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HOMILY 49 ON PSALM 137 (138) IIWILL CONFESS to you, Lord, with all my heart:1 The nature of a wound determines the medication to be applied. Just as the body has wounds of various kinds, so also the soul has its passions and its wound,s, and we must do penance in proportion to the nature of our sin. If a man makes confession of all his sins, he is acknowledging his sins to the Lord wholeheartedly. If, for example, someone has committed fornication and he confesses only that and is avaricious, or irascible, or a slanderer, or blasphemer, and is full of faults and vices, his confession is not sincere. The man who repents for all the sins and passions of his soul is the man who is able to say: I confess and give thanks to You, o Lord, with all my heart. 'For you have heard the words of my mouth:2 This verse is not found in the Hebrew text. Nonetheless, what it means is: In my confession I have poured out my whole heart, 0 Lord; I have confessed all my sins and faults, for I have not admitted merely one sin to You, and You have listened to me graciously. 'In the presence of the angels I will sing your praise: Just think of the promotion of that penitentl After confession and repentance, he merits to sing with the angels! He who sings is no longer doing penance but is giving thanks and benediction. 'I will worship at your holy temple: If that is the temple that we now see desolate at which one must worship, then, for the Jews worship is over, for that temple 1 Cf. Ps. 137 (138).1. 2 Ibid. 361 362 SAINT JEROME has been destroyed. No, the psalmist's temple is the holy and heavenly Jerusalem. 'Because of your kindness and your truth.' May the sinner heed the word, 'kindness,' but may the just man, and the proud man hear the word, 'truth.' 'You will build up strength within me';3 my soul, burdened with its many troubles, You will fill with courage. 'All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to you, 0 Lord.' The kings of the earth are those who reign over sin; consequently , they who govern sin shall give thanks. The prophet is certainly not referring to the kings of this world, for it is written: 'The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord.'4 Do you for one moment suppose that the heart of Julian the Apostate was in the hand of God? God forbid! Or of Nero or of Maximianus and Decius, the persecutors? God forbid! No, he is speaking of those who have control over sin, who, because their heart is in the hand of God, have conquered the vices and passions of their soul and thereby prevail over sin. 'When they hear the words of your mouth,' when they keep and safeguard your commandments. 'They shall sing in the ways of the Lord." The philosophers of this generation did not sing in the ways of the Lord, but we sing in the ways of the Lord, for we sing in the way of Moses and Isaia and Jeremia, and from their paths, we arrive at the way that says: 'I am the way.'6 3 Cf. Ps. 137 (138).3. 4 Cf. Provo 21.1. 5 Cf. Ps. 137 (138).5. 6 John 14.6. ...

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