Psalm 113 [MT 114–115]

...When ye hear sung in the Psalms, "Praise the Lord, ye children" (ver. 1); imagine not that that exhortation pertaineth not unto you, because having already passed the youth of the body, ye are either blooming in the prime of manhood, or growing gray with the honours of old age: for unto all of you the Apostle saith, "Brethren, be not children in understanding; howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men." What malice in particular, save pride? For it is pride that, presuming in false greatness, suffereth not man to walk along the narrow path, and to enter by the narrow gate; but the child easily entereth through the narrow entrance; and thus no man, save as a child, entereth into the kingdom of heaven.

Exposition on Psalm 113

"Praise the Name of the Lord."...Let Him therefore be always proclaimed: "Blessed be the Name of the Lord, from this time forth for evermore" [Psalm 113:2].

Exposition on Psalm 113

After the destruction of the towns in the upper region of the Danube, Severin constantly warned all the people who, obeying his instructions, had migrated to the town of Lauriacum not to trust in their own power but, being intent on prayer, fasts and almsgiving, to fortify themselves rather with spiritual weapons. One day the man of God ordered all the poor to be assembled in a basilica in order to deal them out their ration of oil. This commodity [spice] was hard to obtain in those places because merchants had great difficulty in importing it. Now, as if a blessing was to be gained, a big crowd of needy people had gathered; since this liquid was precious food, it had greatly increased the number of beggars. When the holy man had finished the prayer and had made the sign of the cross, in the presence of all he uttered the words of sacred Scripture: “Blessed be the name of the Lord!” Then he began to deal out the oil with his own hand to the ministers who carried it around, imitating, as a faithful servant, his Lord, who had come not to be served but to serve, and, following in the footsteps of the Savior, he saw to his joy that the substance that his right hand poured out without his left hand knowing was increased. For while the vessels of the poor were filling, there was no less in the hands of his ministers.

The Life of Saint Severin 28:1-3

Let Him be proclaimed everywhere: "From the rising up of the sun unto the going down of the same, praise ye the Name of the Lord" [Psalm 113:3].

Exposition on Psalm 113

Now follows what concerns us: In the holy church. The holy church is what we are; but I do not mean "we" in the sense of just those of us who are here, you who are listening to me now; as many of us are by the grace of God Christian believers in this church, that is in this city, as many as there are in this region, as many as there are in this province, as many as there are also across the sea, as many as there are in the whole wide world, since "from the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is praised." Such is the catholic church, our true mother, the true consort of that bridegroom.

Sermon 213:8

3–4

There [on Sinai], after all the legal decrees had been heard, the entire people answered with one voice, “We will hear and do all the words that the Lord has spoken.” Here [in the upper room], after the assembly of the church, which was being born, had received the enlightenment of the Spirit, they spoke of the wonders of God in the languages of all countries. Doubtlessly it was thanks to a certain discernment that the observance of the law was given to only one nation, that of the Jews, while the word of the gospel was to be proclaimed to all nations throughout the world, and that the proclamations of the Christian faith were to be spoken in the languages of all peoples, fulfilling the prophecy that says, “From the rising of the sun to its setting, praise the name of the Lord; the Lord is high above all nations.”

Homilies on the Gospels 2:17

"The Lord is high above all heathen" [Psalm 113:4]. The heathen are men: what wonder if the Lord be above all men? They see with their eyes those whom they worship high above themselves to shine in heaven, the sun and moon and stars, creatures which they serve while they neglect the Creator. But not only "is the Lord high above all heathen;" but "His glory" also "is above the heavens." The heavens look up unto Him above themselves; and the humble have Him together with them, who do not worship the heavens instead of Him, though placed in the flesh beneath the heavens.

Exposition on Psalm 113

5–6

Another psalm that was read says, “Who is as the Lord our God who dwells on high and looks down on the low things in heaven and in earth?” God, no doubt, casts his eyes on the lowly, he who laid bare the relics of the holy martyrs of his church, lying hid under the lowly turf, their souls in heaven, their bodies in the earth: “Raising up the needy person out of the dust, lifting up the poor person out of the dunghill,” placing him, as you see, with the princes of his people. Whom are we to think of as the princes of his people if not the holy martyrs in whose number long ago the unknown Protase and Gervase were given place? They now cause the church at Milan, barren of martyrs, now the mother of many children, to rejoice in the glory and examples of their suffering.

Letter 61

5–6

"Who is like unto the Lord our God, that hath His dwelling so high; and yet beholdeth the humble?" (ver. 5). Any one would think that He dwelleth in the lofty heavens, whence He may behold the humble things on earth; but "He beholdeth the humble things that are in heaven and earth" (ver. 6): what then is His high dwelling, whence He beholdeth the humble things that are in heaven and earth? Are the humble things He beholdeth His own high dwelling itself? For He thus exalteth the humble, so as not to make them proud. He therefore both dwelleth in those whom He raiseth high, and maketh them heaven for Himself, that is, His own abode; and by seeing them not proud, but constantly subject to Himself, He beholdeth even in heaven itself these very humble things, in whom raised on high He dwelleth. For the Spirit thus speaketh through Isaiah: "Thus saith the Highest that dwelleth on high, that inhabiteth eternity; the Lord Most High, dwelling in the holy." He hath expounded what He meant by dwelling on high, by the more full expression, "dwelling in the holy."...

Exposition on Psalm 113

It is written that “there is no glory, if when you sin, you are punished and endure it, but if when you do good and suffer, this is a grace with God. To this, indeed, you have been called, because Christ also has died for you, leaving you an example, that you may follow in his steps, who did no sin, neither was deceit found in his month; who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return, when he suffered, did not threaten.” And so the just person, even if he is on the rack, is always just. Because he justifies God and says that his suffering is less than his sins warrant, he is always wise. For true and perfect wisdom is not taken away by the torments of the rack, nor does it lose its nature, because it casts out fear by its zealous and loving purpose, even as the wise person knows that he should say that our sufferings in this body are unworthy of the reward of future glory and that all the sufferings of this time cannot equal the reward that is to come. And thus, to him, God, who knows the time of the harvest, is always good. Therefore, like a good farmer, he plows his field here with the plough-share of a rather severe abstinence, as it were. He clears his land here with the scythe of virtues that cuts off the vices, so to speak. He manures here by humbling himself even to the earth, for he knows that “God raises up the needy from the earth and lifts up the poor out of the dunghill.” Indeed, unless the apostle Paul had been counted as dung, he could never have gained Christ for himself. Such a person keeps watch over his crops here, so that he may store them away there without concern. And so, to him, God is always good because he always hopes for good things from God.

Interrogation of Job and David 3:2.3

7–8

Daniel, the prophet, says to Nebuchadnezzar, that the most High rules in the kingdom of humankind, and he will give it to whomsoever it shall please him, and he will appoint the lowest and the basest person over it. Ask him the reason why he appoints the lowest and the basest person as king and does what he wills; question the justice of the will of him of whom it is written, “He raises up the needy from the earth and lifts up the poor out of the dunghills, that he may place him with the princes, with the princes of his people.” Is he, perhaps, according to your [the Pelagians’] view, seeking glory and popular acclaim without judgment and justice, so that he raises the lowly to royal power and humiliates the powerful in exchange? Listen to the prophet, who says, “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing before him.” For he has done whatsoever he wished in heaven and on earth, and there is no one who will resist his will or who can say to him, “Why have you done this?” His works are all true and his ways justice, and he can humiliate the proud.

Against the Pelagians 2.3

7–8

"He takes up the destitute out of the dust, and lifts the poor out of the mire" [Psalm 113:7]; "that He may set Him with the princes, even with the princes of His people" [Psalm 113:8]. Let not then the heads of the exalted disdain to be humble, beneath the Lord's right hand. For though the faithful steward of the Lord's money be placed together with the princes of the people of God, although he be destined to sit on the twelve seats, and even to judge angels; [Matthew 19:28] yet he is taken up destitute from the dust, and lifted from out of the mire. Was not he possibly lifted up from the mire, who "served various lusts and pleasures"?...

Exposition on Psalm 113

What lesson, then, results from these remarks? This: that we should wean ourselves from this life in the flesh, which has an inevitable follower, death; and that we should search for a manner of life that does not bring death in its train. Now the life of virginity is such a life. We will add a few other things to show how true this is. Everyone knows that the propagation of mortal bodies is the work of sexual intercourse; whereas for those who are joined to the Spirit, life and immortality instead of children are produced by this latter intercourse; and the words of the apostle beautifully suit their case, for the joyful mother of such children as these “shall be saved in childbearing”; as the psalmist in his divine songs thankfully cries, “He makes the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children.” Truly a joyful mother is the virgin mother who by the operation of the Spirit conceives the deathless children and who is called by the prophet barren because of her modesty only. This life, then, which is stronger than the power of death, is, to those who think, the preferable one. The physical bringing of children into the world—I speak without wishing to offend—is as much a starting point of death as of life, because from the moment of birth the process of dying commences. But those who by virginity have desisted from this process have drawn within themselves the boundary line of death and by their own deed have checked his advance; they have made themselves, in fact, a frontier between life and death, and a barrier too, which thwarts him. If, then, death cannot pass beyond virginity but finds his power checked and shattered there, it is demonstrated that virginity is a stronger thing than death; and that body is rightly named undying that does not lend its service to a dying world or allow itself to become the instrument of a succession of dying creatures. In such a body the long unbroken career of decay and death, which has intervened between the first man and the lives of virginity that have been led, is interrupted.

On Virginity 13

What then, brethren, if we have already heard of those humble things which are in heaven, lifted up from the mire, that they might be set with the princes of the people; have we by consequence heard nothing of the humble things which the Lord beholds on the earth? For those friends who will judge with their Lord are fewer, while those whom they receive into everlasting habitations are more in number. For although the whole of a heap of grain compared with the separate chaff may seem to contain few in number; yet considered by itself, it is abundant....The Church then speaks thus in that sense, wherein she seems to bear no offspring among those crowds who have not given up all things, that they might follow the Lord, and might sit upon the twelve thrones. [Matthew 19:28] But how many in the same crowd, who make unto themselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, [Luke 16:9] shall stand on the right hand through works of mercy? He not only then lifts up from the mire him whom He is to place with the princes of His people; but also, "Makes the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children" [Psalm 113:9]: He who dwells on high, and beholds the humble things that are in heaven and earth, the seed of Abraham like the stars of heaven, holiness set on high in heavenly habitations; and like the sand on the sea shore, a merciful and countless multitude gathered together from the harmful waves, and the bitterness of impiety.

Exposition on Psalm 113