Peter Chrysologus

In his own words on Psalms

• Psalms 2:11

  He who remains in the fear of God remains in holiness.

  SERMON 80

• Psalms 69:31

  "And he killed for him the fattened calf." About that David sang, "And it shall please God better than a young calf that has horns and hoofs." The calf was slain at this command of the Father, because the Christ, God as the Son of God, could not be slain without the command of his Father. Listen to the apostle: "He who has not spared even his own son but has delivered him for us all." He is the calf who is daily and continually immolated for our food.

  SERMON 5

• Psalms 98:4

  "Sing joyfully to God, all the earth." What is it that an understanding of this great joy is likely to make clear? Why is it that, after God gave commandments so great, so terrifying and so awesome, he now invites the earth to a shout of joy? "Sing joyfully to God, all the earth," the text reads.What other reason is there than the following? The awesome God later on chose the role of a very gentle shepherd. He assumed this character in order to act as a merciful shepherd and gather together, like straggling sheep into one fold, those wandering peoples, those straying nations, those tribes scattered far and wide. Yes, more, he wanted to lead back to the use of milk and grass and restore those wild nations that were languishing after the prey of a carcass, the eating of flesh, the drinking of blood and the fury of beasts. Briefly, he desired to make them once more truly humble sheep. "All the earth sing joyfully to God," he says, and by this command he imposes his shepherdly control on all the earth. The resounding trumpet draws the soldier forth to war; just so does the sweetness of this jubilant call invite the sheep to pasture. How fitting it was to mitigate the din of fighting by shepherdly kindness, in order that such gentle grace might save the nations that their own natural wildness had long been destroying.

  SERMON 6

• Psalms 104:2-3

  The sky that you behold, O man [a listener who is a sensible person], made completely of air, carries many waters and is not itself supported by anything else, since a mere command hung it up and the sole force of a precept supports it. The divine revelation states, "Who stretches out the heaven like a pavilion, who covers the higher rooms thereof with water." The great weight and burden of the mountains rests on the earth, which is made solid by its own mass; and that earth floats on a foundation of liquid, as the prophet testifies: "Who established the earth above the waters." Consequently, the fact that it stands arises from a commandment, not from nature. "He spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created." Therefore, the fact that the world holds together is a matter of divine operation, not of human understanding. The sea rolls along with the high crest of its own waves and is raised aloft toward the clouds. Yet, light sands hem it in. Hence we see that its great might yields not to the sand but to a precept. All the beings in the sky and earth and sea move and live after they have been made by one sole command. The prophet affirms that they will be dissolved again by a mere command when he says, "In the beginning, O Lord, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They shall perish, but you remain; and all of them shall all grow old like a garment, and as a garment shall you change them, and they shall be changed." How? In such a way that their great age may fail through time but not that creation will perish before the eyes of its Creator.

  SERMON 101

• Psalms 118:24-25

  "And he summoned the twelve," the text says. After the long centuries of dreadful night, the eternal day, our Christ, shone forth. The world had long awaited the splendor of his dawning. In the case of his twelve apostles he desired to signify the twelve hours of this day. The blessed psalmist saw this day in spirit when he sang, "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it." Consequently, the apostle, too, calls the believers children of light and of faith: "You are children of the light and children of the day."

  SERMON 170

• Psalms 119:73

  Futile is the act of the father and mother, unless the Creator's work and will also touch the offspring. "Your hands have made me and formed me." And elsewhere it is written, "You have formed me and have laid your hand on me." Therefore, we do not owe our birth and life to ourselves, but we owe them entirely to our Creator.

  SERMON 6

• Psalms 133:1

  The law was given not for one, but for all. So, too, Christ came not for one or to one but to all and for all. He desired to bring all things together into a unity that alone is good and pleasant. The prophet, aware of the future, assures us, "Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." For not singularity but unity is acceptable to God. The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles with all his welling fountain when they were assembled together. This occurred after the apostles had been instructed by the Lord's own commandment to wait in a group for the Spirit's coming.

  SERMON 132

• Psalms 139:7-10

  "I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." The son set out abroad and fled into a far country; but he did not escape from those accusing witnesses, the eyes of the heavenly Father. David explains this more clearly by his words: "Whither shall I go from your spirit? or whither shall I flee from your face? If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I descend into hell, you are present. If I take my wings early in the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me." David sees that throughout the world all transgressions stand exposed to the eyes of God. Neither the sky, nor the earth, nor the seas, nor a deep cavern nor night itself can hide sins from him. The psalmist perceives how lawless and evil it is to sin in the sight of God. Therefore, he cries out, "To you only have I sinned and have done evil before you."

  SERMON 2