Homilies on the Psalms

Homilies on the Psalms

continued

Homily 54, on Psalm 143

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). For the sake of those who do not know the Latin language, although we have said much about the Gospel, we ought nevertheless to say certain things also about the Psalter as well: so that, while some are filled, others may not go away hungry. But since the psalm is long, and if we should wish to linger over each single little verse, the day will slip away: we ought briefly to run over each individual point, unfolding the sense rather than the words. Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands for the fight. He who interprets briefly gains this: that he himself has no praise, and yet whatever there is in the interpretation, those who have heard retain it. Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands for the fight, and my fingers for war. Let us lift up our hands in holy things without thoughts and disputes, and let us lift them up in every place; and when we have lifted up our hands, our prayer to God is a weapon against the devil. Who teaches my hands for the fight, and my fingers for war. This is our lyre, this our harp: on this we sing to God.

2 My mercy and my refuge, my helper and my deliverer: my protector. With how many names is God called! As many benefits, so many names. Who subdues my people under me. This can be said in the person of Christ, that is, from the assumed man. But it can also be said in the person of the apostles, that which he says: Who subdues my people under me. This too the holy father in the monastery says, and gives thanks to God, and says: Blessed be the Lord my God, who subdues my people under me. For it is not subjected to me, but subjected to you; therefore it serves me, that it may serve you. 3 Lord, what is man, that you have made yourself known to him? or the son of man, that you take account of him? This very thing is said also in the eighth psalm. 'What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man, that you visit him?' Lord, what is man, that you have made yourself known to him? He speaks of the frailty of the body and of the human condition: and what does he say? If you look at the flesh, what is man? If at the spirit, man is a great thing. Let us not despise the flesh, but let us despise the works of the flesh. Let us not despise the flesh, which reigns with Christ in heaven. 'Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God': not flesh and blood, but the works of the flesh. Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God. And how do they reign in Christ? and how do we sit with Christ in the heavenly places? Lord, what is man, that you have made yourself known to him? or the son of man, that you take account of him? He gives thanks to God, and this is what he says. As regards the human condition, man is nothing. 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, said the preacher.' If all is vanity, then heaven too, then the angels too. If heaven and the angels are vanity, how much vanity is man?

4 And if the angels are vanity, if heaven is vanity, why then did God work vanity? Vanity in comparison with God: but in itself not vanity. Lord, what is man, that you have made yourself known to him? That you have made yourself known to him. Great is the happiness of man, to know his Creator. In this we differ from beasts and from wild animals, that we understand our Creator, and they do not understand. But even the very posture of the body seeks out its Maker. For the animals look toward the earth, and there is the belly where also is the eye. But our eyes are lifted up toward heaven: so that even if the mind should be blinded, still with unwilling eyes we may see heaven. 5 Man is made like to vanity: his days pass away like a shadow. Truly our days are like a shadow. I was a little infant, I was a boy, I was a young lad, I was a youth, I was a man, that is, of perfect age, I was of middle age. While I know it not, I am an old man. Death creeps up upon old age. I am changed daily, and I do not perceive that I am nothing. Not for even a single moment of an hour do we stand in our own state, but we are always either growing or diminishing. Therefore man is changed by moments, and while he knows it not, he perishes. I, an old man, recall what I was as a little infant, what I did, how I played, how I ran hither and thither: now I see myself weighed down with excessive burden. His days pass away like a shadow. Our life is a shadow: it is seen, and it has no substance. But that which has no substance quickly passes away. Since therefore man is so wretched, and since he is thus infirm, what do we pray for? what do we ask? what does the prophet say here? what does he pray for?

6 Lord, bow down your heavens, and descend. You will not be able to save this vileness of man, unless you yourself put it on. Lord, bow down your heavens, and descend. Your straying sheep will not be able to be healed, unless it is carried back on your shoulders. Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. 'Amen I say to you: if you shall have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Pass over, and it shall be transferred.' There it was being said concerning the lunatic. Concerning that mountain, which could not be transferred by them, it is written in Jeremiah: 'Give glory to the Lord our God, before your feet stumble against the dark mountains.' Why have we said all this? Because now too there follows, Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. The mountains that reign, the mountains that are raised up through pride, who say 'The rivers are mine, and I made them.' Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. He did not say, they shall be set ablaze; but, they shall smoke. Let them have the token of punishment: not of blaze, not of splendor.

7 Flash forth the lightning, and you shall scatter them. See what he says. He did not say, you shall destroy them: but, you shall scatter them. We read in Genesis, at that time when they were building the tower, God says: 'Come, let us descend and confound their tongue' lest at some time they should have agreement among themselves; but let them be scattered abroad, it profits them. Send forth your hand from on high. 'Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?' Send forth your hand from on high. Lord, bow down your heavens, and descend. This is said to the Son: Bow down your heavens, and descend. And how does he say, Send forth your hand from on high? If he descended, how does he send his hand from on high? But although he may be on earth, still he sends his hand from heaven: for he does not withdraw from heaven. Rescue me and free me from the many waters. Since you descended, since you bowed down the heavens, and sent forth your hand from on high, and deigned to assume human flesh, and many believed in you, in place of one water many waters began to be. You may see diverse heresies scattered throughout the whole world. Rescue me and free me from the many waters. This the catechumen says: Free me from the many waters, and grant me the living fountain. For there is one baptism: 'one faith, one baptism.' Free me from the many waters. For those many waters do not bring forth your sons, but the sons of strangers. Whence it follows: Free me from the many waters, and from the hand of the sons of strangers. For they are not your sons who are born in the many waters, but they are the sons of strangers.

8 Whose mouth has spoken vanity. They promise themselves knowledge, and they raise up their mouth against their Creator. 'They have set their mouth against heaven.' Whose mouth has spoken vanity. Their knowledge is the knowledge of vanity. And their right hand is the right hand of iniquity. Both are condemned, both mouth and hand, both knowledge and works. Whose mouth has spoken vanity: this to knowledge. And their right hand is the right hand of iniquity. The right hand, in work. They say that they have a right hand, but they are wholly left-handed. It is the right hand of iniquity, and not of equity. Whence to such a left hand it is said: 'Let the devil stand at his right hand.' He who has such a right hand, and the right hand of iniquity, the devil stands at his right hand. O God, I will sing to you a new song. A new man, a new song. O God, I will sing to you a new song. 'Sing to the Lord a new song.' How beautifully he did not say, I sing, but, I will sing. In the future he made his promise; for in the present he knows there is a battle, not a song. An army never sings, except when it has conquered. Therefore since in the present I fight, I have no leisure to sing. When I shall have conquered, then I will sing. On the ten-stringed psaltery I will make music to you. Then I will stretch out both hands, and on such strings I will sing to you. My prayer is your psaltery.

9 Who gives salvation to kings. To what kings? 'The heart of the king is in the hand of God.' Even of Julian the persecutor, and of Nero, and of Decius? The heart of the king is in the hand of God. Those who reign over their own body, who subject their body and reduce it to servitude, lest, while preaching to others, they themselves be found reprobate. These are the kings of whom wisdom says in Proverbs: 'She gives a kingdom to kings.' Rescue me and free me from the hand of the sons of strangers. The little verses which were spoken above are repeated again. Whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity. Whose sons are like new plantings established in their youth. From the hand of the sons of strangers. Let us see what sort the sons of the heretics are. Whose sons are like a new planting in their youth. From the hand of the sons of strangers. Attend diligently to what is said about the heretics.

10 Their daughters are adorned, decked round about like the likeness of a temple. Their storehouses are full, belching forth from this into that. Their sheep are fruitful, abounding in their goings-out: their oxen are fat. There is no ruin of the wall, nor passage, nor outcry in their streets. They called blessed the people who have these things. This they said. What do I say? Blessed the people whose God is their Lord. We shall therefore expound each point briefly for your prayers. Whose sons are like a new planting in their youth. Their planting is not old, but is new. For it is not from the old law, it is not from the prophets, it is not from the apostles; but it is from new masters. Their sons are like a new planting in their youth. In their youth: they are always young. Although there are many old heresies, still, since they change daily, and daily find new things, the heresies themselves are new. Although they are old, still, since daily they renew their doctrines, they are new. For they are not content with the error of the old masters, but daily they themselves discover new things. Whose sons are like a new planting in their youth.

11 What is said about the Church, about the one who fears the Lord? 'Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways.' What is said about them? 'Your sons are like new olive plants round about your table.' About the table of Christ are those sons, they are not far from the table of Christ. There daughters are not spoken of, but only sons. But the heretics have both daughters, and have the frailer sex too, the delights of pleasure. Their daughters are adorned. The speech is adorned, and the sense is filthy. In the holy scriptures thoughts are always called sons: words, daughters. See therefore what he says. Their thoughts, that is, are new sons. But their words, that is of the heretics, which they have from the wisdom of the world, are adorned: for they have adorned words, elegant speech. Their daughters are adorned. They do indeed seem to be adorned: but because they are daughters, and not sons, they have no strength. Decked round about like the likeness of a temple. Beautifully he said, the likeness of a temple: they do not have the true Church, but the likeness of a church.

12 Their storehouses are full, belching forth from this into that. They are ready for contending. If you hold them fast on one testimony, they pass over to another. If you hold them fast in the scriptures, they flee to Aristotle. If you hold Aristotle fast, they pass over to Plato. Their storehouses are full, belching forth from this into that. Properly that is called a storehouse which has riches laid up in it. The heretics have storehouses: for they have prepared words with which they contend. But the men of the Church are simple, they have nothing prepared. They open their mouth, and it is filled by the Lord, according to what is said: 'Open your mouth, and I will fill it' and 'Do not consider what you shall answer them, for your Father will give you in that hour what you should say.' You see that we do not have storehouses prepared, but our riches are sudden. Let someone say: Give a testimony, how the saints do not have storehouses. 'Behold,' he says, 'the birds of heaven, for they have neither storehouses nor barns: and your heavenly Father feeds them.' Those birds are especially the monks: they have no storehouses, they have no pantries, but they have the very Lord of pantries and storehouses, Christ himself. They have no barns, but the Lord of barns. They have not the riches of the devil, but they have the poverty of Christ. What does the devil say? 'All these things are mine:

13 if falling down you will worship me, I will give them to you.' What does Christ say to his own? 'He who will not sell all his things which he has and give to the poor, cannot be my disciple.' The one promises kingdoms and riches, that he may kill: the other promises poverty, that he may save. We do nothing great, if we leave our own things: Christ left the Father and the kingdoms of the heavens for our sake. Let no one think that I have blasphemed, because I said, he left the Father. I speak according to the dispensation, according to that in which he is sent, according to what he says: 'The Father, who sent me, is greater than I.' God is not sent, God is not subjected, does not serve: but the dispensation is sent. If God is everywhere, and all things are in God, how is God sent to anything, since all things are God's? Christ therefore for our sake was made poor. Why have we said all this? Because now it was read, Their storehouses are full, belching forth from this into that. Beautifully he said, belching forth: from excessive fullness. They belch from fullness, and perish: we are saved by fasting.

14 Their sheep are fruitful. They have many sons: for the number of heretics is great. Their sheep are fruitful. Whence it is said also in Hosea the prophet: Lord, give to them. What will you give them? A barren womb and dry breasts. About whom is this said? About the masters of the heretics, who applaud themselves in the number of their disciples. Their sheep are fruitful, abounding in their goings-out. He did not say, in their goings-in; but, in their goings-out. For they do not go into the Church, but they go out of the Church. They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us. Abounding in their goings-out. Daily they go out of the Church. Abounding in their goings-out. What is said about the Church? All her glory, the daughter of the king, is from within. Their oxen are fat. Pharaoh too saw in a dream fat Egyptian oxen. Their oxen are fat. The Israelite peoples are lean, the Egyptians are fat. For you may see that the masters of the heretics do nothing else, except pursue riches. They pursue riches, and they despise the poor Christ. Their oxen are fat. Beautifully he says, fat oxen: whose God is the belly, and whose glory is in their confusion.

15 There is no ruin of the wall, nor passage. Does it not seem to you to be obscure what is said, There is no ruin of the wall, nor passage, nor outcry in their streets? You will find heretics unschooled with difficulty: for all the heretic masters are equipped with worldly knowledge. They do not have the apostolic net, but the little chains of dialectic. There is no ruin of the wall, nor passage. If ever they are in disputations, when they begin to dispute with you, their words are so brief, so enclosed with artful speech, that it is difficult to escape from there. For when they have bound you with their syllogisms, and have shut you in, and have woven and built up the syllogism for you like a wall, you cannot fall down, you cannot pass through, you are held enclosed. There is no ruin of the wall, nor passage. And when they have held you there as though enclosed in a certain ring, then you will not be on the narrow way that leads to life, but on the broad one that leads to death. Nor outcry in their streets. Jesus cries out, and calls to himself, and says: Let him who thirsts come and drink. The outcry of Jesus is on the narrow way; in the streets of the heretics it is not.

16 They called blessed the people who have these things. Many, not knowing, think such people blessed. But for us there is Christian simplicity: we do not want Platonic eloquence, but we want the apostolic simplicity of fishermen. This one holds the net, has feet and hands muddied from the work; this one has a calloused hand from the work. Blessed the people whose God is their Lord. Blessed is the people, who instead of all riches have Christ. Those people have sons and daughters, and storehouses, fruitful sheep, oxen fat and sleek and comely. But we do not have a multitude, but we know that saying in the Gospel: Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst. Fear not, little flock: for it has pleased God to dwell in you. Let not the monks say: Behold, such great multitudes, the cities are full, the whole world: is no one then saved, except him who is in the monastery? Behold, such great multitudes: are we then alone saved? When you have thought this, hear: Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased the Father to dwell in you. And now it was read in the Gospel, that one soul is saved, so that two thousand swine perish. Why do I say all this? Because more precious is the soul of one saint, than infinite multitudes of sinners. Out of the whole world he chose twelve apostles: out of the twelve one departed, eleven remained. The cross came, ten fled:

17 one Peter remained, one with the One. And that one fled, and would that he had fled: and he denies. Therefore let us say, the whole human race perished. Since it had perished, therefore the Lord, being crucified, said: I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the nations there was not a man with me. At that time the psalm was fulfilled: Save me, O Lord, for the holy one has failed. There is none who does good, there is none, even to one. He who had promised, saying If it be necessary for me to die, or to go into prison, I will not deny you, denied. Why do I say all this? Because the monk ought not to look to the multitude of sinners, but to the manner of life and the fewness of the saints. All Judea was being led into captivity. Nebuchadnezzar had come, so many thousands of men were being led captive into Babylon. Jeremiah alone was there who confessed God, and he himself was being cast into the pit of mud; and yet more precious was the soul of that one man, than of the whole people. Do you wish to know what one man does? Jesus the son of Nave, when the whole earth was inhabited, was alone. Surely there were infinite multitudes, and he alone was. Alone he commands the sun and the moon, and it stands still; a man bids, and heaven hears. Heaven hears him, because he himself was hearing the Lord. Jeremiah was in captivity;

18 but there were also many multitudes. And what does he say? I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness. How were you alone in the city? But therefore alone, because I had no companion of my purpose.

Homily 55, on Psalm 145

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Praise the Lord, O my soul. This psalm has a heading: Of Haggai and Zechariah. And this we must know first of all, that it is not found in the Hebrew, but in the Septuagint translators. But let us speak also according to the common edition, Of Haggai and Zechariah. Since the restoration of Jerusalem is here spoken of — The Lord shall reign forever, thy God, O Sion, unto generation and generation — they suppose it to be said, as it were, concerning the restoration of Jerusalem, which took place under Haggai and Zechariah. 2 Praise the Lord, O my soul. He did not say, praise the body, but, praise, O my soul; not that he condemned the body, but he condemned the works of the flesh. Praise the Lord, O my soul. The soul exhorts itself. Just as if David were to say, Praise the Lord, O David; so too the soul itself says to itself, Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord in my life. See what it says: it exhorts itself, and it itself answers. What does it say? It says to me, Praise the Lord, O my soul: I myself answer, I will praise the Lord in my life. At present I cannot praise, I am weighed down by sins. As often as I open my lips in the praises of God, so often does the consciousness of my sins glue them shut. I will praise the Lord in my life. Beautifully he said, I will praise, not I praise. When I shall have been with my Lord, then I will praise my Lord in my life. Now I am in death, I cannot praise. I will praise in my life. Our life is Christ: let us praise the Lord in life. I will sing to my God as long as I shall be. See what it says. When we do something righteously, we are: but when we sin, we cease to be. There are many things that might be said, but the discourse hastens to its end.

3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation. This he says generally to all: Put not your trust in princes, not in the emperor, not in prefects, not in the judges of the world. Put not your trust in princes. Who are the princes? The sons of men. Who are the sons of men? Those in whom there is no salvation. 4 His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth. But when he shall have returned into his earth, what will happen? In that day all his thoughts shall perish: all the confidence of princes. All their thoughts shall perish. Put not your trust in princes. Many have trusted in princes. Today he was, tomorrow he is not. Today the army goes before him, and in the evening he lies in the tomb. After such great magnitude, such great glory, no intervals of time intervene: in the same moment is the working of Christ. In the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation. Who are the princes? The sons of men. If the men themselves are nothing, what are their sons? His spirit shall go forth. Whose? Man's. His spirit shall go forth. Here he puts spirit for soul. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth. It is not the spirit that shall return into his earth, for the spirit is not of the earth: but the spirit shall go forth, and the man shall return into his earth. In that day all their thoughts shall perish. We ourselves, who are not princes, how many things do we daily ponder, and say: Tomorrow I will do this, I will pull down my barns, and again tomorrow I will build them. It is said to me: Fool, this night thy soul shall be snatched away: and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? This is said concerning those who trust in princes. But concerning the holy man, what is said?

5 Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob. These trust in chariots, and these in horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God. They have more helpers: but they are princes, but they are men, but they collapse. We have one, who is able to save. His hope is in the Lord his God. Let us see what the three young men say in the Babylonian furnace, when Nebuchadnezzar summons them, and compels them to worship Bel: what do they answer Nebuchadnezzar? O king, we have no need to answer thee concerning this word. God indeed is able to deliver us from the burning furnace: but even if he shall not deliver us, know, O king, that we do not worship the image which thou hast set up. See their faith. We believe, they say, that he is able to deliver us: but if perchance our sins should hinder it, nevertheless we believe also in him who is unwilling to deliver. For we do not believe in this life, but in the life to come: we do not believe in him so that we may not burn here, but so that through these fires we may not pass over to other fires. Set us aflame therefore, prepare the furnace: this burning, this consuming, is our purgation. Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob. See the significance of the words. His helper. And he could not work any sign there because of their unbelief. God is our helper.

6 He delivers and labors alongside those who are willing and who labor: those who sleep and lie idle and are unwilling he does not deliver. His hope is in the Lord his God. Excellently he said, hope: even if in the present he does not deliver, nevertheless there is hope concerning the future. Who made heaven and earth. This God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all the things that are in them. In comparison with heaven and earth and the sea, we men, according to the condition of the flesh, are as if ants and fleas. He therefore who made heaven and earth, can he not deliver the man whom he made? 7 Who keepeth truth forever. If a lie oppresses us, let us not be saddened: the Lord keepeth truth forever. Someone or other has lied against us, and the one lying is believed more than we who speak the truth. We ought not to despair: the Lord keepeth truth forever. Beautifully he said, keepeth. He keeps it, and holds it in his treasury: he will give back to us what he has preserved. Who keepeth truth forever. Christ is truth: let us speak truth, and truth preserves truth for us. He executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong. Even if it comes late, do not despair: coming he shall come, and shall save. He executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong. Let this alone be in our conscience, that we suffer unjustly. Let us hold this in our conscience, that we do not suffer on account of our sins, and that we do not do that of which we are accused. He giveth food to the hungry. And according to the letter it is profitable; and even if it be understood simply, it edifies the hearer. Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, and your heavenly Father feedeth them. He giveth food to the hungry. To the hungry he gives, not to those who belch. He therefore who as a monk has nothing, let him confidently receive: he who has and is belching, let him not receive. You know that you are hungry, you know that you have nothing:

8 if you are hungry and have nothing, you rather confer a benefit, if you receive, than is bestowed on you. But if you have and are not hungry, you ought not to take away the food of the hungry, so that you, being sated, may receive. Receive what you may put into your belly, not what goes into your purse: receive a tunic that may cover your body, not one that may fill your chests. He giveth food to the hungry. This according to the letter. Let us speak also in another way. Let us hunger for Christ, and he himself gives us the heavenly bread. Give us this day our daily bread. Those who say this, hunger: those who desire bread, hunger. He who says, Give us this day our daily bread, surely speaks as one hungering. He giveth food to the hungry. Someone supposes that he speaks of the heavenly bread from the mysteries. And this indeed we receive, since it is truly the flesh of Christ, and truly the blood of Christ. But let us speak also in another way. The bread of Christ and his flesh is the divine word and the heavenly teaching. Whoever shall have received this bread and been sated, what will happen? What?

9 The Lord looseth them that are fettered. If this bread shall have refreshed our soul, that is, the divine word and the heavenly teaching, at once our feet, which had been bound, are loosed. The Lord looseth them that are fettered. Lazarus too was bound; and he said: Loose him. The Lord looseth them that are fettered. And the daughter of Abraham had been bent over and bound for eighteen years; she is loosed, and looks up to heaven. See what is said there in the Gospel. And behold, it says, there was a certain woman, who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years: and she could not, it says, lift up her neck. Because she had a spirit of infirmity, she could not lift her neck upward. The Lord looseth them that are fettered. These same fetters are also works: since indeed the same sins, which take our necks captive, also bind our feet. Whoever is fettered cannot run. Whoever is fettered cannot run in the stadium of Christ: for the feet are weighed down by fetters, and are pressed to the ground, and fasten us to the earth. The Lord looseth them that are fettered. See the order. He giveth food to the hungry: first we hunger, then we receive food. But when we shall have been sated, our feet, which had been fettered, are loosed. And when they shall have begun to walk freely, what follows? The Lord enlighteneth the blind. See what it says.

10 If he were speaking of these blind men, he ought to have said, The Lord enlighteneth the blind. But he did not say this: but according to the Hebrew and Greek truth, what did he say? The Lord maketh the blind wise. If he were speaking of these eyes of the flesh, he ought to have said, The Lord enlighteneth the blind: but now indeed he says, The Lord maketh the blind wise. If ye were blind, he says, ye should have no sin. Our heart has been blinded by the darkness of sins. Foolishness and stupidity are the darkness of our eyes. When therefore we hungering shall have been refreshed, and our feet shall have been freed, then also the eye of our heart will begin to see the light which it had once lost, and to have wisdom. If one shall have been made wise, what follows? 11 The Lord raiseth up them that are cast down. And if you were lying down, be secure: the Lord stretches out his hand. The Lord loveth the just. I see two things: he loves, and he guards. He who loves, loves it as his own: but he who guards, guards him who is set in danger. The Lord loveth the just. Whoever is just and perfect, he is loved; but whoever is a stranger, and has not come to the servitude of the Lord, he is preserved.

12 The Lord keepeth the strangers: he will take up the orphan and the widow. And according to the letter it is profitable. He will take up the orphan and the widow. O martyr, you who are held fast to shed your blood for me, do not be anxious about your children, do not be anxious about your wife: they have me in your place. Let us speak also according to the spirit. He will take up the orphan and the widow. He will take up the orphan, who had lost God his father through sins. And he will take up the widow. The widow, that is, that soul which had lost Christ her husband. But see what it says. The orphan and the widow: he did not say, he will guard: he did not say, he will save: but, he will take up, if she return to the father, if she come back to the husband. And the way of sinners he will destroy. He did not say, sinners he will destroy: according to the first psalm, And the way of the ungodly shall perish. If the way of the just is Christ, the way of sinners is the devil. And the way of sinners he will destroy. The way, therefore, of all sinners is the devil, him he will destroy: but us he will save, who walk along it, and are unlearning to walk.

13 The Lord shall reign forever. When the way of sinners shall have perished, then the Lord shall reign forever. He did not say, unto the age: but, unto the ages. As long as the way does not perish, Christ does not reign in us: as long as the way of sinners does not perish, Christ does not reign in us. As long as our feet walk in the way of the devil, Christ does not reign in us. I grow angry without cause with my brother: I walk in the way of the devil, Christ does not reign in me. I disparage my brother: I walk in the way of the devil, Christ does not reign in me. In whatever sin I shall have walked, I walk in the way of the devil, Christ does not reign in me. My mind is empty, and is dragged off in different directions. I am in one place, and my mind wanders through the whole world. It holds angels in the world, it holds kings, it holds armies, it holds the world: one monk it cannot hold. Why do I say all this? Because of those who wander through the whole world, and cannot sit in one place. Thy God, O Sion, unto generation and generation. Thy God, O Sion. We have frequently said that Sion is interpreted as a watchtower, or the Church, or the soul contemplating God. Thy God, O Sion, unto generation and generation. In the first generation, of the Jews; in the second, from the Gentiles.

14 In all the scriptures and in all the psalms, generation and generation is said, so as to signify two peoples. But we can also say it in another way: The Lord shall reign forever, thy God, O Sion, in this generation and in the generation to come. Let Christ reign in us: let not sin reign in our body. The heart of the king is in the hand of God. Let us be kings: let us rule over our body, and subject it, and let our heart be in the hand of Christ. To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Homily 56, on Psalm 146

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good. The one hundred and forty-sixth psalm is headed with the title "Alleluia." Those who do not know the Hebrew language, when they see "alleluia" set at the head of a psalm, are wont to ask what it means. This psalm, then, has "alleluia" not only in its title, but also at the very opening of the psalm. For where it says "Praise the Lord," in the Hebrew it says "alleluia." For God among the Hebrews has ten names: he is called Sabaoth, he is called Saddai, he is called Eloim, he is called El, he is also called Iao, he is called Eser Iaia. Among the other names there is one name which is called "Ia." Now "Ia" is interpreted "invisible." Where therefore we say "praise," in the Hebrew it says "allelu." So here it says "allelu Ia," just as if one were to say "allelu Sabaoth," "allelu Saddai," "allelu Eloim": so therefore even now it says "allelu Ia." Finally Theodotion, who is one of the translators, wishing to declare the truth of the interpretation, says "praise Ia" (αἰνεῖτε τὸν Ἰα). Why have we said all this? So that we may know that in this psalm "alleluia" is set at the head. Praise the Lord. This interpretation, once we have gone out, will be pondered in your hearts; but for now the discourse will be extended further.

2 Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good. He did not say "a good psalm," but absolutely, "a psalm is good": that is, it is a good thing to sing psalms. But to sing psalms not with the voice, but with the heart. How many have a good voice, and, because they are sinners, sing badly! He sings well who sings in his heart, who sings to Christ in his conscience. Let praise be pleasant to our God. Let the praise be pleasant, not with the voice, but with the conscience. Finally, Noah too offered victims, and the Lord smelled the odor of sweetness. There are many things that might be said: but we ought briefly to touch on the highest points, so that we may point out the meaning rather than broader words. The Lord who builds Jerusalem shall gather together the dispersions of Israel. How Jerusalem is built, how the dispersion is gathered together, has already been said. Since therefore these two little verses have been discussed, and we ought not to build upon another's foundation, let us pass on to what remains. Let us therefore see how Jerusalem is built: for in what follows the prophetic word has described it.

3 Who heals the contrite of heart. You see how Jerusalem is built: the contrite of heart are healed. A contrite and humbled heart God does not spurn. And who binds up their bruises. Do you crush your own heart, and the Lord will bind up your bruises. That Samaritan who was coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he saw the wounded man lying in the road, bound up his wounds. This is the one of whom now too it is said, And binding up their bruises. This is said of those who do penance. But of those who do not do penance, it is said: There is no way to apply a poultice, nor oil, nor bindings. 4 Who numbers the multitude of the stars. What is the connection, according to the letter, between "And binding up their bruises" and "who numbers the multitude of the stars"? But because he healed the contrite of heart and bound up their bruises, those who before had been contrite, and afterward were healed, he turns into stars. Who numbers the multitude of the stars. The multitude. For many were those who sinned: many are those who have been cured. Who numbers the multitude of the stars. He does not number the wounded, but he numbers those who have already been turned into stars: God numbers none but those who are worthy of his number. And calling them all by their names. Because he speaks of Lucifer and of Orion, of those things which we see in the sky, this indeed can be understood: for God is wonderful, who made heaven and earth and all things that are in them. But let us understand it in such a way that what happens every day may profit us. And calling them all by their names. Do you wish to know how stars are made out of the contrite? It is written in Genesis that God led Abraham out, and showed him the stars, and said to him: So shall your seed be. And calling them all by their names. From Abram he calls him Abraham: he was called Abram in Chaldea, and in heaven he is called Abraham. At that time when he was made a star, he is also called Abraham. He who before was Saul, afterward is called in heaven Paul. John and James, sons of thunder: thunder is surely in heaven. And so the stars are numbered, the countless saints are numbered: and Christ alone cannot be numbered.

5 Great is our Lord, and great is his power, and of his wisdom there is no number. Great is his power: Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. And of his wisdom there is no number. Christ is wisdom: and the one wisdom cannot be numbered. The Lord who lifts up the meek. What are those stars? The Lord who lifts up the meek. The meek are turned into stars. But the just shall shine like the stars of heaven: Daniel says it. But bringing down sinners even to the ground. See the difference of things. Angels fall down to the earth: men go to heaven. The Lord who lifts up the meek. Meekness calls up to heaven: pride drags down to the earth. But bringing down sinners even to the ground. Sing to the Lord in confession. This David fulfilled: he who had offered us examples of righteousness, offered us also examples of penance. For he taught us how we ought to do penance, himself doing it. See, holy prophets, that not only their righteousness has profited us, but also their sin. Sing psalms to our God upon the harp. Let no string of the virtues be broken; let all the strings of the virtues sound together. Sing psalms to our God upon the harp. The harp has many strings: if one is broken, the sound cannot be produced. So too the holy man, however holy he may be, if one virtue is lacking, cannot send forth a tuneful sound.

6 Who covers the heaven with clouds. This heaven, which we behold, cannot be covered with clouds. But there is another heaven, and there are other clouds. And your truth reaches even to the clouds. Then does the truth of God reach even to those clouds, which are quickly dissolved when the wind blows? The truth of God is Christ. I am the way and the life and the truth. Is then the truth of Christ in these clouds, which have not in themselves the substance of truth? Can it then be that truth is there, where the wind has power to scatter? I will command, he says, the clouds not to rain rain upon them—that is, upon the people of the Jews. The clouds are the prophets: the Lord commanded them not to rain rain upon Israel. The prophetic word has been turned toward us. These clouds, if they are dashed against one another, make thunder and lightnings. Who covers the heaven with clouds. Why did he say, He covers the heaven with clouds? If the clouds are prophets and apostles, how then is the heaven covered by apostles and prophets? The heaven is the divine mysteries. Since therefore the mysteries, whatever are divine, are called heaven: whoever is unworthy, these clouds protect the sacraments from him. If anyone is unworthy, he cannot receive the sacraments: they are covered by the clouds. Who prepares rain for the earth. The earth needs rain: our earth, unless it receives rain, the fountain of doctrines, will bring forth no fruit. When the earth has been moistened by a fountain of such doctrines, what follows?

7 Who brings forth hay on the mountains. If he were speaking of hay alone, surely hay is born more in the valleys than on the mountainous places: for wherever the rain is more abundant, there hay is born more. From the mountains the waters flow down into the valleys, and grass is born more abundantly. 8 And who gives to the beasts their food. This Scripture which we read, which we handle, which we have in our hands, is called the mountains; in the Scriptures Abraham is called a mountain, Isaac is called a mountain, Jeremiah a mountain, the holy prophets are mountains. These mountains have both grain and hay. If you are a man, you receive grain from them: if you are cattle, you receive hay. Men and beasts you will save, O Lord. If you are a beast, you receive hay; if you are a man, you receive grain: according to your faith you are saved. Who brings forth hay on the mountains, and gives to the beasts their food. If you are a man, in the holy Scriptures you receive spiritual understanding: if you are a beast, you receive it according to the letter, in the Jewish manner. I see a great thing. God, who has been praised with such great acclamations, is brought down to lowlier things, and it is said: And to the young ravens that call upon him. If he were speaking of birds, he would rather name eagles or vultures. And to the young ravens that call upon him. No other bird is named, but the young of the ravens; and not the ravens themselves, but the young of the ravens. The raven is not saved, but the young that is born of it. We are the young of ravens: for we are born of idolatrous parents.

9 We read in Solomon that the eye which mocks its father and the word of its mother, let the ravens dig it out of the valleys. He did not say "the young of ravens," but the ravens themselves. For he who is a raven cannot be saved. The raven is sent out from the ark, and does not return. In the flood it is with the rest: after the flood it is cast out in the time of prosperity—that is, at that time when there is calm, it cannot be in the ark of God. If ever there is a storm, if ever a flood, the raven is in the midst: calm returns, and the raven flees. Who are these ravens? Who are the young of ravens? I think that the ravens of black color, who always pursue the corpses of the dead, who always with a most raucous voice provoke quarrels, are demons; and whoever have served the demons, like ravens, they too take on the color of ravens. Therefore our parents, as we have already said, who served idols and demons, were ravens. For they are not found except where there are corpses and filth and foulness and the corpses of the dead. But we who are born of ravens do not await corpses, but the dew. For the young of ravens are said to live on the dew. For so the natural philosophers say, that the young of ravens live on the dew. Do you wish to know yet another mystery about ravens?

10 Elijah, which is interpreted "God the Lord": Elijah—that is, our Lord and Savior—suffers persecution from the Jews; and is fed by ravens, the people of the Gentiles. And to the young ravens that call upon him. If you call, you are a young raven: if you are silent, you are a raven. And to the young ravens that call upon him. We read in the prophet: And everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If therefore we take it simply of ravens, then will the ravens too be saved? Answer, Jew: answer, you who in the Jewish way follow only the letter. You say that these ravens are truly ravens, you do not interpret spiritually, but carnally: for you say it is written of ravens. If then it is written of the young of ravens, and here it is said, And to the young ravens that call upon him: and it is written, Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved: then will the young of ravens too be saved in the resurrection? We therefore, the young of ravens, call upon him and are saved. Finally the apostle Paul too wrote to the church of the saints, and wrote also to those who call upon the name of the Lord.

11 He will not take pleasure in the strength of the horse. We promised brevity, and, compelled by necessity, we have disputed at greater length. We have lied, but the lie is most useful. Would that Herod had lied and had broken his oath! And so we too promised lesser things, and, as you prayed, have offered greater things. The hour compels me to be silent: the greatness of the mysteries compels me to speak. He will not take pleasure in the strength of the horse. I hear "horse," and a neighing horse: I cannot pass it by. It is written in the psalter: The horse is a false hope for safety; and in another place: The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. It is even commanded to the king of Israel that he should not rear horses. Finally Solomon, who brought chariots out of Egypt, was overcome by pleasure. He will not take pleasure in the strength of the horse. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. They have become to me as maddened horses after women, each one neighed after his neighbor's wife—Jeremiah says it. Over such horses, then, God has no pleasure. We have spoken of the horse. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. We have said who the horses are: let us say who the riders are. I think that the horses are sinful men, and the riders are demons who ride upon them. If ever therefore we see some brother a persecutor: him who is called a brother persecuting us and being an enemy: let us know that he is a horse. And he is a horse: but the rider is the devil, who strikes us with his lance. This one runs, and that one strikes. But the horse itself too is driven by the heels, is pierced, and against its will goes mad.

12 Nor is he well pleased with the legs of a man. See what he says: he did not say, in the head of a man: he did not say, in the hands of a man: but, in the legs, which are below. Nor is he well pleased with the legs of a man. The legs here, like the thighs also, are always taken for lusts. Finally in Ezekiel too God is seen from the loins upward as amber (electrum), from the loins downward as fiery. Whatever is above, that is gold: whatever is below, that is prepared for Gehenna. Nor is he well pleased with the legs of a man. Let us speak according to the letter. Since he had said, He will not take pleasure in the strength of the horse, and had, as it were, described a warrior man: it seems to me here, where he said "not in the legs," that he is not naming the legs, but the greaves (περικνημῖδας). We see therefore that whatever covers the legs does not please God, but that which is above. It does not please God in strength, it does not please him in the legs of a man: but it pleases him in his own fear. Might does not please, fear pleases. He destroys the one who wages war, he raises up the one who prays, he exalts the humble, he casts down the proud.

13 The Lord is well pleased with those who fear him. One fear casts out many fears. Is it not better to fear one, that you may not fear many, than to fear many, that you may not fear one? And with those who hope in his mercy. They hope not in their own works, but in the mercy of the judge. Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good; for in those who hope in his mercy is salvation alone. To whom is glory forever and ever. Amen.

Homily 57, on Psalm 147

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. Just now we heard the holy presbyter preaching that, because of its transgression of the law, the Jewish people has been forsaken; and how is it that now it is said, Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion? Then what follows? For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. Is it, then, of this Jerusalem that he speaks? Of this Zion? Praise your God. Why? For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. There are no gates: and how, then, are the bars kept safe? He has blessed your children within you. How has he blessed, he who said, Your house shall be left to you desolate? 2 Who has set your borders as peace. Where has peace been set, which was overthrown by war? And he fills you with the fat of the wheat. Does wheat have fat? Answer, O Jew, does wheat have fat? If, then, wheat does not have fat, and you are compelled by necessity to understand it spiritually, then according to this verse the rest too must be understood. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, "vision of peace. Praise your God, O Zion. Zion is interpreted "watchtower. You see, then, what he says: Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Wherever there is a vision of peace, wherever there is contemplation of God, there let there be praise of God. Praise the Lord, then, O Church, when you have begun to believe in him and to have peace, and have begun to see peace: this is Jerusalem, "vision of peace. You who were formerly of the idols have been made the servant of God: praise, then, your God. But when you have begun already to have knowledge, and to be a watchtower — this is Zion — praise the Lord: that is, you praise Jerusalem, you praise Zion, you soul of the Church, you Church. Let not the heretics praise, let not the synagogue praise, but you praise. Why? For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. We said the gates of Zion are the prophets.

3 Since, then, we know the gates of Zion are called the prophets, let us see what the bars of the gates are. For truly the prophets are the gates of the Church: we cannot enter the Church except through the prophets. Manichaeus wanted to enter without the gates, and did not enter. Marcion does not receive the Old Testament, and without the gates of the Old Testament he could not enter into the Gospel. We, then, receive the gates, the prophets, and through the gates we enter. But let us see what the bars of the gates are. Many robbers, many thieves long to enter through the gates. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. Oh, if only the Lord would grant to me too that I might be a bar of the gates of Zion! If any of the heretics wished to enter through them into the arrangement of the Gospel, I would stand in the gates, and I would keep him out. For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has strengthened them. Give me some churchman learned in the heavenly Scriptures: let Eunomius come, let Arius come, wanting to take away something from the prophets against us — does he not stand like a bar, does he not conquer like a bar? For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. Beautifully he said, he has strengthened: so that when you see a churchman disputing, you should not think that it is he who disputes, but he who strengthens the churchman.

4 And he fills you with the fat of the wheat. Unless, he says, the grain of wheat shall fall, it alone shall be saved; but if it itself shall fall, it makes many to be saved. Our Lord, the grain of wheat, fell into the earth, and multiplied us. But this grain of wheat is very rich; it has marrow, it has fat, it has richness. And he fills you with the fat of the wheat. Happy is he who understands the fat in this wheat. We read the holy Scriptures. I hold the Gospel to be the body of Jesus; the holy Scriptures I hold to be his teaching. And when he says, He who has not eaten my flesh and drunk my blood — although it can also be understood in the mystery, yet truly the body of Christ and his blood is the word of the Scriptures, is the divine teaching. If ever we go to the mystery — he who is faithful understands — if a little crumb falls, we are in peril. If ever we hear the word of God, and the word of God and the flesh of Christ and his blood is poured into our ears, and we are thinking of something else, into how great a peril do we run? And he fills you with the fat of the wheat. The divine word is very rich; it has in itself all delights. Whatever you wish is born from the divine word:

5 just as the Jews hand down that the manna, when they ate it, tasted in the mouth according to each one's desire. For instance, he who ate the manna, if he desired apples, or a pear, or grapes, or bread, or meat — according to the kind and the desire of the one eating, so too was the taste in the manna. So too in the flesh of Christ, which is the word of teaching, that is, the interpretation of the holy Scriptures, as we wish, so also do we receive the food. If you are holy, you find refreshment; if you are a sinner, you find torment. And he fills you with the fat of the wheat. He leaves no remnants. He has blessed your children within you. As many as received him, he gave them power to become children of God. Who has set your borders as peace. In another psalm we read: And his place was made in peace. My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you. My peace: not as the world has peace, since indeed the peace of the world is our war. My peace I give to you. Have war with the world, and you will have my peace. Who has set your borders as peace. He, then, who is not at peace with his brother, this man is not within the borders of Jerusalem. Let someone say: What am I to do?

6 My brother does not want to be reconciled with me — am I then outside the borders of Jerusalem? As much as it lies in you, he says, having peace with all men. With those who hated peace, I was peaceable. You, keep the peace: if another is angry, he has war, and through his war peace is born for you. Do you want to know how there can be both war and peace? The wretched Judas was coming to the betrayal, and the Lord offers him peace by a kiss: he creates war out of the kiss. 7 Who sends forth his word to the earth. Answer, O Jew: if he was speaking of wheat, And he fills you with the fat of the wheat, how does he now say, Who sends forth his word to the earth? In the beginning was the Word. This Word is sent forth in the flesh. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Who sends forth his word to the earth. At that time was fulfilled, The earth has given its fruit. Who sends forth his word to the earth. He is speaking of the preaching of the Gospel, of the teaching of the apostles. Then follows: Swiftly runs his word. For into all the earth his word was heard, and into the whole world the apostolic teaching. One poor man, already old, preached from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum, and swiftly runs his word. Since, then, it had come from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum, and his word had run swiftly, next it follows, and that very word which had said, From Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum, says: But I wish to go even to the Spains. This the apostle Paul speaks. See the swiftness of the word. He is not content with the east: he longs to run to the west.

8 Who gives snow like wool, who scatters mist like ashes. He sends his crystal like morsels. See how great is the difficulty, how obscure are the things that are said. Before the face of his cold, who shall stand? Whose? Nothing is said. Then it is said: 9 He shall send forth his word, and shall melt them. Of that one of whom he had said, He sends forth his word to the earth: He shall send forth his word. Who shall send it forth? God the Father. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We have named the Father, we have named the Son: we cannot believe in a twofold number, unless the Trinity be completed. His spirit shall blow, and the waters shall flow. You see that where the Father and the Word of God are, at once the Holy Spirit is there too. Let us see, then, from the beginning what is said. And he fills you with the fat of the wheat: he sends forth his word to the earth, swiftly runs his word. Suddenly, what follows? Who gives snow like wool. The word of the Lord, which runs swiftly, is given as it were like snow, and that snow is as it were like wool. See the mercy of the Lord. The food of the Lord is turned for us into a garment. John had said of the Lord the Savior: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. And in another place Isaiah: Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter. Of this lamb, then, and of this sheep, this wool is as it were like snow. Isaiah says: If your sins be like scarlet, they shall be made white like snow.

10 You shall sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: you shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. Who gives snow like wool. Take away, O Lord, my filth, take away whatever vice there is. Grant your snow and your purity to Christian minds. Unless you give us the snow of your cleansings, we cannot have your garment. Christ is our garment. If we wish to have the garment of Christ, let us be clean like snow. He scatters mist like ashes. The Latin translated badly, "mist": for what is called ὁμίχλη (homichlē, "mist") in Greek, in Hebrew has "hoarfrost. And so it follows thus: He scatters hoarfrost like ashes. He teaches us, and makes for us a garment like snow; and when he has clothed us with his garment, then he grants us nourishment. He scatters hoarfrost like ashes. See what he says, like ashes. Do you wish to be clean? Do penance. I ate my bread like ashes, and mingled my drink with weeping. Do you not see how he scatters his hoarfrost like ashes? A great change of things: out of ashes snow is made, out of penance one is made clean.

11 He sends his crystal like morsels. As his loaves are broken and become morsels, so too this crystal is broken and turned into morsels. Crystal has this nature: it forms whenever waters are frozen — what we call ice. Between crystal and water, then, there is the same difference as between water and ice: for water is poured out, as it were, very broadly, whereas crystal is, as it were, compacted into itself, and reduced into one form. Whenever water freezes, it makes crystal. Since, then, we cannot grasp the flesh with the whole word, it is broken, so that we may grasp it through those parts. The matters are obscure, and the difficulty of interpretation does not allow us to speak more broadly. Before the face of his cold, who shall stand? Whose? Some say the crystal's, but others say God's. To me, however, it seems that Before the face of his cold, who shall stand? is said of God. Of God I say it, Before the face of his cold, who shall stand? What torments are said in the holy Scriptures to be prepared for the sinner? Nothing is hotter than Gehenna, and yet it itself is cold. Gehenna is of fire: but if anyone has grown sufficiently cold, he is cast into the fire of Gehenna. It is written that in the last days the love of many shall grow cold. Whoever, then, has grown cold in this way, this man is cast into the fire.

12 May the Lord grant to us that cold may never enter our hearts: we do not sin unless love has first grown cold. Then, what does the apostle also say? Fervent in spirit. Our God is a fire. If, then, God is fire, he is fire for this reason: to cast out the cold of the devil. The north wind, the coldest wind; but by name it is called "the right. Beautifully he said, is called: it has taken to itself a name, though it is on the left. If, then, anyone's soul has grown cold, like the north wind, the coldest wind — if ever the warmth of love grows cold in our heart, if it has sinned, if it has grown cold, if it has died... Attend diligently to what I say: if it has grown cold, if it has died. To grow cold belongs to the dead, to be warm to the living. If anyone, then, has grown cold and died, God will send his word, and will melt him. May the Lord grant that our cold too may be melted, that that crystal may be dissolved and become soft. He shall send forth his word, and shall melt them. Give me a sinner who does not look to God, who has no warmth, but is wholly cold, and dead:

13 if at the word of God he is pierced with compunction, and begins to do penance, and the hardest things of his heart are softened, at that time is fulfilled, He shall send forth his word, and shall melt them. The Father sends forth, the Word is sent, the Holy Spirit is joined. His spirit shall blow. Fervent in spirit. The cold is not driven out except by the warmth of the Holy Spirit. Where are the Eunomians, the Arians, where are the Macedonians, who say: We do not number the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son? God the Father sends, the Word is sent: and yet there is no full healing, unless the Holy Spirit shall have blown. His spirit shall blow, and the waters shall flow. The waters. What before was hard shall become soft. He who before could give righteousness to no one, this man is now a disciple.

14 But since we have spoken at length, and the things that follow are plain, let us pray the Lord that our hardness too may soften, that our sins too may be purged, that we may be made as it were fire, that the cold of the devil, whatever there is of it in our hearts, may be driven out, that we may grow warm with the Holy Spirit. For there is also an evil warmth. All the adulterers, their hearts are like an oven. But that warmth is driven out by the warmth of the Holy Spirit. To whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Homily 58, on Psalm 148

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). This psalm has two alleluias in its title; and many think this is because they belong to the title of the psalm itself. But we ought to know that one alleluia belongs to the end of the preceding psalm, while the other alleluia is the beginning of the following psalm. And we ought to take up this rule and understand that all the psalms which have alleluia at their beginning have it also at their end. Many, however, suppose that it is the beginning of another psalm. It is not so: rather, that psalm which has alleluia at its beginning is the very one that has alleluia at its end as well. Why have I said all this? So that you may know why in this psalm two alleluias have been placed at the front.

2 Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights. For the praise of God the nature of men alone does not suffice: let the heavens too be joined in. Praise the Lord from the heavens. He did not say, Praise, O heavens; but, You praise who are in the heavens, that is, you who dwell in the heavens, thrones, dominions, powers, seraphim, cherubim, and every name that is named, not only in the present age, but also in the age to come. Praise the Lord from the heavens. You who are in the heavens, you who are in the heights, praise him in the heights. You lofty ones, praise the Lofty One. He did not say to the lowly and to those placed below, Praise; but to you who are on high. Praise him, all his angels. Do you see in what rank the angels are? First the thrones are named: thrones, seats. Let us not suppose these to be chairs on which God sits: but certain powers among the heavenly beings on which God ever sits, as it were in his own chariot. Praise him, all his angels. All his angels. He who is an angel, let him praise: he who is a demon cannot praise. Praise him, all his hosts. Since we have summoned the angels to the praises of God, and I, a man, cannot know the name of all the hosts, I say in general terms: Praise him, all his hosts. So far concerning the invisible things. Praise him, you who are invisible, whom the human eye cannot behold. Now he comes to the creatures which we discern with our eyes.

3 Praise him, sun and moon. Look, you pagans: look, you Manichaeans. The sun praises, it is not praised. Praise him, sun and moon. You call the sun a god. See after how many others it praises. Praise from the heavens, praise in the heights, praise, you angels, praise, all you hosts. Your god is placed as one that praises in the fifth rank. Praise him, sun and moon. He did not say, moon and sun; but, sun and moon. What is greater in light praises first. See the order of the visible things. Praise him, O sun: after the sun, the moon: after the moon, all the stars. All the stars: not only the morning star, not only the greater stars, but let the lesser ones as well alike praise the Lord. Let someone say: How do the sun and moon and stars praise God? In this, that they do not depart from their office and service. Their service is the praise of God. You have great honor, O human soul. The sun and moon and stars run their course for you, they serve for you. The angels, thrones, dominions have no need of the sun, nor of the moon, nor of the stars: for they are above the sun and moon in the heavenly places. The sun therefore and the moon and the stars are for our sake, they serve us. The apostle too says that the very creation groans together and is in travail for the deliverance of the sons of God.

4 But when the sons of God shall have been taken up, then the creation itself also is set free from this servitude. Let someone say: How does the sun serve, and how is it set free? how the moon? how the stars? The sun is set free, that it may not look upon the Jews, nor upon the pagans, nor upon those who blaspheme their Lord. It sees parricides, it sees murderers: and yet it serves the command of him who ordered it. For he makes his sun to rise upon the just and the wicked. Praise him, all you stars and light. Let someone say: What is light without the sun, without the stars, without the moon? We can say, between night and day, or between day and night, there is that which shines apart from the sun: though many think that this very brightness belongs to the sun. He says therefore, Praise him, all you stars and light, so that just as he had said of the invisible things, Praise him, all his hosts, so also of the visible things he may say, Praise him, everything that shines.

5 Praise him, you heavens of heavens. We speak of several heavens. Indeed even Paul says that he was caught up into the third heaven. See therefore how great is the splendor, that there should be a heaven of heaven. And the rest, which follow, he said concerning the visible things. For he spoke, and they were made. For God to have commanded is to have made: his command is the fashioning. For he spoke, and they were made: according to that which is written in Genesis, And God said, and God made: that is, God the Father spoke, God the Son made. Let someone say: Then greater is he who commands, and lesser is he who is commanded. This the Arians say, this the Eunomians say, and this the Macedonians say. I answer you according to your own way of thinking, O heretic. You say: Greater is the Father who commands, and lesser is the Son in that he is commanded by him. If this be according to human reasoning, answer me: which is greater, to command, or to make? I say, Let a house be built: and another builds the house. To speak is no great thing: to make is difficult. Greater therefore is he who makes than he who gives the order. But this too is impious: for the Son is not greater than the Father. For just as it is impious to believe this of the Son against the Father, so also it is impious to believe that of the Father against the Son. For he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created. One nature commands and makes: God commands, God makes. The painter orders that the painter should paint, and the painter paints what he had ordered to be painted.

6 He established them for ever, and for age upon age: he set a decree, and it shall not pass away. Great is the honor of man, and great his unhappiness. The sun runs its course for you, the elements serve you: and you do not know your Creator. He set a decree, and it shall not pass away. He set a decree for the sun: behold, through so many years the decree of God has never passed away. So far has it not passed away, that its course has even been grasped by human observation. He set a decree, and it shall not pass away. He set a decree for the moon, that through thirty days it should wax and wane: does it ever change its courses? In heaven the decree of God is kept, and on earth it is not kept. He set a decree for the sea, that it should not go beyond its shores: the ocean comes swelling with its waves, and returns into itself, and remembers the decree of God. The whole world serves God, and remembers his decree: and man alone does not remember. Therefore we say also in the Lord's Prayer: Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. As in heaven the angels serve you, and the creation serves, so let man too serve. O unhappy race of men! God has come down to you, because you are unwilling to ascend to heaven. It is not enough for you that you do not receive him, but you kill:

7 you kill, you crucify, you blaspheme, you scourge. It is not enough for you that you kill: but you do not even do penance for having killed. He spoke of the invisible things, he spoke also of the visible things, but of the visible heavenly things: now of the earth as well. See the order of praising. First the invisible things praise, then the visible: and the visible things themselves are divided into two, into the heavenly and the earthly. He spoke of the heavenly things, now he speaks of the earthly. 8 Praise the Lord from the earth. Since the angels have praised, the heaven has praised: let the earth also praise. Let us see which things of the earth praise first. Dragons and all deeps: fire, hail, snow, ice, the spirit of storms, which do his word: mountains and all hills, fruit-bearing trees, and all cedars: beasts, and all cattle, serpents and feathered fowl. After such great things, what is said? After the dragons, after the serpents, after the fire, after the hail, after the beasts and all the cattle? O man, you who seem to yourself so great, it is said of you: and not of the simple man, but of those men who are the greatest among men. Kings of the earth, and all peoples: princes, and all judges of the earth. Then there follows: Let young men and maidens, old men with younger ones praise the name of the Lord: for the name of him alone is exalted. And the rest that follows. Oh, how many mysteries are contained in these words! The heavenly things have praised, the invisible things have praised, the visible things have praised: now he descends to earthly things, and to the praise of God first the dragons and the deeps are stirred up. Where sin abounded, grace has superabounded. You who were first a dragon, who had the venom of the serpent: O you who were first a deep, and darkness was borne over the deep. See what he says. Where dragons are, there is venom: where the deep is, there is darkness.

9 Do not despair therefore, O you who were a dragon, who were full of darkness, and did not dare to praise God; do penance, and at once you will be converted. Although in the Hebrew it does not have "dragons," but has THANNINIM, which is rendered "sea-monsters. Now the sea-monster (cetus) is said to be of boundless size. Indeed the sea-monster itself is said to be in the deeps. Let us then speak first according to the letter. See what he says. Praise, you things that are in the sea, and praise, you things that are outside the sea: dragons and all deeps. The whole from a part, by way of synecdoche (synekdochikōs). Then follows fire. See the concord of discord: water and fire together praise the Lord. Dragons and all deeps, fire. All things that are born from water are also born from fire, that is, from moisture and heat: neither can fire alone generate without moisture, nor moisture without fire. Nothing is so contrary as moisture to heat, and heat to moisture; yet by the will of God these things, which are diverse among themselves, come into concord in our birth. Hail, snow, ice, the spirit of storms, which do his word. There are many things that might be said, and we cannot linger over each one. Hail, snow, ice, the spirit of storms. All the things that we see in the world serve us. Serpents and deeps, fire, hail, snow, ice, the spirit of storms seem to be without reason: but they serve us.

10 Yesterday there was a storm, it seemed to us to be against us: there was cold, there was damp, there were rains. This which for an hour seems to us to be against us, is for us: for it brings forth fruit for us. For see what he says: these things and those, which do his word. Blush, O man: serpents and deeps, snow, rains and storm do the word of God, and you do not do it. Mountains and all hills. Neither are mountains changed into hills, nor valleys into mountains: they keep their own nature. Fruit-bearing trees, and all cedars. You see a tree as if dry, its leaves lost: and at once, when the spring has come, it sends forth a bud for you, it brings forth fruit for you. The tree brings forth fruit for you, and you bring forth no fruit for God. And all cedars. Imitate the cedar: cedars strive toward the heights, as if they hasten to go to heaven. And you, imitate the irrational trees. Beasts, and all cattle. They change nothing of their nature: all stand in their own order, except man alone, to whom all things are made subject. Serpents, and feathered fowl. Neither do those things which are of the earth go to heaven, nor do those things which are in heaven come to earth: they serve you. Let someone say: You speak according to the literal sense, you do not speak allegorically:

11 if you speak according to the literal sense, why do first the deeps, and snow, and hail, then the fruit-bearing trees, and the other irrational things praise the Lord, and last of all man? Let us read Genesis, and according to the order of the birth and the creatures, so shall we also see all things praise. For there it is written that first those living creatures were made which are in the water: then were made those which are on the earth: then the flying things were made: and afterward he made man alone. Therefore, as each was first made, so let it praise the Lord. But there is another sense. O man, all these things which I have named, for whose sake were they made? Beasts, serpents, fruit-bearing trees, feathered fowl: all these praise God in this, that they do not change their nature. For he set a decree, and it shall not pass away. Imitate therefore the things that serve you. They were made, that they might serve you: you were made, that you might serve God. They serve you: imitate the things that serve you, and serve God, just as they too serve you, and through God serve. To whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.