Homily 32, on Psalm 105
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).
Alleluia, alleluia. We ought to hold to this rule, wherever two alleluias are set at the head of a psalm: let us understand that the one belongs to the end of the previous psalm, and the other to the psalm that follows.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. O you who sin grievously, and despair of your own salvation, and think that because of the greatness of your sins you cannot obtain pardon: I command you — that is, the prophet does — give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Great are your sins: but great is the Lord, who has mercy on you. Give thanks, therefore, to the Lord. Do penance; do not despair of your salvation: the Lord is kind. Give thanks to the Lord, you who have great sins. Do not trust in your own strength, but in the mercy of the Lord. For his mercy endures forever. See what he says — forever. 'But in hell, who shall give thanks to the Lord?' For there is no one who can do penance in hell. While you are in this world, I urge you to do penance. Give thanks, therefore, to the Lord, because it is only in this world that he is merciful. Here he can have mercy on the penitent: for there he is a judge, he is not merciful. Here he is merciful, there he is a judge. Here he stretches out his hand to the one who falls: there he sits as judge. And I have said all this against those who say that there is penance even in hell.
Who shall tell the mighty acts of the Lord? No one is worthy to proclaim the mighty acts of the Father, except the Son. No one can tell the might of the Father, except him who is himself also mighty: the mighty acts of the Mighty One he alone who is in the bosom of the Father, he who is himself mighty, can proclaim and tell. Shall he make all his praises heard? Before our Lord in the Gospel proclaimed the praises of the Father, they had not been heard in the world. Everything that is written in the old Law, if it be understood spiritually, this can be understood of the Father.
Blessed are they who keep judgment, and do justice at all times. David speaks rightly. He too had done judgment, he had done justice: but because he did not do it at all times, therefore he fell. For what does he say? Blessed are they who keep judgment, and do justice at all times. But blessed are they who do it at all times. For what does it profit a man to be in continence for twenty years, and afterwards to fall? — according to what is written in the prophet: 'The justice of the just man shall not profit him on whatever day he goes astray: it shall not free him, nor save him. And the sin of the sinner shall not harm him on whatever day he turns and does penance.' Neither ought the just man to be secure, nor ought the sinner to despair of his salvation: for in both of them there is both fear and hope. He who does justice. Justice is our Lord: for our Lord and Savior is called the justice of the Lord. Blessed therefore is he who does justice, that is, who makes Christ. How then do we make Christ, that is, justice? If we act justly, justice is conceived in us, and justice is brought forth from us, and we are the mother of justice. Happy and blessed is he who at all times is both father and mother of justice.
Remember us, O Lord, in the good pleasure of your people. What blessed David says is this: I know, O Lord, the old Law; the perfect blessedness is not in the old Law, but in the Gospel; I know that the former people offended you, and that a new people is being created, which will serve you: I know that your Son will come, and will save the whole human race, and those who are chosen will believe in him: therefore, then, I ask, since I was born earlier under the old Law, that you would reckon to me a reward together with the new people. This seems to be our opinion. Let us read the very verses, and we shall find the meaning to be that which we have said. Visit us with your salvation. That is, in your Son, when he shall come. That we may see in the goodness of your chosen ones. That is, give us a portion with the apostles: for we indeed went before them in time, but they go before us in spiritual things. That is, that we may see your goodness, which you are about to work with your chosen ones. That we may rejoice in the joy of your nation. We are the Lord's nation, if indeed we are his nation. 'For a people, he says, that shall be born, which the Lord has made.' That we may be praised with your inheritance. That is, that we too who were made under the old Law may have a portion together with the Gospel. For Abraham our father saw your day, and was glad. Let us too, then, see, and rejoice with your inheritance.
We have sinned with our fathers. As sons we have followed our fathers: we have done what our fathers also did. 'For he has shut up all under sin, that he might have mercy on all.' We have acted unjustly, we have committed iniquity. Note carefully what he says: We have sinned with our fathers, we have acted unjustly, we have committed iniquity. Did he say, we have acted impiously? It is one thing to be a sinner and unjust, another to be impious. The sinner is frequently overcome by the weakness of the body: but the impious man denies God. Therefore, then, because I am not impious, but a sinner, therefore I dare to pray for my sins. Our fathers in Egypt did not understand your wonders. They saw, and they did not see: they saw with the eyes of the flesh, and with spiritual eyes they did not see. He did not say, they did not see: but, they did not understand. For just as those men saw the wonders, and did not understand: so also in the Gospel, if anyone indeed sees and hears carnally, but does not understand spiritually, he does not see. Blessed therefore are we who have not seen and yet have believed, more than those who saw and did not believe. They saw the Red Sea, they saw Pharaoh drowned, and understood only this, which they saw. But we, who have not seen him, understand better. In Pharaoh we understand the devil, in his army we understand the demons, in the sea we understand baptism. They understand Marah to be bitter waters, and they pass through Marah: but we daily see the baptism of heretics to be bitter waters. They hang up the bronze serpent in the desert. Let the anchorites hear, let those who dwell in the wilderness hear. But we, what have we done? We too have hung up the true and ancient serpent in the wilderness. Although the apostle does not interpret this of the Lord in the way we suppose. But what does he say? On the cross of the Lord the devil was hung up and fastened. The Lord indeed was crucified, but the devil died. This one fulfilled the mystery, and appeared as victor: but the other did not appear, but was spiritually slain, just as the apostle also signifies.