In Psalmum 50 homilia 2

On the remainder of the fiftieth psalm, and concerning repentance. 1. I wish to give you today the leftovers of yesterday's table; but when you hear "leftovers" and "table," beloved, suspect nothing perceptible. For we do not cut up meat, but we give spiritual thoughts. We do not pour out unmixed wine, but we sound forth the word into your mind. For at the perceptible table, if the meat remains one or two days, it is corrupted and destroyed; but with thoughts, if they remain a whole year, they give back their own bloom and fragrance. The meat remained, and was corrupted by time; the thoughts remained, and remain giving back their own fragrance. Someone ate meat, and passed into corruption; someone ate thoughts, and was led by the hand into incorruption. Someone ate meat, and belched forth much foul odor; someone ate thoughts of spiritual fragrance, and belched forth much virtue, and gladdened his neighbor. The prophet, then, since he ate such things, said: My heart has belched forth a good word. The waves are tossed again, but let the mind stand firm; bodies are shaken, but let the hearing be unmoved. See to it, then, and attend to what is said with precision. Yesterday you saw the king and prophet warring, falling, rising, conquering, being crowned, being proclaimed. You saw sin coming upon him and being slain through repentance. Sin came upon him like a bear and cast him down, but repentance entered and raised him up. The remedy of wounds, the hope of salvation. You saw the prophet entering and reproving the prophet.

You saw the king bearing the reproof with wisdom, accepting the incision, being rid of the putrefaction. You saw the Master's love for humanity shining forth and giving life to the dead man. You saw him saying, "I have sinned against the Lord," and the prophet saying, "And the Lord has forgiven your sin." The confession was brief, and the healing and the correction were briefer still. Through his deeds he sinned, through his words he confessed. God nodded, and the sore vanished, the wound was set right, and health returned. But the prophet was not satisfied with this; rather, after the reproof, after the correction, after the removal of the wounds, he also wrote a psalm on the matter, so that for the generation that came afterward as well, his sufferings might become a place of healing, and his shipwreck might become a harbor, and from the very things he suffered and was set right in, another who falls into the same things might enjoy the same healing and correction. What, then, is the psalm, and what is the inscription of the psalm? Let us hear with precision. For the end, a psalm of David. The inscription of the psalm has clearly taught us the subject; and the very words of the psalm are sufficient to teach the depth of its meaning. It is fitting to know, indeed, that the psalm also contains a foretelling of things to come; therefore it is also inscribed "For the end," the word making clear that the prophecy will have an end. But let no one doubt that in the time of his repentance the great David was deemed worthy of prophetic grace.

For this can also be learned through the other psalms in which he made his confession. For indeed both in other psalms, and certainly also in the psalm set before us, he clearly taught us that he was not deprived of the grace of the Spirit. For he says, "Do not take your good Spirit from me." For he did not ask for it to be given to him, but he entreated that it not be taken away. Being enlightened by him, therefore, and foreseeing that the people ruled by him would also fall into lawless deeds, and that he would undergo certain punishments for these, and that they would be enslaved and become resident aliens in Babylon, he composed the psalm, both healing his own wounds and preparing a suitable remedy for the people. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy; and according to the abundance of your compassion blot out my lawless deed." These words set before us fit both the most divine David and the people taken captive, and those among us who are disposed badly. For great wounds need remedies of equal measure. For this reason the great David also entreats that the whole mercy be poured out upon him, that he drain the entire fountain of compassion upon the traces of sin. And with good reason he calls the transgression a lawless deed; for it has a double transgression of the law. "Blot out my lawless deed." You heard the prophet saying, "And the Lord has taken away your sin." What then do you seek further? I remain giving thanks, I remain glorifying. My sin has been taken away; I wish the scar also to be made to disappear. The wound has been taken away; I wish also to recover my beauty. He comes forward, then, and says: "Have mercy on me, O God.

He does not speak of the successes of his life, but of the loving-kindness of the Master, fleeing for refuge to mercy, the common harbor of all who have sinned. Have mercy on me, O God. For your mercy is ineffable and surpasses reason, unable to be interpreted—comfort for a sinner, but also great security for a righteous man. For not only are sinners saved by mercy, but even the righteous are walled about by mercy. And so that you may learn that the righteous are walled about by mercy, hear what he says to Peter, the pillar, the foundation, who for this reason was called Peter, because by faith he had been made rock—Simon, Simon, Satan has often desired to sift you like wheat; but I prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. Do you see that even the righteous need mercy, so that they may become righteous even from sinners, and so that having become righteous, they may remain righteous? For indeed the Apostle became such a one by mercy: I give thanks to Christ Jesus who strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, appointing me to ministry—me, who was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insolent man. How then were you saved? But for this reason I was shown mercy. Do you see that this man too was saved by mercy? He persecuted, he ravaged the Church, he tore up the vines, he became a wolf. He read the prophets, and he transgressed against the things foretold. The zealot of the ancestral law read the prophets, and did not know the one foretold by the prophets. How then was he shown mercy? Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? O the loving-kindness of the Master—to what depth did he descend? God says to a man, Why do you persecute me? He imitates his own Father. For that one too says to the Hebrew people: My people, what have I done to you, or in what have I wronged you, or in what have I troubled you? Answer me.

And his Son says to Saul: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? What then does he say? Who are you, Lord? At once he acknowledged his lordship. Do you see a grateful soul? Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting. O the wisdom of the Master! Why did he not say, I am the Son of God, I am the Word who was in the beginning, I am the one seated at the right hand of the Father, I am the one who exists in the form of God, I am the one who stretched out the heaven, I am the one who established the earth, I am the one who spread out the sea, I am the one who made the angels, I am the one present everywhere and filling all things, I am the one begotten of the Father before the ages? Why did he not say those august and lofty and great things, but instead, I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one from the city below? Because the one who was persecuting him did not know him. For if he had known him, he would not have persecuted him. He did not know that he had been begotten of the Father; but that he was from Nazareth, he knew. If, then, he had said to him, I am the Son of God, the Word who was in the beginning, the one who made the heaven, he could have said, That is someone else, and it is another whom I am persecuting. Did you understand what I said? If he had spoken to him those great and lofty things, he could have said, It is someone else; this is not the one who was crucified. But so that he might learn that it is the one who became flesh whom he is persecuting, the one who took the form of a slave, the one who lived among us, the one who was crucified, the one who died, the one who was buried, the one who rose, the one from the place below, he says: I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting, whom you saw and know, the one who lived among you. For this reason he at once acknowledged his lordship. The Master descended as far as the slave was able to ascend.

And for this reason he was shown mercy. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy. And the Canaanite woman flees to this harbor: Have mercy on me; my daughter is severely demon-possessed. For where there is mercy, there is no examination; where there is mercy, no tribunal is seated; where there is mercy, accounts are not demanded; where there is mercy, salvation is without examination; where there is mercy, the defense is forgiven. I seek only to be shown mercy. For what reason do you demand accounts from me? Once for all I seek mercy, a salvation that does not pry into matters. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy. You said "great"—tell me, how great? I do not know; that it is great, I know; to measure it out I cannot, to comprehend it I am not able. I do not know the quantity of its greatness; my mind does not grasp it, my tongue does not interpret it. I see the fruit of that mercy is great. For if it were not very great, few would have been saved. This mercy his Son also displays. For coming in mercy he saved all. Have mercy on me, O God, the harbor unruffled by waves, the one full of calm. Great is the tumult of my sins, but great is the safety of my Master's love for humanity. He became man—this is of mercy. He came into a virgin's womb—this is of love for humanity. He became what you were, so that you might become what you were not—this is of mercy. And coming, whom did he call first? Magi. After them, whom? A tax collector. After him? A prostitute. After her? A robber. After him, whom? A blasphemer.

3. O strange and paradoxical things! The firstfruits of the calling, the tyranny of sin. For the affairs of the world were in a bad state: some were tyrannized by impiety, others were held in Judaism and despair by sin. Therefore, coming from the very beginning, he called the firstfruits of those who had sinned before, so that no one thereafter might despair of his own salvation. Are you impious? Consider the Magi. Are you a robber? Consider the tax collector. Are you unclean? Consider the harlot. Are you a murderer? Consider the thief. Are you a transgressor of the law? Consider Paul the blasphemer, and afterward an apostle; formerly a persecutor, and afterward an evangelist; formerly an adulterer, and afterward a bridegroom's attendant; formerly a weed, and afterward wheat; formerly a wolf, and afterward a shepherd; formerly lead, and afterward gold; formerly a pirate and a wrecker, and afterward a pilot; formerly ravaging the Church, and afterward believed by the Church; formerly cutting down the vines, and afterward becoming a vine-dresser; formerly tearing down the temple, and afterward becoming a builder. Did you see exceeding wickedness? Did you see virtue at its peak? Did you see the recklessness of a servant? Did you see the love of a Master for humanity? Do not say to me, I am a blasphemer; do not say to me, I am a persecutor, I am unclean. You have examples of all. Flee to whatever harbor you wish. Do you wish in the New? Do you wish in the Old? In the New, Paul; in the Old, David. Do not give me excuses, do not give me hesitation.

You have sinned? Repent. Have you sinned ten thousand times? Repent ten thousand times. These medicines I apply continually, and I calm the inflammation. For I know how great is the disgrace of the conscience of those who have sinned; I know how great is the despair. The devil stands sharpening his sword and saying these words: You have disgraced your whole youth, you have destroyed your whole life. Before, you were a fornicator; after that you robbed, you defrauded, you perjured yourself, you blasphemed. What hope of salvation do you have? You are lost. For the rest, at least enjoy the present life. These are the devil's words, but mine are the opposite. You are lost? But you can be saved. You fornicated? But you can become chaste. You committed adultery? But you can obtain salvation. You fell? But you can rise again. Is your repentance small? But great is the Master's love for humanity. You murdered? But repent. You defrauded? But change your mind. You committed adultery? But turn away. You were wounded? But be healed. As long as you breathe, on the last day, on that very bed, if you lie there gasping for breath, about to depart from this theater and this life, then repent. The constraint of the time does not hinder the love of God for humanity. Do not say to me, How, and in what way? I am full of sores and filled with wounds; on the last day can I confess? You can, and you most certainly can. Pray, do works of almsgiving, leave something to the poor in your will.

You go away, and your work remains. Do not bring me the opinion of the heretics; do not say to me, "How am I saved?" When God is at work, do not demand an accounting; when he is healing, do not despair. The physician stands cutting and applying countless remedies, and you do not say, "How are you healing?" but you yield to the art. You yield to the art of your fellow servant, and you do not pry into it; and will you not yield to the love of God for mankind? Do not say, "How?" but marvel, but be astonished, but give glory. Since I too ask you, how was the robber saved? He spent his whole life in murders, in slaughters, in bloodshed; he broke through walls, he plundered property; he did not regret, he did not repent while he was on the earth. He was condemned by men, and he was crowned by God. He was not master of his life, and he became master of a kingdom. He lost the things here, and he received the things there. How did he receive them? Tell me. By one word. For what did he say? "Remember me, Lord, in your kingdom." And did the word prevail? Not the word alone prevailed, but also the love of God for mankind, mingled with his repentance, made the robber a citizen of paradise. How? I do not know how. Do not demand of me the manner; I seek only that he was saved, I do not pry into the manner of the healing. "Deliver me," you entreat the physician, "from my sickness," and you do not dare to say, "How?" It is God who saves you, and do you dare to say, "How?" How many adulterers, how many soft men, how many sodomites, how many caught in tyranny dwell in prison? Countless are the accusations, bitter the enemies, great the power. The king only nods, and they are released. A king, my fellow servant (for what if he has wrapped himself in purple?

He has nothing more than my substance—it is the same nature as mine—he nods, and they are released; and a small written note, and the condemned man is set free. No ruler opposes, no jailer resists, no authorities of the laws stand against it; but by the dignity of the king comes the release of the one held. And God, the Master of angels and archangels, if he only nods, is he not able to save? A king, if he pardons, pardons the punishment, not the sin; but my Master pardons sins. He says, "I do not will the adulterer to be an adulterer," and his word became deed. He says, "Let the fornicator not be a fornicator," and his word changed that man's manner of life and blunted the sin. 4. And so that you may learn this precisely, listen: He said, "I will that heaven come to be," and heaven came to be; "I will that earth come to be," and earth came to be, and that substance which was not came into being; "I will that angels come to be," and the host of angels came to be. His word makes intelligent substances and bodies that did not exist, and is it unable to dissolve sins? For what is sin compared to the Master's love for humanity? A spider's web. The wind blows, and the spider's web is torn apart; God wills it, and sin is not undone? I say these things, not that I may make you more careless, but that I may lead you to faith in a greater expectation and a kinder hope. Never despair, O man; despair of that one who despairs of himself. Consider, then, this great prophet—I mean David—after the grace of the Spirit, after his boldness toward God, after a multitude of successes, after so many trophies, proclaiming and saying:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy. I have stretched myself out upon the sea of the Master's love for humanity. And what do you want? Tell me. You have heard the prophet saying: And the Lord has taken away your sin. What more do you seek? I do not seek this alone; I seek my beauty, I seek my boldness of speech. And according to the abundance of your mercies, blot out my transgression. Do you see what he seeks? What then? Has it not been blotted out? What else do you want? Wash me more thoroughly from my sin, and cleanse me from my transgression. What then? I seek more, a purity greater than radiance. Wash me more thoroughly from my sin. For what have you done, that it may come to pass? Pay close attention to the word with precision; pay attention, and strain yourself. The mercy of God is ineffable, uninterpretable, unable to be comprehended, surpassing mind, conquering reasoning. But even if the mercy of God is such, so that people may not become useless by being shown mercy, it also needs what comes from us. Note what I say: God shows mercy, but he does not show mercy in a simple way; rather, he says: Give, you also. What, then? What sort of thing does he say? You have countless burdens of sins, you have many offenses; I wish to lighten them. Give also your hand; not because I have need of you, but because I wish you also to contribute something to your own salvation; and how, I will tell you. For instance, the robber was saved, and he loosed so many sins; but not by mercy alone, but also by his own faith. For what does he say? Remember me, Lord, in your kingdom. What did God bring to his salvation? The release of sins. What did the robber bring to his own salvation? Faith.

Of what sort? Great, lofty, touching heaven. How so? I say: the Jews saw the dead raised, lepers cleansed, demons driven out, the sea bridled, the earth gushing forth springs, a fish bearing a stater, a star leading the Magi, the creation above and below keeping guard, and after all these things they crucified their own Master and the Master of all. The robber saw none of these things, but rather him spat upon, insulted, reviled; and he was not scandalized, but confessed him as King. Do you see that he was not merely shown mercy, but himself also contributed? For it is necessary that the one receiving mercy also contribute something himself toward his own salvation. Again, the tax collector, being a plunderer, being a grasping man, how was he saved? Christ passed by and said to him: Come, follow me; and he rose and followed him. Just as, then, the robber contributed his word, so too the tax collector offered him his following. For just as in the case of the sick who are held by incurable diseases and need costly medicines, if the physician comes in and says to the invalid: Many kinds are needed for the preparation of the medicine; and the sick man says: I do not have so much to give, I am held by poverty; the physician says to him: Give me this and that kind, and all the rest I supply from myself; so

God does this too. Give me confession, tears, and repentance, and the rest I grant you out of my love for humanity. 5. David also asks for this, that these things be washed away. What then did David do? What did David offer? Have mercy on me; and, Wash me more thoroughly from my lawlessness, and cleanse me from my sin. For already, he says, through Nathan the prophet you have given forgiveness, and you have brought upon me all kinds of calamities, like cauteries and incisions; but I still need washings, having taken in the great stench of sin. Wash me again, therefore, Master, that you may scrape away all the filth of sin. What then did David do? What did he offer? He committed murder and adultery; he offered tears and confession, and says: For I know my lawlessness. It is an exchange. God gives, and the one being saved gives. God gave mercy, the one being saved gave confession. What do you give, David, that you may be saved, that I may mix the medicine? For I know my lawlessness. Is this what you give? And is there a man who does not know his sin? Yes. How many sin and are bold-faced? How many steal and do not even know that they steal? How many take advantage and do not even perceive it? How many strip widows and busy themselves with other things? How many oppress orphans and do not even mourn, nor weep, nor confess? How then can they be saved, not even knowing that they sin? Did you see the prophet crying out and saying, For I know my lawlessness?

For even after the forgiveness that came from you, I did not receive forgetfulness of my sin, but I continually see the images of my evils and the transgressions I dared, and by night I dream of them, and by day I picture them, because I know my lawlessness, and my sin is before me continually. O nobility of soul! He did not hand over the memory of his sin to forgetfulness, but even when it had been forgiven he wrote it down. As in an image, every day in his conscience he saw the woman with whom he committed adultery, every day he saw the corruption. And my sin is before me continually. I see it, do not you see it; I write it down, do you blot it out. For see what happens. If you remember it, God will not remember it; if you forget it, God will remember it. For I am he, he says through the prophet, who blots out your sins, and I will remember them no more; but do you remember them. Why should I remember? So that you may be grateful, so that you may know what I have forgiven you. For if you are always mindful of the bulk of your sin, you will always also be mindful of the greatness of the benefit. I have forgiven you, he says, but do not forget the grace, and I will remember your sin no more, but do you remember it. Such were the saints: they forgot their successes and remembered their sins; not like people today, who forget their sins, but if they do something good, they bring it into the open. Have you done good? Keep it hidden, so that your Master may speak of it. Have you done evil? Remember it, so that your Master may forget it. Make way for your Master.

For do you not speak of your good deeds in the same way as your Master speaks of them? If you speak of them, you diminish them; if your Master speaks of them, He magnifies them. How do I mean? You give to the poor; and if you are asked there, how do you speak? I saw a poor man hungry, and I fed him. How does He speak? He does not speak of them in that way; but how? I was hungry, and you saw Me and fed Me. Leave it to Him who is able to speak of them magnificently; leave it to Him who speaks of them and makes them great; but your sins do you speak, that you may wipe them out. But are you ashamed to say that you have sinned? Say them every day in your prayer. And what then? Am I not to say them? Speak to your fellow servant who reproaches you, speak to God who heals them. For God does not know them if you do not speak? Does He wish to learn them from you? When you were doing them, He was present; when you were committing them, He stood by, He knew. You were doing them, and you were not ashamed. The deeds that shame you did not shame you, and are you ashamed of the words that justify you? Speak here, that you may not speak there. Speak, and weep. Your sins are written in a book; your tears are a sponge. Weep, and they are blotted out; weep, and that book is found clean. Great is the sponge of tears for sins; great is the power of tears. Let me tell you how much tears avail. What do you think is a great good deed? But pay close attention to what I say. What do you think is a great good deed? You will say martyrdom; for greater love than this no one has, than that someone lay down his life for his friends. The greatest good deed is that of martyrdom, because the martyrs pour out their blood.

For the deeds of the martyrs are plain. The martyrs pour out blood; sinners pour out tears. And so that you may learn how much power tears have—did the harlot not pour out blood? Did she not pour out a fountain of tears, and wipe away her sins? And why do I speak of a harlot, an unclean woman? The pillar of the Church, the foundation of the faith, the head of the choir of the apostles, Peter—did he not deny Christ once and twice and three times? Did he pour out blood? Did he not pour out fountains of tears, and weep, and wipe away his sin? And I know my iniquity. You have no book in your house, and yet you write the daily account? Keep a book in your conscience, and write down your daily sins. What do I mean? When you lie down on your bed, and no one disturbs you, before sleep comes upon you, bring the book into the midst, and reckon up your sins, saying to yourself: Have I not sinned today? Not in word, or in deed? This is what the prophet also exhorts: Be angry, and do not sin; the things you say in your hearts, be pricked with compunction upon your beds. In the day you have no leisure; but the fear of rulers, and the company of companions, and the care of business, and the provision for raising children, and the management of a wife, and concern for the table, and countless matters draw you about. But when you come to your bed, to that unruffled harbor, and no one disturbs you, say to your heart and to your soul: We have spent the day today, O soul; what good have we done, or what evil have we practiced? And remember Gehenna, so that by fear you may add to the good, and put away the evil.

If you are in bed and remember your sins, weep, and you can wipe them away in bed. Entreat your God, and so send your soul into sleep, having testified to your sins. Make your account to him, and your God will make his account to you. What is burdensome, what is grievous, in reckoning up daily sins while lying in bed? And when you have reckoned them up, hang up your reasoning, scrape it, open it up with the fear of Gehenna, apply to it a cutting that has no pain, make yourself a fearful tribunal, make your reasoning lighter, so that on the next day you may become more sluggish in doing sins. For I know my lawlessness, and my sin is before me continually. Against you alone have I sinned, and I have done the evil before you. What is this that you say? I was a king, I feared only you. I was a king, I did not fear the one I wronged. He was my soldier, he could not punish me; but I take thought because of you, lest you demand an account from me. Against you alone have I sinned, and

I did evil before you. Having enjoyed many great gifts from you, he says, I repaid your gifts with the opposite, daring to do what the law forbade. For he does not say this: that I did not wrong Uriah—for he wronged both that man and his wife—but the greatest transgression was dared against God himself, who chose him and made him king. And well did he add, I did evil before you. For the history also remembers this: for it appeared, it says, that what was done was evil before the Lord. However, from the captive people this must be understood as follows: Against you only have I sinned. In regard to your gifts, he says, I became ungrateful, and I have transgressed the laws set before you, and having enjoyed many good things, I have become unmindful of them; but I wronged the Babylonians in nothing, yet I have been greatly wronged by them. That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged. I became, he says, the cause of evils to myself; but your justice shines forth even so. For when judgment has taken place, and the things done to me by you are brought into the midst, and the things dared by me are set alongside those, you will be shown to be just and loving toward humanity; but I will appear lawless and ungrateful. Therefore, the word "that" here is not indicative of cause. For it was not for this reason that David himself, or the people, sinned—so that God might be justified; but on the contrary, even when the sin was committed by them, the justice of God is displayed.

For he made full provision for both this man and those others. That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged. What is it that he says? I have sinned against you; if a court is convened, you win; if anyone sits in judgment, you win. How? Because he saw that God always wishes to enter into judgment with men: Hear, you valleys, the foundations of the earth, for the Lord has a judgment against his people; and again, My people, what have I done to you? or how have I troubled you? or how have I grieved you? Answer me; and elsewhere: Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: I have begotten sons and raised them up, but they have rejected me; and everywhere he saw God contending in judgment with men. He says to him, The victory is yours: That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged. You made me, a man and a farmer, a king; when I had become a king, you appointed me a prophet. I cast down Goliath, not by the nature of the body, but by the power of faith. I put on the purple robe. You cast out another and brought me in; you gave me such great wealth.

7. That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged. If you should name my sins, and I should not name them, I am condemned. Therefore I have need of mercy. For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins my mother brought me forth. From the beginning, he says, and from the first origin of nature, sin has held sway. For the transgression of the commandment came before Eve's conception. For after the transgression and the deprivation of paradise, Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. This, then, is what he wishes to say: that sin, having gained mastery over our forefathers, made a kind of road and path through the race. And through all these things we are taught, not that the working of sin is natural—for then we would be free of punishment—but that nature inclines toward stumbling, troubled as it is by the passions; yet the will prevails, using toils as its allies. He is not, then, as some foolishly supposed, accusing marriage, having understood the words I was conceived in iniquities in that way; but he brings forward the lawlessness dared from of old by the forefathers, and calls that

to have become the source of these streams. For if they, he says, had not sinned, they would not have received the penalty of death; and not being mortal, they would have been superior to corruption; and with incorruption, impassibility would certainly have been present; and where impassibility governed, sin would have had no place. But since they sinned, they were handed over to corruption; having become corruptible, they begot children such as themselves; and such children are attended by desires and fears and pleasures. Against these, reason also struggles, and when it conquers it is proclaimed, but when defeated it incurs shame. Symmachus, instead of "conceived," has put "was pregnant." [For behold, you have loved truth. Thus, he says, you judge, and some you punish, others you crown, since you love the truth. And loving the truth, and knowing the weakness of nature, grant forgiveness to those who ask for remedies. And the hidden and secret things of your wisdom you have made known to me.] Having passed over mentioning the kingdom, he speaks of the prophecy. Thus you honored me, you revealed your Son to me and made him known.

I learned that you have a Son, that you have one who shares your throne, I learned that he was to become man. We proclaimed the Gospel to the world—the cross, the tomb, the resurrection, the ascension; I spoke of his descent, I spoke of his ascent, I spoke of his sitting at the right hand, I spoke of the calling of the Church, I spoke of the salvation of the nations, I spoke of the casting out of the Jews, I spoke of the choosing of the apostles. For behold, you have made known to me the hidden and secret things of your wisdom. Thus you honored me, thus you loved me, that you revealed to me even the greatest mystery, your Son. And where did he make these things known? Hear the prophet himself, how he speaks of his descent from heaven: He shall come down like rain upon the fleece. What is this? Since the Son of God, when he came, did not come shaking the world, nor sending forth lightning, nor hurling thunderbolts, nor in naked divinity—for all would have perished if he had come in naked divinity; the mountains would not have endured it; since, He looks upon the earth and makes it tremble, because he touches the mountains and they smoke. If he had shown his naked essence, the sun would have been extinguished, the moon would have vanished, the sea would have dried up, the earth would have perished, our nature would have been undone. Therefore he clothed himself in flesh, coming gently and without a sound, with no one knowing, not even the devil himself; but he came gently and dwelt in a virgin's womb. O strange and wondrous things! A stone melts, and a womb does not melt; the mountains are consumed, and a womb bears God. How shall I interpret this? How shall I set it forth? O the folly of the heretic! How did the servant girl bear the Master?

You who examine the things above, tell us the things below: how was he who is present everywhere in the womb, and yet not confined? For he was both in the womb and seated on the throne. But how, I do not know; I receive it by faith, I do not pry into it with reasoning. But that he is going to come without noise, not disturbing, nor clamoring: He shall come down like rain upon the fleece. He did not say, Upon the earth, but, Upon the fleece. For rain coming down upon the earth makes a noise; but coming down upon wool and a fleece it makes no noise; for the softness of the wool weakens the vehemence of the rain's descent. 8. And so that you may learn that he came without noise, not disturbing, not clamoring, not destroying, not ravaging: He shall come down like rain upon the fleece. You have spoken of his descent that took place without noise; tell also of his betrayal: He who eats my bread has magnified his heel against me. Tell of the envy of the Jews: They hated me without cause. Tell also of his trial: Why did the nations rage, and the peoples meditate vain things? The kings of the earth stood by, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. Tell also of his cross: They dug my hands and my feet; they counted all my bones. Tell also of his food and his drink: They gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Tell also of the rejection of the Jews: I will not accept calves from your house, nor goats from your flocks. Tell also of the calling of the nations: All you nations, clap your hands, shout to God with a voice of exultation; for the Lord is most high, fearful, a great king over all the earth.

Tell also of the mockeries he endured from the Jews: He hoped in the Lord; let him deliver him, let him save him, since he delights in him. Tell also of his tomb: They placed me in the lowest pit. Tell also of his resurrection: For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you let your Holy One see corruption. Tell also of his ascension: God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Tell also of his session: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Tell also of the glory of the Church: The queen stood at your right hand, clothed in a garment of gold, arrayed in varied colors. Tell also of the choir of virgins: Virgins will be brought after her. Tell also of the election of the apostles: Instead of your fathers, your sons were born. Tell also of baptism: By the water of rest he nourished me. Tell also of the mysteries: You prepared a table before me in the presence of those who afflict me; tell also of the anointing: You anointed my head with oil, and your cup that inebriates me as the strongest.

Tell also of the request of the nations: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. For behold, you have made known to me the hidden and secret things of your wisdom. [I, indeed, consider myself worthy of no forgiveness, having become ungrateful after so many gifts. For not only did you set me upon royal thrones, but you also foretold what would come to pass after a long time, and you have made clear to me the things hidden from others, so that I might even teach others the incarnation of your only-begotten Son, and his saving passion, and his resurrection. Having been taught all these things beforehand by your Holy Spirit, I beseech you to partake of that grace which I foretell to others. Therefore I cry out: You shall sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; you shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. For the gift of baptism alone can accomplish this cleansing.] Therefore he says, that I stand in need of the grace that will be given to all men. For that alone can wash me thoroughly, and give my whiteness beyond snow. For that hyssop worked no remission of sins, it is easy to learn from the writings of Moses. The hyssop, then, is a riddle of other matters. For in Egypt, sprinkling the doorposts with the blood of the lamb by means of hyssop, they escaped the hands of the destroyer. And those things were a type of the saving sufferings. For there is blood here also, and the saving wood, and salvation supplied to those who come with faith. You shall make me hear joy and gladness; the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.

Fill the ears with this gladness, he says, promising complete purification, so that the delight may run through all the members of the body, and the bones now brought low by hardship may blossom again and recover their proper strength. And do not look, he says, upon the lawless deeds I have dared, but upon me as I lament them, and blot out my lawlessness. What do you wish, O prophet? Your sin has been loosed, your punishment has vanished. I am not satisfied with these things; I have a Master who loves mankind, giving more than I ask. And what do you wish? I was a prophet; I wish to be a prophet again. I seek that boldness of speech, the gift of the Spirit, the great grace. The grace has departed from me, as a dove seeing the mire; I wish it to return as a bee. Turn your face away from my sins and blot out all my lawless deeds. Say plainly what you wish. Create in me a clean heart, O God. For since I have received the old age of sin, renew me by your love for mankind. These things he also promised through Ezekiel the prophet to those taken captive in Babylon. For I will give them, he says, a new heart and a new spirit. And he does not mean the all-holy Spirit, but the impulse of the rational faculty; that is, having disciplined you with this long discipline, and taught you what fruits sin produces, I will prepare you to choose virtue. This the blessed David also asked here, that his heart, which had been damaged, be made new, and that his rational faculty be strengthened, so as to run the straight road. And renew a right spirit in my inward parts. O the nobility of the soul!

O love for God! So that you may speak to me again, and I may speak to you, I seek that friendship, that fellowship. For what is it that I have been released from punishment? To me, punishment is not conversing with you. I love you, and I am mad with love. I cannot see your essence, for it is invisible; but from love I see your works, and I leap for joy. I did not see you, but I saw the heaven, and I leaped for joy, and said: The heavens declare the glory of God. I saw the earth, and said: The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. I saw the sea, and rejoiced, and said: This is the great and wide sea. I saw the day and the night, and cried out to you: The day is yours, and the night is yours; you have prepared the light and the sun. I saw the mountains, and in wonder said: The high mountains are for the deer. And just as a lover, even if he does not see the beloved, but sees his garment or his sandals, exults and leaps for joy, and as it were receives some consolation for his love, so also I go around the body of creation, restless and mad with love, always saying to you: As the deer longs for the springs of water, so my soul longs for God, the strong, the living; when shall I come and appear before God? You are a king, you have a diadem; what do you want? Let these things go; I seek that beauty, I desire the prophecy. I despise this authority, I look down on the mire; these things are leaves, and night, and a dream, and grass. I seek my beauty. When will it come? I cannot bear the delay, since I have lost that boldness of speech which sin, coming in, walled off. Create in me a clean heart, O God.

And I do not seek only a pure heart, but also the one who dwells in it. And renew a right spirit in my inward parts. Well did he say, Renew; for the house was constructed from above. Sin has grown old; your grace will renew it. Cast me not away from your face; and your Holy Spirit take not away from me. Clearly, then, from these words we have learned that he was not stripped of the grace of the Holy Spirit. For he does not beseech as one stripped to receive it back, but he implores that he not be deprived of it, nor be far from divine providence. For here he called providence "face." Restore to me the joy of your salvation; and with a governing spirit establish me. What he had not lost, he begged to keep, that is, the grace of the Spirit; but what he had cast away, he beseeches to receive back; and this was gladness in God. I enjoyed, he says, every delight, when I had great boldness toward you, Master; but now, stripped of this, I have been deprived also of cheerfulness. The slavery of pleasure stripped me of boldness. Therefore I beseech that my mind receive back its former governance, and receive back its authority over the passions. For again here he called the governing spirit the sovereign reason. And what do you give me, O David, if you receive the Spirit? I will teach the lawless your ways, and the ungodly shall turn to you. If I receive the Spirit, I converse with the world: All you nations, clap your hands, cry aloud to God with a voice of exultation; for the Lord is most high, terrible, a great king over all the earth. If I receive the Spirit, I say:

Rule in the midst of your enemies. If I receive the Spirit, I say: He will not give to God a propitiation for himself, nor the price of the redemption of his soul; and again I say: Do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation; and again: Every lawlessness shall stop its mouth. If I receive the Spirit, I say: Turn away from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. I will recount your benefits toward me, and I will say: Come, hear, and I will tell you, all who fear God, what he has done for my soul. I will teach the lawless your ways, and the ungodly shall turn to you. And where are the Jewish things? Do you not sacrifice sheep to me, nor calves? You do not seek these things. For sacrifice and offering you did not desire; burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not seek. You said: I will not accept calves from your house, nor goats from your flocks. Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise. You do not want these things, but you seek the things of your Son; you want the turning back of error, and the choice of truth; that is the sacrifice you want. Deliver me from blood, O God, the God of my salvation. Continually, at the mention, he turns back to the murder of Uriah. For this he has also indicated in the preface, that My sin is before me continually. My tongue shall rejoice in your righteousness. Symmachus interpreted this thus: My tongue shall speak of your mercy. For I shall not be silent when I have enjoyed forgiveness, but I shall continue hymning you, and recounting your graces. Lord, you shall open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.

For sin naturally binds the tongue and blocks the mouth. The prophet therefore entreats to share, through forgiveness, in his former boldness of speech, and to stir his tongue to hymnody. For if you had desired sacrifice, I would have given it; in whole burnt offerings you will not take pleasure. These things also accord with what was said in the preceding psalm. For we heard God there saying: I will not accept calves from your house. Therefore, having heard the divine voice, he reasonably said: For if you had desired sacrifice, I would have given it, and the rest. For you, he says, have declared that the sacrifices of irrational animals are not pleasing to you; for which reason I will also offer the sacrifice that is pleasing to you. Since, then, I do not want these things, what do you give me? I have also another sacrifice, which you have approved: A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a broken and humbled heart God will not despise. A victim, he says, acceptable and pleasing to you, our God, is lowliness of mind. Therefore, having greatly humbled my heart, and as it were made it very fine, I bring to you the sacrifice pleasing to you. I will sacrifice to you the sacrifice of humility; only loose my sin, give me the Holy Spirit.

10. For that this sacrifice is much better than the Jewish one, not only now but also then, I mean humility. For those three children, who in the Babylonian furnace made the flame into clay, the young and the aged, the few and more powerful than the many, the captives and stronger than the king, who lost their homeland but did not lose the faith, the naked and clothed, the poor and wealthy, the slaves and better than free men, who made the furnace into dew and transformed the elements, who quenched the energy of the fire, whom the tyrant bound and the fire loosed, kept entreating and saying: We have sinned, we have transgressed, we have done wickedly, departing from you. There is no ruler, nor prophet, nor leader, nor place to offer fruit before you and find mercy; but with a contrite soul and a spirit of humility may we be received. A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise. Do good, Lord, in your good pleasure to Zion, and let the walls of Jerusalem be built. Then you will be pleased with a sacrifice of righteousness, with offering and whole burnt offerings; then they shall offer calves upon your altar. From these words we have been taught more clearly that the psalm is full of prophecy. For these words suit those compelled to dwell in Babylon and longing for release from slavery. For they entreat to be deemed worthy of some pity for the city, with its walls being raised up and the worship according to the law being performed.

For now, he says, it is not possible for those dwelling in a foreign land to offer the appointed sacrifices, since the law ordains that you be sacrificed to in that one city alone. But if we should obtain our return and restore the temple, then we will bring the lawful sacrifices to you. The end of this psalm also contains another prophecy. For since he had placed the gifts of the all-holy Spirit above, then coming down he showed that God is not pleased with sacrifices according to the law, and he entreats that the new Zion appear and that the heavenly Jerusalem come down to earth, and that the new polity be granted most swiftly—the one that offers not irrational victims, but the offering and sacrifice of righteousness. Therefore, pay attention here, I beseech you; for I wish to make all of you teachers, all of you monks—not by not having wives, but by displaying piety, devout, breathing fire. What then is the question at hand? This is it: he prayed, he confessed, he called upon, he besought, he entreated, he poured out tears, he asked for a pure heart, he gave faith. The question is whether he obtained it. Great is the pleasure of the swell. A helmsman is not so delighted when the waves are stirred up behind him and drive the ship forward, with the wind standing at the stern, as I exult and leap for joy seeing this sea. For I see not only waves tossing, but also the multitude increasing and moving—tossing and not drowning, pressing on and not shrinking back, being squeezed and not leaping away, being afflicted and steadying their mind. For the desire for the word stirs up their zeal.

The question at hand, then, is this: He prayed, he petitioned, he entreated, he supplicated, he set aside the punishment, he was raised up from the chastisement. The question is whether he returned to his former boldness of speech; whether he received the grace of the Holy Spirit; whether he obtained what he asked for, a clean heart and a right spirit; whether his repentance was strong enough to restore him to his former nobility. Pay close attention: this is the fiftieth psalm. Which one? The one about sin, the one about confession, the one about petition—the fiftieth. After this he wrote the sixtieth, the seventieth, the eightieth, the ninetieth, the hundredth. So then, lest anyone say: Why is it that he wrote psalms, yet did not write them by the Holy Spirit—for he had not received the Holy Spirit—but simply wrote those that follow by human understanding? For he was destitute of the Holy Spirit. For his sin was forgiven him, but the Spirit was not given to him. He asked for it himself, but nowhere do we find an answer saying, I have given it to you. Attend, I beseech you: He wrote the fiftieth, the sixtieth, the seventieth, the eightieth, the ninetieth, and the hundredth. He also writes another psalm after the hundredth, and after many other psalms as well, saying, The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. This psalm, then, spoken after the sin, we find to have been spoken in the Holy Spirit. How is this clear? Christ made it clear. For when he had accomplished all things—he bridled the sea, he cleansed lepers, he put demons to flight, he drove out wickedness, he strengthened the paralytic—a voice came down from above:

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him. The Lord bore witness to him, the works cried out, the Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove, John bore witness to him: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Then, when he was about to go up to the cross, he called them and said to them: What do you think about the Christ? I did not question you in the beginning; I did not bear witness to you in the beginning, because I had not yet furnished you with proof of my divinity. But when all the elements also showed my divinity, when the Father, when the concord with him, when my teaching led them all there by the hand, when you do not have even a shadow of contradiction—What do you now think about the Christ? Whose son is he? Those senseless and shameless men say, Of David, denying the divinity, and not willing to say that he is of God. What then does he himself say? How then does David in the Holy Spirit call me Lord, saying: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies as a footstool for your feet? But if David had the Spirit, the sin was loosed; and if the sin was loosed, he also received the petition. For David says: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my inward parts. Do you see that he returned again to his own dignity? Again he became a prophet, again he discourses about Christ, again he received back his own boldness, and sin did not harm him at all. Do you see how great is the power of repentance? What do I say? Both living and dying he prevailed. Barbarians once came, and they were besieging the city.

Hezekiah, being righteous, was entreating God and pleading, saying: Have mercy on me, Lord, and spare this city. The prophet Isaiah comes to him and says—so that he might not suppose that his own righteousness was heard; and yet David had died and had been a thousand years in Hades—what then does he say? I will shield you and this city for my sake and for the sake of David my servant. David died, and his boldness lives, and the dead man stood forth as champion of the living. O righteous man who stormed the walls even after death! Here I shall end my discourse, having, as I think, sufficiently given the solution to the questions raised, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.