The Homilies of Saint Jerome, Volume 1 (1–59 on the Psalms)

28. Homily 28 On Psalm 101 (102)

HOMILY 28 ON PSALM 101 (102) DHE PRAYER OF a poor man, when he is faint and pours out his anguish before the Lord.'! The psalm is . speaking of the poor man, not the pauper of this world, but him of whom it is written: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit.'2 'When he is faint'; when he remembers his sins, past and present. 'Pours out' with his whole heart, not with his lips. Who, indeed, is the man who is able to pour out his anguish in the presence of the Lord? Who is there who does not feel the prick of conscience? 'Hide not your face from me.' The man who prays with a pure heart and has a conscience free from blame, he it is who is able to utter this prayer. The sinner, on the other hand, does not dare to say: 'Do not hide Your face from me,' but says with more reason: 'Turn away Your face from my sins.'s 'For my days vanish like smoke.' I was a babe and before I knew it, I grew into childhood; then I reached the perfect age, and soon, almost imperceptibly, I became an old man; and my days have vanished like smoke. Some men there are, however, who imagine that their life is everlasting, and cling, therefore, stubbornly to sin. 'And my bones burn like fire: Bones are the very symbol of strength. If the part of me that is strong becomes parched and feeble, how much more so will my flesh languish that is weak by nature? 1 Cf. Ps. 101 (102).1. 2 Matt. 5.3. 3 Ps. 50.11. 216 HOMILY 28 217 'Withered and dried up like grass is my heart.' In similar strain it is written in another place of Holy Writ: 'Man's days are like those of grass.'4 Such is the life of man; today he is fresh and vigorous, and tomorrow he withers away. 'I forget to eat my bread.' The psalmist did not say, I had no desire to eat, or I disdained to eat. No, so great was the memory of sin that rushed upon me, and so broken was I in contrition, that I even forgot to eat; my sole longing was for God; 1 was carried away completely in contemplation of Him. 'Because of my insistent sighing I am reduced to flesh and bone.' Let the penitent learn how they ought to repent. So emaciated did 1 become from longing and sighing that 1 was all skin and bones-the psalmist used the word 'flesh' for skin. 'I am like a pelican of the wilderness.'5 They say there are two species of this kind of bird.6 One is acquatic and its food is fish; the other in lonely places feeds upon venomous creatures-serpents, crocodiles, and lizards. In Latin, these birds are called 'onocrotali.' Well, then, I have become like the bird that is in the wilderness, that feeds upon living things that are poisonous, so my food is like poison to me. 'I have become like a night raven among the ruins.'1 We know that the raven is black all over without a speck of white. Hyperbolically, then, I have become like a night raven. If the raven is black in the daylight, how much blacker is it at night? That is what I have become in my own sight because of my many sins. 'For I eat ashes like bread.' I dipped my bread in ashes and ate it that way. If this is what the prophet says, what are we to do? 'And mingle my drink with tears.' Nothing 4 Ps. 102.15. 5 Cf. Ps. 101 (102).7. 6 Cf. commentary on Sophonia 2.12-15, PL 25.1368 (709-710). Pelicanus onocrotalus and nycticorax-Night Heron? 7 Cf. Ps. 101 (102).7. 218 SAINT JEROME was sweet to my taste, neither bread nor drink; only for heavenly bread was I longing, that is, for Christ. 'Because of your fury and your wrath: This was the anguish of my heart as I meditated upon Your coming and the future judgment. 'For you lifted me up only to cast me down: Let this be the cry of those who were once saints and then fell away from holiness, for after having been exalted in virtues, they failed in fidelity. But the prayer of the...