Homily 56, on Psalm 146
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).
Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good. The one hundred and forty-sixth psalm is headed with the title "Alleluia." Those who do not know the Hebrew language, when they see "alleluia" set at the head of a psalm, are wont to ask what it means. This psalm, then, has "alleluia" not only in its title, but also at the very opening of the psalm. For where it says "Praise the Lord," in the Hebrew it says "alleluia." For God among the Hebrews has ten names: he is called Sabaoth, he is called Saddai, he is called Eloim, he is called El, he is also called Iao, he is called Eser Iaia. Among the other names there is one name which is called "Ia." Now "Ia" is interpreted "invisible." Where therefore we say "praise," in the Hebrew it says "allelu." So here it says "allelu Ia," just as if one were to say "allelu Sabaoth," "allelu Saddai," "allelu Eloim": so therefore even now it says "allelu Ia." Finally Theodotion, who is one of the translators, wishing to declare the truth of the interpretation, says "praise Ia" (αἰνεῖτε τὸν Ἰα). Why have we said all this? So that we may know that in this psalm "alleluia" is set at the head. Praise the Lord. This interpretation, once we have gone out, will be pondered in your hearts; but for now the discourse will be extended further.
Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good. He did not say "a good psalm," but absolutely, "a psalm is good": that is, it is a good thing to sing psalms. But to sing psalms not with the voice, but with the heart. How many have a good voice, and, because they are sinners, sing badly! He sings well who sings in his heart, who sings to Christ in his conscience. Let praise be pleasant to our God. Let the praise be pleasant, not with the voice, but with the conscience. Finally, Noah too offered victims, and the Lord smelled the odor of sweetness. There are many things that might be said: but we ought briefly to touch on the highest points, so that we may point out the meaning rather than broader words.
The Lord who builds Jerusalem shall gather together the dispersions of Israel. How Jerusalem is built, how the dispersion is gathered together, has already been said. Since therefore these two little verses have been discussed, and we ought not to build upon another's foundation, let us pass on to what remains. Let us therefore see how Jerusalem is built: for in what follows the prophetic word has described it.
Who heals the contrite of heart. You see how Jerusalem is built: the contrite of heart are healed. A contrite and humbled heart God does not spurn. And who binds up their bruises. Do you crush your own heart, and the Lord will bind up your bruises. That Samaritan who was coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he saw the wounded man lying in the road, bound up his wounds. This is the one of whom now too it is said, And binding up their bruises. This is said of those who do penance. But of those who do not do penance, it is said: There is no way to apply a poultice, nor oil, nor bindings.
Who numbers the multitude of the stars. What is the connection, according to the letter, between "And binding up their bruises" and "who numbers the multitude of the stars"? But because he healed the contrite of heart and bound up their bruises, those who before had been contrite, and afterward were healed, he turns into stars. Who numbers the multitude of the stars. The multitude. For many were those who sinned: many are those who have been cured. Who numbers the multitude of the stars. He does not number the wounded, but he numbers those who have already been turned into stars: God numbers none but those who are worthy of his number. And calling them all by their names. Because he speaks of Lucifer and of Orion, of those things which we see in the sky, this indeed can be understood: for God is wonderful, who made heaven and earth and all things that are in them. But let us understand it in such a way that what happens every day may profit us. And calling them all by their names. Do you wish to know how stars are made out of the contrite? It is written in Genesis that God led Abraham out, and showed him the stars, and said to him: So shall your seed be. And calling them all by their names. From Abram he calls him Abraham: he was called Abram in Chaldea, and in heaven he is called Abraham. At that time when he was made a star, he is also called Abraham. He who before was Saul, afterward is called in heaven Paul. John and James, sons of thunder: thunder is surely in heaven. And so the stars are numbered, the countless saints are numbered: and Christ alone cannot be numbered.
Great is our Lord, and great is his power, and of his wisdom there is no number. Great is his power: Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. And of his wisdom there is no number. Christ is wisdom: and the one wisdom cannot be numbered.
The Lord who lifts up the meek. What are those stars? The Lord who lifts up the meek. The meek are turned into stars. But the just shall shine like the stars of heaven: Daniel says it. But bringing down sinners even to the ground. See the difference of things. Angels fall down to the earth: men go to heaven. The Lord who lifts up the meek. Meekness calls up to heaven: pride drags down to the earth. But bringing down sinners even to the ground.
Sing to the Lord in confession. This David fulfilled: he who had offered us examples of righteousness, offered us also examples of penance. For he taught us how we ought to do penance, himself doing it. See, holy prophets, that not only their righteousness has profited us, but also their sin. Sing psalms to our God upon the harp. Let no string of the virtues be broken; let all the strings of the virtues sound together. Sing psalms to our God upon the harp. The harp has many strings: if one is broken, the sound cannot be produced. So too the holy man, however holy he may be, if one virtue is lacking, cannot send forth a tuneful sound.
Who covers the heaven with clouds. This heaven, which we behold, cannot be covered with clouds. But there is another heaven, and there are other clouds. And your truth reaches even to the clouds. Then does the truth of God reach even to those clouds, which are quickly dissolved when the wind blows? The truth of God is Christ. I am the way and the life and the truth. Is then the truth of Christ in these clouds, which have not in themselves the substance of truth? Can it then be that truth is there, where the wind has power to scatter? I will command, he says, the clouds not to rain rain upon them—that is, upon the people of the Jews. The clouds are the prophets: the Lord commanded them not to rain rain upon Israel. The prophetic word has been turned toward us. These clouds, if they are dashed against one another, make thunder and lightnings. Who covers the heaven with clouds. Why did he say, He covers the heaven with clouds? If the clouds are prophets and apostles, how then is the heaven covered by apostles and prophets? The heaven is the divine mysteries. Since therefore the mysteries, whatever are divine, are called heaven: whoever is unworthy, these clouds protect the sacraments from him. If anyone is unworthy, he cannot receive the sacraments: they are covered by the clouds. Who prepares rain for the earth. The earth needs rain: our earth, unless it receives rain, the fountain of doctrines, will bring forth no fruit. When the earth has been moistened by a fountain of such doctrines, what follows?
Who brings forth hay on the mountains. If he were speaking of hay alone, surely hay is born more in the valleys than on the mountainous places: for wherever the rain is more abundant, there hay is born more. From the mountains the waters flow down into the valleys, and grass is born more abundantly.
And who gives to the beasts their food. This Scripture which we read, which we handle, which we have in our hands, is called the mountains; in the Scriptures Abraham is called a mountain, Isaac is called a mountain, Jeremiah a mountain, the holy prophets are mountains. These mountains have both grain and hay. If you are a man, you receive grain from them: if you are cattle, you receive hay. Men and beasts you will save, O Lord. If you are a beast, you receive hay; if you are a man, you receive grain: according to your faith you are saved. Who brings forth hay on the mountains, and gives to the beasts their food. If you are a man, in the holy Scriptures you receive spiritual understanding: if you are a beast, you receive it according to the letter, in the Jewish manner. I see a great thing. God, who has been praised with such great acclamations, is brought down to lowlier things, and it is said: And to the young ravens that call upon him. If he were speaking of birds, he would rather name eagles or vultures. And to the young ravens that call upon him. No other bird is named, but the young of the ravens; and not the ravens themselves, but the young of the ravens. The raven is not saved, but the young that is born of it. We are the young of ravens: for we are born of idolatrous parents. We read in Solomon that the eye which mocks its father and the word of its mother, let the ravens dig it out of the valleys. He did not say "the young of ravens," but the ravens themselves. For he who is a raven cannot be saved. The raven is sent out from the ark, and does not return. In the flood it is with the rest: after the flood it is cast out in the time of prosperity—that is, at that time when there is calm, it cannot be in the ark of God. If ever there is a storm, if ever a flood, the raven is in the midst: calm returns, and the raven flees. Who are these ravens? Who are the young of ravens? I think that the ravens of black color, who always pursue the corpses of the dead, who always with a most raucous voice provoke quarrels, are demons; and whoever have served the demons, like ravens, they too take on the color of ravens. Therefore our parents, as we have already said, who served idols and demons, were ravens. For they are not found except where there are corpses and filth and foulness and the corpses of the dead. But we who are born of ravens do not await corpses, but the dew. For the young of ravens are said to live on the dew. For so the natural philosophers say, that the young of ravens live on the dew. Do you wish to know yet another mystery about ravens? Elijah, which is interpreted "God the Lord": Elijah—that is, our Lord and Savior—suffers persecution from the Jews; and is fed by ravens, the people of the Gentiles. And to the young ravens that call upon him. If you call, you are a young raven: if you are silent, you are a raven. And to the young ravens that call upon him. We read in the prophet: And everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If therefore we take it simply of ravens, then will the ravens too be saved? Answer, Jew: answer, you who in the Jewish way follow only the letter. You say that these ravens are truly ravens, you do not interpret spiritually, but carnally: for you say it is written of ravens. If then it is written of the young of ravens, and here it is said, And to the young ravens that call upon him: and it is written, Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved: then will the young of ravens too be saved in the resurrection? We therefore, the young of ravens, call upon him and are saved. Finally the apostle Paul too wrote to the church of the saints, and wrote also to those who call upon the name of the Lord.
He will not take pleasure in the strength of the horse. We promised brevity, and, compelled by necessity, we have disputed at greater length. We have lied, but the lie is most useful. Would that Herod had lied and had broken his oath! And so we too promised lesser things, and, as you prayed, have offered greater things. The hour compels me to be silent: the greatness of the mysteries compels me to speak. He will not take pleasure in the strength of the horse. I hear "horse," and a neighing horse: I cannot pass it by. It is written in the psalter: The horse is a false hope for safety; and in another place: The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. It is even commanded to the king of Israel that he should not rear horses. Finally Solomon, who brought chariots out of Egypt, was overcome by pleasure. He will not take pleasure in the strength of the horse. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. They have become to me as maddened horses after women, each one neighed after his neighbor's wife—Jeremiah says it. Over such horses, then, God has no pleasure. We have spoken of the horse. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. We have said who the horses are: let us say who the riders are. I think that the horses are sinful men, and the riders are demons who ride upon them. If ever therefore we see some brother a persecutor: him who is called a brother persecuting us and being an enemy: let us know that he is a horse. And he is a horse: but the rider is the devil, who strikes us with his lance. This one runs, and that one strikes. But the horse itself too is driven by the heels, is pierced, and against its will goes mad.
Nor is he well pleased with the legs of a man. See what he says: he did not say, in the head of a man: he did not say, in the hands of a man: but, in the legs, which are below. Nor is he well pleased with the legs of a man. The legs here, like the thighs also, are always taken for lusts. Finally in Ezekiel too God is seen from the loins upward as amber (electrum), from the loins downward as fiery. Whatever is above, that is gold: whatever is below, that is prepared for Gehenna. Nor is he well pleased with the legs of a man. Let us speak according to the letter. Since he had said, He will not take pleasure in the strength of the horse, and had, as it were, described a warrior man: it seems to me here, where he said "not in the legs," that he is not naming the legs, but the greaves (περικνημῖδας). We see therefore that whatever covers the legs does not please God, but that which is above. It does not please God in strength, it does not please him in the legs of a man: but it pleases him in his own fear. Might does not please, fear pleases. He destroys the one who wages war, he raises up the one who prays, he exalts the humble, he casts down the proud.
The Lord is well pleased with those who fear him. One fear casts out many fears. Is it not better to fear one, that you may not fear many, than to fear many, that you may not fear one? And with those who hope in his mercy. They hope not in their own works, but in the mercy of the judge. Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good; for in those who hope in his mercy is salvation alone. To whom is glory forever and ever. Amen.