Bellarmine on Psalm 6: Verses 3-4

We continue our series posting a commentary on the first of the Penitential Psalms, Psalm 6, written by St Robert Bellarmine (1542-1641). Where footnotes are included, the text follows each verse.

The Latin is reproduced courtesy of the Digital Collection site  - UANL and is accompanied 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

And my soul is troubled exceedingly: but thou, O Lord, how long?

Et anima mea turbata est valde; sed tu, Domine, usquequo?

He puts forward another argument from knowledge of his own sin, as he says in Psalm L: “For I know my iniquity.” He says therefore: Not only am I miserable, but I acknowledge it; besides this, my soul, beholding herself so deformed and wretched, is horrified, greatly troubled, and wholesomely frightened; becoming impatient, she calls out: “but Thou, O Lord, how long?” Wilt Thou not have mercy, wilt Thou not heal me? Without any other words, the phrase “how long,”  is given great emphasis; it signifies the expression of a troubled soul not strong enough to form a complete sentence.

Verse 4

Turn to me, O Lord, and deliver my soul: O save me for thy mercy's sake.

Convertere, Domine, et eripe animam meam; salvum me fac propter misericordiam tuam.

Here is his third argument, which is drawn from mercy. “Turn to me,” he says, that is, look on me. For God’s look is the cause of all our good. See “ Shew us thy face, and we shall be saved;” [1] and “ Thou turnedst away thy face from me, and I became troubled.”[2]  The Lord looked upon Peter, and he began to weep. St James calls God the Father of Lights[3], just as the sun by its gaze illumines, warms and vivifies bodies, so God, with His loving eyes, illumines, heats and vivifies souls. “And deliver my soul,” that is, lift it up out of the pit into which it fell; loose it from the hunters’ snare into which it was captured and held trapped; deliver it from the enemies’ hands, to whom it was given over through sin. “ O save me,” that is, deliver me from imminent damnation in hell. Now, properly speaking, to save is to deliver from the imminent danger of death. The order should be noted: firstly, God turns towards us and looks upon us with His grace; secondly, we turn to Him and thus the soul is rescued from sin; thirdly, freed from sin, we are saved from the danger of imminent damnation. All this, which is done in the act of justification, is not through any preceding merit on our part (what might the wicked merit other than punishment?) but through God’s mercy; and so he adds: “for Thy mercy's sake,” as though he might say: I dare to ask for so great a gift not because I am worthy but because Thou art merciful.

[1] Ps. lxxix. 4, 8 & 20.

[2] Ps. xxix. 8.

[3] Iac. i. 17.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.