Chapter XIII.
David, refreshed by the hearing of future forgiveness, predicts that the lowly bones will exult; but what are they? We must ask God to turn his face away from our sins, and to turn it towards us; likewise, just as sin, so also the iniquity that is its origin, is removed in three ways, which are explained.
Therefore, rightfully and joyfully, he also says: You will give joy and gladness to my hearing, and the humiliated bones will rejoice (Psalm 50:10). You have proven, Lord Jesus, that your words never pass away (Matthew 24:35). You have proven that Gospel statement when you said: Many prophets and righteous people desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it (Matthew 13:17). Look, David rejoices merely at the hearing, because the forgiveness of sins would be forthcoming; and he prophesies that the humiliated bones will rejoice. Just as all the bones of the righteous will say: O Lord, who is like you; so will the humbled bones exult, that is, the soul of the righteous who humbles itself. Therefore, the bones are called virtues; they are called bones like certain movements of the soul or of the mind, which are humbled by sins and exult in the gift of heavenly grace. And the bones are also called the people of the Churches; hence you have the saying in the psalm: My mouth shall not be hidden, which you have made in secret. He said that the Church is His own, and the sacred assembly of devoted people; for we are members of the body of Christ, of His flesh and bones. He therefore says this, that the Church of the Lord will know all divine works, and will receive the faith of the resurrection.
It follows: Turn your face away from my sins, and erase all my iniquities (Psalm 50:11). It is customary in prayer that we ask to forget the offense of those we have harmed. Therefore, the Prophet morally asks God to turn his face away from his sins and to assume them as though forgetting sins. But because God sees everything and nothing escapes him, he cannot forget like us, whose memory slips away from what we have known after a short period of time. Therefore, he rightly says that he should turn his face away, not from himself, so that he does not fail without support: but from sins, so that they do not have the power of his sins. For those whom the Lord looks upon, he enlightens, and in the face of the Lord there is mercy and indulgence. Therefore, he himself says here: Let my judgment come from your face (Psalm 16:2), for from the face of the Lord comes forgiveness, not punishment. Therefore, we should ask that he looks upon us, but turns his face away from our sins, so that he may destroy them. For what it does not see, it destroys; and what it has destroyed, that will be buried in memory, just as the Lord himself says: I am, I am the one who blots out your iniquities, and I will not remember: but you remember, and let us be judged (Isaiah 43:25).
However, sin is either forgiven, or deleted, or covered up: it is forgiven by grace, deleted by the blood of the cross, covered up by charity. Similarly, iniquity, which is considered the disposition of an unjust mind. Although John said in his epistle that whoever commits sin also commits iniquity, as it is written: Everyone who commits sin also commits iniquity (1 John 3:4), sin is iniquity, because in the very sin there is iniquity; however, as it seems to us, sin is the work of iniquity, and iniquity is the agent of guilt and fault. Therefore, it is necessary that wickedness itself be eradicated, the root and seedbed of sins be cut off; let the root of evils be removed, lest it produce evil fruits; let all inclinations for error be abolished, let all types of wickedness be removed.
Therefore, just as discipline in the soul removes ignorance, and knowledge removes ignorance: so perfect virtue removes wickedness, and forgiveness of sins removes all sin. Hence the Apostle rightly says: Because the Lord Jesus has forgiven us our sins, wiping out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, and has taken it away, nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:14). He has erased with his own blood the writing of Eve, he has erased the obligation of inherited guilt. Therefore, faith diminishes sin. And for this reason, the Lord, when forgiving sins, said: \"Let it be done to you according to your faith.\" (Matthew 8:13).