Seventh Sunday after Trinity
Augustine on Psalm XXXII
O LORD of Hosts, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Historical Note: Source: Collect composed by Bishop Gelasius of Rome (492-496), in 1549 Cranmer revised the collect to begin with "Lord of all power and might." His "true religion" reminds one of James' epistle and "pure religon KJV [James 1:27]
Hosea xiv, Psalms 32, 36 | 33,34 , Romans vi. 19 & St. Mark viii. 1
Homily of Augustine on Psalm XXXII
1 Kings viii. 38.
What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.
Romans vi. 19
I SPEAK after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.St. Mark viii. 1
IN those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.Homily
Augustine
Psalm XXXII
To David himself; for understanding.
1. To David himself; for understanding; by which it is understood that
not by the merits of works, but by the grace of God, man is delivered,
confessing his sins.
2. "Blessed are they whose unrighteousness is forgiven, and whose sins
are covered" (ver. 1): and whose sins are buried in oblivion. "Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin, nor is there guile in
his mouth" (ver. 2): nor has he in his mouth boastings of
righteousness, when his conscience is full of sins.
3. "Because I kept silence, my bones waxed old:" because I made not
with my mouth "confession unto salvation," [692] all firmness in me has
grown old in infirmity. "Through my roaring all the day long" (ver. 3):
when I was ungodly and a blasphemer, crying against God, as though
defending and excusing my sins.
4. "Because day and night Thy Hand was heavy upon me:" because, through
the continual punishment of Thy scourges, "I was turned in misery,
while a thorn was fixed through me" (ver. 4): I was made miserable by
knowing my misery, being pricked with an evil conscience.
5. "I acknowledged my sin, and my unrighteousness have I not hid:" that
is, my unrighteousness have I not concealed. [693] "I said, I will
confess against myself my unrighteousness to the Lord:" I said, I will
confess, not against God (as in my ungodly crying, when I kept
silence), but against myself, my unrighteousness to the Lord. "And Thou
forgavest the iniquity of my heart" (ver. 5); hearing the word of
confession in the heart, before it was uttered with the voice.
6. "For this shall every one that is holy pray unto Thee in an
acceptable time:" for this wickedness of heart shall every one that is
righteous pray unto Thee. For not by their own merits will they be
holy, but by that acceptable time, that is, at His coming, who redeemed
us from sin. "Nevertheless in the flood of great waters they shall not
come nigh him" (ver. 6): nevertheless, let none think, when the end has
come suddenly, as in the days of Noah, [694] that there remaineth a
place of confession, whereby he may draw nigh unto God.
7. "Thou art my refuge from the pressures, which have compassed me
about:" Thou art my refuge from the pressure of my sins, which hath
compassed my heart. "O Thou, my Rejoicing, deliver me from them that
compass me about" (ver. 7): in Thee is my joy: deliver me from the
sorrow which my sins bring upon me.
8. Diapsalma. The answer of God: "I will give thee understanding, and
will set thee in the way in which thou shalt go;" I will give thee
understanding after confession, that thou depart not from the way in
which thou shouldest go; lest thou wish to be in thine own power. "I
will fix Mine Eyes upon thee" (ver. 8); so will make sure upon thee My
Love.
9. "Be not ye like unto horse or mule, which have no understanding:"
and therefore would govern themselves. But saith the Prophet, "Hold in
their jaws with bit and bridle." Do Thou then, O God, unto them "that
will not come nigh Thee" (ver. 9), what man doth to horse and mule,
that by scourges Thou make them to bear Thy rule.
10. "Many are the scourges of the sinner:" much is he scourged, who,
confessing not his sins to God, would be his own ruler. "But he that
trusteth in the Lord, mercy compasseth him about" (ver. 10); but he
that trusteth in the Lord, and submitteth himself to His rule, mercy
shall compass him about.
11. "Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous:" be glad, and
rejoice, ye righteous, not in yourselves, but in the Lord. "And glory,
all ye that are right in heart" (ver. 11): and glory in Him, all ye who
understand that it is right to be subject unto Him, that so ye may be
placed above all things beside.
Notes:
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
[691] Lat. XXXI.
[692] Rom. x. 10.
[693] [Here in our Psalter version is verse 6; not so the Authorized,
nor the Vulgate, nor the other versions.--C.]
[694] Matt. xxiv. 37-41.
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