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Homilies on the Psalms

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Homilies on the Psalms

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Homily 63, on Psalm 83 (Alternate Series)

2 My heart and my flesh have exulted in the living God. Listen, heretic, to what he says. How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts: he is speaking of the kingdom of heaven. "There are many dwelling-places with my Father," the Lord says in the Gospel. My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord: these are the courts in which the saints will dwell for eternity, which the prophet desires. My heart and my flesh. You see, then, that both the soul and the flesh alike desire the kingdom of heaven. But if the flesh is dissolved into the air, if it will not rise again, as the heretics suppose, how does the flesh of the prophet desire the kingdom of heaven? My heart and my flesh: because they have labored together, together they await the recompense. If the labor is shared, why should the reward not be shared? I beg you to hear me with indulgence. The flesh labors more in the present age than the soul: because the soul commands, the flesh serves. One thing is the labor of the servant, another the delights of the one who commands. The soul desires the Lord: the flesh fasts, the flesh lies on the ground in the cold, in prison it is scourged in martyrdom, it is beaten, it is condemned — the injury is the flesh's. The soul indeed grieves: but grief does not reach it except through the flesh. But someone may say:

3 How does the apostle say that "flesh and blood shall not obtain the kingdom of God"? Do you wish to know how it is written? Listen to the Lord speaking in Genesis: "My spirit shall not remain in man forever, because he is flesh. Why? For what is this? You made the flesh, and do you accuse and condemn the flesh? But what God says is this: my spirit shall not remain in these men, because they do not live according to the spirit, but according to the vices and will of the flesh. Let the apostle too give his testimony: "Whoever are in the flesh cannot please God. If all who are in the flesh cannot please God, how did Paul himself, who is speaking, please God? How did Peter or the rest of the apostles and the saints please him, whom we cannot deny to have been in the flesh? Just as the same apostle again says: "But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. They were in the flesh: and how does he say, You are not in the flesh? Because you do not live according to the flesh, because "our citizenship is in heaven. For we who in this age "are pilgrims away from the Lord" do indeed walk on the earth, but we hasten toward the things of heaven: because here we have no home of our own, but are strangers and pilgrims, just as all our fathers were.

4 For indeed the sparrow has found itself a house, and the turtledove a nest where she may lay her young. This is what the Lord says in the Gospel: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests." For indeed the sparrow has found itself a house. He gave a comparison from an everyday example. Because he had said, How beloved are your tabernacles, which my soul longs for, and my flesh desires the kingdom of heaven; he gives a comparison, and says: The birds are free, and although they wander through the air, yet they remember their nests, and return to them. If, then, sparrows seek out their nests, why should the human soul not seek the dwellings prepared for it by the Lord? Your altars, O Lord of hosts. What is to be understood by, For indeed the sparrow has found itself a house, and the turtledove a nest where she may lay her young: your altars, O Lord of hosts? What is the connection? It hangs upon what came before. My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord: your altars, O Lord of hosts. John in the Apocalypse saw the altar of the Lord, beneath which were the souls of the righteous. For he says thus: "I saw beneath the altar of the Lord the souls of those slain for the word of the Lord and the testimony of Jesus." They were beneath the altar of God, because they had been offered up in martyrdom for Christ; for the victim of the Lord and Savior deserved to be beneath the altar in heaven.

5 Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord: that is, in the Church, whether the present one, or "the church of the firstborn." Forever and ever they will praise you. See what kind of office the martyrs have: it is that of the angels too. What they do in heaven, then, this we imitate on earth. So when we are called to the psalms and neglect them, we despise the praises of God. 6 Blessed is the man whose help is from you. To begin is ours, to help is God's. He has arranged ascents in his heart. Daily he thinks how he may ascend, not how he may descend. Whoever is a sinner puts not ascents, but descents, in his heart. That is why Jacob too saw the angels ascending and descending. He has arranged ascents in his heart: what is his own — he thinks the good, but the accomplishment he leaves to God. It is ours to arrange, his to bring to completion. Let us see where he arranged the ascents. Listen to what he says: In the valley of tears, in the place which he has set. We read in the book of Judges, when the angel came and preached repentance to the people, saying, You have forsaken the Lord, and the Lord will forsake you; and when the people heard this they wept, and that place was called the Valley of Tears. We have recalled the old history, so that we might flee heresy. But by the valley of tears we can understand, spiritually, this present age. For we are not on the mountain, that is, in the kingdom of heaven, but in the valley, that is, in the darkness of this world; and by our error we have been cast out of paradise with Adam into the valley of tears, where there is repentance, where there are tears. In the valley of tears, in the place which he has set. What did he say?

7 The place which God has set for the contest: so that here we may contend against the devil, against sins, that in the heavens we may be crowned. Why, then, did he give a contest of fighting? Could God not have given us life without a contest? But he gave it as a president of the games; he gave a stadium, where we might wrestle against the vices: so that afterward he might deservedly crown us, not sleeping, but laboring. What follows? 8 For indeed he who gave the law will give a blessing: therefore he gave a place for contending, so that afterward he might give a blessing, he who had given us the law of the contest. They will go from strength to strength. You see that the sense fits together. They will go from strength to strength: therefore they fight here, so that there afterward they may be crowned. They go from strength to strength. He did not say, they will go from weakness to strength: for unless they have been strong here, they will not be stronger afterward. But someone may say, God is merciful. But see what follows: The Lord loves mercy and truth. He is indeed merciful, but also truthful. When you hear "merciful," you ought not to be careless, because there follows, "and truthful." Again, when you hear "truth," do not despair, do not think God to be only cruel: because mercy tempers truth. For "the cup in the hand of the Lord is full of mixed wine, and he has poured out from this into that": that is, from mercy he has tempered truth, and from truth mercy. The God of gods will be seen in Zion. When they have gone from strength to strength, then the God of gods will be seen in Zion. To whom is glory forever and ever. Amen.

Homily 64, on Psalm 84 (Alternate Series)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). To the end, a psalm for the sons of Korah. Korah is interpreted as "Skull," the place of the Lord's passion. We are all sons of Korah, we who believe in his resurrection. What then do we say, and what do we sing with harmonious voice? You have blessed, O Lord, your land. It is better said in Greek, Εὐδόκησας Κύριε, that is, "It has well pleased you, O Lord, in regard to your land"; it has pleased you, this has seemed good to you, this you have decreed, that through your mercy you might fulfill what is said in the following verse: You have turned away the captivity of Jacob, you have forgiven the iniquity of your people, you have covered all their sins. But we can also understand it according to the Latin sense. You have blessed, O Lord, your land. The land, which before had been cursed, has been blessed by your coming. That which before had heard, "Thorns and thistles shall you bring forth," now is called, as is written in the Song of Songs, "the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys." The land, which before brought forth thorns, hears in Isaiah: "There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up from his root." You have turned away the captivity of Jacob. The Lord therefore came to preach release to the captives. This is what is said in another place, "He led captivity captive": that is, we who before had been taken captive by the devil unto perdition, are now taken captive by the Savior unto salvation.

2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. This we believe was accomplished in baptism. You have covered all their sins. This in penance, as is said in the thirty-first psalm: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." In baptism our iniquities are forgiven us, but in penance the sins that had been committed are covered over: they are not dismissed, but covered over. Let us carefully consider the force of the word. For when the Lord and Savior comes, all our iniquities are utterly forgiven us in baptism. For when we were living without law, we were sinning without law — ἀνομία it is called in Greek, that is, sin without law; but when we have received baptism, it is by no means called ἀνομία, but sin is called sin. For sin is not imputed except to him who knows it to be sin: where there is transgression of a commandment, there is true sin. Do you wish to know how sins are covered over by virtues? Yesterday I was dissolute, today I am chaste: chastity covers over lust. Yesterday I was imprudent, today I am prudent, I repent of my error: prudence covers over imprudence. Yesterday I was seizing what belonged to others, today I distribute what is my own: almsgiving covers over greed. Blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven in baptism: but the second is penance, which is like a plank after shipwreck. Therefore that man too can be called blessed: though he be delivered amid peril, yet because he is delivered in penance, he is to be called blessed.

3 You have mitigated all your wrath, you have turned away from the wrath of your indignation. See what penance avails: it holds off the imminent wrath of God. Convert us, O God of our salvations. He did not say, "of our salvation": because we have sinned much, we have need of many salvations. Will you be angry with us forever? or will you extend your wrath from generation to generation? Your wrath has profited unto salvation: for this reason you were angry with the former people, that you might have mercy on ours. You, being turned, will give us life, and your people will rejoice in you. Show us, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your salvation. What in Latin is called "salvation" (salutare), in Hebrew is called "Jesus." Therefore in Hebrew it is said thus: Show us, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your salvation: Unless you first be merciful toward the human race, your Jesus will not be given to us.

4 I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me. The prophet prays on behalf of the people, and he who speaks within himself while God speaks, and he says, I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me. You see that God speaks not in the ears but in the heart; just as Zechariah too says: "And the angel who spoke within me said to me." There the angel is understood to be our Lord, who announces the will of the Father, who in Isaiah is called the "angel of great counsel." I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me: I will incline the ear of my heart, that I may hear what the Lord God speaks within me. 5 For he will speak peace unto his people, and upon his saints, and unto those who are converted to the heart. I see three kinds of people: the common people, the saints, and those who are converted to the heart. He speaks peace with his people: not with the people of the Jews, of whom he says in Hosea, "You are not my people," but concerning all Christians who have believed in him. For all whosoever are in the Church are together called the people of the Lord. But those who are already foremost among them, and advance in spiritual deeds, are called saints of God, just as Paul writes in his epistles to the churches and to the saints who are in them. This third follows, And unto those who are converted to the heart. These are they who had been tripped up by the devil, and afterward, doing penance, are converted to the virtues. For at the time when they sinned, they lost their heart — that is, the prudence of the heart, which, being converted to better things, they receive again. Hear, O Montanus; hear, O Novatus; hear, O Maximilla and the rest among the Phrygians, you who say that there is no penance. The Lord speaks to his people, that is, to all Christians without exception, and to his saints who are foremost in the Church, and to those who are converted to the heart, that is, who do penance. Blessed indeed is he whom no sin has ever stained, in whom no wound has ever been fixed: yet the second blessedness is, after a wound, to heal the scar.

6 Nevertheless his salvation is near to those who fear him. See what he says. Those who fear the Lord have the Lord near, since fear does not yet possess perfection: "For perfect love casts out fear." Therefore we who love the Lord have him not nearby, but within. "For I will dwell in them, and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." That glory may dwell in our land. This is the land of which he says in another place, "The earth has given its fruit." The fruit of our land is the bread of life, which was born for us in Bethlehem; for Bethlehem is interpreted "house of bread." And this bread, which arose in Bethlehem, was made for us descending from heaven, into whose mysteries the angels desire to look. Truth has arisen from the earth, and justice has looked down from heaven. The truth of the promise has arisen from the earth, and the sun of justice has looked down from heaven: that he might lavish his light upon men set in darkness and in the shadow of death.

7 Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed. Mercy and truth have met. I see two things, which by coming together and meeting become one. Justice and peace have kissed. All this is fitted to the mystery of the Lord and Savior: this is the Son of God and of man, who is for us truth, mercy, peace, and justice, in whom the justice of the former people and the mercy of the latter are joined together into one peace. "For he himself," says the Apostle, "is our peace, who has made both one." This is the mystery which the Church desires, and cries out in the Song of Songs, saying, "Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth." This is the kiss of which the Apostle Paul says, "Greet one another with the kiss of peace." For indeed the Lord will give kindness. For this reason these kisses were given, that the Lord might give kindness. And our land will give its fruit. What was promised at that time, we now see fulfilled. Our land gives its fruit, when it is tilled with the plow of justice, when by fastings, when by abstinence and the other virtues it is uprooted from its old vices, so that it may render the grain of the gospel seed which it received into a hundredfold fruit. Peter and the rest of the apostles, because they cultivated their land with diverse labors, can confidently say, Our land has given its fruit. The martyrs too, when they are cut down, when they are crucified, their land will render its fruit.

8 There are many things which might be said, but the hour compels the sermon to reach its end. Let us together pray to the Lord, that both my speech and your hearing may be turned into work. "For not the hearers only are just before God, but the doers." For he who speaks or hears, and does not do, either listens or speaks unto his own condemnation. For what does he say in the gospel? "If you were blind, you would not have sin." Let us turn that around in another way: If you were deaf, and did not hear, you would not have sin. But because both to speak and to hear without work are each of them sin, let us ask the Lord to set his steps upon the way — that is, that he may accompany us in the perils of this life, and, walking in our heart without the offense of our sin, may delight to dwell in us always. To whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Homily 65, on Psalm 87 (Alternate Series)

3 "Of the understanding of Eman the Ezraite. Eman was one of the choir-masters, just as Asaph or the others were. But that he is called "Ezraite," this is translated "having obtained the help of the Lord" (since indeed Ezras is translated "helper"), that is, having obtained aid from the Lord. Therefore this choir too, which sings together in praises, is upheld by the help of God. Let us run through the individual little verses, and because we are constrained within a brief span, let us fit the individual little sentences to the individual verses. 4 "O Lord, the God of my salvation." This psalm is spoken in the person of the Savior, that is, in the person of that servant whom He deigned to take upon Himself. Whatever, therefore, is spoken humbly is narrated in the human person, because it profits human salvation. "I have cried in the day, and in the night before thee." Though I cried by night, yet the awareness of virtues was light to me. "Let my prayer come in before thee." "Into thy hands, Father, I commend my spirit." "Let my prayer come in before thee. Incline thine ear to my petition." Where are the anthropomorphites, who suppose that God has bodily members? "Incline thine ear, O God." It is the voice of the Son to the Father, speaking in our person. "Incline thine ear." It is a mark of great weakness, if, when He wishes to hear, He needs to incline His ear, so as to hear more closely. See how wretched it is to say that the Father cannot hear the Son unless with head inclined. Scripture speaks with human frailty, so that we may more easily understand what is said.

5 "For my soul is filled with evils." I bear the sins of many, therefore I grieve for all. "My soul is filled with evils." I bear evils, that I may lay them down upon the cross. "And my life hath drawn near to hell." Beautifully he said "hath drawn near": for He was not held fast by hell, but for our sake He drew near into hell. Finally, in another psalm it is said in the person of the Lord, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption." "I am counted among them that go down into the pit." This my murderers supposed: that I, going down like the rest of men into the prison of the underworld, was to be held back in the lower pit; not knowing that I had gone down for this reason, that I might rather draw out with me those who were held fast in that very place. "I am become as a man without help, free among the dead." He did not say, "I am become without help," but "I am become as though without help," because He had the Father as helper. "Free among the dead." Other men are held in hell by the bonds of sins: "There is no man without sin, not even if his life be of one day." For we are all held in transgression: and therefore whoever goes down into hell is held by the law of hell. "For everyone is bound by the bonds of his own sins." I therefore was free by nature, but for a little while I became as it were a debtor because of the sins of men.

6 "Like the slain that sleep in the sepulchres." Beautifully he said "like the slain": for He had no wound, but for the salvation of men He received a wound, as Isaiah says, "He himself bore our wounds, and grieves for us." "They have laid me in the lower pit." I went down to the depths of hell, that I might free all from the bonds of hell. "In the dark places, and in the shadow of death." He did not say "in death," but "in the shadow of death." Death was not inflicted on me by the Jews, but the shadow of death: because for the salvation of men I went down of my own will. Therefore I went down as light into the lower regions, that I might free the souls from the darkness of hell. "Thy fury is confirmed upon me." For this reason all thy fury came upon me, that it might depart from others. "And all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me." Upon me the whole tempest thundered down, that calm might come to the world.

7 "Thou hast put my acquaintances far from me." In the passion of the cross even the apostles fled from me, so much so that Peter himself said, "I know not the man." You see that we run with brief sentences rather than with expositions, because the hour so compels. "They have made me an abomination to themselves." The Jews, namely, saying, "Crucify, crucify such a one: we have no king but Caesar." 8 "I was delivered up, and came not forth." What is this that he said, "I was delivered up, and came not forth"? The Jews delivered me up, and yet on account of my clemency I did not forsake them, but I dwelt among them with affection. I was delivered up to Pilate by them, and I came not forth from them, saying on the cross, "Father, spare them, they know not what they do." Let us say it also otherwise. "I was delivered up, and came not forth." In the Gospel it is written that, when they sought to cast Him down from the brow of the mountain, He escaped safe and free from their midst. This, then, is what He says: Could I not even then, when I was delivered up, have escaped the snares of men and the perils of death by my divinity? But because I had come for this, that I might suffer, therefore I willed nothing except that I might suffer. That I was delivered up was of my will, and that I came not forth was of my will. Let us say it also otherwise. I was delivered up as a man, and I came not forth from the majesty of my divinity. Let us say it also otherwise. I was delivered up by men, and I came not forth from the bosom of the Father. Let us say it also otherwise. I was delivered up as a man upon the earth, and as God I had not left heaven. "My eyes languished through poverty." I who was whole in my majesty was made weak for the sins of men.

9 "I have cried to thee, O Lord." Not only with the voice, but with the heart: for thus indeed we cry to the Father. "Crying in our hearts, Abba, Father." "All the day I stretched out my hands to thee." This is the testimony which the apostle in the Epistle to the Romans applied in the person of the Savior. You see that we do no violence to the psalm, but follow the authority of the apostle. For if he applied the testimony of a single verse in the person of the Lord, why should we not wish to expound the whole psalm in this way? And if we should wish to interpret it otherwise, the sense of our exposition is dissolved by this evident sentence of the apostle. If we should wish to expound the whole psalm, we seem to be making delay for ourselves, whom now the hour compels to approach with pure and unstained conscience, in the unity of peace, to the flesh of the Savior, the true Lamb, that we may be worthily filled with the heavenly bread, through Christ Jesus our Lord. To whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

10 "Wilt thou show wonders to the dead?" Not to those who, living, are dead, but to me who live in thee. "Or shall physicians raise them up?" and the rest. Not the spices of physicians, but thou, Father, raisest me up; nor they, but I will confess among the peoples. "Shall anyone declare in the sepulchre," and so forth. He shall not praise thee who is buried in the riches of the world, nor he who dwells in the ruin of sin. "Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, and thy justice in the land of forgetfulness? And I have cried to thee, O Lord, and in the morning my prayer shall come before thee." That is, because thou wilt glorify me by a morning resurrection. "Why, O Lord, dost thou repel my prayer," that this cup should not pass from me? "I am poor, and in labors from my youth": from the time of the flesh assumed. "Being exalted": that is, upon the cross. "I have been humbled": that is, in the sepulchre.

11 "Thy wraths have passed over me." They passed, and did not remain. "They have surrounded me like water all the day." The Jews in the waves of persecutions. "They surrounded me together." The Pharisees with the priests. Pilate with the princes and the peoples. "Thou hast put far from me friend and neighbor, and my acquaintances because of misery." Because of the confusion of the passion, even the apostles themselves were put far from him.

Homily 66, on Psalm 88 (Alternate Series)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). The eighty-eighth psalm is prefaced with this title: The Understanding of Ethan the Ezrahite. Wherever "understanding" is placed first, what follows is mystical and obscure. Ethan is interpreted as "strong," or "robust"; and Ezrahite as "one helped," or "one who has obtained help." I say this because we are dealing with the literal history. Rightly, therefore, is "understanding" placed first, so that this strong or robust man may obtain help from the Lord, and may be able to recognize the things that follow. But the Ezrahite either took his name from a place, or was of the tribe of Merari. Read the books of Numbers and Leviticus, and there you will find everything more fully. 2 The Understanding of Ethan. "Understanding" is placed first, so that the reader may be summoned to knowledge. For if the history were plain, and had nothing mystical about it, what need would there be for the reader to be reminded of "understanding" in the title? And so that Ethan, as we have said, "strong" or "robust," and the Ezrahite, "one helped" or "one who has obtained aid," is rightly summoned to understanding, so that he may be able to know the things that are to be said. For it follows in the psalm, The Lord has sworn to David his servant, unto eternity I will prepare your seed. The Jews say that the Lord promised with an oath that from the seed of David there would not fail among them a leader or prince, which even now their patriarchs also say: Behold, to this day the Lord keeps his oath to us. But if they truly think this, how is it that we see them subject to the Roman power, and serving the commands of emperors? But mystically it is promised to us concerning Christ. And I will build up your throne unto generation. Did God, then, lie, in that he promised with an oath and did not do it (since surely what God promised ought to be firm), if indeed to this day we see that this does not stand in the race of the Jews? But here understanding is necessary. Rightly, therefore, does that strong or robust man have necessary understanding as an aid or help, so that he may be able to perceive the mysteries of this psalm. Let us return, then, to the beginning of the psalm.

3 Your mercies, O Lord, I will sing forever. He did not say "mercy," but "mercies." If there were one sin, there would be need of one mercy: since therefore the sins are many, the mercies too are very many. Your mercies, O Lord, I will sing forever. Since I have obtained mercy forever, I ought to sing forever, because my cause for praising is eternal. He who sings has let go of grief, has let go of fear, and has crossed over to joys, because he has obtained mercy. And what he says is this: Because my sins have been forgiven me through the mercy of God, therefore I will sing his mercy. And when he says "forever," this is the meaning: because you have had mercy on me not for a short time, but forever, I too will praise you forever without ceasing, because you have set me free forever.

4 From generation to generation I will proclaim your truth with my mouth. O the excellent order of the psalm! He did not begin first from truth, and afterward come to mercy: but first he obtained mercy, and so came to truth, when he had received the forgiveness of sins. For first, while I was a sinner, I did not dare to approach the truth; but when I obtained mercy, now secure I dared to preach the truth. And when he says "from generation to generation," he said it beautifully: for he did not say "in generations and generations," but "from generation to generation." He does not, then, commemorate many generations, but only two, one in the circumcision, the other among the Gentiles: to the one Peter is sent, and to the other Paul is sent. And what I forgot to say at the beginning, I will now say: here the person of the Lord and Savior must be established. From generation to generation I will proclaim your truth with my mouth. He who spoke earlier through the patriarchs and prophets, afterward himself speaks in person, as it is said in the Song of Songs: "Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth." So then what he says is this: he of whom I spoke through the prophets, from that same source I now also speak through my very self. So that he whom the world could not hear when he thundered, it might hear at least when he wailed as an infant.

5 For you have said, Mercy shall be built up forever. I myself, who then spoke in the Old Testament through the patriarchs and through the prophets, now myself speak through my own self; for I have not come to loose the commandments of mercy which the law had built up, but to build upon them. As he himself says in the Gospel: "I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. What then does Moses say? "Give heed, O heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words from my mouth. Jeremiah too speaks thus: "Thus says the Lord"; and the rest of the prophets speak thus: because what they speak are the words of the Lord, and not their own, and what he says through their mouth, it is as though the Lord had spoken through an instrument. What then is the meaning of what is said, "shall be built up," as if some great house or city were being built? Let us see where else something of this sort is written about building. Let us search in Genesis, what this saying means. "And God took," it says, "a rib from Adam's side, and built it into a woman. See what he said: "he built. For building, as we said above, is not usually spoken of except in the construction of a great house. Since therefore that rib of Adam was fashioned into a woman, according to the apostle's authority, it signifies Christ and the Church;

6 therefore he said, "He built the woman from the rib. We have heard of the first Adam; let us come to the second, and let us see how the Church is built from his side. For the side of the Lord and Savior, hanging on the cross, is pierced by a lance, and from it came forth blood and water. Do you wish to know how the Church is built from water and blood? First through baptism, by water, sins are forgiven, then it is crowned in the blood of martyrdom. Since therefore it is clear that the Church of God is built by mercy, therefore it follows, In the heavens your truth shall be prepared. On earth is mercy, and in heaven is truth. Hear, O heretic, what is said. In the heavens the truth of God shall be prepared. If souls fell down from heaven on account of the sins they had committed, how then is the truth prepared in the heavens? If daily souls are cast down to earth, how does the Lord teach in the Lord's Prayer and say, "Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth"? Do we then ask, on the authority of the Lord and Savior, that just as the soul without a body sinned in heaven, so in the body it might sin on earth; and that the soul which, free and in the heavens, could not keep righteousness, should now, confined by the straits of the body, keep it on earth? A strange thing I see:

7 the soul sinned in heaven, and was thrust down to earth, so that what it lost in heaven, it might find on earth. It sinned without a body: how can it be that with a body it might more easily deserve God? Since indeed "the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh." 8 I have appointed a covenant to my chosen ones. Do you wish to know how to this day the Lord appoints his covenant? Let us act well, and we shall deserve to be sharers in the Lord's appointment of the chosen ones. I have sworn to David my servant. Let us see what it is that the Lord swore. This surely, which follows. Unto eternity I will prepare your seed. Come to our aid, O apostle, and interpret this little verse. For what does the apostle say? "He did not say 'in seeds,' but 'in the seed which is Christ.'" This is what is said in the Apocalypse of John: "He who has the key of David, who shuts and no one opens, opens and no one shuts." This key the scribes and Pharisees held in the law, to whom the Lord says in the Gospel: "Woe to you scribes, who hold the key of the kingdom of heaven," and the rest. O Pharisees, who hold the keys of the kingdom, and yet do not believe in Christ, who is the door and gate of the kingdom: to you indeed it is promised, but to us it is delivered: you have the flesh, but we have the spirit: nay rather, because you denied the spirit, you have lost the flesh too along with the spirit.

9 And I will build up your throne from generation to generation. In two generations, as we have said, the throne of God is set, namely in the circumcision and among the Gentiles. 10 And the heavens shall confess your wonders, O Lord. This is what is said in the eighteenth psalm: "The heavens declare the glory of God. According to the mystical understanding, he calls the apostles "heavens. For if it is said to the sinner, "Earth you are, and to earth you shall go," why should it not be said to the holy or righteous man, "Heaven you are, and to heaven you shall go"? For of the saints, according to the apostle, "the conversation is in the heavens. And when he says, The heavens shall confess your wonders, it is a sign of the repentance to be preached, which we have received, at the apostles' proclamation, in the confession of the Lord Jesus Christ; and if we follow their admonitions and examples, we too can be called heavens, when we imitate those whose conversation is in the heavens. For the prophet says in another place: "I am a sojourner on earth and a pilgrim, like all my fathers. And this he was saying in Judea, that is, in his own homeland: and how does he say he is a pilgrim? But it is because the saints in the present age are pilgrims on earth, desiring to possess nothing earthly, whose whole possession is in heaven, where one has dwellings, where one has "the city whose maker and founder is God.

11 And therefore the prophet too, who is not of this world, says he is a pilgrim here, and by the will of his mind he hastens to his homeland, that is, to paradise, to the kingdoms of the heavens. Do not say, O heretic, because I have said that paradise is the homeland of the saints, that I am asserting that souls existed before they came here into bodies. Nor do I say this, but I say it according to the apostle, who affirms that we were all, in the transgression of Adam, cast down from paradise through sin. This the apostle says, that Adam fell even in us, who were afterward to be. Therefore now in Christ, that is, the heavenly Adam, we believe, so that we who through the sin of the first Adam fell from paradise, may now through the righteousness of the second Adam return to paradise. The heavens shall confess your wonders, O Lord. What wonders? That you made heaven? Or that you founded the earth? Or that you gathered the seas into one? For what is this that is great in God, for whom to have spoken all things is to have made them?

12 These, then, are the great things in God, the wonders in God, that God became man, that he lay hidden in the womb of a virgin, that born of a virgin he lay in a manger, that he was wounded by men, he who healed the wounds of men, that he was struck with blows, that he was crucified, that he, immortal, suffered to die, and endured so great a punishment unjustly inflicted by men, he who suffers these things so that men might not have to endure punishment. The sun could not bear to see its Lord hanging on the cross, but hid itself, lest it be mingled with the sacrilege of the Jews. The earth too trembled, the rocks are split, all creation is troubled, because its Creator is slain. The veil of the temple is torn, because what had been shut in Judea is opened among all nations; the veil is torn, and the mysteries of the law are shown to the faithful: for to the unbelieving they are covered to this day. For when Moses is read, and the Old Testament is recited by the Jews every Sabbath, according to the apostle "a veil is placed over their heart. For they read the law, but do not understand, because their eyes are darkened that they should not see. For they are like those of whom it is said: "They have eyes and shall not see, they have ears and shall not hear."

13 For who among the clouds shall be equal to the Lord? The clouds are the prophets, the clouds are the apostles, who pour showers of teachings upon the dry hearts of men. Who shall be like the Lord among the sons of God? All the saints are named with the appellation and title "sons of God," because they are sons by adoption; but the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is alone the Son properly by nature. Of whom it is said, Who among the clouds or among the sons of God shall be like the Lord? That is, who of the angels or of the saints shall be able to be made equal to the Creator in glory or in power, since he himself gives glory to all, so that his praises may be without end: he whom every creature dreads and trembles at, whom the cherubim and seraphim, whom the four living creatures praise without ceasing, whom the dominions and principalities adore, whom all the earth venerates? To whom is glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.

Homily 67, on Psalm 89 (Alternate Series)

2 A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. If all men were men of God, it would never have been added, A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Do you wish to know that not all men are men of God? "Man, when he was in honor, did not understand: he was compared to the senseless beasts of burden, and was made like unto them." It is a great thing, therefore, to be called men of God or servants of God. For when this is said of someone, it is a token not of lowliness but of dignity; nor is the condition of servitude shown, but the dignity of one who serves well is displayed. A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. By Moses the law was written down, by Moses the nature of the world is shown, by Moses it was told how man was fashioned in the image of God. What, then, is this that he says, A Prayer of Moses, the man of God? Moses indeed writes how man was made; he himself also writes how man fell. Now, therefore, he prays that the one who fell into death may be lifted up to life, and that the one who fell through sin by the devil's doing may again rise through Christ to glory. For this reason, then, Moses makes a prayer to God, and says:

3 Lord, you have become a refuge for us. A refuge is never spoken of unless there has been persecution: for unless someone else persecutes us, we have no need to flee to another for refuge. Lord, you have become a refuge for us. Since a great swelter of tribulations and heat wearies us, we take refuge under the shadow of your wings. Lord, you have become a refuge for us. Therefore we flee to your help, because a great beast persecutes us; and since we have many adversaries and enemies, be you at least our one refuge. From generation to generation. In this place the serpent hisses. For those who say that souls were made before the world and before they were put into bodies, say this: Lord, you have become a refuge for us from generation to generation, before the mountains were made or the world was formed — that is, before this world was created, you were our refuge — punctuating badly, understanding badly. For we ought to say it thus: Lord, you have become a refuge for us from generation to generation. And the pause of the sentence goes this far. Then, what follows, thus: Before the mountains were made, and the world was formed, from age to age you are God. This, then, is said, not that man's soul existed before the age, but that the Lord God is shown to have always existed and to be before the ages. Finally the following verse too speaks fittingly, And from age to age you are God. From eternity to eternity you abide, having neither beginning nor end.

4 Turn not man away into lowliness. Moses prays on behalf of man, and what does he say? Do not suffer to perish him whom you fashioned in your image. Turn not man away into lowliness. Consider not the vileness of the body, but the dignity of the soul. Let it suffice us that we once heard, "You are earth, and into earth you shall go," and that because of the consciousness of sin we are brought low. Turn not man away into lowliness. Turn him not away, but turn him back: for you have said through all the prophets, Turn back, you sons of men. Let it suffice that you have sinned: do penance, that you may be able to have salvation. Turn not man away into lowliness. Send your Son, that he may lift the body of our lowliness on high, and, freed from the burdens of the earth, raise it through a new manner of life to heaven.

5 For a thousand years before your eyes are as yesterday's day, which has passed. Compared to the eternity of God, all the time of man is short: although it seems long to us, yet in comparison with eternity, because it is bounded by an end, it is reckoned as nothing. 6 And as a watch in the night. The night has four watches, marked off in periods of three hours each, as it is said in the Gospel, "In the fourth watch of the night" Jesus "came to them," which is understood to be about cockcrow. This, then, is what he says: a thousand years with you are to be compared not only to the shortness of a day, but to the span of three hours. Their years shall be counted as nothing. What he says is this: since man from the beginning of the world lived nearly a thousand years, and a thousand years before God are as a watch in the night. Nay, I have said enough: the ages of men are as nothing in comparison with the divine eternity. Do you wish to know more fully how human life is nothing? Hear what follows. In the morning let it pass like grass. As the morning dew passes swiftly, so is the life of men. Our morning is youth. In the morning let it flower and pass. In youth and full age we flowered, but in old age we fall down, and the flower of our strength has withered. For which of us knows how our age passes by? While we scarcely know it, old age steals up on us from behind. In the evening let it fall, harden, and grow dry. Our evening is old age, which, when the flower of youth has been shaken off, is hardened by the manifold horror of diseases. "For all flesh indeed is grass, and its glory is as the flower of grass: it withered and fell; but the word of the Lord abides forever." We still live, and part of us has already perished in old age: though the mind is the same, yet we who feel that we have lost the vigor of our former youth are in a manner become other men.

7 In your anger we have failed. Because through our sins we have earned your anger, we have lost in Adam the immortality you had given, from whom sin has been handed down to us, as it were naturally, by hereditary right. And in your fury we have been troubled. Beautifully he said, troubled: for one who is troubled does not perish, but is shaken with terror, so that he may feel the power of him whom by sinning he had scorned, and may flee, humble and submissive, to repentance. And in your fury we have been troubled. Because we have given offense, we are thrown into confusion; but because, believing, we have received your Christ, we are consoled. You have set our iniquities in your sight. Nothing of our sins has been hidden from you: all the evils we have committed are manifest before you. Our age in the light of your countenance. All that we live, or that we do, is not hidden from your eyes: the very darkness is not concealed from you.

8 For all our days have failed. So do the days pass and death draw near, that in a manner, while we know it not, our whole age and life itself is stolen away, scanty as it is. This very thing, which I now speak and you hear, is cut away from a part of our life; and although we believe there to be in it some advancing of the soul, yet because it uses up the span of hours, it is a loss of time and of age. And thus it comes about that where we think we have gain, there rather loss is brought upon us. Our years shall be pondered like a spider. He could have said nothing more beautiful than to describe human life and all our anxiety and pursuits, in which we run this way and that and lay up wealth, seek riches, build houses, beget children: and see to what a thing they are compared. Our years shall be pondered like a spider. For just as we see the spider draw out its threads on the walls and weave its webs, which are undone by a sudden wind; so every act of our life is scattered by the sudden onset of tribulation or of death. The days of our years in themselves are seventy years. See how gradually human life has been reduced. First in paradise we had received eternity, which we lost through disobedience: afterward the life of the ancients was extended to a thousand years: now, in the dregs of our time, one scarcely reaches seventy.

9 The days of our years in themselves are seventy years: but if in strength, eighty years: and more than these is labor and sorrow. See what he says, More than these is labor and sorrow. This is what we said above, that where we think there is gain in our life, there we find loss and disadvantage. Where there is increase of years, there is old age: where old age, there diseases: where diseases, there torments: where torment, there the longing for death. For mildness has come upon us, and we shall be chastened. What is this mildness, through which we are chastened? "Remember, Lord, David and all his mildness." What is this mildness? "Learn that I am mild and humble of heart." Mildness has come upon us. He did not say, the mild one has come, but mildness has come, which is our Lord Jesus Christ; who, just as in another place he is called not wise but wisdom, so here too he is named not mild but mildness itself.

10 Make your right hand thus known, and those fettered in heart in wisdom. Your right hand, with which you made the world, enlighten the world. "For the arm of the Lord, to whom has it been revealed?" Your right hand, with which you made man, let it itself take up and save the human body. And those fettered in heart in wisdom. It can be understood thus: those who before wandered freely, let them be fettered by your wisdom. For it is better to be well fettered than to have feet ill at liberty; it is better to stand well than to run badly. Just as that colt in the Gospel, which before was free, and unbridled went along over the precipices, afterward, when sat upon by the Lord, is reined in and is taught to walk well: so we pray you, that you make your right hand known to the world, so that the wandering and unstable may be fettered by your wisdom.

11 Turn back, Lord, how long? Turn back, Lord, and look upon your image: do not show us your back, but your face. Turn back, how long? He who says how long shows that he desires, and cannot bear the delays of his desire. We have been filled in the morning with your mercy. There are mysteries in what is said in the psalms, and all things are full of figures. Moses prays in the person of the human race, that the Son of God may deign to come to the lands of earth. And because he had said, Make your right hand thus known, now, because he feels himself heard, he adds and says, We have been filled in the morning with your mercy, when your Son on the third day rose again from the dead. And because in the evening he descended for our life into the darkness of death, that he might draw us out to the light of morning, in that hour we come to know the fullness of your mercy. Whence the twenty-first psalm is entitled with this heading: "For the morning taking up." Your mercy indeed always appeared to the saints; but never was it so manifestly and so fully poured out as when the Redeemer of all rose again for the common salvation.

12 And we have exulted and been delighted. After the joy of the resurrection of our Lord, by which we now believe both that we have been redeemed and that we shall rise again, for the remaining days of our life, rejoicing in this confidence, we exult, and with hymns and spiritual songs we render praise to God through Jesus Christ our Lord: to whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Homily 68, on Psalm 90 (Alternate Series)

2 My refuge is my God. Beautifully he said, "refuge," for there are many persecutors, and you alone are a refuge. Many are the wounds, but you alone are the physician. I will hope in Him, for He Himself shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters. In this world there are many hunters who long to capture our souls, just as is said by the prophet: "Our soul has been snatched away like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters." Now that hunters are taken in a sinister sense in the holy Scriptures, we have already said often. For that Nimrod, the giant, always a rebel against God, was a hunter. Esau too was a hunter. For He Himself shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters. We read in Proverbs: "The eye of the harlot is the snare of the sinner." "For whoever shall look upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." As many as are the sins, so many are the snares; as many as the snares, so many the hunters. The doctrines of the heretics are the snares of death. Finally there follows: and from the harsh word. You see that it is spoken concerning the heretics. In place of what we have, "harsh," the Hebrew has "hidden." For heretics always promise certain secret and great things, so that they may snatch away those things which are true and manifest.

3 With His shoulders He shall overshadow you. Who shall overshadow? Surely the God of heaven, as a hen her chicks, and as an eagle its nest. Hence also in the song of Deuteronomy it is said that He carried the people of Israel upon His shoulders, and protected them as an eagle. It can also be understood of the Savior, that upon His cross He protected us with His wings. And under His feathers you shall hope. "All the day long I have stretched forth my hands to a people that did not believe and that contradicted me." The hands of the Lord raised to heaven did not ask for help, but were protecting us wretches. His truth shall surround you with a shield: that is, you shall be encircled round about with truth. And what follows? You shall not fear from the terror of the night. The just man has no terror of the night, but of the day. "Come, children, hear me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord." Those who are the children of the prophets have no terror of the night, nor of the darkness, but of the light and of the day. "That they may shoot in secret at the upright of heart." The devil does not send his arrows in the day, lest he be seen. For everything that is done in the light is made manifest by the light.

4 But someone may say: If the devil does not shoot in the day, how then in the following little verse does the psalmist say, From the arrow that flies by day? What is this arrow that flies by day? It is the teaching of the heretics: which, as it were through the day—that is, the law of God—flies here and there, while they anxiously gather up testimonies searched out against us, which by their own interpretations they corrupt away from the truth. And from the business that walks about in the darkness. He did not say, "standing," but "walking about"; because heretics are never stable in their opinions, but are always changing and walking about. From the onslaught and the noonday demon. We read in Genesis that Joseph fed his brothers at noon; and in the Song of Songs it is written: "Where do you lie down, where do you feed? At noon." Therefore, just as the saints have a noon and a light where they may feed and lie down, so too the devil, transfigured into an angel of light, has his ministers transfigured, as it were ministers of righteousness. Therefore when you see a heretic preaching, and saying, "This says Moses, this is written in the prophets, this in the Gospels," does it not seem to you—if you are ignorant of the treachery of his mind—that you are hearing an angel of the Savior speaking? But the simple think there is a certain noonday demon who at noon can more readily assail men. We, however, shall interpret the chiefs of the heretics as the noonday demons, who, feigning themselves angels of light, preach the doctrines of darkness. Do you wish us to say something elegantly? Arius, or the rest of the heretics who came forth from Alexandria, are called noonday demons.

5 A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. "At your side" and "at your right hand." He did not say, "at your left," because the just man has no left, just as it is written in the Gospel: "Whoever shall strike you on the right cheek, offer him the other also." He did not say, "offer the left"; since indeed the lambs shall stand at the right, and the kids at the left. A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. By the "side" of the just man we can understand the weaknesses of the body; but by the "right hand," the integrity of the soul. By the labors of the body—that is, by fastings and chastity—a thousand shall fall; but at the right hand, where through the freedom of the soul there is pure and holy doctrine, there shall fall the very great multitude of the enemy. But to you they shall not draw near. Imagine the fortified wedges of the enemy coming against the just man, concerning whom it is said, But to you they shall not draw near: that is, they shall collapse before they can reach as far as you.

6 Nevertheless with your eyes you shall consider, and you shall see the retribution of sinners. You shall see the corpses of the dead, and you shall marvel at the majesty of the Lord and Savior. And you shall see the retribution of sinners. The ruin of sinners is their destruction. What he says is this: You who have made the Lord your refuge look with your eyes, secure, upon the retribution of the heretics, since you have guarded yourself from their traditions. These things have been said in the person of the Lord to the just man; but now the person is changed, and out of the contemplation of the just man an answer is made to the Lord: For you, O Lord, are my hope. For he who says these things is the just man. You have made the Most High your refuge. Again the person is changed: and for this reason the psalms are obscure, because very often the persons are changed. For while the just man calls upon the Lord and says, For you, O Lord, are my hope, he hears from the Lord, You have made the Most High your refuge. And therefore the following verse is fitting for you:

7 Evils shall not come to you, and the scourge shall not draw near to your tabernacle. He did not say, "shall not sound," but, "shall not draw near to your tabernacle": for it cannot come to pass that the scourge of the devil should not sound for the just man. For if the Lord Himself was scourged, and was vexed with tribulations and temptations, which of the just shall not be scourged? But let us see what this is, "shall not draw near to your tabernacle." This is it: it sounded indeed from without, and by fleshly passions it tried to disturb; but the tabernacle of the soul, or the mind, which is the tabernacle of faith, it did not overthrow. 8 For He has given His angels charge concerning you, that they may keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall carry you, lest ever you dash your foot against a stone. If ever the heretics interpret certain things from the Scriptures against us, we ought not to be disturbed: because the devil too used this testimony against the Lord and Savior, saying, "If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down; for it is written that He has given His angels charge concerning you," and the rest. The devil interprets the Scriptures like a devil: for he was applying this psalm to the person of the Lord, which is spoken not of the Lord, but of any just man. But I grant you, O devil, that it be written concerning the Lord Himself, "in their hands the angels shall carry you": why did you not say what follows, "Upon the asp and the basilisk you shall tread"? O the cunning of the crafty, shape-shifting enemy! What seemed to pertain to the frailty of the Savior and to the temptation of the man, he spoke; but what he understood to be against himself, with his ancient craftiness he kept silent. You err, O devil, and by your deceit you ensnare your very self. In this place your lie profits the Church: although you did this in order to tempt, you have shown that the children of God, all the just, are carried by the hands of the angels—that is, by their help—at the command and bidding of the Lord.

9 The rest of what follows pertains to the same exposition. But that the just and those dear to God have the power to trample upon the ancient and twisted serpent, and to press down his whole army with the heel of the foot, we find most evidently in the Gospel. For thus the Lord says to the apostles: "Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions." Which power we too shall be able to understand as given to us, when we know ourselves to be girded against them by an apostolic way of life. Let us therefore ask the Lord that He who gave power to the just may give also to us, still little ones, the help of righteousness: that we may be imitators of the apostles, and may be aided by their merits, in Christ Jesus our Lord. To whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Homily 69, on Psalm 91 (Alternate Series)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to sing psalms to your name, O Most High. Why did he not say first, "It is good to sing psalms," and afterward "to give praise"? But because this was the order of true confession, therefore he spoke thus: it is good first to do penance, and for a person to confess his sins to the Lord; and when he has confessed his sins, then to sing psalms to him, when by doing penance he has earned the free voice with which he can burst forth in the praise of God without the confession of sin. 2 To announce your mercy in the morning, and your truth throughout the night. Why is mercy sung in the morning, and truth in the night? Pay careful attention, for the things that are being said are obscure. First he said, "It is good to give praise to the Lord"; then praise follows upon confession; and thus the one who after penance earns the right to praise will also begin to announce the one whom he praises. But what does it mean that he said mercy is announced in the morning, and truth is sung in the night? Wherever the mercy of the Lord is, there is light, there is morning, there is the hour in which the sun rises and the darkness of blind night will perish. And your truth throughout the night. Where there is truth, there is justice; where there is justice, there is judgment; [where there is judgment,] there is no mercy; where there is no mercy, there is the peril of sinners, there is night and not day, as the prophet says, "What good is the day of the Lord to you? For this is darkness, and not light" — on which day the examination is to be conducted according to the merit of each one. Whence in another little verse the prophet says that the day is to be feared even by himself... "...will endure it?"

3 On the ten-stringed psaltery [with a song] upon the harp. For you have delighted me, O Lord, in your making, and in the works of your hands I will exult. This cannot be said except by a learned man, one who knows that by the providence of God each single thing has been created; who is not scandalized by the work of creation, but understanding the reason of each individual thing, glorifies the Creator and says, "For you have delighted me, O Lord, in your making, and in the works of your hands I will exult." Hear, O Manichaean, hear, O Marcion, Valentinus, and the rest of you heretics, who dare to disparage the Creator, and see that in the very thing over which you will suffer scandal, the prophet is delighted and exults in the works of the Creator, knowing that if anything should seem to be flawed, it has come not from nature, but from the will.

4 How magnified are your works, O Lord: your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep. Whence the apostle too says, "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Therefore, then, because your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep, and his works, which neither human sense nor reason can attain, in another place it is said, "All your works are in faith. See what he says, "Your works are in faith. If the creature stands firm in faith and not in reason, how much more the Creator himself and the Founder of all things? When therefore it is said, "And all your works are in faith," I too, who am speaking, am in faith — since indeed I am a part of his works. I too stand firm in faith and not in reason: for I cannot know by reason how I move my steps, how the tongue makes its sound, how thought arranges itself, the will commands, and the body serves the will, how the soul, which is immortal, is joined to this body which is mortal, how my soul runs to and fro here and there, and that vast breadth of the world does not contain a thing which is comprehended by the body. Why do I say all this? Because I heard that among the brothers there was a contention — nay rather, a disputation — over the faith. I say a disputation, not a contention: for where there is contention, there is sin;

5 but where there is disputation, there is a pious desire for knowledge. For each one was not seeking to prove the things he did not know, but they brought their ignorance to my knowledge: for they did not wish to teach what they did not know, but to know what they were ignorant of. Therefore their question is not foreign, which was raised concerning the mercy of the Lord. It is said in Isaiah concerning the Lord Savior, "Who shall declare his generation? When it is said, "Who? every creature is excluded. For he did not say, "Which of men shall declare his generation? but generally, "Who?" — that is, not an angel, not an archangel, not a cherub, not a seraph. For if that which is spoken of was hidden in God from the heavenly creatures, what wonder if it seems unknown to us who were made from clay? It was reported to me, brothers, that certain brothers among themselves in disputing had asked how the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are both three and are one. You see from the question how perilous disputation is: mud and an earthen vessel disputes about the Creator, and cannot arrive at the reason of its own nature; and it curiously seeks to know about the mystery of the Trinity, which the angels in heaven cannot know. For what do the angels say? "Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.

6 Likewise in Isaiah it is said, "Who is this who ascends from Edom, his garments white? See what they say: they proclaim his beauty, and about his nature they are silent. Therefore let us too speak simply. Do you wish to know the nature of God? Do you wish to know what God is? Know this: that you do not know. And do not be saddened in this, that you do not know: because the angels too did not know, and likewise every creature. But someone may say: Do I then believe what I do not know? How am I a Christian, who do not know how I am a Christian? I will speak simply, before we bring forward anything from the Scriptures. O Christian, why do you think you know nothing? If you know this very thing, that you do not know, do you not rather seem to yourself to know more? The pagan man sees a stone, and thinks it a god; the philosophers see the sky, and think it a god; others see the sun, and think it a god. But you — see how much greater knowledge you have over these, you who say: A stone cannot be a god, the sun cannot be a god, which runs at the command of another. See that in the very thing in which you say you know nothing, you know more; but the pagans, in that which they say they know, do not know, because the things they have come to know are false.

7 And at the same time consider what you are called: faithful indeed, not rational. In short, when baptism has been received, we say this: He has become faithful, or, I have become faithful. I believe what I do not know: and therefore I know, because I know myself not to know what I do not know. But someone may say: This is not to explain, but to flee the explanation; and we knew that we knew what we did not know — you, teach us to know what we are ignorant of. Is it not better piously to profess ignorance than rashly to lay claim to knowledge for oneself? On the day of judgment I am not condemned because I say, "I did not know the nature of my Creator," but if I should say something rashly: rashness has punishment, ignorance earns pardon. Let us say something from the Scriptures, not following reason, but the authority of the Lord Savior. For what does he say, about to ascend to heaven, speaking to the apostles, to whom he preaches as master and Lord? No one knows how to speak about his own nature as does he who is himself God: let it suffice for us to know about the Trinity what the Lord has deigned to explain. For what does he say to the apostles? "Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I hear three names, and one is spoken:

8 for he did not say, "in the names," but "in the name. He says three names: and how does he say one, "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"? The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: but it is the name of the Trinity. For what is said is, in the name of the Father who is God, in the name of the Son who is God, in the name of the Holy Spirit who is God: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one name of divinity. But you ask of me how three are called by one name? I do not know, and I freely profess that I do not know, what Christ did not wish to make known. This alone I know, that in this I am a Christian, that I confess one God in Trinity. But if I should say that there is one person of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I shall be called a Sabellian, and I begin to be not a Christian but a Jew: because the Jew too says there is one God, but because he does not know the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore he does not hold the mystery of the Trinity. Therefore if we so say "one God" that we exclude the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit from the mystery of the Trinity, we become Jews.

9 I speak freely, not from myself, but from the judgment of the Savior, of the scandal that arises in the mind of the hearer: How are three one? How are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit not divided in divinity? Whenever I say "persons," I beg you, do not think that I am speaking of persons of men: I do not speak of persons in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as though persons of men, but according to distinctive properties. I speak of the person of the Father, because he is the Father, and of the Son, because he is the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, because he is the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son, nor is the Son the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit the Father or the Son: for they are divided by properties, but united by nature. See, this very scandal the apostle Philip once bore, when he said to the Lord, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. To whom the Lord in answer said, "Philip, so long a time I am with you, and do you not know the Father? He who sees me, sees the Father also. That the Father himself is the Son, this is impious to say. In that you see the Son, understand the Father: for he cannot be called Son, unless he has had a Father. When Father is said, it is not said unless he has had a Son.

10 There are many things that might be said: but let it suffice for the faithful to have heard a few things about the mystery of the Trinity. I beg you, let there rather be a contest among us in the monastery over how we may seek to triumph over the adversary, how we may fast, how we may bewail our sins, how our thought may not drag us captive into lust, how we may have patience against every injury, how we may not resist a brother doing us an injury, but may conquer him in the humility which we have learned from Christ, "who, when he suffered, did not threaten." If ever a thought should come and add, "What is God? and what is the reason of the Trinity?", let it suffice for us to believe that he is. And we ought not rashly to seek the reason, but to fear, and always to pray to the Lord; and in this matter let us show him our knowledge alone, that day and night we may sing praises to him. To whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Homily 70, on Psalm 92 (Alternate Series)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). The title of the present psalm is this: A psalm of praise of David, on the day of the sabbath, when the earth was inhabited. On the sabbath day is our rest, and the inhabiting of the earth is ours. 'And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.' Our earth, therefore, has been inhabited. Let us see, then, what this dwelling accomplishes, and with what praises it is extolled. 2 The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself. For he hath established the round world, which shall not be moved. These three little verses are spoken by the prophet concerning the Lord and Savior; but the rest that follow are directed to the Lord himself. The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty. The Lord hath reigned, he who before had served. He is clothed with beauty. What does Isaiah say? 'We saw him, and he had no comeliness of his own: a man laid under a stroke, and knowing how to bear infirmity.' The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty. What he says is this: He who before had been an object of horror in the lowliness of the flesh, now shines resplendent in the majesty of the Godhead. For whatever in him is unshapely, let it be reckoned to our condition; but whatever there is of beauty will be fittingly applied to his own majesty. And he hath girded himself. This that he says, he hath girded himself, must signify some mystery. When we are ungirt, our tunic is let down all the way to the feet: unless it has been drawn up by a belt, the whole garment hangs down. So then, we too, because we could not bear the full strength of the Lord, he girded his majesty with flesh. This is what is said in another place: 'Thou shalt not be able to see my face;

3 thou shalt see my back parts.' It is also said of Elijah in the book of Kings that he stood on Mount Sinai in a cleft, and thus saw the Lord passing by. See how, set in the cleft, he is said to have seen the back parts of the Lord and Savior. If the Lord and Savior is interpreted as the rock... 'And Christ,' says the apostle, 'was the rock.' For when we are set in the cleft of the rock, we behold God through the flesh. Why have I said all this? Because we embrace the following verse also with the same exposition: he is clothed with beauty, and hath girded himself. Just as the Lord and Savior is seen through the cleft of the rock, so too through the girdle his majesty is beheld. 4 For he hath established the round world, which shall not be moved. If we understand this world to have been so established by God that it is disturbed by no commotion ever, how is it said elsewhere, 'Heaven and earth shall pass away'? But if heaven and earth shall pass away, how is it said here, He hath established the round world, which shall not be moved? The οἰκουμένη (oikoumenē) in this place, which in our tongue is rendered 'the inhabited world,' seems to me to be the Church, of which it is said in the Gospel: 'I and my Father will come, and will make our abode with him.' Rightly, therefore, is it called a habitation, which has as its inhabitant the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. What, then, we have understood concerning the inhabited world—that is, concerning the round earth established forever—let us understand also concerning our soul. For if we have as our inhabitant the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, our earth shall not be moved forever.

5 It has been said concerning the Lord's reign and concerning the beauty of his garment, it has been said concerning his strength, it has been said concerning the round world which shall not be moved: now the prophet's speech is directed to the Lord himself, reigning and thundering. And what does he say? Thy throne is prepared; from then thou art, from everlasting. This that he said, He is clothed with strength and hath girded himself, comes down from the lowliness of the flesh: but for the rest, thy kingdom has always been. Thy throne is prepared: always prepared, never beginning. From then. From when? From what time? It has no definition, because it has no beginning either. However often you say, 'from then,' the time never gives out, but you leave it in uncertainty. Because when you say 'then,' it is fitting that you be asked: When? You see, therefore, that the prophetic speech is set down without a definition, since you perceive that it admits of a question. From then thou art, from everlasting. Beautifully he said, thou art; he did not say, from everlasting thou didst begin, but, from everlasting thou art. Thou art who ever art, who saidst to Moses: 'Go, and say to the children of Israel: He who is hath sent me to you.'

6 The floods have lifted up, O Lord, they have lifted up their voices; from the voices of many waters, wonderful are the surgings of the sea. As many words, so many meanings: as many little verses, so many sacraments. The floods have lifted up their voices. This is what is said in another place: 'The rush of the river maketh glad the city of God.' And in another place: 'The rivers shall clap their hands together.' The floods seem to me to be those which water the whole world, the apostolic and prophetic dignities. The floods have lifted up their voices. Proclaiming the praise and glory of the Lord, announcing his judgments through the whole world. 'Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the round world.' From the voices of many waters. The voices of many waters have furnished us with three mysteries. Let us see what those mysteries are. From the voices of many waters, wonderful are the surgings of the sea, wonderful is the Lord on high: thy testimonies are made exceedingly credible. If we understand the sea mystically as this world... for it is bitter and full of tempests, in which those who sail behold many wonders of the Lord. On account of which he says: Wonderful are the surgings of the sea. For we see many, lifted up by swelling waves, suddenly collapse; but others we see, oppressed by the billows, again raised up to the heights. For nothing in this world is found firm, nothing stable.

7 Where you think there is calm, there is shipwreck: where the appearance of quiet is shown, there the assault of the tempest and the whirlwinds lie hidden; and unless we cry out, 'Master, save us,' we suddenly perish. Wonderful is the Lord on high. Whoever has been able to withstand firmly the billows of this world's sea, dwelling steadfastly upon the rock, he will be able to understand how wonderful is the Lord on high. 'For the exalted one dwells in the exalted places, and the holy one in the holy'; as he also says elsewhere, 'Be ye holy, as I also am holy, the Lord your God.' But the man whom the consciousness of his sins humbles, and who cannot lift up his eyes to heaven together with Jesus, in his sight the Lord is not wonderful on high, but terrible to those beneath. 8 Thy testimonies are made exceedingly credible. This is what is said in the seventeenth psalm: 'The testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones.' To what little ones? 'Father, I give thee thanks, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent of the world, and hast revealed them to little ones.' Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord. See what he says. Whoever seems to himself to dwell in the house, if he has not holiness, is a stranger to the house, because the house would not have its ornaments. Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord. If, according to the apostle, we are the temple and house of God, then the holiness of our manner of life ought to be the ornament and adornment of the Church; but if sins and vices are caught in us, we are the disgrace and foulness of the Lord's house, not its beauty. Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord. The house of the Lord is the Church. And the Church, according to the mystical understandings, was already prefigured in the flood by the ark, in which the clean animals, at the Lord's command, were multiplied the more. And although, on account of the unclean and the clean, beasts of diverse kinds dwelt there, nevertheless the clean animals became the Lord's house, which by their uneven number already prefigured the sacrifices of virginity: from which Noah, delivered from the perils of the flood, offered to the Lord a worthy holocaust from the clean animals. There are many things that might be said, but the hour shuts us out, and let it suffice to have said a few things concerning the praises of the Lord. To whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The Early Church Fathers Writings - Volume 46

Volume 46 of the Early Church Fathers Writings, AD 374 – 420: the last of Jerome’s letters, his Homilies on the Psalms, the Lives of Illustrious Men, and his lives of Paul the first hermit, Malchus and Hilarion, in English.

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