Homily 21, on Psalm 91
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).
The ninety-first psalm is prefaced with this title: A psalm of a song for the sabbath day. No one can keep the sabbath day unless he has first passed through six days. For six days we labor; on the seventh day we rest. Therefore we cannot sing to the Lord except on the sabbath day. As long as we do the works of this world, that is, during the six days, we cannot sing to the Lord. And so it is said in Leviticus: "You shall do no servile work on the sabbath day." Whoever, then, is in the sabbath and in the Lord's rest ought not to do servile work, that is, work that pertains to this world; but he ought to do that work which pertains to the sabbath. Do you want to know that on the sabbath the priests work in the temple of the Lord? On the sabbath no one is permitted to cut wood. Indeed, one man who was found doing so in the wilderness was stoned and killed. Likewise it is not permitted to kindle a fire, nor even to do any work at all. But you see that all these things, which no one in the world is permitted to do on the sabbath, are permitted to the priests alone: for they both cut wood, and lay on the fire, and perform other ministries, and offer up sacrifices. Why have I said all this? To show that it is written in the law that we too must cease even on the sabbath day from the works of the world, and do those things that pertain to God. So then, it is a psalm of a song for the sabbath day, when we do not work for the world, but work for God. Let us see, therefore, what we ought to sing on the sabbath, when we cease from the works of the world.
It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to sing to your name, O Most High. He did not say, it is good to sing, and afterwards to give praise; but see the order: It is good to give praise, and it is good to sing. First do penance and wipe away your sins with tears, and afterwards sing to the Lord. It is good to give praise to the Lord: not to men, but to God: confess your sins to him who is able to heal. And to sing to your name, O Most High.
To proclaim your mercy in the morning, and your truth throughout the night. Understand carefully what is said: To proclaim your mercy in the morning and your truth throughout the night. Each little verse refers to a corresponding one. It is good to give praise to the Lord — to proclaim your mercy in the morning. If you give praise to the Lord, you proclaim in the morning the mercies of the Lord. And to sing to your name, O Most High. Refer this verse to the one that follows: And your truth throughout the night. For when we give praise to the Lord, we hope for mercy; but when we sing, we practice the virtues. To proclaim your mercy in the morning. Where are those who understand the scriptures according to the letter? Can we not proclaim the mercy of God at midday? And surely it belongs above all to Christians and monks to confess their sins in the night. And how does he now say, To proclaim your mercy in the morning? What he says is this. We cannot give praise to the Lord and obtain his mercy unless a bright light has begun to shine in our heart. Unless the darkness has gone before and the morning has come, we cannot obtain the mercy of the Lord. But then you proclaim the mercy of the Lord in the morning, when the sun of righteousness has risen in your heart. And your truth throughout the night. The truth of the Lord is not proclaimed except toward the night: in the day it cannot be proclaimed. For the weak cannot bear things that are great, nor can they endure things that are precious. Hence it is said also in another place concerning God: "He made darkness his hiding place" — that is, the Lord made darkness his hiding place. And so the truth of the Lord is proclaimed in the night: it is wrapped up, as it were, in a certain darkness of words. It is spoken in riddle and in parables: that those who see may not see, and those who hear may not hear. We read in Hosea, and it is said to the prophet: "Go and take to yourself a wife, a wife of harlotry." The Jews hear it and the gentiles, and they laugh. Why do they laugh? Because the truth is placed in the night, not in the day. Do you want to know that the truth of God is in the night, and, as it were, in darkness, and is set in parables? Moses went up onto Mount Sinai: and he entered, it says, into the whirlwind and into the gloom and into the darkness, and there he spoke with the Lord. For the people of Israel could not see the mysteries of God, because it had not entered into the gloom of God.
On the ten-stringed psaltery, with a song upon the harp. I say it plainly: as often as we lift up our hands without wandering thoughts and disputings, we sing to the Lord on the ten-stringed instrument. On the ten-stringed psaltery, with a song upon the harp. Our harp is body and soul and spirit: they are composed of all the strings.
For you have delighted me, O Lord, in your making, and in the works of your hands I will exult. A Christian, whatever he sees, is always built up. Nothing tears down a monk except sin. Whatever you look upon is your own edifice. You see the sky, you see the sun, you see the stars, you see the moon: this builds you up. For you ought to think and say: If the sun and the moon and the sky and the stars serve God, why should I not serve? You see the earth, you see the animals and all the things that are upon the earth: bring this too to bear upon your soul, and build yourself up, and say to your soul: All things run in their own season; consider indeed spring and summer, autumn and winter — do these seasons ever change? No, according to the ordinance of God all things serve. The sky serves, and the earth serves: and I, unhappy man, do not serve. Let us come to the little animals: I leave aside now the elephants, I leave aside the lions, I leave aside the various animals, I come to the little animals. Look at the bee, look at the ant: see the body, and search out the wisdom. The wisdom is greater than the size of the body. Bees and ants consider that winter is coming: and the monk and the Christian do not consider that judgment is coming. Those creatures consider that they may be endangered by hunger, if they have not labored in the summer to have something to live on in the winter: we do not consider that without work we will be tormented in hell. Why have I said all this? Because it is now written, For you have delighted me, O Lord, in your making. Whatever I look upon delights me: for I understand the maker, and I bless God. And in the works of your hands I will exult. I see a tree, and I consider how the bark of the tree is, as it were, clothed like a tunic, how it grows green like a bud. Then I see how there is, as it were, a blossom, how the blossom falls, and the blossom itself turns into fruit. I see nature little by little, through each single day and into each single season, working for me and growing into my food. I see how God in all things labors for me, so that nothing may be lacking to me: and therefore I exult in you, O Lord.
How magnified are your works, O Lord. At this point Marcion and Manichaeus burst out. For what do they say? If God made all things, and made them for the benefit of men, what need was there to make the bedbug and the flea? I answer you briefly: so that your frailty, O man, might be shown. For you who place your thought in heaven — look, you are bitten by a bedbug and you shudder. Why are you lifted up into heaven, and why does your thought soar into heaven? Behold, you are wounded by a bedbug. How magnified are your works, O Lord. Small bodies indeed, but great design. Each has its own uses. I marvel at the Lord in the elephant just as much as in the ant; I proclaim him in the camel just as much as in the gnat. Look at the gnat, how it is like the point of some tiny body, and yet see how in that very point of a tiny body all its members are distinct. It has six feet, it has two eyes, it has a mouth and a belly, it has also a trumpet of voice, it has wings too. If you look at the members, you do not find the body; and yet God is magnified, because without a body there are all these members.
Your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep. Whatever I may think, I cannot find it out. "Your judgments are an abyss." "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God." I too will say with Ecclesiastes: "I said, I will become wise: and it was made far from me, much farther than it was; and it is deep — who can find it out?" What Ecclesiastes says is this: Before I put my thought to the work, I did not see the magnificence of God. I said, I will become wise, that is, I said, I ought to seek out the reasons of the individual causes; and it was made far from me, much farther than it was, that is, the wisdom which before, not searching, I was ignorant of, afterwards I began to seek, and I could not find it out.
The foolish man does not know, and the stupid man does not understand these things. Whoever is not a Christian, and in the works does not understand the creator, that man is foolish.
When sinners spring up like grass. You have seen emperors, you have seen prefects, you have seen armies, you have seen victories and triumphs. Yesterday it was, and today it is not. And all who work iniquity have appeared, that they may perish forever and ever. Yesterday it appeared like a flower, today the flower itself does not appear. Yesterday the grass was green, today it is dried up. Where is that beauty? Nothing is good except what is eternal: nothing is good except what is everlasting. Whatever has an end is not even to be counted among good things. For what does it profit me, if yesterday I was fed, and today I die of hunger? For what does it profit me, if a few days ago I was a king, and today I die in prison? Everything that is past and has an end is nothing. Each one of us has come from the world to this life. One left his mother behind, another his sons, another his wife, another his parents. Let us remember our infancy, let us remember our youth; let us remember that we once had riches, and each one according to his means had what he could. Behold, we have passed over to this life. Where are all those things? Thought about, they cause pain rather than pleasure. Nothing therefore is good except what is everlasting.
But you, O Lord, are the Most High for evermore. For behold your enemies, O Lord, for behold your enemies shall perish, and all who work iniquity shall be scattered. If they perish, how shall they be scattered? For he who has once perished cannot be scattered. He ought to have said: Behold, they shall be scattered, and they shall perish. What he says, then, is this: Your enemies, O Lord, shall perish; when all things have been made subject to you, everyone who was your enemy afterwards becomes a friend, that is, the man will not perish, but the enemy will perish. He who was an enemy will be a friend, and thus the enemy will perish. For behold your enemies shall perish, and all who work iniquity shall be scattered. Just as, when the saints are together, it is pleasing; so, if sinners are together, it is, as it were, a most wicked gathering. For the more of them there are together, the worse they are. Indeed, at the time when the tower was being built against God, they were scattered for their own benefit. Their agreement was evil: but the scattering profited even those very ones who were scattered.
And my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn. The horn is always set in the kingdom. "In you we will toss up our enemies with the horn." Indeed, no animal is offered in sacrifice to the Lord in the temple except one that has a horn. Three things are offered to the Lord in the temple: the bull is offered, the ram is offered, the he-goat is offered. Three are offered, and all are horned. For unless someone has a horn with which to toss up his enemies, he is not worthy to be offered to God. For this reason the Lord too is called a horn by those who believe in him; and on the horns of his cross he tossed up his enemies. There he confounded the devil, and all his army. Christ indeed was crucified in the body, but there in truth he was crucifying the demons. It was not a cross: but it was a triumph, it was a battle-standard. For this reason he mounted upon the cross, that he might lift us up from earth on high. I think that this cross of the Savior is the ladder which Jacob saw. On that ladder the angels were descending and ascending; on that ladder, that is, the cross, the Jews descend, and the gentiles ascend. And my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn. Let others have many horns: I have one horn alone. "But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of the Lord: through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world."
And my old age in plentiful mercy. Our old age needs the oil of God. For just as our bodies, when they grow weary (I speak rather plainly for the sake of the simpler brothers, who cannot understand more loftily) — just as our bodies, when they grow weary, are not restored except by the anointing of oil; just as the light that is in a lamp, unless you put in oil, is extinguished: so also the light of my old age needs the oil and mercy of God in order to grow. Indeed the apostles too go up onto the Mount of Olives, so that, because they were weary and their lamps needed the oil of the Lord, they might be illumined by the oil of the Lord. Hence the righteous man also says: "But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God." And in another place it is said: "Your sons are like young olive shoots around your table." Was there no other mountain from which the Lord might ascend to the kingdoms of heaven, except the Mount of Olives? Was there not a loftier mountain in Galilee, Tabor? What need was there for the Lord to ascend into the kingdoms of heaven from the Mount of Olives? But see what the scripture teaches you. Unless you put oil into yourself and into your lamps, you will not be able to ascend into the kingdoms of heaven. You ought to be on the Mount of Olives: not in the valley of the Olives, but on the Mount of Olives. Let someone say: What is this valley of the Olives? The devil too has his olive trees: he has philosophers, he has heretics; they too have oil, and they too promise the light of knowledge. But those olive groves lead down into the valley: "But let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head." Let us, then, ask the Lord that our old age and all our toil and all our darkness may be illumined by the oil of the Lord. I attend carefully in the scriptures to where I may first read of old age. Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, and yet he is not called old. Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he is not called old. I come all the way to the flood, and after the flood through nearly three thousand years: and I find no one who is called old. Abraham is the first to be called old, and he was certainly of much less age than Methuselah; but he is called old for this reason, that his old age had been anointed with plentiful oil. Indeed it is written there: "And Abraham died," it says, "nourished in a good old age; full," it says, "of days." For this reason in a good old age, because he was full of days: for all the time of his life was days, and not night. This very thing that is said of Abraham is said also of Isaac, is said also of Jacob. For those who had served the Lord together are rightly called together the old men of the Lord.
Like the cedar of Lebanon he shall be multiplied: a sweet-smelling wood, the wood with which the roofs of the temple are covered. Like the cedar of Lebanon he shall be multiplied: a wood that does not rot.
Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God they shall flourish. In one place we are planted, in another we flourish: here we are planted, in the kingdom of heaven we shall flourish. "I," he says, "planted, Apollos watered, but the Lord gave the increase." Planted in the house of the Lord, that is, in the church, not in the walls, but in the doctrines: "For the kingdom of God," he says, "is within you": whoever has been planted in the house of the Lord, who has sent forth his roots here, there brings forth flowers. Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God they shall flourish. These are the eternal tabernacles. What are these courts? The various dwellings in heaven. And at the same time see what he says: Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God they shall flourish. Here is the house, there is the court. Surely, according to the order, he ought to have said first the court, and so the house. But see what he says. Here we may seem to be in the house: but when we have migrated to the kingdoms of heaven, in comparison with the angels and the other powers, we are not in the house, but we are in the court: we are at the beginning, not in perfection. For we shall not be angels, but as it were angels. Do not let it seem to you too small a thing, O man, if you shall be like an angel.
They shall still be multiplied in a plentiful old age. Happy is he who grows daily, who grows old in age, and grows old also in virtues.
These things we have said for now concerning the psalm: we have spoken also a few things concerning the gospel, we have said something too concerning the apostle. Let us pray the Lord that all we have said — both what we have said and what you have heard — we may fulfill in deed, and turn the words into works: that we who here are planted in the house of the Lord may flourish in the court of Christ. To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.