The Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity
Home, 22nd Sunday after Trinity
LORD, we beseech thee to keep thy household the Church in continual godliness; that through thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve thee in good works, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Source: Sacramentary of Bishop Gregory of Rome [604 AD] The Latin used the word familia, which points to the traditional Roman family that was the basic and most important element of society. It included all in the household, including slaves, and was headed by the pater familias who was responsible for the welfare of all. This concept of the household is the basis of the Gospel story today.
Psalm: 136
Philippians i. 3 & St. Mattxhew xviii. 21
Homily of Augustine on Psalm CXXXVI
for His mercy endureth for ever
Psalm 123, 124, 125 | 136, 138
Philippians i. 3
I THANK my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
St. Matthew xviii. 21
PETER said unto Jesus, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Augustine
Homily
Psalm CXXXVI
Psalm CXXXVI. [5670]
1. "Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth
for ever" (ver. 1). This Psalm contains the praise of God, and all its
verses finish in the same way. Wherefore although many things are
related here in praise of God, yet His mercy is most commended; [5671]
for without this plain commendation, he, whom the Holy Spirit used to
utter this Psalm, would have no verse be ended. Although after the
judgment, by which at the end of the world the quick and the dead must
be judged, the just being sent into life eternal, the unjust into
everlasting fire, [5672] there will not afterwards be those, whom God
will have mercy on, yet rightly may His future mercy be understood to
be for ever, which He bestows on His saints and faithful ones, not
because they will be miserable for ever, and therefore will need His
mercy for ever, but because that very blessedness, which He mercifully
bestows on the miserable, that they cease to be miserable, and begin to
be happy, will have no end, and therefore "His mercy is for ever." For
that we shall be just from being unjust, whole from being unsound,
alive from being dead, immortal from being mortal, happy from being
wretched, is of His mercy. But this that we shall be, will be for ever,
and therefore "His mercy is for ever." Wherefore, "give thanks to the
Lord;" that is, praise the Lord by giving thanks, "for He is good:" nor
is it any temporal good you will gain from this confession, for, "His
mercy endureth for ever;" that is, the benefit which He bestows
mercifully upon you, is for ever. [5673]
2. Then follows, "Give thanks to the God of gods, for His mercy
endureth for ever" (ver. 2). "Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His
mercy endureth for ever" (ver. 3). We may well enquire, Who are these
gods and lords, of whom He who is the true God is God and Lord? And we
find written in another Psalm, that even men are called gods. [5674]
The Lord even takes note of this testimony in the Gospel, saying, "Is
it not written in your Law, I have said, Ye are gods?" [5675] ...It is
not therefore because they are all good, but because "the word of God
came to them," that they were called gods. For were it because they are
all good, He would not thus distinguish between them. He saith, "He
judgeth between the gods." Then follows, "How long do ye judge
iniquity!" [5676] and the rest, which He says certainly not to all, but
to some, because He saith it in distinguishing, and yet He
distinguisheth between the gods.
3. But it is asked, If men are called gods to whom the word of the Lord
came, are the Angels to be called gods, when the greatest reward which
is promised to just and holy men is the being equal to Angels? In the
Scriptures I know not whether it can, at least easily, be found, that
the Angels are openly called gods; but when it had been said of the
Lord God, "He is terrible, above all gods," he adds, as by way of
exposition why he says this, "for the gods of the heathen are devils,"
[5677] that we might understand what had been expressed in the Hebrew,
"the gods of the Gentiles are idols," meaning rather the devils which
dwell in the idols. [5678] For as regards images, which in Greek are
called idols, a name we now use in Latin, they have eyes and see not,
and all the other things which are said of them, because they are
utterly without sense; wherefore they cannot be frightened, for nothing
which has no sense can be frightened. How then can it be said of the
Lord, "He is terrible above all gods, because the gods of the Gentiles
are idols," if the devils which may be terrified are not understood to
be in these images. Whence also the Apostle says, "We know that an idol
is nothing." [5679] This refers to its earthy senseless material. But
that no one may think, that there is no living and sentient nature,
which delights in the Gentile sacrifices, he adds, "But what the
Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: I would
not have you partaken with devils." [5680] If therefore we never find
in the divine words that the holy Angels are called gods, I think the
best reason is, that men may not be induced by the name to pay that
ministry and service of religion (which in Greek is called leitourgia
or latria) to the holy Angels, which neither would they have paid by
man at all, save to that God, who is the God of themselves and men.
[5681] Hence they are much more correctly called Angels, which in Latin
is Nuntii, that by the name of their function, not their substance, we
may plainly understand that they would have us worship the God, whom
they announce. The whole then of that question the Apostle has briefly
expounded, when he says, "For though there be who are called gods,
whether in heaven or in earth, as there are gods many and lords many;
yet we have one God the Father, from whom are all, and we in Him; and
one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him." [5682]
4. Let us therefore "give thanks to the God of gods, and the Lord of
lords, for His mercy," etc. "Who alone did wonderful things" (ver. 4).
As at the last part of every verse, it is written, "For His mercy
endureth for ever," so we must understand at the beginning of each,
though it be not written, "Give thanks." Which indeed in the Greek is
very plain. It would be so in Latin, if our translators had been able
to make use of that expression. Which indeed they could have done in
this verse, if they had said, "To Him who doeth [5683] wonderful
things." For where we have, "who did wonderful things," the Greek has
to poiesanti, where we must necessarily understand, "give thanks." And
I would they had added the pronoun, and said to Him, "who did," or to
Him "who doeth," or to Him "who made sure;" because then one might
easily understand, "let us give thanks." For now it is so obscurely
rendered, that he who either knows not or cares not to examine a Greek
manuscript may think, "who made the heavens, who made sure the earth,
who made the luminaries, for His mercy endureth for ever," [5684] has
been so said, because He did these things for this reason, "because His
mercy endureth for ever:" whereas they, whom He has freed from misery,
belong to His Mercy: but not that we should believe that He makes sky,
earth, and luminaries, of His Mercy; since they are marks of His
Goodness, who created all things very good. [5685] For He created all
things, that they might have their being; [5686] but it is the work of
His Mercy, to cleanse us from our sins, and deliver us from everlasting
misery. And so the Psalm thus addresses us, "Give thanks unto the God
of gods, give thanks unto the Lord of lords." Give thanks to Him, "who
alone doeth great wonders;" give thanks to Him, "who by His wisdom made
the heavens;" give thanks to Him, "who stretched out the earth above
the waters;" give thanks to Him, "who alone made great lights." But why
we are to praise, he setteth down at the end of all the verses, "for
His mercy endureth for ever."
5. But what meaneth, "who alone doeth great wonders"? Is it because
many wonderful things He hath done by means of angels and men? Some
wonderful things there are which God doeth alone, and these he
enumerates, saying, "who by His wisdom made the heavens" (ver. 5), "who
stretched out the earth above the waters" (ver. 6), "who alone made
great lights" (ver. 7). For this reason did he add "alone" in this
verse also, because the other wonders which he is about to tell of, God
did by means of man. For having said, "who alone made great lights," he
goes on to explain what these are, "the sun to rule the day" (ver. 8),
"the moon and stars to govern the night" (ver. 9); then he begins to
tell the wonders which He did by means of angels and men: "who smote
Egypt with their first-born" (ver. 10), and the rest. The whole
creation then God manifestly made, not by means of any creature, but
"alone;" and of this creation he hath mentioned certain more eminent
parts, that they might make us think on the whole; the heavens we can
understand, [5687] and the earth we see. And as there are visible
heavens too, by mentioning the lights in them, he has bid us look on
the whole body of the heavens as made by Him.
6. However, whether by what he saith, "who made the heavens in
understanding," or, as others have rendered it, "in intelligence," he
meant to signify, the heavens we can understand, or that He in His
understanding or intelligence, that is, in His wisdom made the heavens
(as it is elsewhere written, "in wisdom hast Thou made them all" [5688]
), implying thereby the only-begotten Word, may be a question. But if
it be so, that we are to understand that "God by His wisdom made the
heavens," why saith He this only of the heavens, whereas God made all
things by the same wisdom? It is that it needed only to be expressed
there, so that in the rest it might be understood without being
written. How then could it be "alone," if "in understanding" or "in
intelligence" means "by His wisdom," that is, by the only-begotten
Word? Is it that, inasmuch as the Trinity is not three Gods, but one
God, he states that God made these things alone, because He made not
creation by means of any creature?
7. But what is, "who laid out the earth above the waters"? For it is a
difficult question, because the earth seemeth to be the heavier, so
that it should be believed not so much to be borne on the waters, as to
bear the waters. And that we may not seem contentiously to maintain our
Scriptures against those who think that they have discovered these
matters on sure principles, we have a second interpretation to give,
that the earth which is inhabited by men, and contains the living
creatures of the earth, is "laid out above the waters" because it
stands out above the waters which surround it. For when we speak of a
city on the sea being built "above the waters," it is not meant that
the sea is under it in the same way as the waters are under the
chambers of caverns, or under ships sailing over them; but it is said
to be "above" the sea, because it stands up above the sea below it.
8. But if these words further signify something else which more closely
concerns us, God "by His wisdom made the heavens," that is, His saints,
spiritual men, to whom He has given not only to believe, but also to
understand things divine; those who cannot yet attain to this, and only
hold their faith firmly, as being beneath the heavens, are figured by
the name of earth. And because they abide with unshaken belief upon the
baptism they have received, therefore it is said, "He laid out the
earth above the waters." Further, since it is written of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that "in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge," [5689] and that these two, wisdom and knowledge, differ
somewhat from one another is testified by other utterances of
Scripture, especially in the words of holy Job, [5690] where both are
in a manner defined; not unsuitably then do we understand wisdom to
consist in the knowledge and love of That which ever is and abideth
unchangeable, which is God. For where he saith, "piety [5691] is
wisdom," in Greek is theos(TM)beia, and to express the whole of this in
Latin, we may call it worship of God. [5692] But to depart from evil,
which he calls knowledge, what else is it but to walk cautiously and
heedfully "in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation," [5693]
in the night, as it were, of this world, that each one by keeping
himself from iniquity may avoid being confounded with the darkness,
distinguished by the light of his proper gift....
9. "Who brought out Israel from the midst of them" (ver. 11). He
brought out also His saints and faithful ones from the midst of the
wicked. "With a mighty Hand and stretched-out Arm" (ver. 12). What more
powerful, what more out-stretched, than that of which is said "To whom
is the Arm of the Lord revealed?" [5694] "Who divided the Red Sea in
two parts" (ver. 13). He divided also in such wise, that the same
baptism should be to some unto life, to others unto death. "And brought
out Israel through the midst of it" (ver. 14). So too He brings out His
renewed people through the laver of regeneration. "And overthrew
Pharaoh and his power in the Red Sea" (ver. 15). He quickly destroyeth
both the sin of His people and the guilt thereof by baptism. "Who led
His people through the wilderness" (ver. 16). Us too He leadeth through
the drought and barrenness of this world, that we perish not therein.
"Who smote great kings" (ver. 17), "and slew famous kings" (ver. 18).
From us too He smites and slays the deadly powers of the devil. "Sehon
king of the Amorites" (ver. 19), an "useless shoot," or "fiery
temptation," for so is Sehon interpreted: the king of "them who cause
bitterness," for such is the meaning of Amorites. "And Og, the king of
Basan" (ver. 20). The "heaper-together," such is the meaning of Og,
and, king of "confusion," which Basan signifies. For what else doth the
devil heap together but confusion? "And gave away their land for an
heritage" (ver. 21), "even an heritage unto Israel His servant" (ver.
22). For He giveth them, whom once the devil owned, for an heritage to
the seed of Abraham, that is, Christ. "Who remembered us in our low
estate" (ver. 23), "and redeemed us from our enemies" (ver. 24) by the
Blood of His only-begotten Son. "Who giveth food to all flesh" (ver.
25), that is, to the whole race of mankind, not Israelites only, but
Gentiles too; and of this Food is said, "My Flesh is meat indeed."
"Give thanks unto the God of Heaven" (ver. 26). "Give thanks unto the
Lord of lords" (ver. 27). For what he here says, "the God of Heaven," I
suppose that he meant to express in other words what He had before
said, "the God of gods." For what there he subjoined, he has here also
repeated. "Give thanks unto the Lord of lords." "But to us there is but
one God," etc., "and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and
we by Him;" [5695] to whom we confess that "His mercy endureth for
ever."
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
Notes:
[5670] Lat. CXXXV.
[5671] [He says: "I remember, in the hundred and sixth Psalm, which
begins in the same way, because the manuscript which I read had not
`for ever,' but, `for ages' (in saeculum), `His mercy,' that I enquired
what we had better understand. For, in the Greek language, it is
written, eis ton aiona, which may be interpreted, `for ages' and (in
aeternum) `for ever.' But it would be tedious to renew the enquiries I
made as best I could in that place. But in this Psalm the same
manuscript has not `for ages,' which most have, but, `for ever His
mercy.'"--C.]
[5672] Matt. xxv. 46.
[5673] [He adds: "The expression, `for He is good,' in the Greek is
/=gathos; not as in the hundred and sixth Psalm, for there "He is
good,' in Greek is chrestos. And so some have expounded the former,
`Since He is sweet.' For /=gathos is not good anyhow, but good most
excellently."--C.]
[5674] Ps. lxxxii. 1, vi. 7.
[5675] John x. 34.
[5676] Ps. lxxxii. 2.
[5677] Ps. xcvi. 4 seq.
[5678] Simulacrum; heidolon.
[5679] 1 Cor. viii. 4.
[5680] 1 Cor. x. 20.
[5681] [The Roman dogma makes a verbal distinction as to worship of
angels and saints, to meet the case as our author puts it here. But the
vulgar cannot so distinguish; and everywhere, practically, this latria
is offered. See Pius IX., the bull Ineffabilis.--C.]
[5682] 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.
[5683] Facienti mirabilia.
[5684] Ps. cxxxvi. 5.
[5685] Gen. i. 31.
[5686] Wisd. i. 14.
[5687] Intelligibiles coelos.
[5688] Ps. civ. 24.
[5689] Col. ii. 3.
[5690] [Job xxviii. 28.--C.]
[5691] Pietas, Vulg.
[5692] Dei cultus.
[5693] Philip. ii. 15.
[5694] Isa. liii. 1.
[5695] 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.
Finis
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