Bonaventure

In his own words on Psalms

• Psalms 1:1

  Hence, meditation on the Law is supremely necessary. The Psalm reads: Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, but delights in the Law of the Lord. He is like a tree planted near running water. And Ecclesiasticus: The things that God hath commanded thee, think on them always, and in many of His works be not curious.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17

• Psalms 1:1

  Piety avails for avoiding all evils. Praise God and be angry against sin, and do not defend sin, because to defend sin is a twofold sin. It is noteworthy what the Psalm says: "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the impious," by consenting to sin; "and has not stood in the way of sinners," by persisting in sin; "and has not sat in the chair of pestilence," by defending his sin.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 3

• Psalms 1:2

  Hence, meditation on the Law is supremely necessary. The Psalm reads: Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, but delights in the Law of the Lord. He is like a tree planted near running water. And Ecclesiasticus: The things that God hath commanded thee, think on them always, and in many of His works be not curious.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17

• Psalms 1:3

  Hence, meditation on the Law is supremely necessary. The Psalm reads: Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, but delights in the Law of the Lord. He is like a tree planted near running water. And Ecclesiasticus: The things that God hath commanded thee, think on them always, and in many of His works be not curious.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17

• Psalms 2:7

  The third mode of generation is by means of propagation, and this in a fourfold way: as of a growth coming from a seed, a tree from a root, a conceived offspring from the belly or womb of the mother, or children from a begetting father. In the first mode of generation, formal beauty is lacking, for in the seed the form is vague and hidden. It is not so in the case of the Son. In the second, conformity is lacking, for although there is a single root, it is different in shape from the branches even though they produce a single tree. In the third, actuality is lacking, for although the mother is in a certain sense the active principle of the offspring, yet she is much more of a passive principle. In the fourth, eternal coexistence is lacking. Now, take away these defects and suppose first formal beauty. In this sense, there is Isaiah: "The branch of the Lord will be luster and glory, and the fruit of the earth will be honor and splendor." Second, suppose conformity: The Son conforms to the Father to the point that He is "the tree of life... in the midst of the garden." Hence, in Proverbs: "She is a tree of life to those who grasp her." Third, suppose actuality: in this sense, you have the Psalm: "With Thee is the principality in the day of Thy strength, in the brightness of the saints: from the womb before the day star I begot Thee. From the womb," says the Psalmist, which is in relation to the warmth of the Father's bosom, from which He does not withdraw. Fourth, suppose eternal coexistence. In this sense, there is the Psalm: "This day I have begotten You," that is in eternity, or in My eternal today.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 11

• Psalms 2:11

  The fear of God avails for introducing the rectitude of divine justice. "The fear of the Lord drives out sin. For he who is without fear cannot be justified." Injustice does not enter the soul except through sin: but the first justification of the soul is that it be subject to the divine majesty. "If you do not hold yourself steadfastly in the fear of the Lord, your house will quickly be overturned." Consider David, who says: "Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice in him with trembling."

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 2

• Psalms 4:2-4

  "O sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart? Why do you love vanity and seek after falsehood? And know that the Lord has made His Holy One wonderful: the Lord will hear me when I cry to Him. Be angry, and do not sin: for what you say in your hearts, upon your beds be moved to compunction." He who has true knowledge and knows God and sees that he does not walk rightly or perfectly is in continual sorrow, because he sees that his affections and thoughts are scattered. Augustine: "Knowledge begets mourning."

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 4

• Psalms 4:6

  Through the first vision, we understand that to which our intelligence reaches by its own power. This corresponds to the first day on which light was made. Hence in the Psalm: "The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us." Without this light which is given within, a man has nothing, neither faith nor grace nor the illumination of wisdom. For this reason also light was separated from darkness.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 3

• Psalms 4:6

  God is said to see, because He makes us see. The first vision of the soul is by means of understanding naturally given. Hence in the Psalm: The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us. And here all the difficulties of philosophy could be explained.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 4

• Psalms 4:6

  Another help for rising to the exemplary principles is that provided by the spiritual creature, which resembles light, a mirror, an image, "a scroll written within." Every spiritual substance is light. Hence, the Psalm: "The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us." At the same time, it is a mirror, for it receives and represents all things; and it has the nature of light, so that it may even pass judgment on things. For the whole world is described in the soul.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 12

• Psalms 4:6

  Since it is possible to contemplate God not only outside us and within us, but also above us: outside through his vestige, within through his image, and above through the light that is sealed upon our mind, which is the light of eternal Truth, since "our mind itself is immediately formed by Truth itself"; those who have been exercised in the first mode have already entered into the court before the tabernacle; those in the second have entered into the holy place: but those in the third enter with the High Priest into the holy of holies; where above the ark are the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; by which we understand two modes or degrees of contemplating the invisible and eternal things of God, of which one is concerned with the essential attributes of God, and the other with what is proper to the persons.

  Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, Chapter 5

• Psalms 4:8

  Concerning this hierarch, then, and the ecclesiastical hierarchy, the whole of sacred Scripture exists, through which we are taught to be purged, illumined, and perfected, and this according to the threefold law handed down in it, namely of nature, of Scripture, and of grace; or rather according to its threefold principal part, namely the Mosaic law which purges, the prophetic revelation which illumines, and the evangelical teaching which perfects; or most especially according to its threefold spiritual understanding: the tropological, which purges unto uprightness of life; the allegorical, which illumines unto clarity of understanding; the anagogical, which perfects through mental ecstasies and the sweetest perceptions of wisdom, according to the three aforesaid theological virtues and the reformed spiritual senses and the three above-mentioned ecstasies and the hierarchical acts of the mind, by which our mind returns to its interior, so that there it may contemplate God in the splendors of the Saints and in them as in resting-places may sleep in peace and rest, the Bridegroom adjuring that it not be awakened until it proceed of His will.

  Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, Chapter 4

• Psalms 5:3

  Join seven ages, five callings, and three times, and you have fifteen, a number that contains a mystery: through the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the hundred and twenty who believed. In relation to them, the sun goes up fifteen degrees in an hour in our hemisphere; for if the natural day has twenty-four hours and every sign of the Zodiac has thirty degrees, and twelve signs move around each day, it is necessary that each hour the sun rise by fifteen degrees in our hemisphere. And this is the dawn of the resurrection, when we shall be at the end of time, as it is written "At dawn I bring my plea expectantly before You."

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 15

• Psalms 5:3

  The seventh age runs concurrently with the sixth, that is, the repose of the souls after Christ's passion. After that comes the eighth age, the resurrection, of which the Psalmist says: "At dawn I bring my plea expectantly before You. For You, O God, delight not in wickedness." And it is a return to the first, for after the seventh day, there is a return to the first. These, then, are the seeds scattered throughout for the understanding of Scripture, and they are produced from these trees in so far as they accord with common interpretation, and in this way time is divided into seven ages.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 15

• Psalms 5:9

  The eighth plague was of locusts devouring all green vegetation, by which liars are struck, who trample the truth with their teeth and lips. The Psalm: "Their heart is vain; their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they dealt deceitfully."

  Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7

• Psalms 5:9

  Where there is no fear, there is neither wisdom nor justice nor grace. "Their throat is an open sepulchre, the poison of asps is under their lips, with their tongues they acted deceitfully, their feet are swift to shed blood: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, destruction and unhappiness are in their ways"; "there is no fear of God before their eyes." When a man does not have the fear of God, then his sense is turned to malice and goes forth like the poison of asps. When a man is disordered in affection with respect to thought, in speech with respect to utterance, and in deed with respect to effect; then he has nothing good.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 2

• Psalms 5:9

  The impious man is he who defends his own impiety, namely sin. Of such the Psalm says: "Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they acted deceitfully: judge them, O God. Let them fall from their own counsels: according to the multitude of their impieties, cast them out, for they have provoked you, O Lord." Do you wish to be freed from evil? Hear David, who says: "I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and you have forgiven the impiety of my sin." Praise God and be angry against sin, and do not defend sin, because to defend sin is a twofold sin.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 3

• Psalms 5:10

  The impious man is he who defends his own impiety, namely sin. Of such the Psalm says: "Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they acted deceitfully: judge them, O God. Let them fall from their own counsels: according to the multitude of their impieties, cast them out, for they have provoked you, O Lord." Do you wish to be freed from evil? Hear David, who says: "I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and you have forgiven the impiety of my sin." Praise God and be angry against sin, and do not defend sin, because to defend sin is a twofold sin.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 3

• Psalms 5:12

  Since Scripture conceals a manifold understanding beneath a single letter, the expositor ought to bring hidden things forth into the light and make manifest what has been drawn forth through another, more open passage of Scripture, as if I were to expound that verse of the Psalm: Take hold of arms and shield, and rise up to help me, and wished to explain what the divine arms are; I would say that they are his truth and good will: and that this is so must be proved through open Scripture. For it is also written elsewhere: With the shield of your good will you have crowned us.

  Breviloquium, Prologue

• Psalms 7:12

  Scripture enlightens a posteriori through strict judgments. For God always imposes strict judgments upon transgressions of the precepts, as in the cases of Lucifer, Adam and his wife, the depraved upon whom came the flood, the prideful who built the tower of Babel, the Chananeans and Israel. Likewise, the New Testament is full of judgments. Now, the judgment follows the act, while the command precedes it. The judgment is related to the command: if you transgress it, you shall be punished. Unless you follow the guiding light, a sword shall pierce you. Hence the Psalm: Unless they be converted, God will sharpen His sword; He will bend and aim His bow, prepare His deadly weapons against them, and use fiery darts for arrows. The bow is the judgment of Scripture; the hardness of the wood, the Old Testament; the cord that bends the wood, the New Testament; the judgments, light or harsh, are the arrows. Hence again in the Psalm: The Law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. The ordinances of the Lord are true, all of them just.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17

• Psalms 7:13

  Scripture enlightens a posteriori through strict judgments. For God always imposes strict judgments upon transgressions of the precepts, as in the cases of Lucifer, Adam and his wife, the depraved upon whom came the flood, the prideful who built the tower of Babel, the Chananeans and Israel. Likewise, the New Testament is full of judgments. Now, the judgment follows the act, while the command precedes it. The judgment is related to the command: if you transgress it, you shall be punished. Unless you follow the guiding light, a sword shall pierce you. Hence the Psalm: Unless they be converted, God will sharpen His sword; He will bend and aim His bow, prepare His deadly weapons against them, and use fiery darts for arrows. The bow is the judgment of Scripture; the hardness of the wood, the Old Testament; the cord that bends the wood, the New Testament; the judgments, light or harsh, are the arrows. Hence again in the Psalm: The Law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. The ordinances of the Lord are true, all of them just.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17

• Psalms 8:1

  These are the two knowledges of faith illuminating and inflaming in a threefold manner while being retraced to unity. They are said to cry, out of admiration, because both forms of knowledge are admirable. Wherefore in the Psalm: "O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is Your name over all the earth!" And in truth this name is admirable in so far as it refers to the eternal God, for it implies a true distinction of Persons together with unity of essence, through which they are supremely conforming to each other, supremely in accord, supremely coequal, coeternal, consubstantial, and coessential. Likewise, it is admirable in so far as it refers to God made man, because the three natures are conjoined: the highest with the lowest, without debasement; the first with the last, without alteration; the simple with the composite, without composition.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 8

• Psalms 8:3

  When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, that is, the heavenly men in whom we see this threefold light, the work of God's fingers. The magicians of Pharaoh lacked this third finger, that is, the miracles.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 9

• Psalms 8:4

  In the New Testament, after the universal scripture and the course of time, Christ was formed, as was man on the sixth day, that He may "have dominion over the fish of the sea," and "the birds of the air." As the Psalm says, "what is man that You should be mindful of him, or the son of man that You should care for him? You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fishes of the sea," etc. And in order that it be understood of Christ, the Apostle says: "You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor." And there follows: "But we do see Him who was made 'a little lower than the angels,' namely, Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of His having suffered death." Man was created out of a virgin soil that had never received blood, which signifies Christ born of the Virgin; and as Eve was formed out of Adam's side, so also the Church, out of the side of Christ. But since Christ never sinned, how can Adam's transgression correspond to Him? There must be transference from the head to the body.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 16

• Psalms 8:5

  "O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is Your name over all the earth! You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor." And in truth this name is admirable in so far as it refers to the eternal God, for it implies a true distinction of Persons together with unity of essence. Likewise, it is admirable in so far as it refers to God made man, because the three natures are conjoined: the highest with the lowest, without debasement; the first with the last, without alteration; the simple with the composite, without composition.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 8

• Psalms 8:5

  In the New Testament, after the universal scripture and the course of time, Christ was formed, as was man on the sixth day, that He may "have dominion over the fish of the sea," and "the birds of the air." As the Psalm says, "what is man that You should be mindful of him, or the son of man that You should care for him? You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fishes of the sea," etc. And in order that it be understood of Christ, the Apostle says: "You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor." And there follows: "But we do see Him who was made 'a little lower than the angels,' namely, Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of His having suffered death." Man was created out of a virgin soil that had never received blood, which signifies Christ born of the Virgin; and as Eve was formed out of Adam's side, so also the Church, out of the side of Christ. But since Christ never sinned, how can Adam's transgression correspond to Him? There must be transference from the head to the body.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 16

• Psalms 8:6

  In the New Testament, after the universal scripture and the course of time, Christ was formed, as was man on the sixth day, that He may "have dominion over the fish of the sea," and "the birds of the air." As the Psalm says, "what is man that You should be mindful of him, or the son of man that You should care for him? You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fishes of the sea," etc. And in order that it be understood of Christ, the Apostle says: "You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor." And there follows: "But we do see Him who was made 'a little lower than the angels,' namely, Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of His having suffered death." Man was created out of a virgin soil that had never received blood, which signifies Christ born of the Virgin; and as Eve was formed out of Adam's side, so also the Church, out of the side of Christ. But since Christ never sinned, how can Adam's transgression correspond to Him? There must be transference from the head to the body.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 16

• Psalms 11:6

  Likewise, Scripture enlightens from below by showing forth the torments of hell. In the Psalm: He rains upon the wicked fiery coals and brimstone; a burning blast is their allotted cup. In the Apocalypse: Their portion shall be in the pool that burns with fire and brimstone. And the smoke of their torments goes up forever and ever. Scripture proposes this from the very beginning where it is said that darkness covered the abyss, until the end. And so Scripture offers internal spectacles, external examples, heavenly promises, and the tortures of hell.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17

• Psalms 14:1

  The Psalm says: The fool has said in his heart: there is no God; but to say in the heart is to think: therefore that God does not exist can be thought, at least by the fool. To that which is objected to the contrary from the Psalm and from Damascene, the response is already clear: because it proceeds from doubt which comes from a deficiency of reason, of the kind that exists in the foolish intellect, which, darkened by its own dimness, neither sufficiently resolves nor rightly compares nor fully apprehends the meaning of this name God. For the intellect itself has within itself sufficient light from its own condition, by which it could drive this doubt far away and free itself from foolishness. Hence in this defective consideration of the foolish intellect, it falls short voluntarily rather than by compulsion, not on account of a deficiency on the part of the object known, but on account of a deficiency on its own part.

  Disputed Questions on the Mystery of the Trinity, Question 1

• Psalms 14:3

  The Scripture shut up all things under sin, the first through ignorance, the second through weakness, and the third through malice, so that when Christ came, He could have mercy on them all. And the Apostle wonders at this, and quotes the authority of the Psalm: "All alike have gone astray; they have become perverse; there is not one that does good, not even one."

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 14

• Psalms 16:2

  All our merits are rooted in the merit of Christ, whether satisfactory for punishment or meritorious of eternal life, because we are worthy neither to be absolved from offense against the highest good, nor to gain the immensity of the eternal reward, which is God, except through the merit of the God-man, to whom we can and ought to say: "All our works you have wrought in us, O Lord." He, I say, is the Lord, to whom the Prophet says: "I said to the Lord: You are my God, for you have no need of my goods."

  Breviloquium

• Psalms 16:4

  Grace cannot be given to man unless he first acknowledge his blindness, weakness, and malice. And so, there was a time in which blindness prevailed, as in the period before the Law. At a later point, the illuminating Law was given, and yet "their infirmities were multiplied," and there was an opportunity for a greater transgression of the Law. And therefore man had to be convicted of weakness or impotency.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 14

• Psalms 16:5

  The orders are preceded by a certain distinction in the tonsure and crown, by which is understood the cutting away of temporal desires and the elevation of the mind to eternal things, so that the cleric may be shown to be wholly appointed to divine worship; and therefore he says at the reception of the crown: The Lord is the portion of my inheritance. And because such a one ought to be instructed in the divine praises, which chiefly consist in the Psalms: therefore the psalmistrate, as a preamble, precedes the other orders.

  Breviloquium, Part 6

• Psalms 16:7

  This brief word belongs to David himself, who through the Holy Spirit unfolds to us the very gift of understanding given to us by the Holy Spirit, and he unfolds it to us with respect to the humble gratitude of the recipient and with respect to the liberal diffusion of the giver. The humble gratitude of the recipient is noted when he says: "I will bless the Lord"; the liberal diffusion of the giver is noted when he adds: "Who has bestowed upon me understanding." This gift requires that man be grateful to God, and brings it about that man recognizes himself and the gift and the source of the gift: and by understanding the source of the gift man recognizes himself, and so gives thanks. And then he blesses God and pours back the beauty of the gift upon the very author of the gift, and praises him, and does not assail the giver. Moreover, we dispose ourselves to receive this gift through three things: first, through holiness of life; second, through the docility of meekness; and third, through the captivation of the understanding, so that we may bless the author of this gift. All radiance of intelligence comes from that fountain of intelligence. And although the radiance of intelligence is manifold, understanding is the rule of moral circumspections, the gateway of scientific considerations, and the key of heavenly contemplations; and this is a gift.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 8

• Psalms 16:8

  If you take a straight look at the leaders of the city, the foremost chief is Christ. In terms of the fight, although the angels and the saints help, yet the principal contender is Christ. Hence, in the Psalm: "I set the Lord ever before me; with Him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed." And again, in the Acts: "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 18

• Psalms 16:11

  Scripture enlightens from above by means of divine promises, for its teaching is concerned with things above. Hence the Apostle writes: For we know that if the earthly house in which we dwell be destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made by human hands, eternal in the heavens. And: "In My Father's house there are many mansions," says the Lord. In the Psalms, it is said: The children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They have their fill of the prime gifts of Your house; from Your delightful stream You give them to drink. For with You is the fountain of life, and in Your light we see light. And in the Apocalypse: For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them, and will guide them to the fountains of the waters of life. And in a Psalm: The delights at Your right hand forever. And so Scripture offers us the divine promises.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17

• Psalms 16:11

  But grace which lifts up is obtained through hope. Therefore "our present light affliction which is for the moment, prepares for us an eternal weight of glory." For the Lord rejoices in the right. "The delights at your right hand forever." At the left are passing riches, glories and consolations. We must indeed adhere to the right. As the Psalm says, "Your right hand upholds me," Lord. Hence the rewards dispose towards the third act of grace.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 18

• Psalms 17:8

  A saint's life must be pure, that is, everything must be done out of love for God, and not out of love for something else, since all love is suspect if it is not addressed to God. "Keep me as the apple of your eye." The apple of the eye is not kept clean when there is mist or dust or liquid on it.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19

• Psalms 17:15

  If long and healthful life: there is sound eternity and eternal soundness, because the just shall live forever, and: The salvation of the just is from the Lord. If fullness: they shall be satisfied, when the glory of God shall appear. If inebriation: they shall be inebriated with the plenty of the house of God.

  Breviloquium, Part 7

• Psalms 18:1

  "I will love you, O Lord, my fortitude; the Lord is my firmament and my refuge and my deliverer." Catherine and Lucy were strong through the love of God. If we are not bound to the Lord through charity, we easily lose our fortitude.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 5

• Psalms 18:2

  "I will love you, O Lord, my fortitude; the Lord is my firmament and my refuge and my deliverer." Catherine and Lucy were strong through the love of God. If we are not bound to the Lord through charity, we easily lose our fortitude.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 5

• Psalms 19:1

  And so, first of all there is the heavenly form. For Scripture makes use of all the heavens and the stars. Hence the Psalm: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. And Ecclesiasticus: The clear vault of the sky shines forth like heaven itself, a vision of glory.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17

• Psalms 19:2

  In relation to unity, there are two testaments, the one giving birth into slavery and, the other, into freedom; the one of fear and the other of love, the one literal and the other spiritual, the one figurative and the other actual: and so these two times are distinguished as are the night and the day. Hence, in the Psalm: "Day pours out the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge." During that night, the Law was like the moon, and according to Gregory the Fathers were like the stars. But when the Sun came, the day was light.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 15

• Psalms 19:4

  Concerning the second allegory, about the blessed Virgin Mary, it is said in the Psalm: "He has pitched a tent there for the sun." Wherefore she is "as beautiful as the moon, as resplendent as the sun, as awe-inspiring as bannered troops." Hence she is a vessel able to contain light: "The sun, an admirable instrument, the work of the most High — shining gloriously in the firmament of heaven."

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 13

• Psalms 19:7

  Scripture enlightens a posteriori through strict judgments. For God always imposes strict judgments upon transgressions of the precepts, as in the cases of Lucifer, Adam and his wife, the depraved upon whom came the flood, the prideful who built the tower of Babel, the Chananeans and Israel. Likewise, the New Testament is full of judgments. Now, the judgment follows the act, while the command precedes it. The judgment is related to the command: if you transgress it, you shall be punished. Unless you follow the guiding light, a sword shall pierce you. Hence the Psalm: Unless they be converted, God will sharpen His sword; He will bend and aim His bow, prepare His deadly weapons against them, and use fiery darts for arrows. The bow is the judgment of Scripture; the hardness of the wood, the Old Testament; the cord that bends the wood, the New Testament; the judgments, light or harsh, are the arrows. Hence again in the Psalm: The Law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. The ordinances of the Lord are true, all of them just.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17

• Psalms 19:9

  Scripture enlightens a posteriori through strict judgments. For God always imposes strict judgments upon transgressions of the precepts, as in the cases of Lucifer, Adam and his wife, the depraved upon whom came the flood, the prideful who built the tower of Babel, the Chananeans and Israel. Likewise, the New Testament is full of judgments. Now, the judgment follows the act, while the command precedes it. The judgment is related to the command: if you transgress it, you shall be punished. Unless you follow the guiding light, a sword shall pierce you. Hence the Psalm: Unless they be converted, God will sharpen His sword; He will bend and aim His bow, prepare His deadly weapons against them, and use fiery darts for arrows. The bow is the judgment of Scripture; the hardness of the wood, the Old Testament; the cord that bends the wood, the New Testament; the judgments, light or harsh, are the arrows. Hence again in the Psalm: The Law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. The ordinances of the Lord are true, all of them just.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17

• Psalms 19:10

  The commandments of God are irreproachable, because they contain nothing burdensome, but rather they are sweet. "More to be desired than gold and much precious stone, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb." But we see that to an infected palate sweet food seems bitter; similarly, to a man of perverse will the commandments of God, which are easy and sweet, seem difficult.

  Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1

• Psalms 19:12

  In many other ways also a man becomes a partaker of the sin of another; and on account of this the Psalm says: From my hidden sins cleanse me, O Lord, and from the sins of others spare your servant.

  Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 4

• Psalms 20:4

  The third counsel is that by which we are made ready to pursue what is lawful, what is fitting, and what is expedient according to the exercise of virtuous operation. What you have well conceived in mind, you may bring to completion in deed. The Psalm says: 'May he grant you according to your heart and confirm all your counsel.' That counsel adds over and above readiness for action. There is a threefold operation, namely to discern rightly, to choose well, and to pursue readily.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 7

• Psalms 21:11-12

  Another evil counselor is one who turns good things into evil. The Psalm says: 'For they turned evils against you; they devised counsels which they were unable to establish; for you shall make them turn their back.' It is evil when someone says something by which the counsel of Christ could be considered evil — as when someone condemns the counsel of entering holy religious life. It is foolish, dangerous, pernicious, and reckless to turn into evil that which Christ declared good.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 7

• Psalms 22:22

  The brothers should be spoken to, hence, the Psalm: "I will proclaim your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you"; and spiritual men also, in order that they may be drawn from worldly knowledge to Christian knowledge.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 1

• Psalms 22:25

  We should speak of the Church of rational men united in harmonious and uniform concelebration of divine praise, according to the Psalm, "with Thee is my praise in a great Church." As a sweet chant results from a great number of voices united in a certain proportion and harmony, so also a spiritual harmony pleasing to the Most High comes forth from the harmony of the love of many.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 1

• Psalms 24:2

  The Psalm says: "Upon the seas he founded it"; and elsewhere: "Who founded the earth upon its own stability." Some mocked David because he said that God founded the earth upon the waters. The earth, since it is dry, unless there were moisture penetrating it, would be reduced to dust; and just as the human body receives moisture through its veins, so it is necessary that fresh waters come from the sea and hold the earth together. He says that he founded the earth upon the waters on account of the mystery. The earth which the Spirit has filled is the ecclesiastical hierarchy; he "who weighs the mass of the earth with three fingers," because he founded the holy Church upon the divine utterances. The sacred utterances are for its stability.

  Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 4

• Psalms 24:7

  He overcame the world, despoiled Hades, and restored Paradise. Hence in the Psalm: "Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the King of Glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty." We want to hear this: "Lift up, O gates, your lintels! Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty!" He, then, is the Strong One.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 3

• Psalms 24:8

  He overcame the world, despoiled Hades, and restored Paradise. Hence in the Psalm: "Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the King of Glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty." We want to hear this: "Lift up, O gates, your lintels! Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty!" He, then, is the Strong One.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 3

• Psalms 24:9

  He overcame the world, despoiled Hades, and restored Paradise. Hence in the Psalm: "Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the King of Glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty." We want to hear this: "Lift up, O gates, your lintels! Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty!" He, then, is the Strong One.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 3

• Psalms 24:10

  He overcame the world, despoiled Hades, and restored Paradise. Hence in the Psalm: "Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the King of Glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty." We want to hear this: "Lift up, O gates, your lintels! Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty!" He, then, is the Strong One.

  Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 3

• Psalms 25:10

  Since the remission of sin is accomplished by God through penitential grace within ecclesiastical unity, the differences of the sin against the Holy Spirit are taken according as they directly assail those three things. If in relation to the unity of the Church: since the unity of the Church consists in faith and charity, that is, in grace and truth, there is thus a twofold sin, namely envy of fraternal grace and assailing of acknowledged truth. If in relation to God who gives: since all His ways with respect to justification are especially mercy and truth, there is thus a twofold sin: one which assails mercy, and this is despair; another which assails justice, and this is presumption of impunity.

  Breviloquium, Part 3, Chapter 11

• Psalms 25:10

  Since the first principle does all things from itself and according to itself and for itself, it is necessary that it be most good and most upright, and thereby most merciful and most just: and hence it is that all his ways are mercy and truth, or judgment. But if God had from the beginning created man in such great miseries, there would be neither mercy nor justice, namely that he would oppress his own work with such great misery, with no preceding fault. If therefore it is most certain that the first principle is most upright and most clement both in producing and in providing: it is necessary that he so made the human race that from the beginning there was in it neither fault nor misery; it is also necessary that he so governs that he does not permit misery to be in us except on account of some preceding fault.

  Breviloquium, Part 3, Chapter 5

• Psalms 25:10

  Since indeed a perfect advance in good is considered according to divine imitation, and all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth: hence it is that there is a twofold beatitude according to these two ways, namely hunger or zeal for justice, and the affection of mercy.

  Breviloquium, Part 5