Ambrose of Milan

In his own words on Psalms

• Psalms 1:1

  (Vers. 1) "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked." How fitting, how opportune a beginning! For just as those who have undertaken some solemnity of a contest usually propose a prize to be displayed, boast of the honor of the crown, so that they may gather with greater enthusiasm for the competition and strive with more determined effort: in the same way, our Lord Jesus has set forth the glory of the heavenly kingdom, the grace of perpetual rest, the blessedness of eternal life as incentives for human virtue. Moreover, when the emperor advances to war, he promises a donative to the soldiers, as well as promotions in military ranks, so that the hope of rewards may assuage their labors and conceal the fear of danger. Like a herald, therefore, of a great emperor, the holy David exhorts the soldiers, calling them athletes and expressing the reward, saying: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. He begins with the reward, in order to elevate the weight of the future contest; he sends forth the reward, so that each person, leaping over the anxieties and labors of present affairs in their heart, may eagerly strive to obtain the blessedness of the future. Blessed, he said, is the man. What more could be given to a man, than that nothing more could be given to God by Apostolic authority (I Tim. VI, 15 and 16)? For blessed indeed, and the only one powerful, and king of kings, and lord of lords, God is called. He alone is powerful, he alone is king of kings, he alone is lord of lords, yet he does not exceed the power of blessedness. He has given us a common partnership in his name, which is considered worthy of divine honor. Let us now consider in what manner the Blessed man spoke, and not only the Blessed men: since both sexes are called to grace. Did he exclude women from the fellowship of beatitude because he called only the man blessed? Far be it; for God did not exclude females from the fellowship of creation, because he created the man first. For God said: Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness... And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:26-27). In man, both are represented: in man, the sex is expressed. But just as when the word "man" is used, both are included: so when the word "man" is mentioned, the woman of whom that man is the husband is understood. Furthermore, She shall be called Woman, for she was taken out of Man (Genesis 2:23). Also, it is added that when the nature of two things is the same, their actions cannot be distinct: and when their work is equal, surely their reward is equal as well. Therefore, Scripture does not omit the partner of the union when it speaks of man, for it also does not remain silent about the partner of nature when it speaks of human. Therefore, just as there we read of man being made, and although there is one nature, we cannot deny that the principal sex was created first: so here, when we read of man, we also recognize the female sex as the principal part. Therefore, the studies of virtue are equal, because the prerogative of creation is equal. But why do you debate about gender, when it is not the struggles of the body, but of the soul, that require attention, which do not have a gender? Therefore, do not discern honor there, do not distribute rewards, where gender is not discerned. However, do not be careless if the one who was first called to exercise was the one who fell last. The one who started poorly should follow, not lead; so that she may be more modest after the experience. Eve deviated from the order of nature, she should have waited for the one who came before. The clever serpent began from behind; therefore the Prophet turns back to the higher one, assuredly one who would not have fallen unless he had followed from behind. Finally, he called us back from falling before he challenged us to the palm of victory. Blessed, he said, is the man who has not gone in the counsel of the wicked. See where you are called blessed, O man: not in wealth, not in power and honors, not in noble birth, or in beauty and attractiveness, not in bodily health, in which there is no good of nature; finally, they not only have an easy change into opposites, but also serve as a means of sin for those who do not know how to use them. For who is righteous for the sake of money? Who is humble in positions of power? Who is merciful for the sake of nobility? Who is pure for the sake of appearance? These allurements are more for sin than fruitful for the progress of virtue. What does he then want to say that he preferred to say: He did not leave, and he did not stand, as if from the past; when he could say: Blessed is the man who does not go in the counsel of the wicked, and does not stand in the way of sinners, and does not sit in the seat of the pestilent? See the doctrine; for he is not immediately blessed who is not wicked or a sinner, because of the uncertainty of the outcome. For it is not written in vain: Before death do not praise anyone (Ecclus. 11:30). Therefore, as long as someone is in this life, they cannot be praised with a definite statement, since they can still fall into error; however, the person who concludes life without stumbling is rightly considered blessed, as they enjoy the company of the blessed. But perhaps you will say: By what reason, then, did he elsewhere say: Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor (Ps. XL, 1)? For he did not say blessed is he that understands, but that one who understands; because those who do good, in the very work and by which they are tested, find the reward of their work in that same work. Indeed, the blessed fruit is the good deed of conscience. However, those who restrain themselves from evil are not immediately blessed if they have deviated from fault once or twice, but if they are able to avoid the contagion of sin throughout their whole life. Now it occurs, why he prefers to say 'blessed' not he who has fulfilled some duty of piety, but he who has restrained himself from the plan of the impious. For it seems that he is more praiseworthy who has fulfilled the duty of virtue than he who has escaped sin. For neither an ox, nor a horse, nor a stone have been accustomed to be in sin, or to sit on the throne of pestilence. But those things do not have the fruit of blessedness, which do not have the sense of virtue. But how do they reach the reward of the law, who do not have the intention of following the law? Therefore, I see the proposed opinion concerning rational beings, that is, concerning us. But for us, the beginning of goods is the abstaining from sins; for we read: Turn away from evil, and do good (Psalm 36, 27). For this is the order of discipline, that you strive from lower things to more perfect ones; lest you be frightened by the weight of greater things, which you should be provoked to from the beginning of lighter things. The Scripture teaches us that the ladder is like a scale of piety (Gen. XXVIII, 12), through which holy Jacob, a man of discipline, saw the angels of the Lord ascending and descending. He was presented to us as an example, so that we may know that we should gradually advance in virtue through him, and thus be able to strive from the lowest to the highest, if we progress step by step from small things to those that appear higher in the human nature. Always keep these scales in front of you. Do not be afraid, oh man, to climb these steps of discipline. The first step is close to the ground, the next is similar to the previous one. Thus, one ascends to the highest through equal steps. Do not despise, oh man, that first step as if it were the lowest. That first ascent separates you from the earth; you tread the air where you have lifted your foot from the ground. Placed in virtue, you rise when you leave the earth; you leave the earth if you turn away from sin. Therefore, the beginning of the journey to virtue is to abstain from sin. But so that we may know that this teaching is of doctrine, listen to the Law saying: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder (Exodus XX, 14 and 15); for these precepts seemed to be appropriate for the imperfect. Finally, the Lord Jesus himself, knowing the imperfect, answered him who asked by what works one might attain eternal life: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, etc. (Matthew XIX, 18). Then, to the one who said that he had done all these things, He added more perfect things, saying: Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven (Ibid., 21). And He taught that there is such a difference between avoiding evil and imitating good, that he rejected the latter, who considered the former easy for himself. But because he had not yet attained the former, he was unable to adapt himself to the latter. For if he had loved his neighbor, he could have provided assistance to the poor out of his own inheritance. Therefore, ascend the first step of the Law, so that you may reach the celestial summit of the Gospel. Hence, I believe that, as if placed under the Law, the holy Prophet warns more against following the customs of the Law in the first psalm rather than proposing to follow them. However, in the fortieth psalm (Psalm 40:1 et seq.), which is written from the perspective of the Savior, the exhortation is more about virtue rather than the suppression of error; for it speaks of the passion of the Savior (Ibid., 6 et seq.). And therefore, as we can understand, the dispenser of the Gospel also, when we heard Him say, 'Blessed are the merciful' (Matthew 5:7); and in the psalm of His own passion, and in the Gospel, He crowned mercy. But let us now adore the explanation of the psalm, and let us examine the prophetic power. "Blessed is the man, he says, who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the pestilence." We can say that there are three kinds of sins, which are here thought to be expressed, thought, action, and persistence; and that he is called blessed who has not even thought what is evil. For how can he be blessed, who is to be condemned on the day of judgment by his accusing thoughts? Even if he deceived a man, escaped the witness, evaded the accuser, he will not be able to avoid being his own accuser, whom he should fear the most; because he will have both the accuser and the confessing defendant. Therefore, blessed is he who has not even thought of what is evil, and has not committed sin (for sometimes we sin without even thinking; for we do not escape sin by much speaking), and has not persisted in sin. Or like this: blessed is he who has not even thought of what would be an error, or has not remained in that thought, or certainly has not persisted in those thoughts that he has recognized as full of error. But whether these things are rightly understood, whoever reads them will judge. For someone who has once thought evil, should not have remained in it, nor persisted. But even if he did not persist, he could not be blessed; because he stayed in what he thought wickedly. Even if he did not stay, nevertheless, by the very fact that he thought evil, whether he has the fruit of blessedness, he should seek a compassionate interpreter. Finally, because no one can say that he has a pure heart, even if the thought is venial, is the action of sins venial? Finally, if someone has a venerable station, is it also full of blessedness because they did not persist in crime? Then, how could someone who did not even think about wicked things, continue to sin or persist? In order for someone to be blessed, they must rightly observe these three things, but the order is different. First, they must not persist in sin; second, they must not stand in it; third, they must not think that it is an error. For someone who did not persist, they could still stand; for someone who did not stand, they could still think; but for someone who did not even think, they are truly blessed. Therefore, I also thought that another tradition should not be neglected, in which we assert that three degrees are made in a straight line: that one who wants to be blessed should not go in the counsel of the wicked, that is, should not walk in their thoughts; secondly, should not stand in the way of sinners; thirdly, should not sit in the seat of pestilence. Therefore, you who have become a Christian in the Church, or who strive for grace, abstain from the counsels of the wicked, so that you can say: Do not destroy my soul with the wicked, O God, and my life with bloodthirsty men (Psalm 25:9). And do not think about wicked things. What are those things, except those that are conceived against God's will? First, our duty is towards God; second, towards our parents. Indeed, the enemy often inserts different thoughts in our minds, and therefore the Prophet wisely believed that thoughts, rather than sudden inspirations, should be held accountable for wrongdoing. So, have you refrained from the counsels of the wicked? Rightly so, but you are not immediately blessed. Also, be careful not to stand in the path of sinners. How often are the words of divine Scripture set forth? Indeed, because we are all under sin, it is not required of you beyond nature that you do not sin; for even an infant of one day is not without sin; but that you do not remain in sin in a certain prolonged state. Not all are wicked; therefore you are called back from all impious thoughts and associations; but all are sinners; therefore you are admonished to stop sinning. If there has been a lapse of youth, the process of maturity should correct it. Therefore, do not have involvement in more serious matters, do not stand in lighter matters. You have this also said by the Lord in Isaiah: Go out of Babylon, fleeing from the Chaldeans (Isaiah 48:20): this means: And if you entered into the confusion of vices, go out. It was not necessary to enter; but you entered, compelled by the law of the flesh, and being captivated by the law of sin, go out, leave or rather, free yourself from heavy servitude. You could not refrain from entering into sin due to your weakness: sobriety to exit from sin is given to you. Therefore, leave Babylon, fleeing from the Chaldeans. Babylon is confusion, which does not maintain the order of virtues; for, confused by allurements, we commit sins. The Chaldeans are those who, with a vain zeal for superstition, explore the courses of the stars and sow the errors of wicked paganism. Flee from them, lest they capture you, lest they ensnare you with the heavy noose of captivity. Abraham was a Chaldean, but he fled from the Chaldeans and before the Law; you were born under the Law, flee from the wicked. He rejected the inheritance of his fathers, in order to possess the inheritance of faith; you abandon the succession of the body, acquire the inheritance of devotion. But if you do not remain in sin, you are not blessed in this way; you still have something that you should lack. There are many temptations, many deviations from virtue: the heavy allurements of pleasures, the heavy fuel of avarice, the desire for power, the ambition for honor, which, like a certain poison, corrupt the minds of men and contaminate their souls with the poisonous decay of vices. This is the seat of pestilence on which the Scribes and Pharisees sat, who impose heavy burdens on men, but they themselves do not want to move them with their finger. He expelled from the temple of the Savior their chairs those who boasted of their honor, sought for primacy in honor; those who used priesthood or the honor of primacy for profit; those who, indulging in gluttony, did not observe the proper restraint of abstinence. This is the true pestilence. Finally, the sons of Eli were sons of pestilence. In this certain seat of vices, Scripture prohibits us from bending our neck and reclining the strength of the whole body. Therefore, pay attention to the characteristics. "And he did not stand in the way of sinners, and he did not sit in the seat of the pestilence." The path of this life, the course, is not in doubt; for the Scripture itself says: In the way in which I walked, they hid a snare for me (Psalm 141:4) . And: Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way (Matthew 5:25) . Indeed, since we run the course of this life, we have a path on which we walk daily, until we reach the end. Although we do not appear to go bodily, we are progressing. For just as those who are sleeping in ships are carried by the winds into port; although there is no sensation of sailing for those who are resting, nonetheless the course urges them to the end and impels them unknowingly: so as the span of our life flows by, each one is led by the hidden course to his own end. Hence it is said: Rise, you who sleep (Ephesians 5:14); for you are sleeping, and your time is passing: and see lest while you sleep for a long time, time may pass by. Therefore, even if you sleep, your heart remains awake, your heart does not strike. If your heart is not idle, your time is not idle. You are on a journey, oh man, walk so that you may arrive; lest the night overtake you on the way, lest the days of life be consumed before you hasten the progress of virtue. You are a traveler of this life; everything passes, everything happens after you. You see everything on this path, and you pass by. You have seen the beauty of trees, the greenness of plants, the purity of springs, and whatever else delights the eyes; it was pleasant to behold, it delighted to pay attention for a while; while you paid attention, you passed by. Again while you walk, you came across a rocky and rugged path, hollows of cliffs, steep mountains, dense forests. You grew tired, yet you continued on. Such is life, in which neither the prosperous moments last, nor the adversities endure. Therefore, do not let the favorable circumstances lift you up, or the adversities break you, or the pleasing things delay you, or the sad things hold you back. Always hurry towards the end, hurry so that you may arrive. However, choose the path before you run. There are two ways: one of the righteous, the other of sinners; one of equity, the other of iniquity, of which the Prophet said: And see if there be in me the way of iniquity (Psalm 138:24). Therefore, not only is our life a way, but even in our very life there is either the way of virtue or the way of iniquity. Beware, therefore, that greed does not place its steps in you, and that you become a path of crime; that neither dishonesty, nor lust, become a path worn down by those who travel the way of iniquity and vices. It is allowed for you to choose whom you will follow, either the just or the unjust. The path of the just is narrower, the path of the unjust wider: the former is narrower in its sobriety, the latter wider in its drunkenness, so as to be able to contain those who are wavering; the latter has the allurements of this world, the former has the rewards of the future. In the former, the fruits are more immediate, in the latter, hope is slower; for those things which are sweet do not delay long expectation, but have an immediate fulfillment; but that which is serious is sought through labor, because it is scarcely grasped by a blessed thought; for no eye has seen, nor ear heard, what God has prepared for those who love Him. We often find it difficult to believe things we cannot see: and so the soul is restless, and it turns its thoughts here and there like eyes. Then there occur to it various kinds of things, and they overwhelm it. If it aims at eternal things, it chooses virtue; if at present things, it sets pleasure before everything. A grievous and unjust struggle against the pleasures of the present; here is liberty in one's desires, there slavery in wrongs, doing what you do not wish, and refraining from what you desire; here feasting, there fasting; here intemperance in joys, there perseverance in tears; here dancing, there prayer; here sweet songs, there mournful groanings. Indeed it is written: The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools (Ecclesiastes 7:5-6). But few hear these words, and even fewer follow them. People are more attracted to the sweet sin that gratifies the desires of the hearer in the present, than to the sad virtue that encompasses the hope of faith, as if wrapped in a bitter shell of toil. Blessed and marvelous, therefore, is he who, situated in the choice of such paths, has not been swayed by the allurements of pleasure; so that he may establish his step above treacherous and perverse ways. It is not said to him: Woe to you who have forsaken the straight paths, by going on the ways of darkness! (Eccl. VIII, 16)! Therefore, we know what the path of sin is, in which the Prophet warns us not to stand; but also Ecclesiastes teaches, who says: Do not stand in evil speech, that is, do not persist in evil words, likewise in disapproved actions. As for how to stand in good, the same holy Prophet instructs, saying: Our feet were standing in your courts, O Jerusalem. (Psalm 122:2) Standing is required in Jerusalem, fleeing from Babylon. And to Moses it is said: But you stand with me (Deut. V, 31), who fled from Egypt, and stood with the Lord. And in the Gospel (Matt. XX, 9), those who stood until the eleventh hour received equal pay for their work. And the virgins who stood until the arrival of the bridegroom deserved to enter together into the wedding feast; but those who left and returned afterwards are excluded by the authority of the Lord's sentence (Matt. XXV, 10). Therefore, we have learned not to stand in the path of sinners, but to stand in the duty of virtue; for it is written: But you stand by faith (Rom. XI, 20). Now let us consider what it is: And he did not sit on the chair of pestilence. And indeed, we have stated that not a simple assembly in such a throne as is used, should be criticized. For what fault would envy have? But since the eyes of the Lord are always upon the faithful of the earth; placed as if under the sight of an emperor, and like being placed in a certain ministry, we ought to stand. A soldier stands in readiness, he does not sit; a soldier in arms does not turn back, but rather rouses and raises up. And so it is said to the soldiers of Christ: Behold now, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord (Ps. 133:1). But on the contrary, wickedness sits on a leaden weight, because it is fixed in sin and cannot separate itself from it. Indeed, those who are deeply rooted in error and eagerly cling to vices are said to sit, because they do not want to rise or listen to the one who says: Arise, after thou hast sat down (Ps. 126:2). Finally, this Prophet himself elsewhere says: 'Princes sat and spoke against me' (Psalm 119:23). Do we not know that such a powerful force is the long-standing habit of sinning, that it excludes nature, which although it is curable for salvation, is found to be incurable by the passage of time with unhealed wounds? Therefore, let us not remain in vice; but let each person, even if they were, leap away from sin, as it is written (Proverbs 5:3) about the woman of the streets. Do not fix your gaze on it, but leap away, do not delay; may they find you leaping when the years of youth pass by. But, what is more serious, many are not ashamed of indulging in bodily pleasure even in old age, and they have led a spotted life up to the age of senility. For the disease of lust is conceived in the innermost viscera, and with the passing of time it accumulates. Therefore, beware of the wicked counsels, do not let such thoughts penetrate your mind; lest it be said of you: Has anyone put fire into their bosom, and their clothes were not burned (Prov. VI, 2)? For surely he who once kindles the flame of a burning crime in the bosom of his mind will quickly set fire to the clothing of his own body. And just as a fire, leaping onto a pile of straw, clings and remains until it consumes everything it has seized, so too a tiny spark of sin, if it has been ignited by the fuel of vices, stirs up a great conflagration. Therefore, do not remain in sin. Finally, you have placed your foot above the abyss of guilt, quickly remove it; lest pollution rise above your sole and, being easily deceived by a fall, you remain in the mud. Therefore, vices must first be avoided, lest they then give way to more serious ones. For just as those who roll in mud, the more they roll, the more they become dirty; so too, those who once besmear themselves with the filth of wickedness, unless they quickly leap out, bring upon themselves a heavier cloud of disgrace with each passing day of their muddy conversation. And so, a foul odor from that land and a destructive whirlpool contracts a certain pestilence of souls, and with the breath of healthy thoughts corrupted, a pitiable plague of boiling passions rages. Hence a deadly virus infects the minds, hence sickness creeps upon the bodies, weakness upon the souls. For there is an evil weakness, the weakness of error, the weakness of greed, the weakness of insatiable desire. These are the riches, as Ecclesiastes says: There is an evil weakness that I have seen under the sun, that riches are kept to the harm of those who possess them (Ecclesiastes 5:12). Tell me, O Ecclesiastes, what is the cause of this evil weakness? He will answer, because greedy hope devours many. Insatiable greed is the voracity of desire. He who desires silver does not know satisfaction. Wealth stretches, but does not fill. And even if someone is satiated with riches, there is no one to allow him to sleep. Indeed, all his days are in darkness, sorrow, anger, weakness, and rage. How can one sleep, who is preoccupied with guarding gold? Who frets about profit, calculates interest, and counts his money? Therefore, illness is an evil that takes away the good tranquility of the mind. Illness is a bad thing, luxury, lust, desire, pleasure, secular ambition, which quickly corrupts the health of sobriety. Ultimately, all the corruption in this world is a pestilence. Therefore, do not touch it, do not defile it. It is a plague, it contaminates; it is a disease, it pollutes. Do not taste the things that are all for corruption through their very use, as the Apostle said (Colossians 2:21-22), who also proclaims elsewhere: The root of all evil is greed (1 Timothy 6:10); it causes illnesses, it inserts pains. Finally, those who desire it, subject themselves to many pains (Ibid.). This is a pestilence, which often makes warm things neither warm nor cold, but rather lukewarm, which Jesus will vomit out of his mouth because of their serious sins. This is what provokes not only some, but all sicknesses. Every head in pain, every heart in sadness (Isaiah 1:5-6). From head to toe, ulcers of sins. Every head is in pain, when those who are wise are valued here, they are tormented by greed; for the mind of the wise is in their head. This can also be applied to the leaders of the Church: Every heart is in sorrow, when we understand earthly things, and we bury the sharpness of our heart in bodily pleasures. Hence the Lord says (Ezekiel 11:19) to those like this, that He will give them a heart of flesh. A vile disease of diseases creeps from the feet to the head, when they suffer from contagion, when they share with others, if anyone is deprived of the fulfillment of desire, a widow cannot conquer her modesty, invade her land; and everyone with difficulty transfers their illnesses to one another. How often do the elderly groan because they cannot drink for a long time? How often do they grieve because they have ceased to be prostitutes, when they have the desire to be prostitutes? How often are virtues of drunken people a disgrace in stories, sins praised, chastity mocked, continence laughed at, mercy made a mockery! These are the diseases that spread their evils to many. From a few corrupt individuals, it reaches everyone. They sit in councils, undermining the sober ones, belching out their drunkenness; they sit in taverns, fighting over drunkenness. Among them is a harlot, full of wine, smiling at one, burning another, and inflaming everyone with the fire of lust. If a modest person passes by, they blush and criticize them; if someone is immoral, they are praised by everyone and, like a disease, they pass into the souls of individuals. For he who is notorious in wickedness, leads many into the imitation of error. So while they imitate another's sin, they commit their own evil. Do not sit among those whom the holy Prophet fled. Imitate him, fleeing for sure, not sitting, who says: I do not sit in the council of the wicked, and I will not enter with those who do evil (Psalm 26:4). By what reason did you flee from them, David, explain to us. Show us these parts, so that we too can flee from them, lest we become infected by their contagion: They are corrupt, he says, and have become abominable. There is none who does good, not even one (Psalm 14:1). Therefore, generally speaking, this can be referred to all those who are wicked; specifically, it can be referred to those who mock good things, which Aquila called τίς trashtalkers, because these people are truly sick, who by mocking the good, cause a great deal of confusion in the minds and corrupt the souls. How many things the blessed man said that one should abstain from! And he even adds more.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 1:1

  What a delightfully apt beginning! Those who wish for a grand display and a great celebration to add glory to the games generally promise a prize. They make much of the honor of the crown to be conferred. All this is to make the contestants more eager to take part and to strain every nerve in order to win. This is what our Lord Jesus does. He promises us the glory of a heavenly kingdom, the sweetness of everlasting rest, the happiness of eternal life.

  COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 1:13

• Psalms 1:2

  (Verse 2.) "But in the law of the Lord was his will, and in his law he shall meditate day and night"; that is, blessed is he who does these things with counsel, reason, prudence; for even a small child can abstain from those things which have been said, not by virtue, but by impossibility and ignorance of sinning. Even an irrational beast can comply, to which there is no power of counsel, no sense of error. Therefore, this is the fourth thing that follows, in which the definition of a blessed man is distinguished from a beast; because a wise man is subject to the law by will, not by necessity. For it matters greatly; because in willingness, there is the reward of fruit; in necessity, there is the obedience of dispensation. For thus the Apostle taught us, saying: If I do this willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of stewardship is entrusted to me (I Cor. IX, 17). But the proper order is that you should first love the law, and secondly meditate upon it. Whoever loves, fulfills the commandments of the law willingly; whoever fears, observes them against their will. We have also received this teaching of God's justice in the Law. For it is written: Hear, O Israel: The Lord thy God is one God (Deut. VI, 4). And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt speak of them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, and lying down, and rising up. And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets before thy eyes: and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates (Ibid., 5-9). And below: And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to love the Lord your God and walk in all his ways (Deut. 10:12)? Wisdom also says: Desire therefore my words, love them, and you will have discipline (Wis. 6:12). Wisdom is clear and never fades, and it is easily seen by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. Therefore, we are lawfully taught by the holy Prophet to have the will in the Law and meditation according to the Law. The will in the Law is present not only in intention, but also in action. The first is the will, the second is the operation. Finally, the Lord responded to the one who said to Him: 'If you wish, you can make me clean', 'I will, be clean' (Matthew 8:2-3), in order to demonstrate that our actions should be preceded by a prior will. Ultimately, the law seeks volunteers because the law of the Lord is blameless, converting the soul. However, no one turns unless they turn by their own will. But the volunteer hides and steals the meaning of work. Therefore, day and night he meditates on the Law; in which the intention of reading is not so much required as the affection for keeping the Law. For he fully meditates who is his own law, having the Law written in his heart. However, the eagle set the day only, not the night. Not so much differing from others, as referring to something else; because whoever meditates on the Law is always in the light, he does not have night. For the work of whomsoever shines, he cannot certainly walk in darkness; because his justice shines like light. Let our life meditate on the Law, let our conversation meditate, let our actions meditate, let our understanding meditate on the mysteries of heaven. For the Law is an example and a shadow of heavenly things, a shadow of future goods, which he who believes in the Law recognizes in the Gospel. Let him meditate in darkness and in light, that is, in adversity and in prosperity. For the law commands that you love your Lord. Whoever loves, in every state, must keep the affection of lasting love. A father loves his son, he loves him even when he rebukes him, he loves him even when he beats him with a stick; for whoever spares his stick, hates his son. The Lord also chastises us, and loves us. Therefore, even when we commit worthy discipline, he still loves us, for he also receives the offender. For the Lord chastises every son he receives. And when you are chastised, love; for you are chastised so that you may be received. For what great thing is it, if you then love the Lord your God, when you have abundance of all things, when you enjoy your desires, when you rejoice in honors, riches, and children. And we are accustomed to show gratitude to the person from whom we have received a favor. Finally, when Job was praised by heavenly judgment, the devil said this (Job, 1, 10 and 11): It is not surprising if he is grateful to God, to whom so great prosperity is present; but it is to be proved then, if he loses all these and performs the duty of a pious worshiper. Therefore, the first virtue is that you are not broken by adversity, nor are you elated by success. The Law teaches you not to relax your purpose in affliction, nor to assume despair; you should not say, 'My strength and my power have brought me this' (Deuteronomy 8:17), but rather recognize that everything is to be attributed to divine mercy. Isaiah cries out: The one who is in distress will not be put to shame until the time comes (Isaiah VIII, 22). Drink this first (Isaiah IX, 1). What is this, drink this first? Let us separate the mystical, pursue the moral teachings that the letter instructs. Because of serious errors, serious contritions and vexations of the people are said to come; and it is necessary for them to precede, so that mercy may follow. So drink first the tribulation; for through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God; drink, so that the sense of tribulation may be poured into your innermost being: drink with patient affection, mourning the pain. For when you have turned in lamentation, then will you reconcile the offended Lord to yourself. Therefore, drink this first, that you may be in sorrow and distress. Quickly, joy pours forth error. The people, having become fat and thickened, rise up to play, and they turn away from the Lord. It profits you to have a contrite heart. Drink this first, that your sacrifice may be accepted by the Lord. Let the Apostle teach you what this is: Drink this first, that is, the cup of tribulation. For tribulation produces patience. (Rom. 5:3-4) There cannot be patience unless there was first tribulation. Tribulation, it is said, produces patience, and patience produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint. Drink first from the cup of tribulation, so that afterwards the drinks of many virtues may be served to you. And to show you that tribulation is drunk, you heard the Prophet say today: You have given us to drink the wine of compunction. (Psalm 59:5). And in the following he says: And you will give us drink with tears, in measure (Psalm 79:6). In measure he seeks drink, not beyond measure, lest he be unable to bear it. Finally, with what great affection he prayed for this, he approved by his own example, who mingled his drink with weeping (Psalm 101:10), so that the mercy of the Lord might incline towards him. Therefore, drink this first, so that you may drink the second (for this is the time to insert the mystical). Drink the first Old Testament, so that you may drink the New Testament. Unless you drink the first, you will not be able to drink the second. Drink the first, so that you may quench your thirst; drink the second, so that you may obtain the satisfaction of drinking. In the Old Testament there is compunction, in the New there is joy. See how the Lord has opposed the arts of the devil for his servants. He deceived one with the food of deceit, in order to deceive all in one; but Jesus, with the food of salvation, redeemed all, in order to reform even him who had been deceived. He devised the golden cup of Babylon so that whoever drank more would thirst more; and because the drink could not be pleasing, he lured them to drink with a price of gold. He served his own wine, for which he also sought the approval of metals. But truly the Lord Jesus poured out water from a rock, and all drank. Those who drank in a figure were satisfied; those who drank in truth were intoxicated. Good drunkenness, which would pour forth joy, not bring confusion; good drunkenness, which would establish the step of a sober mind; good drunkenness, which would bestow the gift of eternal life. Therefore, drink this cup of which the Prophet said: 'And thy cup which inebriateth, how goodly is it!' (Psalm 22:5) And let it not trouble you that the golden cup belongs to Babylon; for you also drink the cup of wisdom, which is more precious than gold and silver. Therefore, drink both the cup of the Old and the New Testament; for in both you drink Christ. Drink Christ, for He is the vine; drink Christ, for He is the rock that gushed forth water; drink Christ, for He is the fountain of life; drink Christ, for He is the river, whose torrents gladden the city of God; drink Christ, for He is peace; drink Christ, for from His womb flow rivers of living water; drink Christ, that you may drink the blood by which you were redeemed; drink Christ, that you may drink His words; His words are the Old Testament, His words are the New Testament. The divine Scripture is drunk, and the divine Scripture is devoured when the juice of the eternal word descends into the veins of the mind and the powers of the soul. Finally, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Drink this word, but drink in its proper order. First, drink in the Old Testament: quickly drink, and then in the New Testament. And as he himself hastens, he says: Galilee of the Gentiles and parts of Judea, people who walk in darkness, see a great light; you who dwell in the region of death, a light will shine upon you (Isaiah 9:1-2). So drink quickly, so that a great light may shine upon you; not an everyday light, nor a light of the day, nor of the sun, nor of the moon; but that light which excludes the shadow of death. For those who are in the shadow of death cannot see the light of the sun and the day. And as if to someone inquiring from you about such great splendor, such great grace, it responds: For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us (Isaiah, 6). The child, because he has been born of a Virgin; the son, because he has been born of God, is the author of such a great light. A child is born to us. To us who believe; not to the Jews who did not believe; to us, not to the heretics; to us, not to the Manicheans; he is born to us, because the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; he is born to us, because he took flesh from the Virgin, because a man is born from Mary. Flesh is born to us, the Word is given. What is ours is born among us: what is above us is given to us. We have strayed far enough, as we think, but not without purpose; to show that even in troubles we must love the Lord and not turn away from Him, since often tribulation follows joy, and joy follows tribulation. Finally, blessed is the one who is not broken by tribulation and follows the law.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 1:3

  (Verse 3.) And it shall be like a tree that is planted by the courses of water, which will yield its fruit in its season. And its leaf shall not wither, and whatever it does, it shall prosper. What is this blessedness that is compared to the tree, unless we understand it to be in paradise, that blessed place, the tree of life produced from the earth in the midst of other trees? Among many trees that were beautiful to behold and good for food, even this tree was produced from the earth, and it was in the midst of paradise, so that the other trees flourished with its greenness. What we call this wood, except by which salvation comes to us? And rightly this earth produced it, because the Virgin gave birth to him, who was earth according to the Author's sentence, which was spoken to him: You are dust, and to dust you shall return (Gen. III, 19). It is also beautifully read among other woods; either because it was among the apostles who were learning, or because it was in the midst of the mind and heart, as he himself said: There is one among you whom you do not know (John I, 26). And elsewhere he says: 'But I am in your midst' (Luke 22:27). Finally, he also said about Solomon himself: 'The tree of life is for all who grasp it' (Proverbs 3:18). Therefore, blessed is the one who imitates the Lord Jesus, who is the tree of life, the tree of wisdom, planted in the womb of the Virgin by the will of the Father. It is planted by him to remain forever, in order to bear fruit in its season. For this plantation, which had the richness of spiritual grace within itself, could not wither. Finally, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan. These are the waters that are spoken of in the Gospel: 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive. (John 7:38). There is also another tradition, because there are waters which Jeremiah prohibits us from drinking, saying: What have you to do with the way of Egypt, that you may drink the water of Geon (Jeremiah II, 18)? There is also the Tigris river flowing past the Assyrians. There is also the Euphrates flowing into Babylon. There is also the Phison, which in Latin interpretation is called commutation of mouths, encircling the land of Evilath, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good; and the carbuncle stone, and the green stone. Deservedly there, the exchange was made, so that the faithfulness of promises is not held; but deceit is in their mouth, where there is good gold; for greed breaks faith, and does not hold the simplicity of words. Precious ornaments also change the mind and soul; so that there is one thing in the heart, another in speech. In those regions, the Jews were captives of the rivers, taken to Egypt, and to the Assyrians, and to the Babylonians, where they sat upon the banks of the river Babylon, and wept for their sorrow; and as the Prophet himself testifies (Psal. CXXXVI, 1 et seq.); there they hung up their instruments, and cast away all joy, where they endured more severe things. Finally, the remaining ten tribes were led to the Assyrians; however, the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, because of a more serious crime, went to Babylon. For the daughter of the priest who committed adultery was punished more severely than the others, for she stained the honor of the priestly lineage with shameful disgrace. Just as they were in very serious temptations, so our Savior subjected Himself to many temptations, so that He would not pass over any of our struggles. Therefore, it is rightly said that He was planted beside the course of these rivers, not in their courses, so that you might understand that He was near, not immersed. This was His first encounter with flesh and blood. Finally, He says: Father, remove this cup from Me; yet not what I want, but what You want (Matthew 26:39). There was the temptation of riches, when all the kingdoms of the earth offered themselves as enemies if the Lord would worship him by bowing down. There are the courses of two rivers, the Gihon and the Pison. He struggled against the princes of the world: there was in his very passion a contest against the tempters, whom the Hebrew interpretation calls Persians, who presented false testimonies. Against those who said, 'Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe him' (Mark 15:32), which the devil suggested. You have the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. However, the Apostle also includes that there is a fourfold struggle for us, saying: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world's rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens (Ephesians 6:12). These are the rivers that flow out of paradise. Therefore, I believe that anyone who desires to return to paradise must cross these courses of water. The same holy Prophet expressed this not idly, demonstrating that those who would undergo all temptations should already owe themselves the rest of paradise. Thus he says: My eyes descended because of the course of waters (Psalm CXVIII, 136). For just as there is a fiery sword at the entrance to paradise, so that whoever returns may return through fire, burning his sins, testing his gold: so the one who returns, returns through these courses. And the saints rightly say: We passed through fire and water (Psalm LXV, 12). Regarding those journeys, Isaiah says: 'If you pass through water, the rivers will not overwhelm you' (Isaiah 43:2). Which rivers? Listen to David speaking about those who hasten to paradise: 'Perhaps our soul would have passed through intolerable water' (Psalm 124:5). Although some interpret these four temptations as follows: You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample upon the lion and the dragon (Psalm 90:13). That He walked in His incarnation, trampled in His passion, or may trample in the handing over of the kingdom, which He will hand over to the Father, when He will have emptied all principality. But the Eagle beautifully said that which has been transplanted, that is, transferred, because He was first planted in the Virgin, then transferred to paradise; just as He said to the thief: Amen, I say to you, today you shall be with Me in paradise (Luke 23:43). Therefore, this tree will bear fruit in its season. Earthly trees are said to not bear fruit, but to bear; but the tree of life and wisdom bears fruit, that is, it bestows and gives. Again, this comes to mind: If the tree is wisdom, why will it bear fruit in its season, and not always? So that it may not be burdensome for us to think this of Christ; but you, who have read that the Lord will set a faithful and prudent steward (Luke XII, 42) over His household, to give them their measure of wheat in due season, in due season, not always, surely should not be disturbed. Wisdom can always bear fruit; but because it is wisdom, it should give wisely, distributing prudently, if ever we are deserving or able to receive full measure. Just as in this final time it will bear fruit, so too will it provide good fruit among the nations; so that we may be able to attain and preserve fellowship in his resurrection. Now we are unable, we cannot endure this hateful age. For here there is corruption, and we must be cautious not to corrupt the good fruit that the tree of life would bring; because now we are corrupt, but there we will be incorruptible: when the dead, he says, will rise incorruptible, and we will be changed. For it is necessary that this corruptible be clothed with incorruption, and this mortal be clothed with immortality (1 Cor. XV, 52 and 53). Therefore, what profit is it for someone who is dying to receive what death will take away from him? Therefore, wisdom knows at what time it should give to whom, which never loses a leaf of its own tree. And so, let us consider what the fruit of wisdom is, that we may contemplate its leaf. The fruit is internal; the leaf by which the fruit is either protected from the heat of the sun or from the cold. The fruit appears to be faith, peace, doctrine, the excellence of true knowledge, good intention, the reasoning of mysteries. A good life preserves these fruits: even if it perceives evil, it loses them. But God said to the sinner: 'Why do you declare my justices?' (Psalms 49:16) In the mystical sense, the fruit is, in the moral sense, the leaf through the contemplation of heavenly mysteries. For virtues without faith are like leaves; they may appear green, but they cannot be of any benefit. They are blown by the wind because they have no foundation. As much as the Gentiles possess mercy, they possess sobriety; but they do not have fruit because they do not have faith! Leaves quickly fall when the wind blows. And some Jews have chastity, practice reading diligently, and have great diligence; but they are without fruit and are like leaves. These are perhaps the leaves that Jesus found on that fig tree, but he did not find any fruit (Matthew 21:19). The mystical [sacraments] save and free [us] from death; however, moral virtues are ornaments of beauty, not aids to redemption. Moreover, the Lord Himself teaches that mystical [sacraments] excel moral virtues in His Gospel, saying about Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to His word, while Martha was busy with her service and complained that her sister did not help her in serving at the table: Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her (Luke 10:41-42). If she who served at the table of Christ did not contribute to hearing the word she eagerly desired, to whom can we contribute our diligent efforts to attain eternal knowledge? And yet, let neither our faith lack in her service, nor our knowledge lack in operation like Mary's, so that neither the leaves are without fruit, nor the fruit is unprotected by natural safeguards, and be exposed to harm. We can also understand this, that Adam and Eve clothed themselves with leaves, seeking earthly garments, because the resurrection of the Lord's body was being prophesied; for the flesh, which had previously been accustomed to perish instead of the leaves, would not perish in Christ; and all the righteous, who, according to the Gospel, were born of the Virgin to imitate the tree of wisdom in their lives and actions. For the Greek says, 'Will he not give his fruit?' which can be translated as 'Will the blessed one not give fruit?', in Greek; but in Latin it is said thus: because the blessed one will give fruit, namely in his resurrection, when he is able to give perpetually. And so it may be understood, that the fruit of it shall be above the wood, referring to the cross, upon which all things shall prosper. In which there is clear evidence that this is said about the Savior. For only His actions can be praised in all things and have prosperous outcomes. But the eagle shall be guided, He says: which also seems to refer to any man whom the Lord directs with heavenly favor. For the steps of a man are directed by the Lord, and the prophet David requested that his prayer be directed in the sight of God (Psalm 140:2). But the Lord himself directed his works so that they were not bent by any twist of error.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 1:4

  (Verse 4.) It follows: Not so the wicked, not so; but like dust which the wind drives away from the face of the earth; this is, not so as the blessed man, who is blessed because he has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of scoffers, desiring to corrupt by either believing or living wrongly; who has delight in the Law and meditates on it; or, as the eagle set forth, he will resound in the Law: so that he may resound the precepts of the Law in his life, and his behavior may be like theirs, whose sound has gone out into all the earth. Perhaps here the sound of human teaching may go out; but there, where it is given to be seen face to face, a fuller expression of the word is seemingly made. Therefore, not like that blessed one who will do these things, who will be like a planted tree, all his deeds will prosper, so will the wicked be. Therefore, he repeated, either the one who wrote, or the one who added afterwards (as some think), by repeating the sentence he may become more confirmed, saying: Not so the wicked, not so, who will be like dust; for they are earthly, and just as dust is thrown away by the wind, so will they be thrown away and scattered by the Holy Spirit, who breathes upon the fertile and fruitful soul like the southern wind used to do. It is said of this wind in the Song of Songs: Come, O south wind (Cant. IV, 16), that the tenderness of the softer air may relax the fields of our hearts, which were closed by the harsh winter frost and denied the embrace of welcoming seeds. It is good for us that this wind may blow, which may safely guide the ships carrying the necessary provisions for Solomon to his temple into the harbor. But this wind blows only when that heavy wind, the north wind, ceases to blow. Therefore, either the Church or the pious soul says: Arise, north wind, and come, south wind (ibid.); this means: You, north wind, withdraw, and you, south wind, come: blow upon my garden that the flowers may not be scattered but preserved. Therefore, the soul full of the flowers of piety has a garden, or itself is the garden, which bears fruit; the soul that is open to impiety has dust, which is barren of fruit. Indeed, the Lord made that one fruitful; but it gathered for itself the dust of impiety. Why do you boast, oh full of impiety? Is it because you are powerful in honors and abundant in wealth? Don't you realize that you are dust, and you will be scattered and dispersed? I have seen, he says, the wicked man exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and behold, he was no more (Psal. XXXVI, 35 and 36). Why do you glory in the fact that many services surround you, many friends cover your sides, and numerous horses follow you, of which you explain to us the lineage, as if it were the race of your ancestors. You prefer wealth, because you feed your companions at feasts. I wish you would feed the needy; I wish you were not ministers of jokes, but supporters of wishes. You boast that you immediately yield to someone who is promising, and people avoid you like a wild animal or a beast. Do you think these things are anything? Don't you hear that they pass by everyone like a shadow? What use are consular robes, or triumphal cloaks shining with gold? You will leave naked: no one will recognize you as a consul there. What use are countless possessions? They are public, not yours. Today you hold them, tomorrow another does. When you leave, another enters. Hardly have you moved your foot, another puts in a step. How many were there before you, how many will rule after you, and do you think this to be private? Whom have riches ever redeemed from death? Nay, whom have riches not compelled to death? Whom have wealth recalled from the underworld? Whom has power excused from punishment? Dust is wickedness, as the dust is the power of the wicked: it brings darkness, it cannot give salvation. As soon as a strong wind begins to blow, it scatters and dissolves it: it disturbs the air, it lays bare the ground; as dust is thrown, it vanishes like smoke, it melts like wax. Hence many have raised the question, whether divine Scripture seems to assert that nature will perish; especially because elsewhere it says: I will crush them like dust before the wind, and like mud on the streets I will wipe them out (Psalm 17:43); and elsewhere: Behold, all adversaries will be put to shame and will be ashamed; for they will be as if they were not (Isaiah 41:11). Therefore, first I ask, do they think impiety is according to nature or beyond nature? If they claim to follow nature, it is certain that their opinion is wrong. After all, let them say whether sin is in accordance with nature or not. But it is certain that to sin is to deviate from what is according to nature. What, therefore, is so absurd as to say that it seems less wicked to be a sinner than impious; when it is most bitter of all, whatever seems to be an offense against God? But if to act impiously is not contrary to nature, then to live impiously according to nature is not to be considered a sin, nor worthy of reproach; for no one is reproached who acts according to nature. Therefore it is concluded that impiety is beyond nature. So how does scripture bring about the destruction of customs, of natures that will be destroyed, that is, perishable natures, when impiety is not natural but beyond nature? For what does not have something, does not lose it: nor can that substance perish, which was not. For even a disturbed dust is either transformed into the substance of water, or into air, or into fire, that is, it often seems to transition into another nature. Therefore, it does not perish into nothingness, but it transitions into something else. What therefore prevents that even he who is crushed by the power and reason of the word, like dust, is not dissipated into nothingness, but transformed for the better; so that he becomes a spiritual man from the earthly, and so that the clay of the streets is erased in such a way that whatever is rough and dirty is removed, and whatever is smooth and clean remains? And what he says about the adversaries of Jerusalem: They are as if they are not; surely he could have said: They will not be. But when he says: They will be confounded and they will reverence; surely you understand that they will exist in substance, and in the progress of conversion, but they will not be adversaries as they were. And so, due to the lack of wickedness, they will not be, they will be changed with faith and devotion. Furthermore, elsewhere it is said from the perspective of a sinner: 'And I will bear the wrath of God, because I have sinned, until he justifies my judgment' (Micah 7:9). For God, desiring to convert the sinner, punishes and burns them in order to purify them. Hence it is said: 'And he will bring me into the light' (ibid.). For even fire burns and melts wax, in order to purify it; and we are tested by fire; and smoke is purified when all material is consumed, and it does not pass through its nature. And so, the soul, purified from every stain, aims at what is lacking, not at what is not. Hence Balaam says: 'Let my soul die the death of the just' (Numbers 23:10), meaning that his fall and certain wicked uses should die, and that he should become accustomed to the life of the just; for God desires all things to be saved. Thus Solomon also says: 'God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living' (Wisdom 1:13). He made the soul to exist; he created man for incorruption, whom he made in his own image. But men, deviating from the gift of nature, have rendered themselves subject to death, so that they may be corrupted like earthly beings. But God compels through tribulations to repentance, so that through repentance that evil accident of wickedness may be burned up and consumed, and perish; and that place of the soul, which was the possession of the accident of impiety, may be open for the reception of virtue and grace. It is certain, however, that the nature of the soul is precious, which, made in the likeness of God, admits the reception of all virtue; since it is not deprived of the fellowship of heavenly knowledge. Now we think that what is constantly in everyone's mouth is left over, through which reason God, by whose will not even the most worthless sparrow falls, and before whom the hairs of the head are numbered, said through Isaiah: Thus all nations will be like a drop from a bucket, and like a speck of dust on the scales, and they will be valued like spit (Isaiah 40:15). So all nations will perish like a drop from a bucket, and like spit they will perish, and they will be of no use. But you, who know that our God did not consider the nations worthless, as he said to Abraham: All nations will be blessed through you (Gen. XII, 3); and as he spoke to the Son through David: I will give you the nations as your inheritance (Psal. II, 8); and further: All nations will serve him (Psal. LXXI, 11); you who have read that God offered his Son for the salvation of all nations, in order to save sinners (Rom. VIII, 32); you should consider the power of divine sentiment in this passage. For through the contemplation of the celestial creatures, which are many (just as the sky, which is many times greater than the earth, is considered by most to be a mere point in comparison to the sky), the nations were estimated as drops from a bucket, of which the whole fullness belongs. From that heavenly fullness, therefore, the nations are estimated as drops falling down. For how could they seem great, when the very earth in which the nations exist is a small part of the world, and the incline of the scales, by which God has worked all things, is so slight that the nations are like a small portion? At the same time, recognize through this scale that God has created all things with justice, and in the very nations there is naturally something in which justice seems to have even a small amount, and that the spit itself exists as an inner portion of the universality of the whole body. Therefore, here mercy is preached more, because the one who comes to seek what was lost did not despise that drop of water as insignificant, and he lifted the moment of the scale; and giving him the substance of a good body with his spit, he deigned that all nations be gathered into one body of the Church. However, among the nations and Israel, it can by no means be said that they are devoid of God's divine justice; for Moses himself said of Israel: Behold, a wise people, and tenacious of discipline, a great nation (Deut. IV, 6). And so that you may know that above our merit God's goodness has overflowed, the Apostle, interpreting this prophetic passage, said: God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all (Rom. 11:32-33). And he added: Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? (Rom. 11:34-35). But the Prophet, introducing this passage, says: Thus all nations have been esteemed as a drop from a bucket (Is. 40:15), and the rest, so that you may know that this understanding agrees with the Apostolic interpretation. But what is more evident than this, that it does not seem to bring about perishable natures, since the holy Prophet himself has subjected: For the wicked do not rise again in judgment. For he did not say: They do not rise again; but he says: They do rise again, but not in judgment. However, whoever rises again, is indeed and remains; but because he did not believe in Christ, he has already been judged; and therefore he does not come into judgment, whom the punishment of judgment already completed remains. And concerning the resurrection, there are indeed many testimonies in the divine Scriptures, which we have not overlooked in the books of consolation and resurrection. But regarding what it says: The wicked do not rise again in judgment; according to the Gospel, this is an absolute statement, because not everyone will be judged. However, the Apostle says: For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10). Many people think that these things are contradictory; and they do not realize that the Savior spoke about the faithless and impious, those who did not believe in the Lord Jesus. For He said: 'Whoever believes in me will not be judged, but whoever does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.' This is the judgment, because the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light; for their deeds were evil. (John 3:18, 19). Therefore it is clear about whom it has been said, that is, about those who have not believed in the Lord Jesus. The Apostle, though he said 'all', certainly spoke about those who have believed, but they will render an account of their own actions on the day of judgment. Moreover, he himself elsewhere says (Rom. II, 15) that the testimony of our conscience will be revealed on the day of judgment, when our thoughts will either accuse or defend ourselves, as it is written, and the hidden secrets of the heart will be revealed. But what is clearer than this, which he says elsewhere: 'We shall all rise again, but we shall not all be changed.' (I Cor. XV, 15) For the just shall be changed into incorruption, while the truth of the body remains. Daniel also says: 'Judgment has sat, and the books have been opened.' (Dan. VII, 10) He therefore shows that there will be future judgment, especially when elsewhere he says the same: 'Many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some unto life eternal, and others unto everlasting reproach and confusion; and they that understand shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and many of the just as the stars forever and ever.' (Dan. XII, 2 and 3) What is this judgment of sitting judges, and what is it but the open book of our conscience, containing the series of our sins? Although it is despicable to consider this as if it were a judgment similar to human judgment. Christ's judgment is different, where conscience itself reveals itself, which cannot hide from the judge of hidden things: where thoughts shine forth before Him, who still says to those who think: Why do you think evil in your hearts (Matthew 9:4)? When he was speaking to the Jews, he used to say to everyone, lest anyone should think that hidden things could deceive him, lest anyone should think that a witness of hidden error could escape with closed walls. And so the Evangelist also testifies, saying: But Jesus knew their thoughts. How then does he say: The books are open? Surely not written in ink, but by the traces of sins, and the contamination of crimes. The book of your conscience will be opened, the book of your heart will be opened, our fault will be recited. There is a book where there is a tablet; rather, there are books inscribed where there are inscribed tablets, which are inscribed by the Holy Spirit with the Apostolic teaching, as we read, with Paul saying: You are our epistle... inscribed not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God: not on stone tablets, but on fleshy tablets of the heart (II Cor. III, 2 and 3). Therefore, these tablets of the heart, inscribed with the Holy Spirit, will be recited. If you do well, Scripture will remain. See that you do not take away the grace of the Holy Spirit; see that you do not erase, and write down your crimes with ink, lest the day of judgment come, and the Judge say: Let the books be read, let the tablets of his deeds be read; and let Him say to you: I wrote your tablets, why did you destroy my marks? I wrote my gifts, how did you destroy my offerings and write down your insults? Have you not read that I write? Have I not said to you through the mouth of my Prophet: My tongue is the pen of a swift scribe (Psalm 44:2); but judgment belongs to the Word. Therefore, many who have slept in the tomb will rise from the earth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28-29). What Daniel says, 'to eternal life,' the Savior says, 'to the resurrection of life.' Likewise, what Daniel says, 'to shame and everlasting contempt,' the Savior says, 'to the resurrection of judgment.' Therefore, it is not profitable for us to come to judgment, nor is it profitable not to come; lest we appear to be condemned or bear the weight of judgment in this contamination of vices. The prophet asks that the Lord not enter into judgment with his servant (Psalm 142:2); how much more should we fear the judgment of the Lord? Consider that the merciful Lord will forgive: how much will be revealed that I thought was hidden? What shame, what embarrassment will there be for me, when the one whom I claimed to teach others, I myself am found guilty in that very thing in which I was accusing others? And therefore, since both the Savior and John in the Apocalypse spoke of two kinds of resurrection, and John said, 'Blessed is he who has a part in the first resurrection' (Rev. 20:6), these indeed come to grace without judgment. But those who do not come to the first resurrection, but are reserved for the second, will be burned until they fulfill the time between the first and second resurrection, or if they do not fulfill it, they will remain longer in punishment. Therefore, let us pray that in the first resurrection we may deserve to have a share. There are those who rose in the passion of Christ; and these are clearly blessed, who received the grace of Christ and heard His voice, of which it is written: The hour is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live (John 5:25). And: They entered the holy city (Matthew 27:53). I think that it signifies more the heavenly city than this earthly Jerusalem, which He left, reproached, because they have entered into this one by foot, but into that heavenly one by merits. But let us also beware that we rise from this earthly tomb. There are those who, while alive, are surrounded and filled with the dead, whose throat is a grave, not the words of life, but of death. If we rise here from the dead, we will also rise there. If we are not dry bones here, but have received the dew of the Word, the moisture of the Holy Spirit, we shall live there. Thus, Jesus will raise us here with His mighty voice, as He raised Lazarus, and through His disciples He will loose us from the chains of death and lead us into Bethany, where Lazarus was, that is, the house of obedience. And He will invite us to His banquet here, and there we shall recline with Him, and there we shall always feast with Him, and there the perfume, which only the betrayer lamented being wasted, will be fragrant to us.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 1:5

  (Verse 5.) Therefore the wicked do not rise in judgment. That is, they do not rise to share in the fate of those who will be judged; nor do sinners rise in the council of the righteous. You see that the wicked arise, but they do not rise in the judgment of the righteous, because sinners, though they do not rise in the council of the righteous, do rise in judgment. Hence, those who have believed well and have also put their faith into action will not be judged, but will rise in the council of the righteous. But sinners who cannot rise among the righteous will rise in judgment. You have two orders. The third remains for the impious, since they did not believe and have already been judged; and therefore they do not arise in judgment, but for punishment: for they loved darkness more than light (John 3:19); and therefore their judgment is punishment, and perhaps the punishment of darkness. And it could indeed be understood that those who have evil deeds, believing nevertheless in Christ, desiring indeed to live rightly; but being overcome by the allurements of sin, they loved darkness more than light: that is, they loved both, but darkness more. But because he warned about those who did not believe, I think that it should be understood that they loved darkness, and not light; for light is Christ. Therefore, those who did not believe in the light are absurd to be believed to have loved the light, which they did not know. For they did not know, nor did they understand, they walk in darkness, as it is written (Psalm 81:5).

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 1:6

  (Verse 6.) It follows: For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the wicked shall perish. Pay attention to the meaning: The wicked do not rise in judgment, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous. Certainly He knows their ways, whose steps are directed by the Lord. They are the steps of men who are guided by the Lord. They are guided by the Lord and the ways of man. The Lord knows these ways, which are straight and tend toward that life of which it is said: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). This is the good way: but the way of the world is crooked. It does not deign to know that way. For it recognizes those who are its own, who do its works: but to those who do wickedness, the Lord says: Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, I do not know you (Luke 13:27). They are not unknown due to ignorance, but because they are unworthy of the knowledge of God. However, he said beautifully: 'And the way of the wicked shall perish.' Latinus separated 'iter' to mean 'way' and as if distinguished 'iter' from 'via'; but the Greek said 'via' in both cases. However, Latinus did not speak in vain, for the Lord said: 'I am the way,' he did not say: 'I am the journey.' But he said the 'way' of the wicked shall perish, not the wicked themselves. He preserves the substance of those who, if they convert, will lose only the way of wickedness, which neither was nor will be from the beginning. Therefore, what is accidental perishes: what is substantial remains. But the wicked perish in such a way as it is said: The soul that sins, it shall die (Ezekiel XVIII, 4); so that by the sting of sin, they do not perish by the dissolution of their entire substance.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 4:4

  It is said that the greatest of the philosophers granted immunity from punishment to those crimes that had been committed through anger, but the divine Scripture says better: "Be angry, and sin not." It preferred rather to cut off sin than to excuse it. It is better to find praise for mercy in an occasion for indignation than to be incited by wrath toward vengeance.

  ON THE DEATH OF THEODOSIUS 14

• Psalms 4:4

  He is not commanding us to be angry but making allowances for human nature. The anger that we cannot help feeling we can at least moderate. So, even if we are angry, our emotions may be stirred in accordance with nature, but we must not sin, contrary to nature. If someone cannot govern himself, it is intolerable that he should undertake to govern others.

  LETTER 63:60

• Psalms 4:4

  Let there be a door to your mouth, that it may be shut when need arises, and let it be carefully barred, that none may rouse your voice to anger, and you pay back abuse with abuse. You have heard it read today: "Be angry, and sin not." Therefore although we are angry (this arising from the motions of our nature, not of our will), let us not utter with our mouth one evil word, lest we fall into sin; but let there be a yoke and a balance to your words, that is, humility and moderation, that your tongue may be subject to your mind. Let it be held in check with a tight rein; let it have its own means of restraint, whereby it can be recalled to moderation; let it utter words tried by the scales of justice, that there may be seriousness in our meaning, weight in our speech and due measure in our words.

  On the Duties of the Clergy 1.3.13

• Psalms 8:6

  One who, by way of ignorance, pretended to the insensibility and lack of knowledge characteristic of a beast begins to be a human once he has been encompassed by the grace of God. Indeed, if he is capable of reason and of grace, he is proved human by that very fact, and thus he rejoices that he has been separated from the dumb animals and has been admitted into the company of humankind, which God visits and protects. For what are human beings except that the Lord is mindful of them and that they are visited by the Lord?

  The Prayer of Job and David 4.9.26

• Psalms 8:6

  The Father is not "among" all things, for to him it is confessed that "all things serve you." Nor is the Son reckoned "among" all things, for "all things were made by him," and "all things exist together in him, and he is above all the heavens." The Son, therefore, exists not "among" but above all things, being, indeed, after the flesh, of the people, of the Jews, but yet at the same time God over all, blessed forever, having a name that is above every name, it being said of him, "You have put all things in subjection under his feet." But in making all things subject to him, he left nothing that is not subject, even as the apostle has said.

  Exposition of the Christian Faith 4.11.140

• Psalms 11:1

  The soul has wings by which it can raise itself free from the earth. But this movement of the wings is not of something constructed of feathers but a continuing series of good works, like those of the Lord of whom it is well said, "And in the shadow of your wings I shall take refuge." In the first place, the hands of our Lord fixed on the cross were extended like something in flight, and, second, the actions of God are like a refreshing shadow of eternal salvation that can regulate the conflagration raging in our world.

  Concerning Virginity 18:116

• Psalms 15:2

  In everything, therefore, good faith is seemly, justice is pleasing, due measure in equity is delightful. But what shall I say about contracts, and especially about the sale of land, or agreements or covenants? Are there not rules just for the purpose of shutting out all false deceit and to make him whose deceit is found out liable to double punishment? Everywhere, then, does regard for what is virtuous take the lead; it shuts out deceit, it expels fraud. Wherefore the prophet David has rightly stated his judgment in general, saying, "He has done no evil to his neighbor." Fraud, then, ought to be wanting not only in contracts, in which the defects of those things that are for sale are ordered to be recorded (which contracts, unless the vendor has mentioned the defects, are rendered void by an action for fraud, although he has conveyed them fully to the purchaser), but it ought also to be absent in all else. Candor must be shown, the truth must be made known.

  On the Duties of the Clergy 3.10.66

• Psalms 15:5

  What is more cruel than to lend money to one who has none and then to exact double the amount? If one cannot pay the simple amount, how will he pay double?… Nations have often failed because of usury, and this has been the cause of public calamity.

  Letter 19: To Vigilius

• Psalms 16:2

  Who has ever given him anything, since "from him, and through him and in him" are all things? The fount of life is that highest Good that bestows the substance of life on all, because it has life abiding in itself. It receives from no one as though it were needy; it lavishes goods on all and borrows from others nothing for itself, for it has no need of us. It says, too, in the person of humankind: "You do not need my goods." What is more lovely than to approach him and cling to him? What pleasure can be greater? What else can he desire who sees and tastes freely of this fount of living water? what realms? what powers? what riches? when he sees how pitiable are the conditions of kings, how changeable the status of their power, how short the span of this life, in how great bondage even sovereigns must live, since they live at the will of others and not their own.

  Letter 29: To Irenaeus

• Psalms 17:7

  It becomes Christians to pray for peace and quiet but not to abandon steadfast faith and truth even at the peril of death. For the Lord is our Leader, "who will save them that put their hope in him."

  LETTER 20:14

• Psalms 19:1

  As heaven is lighted with the splendor of the stars, so do people shine with the light of their good works, and their deeds shine before their Father in heaven. The one is the firmament of heaven on high; the other is a similar firmament of which it is said, "On this rock I will build my church." The one is a firmament of the elements, the other of virtues, and this last is more excellent.

  Letter 43: To Horontianus

• Psalms 19:6

  Christ fills his world with copious lights, since "his going out is from the end of heaven, and his circuit even to the end of it, and there is no one who can hide himself from his heat." Benignly he gives light to all, wishing not to repel the foolish but to correct them and desiring not to exclude the hard of heart from the church but to soften them. Hence … Christ in the Gospel invites them, saying, "Come to me, all you who labor, and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart."

  On the Death of Satyrus 2.117

• Psalms 21:12

  "Turned away" [is] an expression properly applied to the sinner, for "Cain went out from the face of the Lord," and the psalmist says, "You will make them turn their back." One who is righteous does not turn away from the Lord but runs to meet him and says, "My eyes are ever toward the Lord." And when the Lord said, "Whom shall I send?" Isaiah offered himself of his own accord and said, "Behold, here I am."

  On Joseph the Patriarch, Chapter 3

• Psalms 22:1

  Seeing, then, that he took on himself a soul he also took the affections of a soul, for God could not have been distressed or have died in respect of his being God.… As being man, therefore, he speaks, bearing with him my terrors, for when we are in the midst of dangers we think ourself abandoned by God. As man, therefore, he is distressed, as man he weeps, as man he is crucified.

  Exposition of the Christian Faith 2.7.56

• Psalms 22:6

  He became all these things so that he might dull the sting of our death, that he might take away our state of slavery, that he might wipe away our curses, sins and reproaches.

  Letter 46: To Sabinus

• Psalms 22:10

  He and the Father are One, and the Father is his Father by possession of the same nature.… Speaking as the Son, he called God his father, and afterward, speaking as man, named him as God. Everywhere, indeed, we have witness in the Scriptures to show that Christ, in naming God as his God, does so as man. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And again: "From my mother's womb you are my God." In the former place he suffers as a man; in the latter it is a man who is brought forth from his mother's womb. And so when he says, "From my mother's womb you are my God," he means that he who was always his father is his God from the moment when he was brought forth from his mother's womb.

  Exposition of the Christian Faith 1.14.91-92

• Psalms 22:18

  To God the things that are to come are present, and for him who foreknows all things, they are as though they were past and over; as it is written, "Who has made the things that are to be."

  Exposition of the Christian Faith 1.15.97

• Psalms 22:22

  He is the Lord by nature but a brother by grace.

  On the Blessings of the Patriarchs

• Psalms 23:1

  How often have you heard Psalm 23 and not understood it! See how it is applicable to the heavenly sacraments: "The Lord feeds me, and I shall want nothing; he has set me in a place of pasture; he has brought me on the water of refreshment; he has converted my soul. He has led me on the paths of justice for his own name's sake. For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for you are with me.… Your rod is power, the staff suffering, that is, the eternal divinity of Christ, but also corporeal suffering; the one created, the other redeemed. You have prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. You have anointed my head with oil; and my chalice that inebriates me, how goodly it is!"

  On the Sacraments, Book 5, Chapter 3

• Psalms 23:5

  "You have prepared a banquet in my sight." This banquet consists of the living Bread, the Word of God. At this banquet there is the oil of sanctification, poured richly over the head of the just. This oil strengthens the inner senses. It does away with the oil of the sinner that fattens the head. In this banquet, too, you have the cup that inebriates: "how excellent" it is, or "how powerful," for the Greek has kratiston, meaning most mighty, strong or powerful. Surely it is a powerful cup that washes away every stain of sin.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 23:6

  When do you not have something that you owe to God? Or when are you without a gift of God, since your daily enjoyment of living is from God? "For what have you, that you have not received?" Therefore, because you always receive, always call on God; and since what you have is from God, always acknowledge that you are his debtor. I prefer that you pay your debts rather through love than as one forced to do so.

  ON THE DEATH OF THEODOSIUS 22

• Psalms 25:4

  Now the ways of the Lord are, we may say, certain courses taken in a good life, guided by Christ, who says, "I am the way, and the truth and the life." The way, then, is the surpassing power of God, for Christ is our way, and a good way, too, is he, a way that has opened the kingdom of heaven to believers. Moreover, the ways of the Lord are straight, as it is written: "Make your ways known to me, O Lord." Chastity is a way, faith is a way, abstinence is a way. There is, indeed, a way of virtue, and there is a way of wickedness; for it is written, "And see if there is any way of wickedness in me."

  Exposition of the Christian Faith 3.7.51

• Psalms 27:2

  David says that he does not fear, because the enemy were eating up his flesh but not his soul.

  Concerning Repentance 1.14.77

• Psalms 30:2

  For as much as someone directs their intention towards the Lord, they elevate the Lord even more, and they themselves are elevated. Hence, he says: I will exalt you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up. For the holy person exalts the Lord, while the sinner humbles Him.

  On Isaac and the Soul, Chapter VII, 57

• Psalms 30:9

  It first predestined, then called; and those whom it called, it also justified; and those whom it justified, it also glorified. Will it be able to abandon those whom it has supported with such great benefits up to rewards? Among so many benefits of God, should we fear any accusations or traps from an accuser? But who would dare to accuse those chosen by divine judgment? Surely God the Father, who granted them, can revoke his gifts; and those whom he has adopted, can he cast them aside from the grace of paternal affection? But there is fear that the judge may be more severe. Consider who the judge is. Indeed, the Father has given all judgment to Christ. Therefore, can that very one condemn you, whom he redeemed from death, for whom he offered himself, and whose life he knows to be the reward of his own death? Will he not say: What is the benefit in my blood if I harm the one whom I myself saved? Then you consider the judge, but do not consider the advocate. Can he not pronounce a harsher sentence, who does not cease to intercede so that the grace of paternal reconciliation may be bestowed upon us?

  On Jacob and the Blessed Life, Book I, Chapter VI, 26

• Psalms 32:1

  For some sins Thou dost wash away in the blood of Thy Son, others Thou dost remit unto us, that by good works and confession we may cover our errors. The expression therefore "that pardoneth iniquities", appertains to remission; because He takes them away altogether, so that the things which He remembers not are as though they did not exist.

  Letter 70, To Horontianus

• Psalms 32:9

  Fools then are not free, for it is said to them, Be ye not like to horse and mule, which have no understanding, whose mouths must be held with bit and bridle lest they fall upon thee. Great plagues remain for the ungodly; for they have need of these, in order that their folly may be restrained. It is good discipline which requires this, not severity. Further, he that spareth his rod hateth his son: for a man's own sins scourge him still more severely. For heavy is the weight of crime, heavy the scourges of sin; they are heavy as a sore burthen, they inflict wounds upon the soul, and make the ulcers of the mind to stink.

  Letter 37, To Simplician, 41

• Psalms 32:9

  Why do you dishonor yourself by indulging in physical allurements, while serving your belly and its passions? Why do you take away the understanding that the Creator has given you? Why do you compare yourself to animals, from which God wanted you to be separate, saying: Do not become like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding?

  The Six Days of Creation, Book 6, Chapter 3, 10

• Psalms 34:8

  In Christ we possess everything. Let every soul approach him, whether it is sick with the sins of the flesh, infixed by the nails of worldly desires, admittedly still imperfect, progressing by intense medication or already perfect in its many virtues. Everyone is in the Lord's power, and Christ is all things to us. If you desire to heal your wounds, he is your doctor; if you are on fire with fever, he is your fountain; if you are burdened with iniquity, he is your justification; if you need help, he is your strength; if you fear death, he is your life; if you desire heaven, he is your way; if you are fleeing from darkness, he is your light; if you are seeking food, he is your nourishment. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy is the one who takes refuge in him.

  Concerning Virginity 16:99

• Psalms 34:13

  If … anger has got the start, and has already taken possession of your mind and mounted into your heart, forsake not your ground. Your ground is patience, it is wisdom, it is reason, it is the allaying of indignation. And if the stubbornness of your opponent rouses you and his perverseness drives you to indignation: if you cannot calm your mind, check at least your tongue. For so it is written: "Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no guile. Seek peace and pursue it." … First, then, calm your mind. If you cannot do this, put a restraint on your tongue. Last, do not neglect to seek for reconciliation. These ideas the speakers of the world have borrowed from us and have set down in their writings. But he who said it first has the credit of understanding its meaning.

  On the Duties of the Clergy 1.21.92

• Psalms 36:1

  The wicked man said, in order to sin for himself. He did not express what he said, and therefore I think it should be understood thus: whatever the wicked man says, it is a sin. For every injustice is a sin, just as where there is a flawed instrument, how can the song not be flawed? The offspring of degenerate material is devoid of color. Therefore, whatever the wicked man speaks, it is iniquity, which is attributed to its author, just as it is a frequent saying that the offspring of a viper first splits its parent. Therefore, he sins against himself. I think nothing is said more sublime in this statement. In those who have claimed wisdom of the world for themselves, I have not read or learned anything like this. It is not surprising, since they have spoken with human intellect, that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, has infused this: that the unjust man sins against himself, generates wounds for himself, and wounds himself. For just as thorns are born in the hands of a drunkard, as Scripture asserts: so also the unjust are born from words, which afflict the speaker. The unjust man speaks, and his inner conscience is wounded; for in every word he speaks, he is not free from deceit. For what punishment is heavier than his own, when he exacts punishment for every word? The serpent infuses poison into others, unjust to itself; for whatever it pours out is poured back upon it. Therefore, the unjust man is useless to others and harmful to himself; but the life of the just is fruitful for others and sweet for themselves. For Solomon says: "My son, if you are wise, you will be wise for yourself and for your neighbors; but if you are wicked, you alone will bear the evil." Therefore, we observe that justice is born more for the sake of others than for oneself: it expects the common good, not its own; and it considers the good of others as its own advantage. Blessed and illustrious justice, whose good benefits all: it often proceeds from one to many, and reaches everyone. Just is David, who spared his enemy and preferred his innocence over preserving his life; so that he would not seek retribution for the sake of the public, and so that he would not set an example for the prince to desire vengeance in all cases, since he himself took revenge on his assailant. Justus Abel, who considered the firstfruits of his sheep, which the Lord had given him, to be offered to the Lord; and therefore he pleased God more, because he did not delay and demonstrated devotion. But the wicked one could not bear this, a transgressor of justice, a root of iniquity; and therefore he killed his brother, because his offering had been approved by God more than his own. But he who was killed spoke to God in the voice of his blood, while the living one was rejected from the face of the Lord; and even though punishment did not yet come from the Lord, the conscience of his sins tormented him. The wretched man was hiding, trembling and fearing; and since there was still no executioner, his unjust life itself tortured him. He had received a sign, not so that he could enjoy the sweetness of life, but so that death would not take away his torment: so that he would suffer daily by fearing his executioner. Indeed, he had deserved that the executioner be restrained; but without any respite, he himself was his own executioner, he himself was the executioner. What punishment is greater than fearing that which you cannot avoid, and not being able to escape that which you have feared? Hence, David expresses beautifully the heavy burden of a guilty conscience, saying: "For I acknowledge my iniquity, and my sin is always before me" (Psalm 50:4). For the image of our sin is imposed upon us, and it does not allow its guilty one to be at peace, inflicting a miserable servitude upon him and dragging him into its own chains, so that he may not be able to free himself; for he willingly sold himself, although he was free to not accept the costs of his sins and to preserve the freedom of innocence. So while we pray, sin is poured out: when the senses of the body relax in sleep, sin returns. Our error always comes to us like a wicked tax collector, or like a dishonest moneylender meeting a debtor. Hence the Lord says: Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin (John 8:34). But the righteous person knows how to loosen the bonds of his sins, and does not wait for an accuser, but anticipates by confessing in order to alleviate every offense; so that the adversary may have nothing to accuse. And so Scripture says to you: The righteous at the beginning of his speech is an accuser of himself (Prov. XVIII, 17). For he takes away the voice of the adversary, and with a confession of his own sins, he binds them like teeth sharpened for the prey of accusation. Judas Iscariot said that he would betray him. What did he say: The one I shall kiss, he is: seize him (Matt. XXVI, 48). He said this, and he himself acted with his own mouth unto death. How many do we think there were in him who were torturers, that he himself burdened himself so heavily as the exactor of punishment, and strangled himself with a noose? The wicked man said that he sins for himself. The righteous man spoke: Behold, I, a sinner, have done evil, and what has this flock done? And all sin was forgiven. Thus the righteous man spoke, and it benefited him. Cain said: Am I my brother's keeper? and he lied to himself. Ananias said that he had brought forth the price of his sold land and he lied to himself, for he could have offered less without deception. Therefore, it says excellently: "And iniquity lies to itself" (Psalm 26:12). It lies to itself beforehand when it lies to its own destruction; it sins against itself when it robs itself of the sweetness of innocence. For what fruit is sweeter than the purity and simplicity of the heart? What food is more enjoyable than that which the mind, well aware of itself, and the conscience of the innocent, feasts upon? But indeed, iniquity weighs down the conscience like a leaden weight, as Scripture testifies (Zechariah 5:7). And rightfully does David say: As a heavy burden are they befallen upon me (Psalm. XXXVII, 5). And Solomon: As a sour grape to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so is iniquity to all those who use it (Prov. X, 26). A severe punishment which hinders food, obscures sight; and, what is worse, it casts a dark shadow over the eyes of the inner mind, so that the unjust cannot see what is true. Therefore, he who takes away from himself what is precious, sins against himself. Therefore the unjust man says that he may sin for himself. But the just man speaks in order to benefit others and himself; the former speaks for destruction, the latter speaks for salvation. But concerning the just and faithful, it is said: With the heart one believes unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. X, 10). His tongue wounds, but the tongue of the wise heals. Therefore, when David reproached King Saul for persecuting him to death, forgetting the favor and gratitude for saving him so many times, and seeking the life of him who had risked his own life for the king's safety, he said that the fruit of justice would not perish in him, who did not destroy his enemy, handed over to him by the Lord (I Sam. XXIV, 14). Injustice has enriched itself from the unjust, poison has been poured out by serpents, the poison and weapons of injustice have perished. Therefore, it is written: The unjust says to himself that he may sin. What did he say? I will set my throne above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:14). The words have no effect, but they have sin. It is an empty pomp of boastfulness; but the spirit of pride, being criminal, does not fear to violate the divine majesty with reproach. For if any fear of God were within him, he would not have believed in his deceitful self in the full sight of God, as if God cannot know hidden things, He who is the searcher of souls. God watches over everything; nothing passes Him by, no one deceives Him: to Him all present things are like those which are going to happen, and hidden things are clear. Indeed, if that worldly sun often offers its light to closed dwellings; how much more so the highest, eternal God, who investigates and anticipates the secret interior of the human mind and every counsel of the Angels with His knowledge? What else does the unjust person do, except seek injustice for himself and hatred?

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 36:1

  The wicked person speaks, and the inner conscience is mangled. Every word he utters is laden with malice and trickery. Who undergoes punishment greater than that which he inflicts on himself, when every word he says is piercing him through and through? The serpent pours out his poison into others; the unjust pours it into himself. Whatever he spills forth, he is spilling into his own self.

  COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 36:6

• Psalms 36:2

  For it is written: There is no fear of God before his eyes: because he hath dealt deceitfully before him, that he might find his iniquity unto hatred. For what did he find? For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. But as commendable is he who finds the good he seeks, so elusive is he who labored to find the evil he sought; for our efforts should be directed towards good things, not towards wickedness and crime. What, then, is it but the utmost folly and madness, to seek hatred, to find injustice by means of greater arts, which no good person has ever sought? Therefore, let us consider how the wicked seek their own iniquity and hatred. Indeed, Herodias was married to the tetrarch of Philip in a legitimate union, abundant in royal wealth and power. She received Herod, who was traveling to Rome, as if he were her husband's brother, by the right of hospitality and kinship. After making a pact with him, she soon left her husband and exchanged the rights of her partnership. Did she not seek iniquity and hatred by deserting her marriage in order to find adultery? And because Saint John the Baptist consistently rebuked Herod for his unlawful marriage, saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her as a wife" (Mark 6:18), as she had left her lawful husband and had come together with her brother-in-law as if by law; the adulteress was moved to the extent that she wanted to kill him. But knowing that she could not easily persuade Herod to kill John, she devised a plan by which she could accomplish this. It was Herod's birthday, which he used to celebrate with excessive luxury, as is the custom for many kings. He adorned his daughter so that she might dance a royal pledge at the king's banquet. And when she pleased Herod, who should have displeased her uncle, she offered to him, that he might ask for whatever reward he wanted for the disgrace of her dancing. She consulted her mother, by whose prompting she demanded the head of John the Baptist. Herod, being overcome because he had bound himself by an oath to give whatever the girl would ask, ordered John to be killed, and his head to be brought. When it was brought, the girl gave it to her mother, and she carried it to her own mother. Therefore, it is true that injustice and hatred are required: since that woman, unable to obtain what she wanted through a simple request, devised a scheme of deceitful fraud.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 36:3

  What shall I say about Judas the traitor, who sought after greed and found sacrilege, saying: What will you give me, and I will hand him over to you (Matt. XXVI, 15)? Not satisfied with looting the spoils of the poor, he reached the fullness of the gravest crimes by committing crimes, mixing the sacraments of charity with wicked acts, when he said: He whom I shall kiss, he is: hold him (Ibid., 48); so that there can be no doubt that what was said about him is true: The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit. She was giving kisses with her lips, she was pouring poison into their hearts; she was contemplating bitter punishments, she was offering a token of her favor. Indeed, a prophecy was made about him: He did not want to understand in order to do good; for he did not sin by nature, but by his own will. In the end, he was an Apostle, he heard daily divine commands, he learned the heavenly mystery; he could have understood in order to do good, if he had wanted. He saw the paralytics healed, the blind receive sight, the dead raised; should he not have understood that it was God who could perform such things? But he did not want to understand, because he was a greedy man and, focused on money, he turned away the power of his mind from knowing the divine. For every person who indulges in wickedness does not want to understand the commandments of heaven, lest they be turned away from their vices. See that person fleeing understanding, who says: Darkness covers me, and walls surround me: who knows if the Lord sees (Ecclesiasticus 23:26) ? They do not want to seek and find, that God sees and knows all things; lest they be held back from their wrongdoing. See King Ahab seeking Naboth's vineyard; know his response: Far be it from me to give up the inheritance of my fathers (1 Kings 21:3) . Should he not have understood that he was doing what was right? But he did not want to understand in order to do good and not seek what belongs to others. Should he not have understood that Elijah served God truly, when he saw that by the word of Elijah the heavens were shut for three years and six months; and that by his prayers rain was sent down to water the dry land? But he did not want to understand, lest he condemn their unfaithfulness and follow the faith.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 36:4

  Moreover, he meditated wickedness in his bed, where he should have sought the truth. For in our beds, we should remorse our sins, not commit them by our very actions, as the Prophet says: "What you utter in your hearts, and in your beds you are remorseful."

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 36, 16

• Psalms 36:5-6

  (Verses 5, 6.) Finally, let us consider what follows. 'O Lord,' he says, 'in heaven is your mercy, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the deep abyss.' Did not Paul follow this passage to say: 'Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?' But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:24-25). For when the human mind is troubled and we are weary from the difficulties and hardships of our struggles, we must seek the help of the Lord. Therefore, turning to the Lord, he invokes and implores Him to assist those who are laboring. Therefore, mercy must be sought from heaven, and the truth of God must be gathered from the oracles of the prophets, who, like clouds, cover the mysteries of divine knowledge. For God has placed darkness as His hiding place; so that you may first receive the rain of mystical fertility, and then, infused with heavenly dew, recognize the brightness of revealed light, so that you may say: From His fullness we have received (John 1:16). For who can easily comprehend the secrets of God, whose justice is like the mountains of God, or (as the Eagle has said) like strong mountains; because the precepts are full of strong virtue. Therefore, the Apostle, seeing that what he heard was sublime, says: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and His ways unsearchable! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor (Romans 11:23-24)? Therefore, he compared the height of wealth to the height of mountains. Listen to which mountains. For the Son of God Himself is a great mountain (Isaiah 40:9); and therefore, ascend this mountain that proclaims the good news to Zion, so that you may be rooted and planted in Christ. The mountain is like the wisdom of God, the mountain is like righteousness, the mountain is like the knowledge of God, the mountain is like sanctification, the mountain is like redemption, the mountain is like resurrection. The Scriptures have shown us these mountains, which say: In Him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become wisdom for us from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (I Cor. I, 30). And also because the Son of God became an angel to the angels, and a prophet to the prophets; whose judgments are like an abyss. Listen to this good news: One abyss calls upon another abyss in the voice of your waterfalls (Psal. XLI, 8); that is, the scripture of the Old Testament calls upon the arrangement of the New Testament for the completion of sanctification and the fullness of grace, with a certain sound and an overflow of spiritual abundance.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 36:5

  Therefore, mercy must be sought from heaven, and the truth of God must be gathered from the oracles of the prophets, who, like clouds, cover the mysteries of divine knowledge. For God has placed darkness as His hiding place; so that you may first receive the rain of mystical fertility, and then, infused with heavenly dew, recognize the brightness of revealed light, so that you may say: From His fullness we have received.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 36, 18

• Psalms 36:6

  You will save people and animals, O Lord; for you have multiplied your mercy, O God. What are people and animals? Some are rational, others irrational. Rational beings are subject to judgment, while irrational beings receive mercy. Some are ruled, others are nurtured.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 36:7

  But the sons of men will hope in the protection of your wings; that is, not the generation of vipers, but the sons of men who live in the image and likeness of God.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 36:8

  They will be intoxicated with the abundance of your house, and you will give them to drink from the torrent of your pleasure. They are not placed in pastures, but in banquets: for some are in the place of pastures, others in the privilege of sacraments. For the imperfect, there is the juice of milk; for the perfect, there is the table of refreshment, of which it is said: You have prepared a table before me (Psalm 23:5); in which there is living bread, that is, the Word of God; in which there is the oil of sanctification, with which the head of the just is anointed, and the inner sense is fortified, so that the oil of the sinner may be abolished; in which there is also a cup that intoxicates, how splendid, or how powerful! The Greek word κράτιστον can mean powerful, strong, or mighty; strong, in that it washes away vices and eliminates them. Therefore, the good drunkenness is that of a healing cup. But there is another drunkenness from an overflow of Scriptures. And there is another drunkenness through the infusion of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, those who spoke in different languages in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:13), seemed to be full of new wine to those who were listening. Therefore, the house is the Church; abundance of the house, overflow of grace; a torrent of pleasure, the Holy Spirit. And let not the name or manner of a torrent offend you, because sometimes it may be drier or more meager, so that its streams may cease. Our own stream has ceased, the spiritual stream of floodwaters has ceased at times among the people of the Jews. What shall I say? The stream has ceased; when the sea shall have ceased, as today's reading has taught us, with the Lord saying: Behold, with my rebuke I will make the sea desolate, and I will make their rivers a wilderness, and their fish shall dry up, so that the Jews, due to the dryness of their perfidy, cannot swim. Therefore, the torrent ceased because of the sacrileges of the Synagogue; for that people was dry in faith, barren in works, captive to sins. For what would flow to those who do not drink, but defile the sacred channels, when they kill the very source itself? The good torrent, which ceased for them, so that it might abound for us, and turn away the thirst of human desire, like a torrent in the south wind. Therefore, Scripture also says: Arise, north wind, and come, south wind (Song of Songs 4:16), which is accustomed to blow upon the little trees of paradise. We have spoken of the meaning and even of the expression, why has he said "torrent of pleasure" instead of "rivers of pleasure," as if from the torrent; unless it is because he wanted to express the greed of the drinkers, as if they wanted to drink the very torrent if they could? Perhaps this is the torrent of pleasure that we read about in Genesis (Gen. II, 10), the fountain that waters paradise and is divided into four rivers that surround the whole land. For from this source flow spiritual virtues: prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice. A good fountain of grace and splendor, of the same nature, whose river is spoken of in the following passage: The streams of the river make glad the city of God (Psalm 46:5).

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 36:8

  Therefore, the good drunkenness is that of a healing cup. But there is another drunkenness from an overflow of Scriptures. And there is another drunkenness through the infusion of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, those who spoke in different languages in the Acts of the Apostles, seemed to be full of new wine to those who were listening. Therefore, the house is the Church; abundance of the house, overflow of grace; a torrent of pleasure, the Holy Spirit.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 36, 19

• Psalms 36:9

  But the coming of the Lord and Savior was prophesied, who, when He was about to come into the world, said: "I and the Father are one"; that is, we are one light, just as we are one name. Through the unity of light and name, we are both one; indeed, the Trinity is one in the unity of substance, but with the distinction of each person. The Trinity signifies the distinction of persons, the unity signifies the power. It can also be said of the Father: "For with you is the fountain of life," that is, in you from whom life proceeded, there was the Word, and He always was, because He was with you. All things were made through him, and in him was life, and he has shown himself to us, so that the hearts of men may be illuminated with the knowledge of your majesty.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 36, 22

• Psalms 36:9-10

  (Verses 9, 10.) Therefore, He fittingly substitutes: 'For with you is the fountain of life: and in your light we shall see light.' Extend your mercy to those who know you, and your righteousness to those who are upright in heart. Indeed, after the remembrance of heavenly benefits, gratitude is rightly ascribed to our Lord Jesus Christ, who, as the life-giving fountain of eternity, descended to earth to water the dryness of our hearts. The same is the brightness of the glory of God the Father, and the image of his substance; and therefore in his true light, which enlightens every man that comes into this world, we shall see, he says, the Father; because God is light. It is also rightly said: In your light we shall see light; according to that: He who sees me, sees also my Father (John 14:9). Therefore, with you, O Source of life, we shall see the Father present. For just as you, being the Word of God, were with the Father in the beginning: so the Father is always with you, who are in him. For indeed in Him is present that which is. But the coming of the Lord and Savior was prophesied, who, when He was about to come into the world, said: 'I and the Father are one' (John 10:30); that is, we are one light, just as we are one name. Through the unity of light and name, we are both one; indeed, the Trinity is one in the unity of substance, but with the distinction of each person. The Trinity signifies the distinction of persons, the unity signifies the power. It can also be said of the Father: 'For with you is the fountain of life,' that is, in you from whom life proceeded, there was the Word, and He always was, because He was with you. All things were made through him, and in him was life, and he has shown himself to us, so that the hearts of men may be illuminated with the knowledge of your majesty. Therefore, extend your mercy to those who know you. The prerogative is claimed so that those who have the merit of your knowledge may deserve mercy. Finally, we see the pursuit of knowledge supported even among the lowest of people, as the Lord says: I will remember Rahab and Babylon among those who know me (Psalm 86:4); that is, I will remember that prostitute Rahab and that state of confusion among those who know me, or among themselves; because that prostitute acknowledged me, whom the people did not acknowledge. Among those, therefore, who wrote to me, Rahab will be remembered, so that she may obtain a worthy reward of faith. Hence, in the Gospel we hear this saying: 'The prostitutes and the tax collectors will precede you into the kingdom of heaven' (Matt. 21:31). But because we are weak in carrying out [good works], although devoted to believing [in God], may you, extend your mercy to those who believe in you, so that our deeds may correspond to both devotion and faith; and may the weakness of this body not abandon the zeal of our mind, but rather may we glory in the very temptations and weaknesses in which the Apostle gloried, saying: 'I will most gladly glory in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me' (1 Cor. 12:9).

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 36:11-12

  (Verses 11, 12.) Therefore he added most beautifully, 'Let not the foot of pride come unto me, and let not the hand of sinners move me. There have they fallen, all that work iniquity. They are cast out, and could not stand.' Some above understand the torrent of your pleasures to be strength in temptations; as it is of martyrs, in whom it was pleasing unto God to exhibit to themselves the sweetness of a pleasant and acceptable contest. For if winters are taken symbolically for temptations, as the Lord admonishes us to pray that our flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath, that is, either in temptation or in idleness; in winter however the torrent swells and becomes full and enlarges itself, and doubtless the torrent may be understood as representing a more severe temptation, such as is in persecutions. And therefore, he is rightly called a glowing furnace of pleasure, because where sin of persecution overflows, so does the grace of confession. See the virtue of prophetic distinction. Firstly, he exposed the unjust person who either in his heart or in his speech says that he sins for himself or sins against himself; for the Greek codex has ἐν ἑαυτῷ, which means 'in himself,' but not all [codices have this reading]. And perhaps for this reason, because the fool in his heart said that there is no God (Psalm 14:1). Lest perhaps the unjust person say within himself and sin within himself, although openly denying God is the mark of a madman; however, many people claim injustice as praise. For indeed, to seize, to harm even those who have not injured, and to deceive many is considered glorious for themselves. Therefore, first he exposed the life of the unjust, then joined the sacrament of divine knowledge; so that fearing God, we may avoid iniquity and injustice. He added a prayer, that he may deign to free his just ones from the company of the unjust; that in those who are in the world with a pure heart, divine justice may be extended, as a pious overseer; so that the invasion of sins might not creep upon us as enemies, and catch us sleeping. Therefore, we must be vigilant and always fortify the Lord's camp; for the enemy and adversary come at night, when the senses are held captive by sleep and the body is nourished by food. Let us pray that the justice of God may prevail in us, making us stronger in our weakness, so that each of us may say: When I am weak, then I am strong (II Cor. XII, 10). Then he also prays specifically for himself, that he may teach us how we should pray to the Lord: 'Let not the foot of pride come to me', that is, let me not fall into pride. Finally, elsewhere he remembers himself, saying: 'If I have not walked in greatness' (Psalm 130:1). Here he prayed, there he fulfilled: he would not have fulfilled, if he had not prayed. Pride must be avoided, for it even trips one up in prosperity. Finally, Adam fell more heavily in paradise than if he had fallen on earth. To fall from great heights is a precipice: to slip on level ground, it is called a stumble. Therefore, the foot of the proud errs, because it does not hold the head; for the eyes of the wise are in his head. It is not surprising, therefore, if the foot slips where the eye is not held. Let the eye go before, so that the foot may follow. For how would a traveler walk in darkness? The foot quickly stumbles in the night, if, as it were, the eye of the world, the moon, does not show the way. And you are in the night of the world, let the Church show you the way; let the sun of justice illuminate you from above, so that you may not fear falling. And because he had spoken of pride, he added: And let not the hand of sinners move me. For just as the limbs are of Christ, so the limbs are of the devil. Let not the hand of sinners move me, that is, let not their actions, which sin, move me from the station of justice. For often, when we see sinners abound in prosperous successes, we waver in our feelings, and as it were, we are torn away from the root of virtue by a kind of hand of sin. Therefore, we must be careful that the hand of the enemy does not uproot those whom the divine hand has planted in the house of God. This is beautifully said by one who is beaten by persecutors. However, those who are moved from their root, which they had already clung to in Christ, fall. Then he added: There they have fallen, those who work iniquity. What is this 'there'? Is it where pride is, where the hands of sinners are? Is it where they stood, where they were planted; did they fall there? Is it nearby, or in the immediate vicinity, as if in the very moment, in the very place? And it seems ambiguous. But elsewhere we are taught what is there, where it is said: There are pains like those of a woman in labor (Psalm 47:8). A good pain is the one that brings forth faith, by which Christ is formed and born in the Church. And elsewhere it says: I will remember Rahab and Babylon as those who know me. Indeed, foreigners, as well as Tyre and the people of Ethiopia, were there (Psalm 86:4); that is, where they knew me, where the foundations are in holy movements, there are also foreigners; because they also believed that they should believe in me. They fell there, where they should have stood firm; for in paradise Adam fell, and Christ came to ruin, and to resurrection, so that the ruin would be for the wicked: but the resurrection for the righteous and faithful. Finally, they were expelled; because unjust men could not stand in a holy place. Therefore, the Apostle said: And you, who stand, be careful not to fall (I Cor. X, 12). And surely he said this to the one who stood not with the body, but with faith. We can also understand in the future, there, as it is written: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. XIII, 14); and: Naked I shall go there (Job. I, 21). What a brief conclusion at the end! 'I am not,' he says, 'proud, so that I may sin; I may not sin, so that I may not be moved, so that I may not fall; I may not fall, so that I may not be expelled, as Adam was expelled from paradise; because in him the first step of pride could not stand.' Pride cannot stand; and if it falls, it does not know how to rise again. And therefore, beautifully, he spoke in the previous passages about the proud: Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will trust in the name of our God and be magnified (Psalm XIX, 8); for this is stable, that is unfaithful. And he adds: They have been bound and have fallen; but we have risen and stood upright (Ibid. 9). And it is written in the book of the prophet Micah: Do not rejoice over me, my enemy, because I have fallen; but I will rise (Micah VII, 8). For we have fallen in this world, but in Christ we have risen: to whom be honor, glory, power, eternity both now and forever, and to all ages. Amen.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 36:11

  "Let not the foot of pride come to me", that is, let me not fall into pride. Finally, elsewhere he remembers himself, saying: "If I have not walked in greatness." Here he prayed, there he fulfilled: he would not have fulfilled, if he had not prayed. Pride must be avoided, for it even trips one up in prosperity. Finally, Adam fell more heavily in paradise than if he had fallen on earth. To fall from great heights is a precipice: to slip on level ground, it is called a stumble. Therefore, the foot of the proud errs, because it does not hold the head; for the eyes of the wise are in his head. It is not surprising, therefore, if the foot slips where the eye is not held. Let the eye go before, so that the foot may follow. For how would a traveler walk in darkness? The foot quickly stumbles in the night, if, as it were, the eye of the world, the moon, does not show the way. And you are in the night of the world, let the Church show you the way; let the sun of justice illuminate you from above, so that you may not fear falling.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 36, 26

• Psalms 36:11

  And because he had spoken of pride, he added: And let not the hand of sinners move me. For just as the limbs are of Christ, so the limbs are of the devil. Let not the hand of sinners move me, that is, let not their actions, which sin, move me from the station of justice. For often, when we see sinners abound in prosperous successes, we waver in our feelings, and as it were, we are torn away from the root of virtue by a kind of hand of sin. Therefore, we must be careful that the hand of the enemy does not uproot those whom the divine hand has planted in the house of God.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 36, 27

• Psalms 37:1

  Not infrequently good people, seeing others arrive at riches and honors by fraud and trickery, become green with jealousy and want to imitate them. They, too, are tempted to attain riches and fame by similar tricks and malpractices.… Do not be an imitator of wrongdoing and fraud. Rather, be an imitator of apostolic doctrine, of prophetic grace and of the virtue of the saints. Then you will bear fruit and reap the harvest of your good deeds.

  COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 37:11

• Psalms 37:1-2

  (Verse 1) He says, 'Do not envy among the envious, nor have you imitated those who do evil.' First, let us learn what it means to imitate; the power of this word is less in Latin than in Greek. For we read both good imitation and bad imitation. Finally, the Apostle says, 'It is good to imitate good always' (Galatians 4:18). And he himself said above, 'They envy you not well, but they want to exclude you so that you may imitate them' (Ibid., 17). And again, he says: Covet earnestly the best gifts (I Cor. XII, 31). And to the Romans, you have. Therefore I say, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid; but their fall is the salvation of the Gentiles, that they may be provoked to emulation (Rom. XI, 11). And further: For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them (Ibid., 13); that is, I may provoke my flesh. Finally, the Greek has jealousy. For even here: do not be jealous of those who do evil; do not envy those who commit lawlessness; that is, do not stir up the wicked to jealousy, because they strive not for good, but for evil. What is it to stir up jealousy? For example, if we are able, let's open it up. There are certain intemperate women who disturb the hearts of other men's wives: when they have subjected them to their custom and shame, not satisfied to keep their own mistake a secret, they strive to publicly flaunt their disgrace before their spouses; so as to stir them up and inflame them with jealousy, seizing a certain triumph from the pain of their proven minds and the agitation. Not able to tolerate the shame of their husband's infidelity, they dissolve the bonds of marriage with satisfaction, or they argue in daily quarrels; and from competition comes discord, from disagreement comes division, whereby the entire household is disturbed. Therefore, learn from the example of a brazen woman, those are the most wicked and detestable tricks, to move one's soul with wicked jealousy: and know that jealousy is one thing, but envy is another. For this is a perverse emulation, which enters into the affection of good things: whereby also the Jew erred, who by a false and evil emulation departed from the right way of Evangelical discipline, as the Apostle says of himself (Phil. III, 6), that he persecuted the Church of Christ according to the emulation of the Law. Therefore, although our God was frequently offended by the ungrateful desires and complaints of the Jews, he nevertheless did not abandon the people he had once chosen and elected for himself; but the insolent harlot, the Synagogue, began to provoke him to bitter jealousy, mingling herself in the sacrileges of transgression. Finally, she said to the priest Aaron: Make gods for us to worship (Exodus 32:1); and they began to worship the head of a calf. And through a great song Moses, the Lord spoke in his mouth, saying: They have provoked me to jealousy with that which is not God, they have angered me with their vanities: and I will provoke them to jealousy with those which are not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation (Deut. XXXII, 21). Behold, how the Lord condemns the harlotry of the Synagogue, in order to turn their craftiness against them; and those who had been chosen by their Lord God, they refuted with grave sacrilege, choosing gods for themselves to worship: assuming for themselves the Church of the profane, which the people of the Jews, without Law and without grace, would lament over; and to that extent, they would be more provoked to jealousy by their actions being considered more base. Before, when that people did not have the Law, they only considered themselves chosen by the Lord. But when he noticed that a people gathered from the nations, who claimed the Law of the Lord, the oracles of the prophets, and the new Testament of the Lord, then he began to be tormented with excessive affection, after he realized that he had been rejected. Lastly, if he sees the ceremonies of the Gentiles, he is not moved; if he hears of the progress of the Church, he is tormented and tortured by miserable envy. Therefore, it is accomplished in Judea: And I will provoke them to jealousy in a nation that is not a nation. Moreover, the more severe torture is added to this distress, namely, that sinners from among the gentiles themselves seem to be preferred, who do not even elevate the name of any tribe or nation. For every congregation is accustomed to claim the name of its own region, like the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Syrians, Jews, Arabs, who prefer the name of their own province or territory: we, being gathered from diverse peoples, cannot claim the name of a single nation; and therefore, because we did not have a name on earth, we received one from heaven, that we should be called the people of Christ. But the Gentile thinks this is foolishness, while the Jew thinks it is disgraceful. Therefore, it is true what is written, that God has avenged His own insult by seeking a Church for Himself from a non-nation, and by preferring it to a foolish nation, an ancient and royal people. And what is that foolish nation that has been preferred? Listen to him who says: 'For God has chosen the foolish of the world to put to shame the wise' (1 Corinthians 1:27). And again: 'If any among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise' (1 Corinthians 3:18). Therefore, the Lord did not bring about a sharing of envy, in order that it might not be in the form of imitation, but rather in the punishment of wickedness. Finally, the Latin interpreter, wishing to make a distinction between the emulation of virtue and the emulation of offense, says: Are we emulating the Lord? (I Cor. X, 20) ? That is, are we causing offense to the Lord through our emulation, by consuming things that have been sacrificed to idols; just as the Jews, when they sacrificed to idols, provoked Him? But if the intention of stirring up emulation offends among humans, and often the person who is provoked is found to be superior, it is known that the incentive of emulation is for the sake of deception; it is foolishness to provoke divine majesty and to incur the offense of emulation, when there is no difficulty in seeking revenge. Therefore, we ought not to provide malicious opponents with stings to attack us, who, even when unprovoked, are incited by the goads of envy to harm us. Just as Cain killed his brother because his sacrifice was more acceptable than what Cain himself thought should have been offered. In this, Abel did not provoke Cain, but Cain, driven by wicked parricide, pursued the grace of preeminence. For Cain did not desire to overshadow his brother's sacrifice, but rather to preserve the discipline of sacrifice, so that he would not delay offering the first fruits through any laziness, nor violate them by appropriating them for his own use. Saul also attempted to kill David, the prophet and savior of the Israelites, who was exalted above himself in the conversation of young girls, with treacherous plots and a prepared spear; and he had almost shed the innocent blood of his own kin, if David had not evaded the blow with a twist of his bent body. How wicked was it, then, if the young girls said: 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands' (1 Samuel 18:7)? And how cruel was the envy of King Saul, who turned the innocent mistake of words into the destruction of the innocent! 'Nor should you, he says, have been jealous of those who do evil. He did not repeat what he had said, but changed it: it is one thing to be covetous, another to be jealous: covetousness has cunning, jealousy has simplicity. But even prudence itself must be simple and cautious, so that it knows what to beware of. For it was not said in vain: Be wise as serpents, and simple as doves (Matt. X, 16). Therefore, spiritual wisdom should be cautious, preserving salvation, unaware of deceit.' Spiritual simplicity must exist. However, it seems that Scripture has also made a distinction between emulation in another place, as it says: 'And Ephraim's envy shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim' (Isaiah 11:13). But elsewhere you have: 'Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church' (1 Corinthians 14:12). It uses 'emulators' for good things and imitators of good things, and 'emulator' for the crooked and envious. (Verse 2) First, do not provoke the wicked to the malice of envy; secondly, do not imitate those who do evil. For often, when the righteous see that some have sought wealth by deceit and cunning, and have attained to honors, they desire to follow their ways with deformed envy; so that they may attain wealth and honors by similar means, or defraud young girls in contracting marriage. For what profit is it, when wealth itself and all secular glory quickly wither like hay, and like the flowers of herbs they fade away in their very beauty? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is like the flower of the grass. Therefore, do not greatly desire things that cannot last forever, do not be envious and deceitful; do not be contentious and argumentative in zeal. Hence, the Eagle said: Do not contend with the wicked. Symmachus said: Do not strive. Also, do not be an imitator of wickedness and deceit; but be an imitator of the apostolic doctrine, the prophetic grace, and the virtue of the saints; so that you may bear fruit and store up a harvest of goodness, like Joseph, who by the abundance of grain excluded the hunger of prolonged barrenness: like Habakkuk, who, by bringing a meal to the reapers, was lifted up by an angel and travelled along an aerial path, and upon returning to the earth, amidst the fierce roars of lions, served a sweet feast to the godly prophet.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 37:3

  (Verse 3.) Therefore the Prophet rightly says: Hope in the Lord, and do good; and you shall inhabit the land, and shall be fed with its riches. What is the land that he advises to inhabit, if not your soul, which you should cultivate well, frequently plowing it with spiritual plows, so that it does not become overgrown with weeds? For a good farmer works his field with daily activity and diligent care, and protects his own fields; lest a wild boar from the forest devastate them, and a cunning thief snatch away the ripe fruits. Therefore, prepare your land so that when he comes who sows the word, he may find your soul ready; lest the seed fall upon the uncultivated soil of your heart and the birds of the sky come and devour what has been sown. So, listen to what is said: 'Behold, the sower went out to sow his field.' And as he sowed, some fell beside the path, some fell on rocky ground, and some fell on good soil... What falls on good soil are those who, with a good heart, hear the word and retain it, and produce fruit through patience. May your heart be a clean world, may your soul be clean, so that you can bring the fruit of goodness, that is, spiritual grace. For goodness is the fruit of the Holy Spirit; as it is written: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22). These are the fruits we are nourished by and satisfied with their abundance. On this earth, the righteous Noah planted that fruitful vine and drank from its fruit, and his heart was freed; when he clothed himself in the garment of admirable piety, his posterity was doubled by the virtue of his own deeds. Moreover, in another place the holy prophet demonstrated to us those riches in which he was rich in Christ, and which abounded in everything that leads to eternal life. And truly, who could be richer than one who is rich in the Lord, so that he can say: I have delighted in the way of your decrees as much as in all riches (Psalm 119:14)? For what could be lacking to a man who was enriched by heavenly oracles? And therefore, this psalm urges us to seek that eternal treasure and to find delight in its acquisition.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 37:4

  (Verse 4.) Therefore, he says: Delight in the Lord, and he will grant you the desires of your heart. Why did he not say 'your desires' but 'the desires of your heart'? For the desires of the external and internal man are not the same and not all of them are approved by Christ; because the law of the flesh often opposes to the rules of the spirit. But those desires that belong to the interior man, who is renewed by the Spirit, the Lord grants them to the petitioner with effect. Hence, he says elsewhere: May the Lord grant you according to your heart, and may he confirm all your desires (Psalm 19:5). He says to follow the heart, not the desire of the flesh; and he says that he should strengthen those desires which come from the deepest part of the heart, not those which are directed by the enticement and pleasures of the flesh.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 37:5-6

  (Vers. 5, 6.) Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in Him, and He will act. And He will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your justice like the noonday. This single verse declares what kind of person you should be. For who reveals their way, except those who confess to God, the arbiter of their hidden secrets within their heart? Reveal, blessed one, this is, open your conscience, so that it may not be burdened by the shadow or flesh of this world. For seeds, when they burst forth, if they are shaded, they become weak; exposed to the sun, they thrive. But what about the seeds themselves? The woody shade itself inhibits the young plants from reaching upward and prevents their branches from spreading out. Beautifully said: Disclose your way to the Lord, for the inclination of human nature covers our minds like a kind of veil; that we may not confess our sins to the Lord, who can heal our wounds: so that one may be ashamed to ask for medicine with his own mouth, lest his disgrace be exposed before others. Therefore, conscience presses upon itself, since it cannot hide; and it delays as long as the wound festers, so that it is revealed not by the healthiness of faith, but by the unhealable atrocity of the ulcer. 'Reveal,' he says, 'your way to the Lord'; that is, open your way, do not hide it, as Cain desired to hide; for everyone who does evil hates the light. David revealed his way, who said: 'I declare my works to the King' (Psalm 44:2). Open your mind, so that there is nothing to be afraid of being condemned. Paul also revealed: I am not aware of anything against me (I Cor. IV, 4). Let your actions, your life be such that your way may shine before your Father who is in heaven. But because the condition of every human being is subject to fragility, and it is not within our power to direct our own path at will; therefore, it says to you: Hope in the Lord, and He Himself will act; that is, to open your way, and not allow you to be such that you flee from the light while you are afraid to come forward, and love darkness so that you can hide your own wickedness, saying: Darkness covers me, who knows if the Most High sees (Eccli. XXIII, 6)? For how can one who is planning adultery, not seek out a suitable night for his temptations? And who thinks to employ a false witness to his deceit, who seeks to corrupt the judge in order to oppress the innocent, does he not explore the secret of wickedness? The thief lurks in the darkness of solitude, awaiting the shadows of the night to carry out his wickedness. Therefore, wickedness is darkness: God is light. Even if you wish to conceal your justice, God will bring it forth into the light; He does not allow judgment to remain hidden by which you have chosen what is good and rejected what is evil. Not only does your judgement shine; but it shines like midday. When the sun pours out its whole brightness, it is midday. It was midday when Joseph feasted with his brothers, not seeking revenge, but forgetting the wrong.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 37:6

  God brings [justice] out into the light. He does not permit judgment to lie hidden. He reveals the good that you have chosen to do and the evil that you have refused to do. Not only does he make your judgment shine, but also he makes it shine like the sun at midday.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms

• Psalms 37:7

  (Verse 7.) Be subject to the Lord and beseech Him. Not only should you be subject to God, but also beseech the Lord, so that you can fulfill your desire for submission, as it also says above: Reveal your way to the Lord and hope in Him. It is not only fitting to reveal your way; but also to hope in the Lord. However, submission should not be abject, lowly, but glorious and exalted; for he is subject to God who does the will of the Lord. Finally, who is ignorant that the wisdom of the mind is superior to the wisdom of the flesh? Indeed, the wisdom of the mind is subject to the law of God; the wisdom of the flesh is not subject. And the Apostle added: For it cannot be subject. (Rom. VIII, 7). Therefore, be subject, that is, draw near to Christ, so that you may fulfill the Law. Finally, Christ fulfilled the Law by doing the will of the Father. And therefore, the end of the Law is love, and the fullness is charity; because by loving the Father, he applied his entire affection to His will. Wherefore, for the glory of God, the Apostle said: When, however, all things shall have been subjected to Him, then shall He Himself also be subject to Him who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all (1 Cor. XV, 28). And of Himself He saith: For my soul hath been subject to God; for from Him is my salvation (Ps. LXI, 2). Moreover, for piety's sake Joseph and Mary were subject to His parents, not indeed through infirmity, but of their own will. But the greatest glory of Christ is that He should pour Himself into the hearts of all men, so that He may bring them back from impiety and infidelity to Himself, and make them subject unto Him. But when he has subjected all things to himself, when the fullness of the Gentiles has entered, and when all Israel has been saved, and when the whole world becomes one body in Christ; then he himself will be subject, offering his gift to God the Father, and acting as the high priest of all, and as if offering his body on heavenly altars, so that faith may be the sacrifice of all. Therefore, this subjection is an act of piety, because the Lord Jesus will be subject in his body, of which we are the body and members. Therefore, let man be subject to Christ, that is, subject to the wisdom of God, subject to the word, subject to justice, subject to virtue; for all these things are Christ. Let every man submit himself to God; for he teaches not one, but all, to subject their heart, to subject their soul, to subject their flesh, so that God may be all in all. Therefore, he is subject who is full of grace, and receives the yoke of Christ, and diligently and unwaveringly carries out the commands of the Lord; but without subjection, he who proudly exalts himself in vain, inflated with the feeling of his own flesh, insolent, deviating from the humble obedience and pious observance of the servitude that we owe by right to the eternal Author of nature. Finally, whoever is without sin is subject to Christ, for he has been redeemed by the Lord; but whoever is in sin cannot be called free, but rather a slave, whom heavy chains of sin hold fast. (Verse 7.) It follows: Do not be envious of him who is prospering on his way, doing wickedness. Clearly, here he is indicating what he previously understood: that we should not incite evil by being envious, nor imitate those who do wickedness. For it is not wickedness, but prosperous things that happen to those who do wickedness, that often tempt us to think that we should imitate them, saying that we can achieve their successes: Behold, they are sinners and abound in the world, they have obtained riches. And I said: So I have justified my heart in vain, and washed my hands among the innocent. And I was scourged all the day long (Psalm 72:12 et seq.). Therefore, if David was scourged, we must beware lest we also be scourged; and let it be said to us that riches, honors, power, seem to be arranged for this generation, as if the uncertain works of money, and the means of injustice, not as any rewards of virtue; and therefore let them come as a dream, and when you arise from the dream, let them fail you. When the athletes win, it is certain that they will be crowned, not before they win. We are in a struggle with the world. Win before the world, so that you may seek the crown. No one is crowned before completing the contest. Those who run in a race, do they receive a prize before they have run the race? How many in the front fall at the finish line and are cheated of their speed? Are you more acceptable to God than Paul? He, the vessel of election, the teacher of the Gentiles, never dared to demand a crown for himself in this world. Finally, listen to him saying: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day (2 Timothy 4:7-8). That same Paul, caught up to the third heaven, who heard things that cannot be told, whether in the body or out of the body, he does not know, God knows, and he testified as much (2 Corinthians 12:2). So, Paul says that on that day the crown will be given to him; are you here insisting that it be given to you? Therefore, prepare yourself for the contest. An athlete does not struggle only once, nor does a soldier fight only once, in order to fulfill their duties; and for you, the struggle is not with just one passion.

  Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms