Fourth Sunday after Trinity
O GOD, the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy; Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through good things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Collect Source: Sacramentary of Bishop Gregory of Rome [ca 600AD]. See Latin. English prayer book translation does not have "good" as does the Latin
Lamentations iii. 22, Psalms 19, 20 | 24, 25 ; Romans viii. 18 & St. Luke vi. 36
Homily of Augustine on Psalm XIX
Can the blind lead the blind?
Lamentations iii. 22
It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke of his youth. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach. For the LORD will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
Romans viii. 18.
I RECKON that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.St. Luke vi. 36.
BE ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.HOMILY
Augustine
Psalm XIX
Notes:
Psalm XIX. [550]
To the end, a psalm of David himself.
1. It is a well-known title; nor does the Lord Jesus Christ say what
follows, but it is said of Him.
2. "The heavens tell out the glory of God" (ver. 1). The righteous
Evangelists, in whom, as in the heavens, God dwelleth, set forth the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, or the glory wherewith the Son
glorified the Father upon earth. "And the firmament showeth forth the
works of His hands." And the firmament showeth forth the deeds of the
Lord's power, that now made heaven by the assurance of the Holy Ghost,
which before was earth by fear.
3. "Day unto day uttereth word" (ver. 2). To the spiritual the Spirit
giveth out the fulness of the unchangeable Wisdom of God, the Word
which in the beginning is God with God. [551] "And night unto night
announceth knowledge." And to the fleshly, as to those afar off, the
mortality of the flesh, by conveying faith, announceth future
knowledge.
4. "There is no speech nor language, in which their voices are not
heard" (ver. 3). In which the voices of the Evangelists have not been
heard, seeing that the Gospel was preached in every tongue.
5. "Their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words to the
ends of the world" [552] (ver. 4).
6. "In the sun hath He set His tabernacle." Now that He might war
against the powers of temporal error, the Lord, being about to send not
peace but a sword on earth, [553] in time, or in manifestation, set so
to say His military dwelling, that is, the dispensation of His
incarnation. "And He as a bridegroom coming forth out of His chamber"
(ver. 5). And He, coming forth out of the Virgin's womb, where God was
united to man's nature as a bridegroom to a bride. "Rejoiced as a giant
to run His way." Rejoiced as One exceeding strong, and surpassing all
other men in power incomparable, not to inhabit, but to run His way.
For, "He stood not in the way of sinners." [554]
7. "His going forth is from the highest heaven" (ver. 6). From the
Father is His going forth, not that in time, but from everlasting,
whereby He was born of the Father. "And His meeting is even to the
height of heaven." And in the fulness of the Godhead He meets even to
an equality with the Father. [555] "And there is none that may hide
himself from His heat." But whereas, "the Word was even made flesh, and
dwelt in us," [556] assuming our mortality, He permitted no man to
excuse himself from the shadow of death; for the heat of the Word
penetrated even it.
8. "The law of the Lord is undefiled, converting souls" (ver. 7). The
law of the Lord, therefore, is Himself who came to fulfil the law, not
to destroy it; [557] an undefiled law, "Who did no sin, neither was
guile found in His mouth," [558] not oppressing souls with the yoke of
bondage, but converting them to imitate Him in liberty. "The testimony
of the Lord is sure, giving wisdom to babes." "The testimony of the
Lord is sure;" for, "no man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to
whomsoever the Son will reveal Him," [559] which things have been
hidden from the wise and revealed to babes; [560] for, "God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." [561]
9. "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart" (ver. 8).
All the statutes of the Lord are right in Him who taught not what He
did not; that they who should imitate Him might rejoice in heart, in
those things which they should do freely with love, not slavishly with
fear. "The commandment of the Lord is lucid, enlightening the eyes."
"The commandment of the Lord is lucid," with no veil of carnal
observances, enlightening the sight of the inner man.
10. "The fear of the Lord is chaste, enduring for ever" (ver. 9). "The
fear of the Lord;" not that distressing [562] fear under the law,
dreading exceedingly the withdrawal of temporal goods, by the love of
which the soul commits fornication; but that chaste fear wherewith the
Church, the more ardently she loves her Spouse, the more carefully does
she take heed of offending Him, and therefore, "perfect love casteth"
not "out" this "fear," [563] but it endureth for ever.
11. "The judgments of the Lord are true, justified together." The
judgments of Him, who "judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment
unto the Son," [564] are justified in truth unchangeably. For neither
in His threatenings nor His promises doth God deceive any man, nor can
any withdraw either from the ungodly His punishment, or from the godly
His reward. "To be desired more than gold, and much precious stone"
(ver. 10). Whether it be "gold and stone itself much," or "much
precious," or "much to be desired;" still, the judgments of God are to
be desired more than the pomp of this world; by desire of which it is
brought to pass that the judgments of God are not desired, but feared,
or despised, or not believed. But if any be himself gold and precious
stone, that he may not be consumed by fire, but received into the
treasury of God, more than himself does he desire the judgments of God,
whose will he preferreth to his own. "And sweeter than honey and the
honey comb." And whether one be even now honey, who, disenthralled
already from the chains of this life, is awaiting the day when he may
come up to God's feast; or whether he be yet as the honey comb, wrapped
about with this life as it were with wax, not mixed and become one with
it, but filling it, needing some pressure of God's hand, not oppressing
but expressing it, whereby from life temporal it may be strained out
into life eternal: to such an one the judgments of God are sweeter than
he himself is to himself, for that they are "sweeter than honey and the
honey comb."
12. "For Thy servant keepeth them" (ver. 11). For to him who keepeth
them not the day of the Lord is bitter. "In keeping them there is great
reward." Not in any external benefit, but in the thing itself, that
God's judgments are kept, is there great reward; great because one
rejoiceth therein.
13. "Who understandeth sins?" (ver. 12.) But what sort of sweetness can
there be in sins, where there is no understanding? For who can
understand sins, which close the very eye, to which truth is pleasant,
to which the judgments of God are desirable and sweet? yea, as darkness
closes the eye, so do sins the mind, and suffer it not to see either
the light, or itself.
14. "Cleanse me, O Lord, from my secret faults." From the lusts which
lie hid in me, cleanse me, O Lord. "And from the" faults "of others
preserve Thy servant" (ver. 13). Let me not be led astray by others.
For he is not a prey to the faults of others, who is cleansed from his
own. Preserve therefore from the lusts of others, not the proud man,
and him who would be his own master, but, Thy servant. "If they get not
the dominion over me, then shall I be undefiled." If neither my own
secret sins, nor those of others, get the dominion over me, then shall
I be undefiled. For there is no third source of sin, but one's own
secret sin, by which the devil fell, and another's sin, by which man is
seduced, so as by consenting to make it his own. "And I shall be
cleansed from the great offence." What but pride? for there is none
greater than apostasy from God, which is "the beginning of the pride of
man." [565] And he shall indeed be undefiled, who is free from this
offence also; for this is the last to them who are returning to God,
which was the first as they departed from Him.
15. "And the words of my mouth shall be pleasing, and the meditation of
my heart is always in Thy sight" (ver. 14). The meditation of my heart
is not after the vain glory of pleasing men, for now there is pride no
more, but in Thy sight alway, who regardest a pure conscience. "O Lord,
my Helper, and my Redeemer" [566] (ver. 15). O Lord, my Helper, in my
approach to Thee; for Thou art my Redeemer, that I might set out unto
Thee: lest any attributing to his own wisdom his conversion to Thee, or
to his own strength his attaining to Thee, should be rather driven back
by Thee, who resistest the proud; for he is not cleansed from the great
offence, nor pleasing in Thy sight, who redeemest us that we may be
converted, and helpest us that we may attain unto Thee.
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
[550] Lat. XVIII.
[551] John i. 1.
[552] [Rom. x. 18. "And therefore are we even speaking here" says our
author in his second homily (omitted) on this Psalm.--C.]
[553] Matt. x. 34.
[554] Ps. i. 1.
[555] Vid. in Psalm lviii (lix. E.V.). Enarrat. i. S: 10.
[556] John i. 14.
[557] Matt. v. 17.
[558] 1 Pet. ii. 22.
[559] Matt. xi. 27.
[560] Luke x. 21.
[561] Jas. iv. 6.
[562] Poenalis.
[563] 1 John iv. 18.
[564] John v. 22.
[565] Ecclus. x. 12.
[566] [Here the word is rendered "Redeemer" in the Septuagint, and is
the same in the Hebrew as in Job xix. 25.--C.]
Latin Collect
Protector in te sperantium Deus, sine quo nihil est balidum, nihil sanctum; multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam; ut te rectore, te duce, sic transeamus per bona temporalia, ut non amittamus aeterns
Per. - Greg. Sac --- Miss. Sar.
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