who were captives in Babylon. 20. "Do good, O Lord, in thy good pleasure to Sion, that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up." 21. "Then wilt thou accept a sacrifice of justice, oblation and holocausts: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar." By these words we have learned more clearly that this Psalm is full of prophecy. For to those who were compelled to dwell in Babylon, and who desired to be liberated from servitude, these words are fitting. For those suppliants ask that the city may obtain some mercy, that is, that the walls may be restored and the legal worship may be celebrated. For now, he says, as we dwell in a foreign land, it is not at all permitted to offer those sacrifices which were sanctioned by the law: since it is provided by your law that no one may perform them anywhere else than in that holy city. But if we obtain our return and restore the temple, then finally will we offer to you the legal sacrifices. The latter part of this Psalm also contains another prophecy. For after he had set forth the gifts of the Holy Spirit above, and after he had shown that God is not at all pleased with legal sacrifices, he now asks that a new Sion may arise, and that the heavenly Jerusalem may be founded on earth, and that a new mode of life may be provided as soon as possible, which offers not irrational victims, but a sacrifice of justice.
Here, therefore, I ask you to attend: for I desire to make you all teachers, all monks: not that you should be without wives, but that you should exhibit a specimen of piety, and bear, as it were, a certain fiery countenance. What is it, then, that is being sought? This indeed: he confessed, he asked, he besought, he supplicated, he shed tears, he requested a clean heart, he pledged his faith. The question rests in this: whether he obtained what he desired. I am affected with great pleasure by this contention. A ship-master is not so delighted when he sees waves being stirred up from behind and propelling the ship further, while the wind rises from the stern, as I am when I behold this sea, I rejoice and exult. For I see not only waves stirred up, but a multitude overflowing and moved. I see, I say, you being tossed and stifled, and yet not shrinking back; I see you suffering violence, and yet not shrinking back; you being oppressed, and yet buoying up your soul. For your eagerness to hear excites cheerfulness in me. The question, therefore, rests in this: He prayed, he asked, he besought, he supplicated, he put aside his punishment, he was raised up from punishment: it is now asked whether C he returned to his former confidence, whether he received the grace of the Holy Spirit, whether he obtained what he asked for—that is, a clean heart and a right spirit—or whether, finally, such repentance had the power to lead him back to his former nobility. Attend diligently. This is the fiftieth Psalm. Of what kind? The Psalm, I say, about sin, about confession, about petition. After this he wrote the sixtieth, the seventieth, the eightieth, the ninetieth, the hundredth. Therefore, let no one say: "What then, if he wrote psalms? He did not write these by the instinct of the Holy Spirit; for he did not receive the Holy Spirit; rather, he wrote the following psalms by mere human wit and prudence: for he was devoid of the Holy Spirit. For the sin was indeed remitted to him: but the Holy Spirit was not given to him." For although he asked for Him, we find nowhere any response by which it is established that He was given to him. Attend, I pray. He wrote the fiftieth, the sixtieth, the seventieth, the eightieth, the hundredth. He also wrote another Psalm after the hundredth, and after many other Psalms he says: "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool" (Ps. 109:1–2). We find, therefore, that this Psalm, which was spoken after the committed sin, was spoken in the Holy Spirit. Whence is this clear? Christ indicated it. For after He had performed all things—had put a curb on the sea, had cleansed lepers, had turned demons to flight, had finished [his work], had braced the limbs of the paralytic—a voice descended from heaven: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him" (Matth. 17:5); the Lord gave testimony to himself, the deeds themselves cried out, the Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove, John testified to him: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold who taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29): then finally, when He was about to ascend to the cross, having called them all, He says to them: "What think you of Christ?" (Matth. 22:42). "I did not ask you at the beginning, I did not call you as witnesses at the beginning, because I had not yet provided you with the proof of my divinity. But after all the elements demonstrated my divinity, after the Father, after my concord with Him, after my doctrine led you all as if by the hand, after you have not now even any shadow of contradiction, 'What think you of Christ? Whose son is he?'" (Ibid.). Those wicked and impudent men answer, "David's," clearly denying his divinity and not wishing to profess that He was the Son of God. What then does He himself [say]? "How therefore does David in the Spirit call me Lord, saying" (Ibid. v. 43–44): "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool"? But if David had the Spirit, the sin was surely dissolved; but if the sin was dissolved, he had also received his petition. For David says: "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my bowels." Do you see how he returned again to his former dignity? Again he became a prophet, again he discourses about Christ, again he received his confidence, and sin brought no stain upon him. Have you seen what great power repentance has? What do I say? The man was powerful both living and dead. For once barbarians came and surrounded the city with a siege. Ezechias, a just man, was asking and beseeching God, saying: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, and spare this city" (Isai. 37:20). The prophet Isaias came to him: lest he should think his own justice had been heard, although a thousand years had now passed since the death of David, what does he say? "I will protect thee and this city for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant" (Ibid. v. 35). David was dead, and his confidence lives, and he who had departed from the living brought aid to the living. O just man, who even after death fought for the defense of the walls! Here, I think, having sufficiently explained the question, I will make an end of speaking, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and empire, for ever and ever. Amen. D