Psalms 102 · The Lantern

Hear my prayer, O Lord: and let my crying come unto thee.

Hide not thy face from me in the time of my trouble: incline thine ear unto me when I call; O hear me, and that right soon.

For my days are consumed away like smoke: and my bones are burnt up as it were a fire-brand.

My heart is smitten down, and withered like grass: so that I forget to eat my bread.

I am smitten like grass, and my heart is withered. Just as it is also written elsewhere: 'Man, his days are like grass.' For such is the life of men: it is green, and quickly it withers. Because I have forgotten to eat my bread. He did not say, I had no desire to eat, or I despised eating.

Look back to Adam, whence the human race sprung. For how but from him was misery propagated? whence but from him is this hereditary poverty? Let him then, who in his own body was at one time in despair, now that he is set in Christ's body, say with hope, "My heart is smitten down, and withered like grass" (ver. 4). Deservedly, since all flesh is grass.

"For I forgot to eat my bread. At the sound of my groaning, my bones stuck to my flesh." I lost appetite for any food, and was completely bereft of my former good condition, my body being consumed by the wasting of discouragement; I am but skin and bones.

For the voice of my groaning: my bones will scarce cleave to my flesh.

By reason of the voice of my groaning my bone has cleaved to my flesh. Let those who do penance learn how they ought to do penance. For I so dried myself up, that I was without flesh, and my skin clung to my bones. He said 'flesh' for 'skin.'

"For the voice of my groaning, the bones cleave unto my flesh" (ver. 5). For many groan, and I also groan; even for this I groan, because they groan for a wrong cause.

And again he saith, "For I have forgotten to eat my bread, and by reason of the voice of my groanings my flesh cleaveth unto my bones." It was not sufficient for him, through his remembrance of God to turn away from his natural food, but he forgot entirely this corruptible food because his mind was meditating upon that which belonged to the spirit; and by reason of the severity…

I am become like a pelican in the wilderness: and like an owl that is in the desert.

I have watched, and am even as it were a sparrow: that sitteth alone upon the house-top.

Mine enemies revile me all the day long: and they that are mad upon me are sworn together against me.

For I have eaten ashes as it were bread: and mingled my drink with weeping;

So then the prophet comforted David as we have seen, but that blessed man, though he received most gladly the assurance, "The Lord has put away your sin," did not, king as he was, draw back from penitence. Indeed he put on sackcloth in place of his purple robe, and the king sat in ashes on the bare earth instead of on his gilded throne.

Indeed, to the penitent confession alone does not suffice, unless correction of the deed follows, with the result that the penitent does not continue to do deeds that demand repentance.

And again, he teacheth thee also concerning that which he took as a preparation for his meat, saying, "For I have eaten ashes like bread:" these were the condiments and dainties which were laid upon the table of this righteous king when he ate his food.

And that because of thine indignation and wrath: for thou hast taken me up, and cast me down.

My days are gone like a shadow: and I am withered like grass.

But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever: and thy remembrance throughout all generations.

Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Sion: for it is time that thou have mercy upon her, yea, the time is come.

And why? thy servants think upon her stones: and it pitieth them to see her in the dust.

The heathen shall fear thy Name, O Lord: and all the kings of the earth thy majesty;

When the Lord shall build up Sion: and when his glory shall appear;

When he turneth him unto the prayer of the poor destitute: and despiseth not their desire.

This shall be written for those that come after: and the people which shall be born shall praise the Lord.

For he hath looked down from his sanctuary: out of the heaven did the Lord behold the earth;

That he might hear the mournings of such as are in captivity: and deliver the children appointed unto death;

That they may declare the Name of the Lord in Sion: and his worship at Jerusalem;

When the people are gathered together: and the kingdoms also, to serve the Lord.

He brought down my strength in my journey: and shortened my days.

And this is true. For no one is able to comprehend the works of God altogether. Moreover, the world is the work of God. No one, then, can find out as to this world what is its space from the beginning and to the end, that is to say, the period appointed for it and the limits before determined for it; in view of the fact that God has set the whole world as a realm of ignorance i…

Now as these things are written in the Scriptures, the case is clear, that the saints know that a certain time is measured to every person, but that no one knows the end of that time is plainly intimated by the words of David, "Declare to me the shortness of my days." He desired information about that which he did not know.

"She answered Him in the way of His strength" [Psalm 102:23]....The preceding words show, that either "His praise," or "Jerusalem," answered: for it was said, "And His praise in Jerusalem; in the nations gathering together in one, and the kingdoms, that they may serve the Lord. Respondit ei." We cannot say, "the kingdoms answered," for he would have said responderunt.

But I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of mine age: as for thy years, they endure throughout all generations.

Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.

For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

But this opinion of prophecy could not withstand the evidence, which the divine majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ also confirmed in the Gospel. For David said: In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, O Lord, and the works of your hands are the heavens.

Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands; they shall perish, but thou shalt remain.

They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: they all shall wax old as doth a garment;

For this very reason, a certain one of the interpreters seems to me to have handed over beautifully and accurately the same thought through another title, saying, "For the lilies," in place of, "For them that shall be changed." He thought that it was appropriate to compare the transitoriness of human nature with the early death of flowers.

Suppose they say, though, that the Lord's own divine substance is not the same when he is with the Father as it was when he wished to show himself on earth without taking a body, then what else have the poor fools committed themselves to, but saying that the divine substance is subject to change in place and time?

That the divine being is immutable is shown by authority. The Psalm: You shall change them, and they shall be changed, but You are the selfsame; the Gloss says: "immutable." For inasmuch as it is simple, it is immutable from itself: for it has nothing that is not its own essential being, which indeed "is not an accident, but a subsistent truth," as Hilary says.

And as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

The children of thy servants shall continue: and their seed shall stand fast in thy sight.

Psalms102