The Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity
Grant, we beseech thee merciful Lord, to thy faithful people indulgence and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Source: Sacramentary of Bishop Gelasius of Rome [494AD]. Cranmer in 1549 translated the Latin "indulgence" as the English "pardon". The call for "peace" in this collect has been ascribed to the fact that at the time, Rome was under heavy assault that threatened to break Pax Romana. This collect is used in the place of an absolution when the office is conducted by a layman. Dr. Peter Toon translated the original Latin as follows: "Be reconciled, we beseech thee, Lord, to thy faithful ones, and grant them bountifully indulgence and peace, that they may be cleansed from all offences, and at the same time do unto thee devoted service without distraction of mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Isaiah lix. 15b, Psalms: 120, 121, 122 | 133, 134, 135,
Ephesians vi. 10 & St. John iv. 46
Homily of Augustine on Psalm 120
Isaiah lix. 15b
The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.
Psalm 120, 121, 122 | 133, 134, 135
Ephesians vi. 10
MY brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
St. John iv. 46
THERE was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.
Augustine
Psalm CXX
1. The Psalm which we have just heard chanted, and have responded to
with our voices, is short, and very profitable. Ye will not long toil
in hearing, nor will ye toil fruitlessly in working. For it is,
according to the title prefixed to it, "A song of degrees." Degrees are either of ascent or of descent. But degrees, as they are
used in this Psalm, are of ascending...There are therefore both those
who ascend and those who descend on that ladder. Who are they
that ascend? They who progress towards the understanding of things
spiritual. Who are they that descend? They who, although, as far as men
may, they enjoy the comprehension of things spiritual: nevertheless,
descend unto the infants, to say to them such things as they can
receive, so that, after being nourished with milk, they may become
fitted and strong enough to take spiritual meat...
2. When therefore a man hath commenced thus to order his ascent; to
speak more plainly, when a Christian hath begun to think of spiritual
amendment, he beginneth to suffer the tongues of adversaries. Whoever
hath not yet suffered from them, hath not yet made progress; whoever
suffereth them not, doth not even endeavour to improve. Doth he wish to
know what we mean? Let him at the same time experience what is reported
of us. Let him begin to improve, let him begin to wish to ascend, to
wish to despise earthly, fragile, temporal objects, to hold worldly
happiness for nothing, to think of God alone, not to rejoice in gain,
not to pine at losses, to wish even to sell all his substance, and
distribute it among the poor, and to follow Christ; let us see how he
suffereth the tongues of detractors and of constant opponents, and--a
still greater peril--of pretended counsellors, who lead him astray from
salvation...He then, who will ascend, first of all prayeth God against
these very tongues: for he saith, "When I was in trouble, I called on
the Lord; and He heard me" (ver. 1). Why did He hear him? That He might
now place him at the steps of ascent.
3. "Deliver my soul, O Lord, from unrighteous lips, and from a
deceitful tongue" (ver. 2). What is a deceitful tongue? A treacherous
tongue, one that hath the semblance of counsel, and the bane of real
mischief. Such are those who say, And wilt thou do this, that nobody
doth? Wilt thou be the only Christian?...Some deter by dissuasion,
others discourage yet more by their praise. For since such is the life
that hath for some time been diffused over the world, so great is the
authority of Christ, that not even a pagan ventureth to blame Christ.
He who cannot be censured is read. They cannot contradict
Christ, they cannot contradict the Gospel, Christ cannot be censured;
the deceitful tongue turneth itself to praise as an hindrance. If thou
praisest, exhort. Why dost thou discourage with thy praise?...Thou
turnest thyself to another mode of dissuasion, that by false praise
thou mayest turn me away from true praise; nay, that by praising
Christ thou mayest keep me away from Christ, saying, What is this?
Behold these men have done this: thou, perhaps, wilt not be able: thou
beginnest to ascend, thou fallest. It seemeth to warn thee: it is the
serpent, it is the deceitful tongue, it hath poison. Pray against it,
if thou wishest to ascend.
4. And thy Lord saith unto thee, "What shall be given thee, or what
shall be set before thee, against the deceitful tongue?" (ver. 3). What
shall be given thee, that is, as a weapon to oppose to the deceitful
tongue, to guard thyself against the deceitful tongue? "Or what shall
be set before thee?" He asketh to try thee: for He will answer His own
question. For He answers following up his own inquiry, "even sharp
arrows of the Mighty One, with coals that desolate, or that lay waste"
(ver. 4). They that desolate, or that lay waste (for it is variously
written in different copies), are the same, because by laying waste, as
ye may observe, they easily lead unto desolation. What are these coals?
First, beloved brethren, understand what are arrows. The "sharp arrows
of the Mighty One," are the words of God...What then are the "coals
that lay waste?" It is not enough to plead with words against a
deceitful tongue and unrighteous lips: it is not enough to plead with
words; we must plead with examples also...The word coals, then, is used
to express the examples of many sinners converted to the Lord. Thou
hearest men wonder, and say, I knew that man, how addicted he was to
drinking, what a villain, what a lover of the circus, or of the
amphitheatre, what a cheat: now how he serveth God, how innocent he
hath become! Wonder not; he is a live coal. Thou rejoicest that he is
alive, whom thou wast mourning as dead. But when thou praisest the
living, if thou knowest how to praise, apply him to the dead, that he
may be inflamed; whosoever is still slow to follow God, apply to him
the coal which was extinguished, and have the arrow of God's word, and
the coal that layeth waste, that thou mayest meet the deceitful tongue
and the lying lips.
5. "Alas, that my sojourning is become far off!" (ver. 5). It hath
departed far from Thee: my pilgrimage hath become a far one. I have not
yet reached that country, where I shall live with no wicked person; I
have not yet reached that company of Angels, where I shall not fear
offences. But why am I not as yet there? Because sojourning is
pilgrimage. He is called a sojourner who dwells in a foreign land, not
in his own country. And when is it far off? Sometimes, my brethren,
when a man goeth abroad, he liveth among better persons, than he would
perhaps live with in his own country: but it is not thus, when we go
afar from that heavenly Jerusalem. For a man changeth his country, and
this foreign sojourn is sometimes good for him; in travelling he
findeth faithful friends, whom he could not find in his own country. He
had enemies, so that he was driven from his country; and when he
travelled, he found what he had not in his country. Such is not that
country Jerusalem, where all are good: whoever travelleth away from
thence, is among the evil; nor can he depart from the wicked, save when
he shall return to the company of Angels, so as to be where he was
before he travelled. There all are righteous and holy, who enjoy the
word of God without reading, without letters: for what is written to us
through pages, they perceive there through the Face of God. What
a country! A great country indeed, and wretched are the wanderers from
that country.
6. But what he saith, "My pilgrimage hath been made distant," are the
words of those, that is, of the Church herself, who toileth on this
earth. It is her voice, which crieth out from the ends of the earth in
another Psalm, saying, "From the ends of the earth have I cried unto
Thee. ...Where then doth he groan, and among whom doth he dwell?
"I have had my habitation among the tents of Kedar." Since this is a
Hebrew word, beyond doubt ye have not understood it. What meaneth, "I
have had my habitation among the tents of Kedar"? "Kedar," as far as we
remember of the interpretation of Hebrew words, signifieth darkness.
"Kedar" rendered into Latin is called tenebrae. Now ye know that
Abraham had two sons, whom indeed the Apostle mentioneth, and
declareth them to have been types of the two covenants...Ishmael
therefore was in darkness, Isaac in light. Whoever here also seek
earthly felicity in the Church, from God, shall belong to Ishmael.
These are the very persons who gainsay the spiritual ones who are
progressing, and detract from them, and have deceitful tongues and
unrighteous lips. Against these the Psalmist, when ascending, prayed,
and hot coals that lay waste, and swift and sharp arrows of the Mighty
One, were given him for his defence. For among these he still liveth,
until the whole floor be winnowed: he therefore said, "I have dwelt
among the tents of Kedar." The tents of Ishmael are called those of
Kedar. Thus the book of Genesis hath it: thus it hath, that Kedar
belongeth unto Ishmael. Isaac therefore is with Ishmael: that
is, they who belong unto Isaac, live among those who belong unto
Ishmael. These wish to rise above, those wish to press them
downwards: these wish to fly unto God, those endeavour to pluck their
wings...
7. "My soul hath wandered much" (ver. 6). Lest thou shouldest
understand bodily wandering, he hath said that the soul wandered. The
body wandereth in places, the soul wandereth in its affections. If thou
love the earth, thou wanderest from God: if thou lovest God, thou
risest unto God. Let us be exercised in the love of God, and of our
neighbour, that we may return unto charity. If we fall towards the
earth, we wither and decay. But one descended unto this one who had
fallen, in order that he might arise. Speaking of the time of his
wandering, he said that he wandered in the tents of Kedar. Wherefore?
Because "my soul hath wandered much." He wandereth there where he
ascendeth. He wandereth not in the body, he riseth not in the body. But
wherein doth he ascend? "The ascent," he saith, "is in the heart."
8. "With them that hated peace, I was peaceful" (ver. 7). But howsoever
ye may hear, most beloved brethren, ye will not be able to prove how
truly ye sing, unless ye have begun to do that which ye sing. How much
soever I say this, in whatsoever ways I may expound it, in whatsoever
words I may turn it, it entereth not into the heart of him in whom its
operation is not. Begin to act, and see what we speak. Then tears flow
forth at each word, then the Psalm is sung, and the heart doeth what is
sung in the Psalm...Who are they who hate peace? They who tear asunder
unity. For had they not hated peace, they would have abode in unity.
But they separated themselves, forsooth on this account, that they
might be righteous, that they might not have the ungodly mixed with
them. These words are either ours or theirs: decide whose. The Catholic
Church saith, Unity must not be lost, the Church of God must not be cut
off. God will judge afterwards of the wicked and the good...This
we also say: Love ye peace, love ye Christ. For if they love peace,
they love Christ. When therefore we say, Love ye peace, we say this,
Love ye Christ. Wherefore? For the Apostle saith of Christ, "He is our
peace, who hath made both one." If Christ is therefore peace,
because He hath made both one: why have ye made two of one? How then
are ye peace-makers, if, when Christ maketh one of two, ye make two of
one? But since we say these things, we are peace-makers with them that
hate peace; and yet they who hate peace, when we spake to them, made
war on us for nought.
Let us pray in the words of Augustine.
Turn we to the Lord God, the Father Almighty, and with pure hearts offer to him, so far as our
meanness can, great and true thanks, with all our hearts praying his exceeding kindness, that of
his good pleasure he would deign to hear our prayers, that by his Power he would drive out the
enemy from our deeds and thoughts, that he would increase our faith, guide our understandings,
give us spiritual thoughts, and lead us to his bliss, through Jesus Christ his Son our Lord, who
liveth and reigneth with him, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[A prayer which he was wont to use after his Sermons and Lectures.]
NPNF (V1-08) St. Augustine
Finis
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