Homily 29, on Psalm 102
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).
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. It is said also in another place: "Know that the Lord himself is God." And now it is said, And all that is within me, bless his holy name. If we have said, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and the Lord is Lord, what name of the Lord does he seek here? If he is called Lord, the Lord, why does he say, And all that is within me, bless his holy name? The coming of the Son is the name of the Father. Before the coming of Christ, God was known, but the Father was unknown. Indeed, he himself says in the Gospel: "Father, I have revealed your name to men." We cannot linger over each individual little verse, since the psalm is long; but we ought to fit brief little remarks to the individual verses, expounding the sense rather than weaving together the words.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his rewards. The Lord has bestowed many rewards upon us, he has bestowed great benefits upon us: for he made the heaven, the earth, all the elements for us. The sun itself and the moon and the stars and all the elements run and run back again for our sake. O wretched creatures that we are: the elements serve us, and we do not serve the Lord. It is a great thing, therefore, that God made for our sake all the things we see. For a house is always made for the sake of the one who dwells in it. If we are the dwellers of the world, and the world is the house of men, and the house has been made for the sake of the dweller: it is a great thing, therefore, that he made for our sake all the things we see, that he made us to be born, to live, to move, to understand our Creator, that he set us apart from the beasts, that they look downward, bent toward the earth, while he made us stand upright to gaze upon heaven. And these things indeed are great: but greater is the fact that he was born for our sake. "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made obedient even unto death, and death on a cross." Since we were mortal because of our sin, he himself deigned to die for us mortals, so that he might make us alive.
Who heals all your infirmities. Our soul has many infirmities. As many sins, so many infirmities. Indeed, there was also that woman in the Gospel, who for eighteen years had a spirit of infirmity, and could not lift her head upright... See what he says. When someone has a spirit of infirmity, he is bent over, he looks downward, he gazes at the earth, he cannot see heaven.
Who redeems your life from destruction. "You were bought," he says, "with a price: do not become the servants of men." What is a greater price than for the Creator to pour out his own blood for the creature?
Who crowns you in mercy and compassions. Who crowns you. When he has redeemed, then he crowns. And he crowns, not because of your merits, but because of his own mercy. "O Lord, you have crowned us as with a shield of your good will." See what he says, O Lord, you have crowned us as with a shield of your good will. Does anyone crown with a shield? Surely he who crowns, crowns with flowers, crowns with gold, crowns with the other kinds of crowns. Does anyone crown with a shield? But the Lord's shield is a crown: for it protects and defends, and thus it crowns. And here, therefore, what is there signified by a shield, here is signified by mercy; and the shield, while it protects, is mercy.