Augustine of Hippo

"May the Lord shield you upon the hand of your right hand" [Psalm 121:6]. I have said, and I believe you have recognised it. For had ye not recognised it, and that from the Scriptures, you would not signify your understanding of it by your voices. Since then you have understood, brethren, consider what follows; wherefore the Lord shields you "upon the hand of your right hand," that is, in your faith, wherein we have received "power to become the sons of God," and to be on His right hand: wherefore should God shield us? On account of offenses. Whence come offenses? Offences are to be feared from two quarters, for there are two precepts upon which the whole Law hangs and the Prophets, the love of God and of our neighbour. [Matthew 22:37-40] The Church is loved for the sake of our neighbour, but God for the sake of God. Of God, is understood the sun figuratively: of the Church, is understood the moon figuratively. Whoever can err, so as to think otherwise of God than he ought, believing not the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost to be of one Substance, has been deceived by the cunning of heretics, chiefly of the Arians. If he has believed anything less in the Son or in the Holy Spirit than in the Father, he has suffered an offense in God; he is scorched by the sun. Whoever again believes that the Church exists in one province only, and not that she is diffused over the whole world, and whoso believes them that say, "Lo here," and "Lo there, is Christ," [Matthew 24:23] as you but now heard when the Gospel was being read; since He who gave so great a price, purchased the whole world: he is offended, so to speak, in his neighbour, and is burnt by the moon. Whoever therefore errs in the very Substance of Truth, is burnt by the sun, and is burnt through the day; because he errs in Wisdom itself...God therefore has made one sun, which rises upon the good and the evil, that sun which the good and the evil see; but that Sun is another one, not created, not born, through whom all things were made; where is the intelligence of the Immutable Truth: of this the ungodly say, "the Sun rose not upon us." Whosoever errs not in Wisdom itself, is not burnt by the sun. Whosoever errs not in the Church, and in the Lord's Flesh, and in those things which were done for us in time, is not burnt by the moon. But every man although he believes in Christ, errs either in this or that respect, unless what is here prayed for, "The Lord is your defence upon the hand of your right hand," is realized in him. He goes on to say, "So that the sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night" [Psalm 121:6]. Your defence, therefore, is upon the hand of your right hand for this reason, that the sun may not burn you by day, nor the moon by night. Understand hence, brethren, that it is spoken figuratively. For, in truth, if we think of the visible sun, it burns by day: does the moon burn by night? But what is burning? Offence. Hear the Apostle's words: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?" [2 Corinthians 11:29]

"Our feet were standing in the courts of Jerusalem" [Psalm 122:2]...Consider what you will be there; and although you are as yet on the road, place this before your eyes, as if you were already standing, as if you were already rejoicing without ceasing among the Angels; as if that which is written were realized in you: "Blessed are they that dwell in Your house; they will be always praising You." "Our feet stood in the courts of Jerusalem." What Jerusalem? This earthly Jerusalem also is wont to be called by the name: though this Jerusalem is but the shadow of that. And what great thing is it to stand in this Jerusalem, since this Jerusalem has not been able to stand, but has been turned into a ruin? Does then the Holy Spirit pronounce this, out of the kindled heart of the loving Psalmist, as a great thing? Is not it that Jerusalem, unto whom the Lord said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that killest the Prophets," etc. [Matthew 23:37] What great thing then did he desire; to stand among those who slew the Prophets, and stoned them that were sent unto them? God forbid that he should think of that Jerusalem, who so loves, who so burns, who so longs to reach that Jerusalem, "our Mother," [Galatians 4:26] of which the Apostle says, that She is "eternal in the Heavens." [2 Corinthians 5:1]

"Jerusalem that is being built as a city" [Psalm 122:3]. Brethren, when David was uttering these words, that city had been finished, it was not being built. It is some city he speaks of, therefore, which is now being built, unto which living stones run in faith, of whom Peter says, "You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house;" [1 Peter 2:5] that is, the holy temple of God. What means, you are built up as lively stones? You live, if you believe, but if you believe, you are made a temple of God; for the Apostle Paul says, "The temple of God is holy, which temple are you." [1 Corinthians 3:17] This city is therefore now in building; stones are cut down from the hills by the hands of those who preach truth, they are squared that they may enter into an everlasting structure. There are still many stones in the hands of the Builder: let them not fall from His hands, that they may be built perfect into the structure of the temple. This, then, is the "Jerusalem that is being built as a city:" Christ is its foundation. The Apostle Paul says, "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus." [1 Corinthians 3:11] When a foundation is laid on earth, the walls are built above, and the weight of the walls tends towards the lowest parts, because the foundation is laid at the bottom. But if our foundation be in heaven, let us be built towards heaven. Bodies have built the edifice of this basilica, the ample size of which you see; and since bodies have built it, they placed the foundation lowest: but since we are spiritually built, our foundation is placed at the highest point. Let us therefore run there, where we may be built...But what Jerusalem do I speak of? Is it that, he asks, which you see standing, raised on the structure of its walls? No; but the "Jerusalem which is being built as a city." Why not, a city, instead of, "as a city;" save because those walls, so built in Jerusalem, were a visible city, as it is by all called a city, literally; but this is being built "as a city," for they who enter it are like living stones; for they are not literally stones? Just as they are called stones, and yet are not so: so the city styled "as a city," is not a city; for he said, "is being built." For by the word building, he meant to be understood the structure, and cohesion of bodies and walls. For a city is properly understood of the men that inhabit there. But in saying "is building," he showed us that he meant a town. And since a spiritual building has some resemblance to a bodily building, therefore it "is building as a city."

"For there were seated seats for judgment" [Psalm 122:5]. This is a wonderful riddle, a wonderful question, if it be not understood. He calls those seats, which the Greeks call thrones. The Greeks call chairs thrones, as a term of honour. Therefore, my brethren, it is not wonderful if even we should sit on seats, or chairs; but that these seats themselves should sit, when shall we be able to understand this? As if some one should say: let stools or chairs sit here. We sit on chairs, we sit on seats, we sit on stools; the seats themselves sit not. What then means this, "For there were seated seats for judgment"?...If therefore heaven be the seat of God, and the Apostles are heaven; they themselves have become the seat of God, the throne of God. It is said in another passage: "The soul of the righteous is the throne of wisdom." A great truth, a great truth, is declared; the throne of wisdom is the soul of the righteous; that is, wisdom sits in the soul of the righteous as it were in her chair, in her throne, and thence judges whatsoever she judges. There were therefore thrones of wisdom, and therefore the Lord said unto them, "You shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." [Matthew 19:28] So they also shall sit upon twelve seats, and they are themselves the seats of God; for of them it is said, "For there were seated seats." Who sat? "Seats." And who are the seats? They of whom it is said, "The soul of the righteous is the seat of wisdom." Who are the seats? The heavens. Who are the heavens? Heaven. What is heaven? That of which the Lord says, "Heaven is My seat." [Isaiah 66:1] The righteous then themselves are the seats; and have seats; and seats shall be seated in that Jerusalem. For what purpose? "For judgment." You shall sit, He says, on twelve thrones, O you thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Judging whom? Those who are below on earth. Who will judge? They who have become heaven. But they who shall be judged, will be divided into two bodies: one will be on the right hand, the other on the left...

He at once adds, as unto the seats themselves, "Enquire ye the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem" [Psalm 122:6]. O you seats, who now sit unto judgment, and are made the seats of the Lord who judges (since they who judge, enquire; they who are judged, are enquired of), "Enquire ye," he says, "the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem." What will they find by asking? That some have done deeds of charity, that others have not. Those whom they shall find to have done deeds of charity, they will summon them unto Jerusalem; for these deeds are "for the peace of Jerusalem." Love is a powerful thing, my brethren, love is a powerful thing. Do ye wish to see how powerful a thing love is?...If charity be destitute of means, so that it cannot find what to bestow upon the poor, let it love: let it give "one cup of cold water;" [Matthew 10:42] as much shall be laid to its account, as to Zaccheus who gave half his patrimony to the poor. [Luke 19:8] Wherefore this? The one gave so little, the other so much, and shall so much be imputed to the former? Just so much. For though his resources are unequal, his charity is not unequal.

Let them, then, have a bitter sorrow for their former detestable wrongdoing, as Peter had for his cowardly lie, and let them come to the true church, that is, their catholic mother, and let them be clerics or bishops in it with as much service for it as they formerly used against it. We do not begrudge it to them; on the contrary, we embrace them, we beg them, we exhort them, we compel them to come in when we find them in the highways and hedges. Even so, we do not yet persuade some of them that we seek them, not their possessions. When the apostle Peter denied the Savior and wept and remained an apostle, he had not yet received the Holy Spirit who had been promised, but much less have they received him when, severed from the unity of the body to which alone the Holy Spirit gives life, they have maintained the sacraments of the church outside the church and in opposition to the church and have fought a kind of civil war, setting up our own banners and our own arms against us. Let them come; "let there be peace in the strength of Jerusalem," the strength that is charity, as it was said to the holy city: "Let peace be in your strength and abundance in your towers." Let them not rise up against the motherly anxiety that she had and has to gather them in, and with them so many throngs of people whom they deceive or did deceive. Let them not be proud, because she thus welcomes them. Let them not turn to the evil purpose of self-esteem what she does for the good purpose of peace.

"Peace be in your strength" [Psalm 122:7]. O Jerusalem, O city, who art being built as a city, whose partaking is in "The Same:" "Peace be in your strength:" peace be in your love; for your strength is your love. Hear the Song of songs: "Love is strong as death." [Song of Songs 8:6] A great saying that, brethren, "Love is strong as death." The strength of charity could not be expressed in grander terms than these, "Love is strong as death." For who resists death, my brethren? Consider, my brethren. Fire, waves, the sword, are resisted: we resist principalities, we resist kings; death comes alone, who resists it? There is nought more powerful than it. Charity therefore is compared with its strength, in the words, "Love is strong as death." And since this love slays what we have been, that we may be what we were not; love creates a sort of death in us. This death he had died who said, "The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world:" [Galatians 6:14] this death they had died unto whom he said, "You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." [Colossians 3:3] Love is strong as death...

What then follows, since he has said, "Unto You do I lift up my eyes"? [Psalm 123:2]. How have you lifted up your eyes? "Behold, even as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress: even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until He have mercy upon us." We are both servants, and a handmaiden: He is both our Master and our Mistress. What do these words mean? What do these similitudes mean? It is not wonderful if we are servants, and He our Master; but it is wonderful if we are a maiden, and He our Mistress. But not even our being a maiden is wonderful; for we are the Church: nor is it wonderful that He is our Mistress; for He is the Power and the Wisdom of God...When therefore you hear Christ, lift up your eyes to the hands of your Master; when you hear the Power of God and the Wisdom of God, lift up your eyes to the hands of your Mistress; for you are both servant and handmaiden; servant, for you are a people; handmaiden, for you are the Church. But this maiden has found great dignity with God; she has been made a wife. But until she come unto those spiritual embraces, where she may without apprehension enjoy Him whom she has loved, and for whom she has sighed in this tedious pilgrimage, she is betrothed: and has received a mighty pledge, the blood of the Spouse for whom she sighs without fear. Nor is it said unto her, Do not love; as it is sometimes said to any betrothed virgin, not as yet married: and is justly said, Do not love; when you have become a wife, then love: it is rightly said, because it is a precipitate and preposterous thing, and not a chaste desire, to love one whom she knows not whether she shall marry. For it may happen that one man may be betrothed to her, and another man marry her. But as there is no one else who can be preferred to Christ, let her love without apprehension: and before she is joined unto Him, let her love, and sigh from a distance and from her far pilgrimage...

"For we have been much filled with contempt" [Psalm 123:3]. All that will live piously according to Christ, must needs suffer reproof, [2 Timothy 3:12] must needs be despised by those who do not choose to live piously, all whose happiness is earthly. They are derided who call that happiness which they cannot see with their eyes, and it is said to them, What do you believe, madman? Do you see what you believe? Hath any one returned from the world below, and reported to you what is going on there? Behold I see and enjoy what I love. You are scorned, because thou dost hope for what you see not; and he who seems to hold what he sees, scorns you. Consider well if he does really hold it...I have my house, he has boasted himself. Thou ask, what house of his own? That which my father left me. And whence did he derive this house? My grandfather left it him. Go back even to his great grandfather, then to his great grandfather's father, and he can no longer tell their names. Are you not rather terrified by this thought, that you see many have passed through this house, and that none of them has carried it away with him to his everlasting home? Your father left it: he passed through it: thus thou also wilt pass by. If therefore you have a mere passing stay in your house, it is an inn for passing guests, not an habitation for permanent abode. Yet since we hope for those things which are to come, and sigh for future happiness, and since it has not yet appeared what we shall be, although we are already "sons of God;" [1 John 3:2] for "our life is hidden with Christ in God:" [Colossians 3:3] "we are utterly despised," by those who seek or enjoy happiness in this world.

We must find out whence true patience, worthy of the name, is to be had. There are those who attribute it to the powers of human will, not those that people have from divine assistance but from their own free will. But that is an arrogant error. It is the error of the rich about which the psalm speaks, “a reproach to the rich and contempt to the proud.” It is not the patience of the poor, which “shall not perish forever.” For the poor receive it from the wealthy One to whom it is said, “You are my God, for you have no need of my goods,” from whom “is every best gift and every perfect gift,” on whom the poor and needy person calls, who praises his name and by seeking, by asking, by knocking, says, “Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner and out of the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust. For you are my patience, O Lord: my hope, from my youth.” The rich and those who disdain being needy before the Lord should not receive true patience from him. Glorying in their own false patience, they wish “to confound the counsel of the poor person, but the Lord is his hope.” Since they are human and attribute so much to themselves, that is, to their human will, they do not tend to apply to themselves the words of Scripture: “Cursed is everyone that trusts in man.” For, even if sometimes in order not to displease people or to suffer worse ills, they bear up under things that are hard and rugged, or else in pleasing themselves and loving their own presumption they suffer these same evils with an arrogant will, that which the blessed James the apostle said about wisdom must be said to them about their patience: “This is not the wisdom that descends from above. It is earthly, sensual, devilish.” For, why is there not a false patience of the proud just as there is a false wisdom of the proud? He who is the source of true wisdom is also the source of true patience. And to him the one who is poor in spirit sings, “My soul is subject to God, for from him is my patience.”

"Our soul is filled exceedingly; a reproach to the wealthy, and a contempt to the proud" [Psalm 123:4]. We were asking who were "the wealthy:" he has expounded to you, in that he has said, "the proud." "Reproach" and "contempt" are the same: and "wealthy" is the same with "proud." It is a repetition of the sentence, "a reproach to the wealthy, and a contempt to the proud." Why are the proud wealthy? Because they wish to be happy here. Why? Since they themselves too are miserable, are they wealthy? But perhaps when they are miserable, they do not mock us. Listen, my beloved. Then perchance they mock when they are happy, when they boast themselves in the pomp of their riches! When they boast themselves in the inflated state of false honours: then they mock us, and seem to say, Behold, it is well with me: I enjoy the good things before me: let those who promise what they cannot show depart from me: what I see, I hold; what I see, I enjoy; may I fare well in this life. Be thou more secure; for Christ has risen again, and has taught you what He will give in another life: be assured that He gives it. But that man mocks you, because he holds what he has. Bear with his mockeries, and you will laugh at his groans: for afterwards there will come a season when these very persons will say, "This was he whom we had sometimes in derision." [Wisdom 5:3] ...