Psalms 124

What then is our duty, my brothers, for the sake of these things, but to praise and give thanks to God, the king of all? And let us first exclaim in the words of the psalms, "Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us over as a prey to their teeth." Let us keep the feast in that way that he has dedicated for us unto salvation—the holy day Easter—so that we may celebrate the feast which is in heaven with the angels. Thus anciently, the people of the Jews, when they came out of affliction into a state of ease, kept the feast, singing a song of praise for their victory. So also the people in the time of Esther, because they were delivered from the edict of death, kept a feast to the Lord, considering it a feast, returning thanks to the Lord and praising him for having changed their condition. Therefore let us, performing our vows to the Lord and confessing our sins, keep the feast to the Lord, in conversation, moral conduct and manner of life; praising our Lord, who has chastened us a little but has not utterly failed or forsaken us or altogether kept silence from us. For if, having brought us out of the deceitful and famous Egypt of the opponents of Christ, he has caused us to pass through many trials and afflictions, as it were in the wilderness, to his holy church, so that from hence, according to custom, we can send to you, as well as receive letters from you; on this account especially I both give thanks to God myself and exhort you to thank him with me and on my behalf, this being the apostolic custom, which these opponents of Christ, and the schismatics, wished to put an end to and to break off. The Lord did not permit it but both renewed and preserved that which was ordained by him through the apostle, so that we may keep the feast together, and together keep holy day, according to the tradition and commandment of the fathers.

It is the same with David. Where the soul is supported with spiritual wings, he has chosen to describe the soul as a bird, as he has said in one place, "My soul has escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers"; and again, In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, "Flee like a bird to the mountain." Thus the soul has its wings by which it can raise itself free from the earth. But this movement of the wings is not of something constructed of feathers but a continuing series of good works, like those of the Lord of whom it is well said, "And in the shadow of your wings I shall take refuge." In the first place, the hands of our Lord fixed on the cross were extended like something in flight, and, second, the actions of God are like a refreshing shadow of eternal salvation that can regulate the conflagration raging in our world.

"If the Lord Himself had not been in us, now may Israel say" [Psalm 124:1]...When? "When men rose up against us" [Psalm 124:2]. Marvel not: they have been subdued: for they were men; but the Lord was in us, man was not in us: for men rose up against us. Nevertheless men would crush other men, unless in those men who could not be crushed, there were not man, but the Lord. For what could men do to you, while you rejoiced, and sang, and securely held everlasting bliss? What could men do to you when they rose against you, if the Lord had not been on your side? What could they do?

..."When their fury was enraged upon us." They are now in anger, they now openly rage: "perchance the water had drowned us" (ver. 4). By water he meaneth ungodly nations: and we shall see what sort of water in the following verses. Whoever had consented unto them, water would have overwhelmed him. For he would die by the death of the Egyptians, he would not pass through after the example of the Israelites. For ye know, brethren, that the people of Israel passed through the water, by which the Egyptians were overwhelmed. But what sort of water is this? It is a torrent, it flows with violence, but it will pass by...Hence He, our Head, first drinketh, of whom it is said in the Psalms, "He shall drink of the torrent in the way: therefore shall He lift up His head." For our Head is already exalted, because He drank of the torrent by the way; for our Lord hath suffered. If therefore our Head hath been already raised up, why doth the body fear the torrent? Without doubt, because the Head hath been raised, the body also will say hereafter, "Our soul hath passed over the torrent. Perhaps our soul hath passed over the water without substance" (ver. 5). Behold, what sort of water he was speaking of, "The water perchance had overwhelmed us." But what meaneth, "without substance"?

The holy martyrs, you see, did not rely on themselves but asked for relief from Christ. That is why they were also victorious. Listen to the voices of those who do not rely on themselves; it is the voice of the holy martyrs: "Unless the Lord were among us, let Israel now say; unless the Lord were among us when people rose up against us, they would perhaps have swallowed us alive." The martyrs say, "Unless the Lord were among us," unless he had helped us, unless he had strengthened our hearts with faith, unless he had endowed us with patience, unless he had provided us with power as we fought, "they would perhaps have swallowed us alive."

Let them escape the water without substance, and say, "Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth" [Psalm 124:6]. For the hunters were following, and had placed a bait in their trap. What bait? The sweetness of this life, so that each man for the sake of the sweetness of this life may thrust his head into iniquity, and be caught in the trap. Not they, in whom the Lord was, they who say, "If the Lord Himself had not been in us;" they have not been taken in the trap. Let the Lord be in thee, and thou wilt not be taken in the trap.

We have sung a psalm: Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth [Psalm 124:6]. Due gratitude for the gifts of God. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. It is certainly a voice of gratitude, and worthy gratitude. And when are human thanks sufficient for such divine gifts? When in this place the most blessed martyr shed sacred blood, I do not know whether such a crowd of raging people was here, as there is now a multitude of praising people. I say again—for it delights me indeed, to see people gathered in the house of the Lord with the utmost piety in this place, and to compare times with times—hence I say again and repeat, and commend to your senses, with as much devotion as I can; when in this place the most blessed martyr shed sacred blood, I do not know whether such a crowd of raging people was here, as there is now a multitude of praising people. But even if there was, blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. When they were killing, they believed they had won; they were being conquered by those dying, and they rejoiced. If they were conquered, surely they raged. Therefore, the crowd of raging people has departed, and the multitude of praising people has succeeded. Let the multitude of praising people say, say: Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. To whose teeth? To the teeth of enemies, to the teeth of the impious, to the teeth of the persecutors of Jerusalem, to the teeth of Babylon, to the teeth of the hostile city, to the teeth of the crowd raging in crimes, to the teeth of the crowd persecuting the Lord, abandoning the Creator, turning to the creature, worshipping what is made by hand, despising the One by whom it was made. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.

The voice of the martyrs is: surely it is the voice of those who preferred to be killed for the name of Christ, rather than live by denying Christ. Therefore, if they wanted to kill, these were killed; they did what they wanted, these suffered; how: Blessed be the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth? What kind of gratitude is: Blessed be the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth? Because the persecutors did not wish to kill, but to devour, that is, to transfer into their own body. They were pagans, they were impious, they were worshippers of demons and idols; they wanted to do this to us when they desired to devour us. Consider what we do with food when we eat. What indeed do we do, but transfer it into our body? It was the body of the impious: they devoured those who consented to their impiety; without a doubt, they passed into their body. Therefore, the martyrs, being pressed to deny Christ and adore the idol, stood firm, scorned the idol, confessed Christ, and did not consent to transfer into their body. Let them say, let them say gloriously, let them say happily, let them say truly: Blessed be the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth.

..."Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth" [Psalm 124:8]. For if this were not our help, the snare would not indeed remain for ever; but when the bird was once taken, it would be crushed. For this life will pass away; and they who shall have been taken in by its pleasures, and through these pleasures have offended God, will pass away with this life. For the snare will be broken; be ye assured of this: all the sweetness of this present life will no longer exist, when the lot assigned to it hath been fulfilled; but we must not be enthralled by it, so that when the net is broken, thou mayest then rejoice and say, "The snare is broken, and we are delivered." But lest thou think that thou canst do this of thy own strength, consider whose work thy deliverance is (for if thou art proud, thou fallest into the snare), and say, "Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth."...

Therefore, heaven and earth are called the world. He does not blame the world itself who says: Do not love the world; for he who blames this world blames the maker of the world. Hear the world named twice in the same place under different meanings. It was said of the Lord Christ: He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. The world was made through him: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth [Psalm 124:8]. The world was made through him: I lift my eyes to the mountains, from where help will come to me. My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. This world was made by God, and the world did not know him. Which world did not know him? The lover of the world, the admirer of the work, the despiser of the maker.

"Our soul is escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers" [Psalm 124:7]. Because the Lord was in the soul itself, therefore hath that soul escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler. Why like a bird? Because it had fallen heedlessly, like a bird; and it could say afterwards, God will forgive me. Unstable bird, rather set thy feet firm upon the rock: go not into the trap. Thou wilt be taken, consumed, crushed. Let the Lord be in thee, and He will deliver thee from greater threats, from the snare of the fowlers. As if thou wert to see a bird about to fall into a snare, thou makest a greater noise that it may fly away from the net; so also, when perhaps some even of the Martyrs were stretching out their neck after the enjoyment of this life, the Lord, who was in them, made the noise of hell, and the bird was delivered from the snare of the fowlers. The snare was the sweetness of this life: they were not entangled in the snare, and were slain; by their slaughter the net was broken; no longer did the sweetness of this life remain, that they might again be entangled by it, but it was crushed. Was the bird also crushed? Far be it! for it was not in the snare: "The snare is broken, and we are delivered."

"Perchance they had swallowed us up quick" [Psalm 124:3]. "Swallowed us up:" they would not first have slain us, and so have swallowed us up. O inhuman, O cruel men! The Church swallows not thus. To Peter it was said, " Kill and eat:" [Acts 10:13] not, Swallow quick. Because no man enters into the body of the Church, save he be slain first. What he was dies, that he may be what he was not. Otherwise, he who is not slain, and is not eaten by the Church, may be in the visible number of the people: but he cannot be in the number of the people which is known to God, whereof the Apostle says, "The Lord knows who are His," [2 Timothy 2:19] save he be eaten; and eaten he cannot be, save he first be slain. The Pagan comes, still in him idolatry lives; he must be grafted among the members of Christ: that he may be engrafted, he must needs be eaten; but he cannot be eaten by the Church, save first he be slain. Let him renounce the world, then is he slain; let him believe in God, then is he eaten...But they in whom the Lord is, are slain and die not. But they who consent and live, are swallowed quick, when swallowed up they die. But they who have suffered, and have not yielded to tribulations, rejoice and say, "If the Lord had not been in us," etc.

In the first place, what meaneth, "Perchance our soul hath passed over"? [Psalm 124:5]. Understand however the meaning to be this: "Thinkest thou our soul hath passed over?" and why do they say, "Thinkest thou"? Because the greatness of the danger maketh it hardly credible that he hath escaped. They have endured a great death: they have been in great dangers; they have been so much oppressed, that they almost gave consent while alive, and were all but swallowed up alive: now therefore that they have escaped, now that they are secure, but still remember the danger, the great danger, say, "Thinkest thou our soul hath passed over the water without substance?"

What is the water without substance, save the water of sins without substance? For sins have not substance: they have destitution, not substance; they have want, not substance. In that water without substance, the younger son lost the whole of his substance. ...Dost thou wish to see how the water is without substance? Take away with thee to the world below what thou hast acquired: what wilt thou do? Thou hast acquired gold: thou hast lost thy faith: after a few days thou leavest this life; thou canst not take away with thee the gold thou hast acquired by the loss of thy good faith; thy heart, destitute of faith, goeth forth into punishment—thy heart, which if full of faith, would go forth unto a crown. Behold, what thou hast done is nothing: and thou hast offended God for nothing.