In Psalmum 50

Of the Same: On King David and the Apostle Paul, concerning repentance; and on various sayings of the Psalter that have reference to the end of Christ; and on our not despairing of our own salvation. You have just heard the hymnographer David crying out: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy, and according to the abundance of your compassions blot out my transgression." And again: "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit in my inward parts," David cries. And why does the prophet say, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy"? Because where there is mercy, there is salvation without examination; where there is mercy, a court does not sit; where there is mercy, accounts are not demanded. I seek to be pitied once, deliver me from weakness. And why does David cry out, "Create a clean heart in me, O God"? He who after a multitude of achievements, after so many trophies, who killed Goliath and strangled the lion, who also had such great boldness of the Holy Spirit, says: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy, and according to the abundance of your compassions blot out my transgression." You made me, a farmer, a king; having become king, you appointed me a prophet; in war you made me victorious, casting down Goliath not by physical nature but by the power of faith; you clothed me in purple; you cast out another and brought me in; you gave me wealth. However you may be judged in your words, and you prevail in being judged. What sin has aged, grace has renewed. And what do you give, O prophet?

I will teach your ways to the lawless, and the impious will turn to you. Having omitted to mention the kingdom, he speaks the prophecy. You honored me thus: you revealed your Son to me and made him known to me. I learned that you have a Son who is human-born. I knew that you have a co-throned one. I proclaimed to the world the cross, the tomb, the descent, the resurrection. I spoke of his judgment hall; I spoke of the salvation of the nations; I spoke of the election of the apostles; I spoke of the expulsion of the Jews; I spoke of the calling of the Church; I spoke of the choir of virgins; I spoke of the seat on the right. For behold, you revealed to me the obscure and hidden things of your wisdom. And where did he reveal these things? Listen to the prophet himself speaking of his descent from heaven: "And he will descend like rain upon a fleece." Because when the Son of God arrived, he did not come shaking the world, nor sending forth lightning, nor emitting thunderbolts, nor with his divinity naked. For if he had presented his divinity naked, the mountains would not have borne it; the sun would have been extinguished. If he had displayed his substance naked, the moon would have vanished, the earth would have perished, the nature of all of us would have withered. Therefore, coming gently and noiselessly, with no one knowing, he came gently and dwelt in a virgin's womb. O new and paradoxical things! The stone melts, and the womb does not melt. The mountains are destroyed, and the womb bore God. How shall I interpret? How shall I present it? O the madness of the blasphemer! How did the servant woman bear God? He who examines the things above, tell the things below. He who is present everywhere, how was he in a womb and in heaven?

But I know that he both sat on the throne and dwelt in the womb of the virgin; how, I do not know. I accept it by faith, I do not scrutinize it with reason; but that he appeared, that he is about to come, not disturbing, not causing confusion, not destroying, nor being dissolved. And he will descend like rain upon a fleece. You spoke of the kingdom, you spoke also of his betrayal: "He who ate my bread magnified against me a treacherous kick." Speak also of his judgment: "Why did nations swell with pride, and peoples plot vain things?" Speak also of the cross: "They dug my hands and my feet, they counted all my bones." Speak also of his gall: "They put gall into my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." Speak also of his anointing: "You anointed my head with oil." Speak also of his baptism: "He nurtured me upon the water of rest." Speak also of the mysteries: "You prepared a table before me opposite those who oppress me." Speak also of the cup: "Your cup makes me drunk, as if it were the strongest." Speak also of the expulsion of the Jews: "I will not accept from your house calves, nor from your flocks goats." Speak also of the insults from the Jews: "He hoped in the Lord; let him rescue him, let him save him, because he wants him." Speak also of the salvation of the nations: "Ask of me, and I will give you nations as your inheritance." Speak also of his tomb: "That you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow your holy one to see corruption." Speak also of his ascension into the heavens: "God ascended with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet." Speak also of the election of the apostles.

In place of your fathers, sons were born to you." Say also the chorus of virgins: "Virgins will be brought to the king behind him." Say also the calling of the Church: "The queen stood at your right, clothed in gold-woven raiment, variegated." Say also his seat at the right: "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right, until I place your enemies as a footstool under your feet.'" O David, you announced the entire prophecy, and why do you cry out: "Create a pure heart in me, O God, and renew a righteous spirit in my entrails"? You are a king, you are encircled with a diadem, you were clothed in purple. But he says: "These are leaves, and night, and a dream. I seek that beauty." Give me the Holy Spirit, so that you may speak to me again, and I may speak to you. For the Spirit has departed from me, like a dove seeing filth. I wish it to return. Then I will come and appear before your face. I cannot endure it, since I have lost my boldness. You see David confessing to God. See how great an evil sin is. And what sin? Adultery and murder and transgression of the law, rejection of the words of God. And in saying these things I do not accuse the prophet, but I proclaim his swift repentance. But indeed it was fitting for the prophet to fulfill what is written: "You first speak your sins, so that you may be justified"; for this indeed justified him. "I have sinned against the Lord," he says. But the prophet Nathan came and said: "And the Lord has removed your sin." The sin was brief, the confession was briefer.

Since he sinned with the wife of Uriah, he was overcome by the sin, and having written a psalm, he said: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy." And through the whole confession he received release from every sin. But also Paul, how was he shown mercy? "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" O the philanthropy of the Master! He says to a man: "Why do you persecute me?" He imitates his own Father. For that one also speaks to the Hebrew people: "My people, what injustice have I done you, or what annoyance have I caused you? Answer me." And his Son said: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" What then did Paul say? "Who are you, Lord, who speaks to me?" O the grateful servant! He immediately acknowledged the lordship, saying, "Who are you, Lord?" And the Lord said to him: "I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you persecute; but arise, go into Damascus, and there it will be told you what you must do." And what was once a wolf is now a sheep; what was once a persecutor is now an evangelist; what was once a weed is now grain; what was once a pirate and a sinker of ships is now a helmsman of the people; what was once a ravager of the

the Church, now entrusted with her; he who once cut down vines, now become a vinedresser; he who was once lead, now become gold. And you, beloved, cry out that the uproar of sins is great, and immediately you hear: But the philanthropy of the Master is great. For God became man, and entered into a virgin's womb, and dwelt there. And whom did he call? Magi. After them, whom? A prostitute. After her, whom? A thief. After him, whom? A blasphemer. O new and paradoxical things! The firstfruits of his calling were the tyranny of sin. Because the affairs of the world were in a bad state, men were held by the sleep of sin, and by Judaism, and by great despair. For this reason, therefore, when he came, from the very beginning he called the firstfruits of the Church, so that afterwards no one might despair of his own salvation. Are you impious? Consider the thief. Are you unclean? Consider the prostitute. Are you a blasphemer? Consider Paul, the blasphemer. Are you an unbeliever? Consider the magi. I myself know what the despair of sin is. The devil stands by, sharpening a sword, and says these words to you:

You lived your whole life with prostitutes, after that you committed perjury, you committed adultery throughout the entire course of this present life. These are the words of the devil. But you, dare the opposite. You fell? But rise up. You committed fornication? Repent. You committed adultery? Change your mind. Your repentance is small; but the philanthropy of the Master is great. As long as you are breathing, and even as you lie on that bed, repent; the constriction of the moment draws forth the philanthropy of God. Apply these remedies, and you will quell the inflammation. For I know, beloved, that the wounds of the soul are many, but each wound has its own and appropriate remedy prepared. You have the Church, where the presence of the Spirit is accomplished. You have an assembly of martyrs, and many other things that can recall you from sin to righteousness. You have heard the cheap sins of the righteous; see the speed of their repentance through words and tears. For David himself cries out, saying: I will wet my bed with my tears. And Paul said: But I was pitied, because, being ignorant of Christ, I persecuted him. Therefore let us not despair of our own salvation, having the memory of those who previously sinned and were deemed worthy of the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, for to him belongs the glory and the power, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.