]ittitur.
]m in faith,
]ipse si
]tate in
]us afterwards
]Sic enim
]and peace
He gives peace.
God gives peace.
/ Upon peace? To those who have peace here in charity, he will also give them peace; he will give them peace in immortality, not to those who say, "Peace, peace," and there is no peace. Therefore, seek peace and pursue it. Thus, in this psalm, he has exalted his holy one. Therefore, there is one who hears us, because we have one who intercedes for us. Thus, after he had said, "The Lord has exalted his holy one," he added, "The Lord will hear me when I cry out to him." For now, I have an advocate there who sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
Turn away from evil, do good.
But because He does not listen to give full peace, except to him who turns away from evil and does good - to turn away from evil is to be angry with oneself, to be pricked in the bed; to do good is to offer the sacrifice of righteousness; to seek peace is to hope in the Lord -, when He had said: "Offer the sacrifice of righteousness," He added: "And hope in the Lord." Now you have been angry with yourself, now you have been pricked, now you have turned away from evil, now you have offered the sacrifice of righteousness still in hope in good works: one thing you do not yet hold, lest you say: "I have already done all these things and still have received nothing," you remain in the work of patience. For tribulation produces patience, patience produces probation, and probation produces hope. Now hope does not disappoint. Be secure: you will not be disappointed. Hope in Him. Now it is still like night: you do not yet see God nor hold what He has promised, but in this night do what the psalm says: "In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands at night before you and I was not deceived." In the day of my tribulation: consider this whole life as the day of tribulation, and say: "I sought God with my hands, not with my eyes." For it is still night. Seek with your hands, deserve by your works, do good and say that you have sought the Lord with your hands in this night. What follows and also follows for you: "And I was not deceived." I sought at night, I sought by groping and yet I found. This is, I sought with my hands: diligently and sought by my works. But how did I seek with these hands? Before Him, because of that: "Do not do your righteousness before men," not to avoid their gaze, but not to seek your praise. For if you avoid the sight of those looking at you when you do good, where is that: "Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good deeds?" But see what follows: "And glorify your Father who is in heaven" - that He may be glorified in you who made you good. For you were fit to make yourself evil, you are not fit to make yourself good. You were fit to wound yourself, you are not fit to heal yourself. Therefore, when you do good works, desire this that God may be glorified in you, because when you have offered the sacrifice of righteousness - that is, good works -, it follows that you hope in the Lord.
The blessedness which you seek, you will have in God.
And what am I to hope for? How long am I to hope? Here, do not seek what belongs to this earth. You wish to be blessed, I know. For who does not? You seek a good thing, but not in its proper place. It is as if you hear that gold is good and can only be found under the earth, so you grab a shovel and dig in your house. When asked what you seek, you will answer: "Gold." But the one who knows where gold is found will reply to you: "You seek a good thing, but not in the right place." You seek to be blessed, you wish to be full of joys, you wish to be satisfied with good things so that you do not lack anything and nothing is wanting to you: a great thing, but it is not here. How you may attain it, I will tell you. What can I say but what I have said? Be angry with yourself, convict yourself on your bed, change yourself. Offer the sacrifice of righteousness and hope in the Lord. In Him, you will have what you seek; when you come to Him, there you will have it, because you will have Him of whom it is said: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.
"Where are the things that were promised to me?"
Finally, what follows here? When he said [and] be pricked - that is, let it repent you for being evil -, offer the sacrifice of righteousness - burn in good works -, he added: Hope in the Lord, and said: Many say: "Who will show us good things?" Lo, they are pricked. "In my bed I was evil: I was angry with myself. I was a thief, I was a plunderer, I was this and that: I was angry with myself, I was pricked in my bed, I changed myself. Now I do good works: when I see someone hungry, I give bread; when I see someone naked, I clothe them; when I see a stranger, I welcome them; when I see someone quarreling, I make peace; when I see someone oppressed, I redeem them; when I see someone sick, I visit them; when I see someone dead, I bury them: where is the good that was promised to me? I have already emended myself, I have already changed, I have already been corrected from evil works and do good ones: where are the things promised to me?" Many say - would that few said this - many say. What do many say? "Who will show us good things?" - where is what was promised to me? "I expend my gold and see nothing. What I expend, I see; what is promised to me, I do not see." It is night. Seek: your hands will not fail, and you will not be deceived. Many say: "Who will show us good things?"
God the only good.
What was that man going to say to whom they were saying, "Who will show us good things?" And what is that good itself? The light of your face, O Lord, has been signed upon us. Behold the good. The light of your face, O Lord, has been signed upon us. We have been made in the image of God, nor are we reshaped except by Him who made us, nor are we reformed except by Him who created us. Therefore, the light of your face, O Lord, has been signed upon us, that we may be your coin and be stored in your treasury. The light of your face, O Lord, has been signed upon us. This is the currency of Christ: the face of our emperor has been signed in us. Christ, like a tax collector, was seeking this coin when, to those criticizing about the tribute, he said, after they showed the coin and responded that it bore the image of Caesar: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Caesar seeks his image in your gold, will God not seek His in your soul? Behold what good things are. Why do many still say, "Who will show us good things?" How long will you be heavy-hearted? You seek goods in which you would fear more. You seek transient goods, you seek temporal goods, you seek goods from which you will be released when alive or leave behind when dead. How long, therefore, will you be heavy-hearted? Why do you love vanity and seek falsehood? Do you want me to show you the good? Have it and you will know. It can be held in the heart, but it cannot be shown to the eyes.
The Lord gives joy to the heart.
Finally, see what follows: "The light of your face is signed upon us, O Lord. You have given," he says, "joy in my heart." In my heart, not in my chamber, not in my chest, but in my heart. See that the light of your face is signed upon us, O Lord. For one acquires gold and puts it in a chest: his heart rejoices, but from vanity, not from truth. Do you want to see how vainly he rejoices who rejoices thus and who mistakens falsehood for truth? This person has a full chest: he leaves his house; wherever he wanders, he rejoices because it is full of his. Another had a full chest and lost what he had to the thief: he does not know, yet he still rejoices; he does not know it has perished, yet he still rejoices. How was it yours when it was not in you? Behold, it is already lost, and you still rejoice. You fuel empty hopes. From where else, unless because you seek vanity? For what purpose? For what benefit, what fruit? Behold, you lost it, even though you loved what you lost. And how did you perish? Return then to the highest good, so you can say: "The light of your face is signed upon us, O Lord. We have become your coins: collect us to your treasure, and we give back Caesar's tribute, to you ourselves, to Caesar what you gave, to you what you made, to you who made us. You have given joy in my heart: there it is from where I rejoice, the inner good, stored in the inner chest." This you cannot unwillingly lose; there he is himself who made it, delighted in his temple, because you are pierced in your chamber.
No one becomes blessed by earthly things.
Finally, after he said: "The light of your face, O Lord, has been signed upon us; you have given gladness in my heart," he looked at those many who said: "Who will show us good things?" and said: "In the time of their grain and wine and oil they have multiplied – their grain, their wine, their oil." They considered these things and longed for earthly things. And when it went well for them, they were filled with these earthly things – they were multiplied – they said the people to whom these things belong are blessed. But what do you say? Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. Because the light of your face, O Lord, has been signed upon us. But those who are multiplied in the time of their grain and wine and oil, let them depart from me; let those who love such things not say to me: "Who will show us good things?" There is something that I can show, but there is no one to whom I can show it. Therefore, they have been multiplied in the time of their grain, wine, and oil.
God is our rest.
What about you? In peace, in the same. What is "in the same"? That which does not change, which is not varied, which is not temporal, which is not sometimes this way, sometimes otherwise. In the same I will sleep. It is difficult to explain what I feel, what he said: I will sleep in the same. I will sleep in peace: in the same I will sleep. He who sleeps, in a way, has a break from the senses of the flesh. Why then are you searching externally for forms and colors for the eyes, songs and pleasant melodies for the ears, various tastes for the palate, different pleasures for the touch for your blessed life? Such a good is not what makes you good, such a good is not what you stated: "Who will show us good things?". The good is within, in the image of God, from where this good is formed which neither eye has seen nor ear has heard. Therefore sleep, take yourself away from the desire of the eyes, do not converse with the senses of the flesh, so that your Lord may say to you: Enter into the joy of your Lord. Therefore in peace, in the same, I will sleep and rest.
We hope for eternal goods from God.