Salmos 116
Augustine of Hippo · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Salmos 116:1
"I have loved, since the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer" [Psalm 116:1]. Let the soul that is sojourning in absence from the Lord sing thus, let that sheep which had strayed sing thus, let that son who had "died and returned to life," who had "been lost and was found;" [Luke 15:6, 24] let our soul sing thus, brethren, and most beloved sons. Let us be taught, and let us abide, and let us sing thus with the Saints: "I have loved: since the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer." Is this a reason for having loved, that the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer? And do we not rather love, because He has heard, or that He may hear? What then means, "I have loved, since the Lord will hear"? Does he, because hope is wont to inflame love, say that he has loved, since he has hoped that God will listen to the voice of his prayer? — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:2
But whence hath he hoped for this? Since, he saith, "He hath inclined His ear unto me: and in my days I have called upon Him." I loved, therefore, because He will hear; He will hear, "because He hath inclined His ear unto me." But whence knowest thou, O human soul, that God hath inclined His ear unto thee, except thou sayest, "I have believed"? These three things, therefore, "abide, faith, hope, charity:" because thou hast believed, thou hast hoped; because thou hast hoped, thou hast loved. ... — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:3
And what are your days, since you have said, "In my days I have called upon Him"? Are they those perchance, in which "the fullness of time came," and "God sent His Son," [Galatians 4:4] who had already said, "In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you"? [Isaiah 49:8] ...I may rather call my days the days of my misery, the days of my mortality, the days according to Adam, full of toil and sweat, the days according to the ancient corruption. "For I lying, stuck fast in the deep mire," in another Psalm also have cried out, "Behold, You have made my days old;" in these days of mine have I called upon You. For my days are different from the days of my Lord. I call those my days, which by my own daring I have made for myself, whereby I have forsaken Him: and, since He reigns everywhere, and is all-powerful, and holds all things, I have deserved prison; that is, I have received the darkness of ignorance, and the bonds of mortality....For in these days of mine, "The snares of death compassed me round about, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me" [Psalm 116:3]: pains that would not have overtaken me, had I not wandered from You. But now they have overtaken me; but I found them not, while I was rejoicing in the prosperity of the world, in which the snares of hell deceive the more. — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:4
But after "I too found trouble and heaviness, I called upon the Name of the Lord." For trouble and profitable sorrow I did not feel; trouble, wherein He giveth aid, unto whom it is said, "O be Thou our help in trouble: and vain is the help of man." For I thought I might rejoice and exult in the vain help of man; but when I had heard from my Lord, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted:" I did not wait until I should lose those temporal blessings in which I rejoiced, and should then mourn: but I gave heed to that very misery of mine which caused me to rejoice in such things, which I both feared to lose, and yet could not retain; I gave heed to it firmly and courageously, and I saw that I was not only agonized by the adversities of this world, but even bound by its good fortune; and thus "I found the trouble and heaviness" which had escaped me, "and called upon the Name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul." Let then the holy people of God say, "I called upon the Name of the Lord:" and let the remainder of the heathen hear, who do not as yet call upon the Name of the Lord; let them hear and seek, that they may discover trouble and heaviness, and may call upon the Name of the Lord, and be saved. ... — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:5-6
"Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful" [Psalm 116:5]. He is gracious, righteous, and merciful. Gracious in the first place, because He has inclined His ear unto me; and I knew not that the ear of God had approached my lips, till I was aroused by those beautiful feet, that I might call upon the Lord's Name: for who has called upon Him, save he whom He first called? Hence therefore He is in the first place "gracious;" but "righteous," because He scourges; and again, "merciful," because He receives; for "He scourges every son whom He receives;" nor ought it to be so bitter to me that He scourges, as sweet that He receives. For how should not "The Lord, who keeps little ones" [Psalm 116:6], scourge those whom, when of mature age, He seeks to be heirs; "for what son is he whom the father chastens not?" [Hebrews 12:6-7] "I was in misery, and He helped me." He helped me, because I was in misery; for the pain which the physician causes by his knife is not penal, but salutary. — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:7
"Turn again then unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath done good to thee" (ver. 7): not for thy deservings, or through thy strength; but because the Lord hath done good to thee. — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:8
"Since," he says, "He has delivered my soul from death." It is wonderful, most beloved brethren, that, after he had said that his soul should turn unto rest, since the Lord had rewarded him; he added, since "He has delivered my soul from death." Did it turn unto rest, because it was delivered from death? Is not rest more usually said of death? What is the action of him whose life is rest, and death disquietude? Such then ought to be the action of the soul, as may tend to a quiet security, not one that may increase restless toil; since He has delivered it from death, who, pitying it, said, "Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," etc. Meek therefore and humble, following, so to speak, Christ as its path, should the action of the soul be that tends towards repose; nevertheless, not slothful and supine; that it may finish its course, as it is written, "In quietness make perfect your works." "You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." Whoever feels the chain of this flesh, chants these things as fulfilled in hope towards himself. For it is truly said, "I was in misery, and He delivered me;" but the Apostle says this also truly, that we are saved by hope. And that we are delivered from death, is well said to be already fulfilled, so that we may understand the death of unbelievers, of whom he says, "Leave the dead to bury their dead." ...He will then clear our eyes of tears, when He shall save our feet from falling. For there will then be no slipping of our feet as they walk, when there will be no sliding of the weak flesh. But now, however firm our path, which is Christ, be; yet since we place flesh, which we are enjoined to subdue, beneath us; in the very work of chastening and subduing it, it is a great thing not to fall: but not to slip in the flesh, who can attain? — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:9
"I shall please in the sight of the Lord, in the land of the living."...We "labour" indeed now, because we are awaiting "the redemption of our body:" but, "when death shall have been swallowed up in victory, and this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality;" then there will be no weeping, because there will be no falling; and no falling, because no corruption. And therefore we shall then no longer labour to please, but we shall be entirely pleasing in the sight of the Lord, in the land of the living. — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:10
..."I believed," saith he, "and therefore did I speak. But I was sorely brought down" (ver. 10). For he suffered many tribulations, for the sake of the word which he faithfully held, faithfully preached; and he was sorely brought down; as they feared who loved the praise of men better than that of God. But what meaneth, "But I"? He should rather say, I believed, and therefore I have spoken, and I was sorely brought down: why did he add, "But I," save because a man may be sorely brought down by those who oppose the truth, the truth itself cannot, which he believeth and speaketh? Whence also the Apostle, when he was speaking of his chain, saith, "the word of God is not bound." So this man also, since there is one person of the holy witnesses, that is, of the Martyrs of God, saith, "I believed, and therefore will I speak." "But I;" not that which I believed, not the word which I have delivered; "but I was sorely brought down." — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:10
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin, that He came in the flesh, suffered, rose again, ascended into heaven: all this, just as you hear verbs of the past tense, we believe to be already fulfilled. In that faith a partnership is also held with us by those fathers who believed that He would be born of the Virgin, would suffer, would rise again, would ascend into heaven; for to such the apostle pointed when he said, "But we having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak." The prophet said, "I believed, therefore have I spoken:" the apostle says, "We also believe, and therefore speak." But to let you know that their faith is one, listen to him saying, "Having the same spirit of faith, we also believe." — Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 45
Salmos 116:10
The same angel came to Mary, announcing that Christ would be born of her in the flesh, and Mary says something similar. For he had said: By what means shall I know this? For I am old, and my wife is advanced in her days. And it is said to him: Behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things are fulfilled, because you did not believe my words. And he subjected to the punishment of silence, deservedly for his lack of faith. What did the prophet say about John? The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Zacharias is silent while generating the voice. Because he did not believe, he was silent: deservedly he was rendered mute until the voice was born. For if it was rightly said, indeed because it was rightly said in the holy psalm: I believed, therefore have I spoken: because he did not believe, deservedly he did not speak. — Sermon 290
Salmos 116:10
Therefore, in the same Lord Christ, not only as the Word, but also as the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, both the ancient Fathers believed, and to us preached and prophesied the same faith. Whence the Apostle says: Having the same spirit of faith, as it is written: I believed, therefore I spoke. Having the same, he says, whom those who wrote also had: I believed, therefore I spoke. Therefore, having the same spirit of faith, because it is written by the ancients: I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, therefore we also speak. — Sermon 19
Salmos 116:10-11
You see, if there is faith in you, Christ is living in you. You heard the psalm: "I have believed, therefore have I spoken." It was impossible for him both to believe and remain dumb. It is being ungrateful to the one who fills you, if you do not pour out; so the fuller you are, the more you ought to pour out. A fountain, you see, is being born in you of a kind that is able to flow, unable to dry up: "It will become in him a fountain of water leaping up to eternal life." You need have no qualms about preaching, because you are not lying about the fountain of truth; you have received what comes bubbling off your tongue. I mean, if you want to say something of your very own, you will be liars. That is what is said in this very psalm: "I said in my ecstasy, Everyone is a liar." What is "Everyone is a liar?" Every Adam a liar. Strip yourself of Adam, and put on Christ, and you won't be a liar. — SERMON 260E.2
Salmos 116:10-11
So this is what Scripture wished to demonstrate, that every human being, absolutely every single one precisely as human, is a liar. You see, what makes us liars is what we have of our own, and all we have of our very own is the capacity to be liars; not that we cannot be true but that we cannot be true in virtue of what we are in ourselves. Therefore, in order to be true, "I believed, wherefore I also spoke." Deprive him of "I believed"—"everyone is a liar." For when he moves away from the truth of God, he will remain in his lying, because whoever "speaks a lie speaks from what is his own." Say therefore, "What shall I give back to the Lord for everything he has given to me?" After all, "it was in my panic that I said"—and what I said was true—"everyone is a liar." But he gave me back not punishment for lying but good for evil, and by justifying the wicked he made of a liar a speaker of the truth. — SERMON 28A.1
Salmos 116:11
"I said in my trance, All men are liars" (ver. 11). By trance he meaneth fear, which when persecutors threaten, and when the sufferings of torture or death impend, human weakness suffereth. For this we understand, because in this Psalm the voice of Martyrs is heard. For trance is used in another sense also, when the mind is not beside itself by fear, but is possessed by some inspiration of revelation. "But I said in my haste, All men are liars." In consternation he hath had regard to his infirmity, and hath seen that he ought not to presume on himself; for as far as pertaineth to the man himself, he is a liar, but by the grace of God he is made true; lest yielding to the pressure of his enemies he might not speak what he had believed, but might deny it; even as it happened to Peter, since he had trusted in himself, and was to be taught that we ought not to trust in man. And if every one ought not to trust in man, surely not in himself; because he is a man. Rightly therefore in his fear did he perceive that every man was a liar; since they also whom no fear robs of their presence of mind, so that they never lie by yielding to the persecutors, are such by the gifts of God, not by their own strength. ... — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:11
Such a son therefore so keeps watch against a lie, as he doth against sin. For indeed sometimes the name of lie is put for the name of sin: whence is that saying, "All men are liars." For it is so said, as if it were said, "All men are sinners." And that: "But if the truth of God hath abounded through my lie." And therefore, when he lies as a man he sins as a man, and will be held by that sentence in which it is said, "All men are liars;" and, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." But when nothing false cometh forth of his mouth, according to that grace will it so be, of which is said: "He that is born of God, sinneth not." For were this nativity by itself alone in us, no man would sin: and when it shall be alone, no man will sin. But now, we as yet drag on that which we were born corruptible: although, according to that which we are new-born, if we walk aright, from day to day we are renewed inwardly. But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, life will swallow it up wholly, and not a sting of death will remain. Now this sting of death is sin. — Against Lying, Chapter 40
Salmos 116:12
"What," he asketh, "what reward shall I give unto the Lord, for all the benefits that He hath returned unto me?" (ver. 12). He saith not, for all the benefits that He hath done unto me but "for all the benefits that He hath returned unto me." What deeds then on the man's part had preceded, that all the benefits of God were not said to be given, but returned? What had preceded, on the man's part, save sins? God therefore repayeth good for evil, whilst unto Him men repay evil for good; for such was the return of those who said, "This is the heir: come, let us kill him." — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:12
Indeed, I ought to love the Redeemer, and I know what he said to Peter: Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. This he said once, this he said a second time, this he said a third time. Love was questioned, and labor was commanded: because where there is greater love, there is lesser labor. What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits he has rendered unto me? If I say that I am rendering this by feeding his sheep, even this I do not of myself, but by the grace of God with me. Where then shall I be found to be a giver when I am forestalled everywhere? And yet, because we love freely, because we feed his sheep, we seek a reward. How shall this be? How does it fit: I love freely so that I may feed; and: I demand a reward because I feed? By no means would this be done, by no means would a reward be sought from him who is loved freely unless the reward were he himself who is loved. For if we render this, for redeeming us, because we feed his sheep, what do we render for the very fact that he made us to be shepherds? For bad shepherds, which may it be far from us, we are through our wickedness; but as for good ones, which may it come to us from him, we cannot be unless by his grace. — Sermon 340
Salmos 116:12
Christ loved you before you existed; He created you; before the foundation of the world, He predestined you; already created, He nourished you through father and mother. For it was not the parents who provided you from their own. He loved you, created you, nourished you, delivered Himself for you, endured reproaches for you, received wounds for you, redeemed you with His blood. Do you not tremble and say: What shall I render to the Lord for all He has rendered to me? What will you render to the Lord for all He has rendered to you? Hear Him saying: He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. Hear Him speaking, fear Him terrifying, love Him promising. What have you rendered to the Lord for all He has rendered to you? Behold, now you have rendered. What have you rendered? Did you make safe as yourself? Did you bring into eternal life as yourself? Did you create as yourself? Did you make Him Lord as He made you man? What have you rendered except that it may return to you? If you think truly, you did not bestow upon Him, but you benefited yourself. Nor did you receive even this from yourself. For what do you have that you did not receive? Why do you not find what to render to the Lord? Render yourself there, return what He made to Him. Return yourself, not yours. His creature, not your iniquity. — Sermon 65A
Salmos 116:13
So let us praise the Lord, brothers and sisters, because we are holding his trustworthy promises, though we have not yet received the things promised. Do you imagine it is not enough to hold him to his promises and that we should be demanding the payment of his debts? By making promises, God has become our debtor. It is out of his goodness, not our rights, that he has become a debtor. What have we ever given him, that we should be able to hold him in our debt? Or perhaps because you heard in the psalm, "What shall I render to the Lord?" First of all, when he says, "What shall I render to the Lord?" they are the words of a debtor, not of someone demanding repayment of a debt. Something had been advanced to him. "What shall I render the Lord?" What is "What shall I render?" What shall I pay back? What for? "For all the things he has rendered to me." What has he rendered to me? To begin with, I was nothing, and he made me; I had gotten lost, and he looked for me; looked for me and found me; I was a captive, and he redeemed me; having bought me, he set me free; from a slave he made me into a brother. "What shall I render to the Lord?" You haven't got anything you can tender.When you look for absolutely everything from him, what have you got that you can render to him? But wait. There is something or other the psalmist wants to say, when he asks, "What shall I render to the Lord for all the things he has rendered to me?" He looks around everywhere for something he can tender, pay back, and he seems to find it. What does he find? "I will take the cup of salvation." Even though you were thinking of paying something back, you are still looking for something to take. Look here, please. If you are still looking for something to take, you will still be a debtor. When are you going to be a someone who pays back? So if you are always going to be a debtor, when will you ever pay back? You won't find anything you can pay back; you won't have anything apart from what he has given. — SERMON 254:6
Salmos 116:13-15
But this man seeks what he may return unto the Lord, and finds not, save out of those things which the Lord Himself returns. "I will receive," he says, "the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord" [Psalm 116:13]. "My vows will I render to the Lord, before all His people" [Psalm 116:14]. Who has given you the cup of salvation, which when you take, and callest upon the Name of the Lord, you shall return unto Him a reward for all that He has returned unto you? Who, save He who says, "Are ye able to drink the cup that I shall drink of?" Who has given unto you to imitate His sufferings, save He who has suffered before for you? And therefore, "Right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints" [Psalm 116:15]. He purchased it by His Blood, which He first shed for the salvation of slaves, that they might not hesitate to shed their blood for the Lord's Name; which, nevertheless, would be profitable for their own interests, not for those of the Lord. — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:15
Through such glorious deeds of the holy martyrs, with which the church blossoms everywhere, we prove with our own eyes how true what we have just been singing is, that "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints"; seeing that it is precious both in our sight and in the sight of him for the sake of whose name it was undertaken. But the price of these deaths is the death of one man. How many deaths were bought by one dying man, who was the grain of wheat that would not have been multiplied if he had not died! You heard his words when he was drawing near to his passion, that is, when he was drawing near to our redemption: "Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."On the cross, you see, he transacted a grand exchange; it was there that the purse containing our price was untied; when his side was laid open by the lance of the executioner, there poured out from it the price of the whole wide world. The faithful were bought and the martyrs; but the faith of the martyrs has been proved; blood is the witness to it. They have paid back what was spent for them, and they have fulfilled what John says: "Just as Christ laid down his life for us, so we too should lay down our lives for the brothers." And in another place it says, "You have sat down at a great table; consider carefully what is set before you, since it behooves you to prepare the same kind of things yourself." It is certainly a great table, where the lord of the table is himself the banquet. Nobody feeds his guests on himself; that is what the Lord Christ did, being himself the host, himself the food and drink. So the martyrs recognized what they ate and drank, so that they could give back the same kind of thing. — SERMON 329:1
Salmos 116:15
The Lord, though, bears striking witness to his witnesses [martyrs], when after stiffening their hearts for the struggle, he does not abandon their bodies once they are dead, like the outstanding miracle he performed over the body of blessed Vincent. The enemy desired and took all necessary steps to ensure that the body should completely disappear; but a divine sign gave its whereabouts away and revealed it for religious burial and veneration so promptly that it would continue as a lasting memorial to the victory of piety and impiety's defeat. Indeed, "how precious in the sight of the Lord must be the death of his saints," when not even the earth of the flesh is ignored after the life has gone out of it; and when, as the invisible soul withdraws from its visible home, this dwelling of his servant is preserved by the Lord's care and honored for the Lord's glory by his faithful fellow servants. — SERMON 275:3
Salmos 116:15
So Vincent vanquished Dacian while he lived; he vanquished him also when he was dead. Living he trampled on the torments, dead he swam across the sea. But the one who guided and steered the lifeless corpse through the waves was the same one who had granted him an invincible spirit among the torturer's iron claws. The torturer's flames did not intimidate his heart, the waters of the sea did not sink his body. But all these things occurred just to show that "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." To this glory may the Lord bring us too under his protection, whose is the honor and the empire for ever and ever. — SERMON 276:4
Salmos 116:15
But the truth was revealed to the man who pointed out the things that were discovered. The place, you see, was indicated by preceding signs; and it was discovered to be just as it had been revealed in them. Many people received relics from there, because that was God's will, and they came as far as here. So both this place and this day is being commended to your graces'91 devotion; each is to be celebrated to the honor of God, whom Stephen confessed. After all, we have not built an altar in this place to Stephen, but an altar to God from Stephen's relics. Altars of this kind are pleasing to God. You ask why? Because "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Those who shed their blood for their Redeemer were redeemed by his blood. He shed his as the redemptive price of their salvation; the martyrs shed theirs as a means of spreading his gospel. They gave him something in exchange, but not from their own resources; their ability to do so, after all, was his gift; and for that to be done that could be done by them was his gift. As a mark of his favor, he proved them with the occasion of their martyrdom. It happened, they suffered, they trampled on the world. — SERMON 318:1
Salmos 116:15
Yet he himself also made precious the blood of his people for whom he gave the price of his blood; for if he did not make precious the blood of his people, it would not be said, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." And so also in regard to what Jesus says, "The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." He is not the only one who did this; and yet, if those who did [so] are Christ's members, he himself alone likewise did this. For he could do [something] without them, but how could they do [anything] without him since he himself said, "Without me you can do nothing"? From this we show, however, what the others also did: because John the apostle himself, who preached this Gospel that you have heard, said in his epistle, "As Christ laid down his life for us, so we, too, ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." "We ought to," he said; he who first showed the way made us debtors. Therefore in a certain place it has been written, "If you sit to dine at the table of the ruler, wisely understand what is set before you. And put forth your hand, knowing that you ought to prepare such things." You know what the table of the ruler is; thereupon is the body and blood of Christ. He who approaches such a table, let him prepare such things. What is, let him prepare such things? "As he laid down his life for us, so we, too, ought," for edifying the people and defending the faith, "to lay down our lives for our brothers." — TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 47:2.2
Salmos 116:15
The earth has been filled with the blood of the martyrs as with seed, and from that seed have sprung the crops of the church. They have asserted Christ's cause more effectively when dead than when they were alive. They assert it today, they preach him today; their tongues are silent, their deeds echo round the world. They were arrested, bound, imprisoned, brought to trial, tortured, burned at the stake, stoned to death, run through, fed to wild beasts. In all their kinds of death they were jeered at as worthless, but "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." — SERMON 286:3
Salmos 116:16
Let therefore the slave purchased at so great a price confess his condition, and say, "Behold, O Lord, how that I am Thy servant: "I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid." ...This, therefore, is the son of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above, the free mother of us all. And free indeed from sin she is, but the handmaid of righteousness; to whose sons still pilgrims it is said, "Ye have been called unto liberty;" and again he maketh them servants, when he saith, "but by love serve one another." ...Let therefore that servant say unto God, Many call themselves martyrs, many Thy servants, because they hold Thy Name in various heresies and errors; but since they are beside Thy Church, they are not the children of Thy handmaid. But "I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid." "Thou hast broken my bonds asunder." — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:16
Do not believe in fear, in his fear perhaps he is deceived. And when he was trembling, he took strength where he said: "O Lord, I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds." My great bond was the love of living, and in that was the cause of dying. For many, by loving life, have died eternally. And again, many martyrs, by despising life at its end, have obtained life without end. Just as he who loves money, often by loving money, neglects money, so that by neglecting money he may gain more money. Hence a known saying of a certain well-known man: "To disregard money in its place is sometimes the greatest profit." And this is done by money lenders. By giving money, they acquire it, as if they sow little to reap much. So also, martyrs, by loving life, despised life. By fearing death, they died; by willing to live, they did not want to live. Therefore, many bonds hold the soul: love of wealth, love of power, love of wife, parents, children, brothers, love of country, love of one's land, love of this light, love of any kind of life only because it is life. Therefore, tied by these bonds, they came to temptation, so that if they confess Christ, all would be broken. Terrified and tied by so many restraints, fearing to be loosed, he said in his fear: "Every man is a liar." Let us forgive him who fears, support him who rejoices: "Thou hast loosed my bonds." Love made him truthful whom fear had made a liar. — Sermon 335E
Salmos 116:16
But after the Lord has, by the gospel, cried aloud, "Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart," how many, on hearing the gospel, have done what that rich man, on hearing from His own mouth, did not do? Therefore, let us do it now, let us follow the Lord; let us loose the fetters by which we are hindered from following Him. And who is sufficient to loose such bonds, unless He help, to whom it is said, "Thou hast burst asunder my bonds"? Of whom another psalm says, "The Lord looseth them that are in bonds; the Lord raiseth up them that are crushed and oppressed." — Tractate 34 on the Gospel of John
Salmos 116:17
"I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of praise." For I have not found any deserts of mine, since Thou hast broken my bonds asunder; I therefore owe Thee the sacrifice of praise; because, although I will boast that I am Thy servant, and the son of Thy handmaid, I will glory not in myself, but in Thee, my Lord, who hast broken asunder my bonds, that when I return from my desertion, I may again be bound unto Thee. — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:17
O My God, let me with gratitude remember and confess unto Thee Thy mercies bestowed upon me. Let my bones be steeped in Thy love, and let them say, Who is like unto Thee, O Lord? "Thou hast loosed my bonds, I will offer unto Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving." And how Thou hast loosed them I will declare; and all who worship Thee when they hear these things shall say: "Blessed be the Lord in heaven and earth, great and wonderful is His name." — Confessions 8.1
Salmos 116:18
"I will pay my vows unto the Lord" [Psalm 116:18]. What vows will you pay? What victims have you vowed? What burnt-offerings, what holocausts? Do you refer to what you have said a little before, "I will receive the cup of salvation, and will call upon the Name of the Lord;" and, "I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving"? And indeed whosoever well considers what he is vowing to the Lord, and what vows he is paying, let him vow himself, let him pay himself as a vow: this is exacted, this is due. On looking at the coin, the Lord says, "Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and unto God the things which are God's:" [Matthew 22:21] his own image is rendered unto Cæsar: let His image be rendered unto God. — Exposition on Psalm 116
Salmos 116:19
"In the courts," he saith, "of the Lord's house." What is the Lord's house, the same is the Lord's handmaid: and what is God's house, save all His people? It therefore followeth, "In the sight of all His people." And now he more openly nameth his mother herself. For what else is His people, but what followeth, "In the midst of thee, O Jerusalem"? For than that which is returned grateful, if it be returned from peace, and in peace. But they who are not sons of this handmaid, have loved war rather than peace. ... — Exposition on Psalm 116