Bellarmine on Psalm 50: Verses 3 and 4

1542-1641. Rijksmuseum, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

From the commentary St Thomas Aquinas wrote in the 13th century, we move to the 17th century and another commentary on the same Psalm by the great polymath, Scripture scholar and apologist, St Robert Bellarmine (1542-1641).

“One of Bellarmine’s confreres in the College of Cardinals called him ‘the most learned churchman since St. Augustine’and I’d agree with that,” Fr. Baker[1] said. “His knowledge of Scripture and Theology — he seemed to know the entire Bible by heart, plus the teachings not only of nearly every pope, but of many bishops, too! — it’s just astonishing. Bellarmine was truly a polymath.” [From an interview published in the National Catholic Register in September 2017]
[1] Author of a translation of Bellarmine’s Controversies of the Christian Faith, published by Keep the Faith Books (2016)

The Latin is reproduced courtesy of the Digital Collection site  - UANL and is followed by my fairly literal translation. The Scripture excerpts (Douay Rheims/Vulgate) are taken from the DRBO site but the verse numbering follows that of Bellarmine’s Latin text.

Verse 3

Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea, et a peccato meo munda me.

Even after the forgiveness of guilt and the restoration of grace, there still remain in man the bad habits of vices and the very concupiscence of the flesh that render a man ill and feeble; they are such as those have who are convalescing after a recent, serious illness. The bad habits are gradually eliminated by the practice of the virtues; concupiscence can, it is true, be reduced, but ordinarily it is not eradicated except in death.

Although our diligence and study can help the eradication of vices and the dreduction of concupiscence, the chief help is from |God’s graces, without which we can do nothing but with which we can do all things. So the Prophet David, who knew very well of all these things, wrote in Psalm cii: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he hath done for thee. Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases.”[1] And in this place, after he asked for his sin to be blotted out, and heard Nathan the prophet (in II Kings xii) say: “ The Lord also hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die,”[2] he then asked to be washed and cleansed, that is,  more and yet more to be justified through a greater infusion of grace; 

so that, with bad habits taken away and concupiscence mortified, his soul might be made brighter and more beautiful., and through this also become stronger in resistence to temptations. “ Wash me,yet more,” he says, “ from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin,” that is, I hope that my sin may be blotted out by thy grace, and that my soul may be washed and cleansed from sin and the stain caused by the sin; but I desire and ask again and again to be washed by ever more grace so that my soul may emerge brighter and stronger. It might be explained more simply that this second petition pertains to the greatness of the sin to be blotted out, as though he were to say: if the stain of my sin were light, a simple washing would suffice; but because the stain is huge and many-faceted, so I greatly, earnestly desire to be washed more and yet more, so that no trace of so great a stain may remain.

[1]  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he hath done for thee. Benedic, anima mea, Domino, et noli oblivisci omnes retributiones ejus; Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases. qui propitiatur omnibus iniquitatibus tuis, qui sanat omnes infirmitates tuas;  [Ps. Cii. 2, 3] 
[2]  And David said to Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David: The Lord also hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die. Et dixit David ad Nathan : Peccavi Domino. Dixitque Nathan ad David : Dominus quoque transtulit peccatum tuum : non morieris. [II Reg. xii. 13]

Verse 4

Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea, et a peccato meo munda me.

Here is the second reason, where he tries to persuade God to forgive his sinning: because he confesses his sin and punishes himself for it in continual recollection and reflection. Forgive me, he says, “because I admit my sin,” I do not excuse it, I do not deny it, I do not only admit it but I think about it with a never-ending pain of heart; it “is always before me,” that is, set before my eyes, and like a dart it never ceases to pierce me through and rack me with pain. When we recite the Penitential Psalms, we ought to follow this example so that we may truly say: “My sin is always before me;” let this be done so that, if our sin has been confessed and by the grace of God blotted out entirely, it may yet remain in our memory and always serve to remind us of our ingratitude towards such a great benefactor.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.