Homily 27, on Psalm 100
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).
Misericordiam et iudicium cantabo tibi Domine—Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord. Let sinners hear of mercy, those who despair of their salvation, those who are doing penance; let those who scorn hear of judgment, who say: "The Lord is merciful, let us sin, he pardons us."
Psallam et intellegam in via inmaculata—I will sing psalms and understand in the unspotted way. That a person should understand what he is singing, and that his mind should contemplate the psalm itself, so that his thoughts do not wander outside, and he seem indeed to sing psalms with his body, while his mind is without fruit. In the unspotted way: that as I walk in this world I may act justly, and have no spot. When will you come to me? But when I have received understanding, and have acted justly, then with confidence I say to the Lord: "When will you come to me?" And "you will come" is to be understood of his second coming.
Perambulabam in innocentia cordis mei in medio domus meae—I walked about in the innocence of my heart in the midst of my house. Nothing so pleases God as simplicity and innocence. And so among the other winged creatures the Holy Spirit was well pleased in none but the dove, on account of its simplicity, and among the four-footed beasts in the sheep, on account of its meekness.
Non proponebam ante oculos meos rem iniustam—I set no unjust thing before my eyes. I put nothing before the Lord, nor did I consent to iniquity; but I was wholly turned to God. Facientes praevaricationes odivi—I have hated those who commit transgressions. Whether it was my father, or my mother, or brother, or sister, or friend: nevertheless, if he had turned aside from the fear of the Lord, I held him in hatred, and I did not approach him at all. I did not set kinship or friendship before devotion to God.
Non adhaesit mihi cor pravum—A depraved heart did not cling to me. There was in me nothing difficult or anything perverse, but fairness and justice. As the malignant one turned aside from me, I did not know him: that is, if he was a friend to me or a neighbor, whether a bishop or a presbyter, or one established in any rank whatever: nevertheless, if he perverted his ways, I so fled from him that I made no mention of him at all.
Detrahentem secreto proximo suo, hunc persequebar—Him who secretly disparaged his neighbor, this one I persecuted. So far ought we not to consent to the disparager, that we should even, as far as it lies in us, pursue such a person, providing for what is useful in both cases: that we neither listen willingly, nor permit him to sin. For so great is the distance between the fornicator and the disparager: that he who fornicates kills only himself, but he who disparages plunges to ruin both himself and the one who listens.
Superbo oculo et insatiabili corde, cum hoc non edebam—With the proud of eye and the insatiable of heart, with such a one I did not eat. If anyone was proud or greedy, with such a one I did not eat at all.
Oculi mei super fideles terrae, ut sederent mecum—My eyes were upon the faithful of the earth, that they might sit with me. He did not say the rich, or emperors, or bishops, or presbyters, or deacons, but the faithful: with these I sat. A bishop, a holy man, can also say this: that I did not ordain as presbyter the man who was obsequious to me, or my kinsman, but the one whom I knew to be faithful. And again the same man can say: that I held all my clerics and laity to be faithful. This little verse can also be spoken in the person of the Lord. Ambulans in via inmaculata, hic mihi ministrabat—He who walked in the unspotted way, this one ministered to me. For I did not ordain those who were my kinsmen, but the just and the faithful.
Qui loquitur iniqua, non direxit in conspectu oculorum meorum—He who speaks unjust things has not prospered in the sight of my eyes. For I so turned aside from him who disparaged his neighbor, that I neither believed such a one nor listened to him.
In matutinis interficiebam omnes peccatores terrae—In the mornings I slew all the sinners of the earth. Well did he say, the sinners of the earth: for sinners are earthly. This is what he means, that the promptings of the devil, which he was suggesting to me, I cast out of my heart, and did not take up. For when evil thoughts are cast out, the demons are slain. The Jews, hearing this verse, and following the letter that kills, and desiring to shed blood, if anyone has transgressed against the law, put him to death. Since indeed they are not content with the slaying of the prophets: but they even crucified the Lord himself. Ut disperderem de civitate Domini omnes qui operantur iniquitatem—That I might destroy out of the city of the Lord all who work iniquity. Would that we too may destroy out of the city of the Lord those who work iniquity. The city of the Lord is the church of the saints, the congregation of the just. Disperderem—that I might destroy: that is, I will reprove and rebuke him who sins, that he may do penance, and destroy iniquity out of his heart. For he did not say, that he may be cast out.