The Second Sunday after
Trinity
Homily of Augustine on Psalm XIII
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LORD, make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy name: for thou never failest to help and govern them whom thou doest bring up in thy stedfast love. Grant this, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Collect source: Sacrementary of Gelasius, Bishop of Rome [ca 494AD]. 1549 BCP version. An differnt arrangement appeared in the 1662 BCP
GPsalms12, 13 | 10, 11 ; 1 St. John iii. 13 & St. Luke xiv. 16
Genesis vi. 5 ont>
1 St. John iii. 13
MARVEL not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.St. Luke xiv. 16.
A CERTAIN man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.HOMILY
Augustine
Homily on Psalm XIII
Unto the end, a psalm of David.
1. "For Christ is the end of the law to every one that believeth."
[479] "How long, O Lord, wilt Thou forget me unto the end?" (ver. 1)
that is, put me off as to spiritually understanding Christ, who is the
Wisdom of God, and the true end of all the aim of the soul. "How long
dost Thou turn away Thy face from me?" As God doth not forget, so
neither doth He turn His face away: but Scripture speaks after our
manner. Now God is said to turn away His face, when He doth not give to
the soul, which as yet hath not the pure eye of the mind, the knowledge
of Himself.
2. "How long shall I place counsel in my soul?" (ver. 2). There is no
need of counsel but in adversity. Therefore "How long shall I place
counsel in my soul?" is as if it were said, How long shall I be in
adversity? Or at least it is an answer, so that the meaning is this, So
long, O Lord, wilt Thou forget me to the end, and so long turn away Thy
face from me, until I shall place counsel in mine own soul: so that
except a man place counsel in his own soul to work mercy perfectly, God
will not direct him to the end, nor give him that full knowledge of
Himself, which is "face to face." "Sorrow in my heart through the day?"
How long shall I have, is understood. And "through the day" signifies
continuance, so that day is taken for time: from which as each one
longs to be free, he has sorrow in his heart, making entreaty to rise
to things eternal, and not endure man's day.
3. "How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?" either the devil, or
carnal habit.
4. "Look on me, and hear me, O Lord my God" (ver. 3). "Look on me,"
refers to what was said, "How long" dost "Thou turn away Thy face from
me." "Hear," refers to what was said, "How long wilt Thou forget me to
the end? Lighten mine eyes, that I sleep not in death." The eyes of the
heart must be understood, that they be not closed by the pleasurable
eclipse of sin.
5. "Lest at any time mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him"
(ver. 4). The devil's mockery is to be feared. "They that trouble me
will exult, if I be moved;" the devil and his angels; who exulted not
over that righteous man, Job, when they troubled him; because he was
not moved, that is, did not draw back from the stedfastness of his
faith. [480]
6. "But I have hoped in Thy mercy" (ver. 5). Because this very thing,
that a man be not moved, and that he abide fixed in the Lord, he should
not attribute to self: lest when he glories that he hath not been
moved, he be moved by this very pride. "My heart shall exult in Thy
salvation;" in Christ, in the Wisdom of God. "I will sing [481] to the
Lord who hath given me good things;" spiritual good things, not
belonging to man's day. "And I will chant [482] to the name of the Lord
most high" (ver. 6); that is, I give thanks with joy, and in most due
order employ my body, which is the song of the spiritual soul. But if
any distinction is to be marked here, "I will sing" with the heart, "I
will chant" with my works; "to the Lord," that which He alone seeth,
but "to the name of the Lord," that which is known among men, which is
serviceable not for Him, but for us.
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
[478] Lat. XII. [Regarded by the critics as a link between Ps. xii. and xiv.--C.] [479] Rom. x. 4. [480] Job ii. 3. [481] Cantabo. [482] Psallam.
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