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

1. Homily 1 On Psalm 1

HOMILY I ON PSALM I UHE PSALTER IS LIKE a stately mansion that has only one key to the main entrance. Within the mansion, however , each separate chamber has its own key. Even though the great key to the grand entrance is the Holy Spirit, still each room without exception has its own smaller key. Should anyone accidentally confuse the keys and throw them out and then want to open one of the rooms, he could not do so until he found the right one. Similarly, the psalms are each like single cells, everyone with its own proper key. The main entrance to the mansion of the Psalter is the first psalm which begins with the words: 'Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked: Some commentators think that the key to this first psalm must be the person of Christ our Lord, interpreting 'the happy man' to be the man, Christ.1 They mean weIl,2 of course, but such an interpretation certainly shows a lack of experience and knowledge, for if that happy man is Christ, and Christ gave the law, how can the words: 'But delights in the law of the Lord,' apply to Christ? Besides, how can Christ be compared to a tree where it says: 'He is like a tree planted near running water'? For if Christ is compared to a tree, He is less than the tree since in a comparison the thing compared is less than that to which it is compared; hence, the tree would 1 Cf. Commentarioli in psalmos 1.3. 2 Cf. Commentary on lsaia 17.7, PL 24.176 (195). 3 4 SAINT JEROME be greater than the Lord who is compared to it.s Do you see, then, that the psalm cannot refer to the person of the Lord, but rather refers in general to the just man? I grant that there are many who, with some reason, I think, apply the words of the Psalm to Joseph; I mean Joseph of Arimathea, who did not follow the counsel of the Jews, who did not stand in the way of sinners, and who did not sit in the company of the Pharisees. Nevertheless, what others choose to interpret in a particular way as referring to Joseph, we shall take to apply in a general way to the just man.4 'Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked.' In Genesis, we read how Adam was cursed: 'Cursed be the ground because of you;'5 but the first malediction pronounced against man is absolved and replaced with a benediction. The Old Law lays down, as it were, only one condition of blessedness ; the Gospel, on the other hand, announces simultaneously eight beatitudes.6 'Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked.' Happy the man, not any man, but the man who has reached the perfection of the manhood of Christ: 'Who follows not the counsel of the wicked.' Here, Scripture describes the three usual ways of committing sin: we entertain sinful thoughts; we commit sin in act; or we teach what is sinful. First, we entertain a sinful thought; then, after we have reflected upon it, we convert that thought into action. When we commit sin, moreover, we multiply sin by teaching others to do what we have done. 'Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked'-who thinks no evil; 'nor has stood in the way of sinners'7-who does no evil; 'nor sits in the company of the insolent'-who has not taught others to sin. He has not consorted with the scornful, 'nor has stood in the way of sinners.' 3 Cf. Against Jovinian l.3, PL 23.223 (239). 'When the lesser is equated with the greater, the greater suffers from the comparison while the lower profits.' 4 Cf. Commentarioli in ps. 1.12; cf. Letter 53.3, PL 22.542 (273). 5 Gen. 3.17. 6 Matt. 5.3-12; Luke 6.20-23. 7 Cf. Ps. 1.1. HOMILY 1 5 It is difficult for one not to sin. John the Evangelist says, in fact, that anyone who denies that he has sinned is a liar.8 If, therefore, we all sin, what do the words mean, 'nor has stood in the way of sinners'? If we all sin, no one is happy, except, of course, the one...