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

48. Homily 48 On Psalm 136 (137)

HOMILY 48 ON PSALM 136 (137) IE . Y THE STREAMS of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Sion: If one has never been sick, he does D not appreciate the value of health.1 The cripple does not know the strength of feet that are sound; the blind man does not realize the power of vision. This is all by way of introduction, for the psalm says that we sat down by the streams of Babylon and wept when we remembered Sion. The meaning of Babylon is confusion; hence, Babylon is a figure of this world. It is the sinner, therefore, that fell from Paradise and entered the valley of tears, the Babylon of this world-rather, it is the prophet in the person of the fallenwho says: 'By the streams of Babylon,' the streams, I say, of Babylon. When you see someone who has been very beautiful lose his beauty in sickness, and his bloom and vigor wither and decay, he is passing away just like the river with the ebb and flow of its waters, as new waters rise again and again, and in their turn vanish. It is the same with this world, because only for the moment or the hour are we rich or strong or beautiful. and after a short while all vanishes as the waters of the stream that flow away and are gone. So there we sat and wept because we remembered Sion. Even though we have fallen from Paradise through our own fault, nevertheless, we are mindful of our former happiness; we never forget it. In point, here is the parable of the man who was coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho,2 Jericho that signi1 Cf. Letter 66.1, PL 22.639 (393); 122.1, PL 22.1039-40 (891). 2 Luke 10.30-37. 357 358 SAINT JEROME fies 'moon or the ever-changing'-which, moreover, is understood to mean this world-and fell in with robbers, and a Samaritan took him and healed him with oil and wine, mingling mercy with austerity. 'On the aspens of that land we hung up our harps: The aspen is by nature unproductive, and they say that if anyone drinks a potion made from the flower of this tree, or eats of it, he will become sterile.s Well, that is where we hung up our harps. Now the body of man is a harp. Just as the shepherd's pipe is composed of many reeds but sends forth one harmonious tune, even so, we have our own musical instrument on which to play, and by means of it, through works, we offer a tune, a song, a hymn to God. By analogy, too, through our sense of hearing, through smell, taste, sight, and through all our faculties, we offer a hymn and a song to the Lord as from a single instrument. They tell us, in addition , that the aspen does not have roots; that if a branch is broken off and planted near water, it begins to grow green at once. So, too, the sinner, granted that he has sinned, granted that he has fallen, nevertheless, if he is near water, that is, if he reads the Sacred Scriptures and listens to the divine word from a holy man, his soul revives and he is converted unto repentance. 'Though there our captors asked of us the lyrics of our songs: The evil spirits that deceived us and led us into cap· tivity, now make sport of us as they hiss in mockery: 'Pledge to us your word of faith, and do it just as you used to sing a song to God when you were in Jerusalem: 'How could we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?' This is the answer of those who had been trapped into sin, and they demand: How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land, we who are fixed in sins, who have fallen from Jerusalem into Babylon? One cannot praise the Lord if he 3 Cf. Commentary on Zacharia 14.16, PL 25.1537 (932); on lsaia 15.3-9, PL 24.233 (268); 44.1-6, PL 24.435 (525); cf. Commentarioli in ps. 136.2. HOMILY 48 359 is unfaithful, for it behooves the sinner to lament his sins, not sing to the Lord. 'If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right...