Psalm 123 (after Bellarmine)

David introduces the Psalms. Master Jean de Mandeville,
(French, active 1350 - 1370) [Getty Museum]

We are continuing to build the pages of the Little Office website. Below is Psalm 123, from Sext, with notes based on St Robert Bellarmine's explanations.

Totus tuus ego sum 
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum tutus semper sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam

[ ]  Footnotes are not hyperlinked but refer to the notes after the Psalm.

Psalmus 123

Nisi quia Dómini. The church giveth glory to God for her deliverance, from the hands of her enemies.

[1] Nisi quia Dóminus erat in nobis, dicat nunc Israël: * nisi quia Dóminus erat in nobis,
If it had not been that the Lord was with us, let Israel now say: * If it had not been that the Lord was with us,

[2] Cum exsúrgerent hómines in nos, * forte vivos deglutíssent nos:
When men rose up against us, * perhaps they had swallowed us up alive.

[3] Cum irascerétur furor eórum in nos, * fórsitan aqua absorbuísset nos.
When their fury was enkindled against us, * perhaps the waters had swallowed us up.

[4] Torréntem pertransívit ánima nostra: * fórsitan pertransísset ánima nostra aquam intolerábilem.
Our soul hath passed through a torrent: * perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable.

[5] Benedíctus Dóminus * qui non dedit nos in captiónem déntibus eórum.
Blessed be the Lord, * who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth.

[6] Ánima nostra sicut passer erépta est * de láqueo venántium:
Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow * out of the snare of the fowlers.

[7] Láqueus contrítus est, * et nos liberáti sumus.
The snare is broken, * and we are delivered.

[8] Adjutórium nostrum in nómine Dómini, * qui fecit cælum et terram.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, * who made heaven and earth.

Notes

[1] - [4] Such abrupt and unfinished expressions in the beginning of the Psalm indicate the great joy and exultation that will not suffer the speaker to finish his sentences. The multitude of the saints, then, delivered from great temptations, exclaim, “If it had not been that the Lord was with us” we never could have escaped. Before he finishes the sentence, however, he invites all the people of Israel to unite with him in his tribute of thanks and praise: and again repeats, “If it had not been that the Lord was with us”—“Perhaps they would have swallowed us up alive.” Here is what would have happened to us! had not the Lord been with us and lent us his powerful assistance, “when men rose up against us, perhaps they had swallowed us up alive.” When our persecutors rose up against us, we were nearly in as much danger of being destroyed by them, as we would of being swallowed up alive by the sea if thrown into it.
The persecutors of the just are styled “men,” by reason of their being guided by nothing but that reason they have from corrupt nature; for man’s reason, since the corruption of nature, has no taste for anything divine, spiritual, or elevated, and has no other object in view beyond the upholding and increasing its own temporal happiness: of such the Apostle says, “For, whereas there is among you envying and contention, are you not carnal and walk according to man?” and a little further on, “Are you not men?” from which it appears carnal and to be a man to walk according to the flesh, and to walk according to man to be one and the same. The word “perhaps” requires some explanation. It would seem to imply that the grace of God had no part in their delivery, or that their destruction was possible. There is no room for fear on that head, for the word “perhaps” does not imply that we could resist the enemy in their charge without the aid of his auxiliary grace, but that it was possible we may not be swallowed up alive, because, perhaps, the fury of the enemy did not carry them so far. But as there was danger that the enemy might have carried their cruelty so far, he adds, “If it had not been that the Lord was with us, perhaps they had swallowed us up alive.” The expressions “they had swallowed us up alive,” is taken from a sea or a river that swallows up everything that falls into it, for there are no beasts, no matter how fierce and cruel they may be, that swallow people up alive; they generally tear and mangle them first, and the next sentence, that expresses the same idea in other terms, as often occurs in the Psalms, requires such interpretation for thus it runs, “when their fury was enkindled against us, perhaps the water had swallowed us up;” that is to say, as the water would have swallowed us up, so would the rage of our enemies, like a mass of water, have overwhelmed us.

[4] Torréntem pertransívit ánima nostra: * fórsitan pertransísset ánima nostra aquam intolerábilem.
Our soul hath passed through a torrent: * perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable.

He follows up the simile, comparing the persecution of his enemies to a deep and rapid torrent, impassable without very great help. Anyone reflecting on the persecutions of the martyrs by the pagans and heretics, and the temptations of the demons in regard of the holy anchorites and confessors, can compare them to nothing else but to a violent “torrent;” and though many holy confessors breasted the torrent with success, still an immense number have been carried away by its fury. The prophet, then, speaking in the person of the beatified, says, “Our soul hath passed through a torrent” of persecution, for though the flesh succumbed, and yielded to the rage of the persecutor, still the soul has gloriously “passed through;” however, “if it had not been that the Lord was with us,” “perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable,” had got into a torrent too deep to expect getting out of it.

[5] Benedíctus Dóminus * qui non dedit nos in captiónem déntibus eórum.
Blessed be the Lord, * who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth.
[6] Ánima nostra sicut passer erépta est * de láqueo venántium:
Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow * out of the snare of the fowlers.
[7] Láqueus contrítus est, * et nos liberáti sumus.
The snare is broken, * and we are delivered.

For the better understanding and the further illustration of God’s goodness, the prophet now proposes another simile. He compares persecutions or temptations to the snare of the fowler, and says, we should return thanks to and bless God for not suffering us to become a prey to the teeth of our enemies, that is to say, that he protected us from being taken, killed, and devoured; and he tells us how that was effected when he says, “Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers.” No doubt, our soul fell into persecution and temptation, as would a sparrow or any other bird, when they are seduced into the snare set by the fowlers; but still it was loosed and delivered from the temptation before the tempter got hold of it to kill it; like a bird caught in a snare but enlarged before the fowler arrived to take it, kill it, and eat it. That was effected by “the snare being broken and thus we are delivered.” God having by his grace, repressed the temptation before the soul either denied the faith or consented to sin in any other respect, just as the snare that held the bird would be broken, on which the bird flies off, and thus disappoints the fowler of his prey.

[8] Adjutórium nostrum in nómine Dómini, * qui fecit cælum et terram.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, * who made heaven and earth.


He concludes by praising God, humbly acknowledging that such a victory and such deliverance from those dangerous temptations should be ascribed not to himself, but to the help he got from Almighty God, a manifest proof of whose omnipotence is, that he made “the heaven and earth.” Referring to the two verses previous to this one, we can hardly dismiss them or the Psalm without observing on the manner in which God is wont to rescue his servants from grievous temptation, which is barely touched upon in the expression, “The snare is broken.” The snare usually breaks, when the bird, frightened by some noise, or seeing some more dainty food, makes a violent plunge, and thus breaks the snare. For when the bird is satisfied with the bait in the snare, and has no consciousness of being caught in the snare, it makes no effort to fly away, and thus waits quietly until the fowler comes, catches it, and kills it. So it is with man in temptation; for when God’s grace begins to move him, or when he gets alarmed by the noise of hell or of God’s judgments, he begins to reflect that the troubles of this world are irksome enough, but that the torments of the next, along with being everlasting, are far and away more irksome and more grievous; or that, sweet as the present life may be, sweet as its pleasures may be, sweet as its riches may be, that they will bear no comparison with the sweet rewards of the life to come, he gets inflamed with the love of such rewards, and with the fear of hell, from which he acquires a great accession of strength, so that, by one vigorous effort of a firm resolution of never offending God again, he breaks the snare of temptation, flies off on being delivered, and joyfully chants, “Our help is the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” What persecution can subdue, what torments can conquer such reflections?

Psalm 122 (after Bellarmine)

David introduces the Psalms. Master Jean de Mandeville,
(French, active 1350 - 1370) [Getty Museum]

We are continuing to build the pages of the Little Office website. Below is Psalm 122, from Sext, with notes based on St Robert Bellarmine's explanations.

Totus tuus ego sum 
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum tutus semper sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam

[ ]  Footnotes are not hyperlinked but refer to the notes after the Psalm.

Psalmus 122

Ad te levávi. A prayer in affliction, with confidence in God. A gradual canticle.

[1] Ad te levávi óculos meos, * qui hábitas in cælis.
To thee have I lifted up my eyes, * who dwellest in heaven.

[2] Ecce, sicut óculi servórum * in mánibus dominórum suórum,
Behold as the eyes of servants * are on the hands of their masters,

[3] Sicut óculi ancíllæ in mánibus dóminæ suæ: * ita óculi nostri ad Dóminum, Deum nostrum, donec misereátur nostri.
As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress: * so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.

[4] Miserére nostri, Dómine, miserére nostri: * quia multum repléti sumus despectióne:
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us: * for we are greatly filled with contempt.

[5] Quia multum repléta est ánima nostra: * oppróbrium abundántibus, et despéctio supérbis.
For our soul is greatly filled: * we are a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud.

Notes

[1] Ad te levávi óculos meos, * qui hábitas in cælis.
To thee have I lifted up my eyes, * who dwellest in heaven.
The prophet, speaking at one time in the person of a pilgrim, and at another time in his own, as being a pilgrim indeed, says, that whatever difficulties he was placed in, he had recourse to no one for help but to God alone; because he alone dwells in the highest heavens, whence he beholds and rules all things under him; and because it is from him all our evils come for the purpose of chastising us; and, therefore, that it is idle for us to have recourse to anyone else, for no one can take us out of God’s hands.

[2] Ecce, sicut óculi servórum * in mánibus dominórum suórum,
Behold as the eyes of servants * are on the hands of their masters,
[3] Sicut óculi ancíllæ in mánibus dóminæ suæ: * ita óculi nostri ad Dóminum, Deum nostrum, donec misereátur nostri.
As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress: * so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.

“Behold, as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, as the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress: so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.” He tells us why he raised his eyes to God. It was to look upon God scourging him; in the hope that his wretched appearance may move God to mercy, and cause him to desist from scourging him. He illustrates it by the example of the servants, who, when flogged by their masters, look with a sorrowful countenance on the hand that flogs them, hoping by their looks to move their masters to pity. He applies the simile to maid, as well as to men, servants; for they, too, are pilgrims, and are scourged as they prosecute their pilgrimage. These scourges consist not only of open persecutions and public calamities, but also of secret temptations that daily torment the soul, as also of those fears, sorrows, perplexities, and other troubles, from which no one in this life is exempt; and, therefore, the Psalm does not fix stated times for us to raise our eyes to God, but says it must be done incessantly, “until he have mercy on us,” which will not be accomplished until we shall have arrived at our country; for then “God will crown us with mercy and compassion, when he shall have healed all our diseases, and satisfied our desires with good things,”

[4] Miserére nostri, Dómine, miserére nostri: * quia multum repléti sumus despectióne:
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us: * for we are greatly filled with contempt.

Not content with having implored God’s mercy, by fixing his eyes on God, the prophet now, with the voice of his heart and his body, cries out, and redoubles the shout, as he prays for himself and fellow pilgrims, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy.” And, truly, anyone that attentively considers, and properly reflects on the next sentence, “for we are greatly filled with contempt,” will see at once that such is the extent of our misery that we should never cease our cries to that effect. Because man, created to God’s image, placed over all created things by him, very often even adopted by him as a son, and predestined to enjoy the kingdom of heaven, is so despised in this our pilgrimage, not only by men and demons, and so constantly annoyed, not only by the aforesaid, but even by animals, even to the minutest of them, and even by the very elements, that the prophet could say with the greatest truth, not only that we are despised, but that we are “greatly filled with contempt.” For what is there that does not look down upon man, even on the just and the holy, in this valley of tears? However, the contempt principally meant by the prophet here is that which the just suffer from the unjust, and the good from the bad; because most true and universal is that expression of the Apostle, “And all who live piously in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution;” as well as those words of the Lord, “If you had been of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” This is easily understood; for good and evil, being essentially opposed to each other, they cannot possibly be at peace. And, as the just are patient and mild, and have learned of their Master to turn the other cheek to him who strikes on one, and thus to make no resistance to injuries, they are, in consequence, proudly despised, harassed, and ridiculed by the wicked.

[5] Quia multum repléta est ánima nostra: * oppróbrium abundántibus, et despéctio supérbis.
For our soul is greatly filled: * we are a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud.

In this last verse David informs us that the aforesaid scorn and contempt for the poor and humble pilgrims proceeds from the wealthy and the proud. The prophet says, “Our souls are greatly filled;” which is but a repetition of a previous sentence. “For we are greatly filled with contempt.” However, in this passage he says it is the soul that is so filled, contempt being more applicable to the soul; for they who have no soul may be, and are, subject to pain, but not to contempt. The word “filled” signifies, in the Hebrew, filled to repletion, which adds great force to the expression; because if they who are filled to repletion, instead of deriving any pleasure from more food, are pained and overburdened by it, however rare and good it may be, how would the case be with those who may chance to be overdosed with bad food, such as contempt and reproaches. The next sentence, “We are a reproach to the rich, and a contempt for the proud,” signify the same, reproach and contempt being synonymous, as are the rich and the proud. All proud people are inflated, and are, therefore, rich; but it is in wind, add not in any solid good, that is to say, they abound in high notions and extravagant opinion of themselves. Should they enjoy the riches of this world, they look upon them as their own, never reflecting for a moment that they will have “to render an account of them.” Should they be in high position and power, they attribute the whole to themselves, never thinking for a moment that they were placed in such positions in order to be useful to and to serve others, that they will have to render a most strict account for such favours; and that when they got them, they got nothing but a load and a burden; in which they are just as absurd as would be the stick in a man’s hand that would boast of carrying the person that owned it. Should they excel in talent and learning, they form most exaggerated notions of their abilities, and attribute to themselves what they only got from God. Finally, should they not have those riches, dignities, and honours, and, on the other hand, should they be scourged and punished, they look upon themselves as aggrieved, blaspheme and murmur against God, and all in consequence of their being full, or rather, overcharged with the wind of self conceit and opinion. But the time will come when such reproach and contempt will revert on themselves, when, on the day of judgment, they will cry out, as we read in Wisdom, “These are they, whom we had sometime in derision, and for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold, how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints. What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All these things are passed away like a shadow.”

Stipenda peccati

Peter wept bitterly. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

St Bede's, Sunday 28th of July 2019.

St Paul's Epistle to the Romans, from Chapter 6:

[19] I speak an human thing, because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity, unto iniquity; so now yield your members to serve justice, unto sanctification.
Humanum dico, propter infirmitatem carnis vestrae : sicut enim exhibuistis membra vestra servire immunditiae, et iniquitati ad iniquitatem, ita nunc exhibete membra vestra servire justitiae in santificationem.

[20] For when you were the servants of sin, you were free men to justice.
Cum enim servi essetis peccati, liberi fuistis justitiae.

[21] What fruit therefore had you then in those things, of which you are now ashamed? For the end of them is death.
Quem ergo fructum habuistis tunc in illis, in quibus nunc erubescitis? nam finis illorum mors est.

[22] But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting.
Nunc vero liberati a peccato, servi autem facti Deo, habetis fructum vestrum in santificationem, finem vero vitam aeternam.

[23] For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Stipendia enim peccati, mors. Gratia autem Dei, vita aeterna, in Christo Jesu Domino nostro.

Here is the Ronald Knox translation:

I am speaking in the language of common life, because nature is still strong in you. Just as you once made over your natural powers as slaves to impurity and wickedness, till all was wickedness, you must now make over your natural powers as slaves to right-doing, till all is sanctified.

At the time when you were the slaves of sin, right-doing had no claim upon you.

And what harvest were you then reaping, from acts which now make you blush? Their reward is death.

Now that you are free from the claims of sin, and have become God’s slaves instead, you have a harvest in your sanctification, and your reward is eternal life.

Sin offers death, for wages; God offers us eternal life as a free gift, through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nota bene: [9] And he said: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Et dicebat : Qui habet aures audiendi, audiat. [Mark 4. Parable of the Sower]

Psalm 121 (after Bellarmine)

David introduces the Psalms. Master Jean de Mandeville,
(French, active 1350 - 1370) [Getty Museum]

We continue to build the pages of the Little Office website. Below is Psalm 121, from Terce, with notes based on St Robert Bellarmine's explanations.

Totus tuus ego sum 
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum tutus semper sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam

[ ]  Footnotes are not hyperlinked but refer to the notes after the Psalm.

Psalmus 121

Laetátus sum in his. The desire and hope of the just for the coming of the kingdom of God, and the peace of his church.

[1] Lætátus sum in his, quæ dicta sunt mihi: * In domum Dómini íbimus.
I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: * We shall go into the house of the Lord.

[2] Stantes erant pedes nostri, * in átriis tuis, Jerúsalem.
Our feet were standing * in thy courts, O Jerusalem.

[3] Jerúsalem, quæ ædificátur ut cívitas: * cujus participátio ejus in idípsum.
Jerusalem, which is built as a city, * which is compact together.

[4] Illuc enim ascendérunt tribus, tribus Dómini: * testimónium Israël ad confiténdum nómini Dómini.
For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: * the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.

[5] Quia illic sedérunt sedes in judício, * sedes super domum David.
Because their seats have sat in judgment, * seats upon the house of David.

[6] Rogáte quæ ad pacem sunt Jerúsalem: * et abundántia diligéntibus te:
Pray ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: * and abundance for them that love thee.

[7] Fiat pax in virtúte tua: * et abundántia in túrribus tuis.
Let peace be in thy strength: * and abundance in thy towers.

[8] Propter fratres meos, et próximos meos, * loquébar pacem de te:
For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbours, * I spoke peace of thee.

[9] Propter domum Dómini, Dei nostri, * quæsívi bona tibi.
Because of the house of the Lord our God, * I have sought good things for thee.

Notes

[1] Lætátus sum in his, quæ dicta sunt mihi: * In domum Dómini íbimus.
I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: * We shall go into the house of the Lord.

Such is the language of God’s people, expressive of their joy on hearing the welcome news of their return to their country. Jeremias was the person to announce that, after seventy years, there would be an end to the captivity, and that the city and the temple would be rebuilt. Daniel, Aggeus, and Zacharias, who lived at the time the captivity was ended, foretold it more clearly; and they, therefore, created much joy among the people, when, on the completion of the seventy years, they said, “We shall go into the house of the Lord;” that is to say, we shall return to our country, where we shall get to see mount Sion and the site of the house of the Lord; and then, when we shall have rebuilt the temple, we will again “go into the house of the Lord.”
Christ, however, was the bearer of a far and away more happy message when he announced, “Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;” and when he said more clearly, “In my Father’s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you; because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go and prepare a place for you I will come again, and will take you to myself, that where I am, you also may be.” Such news fills with unspeakable joy those who have learned the value “of going into the house of the Lord;” and to hold in that house, not the position “of a stranger or a foreigner, but of a fellow citizen with the saints and a domestic of God’s.” That must be well known to anyone reflecting seriously on the saying of David, “They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house;” and in another Psalm, “We shall be filled with the good things of thy house;” as also on that saying of the Apostle, “That you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” Such is the man who, from his heart, desires to go into the house of the Lord; and, therefore, from his heart sings, “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me. We shall go into the house of the Lord.” Now, “the sensual man perceiveth not the things that are of the spirit of God,” and, therefore, on the approach of death, or the termination of his exile and pilgrimage, instead of rejoicing, is troubled and laments, and justly, because, as he did not choose during his life time “to dispose in his heart to ascend by steps,” he cannot possibly expect to go up to the house of the Lord on high, but rather fears to go down to the prison of the damned, there to be punished forever.

[2] Stantes erant pedes nostri, * in átriis tuis, Jerúsalem.
Our feet were standing * in thy courts, O Jerusalem.

He tells us why the Jews were so overjoyed at the idea of their return to their country, and he says it arose from their remembrance of the time previous to the captivity, when they saw Jerusalem in her extent and in her splendor; for many who had been carried off captives in their youth could have remembered Jerusalem as she then was; and in 1 Esdras 3 we read, that many returned from the captivity who had seen the city and the temple. These men, therefore, say, “Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem;” that is to say, because we recollected the time when we stood in your courts or in your gates, as it is more clearly expressed in the Hebrew. He names the courts or the gates, being, as it were, the vestibules of the city, rather than the public buildings or the streets, because it was at the gates that business was mostly transacted; it was there that the citizens mostly assembled, as we may infer from that verse in Proverbs, “Her husband is honourable in the gates, when he sitteth among the senators of the land.” It also appears, from 2 Kings 18, that the gates of Jerusalem were not plain, ordinary gates, but that they were double gates, with a considerable space between them, which, perhaps, is here called “thy courts.” Thus we read in 2 Kings 24, “And David sat between the two gates.” And again, Jeremias 39, “And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the middle gate;” and, certainly, no small space was necessary to accommodate all those princes with their retinue.
But how can we Christians say, “Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem,” when we were never in her courts? Well, we have been in her courts, otherwise we would not be now exiles and pilgrims, nor would Christ have redeemed us from captivity had we not been torn from our country and captives in a foreign land. We have been, then, in the courts of the heavenly Jerusalem, when, through our father Adam, we had possession of paradise, that was the gate of the paradise above; and the state of innocence then and there was the gate and the court to the state of glory; and that, perhaps, was the reason why the Holy Spirit made David write “in the courts,” instead of the streets of Jerusalem, that we may understand that the Psalm treats of the celestial, and not the earthly Jerusalem. “We have (therefore) rejoiced at the things that were said of thee,” when they said, “we shall go into the house of the Lord,” because we remembered the time when “our feet were standing” in paradise, and, consequently, in the courts of the paradise above; and, from the idea we got of happiness in the place below, we can guess at the happiness that awaits us above. And though this great place in question is sometimes called the house of the Lord, sometimes the city of Jerusalem, still it is all one and the same place; for our heavenly country is one time called a kingdom, sometimes a city, and at other times a house. It is a kingdom by reason of the multitude and the variety of its inhabitants, as St. John observes, Apoc. 7, “It is a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues.” It is a city by reason of the friendship and fellowship that exist between the saints and the blessed; for, however great their number may be, they know, recognize, and love each other as so many fellow citizens; and, finally, it is a house by reason of the elect having only one father, one inheritance, in which they are all brethren, under the one Father, God.

[3] Jerúsalem, quæ ædificátur ut cívitas: * cujus participátio ejus in idípsum.
Jerusalem, which is built as a city, * which is compact together.

The prophet now, in the person of the pilgrims hastening to Jerusalem, begins to enumerate its praises, with a view of thereby stirring himself up to make greater haste in his ascent to it. He praises it, (1) by reason of the supreme peace enjoyed by all its inhabitants, who were so united in the love of each other that they held all their property in common. “Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem;” that same Jerusalem whose buildings have so increased, and are daily increasing, that it has now become a city “which is compact together;” which is enjoyed and shared in common by all. Referring the passage to a future state it is much more beautiful and more sublime, for the heavenly Jerusalem is truly built up as a city; not that it is, strictly speaking, a city, nor that there were stones used in the building; still, it is built up as a city so long as the living stones, dressed by a consummate workman, and, after being actually squared and fitted, are placed on the building of the celestial habitation; from which it follows, that they who understand it not only bear all manner of persecutions with equanimity, but they even rejoice and glory in their tribulations, being perfectly sensible that it is in such manner they are squared and fitted for being built into and raised upon the heavenly habitation. One of these living stones, St. James, thus admonishes us, “My brethren, count it great joy when you shall fall into diverse temptations.” Again, in our heavenly country, we shall have the real community of property; for, in the earthly Jerusalem such community of property was more a matter of fact than a matter of right, and arose from the mutual love of the inhabitants for each other; the same held for a time, in the infancy of the Church, as we read in the Acts, “Neither did any of them say, that of the things which he possessed, anything was his own, but all things were common to them;” which still holds among those religious orders that observe the spirit of their institute. But in the heavenly Jerusalem there is complete community of property, the one God being all unto all; that is, the one and the same God being the honour, the riches, and the delight of all those who dwell in his house; and that most happy and most supreme abundance is really always the same, subject to no diminution or alteration whatever.

[4] Illuc enim ascendérunt tribus, tribus Dómini: * testimónium Israël ad confiténdum nómini Dómini.
For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: * the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.

(2)The second subject of praise in Jerusalem is the number of its inhabitants; and this verse has a connection with the second verse, because he now assigns a reason for having said, or rather, for having put in the mouth of God’s people, “Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem;” for, though they were not all citizens of Jerusalem, but inhabitants of different cities, still they all came up to Jerusalem three times in every year. He, therefore, says, “Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem; for thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord;” that is, a great many tribes; such repetitions, in the Hebrew, being indicative of multitude; and thus, a great multitude assembled in Jerusalem, “the testimony of Israel to praise the name of the Lord;” explaining the cause of such an assemblage in Jerusalem. It was according to “the testimony,” that is, the law that obliged all Israel to visit the temple of the Lord at stated times, it being the only temple in the land of promise; and there “praise the name of the Lord,” in acts of thanksgiving and praise.
From another point of view, which we consider was more intended by the Holy Ghost, the meaning is, A reason is assigned for having said, “Jerusalem which is built as a city;” because it was built as a city, by reason of “the tribes that go up there;” that is, the holy souls from all tribes and nations, who go up to be built into the spiritual structures, that St. Peter writes of in his first epistle, chap. 2. Now, those blessed souls have gone up to that heavenly Jerusalem, “to praise the name of the Lord;” for that is their whole occupation there, to the exclusion of every other business. Hence, in Psalm 83, we have, “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall praise thee forever and ever;” and Tobias, speaking of the heavenly Jerusalem, has, “And Alleluia shall be sung in its streets;” and such is “the testimony,” that is, the command, “to Israel,” that is, to the soul enjoying the beatific vision, that it should never desist from praise, inasmuch as it never ceases to love.

[5] Quia illic sedérunt sedes in judício, * sedes super domum David.
Because there seats have sat in judgment, * seats upon the house of David.
(3) The third matter for praise in Jerusalem is its being the seat of government, and having a royal palace in it; and the word “because” would seem to connect this verse with the preceding; for it looks like assigning a reason why God wished to have a temple, which the people were bound to visit three times a year, in Jerusalem, in consequence of being the residence of royalty, and the metropolis of the kingdom. He, therefore, says, “Because there,” in Jerusalem, “seats have sat in judgment;” seats of kings in succession, whose business it was to judge the people, “have sat,” have been firmly settled and fixed, not like that of Saul’s, which was for a while in Gabaa of Benjamin, and made no great stay there either; nor, like that of the judges who preceded the kings, who never had any certain fixed place for “sitting,” or delivering judgment, while the kings of the family of David sat permanently in Jerusalem; and he, therefore, adds, “seats upon the house of David;” that is, the seat of royalty founded on the family of David, met with rest and stability; for God said to David, 2 Kings 7, “And thy house shall be faithful, and thy kingdom forever before thy face; and thy throne shall be firm forever.” From the expression, “seats upon the house of David,” we are not to infer that they sat in judgment on the family of David alone; for they had authority over the whole family of Jacob, that is, over the twelve tribes of Israel; but they are called seats upon the house of David, because all the kings of God’s people sprang from the family of David.
All this is much more applicable to Christ and the heavenly Jerusalem. Because, lest the Jews may imagine that the words of the Psalm apply to that earthly Jerusalem, and not to the celestial Jerusalem, of which it was a figure, God permitted the seat of government to be removed from Jerusalem, and, furthermore, Jerusalem itself to be destroyed. The promise, then, applies to the Jerusalem above, and to Christ, according to the prophecy of Isaias, chap. 9; of Daniel, chap. 9; and of the Angel to the Virgin, Lk. 1, “The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” In the strictest acceptance, then, of the words have “the seats sat in judgment” in the heavenly Jerusalem; because Christ’s throne and the thrones of those who reign with him have been established most firmly in heaven; and because those very saints who reign and judge with Christ are a throne for God; for “the soul of the just is the seat of wisdom;” and those seats really sit in judgment, according to the promise of our Lord, “You that have followed me shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And those seats are upon the house of David, because all the power of the saints, royal as well as judiciary, is derived from Christ, who is called the son of David in the Gospel, and who got the seat of David his father, and who will reign forever in the house of Jacob, and of whose kingdom there shall be no end.

[6] Rogáte quæ ad pacem sunt Jerúsalem: * et abundántia diligéntibus te:
Pray ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: * and abundance for them that love thee.
The prophet now exhorts the exiles, on their return from their captivity, to salute, even from afar, the city of Jerusalem, praying for peace and abundance on it, two things that contribute principally to the happiness of cities; for peace, without abundance, is only a firm hold of misery; and abundance, without peace, amounts to doubtful and uncertain happiness; but when both are combined, the city needs nothing necessary for its happiness. He, therefore, says, “Pray for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem.” Pray ye to God for true and solid peace for your country, and for “abundance,” not only for the city of Jerusalem, but also “to them that love thee,” you holy city.

[7] Fiat pax in virtúte tua: * et abundántia in túrribus tuis.
Let peace be in thy strength: * and abundance in thy towers.
He dictates the very words in which those who pray for peace and abundance to Jerusalem are to salute her. When you salute her say ye, “Let peace be in thy strength, and abundance in thy towers;” that is to say, may your walk be always secure and fortified, thereby ensuring perfect peace and quiet to all who dwell within them; “and abundance in thy towers;” no lack of meat or drink in your public buildings and private houses.

[8] Propter fratres meos, et próximos meos, * loquébar pacem de te:
For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbours, * I spoke peace of thee.
[9] Propter domum Dómini, Dei nostri, * quæsívi bona tibi.
Because of the house of the Lord our God, * I have sought good things for thee.
Now, the two last verses, in reference to the heavenly Jerusalem, though they imply prayers for peace and abundance, still they do not mean to insinuate that there can ever possibly be a want of either there, when we read in Psalm 147, “Who hath placed peace in thy borders; and filleth thee with the fat corn?” they, therefore, merely express the pious affection we cherish for the blessings of the Jerusalem above, just as we have in the Apocalypse, “Salvation to our God who sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Psalm 120 (after Bellarmine)

David introduces the Psalms. Master Jean de Mandeville,
(French, active 1350 - 1370) [Getty Museum]

We continue to build the pages of the Little Office website. Below is Psalm 120, from Terce, with notes based on St Robert Bellarmine's explanations.

Totus tuus ego sum 
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum tutus semper sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam

[ ]  Footnotes are not hyperlinked but refer to the notes after the Psalm.

Psalm 120

Levávi oculos. God is the keeper of his servants. A gradual canticle.

[1] Levávi óculos meos in montes, * unde véniet auxílium mihi.
I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, * from whence help shall come to me.

[2] Auxílium meum a Dómino, * qui fecit cælum et terram.
My help is from the Lord, * who made heaven and earth.

[3] Non det in commotiónem pedem tuum: * neque dormítet qui custódit te.
May he not suffer thy foot to be moved: * neither let him slumber that keepeth thee.

[4] Ecce, non dormitábit neque dórmiet, * qui custódit Israël.
Behold he shall neither slumber nor sleep, * that keepeth Israel.

[5] Dóminus custódit te, Dóminus protéctio tua, * super manum déxteram tuam.
The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy protection * upon thy right hand.

[6] Per diem sol non uret te: * neque luna per noctem.
The sun shall not burn thee by day: * nor the moon by night.

[7] Dóminus custódit te ab omni malo: * custódiat ánimam tuam Dóminus.
The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: * may the Lord keep thy soul.

[8] Dóminus custódiat intróitum tuum, et éxitum tuum: * ex hoc nunc, et usque in sæculum.
May the Lord keep thy coming in and thy going out; * from henceforth now and for ever.

Notes

[1] Levávi óculos meos in montes, * unde véniet auxílium mihi.
I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, * from whence help shall come to me.
Travellers look at nothing more frequently than the place for which they are bound, and if they cannot see it, they fix their eyes on the point next to it, from which they derive great consolation, so much so that they gather fresh strength and courage to prosecute their journey. The earthly Jerusalem being in the mountains, and the celestial Jerusalem being above all the heavens, this traveler, whether real or imaginary, says, “I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains,” where the holy city is situated, “from whence help shall come to me,” that of consolation.

[2] Auxílium meum a Dómino, * qui fecit cælum et terram.
My help is from the Lord, * who made heaven and earth.
The traveller declares he expects no help from the mountains to which he raised his eyes, but from him who presides over the holy city that is on the mountains, which he explains more clearly in the beginning of Psalm, 122, where he says, “To thee have I lifted up my eyes who dwellest in heaven.” He then describes the true God by the creation of heaven and earth, as he did in another Psalm, where he says, “For all the gods of the gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.”

[3] Non det in commotiónem pedem tuum: * neque dormítet qui custódit te.
May he not suffer thy foot to be moved: * neither let him slumber that keepeth thee.
The prophet, now speaking in his own person, answers the traveler, and says you did well and wisely in raising your eyes to the mountains, in not regarding the vanities you met on the road, and seeking for help and consolation from the founder of your heavenly country; and I, therefore, sincerely hope “he may not suffer thy foot to be moved,” that he may not allow you to slip or to fall on the road, but that he may so strengthen your feet that they may continue to be sound during your journey to your country. “Neither let him slumber that keepeth thee.” I also wish and pray that the Father, who is your guardian, may be always vigilant in guarding you, so as never to suffer your feet to be moved. God is said to slumber, in a figurative sense, when he suffers us, as if he did not advert to it, to fall, as he who slumbers has no cognizance of what is being done. “Thy foot to be moved,” is a Hebrew phrase for falling into sin, as in Psalm 17, “My feet are not weakened,” and in Psalm 72, “My feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipt.”

[4] Ecce, non dormitábit neque dórmiet, * qui custódit Israël.
Behold he shall neither slumber nor sleep, * that keepeth Israel.
The prophet promises the pilgrim the grace he had been asking for, saying, I pray that the Father, who undertook the care of you, may not slumber; and he certainly will not slumber; because he who has charge of his own people, the people of Israel, including all the pilgrims in this world, who hasten to go up to their heavenly country, never sleeps nor slumbers.

[5] Dóminus custódit te, Dóminus protéctio tua, * super manum déxteram tuam.
The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy protection * upon thy right hand.
[6] Per diem sol non uret te: * neque luna per noctem.
The sun shall not burn thee by day: * nor the moon by night.
The prophet just assured the pilgrim so confiding in God that he would be protected, that he may not fall on the way; and he now promises another consolation, that he would be protected from the heat of the sun in the daytime, and that of the moon in the night; because God will be like a shade to him, that he can hold in his hand, so as to protect himself on every quarter. The Lord not only protects Israel, his people in general, “but he is thy protector” in particular; and his protector, as the Hebrew implies, is like a parasol, held in the hand, and raised over the head, and can be moved so as to give protection on any side.

[7] Dóminus custódit te ab omni malo: * custódiat ánimam tuam Dóminus.
The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: * may the Lord keep thy soul.
He now adds another consolation, a general one. Not only will the Lord guard you from falling and from fatigue, but he will protect you from every other evil that could possibly befall you on the journey, so that your soul or your life will be preserved whole and intact through the whole journey.

[8] Dóminus custódiat intróitum tuum, et éxitum tuum: * ex hoc nunc, et usque in sæculum.
May the Lord keep thy coming in and thy going out; * from henceforth now and for ever.
The prophet concludes by promising the last and most desirable consolation of all. Not only will the pilgrim, “who in his heart hath disposed to ascend by steps,” be so protected in any particular part of his journey; but he will be always protected throughout the journey. Every journey consists of an entrance and exit; for, as we go along, we enter on one road, and when that is finished we leave it; then we enter on another, from which we also depart; so also we come into a city or a house, and we go out of them; we enter another and out we go again, until we finish the journey by arriving at our country. Thus it is that we get along on the road of life, entering on and completing good works; for to begin corresponds with coming into; completing with going out; “from henceforth now and forever;” from this day and forever, may the Lord guard thy coming in and thy going out, and protect and save thee.

Psalms 116 & 119 (after Bellarmine)

David introduces the Psalms. Master Jean de Mandeville,
(French, active 1350 - 1370) [Getty Museum]

We continue to build the pages of the Little Office website. Below are Psalm 116, from Prime, and Psalm 119, from Terce, with notes based on St Robert Bellarmine's explanations.

Totus tuus ego sum 
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum tutus semper sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam

[ ]  Footnotes are not hyperlinked but refer to the notes after the Psalm.





Psalmus 116

Laudáte Dóminum. All nations are called upon to praise God for his mercy and truth. Alleluia.

[1] Laudáte Dóminum, omnes gentes: * laudáte eum, omnes pópuli:
Praise the Lord, all ye nations: * praise him, all ye people.
 [2] Quóniam confirmáta est super nos misericórdia ejus: * et véritas Dómini manet in ætérnum.
For his mercy is confirmed upon us: * and the truth of the Lord remaineth for ever.

Notes

[1] He addresses the whole Church, and exhorts it to praise God. “All ye nations” is directed to the converted gentiles, who are named first by reason of their being in the majority, and the people nearer those of the Jews who had been converted to the faith; and the Apostles themselves, in alluding to a similar expression in the second Psalm, “Why have the gentiles raged, and the people meditated vain things,” apply the former to the gentiles, and the latter to the Jews.[2] The reason assigned for praising God is, “for his mercy is confirmed on us,” by the arrival of the Messias to Jews and gentiles; “and the truth of the Lord remaineth forever;” for the Church was established, “Against which the gates of hell shall not prevail,” and his kingdom was established, of which there will be no end.

Psalmus 119

Ad Dominum. A prayer in tribulation. A gradual canticle.

[1] Ad Dóminum cum tribulárer clamávi: * et exaudívit me.
In my trouble I cried to the Lord: * and he heard me.

[2] Dómine, líbera ánimam meam a lábiis iníquis, * et a lingua dolósa.
O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips, * and a deceitful tongue.

[3] Quid detur tibi, aut quid apponátur tibi * ad linguam dolósam?
What shall be given to thee, or what shall be added to thee, * to a deceitful tongue?

[4] Sagíttæ poténtis acútæ, * cum carbónibus desolatóriis.
The sharp arrows of the mighty, * with coals that lay waste.

[5] Heu mihi, quia incolátus meus prolongátus est: habitávi cum habitántibus Cedar: *[6] multum íncola fuit ánima mea.
Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar: * my soul hath been long a sojourner.

[7] Cum his, qui odérunt pacem, eram pacíficus: * cum loquébar illis, impugnábant me gratis.
With them that hated peace I was peaceable: * when I spoke to them they fought against me without cause.

Notes

[1] Ad Dóminum cum tribulárer clamávi: * et exaudívit me.
In my trouble I cried to the Lord: * and he heard me.
Among the various calamities of this our exile, one is specially to be deplored, and that is the deceitful tongue of those among whom we are obliged to mix; and the prophet, in order to instruct his fellow exiles by his example, sings in this Psalm of his having asked for and obtained deliverance from such an evil. “In my trouble,” I did not look for help from man, but “I cried,” in prayer, “to the Lord,” and he, in his mercy, “heard me.”

[2] Dómine, líbera ánimam meam a lábiis iníquis, * et a lingua dolósa.
O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips, * and a deceitful tongue.

He tells what he prayed for when he cried to the Lord. It was, “O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips and a deceitful tongue,” one of the greatest and most numerous evils of this our pilgrimage. “Wicked lips” give expression to detraction, railing, calumny, false testimony, and similar expressions against the law of justice; “a deceitful tongue” sends forth words of deceit, flattery, pretence, and fraud. We may meet with “wicked lips” without “the deceitful tongue,” as when one openly reproaches or calumniates; but when the wicked lips and the deceitful tongue are united, the evil exceeds comprehension, so as scarce to admit of any addition to it, as the next verse will inform us.

[3] Quid detur tibi, aut quid apponátur tibi * ad linguam dolósam?
What shall be given to thee, or what shall be added to thee, * to a deceitful tongue?

He assigns a reason for having asked to be delivered from a deceitful tongue, because it is such a calamity as to admit of no addition to it. For what evil can be given to or added to a deceitful tongue?

[4] Sagíttæ poténtis acútæ, * cum carbónibus desolatóriis.
The sharp arrows of the mighty, * with coals that lay waste.
By an elegant metaphor, he explains the enormity of the evil of a deceitful tongue; he says that the words issuing from such a tongue are like arrows that shoot from afar, and with great rapidity, so that they can scarcely be guarded against; and, in order to give greater force and expression to the idea, he adds, that they are not like the arrows shot by an ordinary person, but “by the mighty;” that is, by a strong and robust hand; and, furthermore, that they are “sharp,” well steeled and pointed by the maker; and, finally, that they are so full of fire that, like the lightnings of heaven that are discharged from the hands of the Almighty, and are truly both sharp and fiery, they can lay everything waste and desolate. Such are words of deceit, especially when used by the devil to ruin souls, and are called by the Apostle “the fiery darts of the most wicked one.”

[5] Heu mihi, quia incolátus meus prolongátus est: habitávi cum habitántibus Cedar: *[6] multum íncola fuit ánima mea.
Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar: * my soul hath been long a sojourner.
In consequence of so great and so frequent an evil in this our place of peregrination, he sighs for his country, and thus, truly and from his heart, sings the “canticle of ascent,” as these fifteen Psalms are called. “Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged;” for the true pilgrim desires rather to be shut out from his body than from his Lord, and therefore, looks upon the present life as entirely too long, inasmuch as it keeps him the longer away from the Lord. “I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar.” No wonder I should complain of being detained too long here below, for hitherto “I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar;” with wild and barbarous tribes, that live in tents instead of houses, and are black and swarthy. The word Cedar in Hebrew signifies blackness; and hence, in Canticles, we have the “tents of Cedar” put in opposition to “the curtains of Solomon;” that is, black and rustic tents, to splendid and valuable curtains. And, truly, the cities and palaces of the kings of this world, when compared to the mansions of the heavenly Jerusalem, are but so many rustic tents; and, therefore, the holy pilgrim again mourns, saying—

My exile in a foreign land has been entirely too long. Hence we may infer how few are to be found in those days who chant this gradual Psalm from their heart; whereas most people are so attached to the exile and the tents of Cedar that there is nothing they hear with greater pain than any allusion to their leaving it.

[7] Cum his, qui odérunt pacem, eram pacíficus: * cum loquébar illis, impugnábant me gratis.
With them that hated peace I was peaceable: * when I spoke to them they fought against me without cause.
He concludes by assigning a reason for its being a loss to him to have his exile extended, and at the same time explains the expression, “the inhabitants of Cedar;” he there said, “I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar,” which he now explains by saying, I have dwelt “with them that hated peace.” There is nothing I love more than peace; I have dwelt with people of quite different habits, with the wicked, so wicked that they fought equally with friend and foe; and if, perchance, I ever “spoke to them” about peace it only caused them the more “to fight against me without cause.”
This Psalm is applicable to all the elect, and especially to Christ, the head of the elect, so far as his human nature is concerned. For he cried to some purpose to his Father, on the night he spent in prayer, and afterwards in the garden, and, finally, on the cross, when God exalted him “and gave him a name above every name. He also truly suffered from “the wicked lips and the deceitful tongue,” even to the hour of his death, as can be clearly seen throughout the Gospels. He could say with the greatest truth, “My sojourning is prolonged,” whereas, he said in the Gospel, “O incredulous generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?” Truly “did he dwell with the inhabitants of Cedar,” for though he was light, and, therefore, did not dwell in Cedar, that is, in darkness, still he was seen by the inhabitants of Cedar, and conversed with them. Finally, “he was truly peaceable with them that hated peace,” because “when he was reviled he reviled not, when he suffered he threatened not,” “and when he spoke to them” on peace, love, on the kingdom of God, they, on the contrary, “fought against him without cause,” as our Saviour himself remarked, when he said, “But that the word may be fulfilled, which is written in their law; They have hated me without cause.”

Psalm 112 (after Bellarmine)

David introduces the Psalms. Master Jean de Mandeville,
(French, active 1350 - 1370) [Getty Museum]

We continue to build the pages of the Little Office website. Below is Psalm 112, from Vespers, with notes based on St Robert Bellarmine's explanations.

Totus tuus ego sum 
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum tutus semper sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam

[ ]  Footnotes are not hyperlinked but refer to the notes after the Psalm.

Psalmus 112

Laudate, pueri. God is to be praised for his regard to the poor and humble. Alleluia.

[1] Laudáte, púeri, Dóminum: * laudáte nomen Dómini.
Praise the Lord, ye children: * praise ye the name of the Lord.

[2] Sit nomen Dómini benedíctum, * ex hoc nunc, et usque in sæculum.
(Bow head) Blessed be the name of the Lord, * from henceforth now and for ever.

[3] A solis ortu usque ad occásum, * laudábile nomen Dómini.
From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, * the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.

[4] Excélsus super omnes gentes Dóminus, * et super cælos glória ejus.
The Lord is high above all nations; * and his glory above the heavens.

[5] Quis sicut Dóminus, Deus noster, qui in altis hábitat, *[6] et humília réspicit in cælo et in terra?
Who is as the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high: * and looketh down on the low things in heaven and in earth?

[7] Súscitans a terra ínopem, * et de stércore érigens páuperem:
Raising up the needy from the earth, * and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill:

[8] Ut cóllocet eum cum princípibus, * cum princípibus pópuli sui.
That he may place him with princes, * with the princes of his people.

[9] Qui habitáre facit stérilem in domo, * matrem filiórum lætántem.
Who maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house, * the joyful mother of children.

Notes

[1] Laudáte, púeri, Dóminum: * laudáte nomen Dómini.
Praise the Lord, ye children: * praise ye the name of the Lord.

Children, here, represent the servants of the Lord who worship him in all sincerity. That is clear from the Hebrew for children. Children and servants, however, are so clearly allied that the term may be applied indiscriminately to both, for servants should be as obedient to their masters as children are to their parents. Hence, St. Paul says, “As long as the heir is a child he differeth nothing from a servant.” We are, therefore, reminded by the term “children,” that we should be the pure and simple servants of God, and be directed by his will, without raising any question whatever about it. “Praise the Lord, ye children; praise ye the name of the Lord.” Let it be your principal study, all you who claim to be servants of God, to reflect with a pure mind on the greatness of your Lord, and with all the affections of your heart to praise his infinite name. A similar exhortation is to be found in Psalm 133, “Behold now bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord;” and in Psalm 134, “Praise ye the name of the Lord: O you his servants, praise the Lord.”
[2] Sit nomen Dómini benedíctum, * ex hoc nunc, et usque in sæculum.
(Bow head) Blessed be the name of the Lord, * from henceforth now and for ever.
As we, creeping, wretched things, know not how to praise God as we ought, he now tells us how it should be done, and says it should be done at least with affection and desire. Say, therefore, with all the affections of your heart, “Blessed be the name of the Lord,” “from henceforth,” at the present time, “and forever,” to all future generations, so that there shall never be any cessation to his praise.
[3] A solis ortu usque ad occásum, * laudábile nomen Dómini.
From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, * the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.
In this and the following verses he explains the subject of God’s praise, which he says is to be found everywhere, all his works being so replete with wonders, which, on diligent reflection, redound so much praise on their wonderful Maker. “From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same;” throughout the whole world, from one end of it to the other, “the name of the Lord is worthy of praise,” by reason of his great works that so abound throughout the world.
[4] Excélsus super omnes gentes Dóminus, * et super cælos glória ejus.
The Lord is high above all nations; * and his glory above the heavens.
Matter for God’s praise is to be found not only through the length and breadth, but even through the height of the world; for, though there may be many great kings and powerful princes therein, God far out tops them all, and he lords it over, not only “all the nations,” but even over all the Angels, for “his glory is above the heavens,” and all who dwell therein.
[5] Quis sicut Dóminus, Deus noster, qui in altis hábitat, *[6] et humília réspicit in cælo et in terra?
Who is as the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high: * and looketh down on the low things in heaven and in earth?
He now praises God by reason of his wonderful kindness, which, when looked at in conjunction with such sublimity, appears the more extraordinary. “Who is as the Lord our God who dwelleth on high,” in the highest heavens, and still “looketh down on the low things;” on man who dwells on the earth. The words, “in heaven,” according to the Hebrew, should be referred to the first verse. We are here instructed that God, by reason of his excellence, has everything subject to him; and yet, such is his goodness, that he looks after, and attends to the minutest matters, things, and persons, and especially to the meek and humble of heart.
[7] Súscitans a terra ínopem, * et de stércore érigens páuperem:
Raising up the needy from the earth, * and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill:
[8] Ut cóllocet eum cum princípibus, * cum princípibus pópuli sui.
That he may place him with princes, * with the princes of his people.

He explains why God “looks down” on the humble, and says it is to exalt them; and though this is most applicable to individuals raised by God from the lowest to the highest position, such as Joseph, Moses, David, and others, it is also most true of the whole human race, that is, of the little flock of the elect, to whom our Saviour said, “Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom.” Now, mankind lay prostrate on the earth, wallowing on the dunghill of original sin, and its consequent evils, and yet God, who is seated in heaven, looked down on the earth, and raised up the needy, that is, the man despoiled by the robbers, who was lying on the dunghill of misery, to “place him with princes;” not in the general acceptation of the word; but with “the princes of his people,” the possessors of the heavenly Jerusalem, the citizens of the kingdom of heaven. The being raised from the poverty of this world to an abundance of its riches, however great and desirable it may appear in our eyes, is in reality a thing of no value, such things being perishable, given to us merely to make good use of them, and bringing great obligations with them, which, if not properly discharged, will, on the day of judgment, bring down great trouble and affliction of spirit on those who got them. But the elevation from a state of sin and death to that of glory and immortality, to an equality with the Angels, to share in that happiness that forms a part of God’s own happiness, that, indeed, is the true, the truly great, and the most to be sought for elevation.
[9] Qui habitáre facit stérilem in domo, * matrem filiórum lætántem.
Who maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house, * the joyful mother of children.
With mankind a low and contemptible position is considered a misfortune, while barrenness is looked upon in the same light by womankind; but, as God looks down on the humble man so as to raise him from the lowest to the highest position, he also looks down on the humble woman, thereby changing her barrenness into fertility. This is quite applicable to several females, such as Sara, Rebecca, Rachel, Anne, and others; but it applies, in a higher sense, to the Church gathered from the gentiles, that remained barren a long time, but ultimately begot many children, as the Apostle has it, “Rejoice thou barren, that bearest not; break forth and cry out, thou that travailest not: for many are the children of the desolate, more than that of her that hath a husband.”