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

42. Homily 42 On Psalm 127 (128)

HOMILY 42 ON PSALM 127 (128) GUAPPY ARE THEY who fear the Lord.'l What is the reward of those who fear the Lord? What is their crown? Let us see what their glory is, what their reward. 'Happy shall you be, and favored.' I have already granted their happiness; now I am inquiring into its nature. What is the happiness of the man who fears the Lord? 'Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; your sons like olive plants around your table.'2 I think that in the merciful kindness of Christ, we all fear the Lord. Then'do we not have this happiness? It is written that he who fears the Lord has a special happiness,s namely: 'Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; your sons like olive plants around your table.' The man who has only one son, therefore, and the man who has two sons is really not happy? What does it say? 'Your sons like olive plants around your table.' Unless, therefore, we have so many sons that they fill the places around our table, shall we not have the happiness of the one who fears the Lord? Isaac was not so blessed, for he had only two sons; one the wicked Esau for whom it were better had he never been born, the other, Jacob. Do you take it for granted, therefore , that he had no happiness because one son could not encircle his table? According to such reasoning, virgins do not fear the Lord. Why, then, does it say that he who fears 1 Cf. Ps. 127 (128).1. 2 Cf. Ps. 127 (128).3. 3 Letter 22.21, PL 22.407 (104); 123.13, PL 22.1054 (910); Against Jovinian 1.22, PL 23.252 (272). 316 HOMILY 42 317 the Lord rightly understands what it means to be happy? 'Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; your sons like olive plants around your table.' John did not possess that kind of happiness, neither the Evangelist nor the Baptist, for both were virgins. This happiness was not Paul's either who says: 'For I would that you all were as I myseIf.'4 You gather by now that 'wife and sons' must be understood spiritually; otherwise, without a spiritual interpretation , we must admit that angels do not possess such happiness , for they do not have children. Let us go back, therefore , and reread the verses in order. 'Happy are they who fear the Lord.' In the same way that one cannot say: 'My portion is the Lord,'s and still claim another portion in this world, one does not fear the Lord if he fears anything else apart from the Lord. The Savior says in fact: 'Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather be afraid of him who is able to destroy both soul and body in helL'6 You see, then, that he who does not fear the Lord, fears something other than the Lord. What are the marks of the man who fears the Lord? The stamp of those 'Who walk in his ways.' There are many ways, and the many ways lead to the one Way, wherefore it says in Jeremia: 'Stand beside the ways of the Lord, and ask for the eternal pathways; find the one way, and walk it.'7 Notice that it says: 'Stand beside the pathways of the Lord, and ask for the eternal paths of the Lord, and find the one way; and then walk it.' Through many ways, we find the one Way. This same thought occurs in the Gospel8 under another form and figure in the parable of the merchant who had many pearls and sold them and bought a single pearl of great price. 4 Cf. I Cor. 7.7; d. Letter 48.4, PL 22.496 (215); Against Jovinian 1.8, PL 23.232 (249). 5 Lam. 3.24. 6 Matt. 10.28. 7 Cf. Jer. 6.16. Cf. Homily 23 on Ps. 95, p. 183; Letter 54.II, PL 22.555 (289). 8 Cf. Matt. 13.46; Letter 54.11, PL 22.555 (289); 66.8, PL 22.644 (399). ; 318 SAINT JEROME 'Stand beside the pathways,' that is, be in possession of many pearls...