We have given ample treatment above to the import of the phrase ‘in finem,’¹ which Symmachus translates ‘epiníkion’ [song of victory]; and Aquila and the Sixth Version,² ‘tô̄i nikopoiô̄i’ [for causing victory]. Now, let us go back to the proper order of Psalm 10. Its number symbolizes both the beginning and the end; it is the number around which all reckoning revolves; the number to which we also owe the decalogue, the first Law. Then, too, the just servant in the Gospel, because he had doubled the Lord’s money, received authority over towns corresponding to this number. And to mention...

A monumental inscription for david.’¹ In place of this superscription, the Fifth Version (in Origen’s Hexapla) retains the Hebrew, ‘MACHTHAM David,’ which Aquila has rendered ‘of David, humble and simple,’ and Symmachus, ‘of David, humble and chaste.’ Again, in Psalms 55 to 59, Aquila’s version of Hebrew ‘MACHTHAM’ becomes ‘David, humble and perfect.’ From these various translations, we conclude that one word connotes three qualities, simple, chaste, and perfect, always, however, with each of these attributes combined with ‘humility.’ In the Hebrew, therefore, one word is composed from the union of two, so that in much the same way, for...

O god, who is like you?’¹ No one is like You. ‘Be not silent, O God, and be not still!’ It is a man of the Church who is speaking, a man from within whom there flows rivers of living water.² He beholds a mighty harvest, but few laborers; throngs of believers, but few teachers to instruct them; many heretics, many adversaries, but few warriors to fight for Christ. ‘Be not silent, O God, and be not still!’ Why this plea?

‘Behold, your enemies raise a tumult.’ Now the heretics speak and the churchmen hold their peace; they raise an...

Sometime ago when we were discussing the eightieth psalm,¹ we recalled that the title of the eighth, eightieth, and eighty-third—this one—is marked by the words pro torcularibus, for the wine presses.² We said, then, that torcularia were like granaries in which the fruits of the earth are stored. Now for what the psalmist has to say.

‘How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!’ This, then, is the storehouse in which spiritual grain is to be treasured. ‘Make friends for yourselves with the mammon of wickedness so that they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.’³ ‘How...

Unto the end.¹ A psalm of the sons of Core.’ The meaning of the name Core is Calvary, the place of the Lord’s Passion. We are all sons of Core, we who believe in His Resurrection. What are we saying, therefore, in this song that we sing in unison?

‘You have blessed, O Lord, your land.’² This is better expressed by the Greek ‘Eudokḗsas kúrie,’ that is, ‘You have favored, O Lord, your land’; this was Your pleasure; this seemed good to You; this You decreed in order to fulfill through Your mercy what the following verses record: ‘You have...

Right at the outset, we encounter a difficulty in the very title of the psalm, and even though we have not yet entered the port of exegesis, nevertheless, many dark problems press down upon us. ‘A song: a psalm of the sons of Core unto the end, for Mahalath in antiphonal response to understanding of Heman the Ezrahite.’¹ You see that practically every word of itself poses a question. ‘A song: a psalm,’ no great obstacles here. ‘The sons of Core,’ the sons of Caath of the family of Levi. ‘Unto the end.’ Note carefully: ‘unto the end’; not in...

Psalm 88 has for its title: ‘Of understanding for Ethan the Ezrahite.’¹ Whenever the word ‘understanding’ appears in the title, it introduces a psalm full of mysteries and obscurities. The name ‘Ethan’ means brave or strong;² Ezrahite means helped, or, having obtained help. I mention these facts because we are treading upon history. Rightly, then, is ‘understanding’ premised that this brave, or strong, man may obtain help from the Lord to penetrate the mysteries that follow. Ezrahite he is, whether he took his name from a locality or was of the family of Merari. Read Numbers and Leviticus for full...

The eighty-ninth psalm has just been read and its title is: ‘A prayer of Moses, the man of God.’ This psalm serves as an introduction to the fourth book of the psalter, which is divided into five books.¹ The first to the fortieth psalm constitute the first book; the fortieth to the seventieth, the second; the seventy-first to the eighty-eighth, the third; the eighty-eighth to the hundred-fifth, the fourth; the hundred-fifth to the end, the fifth book. The fourth book opens with a prayer of Moses, the man of God. The Hebrews think that, not this psalm only, but also...

A psalm of praise for david.’¹ In the first place, it is necessary to know that from the eighty-eighth to the hundredth psalm, eleven psalms² are without title in the Hebrew text, and that these, for the reasons that we mentioned recently when discussing the preceding psalm, belong to the same author as the one entitled: ‘A prayer of Moses, the man of God.’³

‘You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High.’ It is ours to begin a work,⁴ it is God’s part to further it, for He does not give a crown to the slothful, but to...

It is good to confess¹ to the Lord, to sing praise to your name, Most High.’ Why did not the psalmist say first: ‘It is good to sing praise,’ and after that ‘to confess’? Because the other is the order of true praise: it is good for man, first, to repent and confess his sins to the Lord, and when he has acknowledged his sins, then, sing praise to Him, for by penance he has merited the power to burst forth into the praise of God, unrestrained by the consciousness of sin.

‘To proclaim your kindness at dawn and your...

The title of the psalm before us is: ‘ A song of praise for David on the Sabbath day when the earth was inhabited.’¹ The Sabbath day is the day of our rest, and the day of the indwelling of our clay. ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,’² so our earth has been inhabited. Let us see, therefore, what is the result of this indwelling, by what praises it is proclaimed.

‘The Lord is king, in splendor robed; robed is the Lord and girt about with strength; and he has made the world firm, not to be...

The god of vengeance, the Lord, God of vengeance, has acted boldly.’¹ Whether you call Him the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, according to the nature of the Trinity which we have expounded in the Gospel, He is both God and Lord. The God of vengeance has acted boldly. He who was despised in His humility shall take vengeance afterwards in His majesty.

‘Rise up, judge of the earth.’ You judge the earth because judgment is not proper to heaven. Hear, heretic, that the Lord judges the earth. If there is evil in heaven, why is there not...

Before we take up the gospel for discussion, a few words are in order, it seems to me, on the title of the psalm; then, after that, let us comment on one or more of the versicles. We want to have the same understanding of each entrance to the mansion that we had of the main entrance itself.¹

The title of the psalm is: ‘A song for David, when the house was being built after the captivity.’² Whose house was being built after the captivity? Who of us, do you suppose, has been captured and destroyed in the tempest of...

The title-superscription of this psalm is: ‘When his land was restored to him.’¹ Since it says, ‘was restored,’ it is evident that the land had been his before, was afterwards lost, then recovered again. What land is this that was restored to David? David’s land is holy Mary, the mother of the Savior: ‘who was born to him according to the flesh of the offspring of David.’² The promise made to David was fulfilled in the virginity of Mary and in her childbearing, when a virgin was born of a virgin. The announcement of the Gospel: ‘The Word was made...

The god of vengeance, lord, God of vengeance, has acted freely.’¹ Truly, He alone has acted freely who today has revealed to us what He has done. Freely, indeed, has He acted, He of whom much had been prophesied of old: ‘I am a man without strength, free among the dead.’² Would you like to know, moreover, what He has done? Just listen. Without any necessity, freely, of His own choice, He permitted Himself to hang from a tree; He did not refuse to have His body pierced with nails; He gave up His spirit and endured death; He laid...

The four-faced (tetrámorphon) creature that we met in the Apocalypse of John² and in the beginning of Ezechiel’s³ prophecy, that had the face of a man, the face of a calf, the face of a lion, the face of an eagle, has also special significance for the text we are considering. In Matthew, this human being has the face of a man; in Luke, an ox; in John, an eagle; in Mark, the lion crying in the desert.⁴ ‘The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaia the prophet, “The voice...

The passage from the gospel that we considered previously, closed with the words: ‘He was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him.’ Since there was not enough time last Sunday to go as far as this text, we ought to begin with it today, for all of Holy Writ is animated and held together by one Spirit. It is not unlike a necklace held together by the union of its links, so that whichever link you pick up, another suspends from it. ‘He was with wild beasts, and angels ministered to him.’ Jesus was with beasts, and...

Who touched me?’¹ He inquires and looks around to see the woman who had touched Him. Did not the Lord really know who had touched Him? Why, then, does He look around for her? He knew, of course, that she would declare publicly what had happened. ‘The woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened within her….’ If He had not asked: ‘Who touched me,’ no one would have known that a miracle had taken place. They could even have insisted that He did not work any miracles, but was only vaunting Himself and seeking His own glory. He asks...

In those days when again there was a great crowd, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples together and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, for behold, they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat.”’ In an earlier part¹ of the Gospel, we read that the Lord fed five thousand men with five loaves, and from the broken pieces left over, they picked up twelve full hampers. On that occasion, we discussed what seemed to be the meaning of the miracle. This simple record of fact that we have...

Since the venerable priest has made known to us the divine message of the psalm, we shall share the Gospel, and incorporate into our portion what we were going to say about the psalm.

‘They came to Bethsaida and they brought him a blind man and entreated him to touch him.’ The apostles came to Bethsaida, to those to whom the Lord had said: ‘How is it that you do not yet understand?’¹ This was, in fact, the question that concluded the narration of the preceding event. They came, then, to Bethsaida, into the village of Andrew and Peter, James...

Amen i say to you, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death.’¹ ‘Amen I say to you.’ Christ is making a solemn promise. We must trust in Christ’s promises. The Old Testament, ‘As I live says the Lord,’ is equivalent to the New Testament, ‘Amen amen I say to you.’ ‘Amen, amen,’ means truly, truly. Truth speaks truth to vanquish falsehood. ‘Amen I say to you, there are some of those standing here.’ I say to you, disciples; to the Jews, however, I am not speaking, for their ears are closed and My words cannot...

How does it happen, according to Luke’s Gospel,¹ that the tethered colt had so many owners? In what sense is it taken away from them and led to one master? Again, how was it outside at a door and, at the same time, in the cross-streets? Outside the door, it surely was; it had been prepared for the faith, but could not enter without the apostles. It was in a place, too, where streets meet; it was between paganism and Judaism and did not know which street to follow.

Why does Mark specify that upon it no man had yet...

The lord jesus went into jerusalem, into the temple. And when he had looked round upon all things, then, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.’¹ The Lord went into Jerusalem and into the temple. He went in and, having entered, what does He do? He looks about at everything. In the temple of the Jews, He was looking for a place to rest His head and found none. ‘He had looked round upon all things.’ Why did it say, ‘He had looked round upon all that was there’? He was looking for the...

They came to jerusalem. And he entered the temple, and began to cast out those who were selling and buying in the temple; and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold the doves.’ In St. John’s Gospel, we read this same historical account, and we find there a clearer record of the time when the event took place. ‘Now the feast of Unleavened Bread—the Passover when the Jews ate unleavened bread—was at hand and Jesus went up,’¹ ‘and making a whip of cords, he began to drive them out.’² It was,...

The gospel reading demands considerable exposition. Before we get to the sacraments, we must remove a stumbling-block lest any obstacle lodge in the minds of those who are going to receive them. They who are going to be baptized must believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; yet right here Holy Writ says, in reference to the Son: ‘Of that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.’ If we receive baptism equally in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and must believe that it is in...

Woe to the world because of scandals! For it must needs be that scandals come, but woe to the man through whom scandal does come!’ This seems, indeed, to refer especially to Judas,¹ for it must needs be that the Lord Jesus suffer; if He had not suffered, the human race could not be saved. That the Lord’s Passion, moreover, would be a scandal, the apostle, also, attests when he says that His cross is a stumbling-block to the Jews, and to the Gentiles foolishness!² You see, then, that the Passion of the Lord had to be the scandal of...

There was a certain rich man.’ When the Lord had declared: ‘No servant can serve two masters; you cannot serve God and mammon,’² and the greedy Pharisees had rebuked Him, He set before them an example, or rather, a truth, in the form of an example and parable. Strictly speaking, it is not really a parable when the names of the characters are given. A parable poses an example, but suppresses identification. Where Abraham is mentioned by name, and Lazarus, the prophets, and Moses, there Lazarus is genuine; if Abraham is a true person, so also is Lazarus. We have...

The gospel says of john: ‘There has been a man, one sent from God.’¹ Consider the vast difference between God and man, for of God it says: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God.’ Notice how an unlettered fisherman made use of a new word in its proper signification of God: ‘In the beginning was the Word’—as we have already quoted; we have no time to repeat the entire passage. He says of man: ‘There has been a man sent from God.’ Mark the ‘has been.’ Of the Son...

She laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.’² His mother laid Him in a manger.³ Joseph did not dare to touch Him, for he knew He had not been begotten of him. In wonderment, he rejoiced at a son, but he did not dare to touch the Son. ‘She laid him in a manger.’ Why in a manger? That the prophecy of Isaia, the prophet, might be fulfilled: ‘An ox knows its owner, and an ass, its master’s manger.’⁴ In another place, it is written: ‘Man and beast you save, O Lord.’⁵...

The feast of the epiphany is called by its Greek name, ‘epipháneia,’ which is the Greek expression for our concept of appearance, or manifestation. This, therefore, is the title given to our Lord and Savior’s manifestation on earth. Even though He had been born of Mary and had already completed thirty years of His life, nevertheless, He was unknown to the world. His identity was revealed at the time when He came to the Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist, and the voice of the Father was heard thundering from heaven:¹ ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom...

Just as a soldier never ceases to train for battle and prepares in sham warfare for the real wounds that are to come, every Christian must exercise self-restraint at all times, but especially when the enemy is near at hand with his well-trained hosts marshalled against us. It is always necessary for God’s servants to fast, but it is even more imperative when we are preparing for the sacrifice of the Lamb, for the sacrament of Baptism, for the Body and Blood of Christ. As soon as the devil is aware that his sheep are determined to withdraw from his...

Today, the people of israel, truly man-seeing-God¹ (that is the meaning of Israel), receive the command to depart from Egypt. Today, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world is slain for the salvation of all. Today, the doorposts of the houses, our foreheads are being painted with His blood. Today, the Egyptians are destroyed, and God’s people are liberated from the slavery of Pharao. Today, the first-born of the Egyptians are struck down, and not only the children of the Israelites, but even brute beasts are saved. To men, indeed, and to beasts of burden...

I have gone through the entire psalter with considerable care and nowhere do I find that the sons of Core have sung anything sad.¹ There is always the note of joy and happiness in their songs, always scorn for the worldly and the passing, ardent longing for the heavenly and the eternal. Their spirit is, therefore, in keeping with the significance of their name for which the Latin is calvities, or ‘baldness.’ Because our Lord was crucified and buried in the place called Calvary, those who believe in His cross and Resurrection are sons of Core, the sons of Calvary....

I have not the power to bring forth in words what I conceive in my mind, nor does my tongue give full expression to the joy that is in my heart. It is not my travail only, this longing to share with you my inmost feelings, but you, too, are suffering with me, for the joy of your souls is greater than words can convey. To me, it seems that this day is brighter beyond all other days. A brighter sun has begun to shine upon the world. The stars, too, and all the elements rejoice, and those that had...

The entire psalter sings in prophecy of our Lord since, indeed, it is He who ‘has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts, and who shuts and no one opens’;¹ but especially does the psalm that has just been read, the one-hundred-seventeenth, herald the mystery of His Resurrection. As our Lord ascends to the Father in triumph, He issues commands to the angels saying: ‘Open to me the gates of justice; I will enter them and give thanks to the Lord.’² These are the gates of which in the twenty-third psalm the angels were speaking while...

Nothing is so pleasing to god as obedience. Ham was cursed, and down through the ages his curse continues: ‘Seed of Chanaan and not of Juda,’¹ because he did not obey his father. On the other hand, Sem, who did obey his father, retained his blessing for all generations. I tell you, therefore, that it is not for sons to judge their fathers. No one goes to a teacher to instruct him; you have come to me in order that I might teach you your letters. If I should write for you and say: You write now, just as I...

Time and again, we have averred that Christians always suffer¹ persecution. This world is in the power of the evil one.² Our adversary, the devil, rules in the world, and do we think that we shall escape persecution? Besides, what is there that is not a source of persecution to the Christian? Everything that is of the world holds endless torment for him. Is it any wonder that others persecute us if we have determined to serve Christ? Even our parents do. Everyone who does not share our beliefs, harasses and hates us. Should we be surprised if we are...