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Cassiodorus

Late Patristic · AD 500–800

444 passages across 36 books of the Bible · Who was this?

On Psalms

20 of 227
  1. Psalms 31:7
    Let us give attention to the one who says that his humility was respected. It is he who both created heaven and earth and holds them intact, he whom the heavenly powers serve. But there was humility in the Most High for this reason, because also a true human nature was connected to him, made perfect from his very conception.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 31:8.31:8

  2. Psalms 31:9
    When the flesh perceived that dangers were looming, it was troubled by fear. Note that he frequently says that he was troubled, but nowhere indicates that he despaired. This was spoken by him in order that the heavenly Master might display this pattern for us to imitate. Distress seeks out the human race to foster a familiar relationship with God, but despair does not stem from divine holiness.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 31:10

  3. Psalms 31:11
    Christ the Lord, though innocent and undefiled, was being considered a disgrace among those who were desecrating themselves with wicked sin.… A disgrace indicates a terribly heinous act, what the evil Jews were convinced had been committed by our Lord Savior when they said: “This man is not from God, who does not keep the Sabbath,” and elsewhere: “You are a Samaritan and have a demon.”

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 31:12

  4. Psalms 31:12
    Those who do not believe the Scriptures at all saw the Lord fixed on the cross and walked away from his divinity, anticipating that their expectation was ended by this death. Likewise heretics, who hear the divine Scriptures in the church and who see miracles, walk away from the church to hear wicked proclamations, fleeing from the truth in which they have little tolerance to continue on.… “A ruined vessel” is one that is broken and without purpose, and so it is always thrown away. So also Jesus, when he died, was considered by unbelievers to be like a broken vessel that should be thrown away. How could it be said more humbly than that the almighty Majesty be compared to fragile jars? But consider that it was those who were mad who thought about Christ this way. But there always existed in him a unique omnipotence and an amazing divine fullness.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 31:13-14

  5. Psalms 31:14
    The order of the words is wonderful and most holy. When his enemies … held on to a hope in their own strength, he says that he put his hope in the Lord, since he knew that their power was nothing and by the plots they were attempting they would kill themselves rather than him.… The Lord Christ says: “You are my God,” but he says this from the perspective of the human nature that he assumed, which, as he says later, was subject both to time and to death. He does not, as his enemies were thinking, mention that his life was going to be ended by their persecution, but he commends the times of his life to the Lord. For we exist by his work as our Creator; we are enlivened as he determines; and we also pass on when he gives the command. For this reason, it is necessary that his hope be set on the Lord, for he knew that his life and his death were under God’s control.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 31:15-16

  6. Psalms 31:17
    In saying, “Save me in your mercy,” he denies his own merit. He constantly repeats the same things in order to teach us, nor does he ever become weary of his beloved confession, because the sweetness of the truth does not become distasteful to him. He also adds: “Lord, may I not be put to shame, for I have called upon you.” Wonderful and complete is this proclamation which contains both the petition of a humble person and the indestructible strength of one who believes. So he asks not he not be put to shame by God failing to answer his prayer. But how does he believe that he is heard? “For I have called on you.” Calling upon the Lord in faith is an act which finds favor rather than insulting God, for the one who calls cannot at all be deceived, assuming that he is heard by God.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 31:18

  7. Psalms 31:19
    There is an abundance of sweetness, for the Lord’s sweetness is expressed by the many benefits that he gives. He is sweet when he corrects, sweet when he pardons, and sweet when he promises eternal rewards to believers. But you must understand that he is only sweet to those who have acquired a taste for him. His sweetness cannot come to those who have not deserved to experience him.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 31:20

  8. Psalms 31:21
    We should regard the “surrounded city” as the physical location of Jerusalem, which is set in the midst of the nations and is known to exist as the temple of God. The nations that are located around it were worthy to receive the precepts of the Christian teaching, as if the purest of springs opened itself up to them, and they were irrigated with the gifts of heavenly life. So in this city the Lord “has made his mercy wonderful,” since it was there in fact that he deemed it fitting to teach, to perform miracles, and to suffer for human salvation. There too he revealed the glory of his resurrection, where he chose to make known such immense mysteries.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 31:21

  9. Psalms 31:23
    When he has completed a hymn on the kindnesses granted to him, he urges the saints to love the Lord, since his members love the Author of such a kindness when they recognize that it has been bestowed on their Head. “Love” he says, now as to his friends, not as if speaking to servants, for fear is characteristic of servants, but love characterizes the relationship between friends.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 31:24

  10. Psalms 31:24
    This is the power of the entire psalm and in it the usefulness of the sacred passion is concentrated … namely, that they not be frightened by the sufferings predicted, but that the hearts of the faithful find strength for the glorious imitation that they knew had been introduced to provide the healing of salvation for the world.… So this is an appeal to good people not to withdraw themselves from their good intention because of the weakness of their flesh.… For in this way, the hearts of those who endure are strengthened, if they fortify their hope through the Lord’s power.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 31:25

  11. Psalms 32:2
    Although he is a sinner, he does not proclaim that he is entirely holy; sin is a sickness by which humanity is grievously afflicted, but instead he acknowledges his transgressions and constantly perseveres in humble satisfaction. For the one who is not pleasing to himself is pleasing to the Lord. For when we find the fault in ourselves, the truth is spoken, but when we desire to praise ourselves, we speak what is false.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 32:2

  12. Psalms 32:3
    Let no one think that something that he hides away in the innermost parts of his conscience can be hidden from the Lord.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 32:3

  13. Psalms 32:4
    The hand that applies the lashes is oppressive to the sinner, and the hand that avenges is heavy. “Day and night” indicate continuous time so that the hand which did not draw back from punishment was rightly felt to be heavy. He would not have experienced this type of humiliation with such a happy demeanor unless it had been the hand of the Godhead that had pressed upon him.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 32:4

  14. Psalms 32:5
    He suddenly absolved his sins, for he judges the devoted prayer as if the work were already carried out. The penitent resolved in his heart that what he had done not be kept silent from the Lord. And then as if he had already made all of his sins known, he received forgiveness for everything that he wanted to confess. And rightly so, for the will alone either brings someone absolution or punishment. “I will pronounce,” means, “I will confess publicly” in order that my pious and faithful confession may draw others to imitate this action. From this self-accusation follows the saving remedy, since the Judge spares the defendant when he does not spare himself.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 32:5

  15. Psalms 32:5
    Fools … think that God is unable to know what they are doing. In contrast, those who know that all things are known to him get down on their knees for humble confession and vows of repentance so that they may not experience a hostile Judge when they are able to have a merciful Advocate.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 32:5

  16. Psalms 32:6
    One who is no stranger to sin ought to immerse himself in prayers of supplication. O saving medicine! To counteract the diseases of all sinners, various remedies are offered to the ill. But this is a single remedy; if it is taken with a pure mind, the poisons of all transgressions are overcome.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 32:6

  17. Psalms 32:7
    A refuge is a place to which one flees so that dangers may be avoided. But this man did not take flight to remote and solitary places, to the fortifications of the camps or to the help provided by men, but to God who was able to scatter the spiritual enemies encircling him.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 32:7

  18. Psalms 32:8
    You see here that sinners do not possess understanding except when the gracious Lord grants it to the converted, for understanding implies doing the right thing and directing one’s prayers to the Lord’s commands. This is the understanding which the psalm’s heading indicates and that the Lord’s power pours out in mercy on the penitent.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 32:8

  19. Psalms 32:11
    The just should “be glad in the Lord,” not in themselves, for one who rejoices in himself is deceived by a false presumption … but one who finds joy in the Lord enjoys perpetual delight.

    Explanation of the Psalms 32:11

  20. Psalms 33:2
    The harp and the lute are within us, or rather, we ourselves are the instruments when in their likeness we sing by the Lord’s grace through the quality of our actions.

    EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 33:2

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