Psalm 1:2

[The blessed person] meditates on the law of the Lord day and night, not as one who entrusts the words of the law to his memory without works, but as one who by meditating performs works consistent with it, until through the disciplined meditation of the works that the law instructs, he is prepared for excelling in all the things that apply for living perfectly according to the law.

Certainly, even if I shall not have been able to understand everything, if I am, nevertheless, busily engaged in the divine Scriptures and “I meditate on the law of God day and night” and at no time at all do I desist inquiring, discussing, investigating, and certainly, what is greatest, praying God and asking for understanding from him who “teaches humankind knowledge,” I shall appear to dwell “at the well of vision.” … You too, therefore, if you shall always search the prophetic visions, if you always inquire, always desire to learn, if you meditate on these things, if you remain in them, you too will receive a blessing from the Lord and dwell “at the well of vision.” For the Lord Jesus will appear to you also, “in the way,” and will open the Scriptures to you so that you may say, “Was not our heart burning within us when he opened to us the Scriptures?” But he appears to those who think about him and meditate on him and live “in his law day and night.”

There is no doubt then that, as this instance proves, the undutiful (or ungodly) must be distinguished from the sinner. And, indeed, general opinion agrees to call those men ungodly who scorn to search for the knowledge of God, who in their irreverent mind take for granted that there is no Creator of the world, who assert that it arrived at the order and beauty which we see by chance movements, who, in order to deprive their Creator of all power to pass judgment on a life lived rightly or in sin, will have it that man comes into being and passes out of it again by the simple operation of a law of nature.

Thus, all the counsel of these men is wavering, unsteady, and vague, and wanders about in the same familiar paths and over the same familiar ground, never finding a resting-place, for it fails to reach any definite decision. They have never in their system risen to the doctrine of a Creator of the world, for instead of answering our questions as to the cause, beginning, and duration of the world, whether the world is for man, or man for the world, the reason of death, its extent and nature, they press in ceaseless motion round the circle of this godless argument and find no rest in these imaginings.

There are, besides, other counsels of the ungodly, i.e., of those who have fallen into heresy, unrestrained by the laws of either the New Testament or the Old. Their reasoning ever takes the course of a vicious circle; without grasp or foothold to stay them they tread their interminable round of endless indecision. Their ungodliness consists in measuring God, not by His own revelation, but by a standard of their choosing; they forget that it is as godless to make a God as to deny Him; if you ask them what effect these opinions have on their faith and hope, they are perplexed and confused, they wander from the point and wilfully avoid the real issue of the debate. Happy is the man then who has not walked in this kind of counsel of the ungodly, nay, who has not even entertained the wish to walk therein, for it is a sin even to think for a moment of things that are ungodly.

The next condition is, that the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly shall not stand in the way of sinners. For there are many whose confession concerning God, while it acquits them of ungodliness, yet does not set them free from sin; those, for example, who abide in the Church but do not observe her laws; such are the greedy, the drunken, the brawlers, the wanton, the proud, hypocrites, liars, plunderers. No doubt we are urged towards these sins by the promptings of our natural instincts; but it is good for us to withdraw from the path into which we are being hurried and not to stand therein, seeing that we are offered so easy a way of escape. It is for this reason that the man who has not stood in the way of sinners is happy, for while nature carries him into that way, religious belief draws him back.

Now the third condition for gaining happiness is not to sit in the seat of pestilence. The Pharisees sat as teachers in Moses' seat, and Pilate sat in the seat of judgment: of what seat then are we to consider the occupation pestilential? Not surely of that of Moses, for it is the occupants of the seat and not the occupation of it that the Lord condemns when He says: The Scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; whatsoever they bid you do, that do; but do not ye after their work. Matthew 23:2 The occupation of that seat is not pestilential, to which obedience is enjoined by the Lord's own word. That then must be really pestilential, the infection of which Pilate sought to avoid by washing his hands. For many, even God-fearing men, are led astray by the canvassing for worldly honours; and desire to administer the law of the courts, though they are bound by those of the Church.

But although they bring to the discharge of their duties a religious intention, as is shown by their merciful and upright demeanour, still they cannot escape a certain contagious infection arising from the business in which their life is spent. For the conduct of civil cases does not suffer them to be true to the holy principles of the Church's law, even though they wish it. And without abandoning their pious purpose they are compelled, against their will, by the necessary conditions of the seat they have won, to use, at one time invective, at another, insult, at another, punishment; and their very position makes them authors as well as victims of the necessity which constrains them, their system being as it were impregnated with the infection. Hence this title, the seat of pestilence, by which the Prophet describes their seat, because by its infection it poisons the very will of the religiously minded.

But the fact that he has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of pestilence, does not constitute the perfection of the man's happiness. For the belief that one God is the Creator of the world, the avoidance of sin by the pursuit of unassuming goodness, the preference of the tranquil leisure of private life to the grandeur of public position— all this may be found even in a pagan. But here the Prophet, in portraying in the likeness of God the man that is perfect— one who may serve as a noble example of eternal happiness— points to the exercise by him of no commonplace virtues, and to the words, But his will has been in the Law of the Lord, for the attainment of perfect happiness. To refrain from what has gone before is useless unless his mind be set on what follows, But his will has been in the Law of the Lord. The Prophet does not look for fear. The majority of men are kept within the bounds of Law by fear; the few are brought under the Law by will: for it is the mark of fear not to dare to omit what it is afraid of, but of perfect piety to be ready to obey commands. This is why that man is happy whose will, not whose fear, is in the Law of God.

Now the words which stand at the beginning of the Psalm are quite unsuited to the Person and Dignity of the Son, while the whole contents are in themselves a condemnation of the careless haste that would use them to extol Him. For when it is said, and his will has been in the Law of the Lord, how (seeing that the Law was given by the Son of God) can a happiness which depends on his will being in the Law of the Lord be attributed to Him Who is Himself Lord of the Law? That the Law is His He Himself declares in the seventy-seventh Psalm, where He says: Hear My Law, O My people: incline your ears unto the words of My mouth. I will open My mouth in a parable. And the Evangelist Matthew further asserts that these words were spoken by the Son, when he says For this cause spoke He in parables that the saying might be fulfilled: I will open My mouth in parables. Matthew 13:35 The Lord then gave fulfilment in act to His own prophecy, speaking in the parables in which He had promised that He would speak. But how can the sentence, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rills of water,— wherein growth in happiness is set forth in a figure— be possibly applied to His Person, and a tree be said to be more happy than the Son of God, and the cause of His happiness, which would be the case if an analogy were established between Him and it in respect of growth towards happiness? Again, since according to Wisdom Proverbs 8:22 and the Apostle, He is both before the ages and before times eternal, and is the First-born of every creature; and since in Him and through Him all things were created, how can He be happy by becoming like objects created by Himself? For neither does the power of the Creator need for its exaltation comparison with any creature, nor does the immemorial age of the First-born allow of a comparison involving unsuitable conditions of time, as would be the case if He were compared to a tree. For that which shall be at some point of future time cannot be looked upon as having either previously existed or as now existing anywhere. But whatsoever already is does not need any extension of time to begin existence, because it already possesses continuous existence from the date of its beginning up till the present.

But then sometimes the will needs supplementing; and the mere desire for perfect happiness does not win it, unless performance wait upon intention. The Psalm, you remember, goes on: And in His Law will he meditate day and night. The man achieves the perfection of happiness by unbroken and unwearied meditation in the Law. Now it may be objected that this is impossible owing to the conditions of human infirmity, which require time for repose, for sleep, for food: so that our bodily circumstances preclude us from the hope of attaining happiness, inasmuch as we are distracted by the interruption of our bodily needs from our meditation by day and night. Parallel to this passage are the words of the Apostle, Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) As though we were bound to set at naught our bodily requirements and to continue praying without any interruption! Meditation in the Law, therefore, does not lie in reading its words, but in pious performance of its injunctions; not in a mere perusal of the books and writings, but in a practical meditation and exercise in their respective contents, and in a fulfilment of the Law by the works we do by night and day, as the Apostle says: Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31) The way to secure uninterrupted prayer is for every devout man to make his life one long prayer by works acceptable to God and always done to His glory: thus a life lived according to the Law by night and day will in itself become a nightly and daily meditation in the Law.

But now that the man has found perfect happiness by keeping aloof from the counsel of the ungodly and the way of sinners and the seat of pestilence, and by gladly meditating in the Law of God by day and by night, we are next to be shown the rich fruit that this happiness he has won will yield him. Now the anticipation of happiness contains the germ of future happiness. For the next verse runs: And he shall be like a tree planted beside the rills of water, which shall yield its fruit in its own season, whose leaf also shall not fall off. This may perhaps be deemed an absurd and inappropriate comparison, in which are extolled a planted tree, rills of water, the yielding of fruit, its own time, and the leaf that falls not. All this may appear trivial enough to the judgment of the world. But let us examine the teaching of the Prophet and see the beauty that lies in the objects and words used to illustrate happiness.

The splendid brilliance of God’s grace never suffers an eclipse. No, it is always at hand to enlighten the inner thoughts of those who really want it. Great good comes to people who, enlightened by the grace of God, make it their habit to apply the truths of holy Scripture to their lives. They receive just such a blessing as the psalmist describes.… Those blessings come because the person who accepts God’s grace is not illumined by mere physical light from the sun, the moon or even the whole host of stars. Rather, he glows all over with the radiant brilliance of God.

(Verse 2.) "But in the law of the Lord was his will, and in his law he shall meditate day and night"; that is, blessed is he who does these things with counsel, reason, prudence; for even a small child can abstain from those things which have been said, not by virtue, but by impossibility and ignorance of sinning. Even an irrational beast can comply, to which there is no power of counsel, no sense of error. Therefore, this is the fourth thing that follows, in which the definition of a blessed man is distinguished from a beast; because a wise man is subject to the law by will, not by necessity. For it matters greatly; because in willingness, there is the reward of fruit; in necessity, there is the obedience of dispensation. For thus the Apostle taught us, saying: If I do this willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of stewardship is entrusted to me (I Cor. IX, 17). But the proper order is that you should first love the law, and secondly meditate upon it. Whoever loves, fulfills the commandments of the law willingly; whoever fears, observes them against their will. We have also received this teaching of God's justice in the Law. For it is written: Hear, O Israel: The Lord thy God is one God (Deut. VI, 4). And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt speak of them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, and lying down, and rising up. And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets before thy eyes: and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates (Ibid., 5-9). And below: And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to love the Lord your God and walk in all his ways (Deut. 10:12)? Wisdom also says: Desire therefore my words, love them, and you will have discipline (Wis. 6:12). Wisdom is clear and never fades, and it is easily seen by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. Therefore, we are lawfully taught by the holy Prophet to have the will in the Law and meditation according to the Law. The will in the Law is present not only in intention, but also in action. The first is the will, the second is the operation. Finally, the Lord responded to the one who said to Him: 'If you wish, you can make me clean', 'I will, be clean' (Matthew 8:2-3), in order to demonstrate that our actions should be preceded by a prior will. Ultimately, the law seeks volunteers because the law of the Lord is blameless, converting the soul. However, no one turns unless they turn by their own will. But the volunteer hides and steals the meaning of work.

Therefore, day and night he meditates on the Law; in which the intention of reading is not so much required as the affection for keeping the Law. For he fully meditates who is his own law, having the Law written in his heart. However, the eagle set the day only, not the night. Not so much differing from others, as referring to something else; because whoever meditates on the Law is always in the light, he does not have night. For the work of whomsoever shines, he cannot certainly walk in darkness; because his justice shines like light. Let our life meditate on the Law, let our conversation meditate, let our actions meditate, let our understanding meditate on the mysteries of heaven. For the Law is an example and a shadow of heavenly things, a shadow of future goods, which he who believes in the Law recognizes in the Gospel. Let him meditate in darkness and in light, that is, in adversity and in prosperity. For the law commands that you love your Lord. Whoever loves, in every state, must keep the affection of lasting love. A father loves his son, he loves him even when he rebukes him, he loves him even when he beats him with a stick; for whoever spares his stick, hates his son. The Lord also chastises us, and loves us. Therefore, even when we commit worthy discipline, he still loves us, for he also receives the offender. For the Lord chastises every son he receives. And when you are chastised, love; for you are chastised so that you may be received. For what great thing is it, if you then love the Lord your God, when you have abundance of all things, when you enjoy your desires, when you rejoice in honors, riches, and children. And we are accustomed to show gratitude to the person from whom we have received a favor. Finally, when Job was praised by heavenly judgment, the devil said this (Job, 1, 10 and 11): It is not surprising if he is grateful to God, to whom so great prosperity is present; but it is to be proved then, if he loses all these and performs the duty of a pious worshiper. Therefore, the first virtue is that you are not broken by adversity, nor are you elated by success. The Law teaches you not to relax your purpose in affliction, nor to assume despair; you should not say, 'My strength and my power have brought me this' (Deuteronomy 8:17), but rather recognize that everything is to be attributed to divine mercy.

Isaiah cries out: The one who is in distress will not be put to shame until the time comes (Isaiah VIII, 22). Drink this first (Isaiah IX, 1). What is this, drink this first? Let us separate the mystical, pursue the moral teachings that the letter instructs. Because of serious errors, serious contritions and vexations of the people are said to come; and it is necessary for them to precede, so that mercy may follow. So drink first the tribulation; for through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God; drink, so that the sense of tribulation may be poured into your innermost being: drink with patient affection, mourning the pain. For when you have turned in lamentation, then will you reconcile the offended Lord to yourself. Therefore, drink this first, that you may be in sorrow and distress. Quickly, joy pours forth error. The people, having become fat and thickened, rise up to play, and they turn away from the Lord. It profits you to have a contrite heart. Drink this first, that your sacrifice may be accepted by the Lord. Let the Apostle teach you what this is: Drink this first, that is, the cup of tribulation. For tribulation produces patience. (Rom. 5:3-4) There cannot be patience unless there was first tribulation. Tribulation, it is said, produces patience, and patience produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint. Drink first from the cup of tribulation, so that afterwards the drinks of many virtues may be served to you. And to show you that tribulation is drunk, you heard the Prophet say today: You have given us to drink the wine of compunction. (Psalm 59:5). And in the following he says: And you will give us drink with tears, in measure (Psalm 79:6). In measure he seeks drink, not beyond measure, lest he be unable to bear it. Finally, with what great affection he prayed for this, he approved by his own example, who mingled his drink with weeping (Psalm 101:10), so that the mercy of the Lord might incline towards him.

Therefore, drink this first, so that you may drink the second (for this is the time to insert the mystical). Drink the first Old Testament, so that you may drink the New Testament. Unless you drink the first, you will not be able to drink the second. Drink the first, so that you may quench your thirst; drink the second, so that you may obtain the satisfaction of drinking. In the Old Testament there is compunction, in the New there is joy. See how the Lord has opposed the arts of the devil for his servants. He deceived one with the food of deceit, in order to deceive all in one; but Jesus, with the food of salvation, redeemed all, in order to reform even him who had been deceived. He devised the golden cup of Babylon so that whoever drank more would thirst more; and because the drink could not be pleasing, he lured them to drink with a price of gold. He served his own wine, for which he also sought the approval of metals. But truly the Lord Jesus poured out water from a rock, and all drank. Those who drank in a figure were satisfied; those who drank in truth were intoxicated. Good drunkenness, which would pour forth joy, not bring confusion; good drunkenness, which would establish the step of a sober mind; good drunkenness, which would bestow the gift of eternal life. Therefore, drink this cup of which the Prophet said: 'And thy cup which inebriateth, how goodly is it!' (Psalm 22:5) And let it not trouble you that the golden cup belongs to Babylon; for you also drink the cup of wisdom, which is more precious than gold and silver. Therefore, drink both the cup of the Old and the New Testament; for in both you drink Christ. Drink Christ, for He is the vine; drink Christ, for He is the rock that gushed forth water; drink Christ, for He is the fountain of life; drink Christ, for He is the river, whose torrents gladden the city of God; drink Christ, for He is peace; drink Christ, for from His womb flow rivers of living water; drink Christ, that you may drink the blood by which you were redeemed; drink Christ, that you may drink His words; His words are the Old Testament, His words are the New Testament. The divine Scripture is drunk, and the divine Scripture is devoured when the juice of the eternal word descends into the veins of the mind and the powers of the soul. Finally, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Drink this word, but drink in its proper order. First, drink in the Old Testament: quickly drink, and then in the New Testament. And as he himself hastens, he says: Galilee of the Gentiles and parts of Judea, people who walk in darkness, see a great light; you who dwell in the region of death, a light will shine upon you (Isaiah 9:1-2). So drink quickly, so that a great light may shine upon you; not an everyday light, nor a light of the day, nor of the sun, nor of the moon; but that light which excludes the shadow of death. For those who are in the shadow of death cannot see the light of the sun and the day. And as if to someone inquiring from you about such great splendor, such great grace, it responds: For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us (Isaiah, 6). The child, because he has been born of a Virgin; the son, because he has been born of God, is the author of such a great light. A child is born to us. To us who believe; not to the Jews who did not believe; to us, not to the heretics; to us, not to the Manicheans; he is born to us, because the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; he is born to us, because he took flesh from the Virgin, because a man is born from Mary. Flesh is born to us, the Word is given. What is ours is born among us: what is above us is given to us.

We have strayed far enough, as we think, but not without purpose; to show that even in troubles we must love the Lord and not turn away from Him, since often tribulation follows joy, and joy follows tribulation. Finally, blessed is the one who is not broken by tribulation and follows the law.

Meditation during the day is, of course, good, but that at night is better. During the day, there is the clamor of our many cares, the mental distraction of our occupations. A double preoccupation divides our attention. The quiet and solitude of the night make it a favorable time for prayer and most suitable for those who watch. With worldly occupations put aside and the attention undivided, the whole person, at night, stands in the divine presence.

'And meditates on his law day and night.' The psalmist has already mentioned three things one must not do: follow the Counsel of the wicked; stand in the way of sinners; sit in the company of the insolent. These three things we must not do, but there are also two things that we must do, for it will not be sufficient for us to shun evil unless we seek good. 'But delights in the law of the Lord.' The psalm does not say fears the law, but delights in the law. There are many who observe the law through fear, but fear as a motive for action is far from meritorious. 'But delights in the law of the Lord' - wholeheartedly he obeys the Lord's command.

'And meditates on his law day and night.' Mere words cannot express adequately what the mind conceives. 'But delights in the law of the Lord.' Some one may say: 'Look, I want to obey the law of God, and so because I want to obey, I am happy.' But consider the words that follow. It is not enough to want the law of God, but one must meditate on His law day and night. 'Meditate day and night.' Someone else may object: 'This is too much for human nature to endure, for one must walk, and drink, and eat, and sleep, and perform all the other necessities of life. How, then, meditate on the law of God day and night, and especially since the Apostle says: "Pray without ceasing"? [1 Thess 5:17] How can I be praying during the time that I am sleeping?'

Meditation on the law does not consist in reading, but in doing, just as the Apostle says in another place: 'Whether you eat or drink, or do anything else, do all for the glory of God. [1 Cor. 10:31] Even if I merely stretch forth my hand in alms giving, I am meditating on the law of God; if I visit the sick, my feet are meditating on the law of God; if I do what is prescribed, I am praying with my whole body what others are praying with their lips. The Jews, indeed, prayed with their lips, but our prayer is works.

One learns to be bound by the law through continuous meditation so that one shapes himself by it.

As for myself, I meditate on the law of God, if not day and night, at least during the few moments of time that I can, and lest my meditations escape from me through forgetfulness, I hold on to them by my pen. I am confident that God in his mercy will make me remain steadfast in all the truths that I regard as certain, but if I am minded otherwise in any point, he will make it known to me, either by his own secret inspirations, or through his own lucid words or through discussions with my brethren. For this do I pray, and I place this trust and my own desires in his hands, who is wholly capable of guarding what he has given and of fulfilling what he has promised.

"But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law will he meditate by day and by night" [Psalm 1:2]. The law is not made for a righteous man," [1 Timothy 1:9] says the Apostle. But it is one thing to be in the law, another under the law. Whoso is in the law, acts according to the law; whoso is under the law, is acted upon according to the law: the one therefore is free, the other a slave. Again, the law, which is written and imposed upon the servant, is one thing; the law, which is mentally discerned by him who needs not its "letter," is another thing. "He will meditate by day and by night," is to be understood either as without ceasing; or "by day" in joy, "by night" in tribulations. For it is said, "Abraham saw my day, and was glad:" [John 8:5-6] and of tribulation it is said, "my reins also have instructed me, even unto the night."

The memory of the law of God overtakes [the blessed person’s] own will. And day and night he models his behavior through meditation on divine law so that the life that Adam destroyed by his contempt, he himself may find by guarding it, remaining deep in the flowing water of the law, taking hold of the everlasting tree of life; so, finally, whatever he does will prosper.

When we sing, “Blessed is the one who shall meditate on the law of the Lord day and night,” let us reject useless occupations, stinging jests, idle and wicked conversations, as the poison of the devil. Let us frequently read over and over again the divine lessons, or, if we cannot read them ourselves, let us often and eagerly listen to others read them.

Let us too do this, meditating continuously on the things of God, and by means of the Lord’s law, let our wills be grafted on to him.