The Second Sunday after Christmas
Autustine on Psalm LXXXVII
Christmas 2 Home
ALMIGHTY God, who hast poured upon us the new light of thine incarnate Word; Grant that the same light enkindled in our hearts may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Isaiah lxi. 1, Psalms LXXXV, LXXXVII | XC, XCI
& St. Matthew ii. 19
Homilies
Isaiah lxi. 1
THE Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.Psalms LXXXV, LXXXVII | XC, XCI
St. Matthew ii. 19
WHEN Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.Augustine
Psalm LXXXVII
1. The Psalm which has just been sung is short, if we look to the
number of its words, but of deep interest in its thoughts. [4030]
...The subject of song and praise in that Psalm is a city, whose
citizens are we, as far as we are Christians: whence we are absent, as
long as we are mortal: whither we are tending: through whose
approaches, undiscoverable among the brakes and thorns that entangle
them, the Sovereign of the city made Himself a path [4031] for us to
reach it. Walking thus in Christ, and pilgrims till we arrive, and
sighing as we long for a certain ineffable repose that dwells within
that city, a repose of which it is promised, that "the eye of man hath
never seen" such, "nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into his heart to
conceive;" let us chant the song of a longing heart: for he who truly
longs, thus sings within his soul, though his tongue be silent: he who
does not, however he may resound in human ears, is voiceless to God.
See what ardent lovers of that city were they by whom these words were
composed, by whom they have been handed down to us; with how deep a
feeling were they sung by those! A feeling that the love of that city
created in them: that love the Spirit of God inspired; "the love of
God," he saith, "shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is
given unto us." Fervent with this Spirit then, let us listen to what is
said of that city.
2. "Her foundations are upon the holy hills" (ver. 1). The Psalm had as
yet said nothing of the city: it begins thus, and says, "Her
foundations are upon the holy hills." Whose? There can be no doubt that
foundations, especially among the hills, belong to some city. Thus
filled with the Holy Spirit, and with many thoughts of love and longing
for that city, as if after long internal meditation, that citizen
bursts out, "Her foundations are upon the holy hills;" as if he had
already said something concerning it. And how could he have said
nothing on a subject, respecting which in his heart he had never been
silent? For how could "her foundations" have been written, of which
nothing had been said before? But, as I said, after long and silent
travailing in contemplation of that city in his mind, crying to God, he
bursts out into the ears of men thus: "Her foundations are upon the
holy hills." And, supposing persons who heard to enquire of what city
he spoke he adds, "the Lord loveth the gates of Sion." Behold, then, a
city whose foundations are upon the holy hills, a city called Sion,
whose gates the Lord loveth, as he adds, "above all the dwellings of
Jacob." But what doth this mean, "her foundations on the holy hills"?
What are the holy hills upon which this city is built? Another citizen
tells us this more explicitly, the Apostle Paul: of this was the
Prophet a citizen, of this the Apostle citizen: and they spoke to
exhort the other citizens. But how are these, I mean the Prophets and
Apostles, citizens? Perhaps in this sense; that they are themselves the
hills, upon which are the foundations of this city, whose gates the
Lord loveth. Let then another citizen state this clearly, that I may
not seem to guess. Speaking to the Gentiles, and telling them how they
were returning, and being, as it were, framed together into the holy
structure, "built," he says, "upon the foundations of the Apostles and
Prophets:" and because neither the Apostles nor Prophets, upon whom the
foundations of that city rest, could stand by their own power, he adds,
"Jesus Christ Himself being the head comer stone." [4032] That the
Gentiles, therefore, might not think they had no relation to Sion: for
Sion was a certain city of this world, which bore a typical resemblance
as a shadow to that Sion of which he presently speaketh, that Heavenly
Jerusalem, of which the Apostle saith, "which is the mother of us all;"
[4033] they might not be said to bear no relation to Sion, on the
ground that they did not belong to the Jewish people, he addresses them
thus: "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets." [4034] Thou
seest the structure of so great a city: yet whereon does all that
edifice repose, where does it rest, that it may never fall? "Jesus
Christ Himself," he saith, "being the head corner stone."
3. ...But that ye may know that Christ is at once the earliest and the
highest foundation, the Apostle saith, "Other foundation can no man lay
than is laid, which is Christ Jesus." [4035] How, then, are the
Prophets and Apostles foundations, and yet Christ so, than whom nothing
can be higher? How, think you, save that as He is openly styled, Saint
of saints, so figuratively Foundation of foundations? Thus if thou art
thinking of mysteries, Christ is the Saint of saints: if of a subject
flock, the Shepherd of shepherds: if of a structure, the Pillar of
pillars. In material edifices, the same stone cannot be above and
below: if at the bottom, it cannot be at the top: and vice versa: for
almost all bodies are liable to limitations in space: nor can they be
everywhere or for ever; but as the Godhead is in every place, from
every place symbols may be taken for It; and not being any of these
things in external properties, It can be everything in figure. Is
Christ a door, in the same sense as the doors we see made by
carpenters? Surely not; and yet He said, "I am the door." Or a
shepherd, in the same capacity as those who guard sheep? though He
said, "I am the Shepherd." Both these names occur in the same passage:
in the Gospel, He said, that the shepherd enters by the door: the words
are, "I am the good Shepherd;" and in the same passage, "I am the
door:" [4036] and who is the shepherd who enters by the door? "I am the
good Shepherd:" and what is the door by which Thou, Good Shepherd,
enterest? How then art Thou all things? In the sense in which
everything is through Me. To explain: when Paul enters by the door,
does not Christ? Wherefore? Not because Paul is Christ: but since
Christ is in Paul: and Paul acts through Christ. The Apostle says, "Do
ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?" [4037] When His saints and
faithful disciples enter by the door, does not Christ enter by the
door? How are we to prove this? Since Saul, not yet called Paul, was
persecuting those very saints, when He called to him from Heaven,
"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" [4038] Himself then is the
foundation, and corner stone: rising from the bottom: if indeed from
the bottom: for the base of this foundation is the highest exaltation
of the building: and as the support of bodily fabrics rests upon the
ground, that of spiritual structures reposes on high. Were we building
up ourselves upon the earth, we should lay our foundation on the lowest
level: but since our edifice is a heavenly one, to Heaven our
Foundation has gone before us: so that our Saviour, the corner stone,
the Apostles, and mighty Prophets, the hills that bear the fabric of
the city, constitute a sort of living structure. This building now
cries from your hearts; that you may be built up into its fabric, the
hand of God, as of an artificer, worketh even through my tongue. Nor
was it without a meaning that Noah's ark was made of "square beams,"
[4039] which were typical of the form of the Church. For what is it to
be made square? Listen to the resemblance of the squared stone: like
qualities should the Christian have: for in all his trials he never
falls: though pushed, and, as it were, turned over, he falls not: and
thus too, whichever way a square stone is turned, it stands erect....In
earthly cities, one thing is the structure of buildings: another thing
are the citizens that dwell therein: that city is builded of its own
inmates, who are themselves the blocks that form the city, for the very
stones are living: "Ye also," says the Apostle, "as living stones, are
built up a spiritual house," [4040] words that are addressed to
ourselves. Let us then pursue the contemplation of that city.
4. "The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of
Jacob" (ver. 2). I have made the foregoing remarks, that ye may not
imagine the gates are one thing, the foundations another. Why are the
Apostles and Prophets foundations? Because their authority is the
support of our weakness. Why are they gates? because through them we
enter the kingdom of God: for they proclaim it to us: and while we
enter by their means, we enter also through Christ, Himself being the
Gate. And twelve gates of Jerusalem are spoken of, [4041] and the one
gate is Christ, and the twelve gates are Christ for Christ dwells in
the twelve gates, hence was twelve the number of the Apostles. There is
a deep mystery in this number of twelve: "Ye shall sit," says our
Saviour, "on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
[4042] If there are twelve thrones there, there will be no room for the
judgment-seat of Paul, the thirteenth Apostle, though he says that he
shall judge not men only, but even Angels; which, but the fallen
Angels? "Know ye not, that we shall judge Angels," [4043] he writes.
The world would answer, Why dost thou boast that thou shalt be a judge?
Where will be thy throne? Our Lord spoke of twelve thrones for the
twelve Apostles: one, Judas, fell, and his place being supplied by
Matthias, the number of twelve thrones was made up: [4044] first, then,
discover room for thy judgment-seat; then threaten that thou wilt
judge. Let us, therefore, reflect upon the meaning of the twelve
thrones. The expression is typical of a sort of universality, as the
Church was destined to prevail throughout the whole world: whence this
edifice is styled a building together into Christ: and because judges
come from all quarters, the twelve thrones are spoken of, just as the
twelve gates, from the entering in from all sides into that city. Not
only therefore have those twelve, and the Apostle Paul, a claim to the
twelve thrones, but, from the universal signification, all who are to
sit in judgment: in the same manner as all who enter the city, enter by
one or the other of the twelve gates. There are four quarters of the
globe: East, West, North, and South: and they are constantly alluded to
in the Scriptures. From all those four winds; our Lord declares in the
Gospel that He will call his sheep "from the four winds;" [4045]
therefore from all those four winds is the Church called. And how
called? On every side it is called in the Trinity: no otherwise is it
called than by Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost: four then being thrice taken, twelve are found. Knock,
therefore, with all your hearts at these gates: and let Christ cry
within you: "Open me the gates of righteousness." [4046] For He went
before us the Head: He follows Himself in His Body....
5. "Very excellent things are said of thee, thou city of God" (ver. 3).
He was, as it were, contemplating that city of Jerusalem on earth: for
consider what city he alludes to, of which certain very excellent
things are spoken. Now the earthly city has been destroyed: after
suffering the enemy's rage, it fell to the earth; it is no longer what
it was: it exhibited the emblem, and the shadow hath passed away.
Whence then are "very excellent things spoken of thee, thou city of
God"? Listen whence: "I will think upon Rahab and Babylon, with them
that know Me" (ver. 4). In that city, the Prophet, in the person of
God, says, "I will think upon Rahab and Babylon." Rahab belongs not to
the Jewish people; [4047] Babylon belongs not to the Jewish people; as
is clear from the next verse: "For the Philistines [4048] also, and
Tyre, with the Ethiopians, were there." Deservedly then, "very
excellent things are spoken of thee, thou city of God:" for not only is
the Jewish nation, born of the flesh of Abraham, included therein, but
all nations also, some of which are named that all may be understood.
"I will think," he says, "upon Rahab:" who is that harlot? That harlot
in Jericho, who received the spies and conducted them out of the city
by a different road: who trusted beforehand in the promise, who feared
God, who was told to hang out of the window a line of scarlet thread,
that is, to bear upon her forehead the sign of the blood of Christ. She
was saved there, and thus represented the Church of the Gentiles:
whence our Lord said to the haughty Pharisees, "Verily I say unto you,
that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before
you." [4049] They go before, because they do violence: they push their
way by faith, and to faith a way is made, nor can any resist, since
they who are violent take it by force. For it is written, "The kingdom
of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." [4050]
Such was the conduct of the robber, more courageous on the cross than
in the place of ambush. [4051] "I will think upon Rahab and Babylon."
By Babylon is meant the city of this world: as there is one holy city,
Jerusalem; one unholy, Babylon: all the unholy belong to Babylon, even
as all the holy to Jerusalem. But he slideth [4052] from Babylon to
Jerusalem. How, but by Him who justifieth the ungodly: Jerusalem is the
city of the saints; Babylon of the wicked: but He cometh who justifieth
the ungodly: since it is said, "I will think" not only "upon Rahab,"
but "upon Babylon," but with whom? "with them that know Me."...
6. Listen now to a deep mystery. Rahab is there through Him, through
whom also is Babylon, now no longer Babylon, but beginning to be
Jerusalem. The daughter is divided against her mother, and will be
among the members of that queen to whom is said, "Forget thine own
people, and thy father's house, so shall the king have pleasure in thy
beauty." [4053] For how could Babylon aspire to Jerusalem? How could
Rahab reach those foundations? How could the Philistines, or Tyre, or
the people of the Ethiopians? Listen to this verse, "Sion, my mother, a
man shall say." [4054] There is then a man who saith this: through whom
all those I have mentioned make their approach. Who is this man? It
tells if we hear, if we understand. It follows, as if a question had
been raised, through whose aid Rahab, Babylon, the Philistines, Tyre,
and the Morians, gained an entrance. Behold, through whom they come;
"Sion, my mother, a man shall say; and a man was born in her, and
Himself the Most High hath founded her" (ver. 5). What, my brethren,
can be clearer? Truly, because "very excellent things are spoken of
thee, thou city of God." Lo, "Sion, O mother, a man shall say." What
man? "He who was born in her." [4055] It is then the man who was born
in her, and He Himself hath founded her. Yet how can He be born in the
city which He Himself founded? It had already been founded, that
therein He might be born. Understand it thus, if thou canst: "Mother
Sion, he shall say;" but it is "a man" that "shall say, Mother Sion;
yea, a man was born in her:" and yet "he hath founded her" (not a man,
but), "the Most High." As He created a mother of whom He would be born,
so He founded a city in which He would be born. What hope is ours,
brethren! On our behalf the Most High, who founded the city, addresses
that city as a mother: and "He was born in her, and the Most High hath
founded her."
7. As though it were said, How do ye know this? All of us have sung
these Psalms: and Christ, Man for our sake, God before us, sings within
us all. But is this much to say, "before us," of Him who was before
heaven and earth and time? He then, born for our sakes a man, in that
city, also founded her when He was the Most High. Yet how are we
assured of this? "The Lord shall rehearse it when He writeth up the
people" (ver. 6), as the following verse has it. "The Lord shall
declare, when He writeth up the people, and their princes." What
princes? [4056] "Those who were born in her;" those princes who, born
within her walls, became therein princes: for before they could become
princes in her, God chose the despised things of the world to confound
the strong. Was the fisherman, the publican, a prince? They were indeed
princes: but because they became such in her. Princes of what kind were
they? Princes come from Babylon, believing monarchs of this world, came
to the city of Rome, as to the head of Babylon: they went not to the
temple of the Emperor, but to the tomb of the Fisherman. Whence indeed
did they rank as princes? "God chose the weak things of the world to
confound the strong, and the foolish things He hath chosen, and things
which are not as though they were, that things which are may be brought
to nought." [4057] This He doth who "from the ground raises the
helpless, and from the dunghill exalts the poor." [4058] For what
purpose? "That He may set him with the princes, even with the princes
of His people." [4059] This is a mighty deed, a deep source of pleasure
and exultation. Orators came later into that city, but they could never
have done so, had not fishermen preceded them. These things are
glorious indeed, but where could they take place, but in that city of
God, of whom very excellent things are spoken?
8. So thus, after drawing together and mingling every source of joyous
exultation, how doth he conclude? "The dwelling as of all that shall be
made joyous is in Thee" (ver. 7). As if all made joyous, all rejoicing,
shall dwell in that city. Amid our journeyings here we suffer bruises:
our last home shall be the home of joy alone. Toil and groans shall
perish: prayers pass away, hymns of praise succeed. There shall be the
dwelling of the happy; no longer shall there be the groans of those
that long, but the gladness of those who enjoy. For He will be present
for whom we sigh: we shall be like Him, as we shall see Him as He is:
[4060] there it will be our whole task to praise and enjoy the presence
of God: and what beyond shall we ask for, when He alone satisfies us,
by whom all things were made? We shall dwell and be dwelt in; and shall
be subject to Him, that God may be all in all. [4061] "Blessed," then,
"are they that dwell in Thy house." How blessed? Blessed in their gold,
and silver, their numerous slaves, and multiplied offspring? "Blessed
are they that dwell in Thy house: for ever and ever they will be
praising Thee." [4062] Blessed in that sole labour [4063] which is
rest! Let this then be the one and only object of our desire, my
brethren, when we shall have reached this pass. Let, us prepare
ourselves to rejoice in God: to praise Him. The good works which
conduct us thither, will not be needed there. I described, as far as I
could, only yesterday, [4064] our condition there: works of charity
there will be none, where there will be no misery: thou shalt not find
one in want, one naked, no one will meet you tormented with thirst,
there will be no stranger, no sick to visit, no dead to bury, no
disputants to set at peace. What then wilt thou find to do? Shall we
plant new vines, plough, traffic, make voyages, to support the
necessities of the body? Deep quiet shall be there; all toilsome work,
that necessity demands, will cease: the necessity being dead, its works
will perish too. What then will be our state? As far as possible, the
tongue of a man thus told us. "As it were, the dwelling of all who
shall be made perfect is in Thee." [4065] Why does he say, "as it
were"? Because there shall be such joy there as we know not here. Many
pleasures do I behold here, and many rejoice in this world, some in one
thing, others in another; but there is nothing to compare with that
delight, but it shall be "as it were" being made joyful. For if I say
joyfulness, men at once think of such joyfulness as men use to have in
wine, in feasting, in avarice, and in the world's distinctions. For men
are elated by these things, and mad with a kind of joy: but "there is
no joy, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." [4066] There is a sort of
joyfulness which the ear of man hath not heard, nor his eye seen, nor
hath it entered into his heart to conceive. [4067] "As it were, the
dwelling of all who shall be made joyful is in Thee." Let us prepare
for other delights: for a kind of shadow is what we find here, not the
reality: that we may not expect to enjoy such things there as here we
delight in: otherwise our self-denial will be avarice. Some persons,
when invited to a rich banquet, where there are many and costly dishes
yet to come on, abstain from breaking their fast: if you ask the
reason, they tell you that they are fasting: which is indeed a great
work, a Christian work. Yet be not hasty in praising them: examine
their motives: it is their belly, not religion, that they are
consulting. That their appetite may not be palled by ordinary dishes,
they abstain till more delicate food is set before them. This fast then
is for the gullet's sake. Fasting is undoubtedly important: it fights
against the belly and the palate; but sometimes it fights for them.
Thus, my brethren, if ye imagine that we shall find any such pleasures
in that country to which the heavenly trumpet urges us on, and on that
account abstain from present enjoyments, that ye may receive the like
more plentifully there, ye imitate those I have described, who fast
only for greater feasting, and abstain only for greater indulgence. Do
not ye like this: prepare yourselves for a certain ineffable delight:
cleanse your hearts from all earthly and secular affections. We shall
see something, the sight of which will make us blessed: and that alone
will suffice for us. What then? Shall we not eat? Yes: we shall eat:
but that shall be our food, which will ever refresh, and never fail.
"In Thee is the dwelling of all who shall be, as it were, made joyful."
He has already told us how we shall be made joyful. "Blessed are they
that dwell in thy house: for ever and ever they will be praising Thee."
[4068] Let us praise the Lord as far as we are able, but with mingled
lamentations: for while we praise we long for Him, and as yet have Him
not. When we have, all our sorrows will be taken from us, and nothing
will remain but praise, unmixed and everlasting. Now let us pray.
[4069]
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Let us pray in the words of Augustine.
Turn we to the Lord God, the Father Almighty, and with pure hearts offer to him, so far as our
meanness can, great and true thanks, with all our hearts praying his exceeding kindness, that of
his good pleasure he would deign to hear our prayers, that by his Power he would drive out the
enemy from our deeds and thoughts, that he would increase our faith, guide our understandings,
give us spiritual thoughts, and lead us to his bliss, through Jesus Christ his Son our Lord, who
liveth and reigneth with him, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[A prayer which he was wont to use after his Sermons and Lectures.]
NPNF (V1-08) St. Augustine
Notes
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[3914] Lat. LXXXIV. A sermon to the people.
[4029] Lat. LXXXVI. A discourse to the people, perhaps at Carthage,
delivered the day after that on the preceding Psalm. See S: 8.
[4030] [For his discourse he pleads the command of a brother.--C.]
Perhaps Aurelius, bishop of Carthage.--Ben.
[4031] Se fecit viam.
[4032] Eph. ii. 20.
[4033] Gal. iv. 26.
[4034] Eph. ii. 19, 20.
[4035] 1 Cor. iii. 11.
[4036] John x. 11, 9.
[4037] 2 Cor. xiii. 3.
[4038] Acts ix. 4.
[4039] Gen. vi. 14, LXX.
[4040] 1 Pet. ii. 5.
[4041] Rev. xxi. 12.
[4042] Matt. xix. 28.
[4043] 1 Cor. vi. 3.
[4044] Acts i. 15-26.
[4045] Mark xiii. 27.
[4046] Ps. cxviii. 19.
[4047] Josh. ii. 1, vi. 25.
[4048] Alienigenae, /=llophuloi.
[4049] Matt. xxi. 31.
[4050] Matt. xi. 12.
[4051] In fauce.
[4052] Dilabitur, which would seem to mean the writer; al. derivatur,
"there is a drawing off," i.e. of citizens.
[4053] Ps. xlv. 10, 11.
[4054] St. Augustin, Tertullian, and others read meter Sion, for the
reading of the LXX., meti.
[4055] Or, "He who was made man in her," Qui homo factus est in ea.
[4056] Et Principes is added in the text, but it has no equivalent in
our version.
[4057] 1 Cor. i. 26, 27.
[4058] Ps. cxiii. 7.
[4059] Ps. cxiii. 8.
[4060] 1 John iii. 2.
[4061] 1 Cor. xv. 28.
[4062] Ps. lxxxiv. 4.
[4063] Otioso negotio.
[4064] On the former Psalm, p. 419, supra.
[4065] Tanquam jucundatorum omnium habitatio in te.
[4066] Isa. xlviii. 22.
[4067] 1 Cor. ii. 9.
[4068] Ps. lxxxiv. 4.
[4069] Conversi ad Dominum. See p. 395, note 4, supra.
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