Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday in Lent

I lifted my eyes to the mountains.
        From where will my help come?
My help is from the Lᴏʀᴅ,
        who made the heaven and the earth.
Do not give your foot to surging;
        nor will the one who guards you sleep.
Behold, the One who guards Israel
        will neither slumber nor awaken from sleep.
The Lᴏʀᴅ will guard you.
        The Lᴏʀᴅ is your shelter at your right hand.
By day the sun will not burn you,
        neither the moon during the night.
The Lᴏʀᴅ will guard you from all evil;
        He will keep watch over your soul.
The Lᴏʀᴅ will guard your entering in and your going out
        from now and until forever. (Psalm 120 LXX [Psalm 121])

But in case we perhaps set our hope in the mountains mentioned, the second verse reveals the true Source of possible help to us, the Source which orders all things by a saving dispensation; thus our hope in the mountains is such that we realize that it is the Lord who lends help through them. It is from Him that the necessary benefit, the saving protection, the unshakeable blessing comes. As Paul says: Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God gives the increase. So that you would not think that this was some other lord—for the term is ambiguous—he says: Who made heaven and earth, thus denoting the Word by which all things were made.

After earlier asking that help come to him from the Lord, he suddenly changes direction and addresses his soul, urging it to continue with unflagging strength in its saving request. The foot is the extremity of our body, which at the mind’s command transports us to different places. By comparison with this we call our thoughts our feet, for we make our way into good or evil situations through them. So it is these feet, by which the devil fell and the first man was laid low, of which the prophet speaks to his soul. He prays that they may not be subverted by the slippery nature of sins, and that he may not experience destruction within, while his body remains unharmed. Such a slip is in the nature of pride, which often drives God’s servants to sin when they have already made progress. They fall into the worst error through thinking that they are of some importance.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 120:2–3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

O Lord, who will dwell in Your quarters?
        And who will dwell on your holy mountain?
The one going without blame and working righteousness;
        the one speaking truth in his heart.
He who does not beguile with his tongue,
        nor does evil against his neighbor,
        and he does not take up a reproach against those near to him.
The one acting wickedly is scorned before him,
        but those fearing the Lord he honors.
He is one who swears an oath to his neighbor
        and does not break faith.
He does not give his money for interest,
        and he does not take a bribe against the innocent.
The one who does these things will not be shaken forever. (Psalm 14 LXX [Psalm 15])

And if you want to learn what sort of person the citizen of the kingdom of heaven is, then chant Psalm 14 [15].

Athanasius, To Marcellinus: On the Interpretation of the Psalms 16

It is not, like some of the psalms, wrapped, so to say, in profundity, but the Lord replies to the prophet’s questioning following the mode of the Decalogue, saying that one reaches the hall of His blessedness through ten virtues.…

The prophet longs to know whom the Lord has judged worthy of the Church, and like a devoted priest standing before Him, he seeks a reply and desires to be informed about his query. … Now in the Old Testament the Lord ordered a tabernacle to be made for Him when the people of Israel were in camp, so that in this way a house of God could be moved along with the Hebrews’ abodes. So it happened that the Catholic faith which has been spread through the Churches all over the world is called God’s tabernacle. … The holy hill means the Jerusalem to come. Note how splendidly suitable words distinguish different senses: Who dwells in Thy tabernacle? refers to the person still struggling in the contest of this world; Who rests on the hill? refers to any of the faithful who after this world’s toils are renewed by the calm of eternal peace.

This is the great divine Decalogue, the spiritual psaltery of ten chords. Here is the truly crowning number which only He could fulfill who with His Father laid low the sins of the world. Let us continually pray to His omnipotence that we who cannot of ourselves perform such acts as are enjoined on us may do them by being enriched with His gift.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 14

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday after Christmas

How I loved your law, O Lord.
        The whole day it is my meditation.
Beyond my enemies you instructed me in your commands,
        for it is for me forever.
Beyond all those who teach me I understood,
        because your testimonies are my meditation.
Beyond elders I understood,
        because I sought out your commandments.
From every evil way I withheld my feet,
        so that I keep your words.
From your region I did not turn away,
        because you gave laws to me.
How sweet to my throat are your words,
        more than honey and honeycomb for my mouth.
From your commandments I understood;
        on account of this I hated every way of injustice,
        because you gave laws to me. (Psalm 119:97–104 LXX)

Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (Luke 2:46–52)

These enemies are to be understood as the obdurate Jews, the heretics or the pagans, who have either failed totally to understand the Lord’s commands, or are known to refuse to carry them out through misguided zeal. The people say that they have been made wiser than these enemies because they both devotedly accepted the Lord’s command and abided by it with genuine integrity.…

They appear to part company with that most holy humility of the blessed if we seek to interpret this as a claim to be superior to Moses, the prophets and the apostles who have instructed the Church with the purest faith. But let us advert to the previous verse, and here this entire false objection vanishes. There they said not “more than our fathers,” but Wiser than my enemies, who are precisely those who taught the Lord’s law with debased purpose. Here they refute rather than rebuke the teachers, denoting the Pharisees who restricted themselves to the letter, and disregarded spiritual understanding. The Lord often refutes them in the gospel, but their stony hearts did not deserve to experience the way of truth. So the evangelical band rightly claims that their understanding is better than that of all such teachers, because they rejected their teachers’ base errors, and received the true teaching of the Lord Savior.…

In this passage the people term as elders those hoary in body rather than in mind. They rightly say that they have understood more than these, for they venerated as their Creator one whom those others despised with sacrilegious minds. Often younger persons understand the divine Scriptures better than their elders; for example, Jacob, who submitted himself to the blessing and received the reward of the first benediction promised to his brother; or Samuel, who understood better than the priest; or Daniel, who knew better than the false elders whom he condemned to death when filled with the spirit of God. Certainly the new people had better understanding than the older Jewish people, for they happily accepted the Lord Christ who the Jews with mortal damage to themselves believed was to be despised. To enable the people to prove this with the testimony of truth, there follows the reason why they had understanding above the elders; it was because I have sought thy commandments.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 118.98–100

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Palm Sunday

Have mercy upon me, O Lord,
      because I am afflicted.
My eye was troubled in anger,
        my soul also, and my belly.
For my life died with distress,
        and my years were weakened with groaning in poverty.
        My strength and my bones were troubled.
From all my enemies I became a reproach,
        and to my neighbors exceedingly so,
and I became a fear to my acquaintances.
        The ones looking at me outside fled from me.
I was forgotten from hearts like a corpse.
        I became like a broken vessel.
For I heard the censure of many,
        dwelling from all around,
while they gathered at once against me.
        They deliberated to take my soul.
But I hoped in you, O Lord.
        I said, “You are my God.”
My portion is in your hands.
        Rescue me from the hand of my enemies,
        and from the ones who are persecuting me.
Show forth your face upon your servant.
        Save me with your mercy. (Psalm 30:10–17 LXX [Ps 31:9–16])

I am become a reproach above all my enemies, and very much to my neighbors: and a fear to my acquaintances. The phrase, Above all, rather than “among all,” is not idle; Above all my enemies is said by way of amplification. Whilst the enemy were indeed a reproach, Christ the Lord though innocent and stainless was regarded as a reproach among those who contaminated themselves with wicked sin. Next comes: I am become a reproach; not “I was truly a reproach,” but “I was thought to be what I was not by those who erred through being deceived by baseless persuasion.” Reproach (probrum) means “opposed to the worthy” (contra probum), that is, dishonorable and unfitting. A reproach suggests an extremely loathsome deed, which was clearly ascribed to the Lord Savior among the wicked Jews when they said: This man is not of God, who keeps not the Sabbath, and elsewhere: Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil. Neighbors He calls those close to Him in proximity of faith, men who as yet had not believed, but were disposed to believe. But when they saw that He hung on the cross, they were shifted from their proximity to belief once they saw the suffering of Him who they thought should be adorned. Though they saw inevitably come to pass what was foretold in faith, they remained unaware of it, and then they were all the more withdrawn from firm belief. Note that He spoke first of enemies, and then of neighbors; next he advances to acquaintances. This denotes the apostles, thrown into utter confusion by His passion. Of them Scripture says: I shall strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.

The order of the phrases is marvelous and most sacred. When His enemies dwelt round the synagogue and put their hope in their strength, He says that He trusted the Lord, for He knew that their power was non-existent, and that they were attempting to kill themselves rather than Him by such plots.… The Lord Christ says: You are my God, but He speaks from the standpoint of the humanity which He assumed, and which as He later says was subject to both time and death. He does not, as His enemies thought, state that His life was to be ended by their persecution, but He places His life’s times in the Lord’s power; for we exist through His creation, wax strong through His dispensation, and also pass on at His command. So it was necessary that He kept His hope implanted in the Lord, for He knew that His life and death were in His power.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 30.12, 15–16

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday in Lent

O Lord, You were pleased with Your land;
      You turned back the captivity of Jacob;
You forgave the transgressions of Your people;
      You covered all their sins. (Pause)
You ended all Your wrath;
      You turned from the wrath of Your anger.
Turn us, O God of our salvation,
      And turn away Your anger from us.
Will You be angry with us forever,
      Or will You prolong Your anger from generation to generation?
O God, You will turn and give us life,
      And Your people will be glad in You.
Show us Your mercy, O Lord,
      And grant us Your salvation.

(Psalm 84:2–8 LXX [Ps 85:1–7])

Earlier he stated: Thou hast covered all their sins; but now he asks afresh: Turn off thy anger from us. But both are appropriate if we consider the occasions of sins. With regard to the wicked deeds which the Jewish people had previously committed, he earlier gave thanks because all were shown to have been mitigated by the coming of the Lord; but here again he makes entreaty because of the sins to come, for he foresaw that they would again commit cruel crimes at the passion of the Lord. In short, he says: Convert us, so that instead of persecutors they may become defenders; instead of blasphemers, preachers; instead of disputants, disciples. His expression, Us embodies the people of whom he speaks. We must similarly interpret Turn off thy anger from us, as an entreaty that the punishment which is owed should not smite the Jewish people.

He knew that the Lord’s patience bears with men’s sins, and so he asks that He should not smite them with eternal damnation, but should soften them with enticements, bring improvement to them by supporting them, and correct them by admonition—all of which he knew that He would do.… With wonderful piety he begs the Lord, attesting that we do not win our conversion by merits, but that it emerges through His gift when our spirit manifests a salutary desire for something on its own behalf. He says: Thou wilt convert us, O God, and bring us to life; in other words: “You set before us a longing for conversion, so that we can attain entry to life”. When You bestow this, then Your people will successfully rejoice in You after unhappily rejoicing in themselves. This is what happens to the converted once they begin to obtain the blessing of the Savior.

He was well aware that the Lord would come, but he asks to behold these blessings not just with his physical eyes in company with the rest who are non-believers, but also with the most pure gaze of the heart. The mercy of the Father is the Lord Savior; that blessed troop asked that He be made manifest to them in the bright light of the true faith, not merely covered with the veil of the flesh but also conspicuous in the clear light of His power. He added the identical phrase, grant us, when He spoke of Christ; what He meant was: “Grant Your salvation so that we may embrace and possess and enjoy Him with the gift of eternal glory.” To the unfaithful He merely appeared, but was not also granted; the psalmist says: Grant, then, so that when He is received in our hearts through heaven’s gift, He can be removed by no trials.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 84.5–8

Patristic Wisdom for Ash Wednesday

Have pity on me, O God,
      according to your great mercy.
According to the magnitude of your compassions
      blot out my iniquity.
Wash me thoroughly from my lawlessness,
      and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my lawlessness,
      and my sin is always before me.
Against you alone did I sin,
      and I did the evil deed before you,
so that you would be vindicated in your words
      and prevail when you judge.
For behold, in evils I was conceived,
      and in sins my mother conceived me.
For behold, you loved truth.
      You showed to me the unknown things
      and the secret things of your wisdom.
Purify me with hyssop,
      and I will be cleansed.
Wash me,
      and I will be made more white than snow.
Cause me to hear great joy and merriment.
      The bones, having been humbled, will rejoice exceedingly.
Turn your face from my sins,
      and blot out all my lawless acts.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
      and renew a right spirit in my inward parts.
Do not cast me from your face,
      and do not remove your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the great joy of your salvation,
      and strengthen me with a guiding spirit.
I will teach the lawless ones your ways,
      and the ungodly ones will return to you.

(Psalm 50:3–15 LXX [Psalm 51:1–13])

I ask you, how great was the blessed man’s humility in acknowledging his fault when he showed such constancy in making satisfaction after he was pardoned? That sin of adultery is shown to have been foreign and uncharacteristic, since it was lamented with such concentration of mind. The sudden confession of the thief attracts us; we rejoice that Peter’s tears were quickly in evidence; the short-lived humility of the publican we find charming. But David with his more prolonged attempt to wipe away his sins afforded all men a chance to absolve themselves. He ensured that his tears, running down the faces of people who came after him, are dried with no lapse of time. Let us note also the prophet’s humility. An inner voice terrified that prince’s heart and he directed his anger at himself, for he knew that the rebuke by which he was blamed was just. Then that ruler over huge nations became his own harshest torturer, demanding from himself a punishment which he could scarcely have borne at another’s command. It is the common practice to excuse one’s own sins with specious explanations, but this most powerful king elected instead to accuse himself in the sight of all. He whose judgment the people had been accustomed to fear pronounced himself guilty.…

The prophet is aware that the Lord’s love is such that He does not cease to be just as well, and he appropriately introduced justice into his plea so that his request would be more readily heard through the incorporation of justice. He knows that sin must be punished, but says that the Lord must spare him because he confirms from his own mouth that he is condemned. As Solomon puts it: The just man is his own accuser at the start of his speech. So let us observe that he says: I know. The sins which we commit with knowledge are graver; those which we do in ignorance are not. Alternatively, all can know their sins, but the only persons known to acknowledge them are those seen to condemn them by personally cursing them. Perfect repentance lies in avoiding future sins and lamenting those of the past. Initially after his sin, when the prophet questioned him, David replied that the man who coveted the poor man’s ewe not belonging to him was worthy of death; at that time David did not believe that his sin should be lamented. But now as he prostrates himself and utters suppliant groans, he regrets that the sins stand before him like some shadow of a ghost. He added: Always, because he continually sees the sin, even when he closes his eyes. This regular contemplation of his sins reveals the perseverance of devoted supplication. Next time we look at such things with the mind’s eye, we regret having done them. The Lord said in the previous psalm: I will reprove you and set your iniquity before your face. This is what the most holy man did to himself when he said: And my sin is always before me. He was right to seek forgiveness, for he seemed to have observed the shape of the judgment to come. This figure is called procatalepsis or anticipation, for David fears the most grisly appearance of his sins as though already on trial at the coming judgment.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 50

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Your testimonies are wonderful.
        On account of this, my soul examined them.
The revelation of your words will give light
        and instruct infants.
I opened my mouth and excited a spirit,
        because I was desiring your commandments.
Look upon me, and have mercy upon me,
        according to the justice of those who love your name.
Make my steps straight according to your word,
        and do not let any lawlessness have dominion over me.
Redeem me from the false accusation of people,
        and I will keep your commandments.
Show forth your face upon your servant,
        and teach me your righteous ordinances.
My eyes were traversed with streams of waters,
        since they did not keep your law.

(Ps 118:129–136 LXX [Ps 119:129–136])

I opened my mouth and drew in breath, because I longed for thy commandments. If you are attracted to a literal interpretation here, it explains the tendency of a speaker. First the mouth is opened, the breath is drawn in, and then the tongue is moved to allow the voice to sound forth. But if you interpret spiritually, as you should, the mouth connotes the entry to the mind which is opened when we hasten to learn something. It draws in breath when by the divine gift it is filled with a spirit of wholesome longing, and begins with constant heart to seek what previously it was known to have sought only through God’s grace. So the weak little ones opened their mouths and drew in breath, in other words, strength for action, which they could not attain of their own accord. So that you may better realize that this first part is addressed to the good of the understanding rather than to the function of speaking, there follows: Because I longed for thy commandments. They first expressed zeal of will, to explain later their longing for the commandments; the sequence could not be logical if they said that they would first speak and then long for what was to their benefit.

Direct my steps according to thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. My steps denotes movements of the soul, for just as by our steps we move from place to place, so by those paces of the soul, so to speak, we advance to things better or worse. The blessed troop asked that these steps be directed according to the Lord’s word, so that they should not be seduced by evil vices, and slip into deadly errors. According to thy word means “according to the commands which You lay down for improving the life of the human race.” Next comes: And let not any iniquity have dominion over me. It was essential that if the Lord were to deign to direct their steps according to His word, no iniquity should prevail over them, for it could not be so utterly banished that it could not assault them further. But when it does not prevail, we escape it, whereas slavery to it consigns us down to destruction. The phrase, any iniquity, is not idle, for they know that if it prevails over them at any point, it carries them off, and it is no use keeping the Law in many matters if we are seen to transgress it in any respect. Scripture says: If anyone keeps the whole law but offends in one point, he becomes guilty in all.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 118.131, 133

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Mercy and Truth have met together, Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other by Evelyn de Morgan

I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me,
because he will speak peace for his people
and for his holy ones
and those who turn their heart to him.
But his salvation is near to those who fear him,
so that glory would dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth met together.
Righteousness and peace embraced.
Truth grew up from the land,
and righteousness looked down from heaven.
Indeed, the Lord will give goodness,
and our land will give its fruit.
Righteousness will go before in front of him,
and it will place his steps on the way. (Psalm 84:9–14 LXX [Ps 85:8–13])

He passes to the third section, in which he proclaims the coming of the Lord Savior with a most beautiful figure. For after praying that the Lord would appear to him, he is filled with sudden enlightenment, as though he has obtained his request, and he says: I will hear, that is, I shall not hinder myself by speaking, for I now realize that I have heard what I am to believe. We recognize that this type of utterance is peculiar to divine Scripture, for in my opinion nothing like it is found in secular books. You see the power of prophecy made manifest by these words. The Lord, that is the Holy Spirit, speaks within so that the psalmist may appear to be able to speak without. He listens inwardly so that he may be listened to outwardly. The prophet silently learns what the people can hear when it strikes their ears. Next comes: For he will speak peace to his people and to his saints. God’s Peace is the Lord Christ; he says that the Holy Spirit will speak of this Peace, for He is to tell of His Incarnation. When the psalmist spoke of the people, he said his people, not the uncommitted. He referred to the holy men who pleased the Lord by their edifying manner of life. The Lord Christ is their Peace, but He is a stumbling block and a foolishness to the unfaithful; they endure war in their sacrilegious hearts, for they do not follow the Author of peace along upright paths. But let us scrutinize this verse a little more attentively, for he refutes sinful minds by witnessing to the truth itself. Here the nature of the holy Spirit is clearly stated: He is the Lord God. Where are they who say that the holy Spirit is inferior to Father and Son, and is so lowly that He is thought not to have discretion over His own will? Let us listen to the holy Spirit who of His own accord said through His prophet that He was the Lord God.…

For though mercy and truth, peace and justice are abstractions, he allotted footsteps to two and embraces to the other two, both being bodily attributes. After he has stated from what nation the Lord was to be born, he now explains what benefits the coming of the holy incarnation has imparted. Through the Lord’s gift, the two Testaments have been united in an interlinked chain. In the New Testament comes mercy, by which the human race is freed through grace; in the Old stands truth, in which the Law and the proclamation of the prophets are contained, as was already said at Psalm 70. These two have met each other not to maintain their opposition, but to fulfill the grace of promised perfection; for it is clear that what was seen to be divided by eras has become one. So as to emphasize clearly the nature of the alliance, he restated with varied repetition of terms the fact that the two states, justice and peace, had lastingly entered into reciprocal harmony by a kind of loving embrace. Such an embrace tends to occur when people see each other after a long time; in loving enthusiasm they hug each other with arms entwined.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 84.9, 11

Patristic Wisdom for Maundy Thursday

What shall I give back to the Lord
For all He rendered to me?
I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the Lord.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
Is the death of His holy ones.
O Lord, I am Your servant;
I am Your servant and the son of Your handmaid.
You broke apart my bonds;
I will offer a sacrifice of praise;
I shall pay my vows to the Lord
In the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the Lord’s house,
In your midst, O Jerusalem. (Psa 115:3–9 LXX [Psa 116:12–19])

I will take the chalice of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. This is indeed a worthy promise, but it would be hazardous presumption if it rested on human powers. Who can endow confessors with endurance of tortures except Him who deigned to accept the chalice of suffering on our behalf? To show with certainty that this is impossible for human powers, they next said: And I will call upon the name of the Lord. By relying on His help they believed that they were achieving what they thought their bodily frailty inadequate to perform. The death of martyrs is defined most beautifully and briefly as: The chalice of salvation. Chalice, because it is drunk in due measure; of salvation, because through the Lord’s generosity it is served for eternal salvation. Of this chalice the Lord also said in the gospel: Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink?

After He had said that He would offer the sacrifice of praise, He adds: In the courts of the house of the Lord, so that you would not believe that it could be discharged anywhere whatsoever. Those courts are the catholic Church spread throughout the world, in which are contained all most genuine Christians, but not the heretics who are segregated through their empty wickedness. His words: I will pay my vows to the Lord, is a promise to offer Himself. The vow of all the faithful is self-offering to Christ and abiding in the right belief of the Church. Observe what follows, so that you may recognize the nature of this house of the Lord.

Notice his information here about the house of the Lord which He mentioned in the previous short verse: it is in the sight of all his people, for it is right that He who deigned to suffer for the salvation of all should receive public praise. The Lord is most perfectly aware of it even if it is performed in the recess of the heart. This contributes to the edification of the people, if a good confession is absorbed by the ears of the community at large. As Christ says in the gospel: He who confesses before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. He added: In the midst of thee, Jerusalem, where the Lord’s peace resides, and where the unity of the holy people rejoices in contemplation of the Lord.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 115.13, 18–19

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to All Saints' Sunday

Sing to the Lord a new song.
        His praise is in the assembly of holy ones.
Let Israel be gladdened in the One who made him,
        and let the children of Zion rejoice exceedingly in their King.
Let them praise His name in dance;
        with tambourine and harp let them sing psalms to Him,
because the Lord is well pleased with His people,
        and He will raise up the humble in salvation.
Holy ones will boast in glory,
        and they will rejoice exceedingly in their beds,
the heights of God in their throat
        and double-edged swords in their hands,
to enact vengeance among the nations,
        reproof among the peoples,
to bind their kings in fetters
        and those held in esteem among them in iron handcuffs,
to enact among them written judgment.
        This is glory to all His holy ones. (Psalm 149:1–9 LXX)

What greater strength is there than to bestow such great power on His saints that by His gift they gain victories over their enemies? But when he says: The saints shall rejoice in glory: they shall be joyful in their beds, they now attain the happy status which embraces the joys of the saints and the power of those who believe in Christ. But let us now observe how the saints’ rejoicing is described. Glory denotes repeated praise consisting of good deeds; the just rejoice in it in their beds, that is, in the depths of their hearts. As Paul puts it: For our glory is this: the testimony of our conscience; for they rejoice in the region accessible only to the knowledge of Him who deigned to bestow it. They rejoice particularly since they weigh the fact that they have a Lord whose goodness finds expression in bestowing pardon on the guilty, grace on sinners, enduring glory on the undeserving. By contrast the foolish person in this world departs from himself, rejoices in people’s gossip, and imagines that he deserves the praise with which lying words exalt him. So the saints have a doctrine of glorying, and put limits to their joy, ascribing to Him all the blessings which He bestows. If there is no limit put on happiness, there is no joy, but destruction.

Earlier he said that the saints rejoice in their beds; now he says that the Lord’s rejoicings are set in their throats, the sense being that they never cease to praise whether in thought or in tongue Him from whom they obtain eternal gifts. He also moves on to explain the power that they wield, with the words: And two-edged swords in their hands. The two-edged sword is the word of the Lord Savior, of which Christ Himself says in the gospel: I have come not to send peace to the earth, but a sword. It is two-edged because it contains the two Testaments. First it separated Jews from Gentiles; subsequently it segregated and cut off only the Christians from the enticements of the whole world. There is one sword, but two ways of cutting which He grants to the chosen peoples at various selected moments of time. So the prophet says that these swords are in their hands, in other words, in the power of the saints; as Scripture has it: The word of the Lord came to the hand of Haggai the prophet. So the blessed ones will assume this power and pass judgment in company with the Lord; as Scripture says: You shall sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. For note what follows: To execute vengeance upon the nations, chastisements among the people. This truly takes place when they shall judge in company with the Lord.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 149.5–7

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

O Lord, hear my voice, wherein I cry;
One thing I ask from the Lord; this I will seek,
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
And behold the delights of the Lord,
And visit His temple.

My heart speaks to You; my face seeks You;
Your face, O Lord, I will seek. (Ps 27:4, 8 LXX)

He says that he has asked one thing of the Lord, and he expounds it later. But let us examine if he has asked for one thing rather than for everything. It is indeed one in number, but numerous in the various objects for which it is useful. The request is restricted, but the reward extended. The plea is in few words, but the response is on a large scale. So it is the habit of good men to beg merely for the Lord’s house, because all good things are contained in it, whereas evil men are torn in their earthly wants, and in seeking health of body, in begging for riches, in demanding the destruction of enemies they weary in their pleading and sometimes seek things which will not endure.

This is the one request for which he begged earlier. Note that he who has walled himself in with such a defense must fear no camp, no battle; for what state is comparable to, what army is stronger than dwelling in the Lord’s house, where nothing human or devil-sent is clearly to be feared? And this is for no short period, but for all the days of his life. So when, I ask, is he to fear, when his entire life is safe? He who sees the will of the Lord understands His commands, for he has surrendered himself with all his mind to His purity. The prophet asks to be protected by the temple of Christ’s body, from which we obtain support for faith and invincible strength of protection, for through virtue of mind he had attained what he did not yet behold in appearance.

The heart reveals its silent longing, to which the Godhead listens more than to the most thundering voices of nations. He said to Moses: Why do you cry out to me? although we do not read that Moses had said anything. So the faithful man said that his heart was speaking to the Lord, since he seemed to offer his thoughts by this means. The man who lives a holy life seeks the face of the Lord; of such men Scripture says: Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. He duplicates his statement with the words: Your face, O Lord, will I seek. The content is the same but the prayer is repeated, for he knew how precious was the fact of his praying so many times with fervent zeal.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 26.4, 8

Patristic Wisdom for Easter

I will bless the Lord, the one who causes me to understand.
Moreover, during the night my mind trained me.
I saw the Lord in front, before me through everything,
because he is from my right side, that I would not be shaken.
On account of this, my heart was cheerful,
and my tongue rejoiced exceedingly.
Moreover, my flesh will dwell in hope,
because you will not abandon my soul in Hades,
nor will you give your holy one to see destruction.
You made known to me ways of life.
You will make me full of cheer with your face.
There are delights at your right side completely. (Ps 15:7–11 LXX)

See how He himself cries out and gives thanks to the Father because His soul is not in the usual way left abandoned in hell, but is glorified by swift resurrection, and has passed to the kingdom of heaven. This is attested in the gospel in various passages: My soul is sorrowful even unto death, and elsewhere: I have the power of laying down my life and of taking it up again. You must not think that this is to be accepted complacently, because you find in Psalm 29 what seems to be the opposite view: What profit is there in my blood, while I go down to corruption? The objection is resolved by this reasoning: in that passage He says that He goes down to corruption when pierced by the impact of the impressed nails and lance, for transfixion of solid flesh is reasonably accounted corruption. But in the present passage He says justly that the corruption of putrefaction which ravages the generality of human flesh does not take place, for when on the third day it happened that His flesh was given fresh life, it was demonstrated that it could not have suffered corruption.

When He had completed all He had to say on the sanctity of His body, this verse, which is appropriate also to the just who choose to obey His commands, introduces the conclusion. You have made known to me the ways of life, in other words, “Through Me You have brought the human race to a knowledge of the path of life, so that by walking humbly in Your commandments they might avoid the poison of deadly pride.” You shall fill me to the brim, that is, quite full. Filling to the brim is adding to fullness, and he who does so pours into a vessel already full. That joy fills in such a way that it is all preserved for ever. The verse also shows that all just men in that blessed state will be filled with the joy of the Lord’s presence, and He attests that He can be filled among them because He is the Lord. But let us examine a little more carefully why He says here that He will be filled with delights at the right hand of the Father, whereas earlier He said: For he is at my right hand, that I be not moved. The fact is that in this world, in which He suffered scourging in the flesh which He assumed, was struck with slaps, and was spattered with spittle yet defeated by none of its hardships, it was fitting to say that the Lord was always seen at His right hand. He overcame the opposition of the world because He moved not an inch from contemplation of the Father. There He has now laid aside the hardships of this world; and His humanity is filled with the glorification of His whole majesty and rules united to the Word with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 15.10–11

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Last Sunday of the Year

The Lord reigns; He clothed Himself with majesty;
The Lord clothed and girded Himself with power;
And He established the world, which shall not be moved.
Your throne is prepared from of old;
You are from everlasting.
The rivers, O Lord, lift up;
The rivers lift up their voices;
Because of the voices of their many waters,
Marvelous are the billows of the sea;
Wondrous is the Lord on high.
Your testimonies are very much believed;
Holiness is proper to Your house, O Lord,
Unto length of days. (Ps 93:1–5)

It was not just now, he is saying, that You received election as king: You possess eternal sway and everlasting kingship. About His kingship he says also in the forty-fourth psalm, “Your throne, O God, is for ages of ages.” And His unchangeableness and immutability he likewise taught us in the hundred and first psalm, “You are the same,” he says, “and Your years will not come to an end”: even though You became man, You did not lack divinity, nor were You separated from the Father or the all-holy Spirit, there being one substance of the undefiled Trinity, one kingship, one lordship.

You prophesied all this from of old, and announced it in advance through Your holy prophets, and it has been shown to be true by the testimony of the events. The addition of exceedingly was also good, meaning, a chance falsehood cannot be discerned in the prophecies, whereas everything now seen was prophesied precisely. Holiness befits Your house, O Lord, for length of days: the greatest and finest of all the good things is the fact that the enjoyment of the gifts is not transitory or limited to certain times in the style of the worship of Jews; rather, it is permanent, stable, and everlasting, this being suited and appropriate to Your new house. The divinely inspired Paul gave the name “house of God” to the assembly of the believers, to whom the inspired author said holiness is fitting. Accordingly, it behooves us, in keeping with the apostolic exhortation, to “purify ourselves of every defilement of body and spirit, and bring sanctification to completion in fear of God,” so that by preparing the house of God we may welcome the eternal guest.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms 93.3, 6

The prophet spoke of the Lord’s coming, an event which he most truly foresaw. Now he expounds the nature of the praise, for the testimonies of the prophet were become exceedingly credible, when the saving incarnation of the Word which had been foretold to the world made its appearance. At His glorious coming was revealed all that was kept hidden in the sacred books. Which of the wise could have doubts about the promise of the gifts when the very Fullness which was promised arrived?…

The house of the Lord, then, is the universal Church, which we know is established round the circumference of the world. Holiness, in other words “the abundant blessing of Your coming,” becomes it. This is the beauty which can transcend all adornments, for it beautifies without ever forsaking it, and unifies so that it is wholly unfragmented. But this holiness, a beauty most outstanding, is not imparted for a moment, but is granted eternally; for length of days denotes an eternity which cannot be ended.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 92.5–6

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday in Lent

You who fear the Lord, praise Him.
All you seed of Jacob, glorify Him;
Fear Him, all you seed of Israel.
For He has not despised nor scorned the beggar’s supplication,
Nor has He turned away His face from me;
And when I cried out to Him, He heard me.
My praise is from You in the great church;
I will pay my vows before those who fear Him.
The poor shall eat and be well-filled,
And those who seek Him will praise the Lord;
Their hearts will live unto ages of ages.
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord;
And all families of the Gentiles shall worship before You,
For the kingdom is the Lord’s;
And He is the Master of the Gentiles.
All the prosperous of the earth ate and worshiped;
All going down into the earth shall bow down before Him,
And my soul lives with Him.
And my seed shall serve Him;
The coming generation shall be told of the Lord,
And they will declare His righteousness
To a people who will be born, because the Lord made them. (Ps 22:23–31)

When He said that thanks are to be rendered by one and all because the Godhead deigns to hearken to the poor, the Lord Christ intruded Himself with the words: Neither has he turned his face away from me. In this way, then, He made the cause of all men His own; in this way, He eliminated the sins of the world through the holiness of His body so that by His drawing human weakness to Himself the devil might lose the prize he held. But why did He cry, and why did He say He was heard? Precisely so that our death might be bounded by His destruction so that the sin of the old man might be redeemed at the price of His most holy passion.

With You means ‘concerning You’; in the great church, that is, the Catholic Church spread through the whole world, for it is rightly called great in glory and distinction. My vows He wishes us to interpret as the sacraments of His body and blood, offered in the presence of those subject to Him in holy fear. Finally, observe what follows. … Realize that by poor He meant those who scorned the enticements of this world with the richest contempt; not the wealthy, stuffed with this world’s happiness, but the poor, those hungry for God’s kingdom. So He added: And shall be filled; only those possessed by such hunger could be filled.

The poor praise the Lord, the rich exalt themselves. The rich accumulate treasures on earth, the poor grow rich with heavenly abundance. Their resources differ, but their mentalities are totally at odds. In short, the rich derive their wealth from the world, the poor from God. How very different are the vows which they have fulfilled! The poor possess what they can never lose; the rich hold what not only the dead but even the living often lose. Next comes: Their heart lives forever and ever. Their heart lives, in other words, their hope immovable is renewed; for we say that what continues in the grace of the Godhead truly lives.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 21.25, 27

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mk 8:34–37)

While there is much in the world to love, it is best loved in relation to the One who made it. The world is beautiful, but much fairer is the One who fashioned it. The world is glorious, but more delightful is the One by whom the world was established. Therefore, let us labor as much as we can, beloved, that love of the world as such may not overwhelm us, and that we may not love the creature more than the creator. God has given us earthly possessions in order that we may love him with our whole heart and soul.

Caesarius of Arles, Sermons 159.6

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Praise the Lord, for a psalm is a good thing;
Let praise be sweet to our God.
The Lord is building Jerusalem,
And He shall gather together the dispersion of Israel;
He heals the brokenhearted
And He binds up all their wounds. (Ps 147:1–3)

Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them. At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him. (Mark 1:29–34)

“He heals the broken of heart and binds up their wounds.” A marvelous kind of healing is spoken of so that we wear ourselves away constantly if we wish to be restored to health. But that wound of contrition pertains to what makes us whole and leads to full recovery. And—what is beyond every good—it leads us to that physician who offers eternal health. Next comes, “He binds up their wounds.” The metaphor is taken from a doctor's skills, which bind up broken and crushed bones with cloth bandages, whenever they want to make them solid so that the limbs come back together into their proper place and coalesce into their former solidity. The heavenly physician binds penitents’ hearts that have been crushed by dire affliction with a certain bundle of his piety imposed on the penitent and he further solidifies it and leads it to a very firm hope of healing, just as was said in the fiftieth psalm, “God does not despise a contrite and humbled heart.” For also that publican who beat his heart with constant beating showed that he had brought about that contrition in himself, which he did not cease to pour into his guilty heart.

Cassiodorus, Expositions on the Psalms 146.3

But in that He gives most profusely His gifts of healing and doctrine on the sabbath day, He teaches, that He is not under the Law, but above the Law, and does not choose the Jewish sabbath, but the true sabbath, and our rest is pleasing to the Lord, if, in order to attend to the health of our souls, we abstain from slavish work, that is, from all unlawful things. It goes on, and immediately the fever left her, etc. The health which is conferred at the command of the Lord, returns at once entire, accompanied with such strength, that she is able to minister to those, of whose help she had before stood in need. Again, if we suppose that the man delivered from the devil means, in the moral way of interpretation, the soul purged from unclean thoughts, fitly does the woman cured of a fever by the command of God mean the flesh, restrained from the heat of its concupiscence by the precepts of continence.

Bede, Mark 1.6, 8

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday in Advent

O Lord, I will sing of Your mercies forever;
I will proclaim Your truth with my mouth from generation to generation;
For You said, “Mercy shall be built up forever;
Your truth shall be prepared in the heavens.
I made a covenant with My chosen ones;
I swore to David My servant,
I shall prepare your seed forever,
And I shall build your throne from generation to generation.” (Ps 89:1–4)

Ethan [the psalmist] is to tell of the Lord’s mercies, whichever abide eternally unwavering, and are to be hymned with neverending praises; for the Lord showed wonderful devotion to the human race in order to seek back what was lost and to save what was wounded. This is the truth that the holy man had announced that he would proclaim. He was right to proclaim it with confidence since the Lord had promised it unconditionally. He who follows the words of truth cannot be deceived. But let us examine the meaning of Mercy shall be built up forever. There are certain groups that cannot come into being without the prospect of destruction, such as worshippers of idols and those who pursue wicked practices. These men cannot be built up for good unless they have been brought down by their vices; as Jeremiah was told: Behold, I have set thee to build up and to destroy. But the Lord’s mercy is not destroyed, but ever flourishes and increases.

He then recounts the Lord’s words which he earlier mentioned as the Lord’s utterance. Though the Lord seems to have made a proclamation to all, this covenant He made only with the elect who chose to put faith in His gift so that those who boasted physical descent from the seed of David would not bind Him to such a promise. He added: I have sworn to David my servant; God’s oath is seen to lie in the certainty of His promise, for only He who has the power to fulfill what He has pledged gives a just and definitive promise. Human frailty is prevented from binding itself with promises on oath because it does not lie in its power to carry out what it pledges. So God most fully swears when He promises all things in His own right.

We have reached the promises made by the Father to His servant David. The Lord Christ, who was to come by physical origin from David’s seed, was prepared forever as King of kings and Lord of lords. The phrase, I will prepare, has reference to His humanity, not His divinity, by which He is consubstantial, almighty, and coeternal with the Father. Next comes: And I will build up your abode forever and ever. This promise refers wholly to the Lord Savior. At that time He was promised the throne which was later to be installed in the hearts of the saints; for every saint is the abode of the Lord, in which he sits in the dignity of His majesty as though it were the most splendid throne. As we read of the Holy Spirit as well: And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 88.2–4

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the First Sunday in Advent

Give heed, O You who shepherd Israel;
Reveal Yourself, O You who lead Joseph like a flock,
Who sit upon the cherubim.
Raise up Your power
Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,
And come for our salvation.
O God, convert us,
And reveal Your face, and we shall be saved.
O Lord God of hosts,
How long will You be angry with the prayer of Your servant?
Will You feed us the bread of tears,
And will You give us as drink tears in measure?
You made us an offense to our neighbors,
And our enemies sneered at us.
O Lord God, convert us,
And reveal Your face, and we shall be saved. (Ps 80:1–7 LXX)

The coming of Christ the Lord is demanded with great longing, so that He may appear to be most clearly signified by what He does.… So the address is rightly made to the king of heaven and earth who rules Israel, under whose control all things were created and are administered.… But since the Lord still remained within the cloak of His majesty, the psalmist asks that He should appear in the blessing of the holy incarnation, so that He may strengthen His faithful with the most unswerving belief. Observe that the texture of this verse contains a triple invocation to show that the holy Trinity performs together all things.

The psalmist begs that the Lord appear before them with spiritual might, in other words, that as had been promised through the prophets He should be born of the Jewish nation. But since these names in the usual fashion of divine Scripture are clearly not idly inserted, we must investigate most eagerly their meanings. Ephraim means “fruitfulness,” Benjamin “son of the right hand,” and Manasseh “forgetful.” Clearly these attributes lie within the Lord Savior. He was fruitful when after His body had lain slaughtered for a time He rose to the everlasting kingdom of heaven. He is the “Son of the right hand,” that is, Son of the almighty Father. “Forgetful” points to when He was oblivious of the injuries done to Him, when set on the cross He prayed for the Jewish people. So the psalmist entreated that the Lord come with these powers, and he was in no doubt that He would manifest them.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 79.2–3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

O God, make haste to deliver me.
May those who seek my soul be dishonored and shamed;

May those who plot evils against me be turned back and disgraced;
May those be turned back immediately
Who shame me, saying, “Well done! Well done!”
May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You,
And let those who love Your salvation always say,
“Let God be magnified.”
But I am poor and needy;
O God, help me.
You are my helper and my deliverer, O Lord; do not delay. (Ps 70)

The second section prays that all who love the Lord Christ should rejoice and be glad. For persecutors, confusion and shame are sought; for the devoted, exultation and abiding joy. As the Lord says in the gospel: And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlasting. But the psalmist inserts this mode of rejoicing appropriately, for by saying in You he confesses that the joy which boasts in human presumption is transitory. Joined to this is: All who seek You, O Lord. They do not seek You by their own powers, but are sought out by Your fatherly love. You gazed from heaven and sought that the human race might seek You; for the Lord came to us that we might deserve to return to Him. But those who seek the Lord are advised for their welfare on what they ought to say. They must say always: The Lord be magnified. Always indicates continuing time, because we must never cease praising the Lord. So that the meaning may become clearer to us, the order of words should be: “Let them who love your salvation always say: The Lord be magnified.” We should realize that the word magnified has been adopted from human practice, for it is he who is extolled with praises and grows in men’s good opinions who is magnified. But God experiences no increase, for He is known to be Fullness in its unique and inexpressible totality. He cannot grow from any external source, for He continually gives growth to all created things. But we profit from magnifying Him, and our awareness ever increases when with pious hearts we offer praises to God.

Cassiodorus, Exposition on the Psalms

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to All Saints' Sunday

Alleluia!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
His praise in the assembly of His holy ones.
Let Israel be glad in Him who made him,
And let the children of Zion greatly rejoice in their King.
Let them praise His name with dance;
With tambourine and harp let them sing to Him;
For the Lord is pleased with His people,
And He shall exalt the gentle with salvation.
The holy ones shall boast in glory,
And they shall greatly rejoice on their beds;
The high praise of God shall be in their mouth
And a two-edged sword in their hand,
To deal retribution to the nations,
Reproving among the peoples,
To shackle their kings with chains
And their nobles with fetters of iron,
To fulfill among them the written judgment:
This glory have all His holy ones. (Psalm 149)

In the previous verse he said that we must rejoice in the Lord Christ, and now he says that the Lord’s name is to be praised in chorus. This is the chorus which by then suffers no dispersal or weariness or scandal, but is gathered on the worth of its merits, and ever abides in the most loving unity. Another psalm explains the nature and scope of this chorus in the words: From the rising of the sun unto the going down, praise the name of the Lord. The chorus is that gathered from the world’s beginning from the aggregate of nations; it can be fully mustered only in the homeland to come. Next comes: Let them sing to him with the timbrel and the psaltery. We have stated that the timbrel and psaltery are praiseworthy acts performed in this world as services to God, which are no longer observed in that homeland, but they will be in evidence there when there is rejoicing as we glory in them. What saddens us here delights us there; what afflicts us here cheers us there. As we read in Scripture, Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So all these, whether timbrel or psaltery, hymn the Lord in the world to come, for they are known to be practiced or endured in this life for His name.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Thou Art the Man by Peter Rothermel, ca. 1878. Rothermel

Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not take into account,
And in whose mouth there is no deceit.
Because I kept silent, my bones grew old
From my groaning all the day long;
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
I became miserable when the thorn pierced me. (Pause)

I made known my sin,
And I did not hide my transgression;
I said, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord,”
And You forgave the ungodliness of my sin. (Pause)

For this cause, everyone who is holy will pray to Him in a well-fitted time;
Surely they will not draw near to Him in a flood of many waters.
You are my refuge from the oppression of those who surround me;
O my exceeding joy, redeem me from those who encircle me. (Pause) (Ps 32:1–7)

Just as earlier he explained why he had been wounded, so now as he comes to the second section he tells the source of his anxiety bestowed by the Lord. What crafty naïveté, a purity more careful than that of a thousand laggards! His sin is said to have been revealed to Him from whom nothing is hidden, to whom the plea cries louder than the tongue. Even if He does not hear it from the man, He knows all with greater certainty than the perpetrator. Making known means making a confession of sins; concealing is cloaking something wholly in silence or hiding something with the heart’s dissembling. This is what foolish people do who believe that God can remain ignorant of their actions. On the other hand, those who are aware that He knows all things clearly abase themselves to humble confession and prayers of repentance so as not to suffer a hostile Judge when they could have Him as merciful Advocate. Some have considered a fault to be a minor sin committed through some carelessness; injustice, however, is the perpetration of some monstrous and savage deed. Here the purity of the confessor is revealed; he did not bear to hide even what was thought to be a venial error.

Here is revealed the great devotion of the Godhead, for at the mere promise of dedication He suddenly absolved his sins, for He regards the piety of prayer as if it were the outcome of an action. The penitent said in his heart that he would not keep silent before the Lord about his past deeds; then, just as if he had revealed all, he was absolved of what he wished to confess, and rightly, since it is the will alone which absolves or punishes anyone. I will pronounce means “I will state publicly, that my devoted and faithful confession may draw others to imitate me.” From his self-accusation follows the saving remedy, for since the guilty man did not spare himself, the Judge spared him. His wickedness of heart was his former decision to be silent, for he believed that he lay hidden from Him who can know with utter certainty all things before they come into being.

Now that he has completed the exordium and the narration or satisfaction, he comes to the conclusion of his prayer for pardon, in which he commends his request for forgiveness in such a way as to claim that it is shared even by all holy men; and rightly so, for he who is not a stranger to sins ought to involve himself in prayers of entreaty. What a saving cure! To withstand all sinners’ diseases, different remedies are offered them when sick; but if this one antidote is taken with a pure heart, the poisons of all sins are overcome.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 31.5–6