Psalm 141 [MT 142]

Augustine of Hippo †430

"Lord, I have cried unto You, hear Thou me" [Psalm 141:1]. This we all can say. This not I alone say: whole Christ says it. But it is said rather in the name of the Body: for He too, when He was here and bore our flesh, prayed; and when He prayed, drops of blood streamed down from His whole Body. So is it written in the Gospel: "Jesus prayed earnestly, and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood." [Luke 22:44] What is this flowing of sweat from His whole Body, but the suffering of martyrs from the whole Church? "Listen unto the voice of my prayer, while I cry unto You." You thought the business of crying already finished, when you said, "I have cried unto You." You have cried; yet think not yourself safe. If tribulation be finished, crying is finished: but if tribulation remain for the Church, for the Body of Christ, even to the end of the world, let it not only say, "I have cried unto You," but also, "Listen unto the voice of my prayer."

Exposition on Psalm 141

Origen of Alexandria †253

And he prays “constantly” (deeds of virtue or fulfilling the commandments are included as part of prayer) who unites prayer with the deeds required and right deeds with prayer. For the only way we can accept the command to “pray constantly” as referring to a real possibility is by saying that the entire life of the saint taken as a whole is a single great prayer. What is customarily called prayer is, then, a part of this prayer. Now prayer in the ordinary sense ought to be made no less than three times each day. This is evident from the story of Daniel, who prayed three times a day when such great peril had been devised for him. And Peter went up to the housetop about the sixth hour to pray; that is when he saw the sheet descending from heaven let down by four corners. He was offering the middle prayer of the three, the one referred to before him by David, “In the morning may you hear my prayer, in the morning I will offer to you and I will watch.” And the last time of prayer is indicated by “the lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice.” Indeed, we do not even complete the nighttime properly without that prayer of which David speaks when he says, “At midnight I rise to praise you because of your righteous ordinances.” And Paul, as it says in the Acts of the Apostles, prayed “about midnight” with Silas in Philippi and sang a hymn to God so that even the prisoners heard them.

On Prayer 12:2

Cyprian †258

Does any one perchance flatter himself with this notion, that although in the morning, water alone is seen to be offered, yet when we come to supper we offer the mingled cup? But when we sup, we cannot call the people together to our banquet, so as to celebrate the truth of the sacrament in the presence of all the brotherhood. But still it was not in the morning, but after supper, that the Lord offered the mingled cup. Ought we then to celebrate the Lord's cup after supper, that so by continual repetition of the Lord's supper we may offer the mingled cup? It behoved Christ to offer about the evening of the day, that the very hour of sacrifice might show the setting and the evening of the world; as it is written in Exodus, "And all the people of the synagogue of the children of Israel shall kill it in the evening." And again in the Psalms, "Let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice." But we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord in the morning.

Epistle LXII.16

Augustine of Hippo †430

"Let my prayer be set forth in Your sight as incense, and the lifting up of my hands an evening sacrifice" [Psalm 141:2]. That this is wont to be understood of the Head Himself, every Christian acknowledges. For when the day was now sinking towards evening, the Lord upon the Cross "laid down His life to take it again," [John 10:17] did not lose it against His will. Still we too are figured there. For what of Him hung upon the tree, save what He took of us? And how can it be that the Father should leave and abandon His only begotten Son, especially when He is one God with Him? Yet, fixing our weakness upon the Cross, where, as the Apostle says, "our old man is crucified with Him," [Romans 6:6] He cried out in the voice of that our "old man," "Why have You forsaken Me?" That then is the "evening sacrifice," the Passion of the Lord, the Cross of the Lord, the offering of a salutary Victim, the whole burnt offering acceptable to God. That "evening sacrifice" produced, in His Resurrection, a morning offering. Prayer then, purely directed from a faithful heart, rises like incense from a hallowed altar. Nought is more delightful than the odour of the Lord: such odour let all have who believe.

Exposition on Psalm 141

A sermon has to be preached about the evening sacrifice. We prayed after all as we sang, and we sang as we prayed, “May my prayer rise straight up like incense in your presence; the lifting up of my hands an evening sacrifice.” In the prayer we observe the person, in the extension of the hands we recognize the cross. So this is the sign that we carry on our foreheads, the sign by which we have been saved. A sign that was mocked, in order to be honored; despised in order to be glorified. God appears in visible form, so that as man he may intercede; he remains hidden so that as man he may die. “For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.” So this sacrifice, in which the priest is also the victim, has redeemed us by the shedding of the Creator’s blood.

Sermon 342:1

John Cassian †435

But what should be said concerning the evening sacrifices, since even in the Old Testament, by the law of Moses, these are ordered to be offered continually? We can show that the morning whole-burnt offerings and evening sacrifices were offered every day continually in the temple, although with figurative offerings. This is seen from what is sung by David: “Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as the incense, and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.” We can understand in a still more spiritual sense that the true evening sacrifice is what was given by the Lord our Savior in the evening to the apostles at the Supper, when he instituted the holy mysteries of the church, and what he himself, on the following day at the end of the ages, offered up to the Father by the lifting up of his hands for the salvation of the whole world. The spreading forth of his hands on the Cross is quite correctly called a “lifting up.” For when we were all lying in Hades, he raised us to heaven, according to the word of his own promise, when he says: “When I have been lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.”

Institutes 3:3

Jerome †420

3–4

“Let not my heart incline to evil words, to make excuses in sins.” O unhappy race of human beings! We seek excuse for sin by saying, “Nature got the better of me,” and all the while it has been in our power to sin or not to sin. We are always justifying ourselves and saying, I did not want to sin, but lust overwhelmed me; that woman came to me; she made the advances; she touched me; she said this or that to me; she called me; and while we ought to be doing penance and crying, “Lord, I have sinned,” we excuse ourselves instead, and yoke sins to sin. We all have the same kind of body, but with our own particular difficulties. “God is not a respecter of persons.” Would you know that we have the same bodies as the saints? Paul the apostle says, “I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me prisoner to the law of sin that is in my members”;23 and again, “But I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps after preaching to others I myself should be rejected.” Later, he says, “Unhappy man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” We all have our own struggles, therefore, and it is in proportion to his struggles that each one receives his reward.

Homilies on the Psalms 51

3–4

When a person is advanced in years, you must not be too ready to believe evil of him; his past life is itself a defense, and so also is his rank as an elder. Still, since we are but human and sometimes in spite of the ripeness of our years fall into the sins of youth, if I do wrong and you wish to correct me, accuse me openly of my fault: do not backbite me secretly. “Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness, and let him reprove me; but let not the oil of the sinner enrich my head.” For what does the apostle say? “Whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.” By the mouth of Isaiah the Lord speaks thus: “O my people, they who call you happy cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths.” How do you help me by telling my misdeeds to others? You may, without my knowing of it, wound some one else by the narration of my sins or rather of those which you slanderously attribute to me; and while you are eager to spread the news in all quarters, you may pretend to confide in each individual as though you had spoken to no one else. Such a course has for its object not my correction but the indulgence of your own failing. The Lord commands that those who sin against us are to be arraigned privately or else in the presence of a witness and that if they refuse to hear reason the matter is to be laid before the church, and those who persist in their wickedness are to be regarded as heathens and publicans.

Letter 125.19

Augustine of Hippo †430

3–4

..."Set, O Lord, a watch before my mouth, and a door of restraint around my lips" [Psalm 141:3]. He said not a barrier of restraint, but "a door of restraint." A door is opened as well as shut. If then it be a "door," let it be both opened and shut; opened, to confession of sin; closed, to excusing sin. So will it be a "door of restraint," not of ruin. For what does this "door of restraint" profit us? What does Christ pray in the name of His Body? "That Thou turn not aside My heart to wicked words" [Psalm 141:4]. What is, "My heart"? The heart of My Church; the heart, that is, of My Body....

Exposition on Psalm 141

3–4

But of course it is also true that the confession of sins is equally salutary. That is why we heard in the psalm that was read first, “Set a guard, Lord, on my mouth, and a door of restraint around my lips, and do not incline my heart to words of malice, to excusing my sins with excuses.” He asks God to put a guard on his mouth. And he goes on to explain what it is a guard against. There are people, you see, and plenty of them, who as soon as they are blamed for anything rush to make excuses. Now to make excuses is to look for reasons and to adduce pretexts why a sin should not be regarded as belonging to you. One says, “The devil did it for me”; another says, “My luck did it for me”; another, “I was forced to it by fate”; no one blames himself.

Sermon 29:3

3–4

Unless one thinks that God requires only self-restraint in terms of the desires of the inferior parts of one’s flesh, the following is also sung in the psalm: “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth and a door of continence round about my lips.” Now, in this testimony of divine eloquence if we understand “mouth” as we ought to understand it, the watch placed there is continence, inasmuch as we understand it as a gift of God. Surely, it is a slight matter to restrain the mouth of the body lest something that is not expedient come forth from it through the sound of the voice. Within is the mouth of the heart where he who said those words and directed us to say them desired that a guard and gate of continence be set for him by God. There are many things that we do not speak from the mouth of the body but shout from the heart. Yet, no word of any thing proceeds from the mouth of that body in whose heart there is silence. Thus, whatever does not emanate from there does not sound outside, but what does emanate from there, if it is evil—even though it does not move the tongue—defiles the soul. Continence, therefore, must be placed there where the conscience, even of those who are outwardly silent, speaks.And so that he might more clearly indicate the interior mouth that he signified by those words when he said, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door of continence round about my lips,” he immediately added, “Incline not my heart to evil words.” This inclination of the heart, what is it if not consent? For, he has not yet spoken who has not yet consented by an inclination of the heart to the onrushing suggestions in his heart of any act whatsoever. If, however, he consented, he has already spoken in his heart even though he has not made a sound with his mouth. Even though he has not done the deed with his hand or any other part of his body, he has committed it because he has determined in his mind to do it, and he is guilty of the act, by the laws of God even though it remains concealed from the sight of people—the word being spoken in the heart though no act be committed in the body.

On Continence 1:2-2:3

3–4

Of course, what we have to set our minds on first and foremost is not to sin, in case we get on fairly familiar and friendly terms with sin, as a serpent. In fact, of course, it slays the sinner with its poisonous fangs and is not at all the sort of thing to make friends with. But if it should happen to catch you in its coils when you are weak, or creep up on you when you are getting careless, or grab you when you have lost your way or trick you into losing it again, then you must not let it irk you to confess and to accuse yourself instead of looking for excuses. That is what he prayed about in some psalm or other when he said, “Lord, set a guard on my mouth and a door of self-restraint around my lips, and do not turn aside my thoughts to ill-natured words, to excuse on excuse for sins.”

Sermon 20:2

Valerian of Cimiez †460

3–4

But the blow inflicted by the tongue is incurable. The tongue strikes lightly, but it always stirs up deep sighs in the chest through the sorrow it causes. The prophet no doubt knew how great was the evil of the tongue when he cried out, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door about my lips, that my heart may not turn to evil words.” Therefore, if anyone is wise, let him set a guard before his mouth, and let him put the bond of silence on his lips.

Homily 5:2

CS Lewis †1963

In 141:4–6, where our translation appears to be rather wrong, the general sense nevertheless comes through and expresses the same attitude [as the other Psalms warning against consenting to evil]...

The Psalmists were not quite wrong when they described the good man as avoiding "the seat of the scornful" and fearing to consort with the ungodly lest he should "eat of" (shall we say, laugh at, admire, approve, justify?) "such things as please them." As usual in their attitude, with all its dangers, there is a core of very good sense.

Reflections on the Psalms, Chapter 7: Connivance

Augustine of Hippo †430

"The righteous One shall amend me in mercy, and convict me" [Psalm 141:5]. Behold the sinner confessing. He desires to be amended in mercy, rather than praised deceitfully...."Shall convict me," but "in mercy:" shall convict, yet hates not: yea, shall all the more convict, because He hates not. And why does he therefore give thanks? Because, "rebuke a wise man, and he will love you." [Proverbs 9:8] "The righteous One shall amend me." Because He persecutes you? God forbid. He requires rather amending himself, who amends in hate. Wherefore then does He amend? "In mercy. And shall convict me." Wherein? "In mercy. For the oil of a sinner shall not enrich my head." My head shall not grow by flattery. Undue praise is flattery: undue praise of a flatterer is "the oil of a sinner." Therefore men too, when they have mocked any one with false praise, say, "I have anointed his head." Love then to be "convicted by the righteous One in mercy;" love not to be praised by a sinner in mockery. Have oil in yourselves, and you shall not seek the "oil of a sinner.". ..

Exposition on Psalm 141

This is the oil of the sinner with which the prophet does not want his head to be anointed, as he says: "The just person shall correct me in mercy and shall reprove me, but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head." Thus, he prefers to be corrected by the severe mercy of the just rather than to be praised by the soothing ointment of flattery. Whence, the prophet said, "They that call you blessed, the same deceive you." Therefore, regarding a person whom false flattery has made arrogant, the popular saying states it correctly: "He has a swelled head"; that is, his head has been fattened by the oil of the sinner, and this is not the effect of the harsh truth of correction but of the soothing deceit of praise.

Letter 33

And again, he quotes as words of David, "Let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head," when David has been speaking of the flattery of the smooth speaker deceiving with false praise, so as to cause the head of the person praised to become great with pride. And this meaning is made manifest by the words immediately preceding in the same psalm. For he says, "Let the righteous smite me. It shall be a kindness, and let him reprove me; but the oil of the sinner shall not break my head." What can be clearer than this sentence? What more manifest? For he declares that he would rather be reproved in kindness with the sharp correction of the righteous, so that he may be healed, than anointed with the soft speaking of the flatterer, so as to be puffed up with pride.

Letters of Petilian the Donatist 3:33-38

This brother will bring you some things I have written. If you have the time to read them, please be completely candid and merciless in your criticism. The Bible reminds us, "The righteous shall correct me in compassion and reprove me, but the oil of the sinner shall not anoint my head." This means that the real friend heals me by his criticism, but the false friend merely flatters me. I cannot be a fair critic of my own work because I am either too strict or not strict enough. For I sometimes see my own faults, but I would rather hear a better judge, just in case I begin to flatter myself after a harsh bit of self-criticism, because I decide I am too hard on myself.

Letter 28:6

Caesarius of Arles †542

“The just person shall correct me in mercy and shall reprove me—but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head.” What does this mean? It would be better for me if the just person who sees my sin would correct me, not spare me, tell me that I have done wrong, be furious over my sin, in order to free me from it. He would seem to speak harshly, but inside he would be gentle in mercy, according to the words “The just person shall correct me in mercy and shall reprove me.” When the just person thus reproves and shouts and rages, he shows mercy, for it all arises from his paternal pity and not hostile cruelty. Moreover, since he does not want you to die in sin, he loves you all the more when he cuts; he is unwilling to allow your other members to decay from the rottenness of sin.

Sermon 59:6

Martin of Braga †580

Therefore in all matters where great flattery has even exceeded the limits proper to humanity, you must recall that well-known lesson of David, in which he shunned the poison of flatterers with these words: “The just person shall correct me in kindness and shall reprove me, but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head.” The “oil of the sinner” is flattery, which uses a smooth, suave unction to brighten up, as though with cosmetics, the head of the inner person, that is, the heart. Therefore, the prophet David said that it was better for him to be corrected or advised by a just person than to be praised by any flatterer. It was right that he should denote the flatterer with the name of “sinner,” since his is the greatest and most detestable crime in the sight of God—to hold one thing in his heart, to speak another with his lips. Of such he also says in another psalm: “His words are smoother than oil, but they are drawn swords.” Of the just person he says, “He speaks the truth in his heart and works not deceit with his tongue.” Although in these ways any subtle remarks of people, even without the pleasing sensations of praise, may draw your credulous mind to agreement, turn rather to the deeds of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels, and you will find that the “Lord of lords” left us a great example of sacred humility amid the praises of people. Practice humility, then, take it for your mistress, set it as your guide when flatterers entice. Humility will tell you just how much of the things that people ascribe to you in praise is really yours and how long it will last. Humility does not let you be attentive to lies.

Exhortation to Humility 3

CS Lewis †1963

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. Their very kindness stings with intolerable insult.

...

But we ought long ago to have learned our lesson. We should be too old now to be deceived by those humane pretensions which have served to usher in every cruelty of the revolutionary period in which we live. These are the 'precious balms' which will 'break our heads'.

The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment, from God in the Dock

Jerome †420

“Their judges driven against the rock were swallowed up,” just as another passage in Scripture says: “Happy the one who shall seize and smash your little ones against the rock!” “But the rock was Christ.” “The little ones” are trifling thoughts before they grow into ones of serious consequences. Even heretics, although they seem to despise the simplicity of the church, as compared with Aristotle and Plato; when they turn to the Scriptures, are swallowed up immediately by the Rock, that is, by Christ, and are converted to him.

Homilies on the Psalms 51

Augustine of Hippo †430

You say to me, What am I doing? I am beset with flatterers; they cease not to besiege me; they praise in me what I would not, that praise in me what I hold in little esteem; what I hold dear they blame in me; flatterers, treacherous, deceivers. For instance, "Gaiuseius is a great man, great, learned, wise; but why is he a Christian? For great is his learning, great his reading, great his wisdom." If great is his wisdom, approve of his being a Christian; if great his learning, learnedly has he chosen. In fine, what you revile, that pleases him whom you praise. But what? That praise sweetens not: it is "the oil of a sinner." Yet ceases he not to speak so. Let him not therewith "fatten your head;" that is, rejoice not in such things; agree not to such things; consent not to such things; rejoice not in such things; and then, if he have applied to you the oil of flattery, yet has your head remained as it was, it has not been puffed up, it has not swollen...."For still shall My word be well-pleasing to them." Wait awhile: now they revile Me, says Christ. In the early times of the Christians, the Christians were blamed on all sides. Wait as yet; and "My word shall be well-pleasing to them." The time shall come when they shall conquer thousands of men, who shall beat their breasts, and say, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Even now, how many remain who blush to beat their breasts? Let them then blame us: let us bear it. Let them blame; let them hate, accuse, detract; "still shall My word be well-pleasing to them;" the time shall come when My word shall please them....O wordy defence of iniquity! Verily now whole nations say this, and the thunder of nations beating their breasts ceases not. Rightly do the clouds thunder, wherein now God dwells. Where is now that wordiness, where that boasting, "I am righteous; nought of ill have I done"? Verily, when you have contemplated in Holy Scripture the law of righteousness, how far soever you have advanced, you shall find yourself a sinner....What sort of man am I now speaking of, brethren? I speak of him who worships God alone, who confesses Christ, who knows the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost to be one God; who commits not fornication against Him; who worships not devils; who seeks him not aid from the devil; who holds the Catholic Church; whom no one complains of as cheating; under whose oppression no weak neighbour groans; who assails not another's wife; who is content with his own, or even without his own, in such wise as is lawful, and as Apostolical discipline permits, with consent of both, [1 Corinthians 7:5] or when she is not yet married. Even he who is such as this, is yet overtaken in such things as I have mentioned. For all these daily sins then what is our hope, save to say with humble heart in the Lord's Prayer, while we defend not our sins, but confess them, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;" [Matthew 6:12] and to "have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous," that He may be "the propitiation for our sins"? [1 John 2:1-2] See what follows: "their judges have been swallowed up beside the Rock" [Psalm 141:6]. What is, "swallowed up beside the Rock? That Rock was Christ. [1 Corinthians 10:4] They have been swallowed up beside the Rock." "Beside," that is, compared, as judges, as mighty, powerful, learned: they are called "their judges," as judging about morals, and laying down their opinions. This Aristotle said. Set him beside the Rock, and he is swallowed up. Who is Aristotle? Let him hear, "Christ has said," and he trembles among the dead. This Pythagoras said, that Plato said. Set them beside the Rock, compare their authority to the authority of the Gospel, compare the proud to the Crucified. Say we to them "You have written your words in the hearts of the proud; He has planted His Cross in the hearts of kings: finally, He died, and rose again; you are dead, and I will not ask how ye rise again." So "their judges have been swallowed up beside" that "Rock." So long do their words seem somewhat, till they are compared with the Rock. Therefore if any of them be found to have said what Christ too has said, we congratulate him, but we follow him not. But he came before Christ. If any man speak what is true, is he therefore before the Truth itself? Regard Christ, O man, not when He came to you, but when He made you. The sick man too might say, "But I took to my bed before the physician came to me." Why, for that very reason has He come last, because you first have sickened.

Exposition on Psalm 141

Augustine of Hippo †430

What then have all those deaths of the martyrs accomplished? Listen: "As the fatness of the earth is spread over the earth, our bones have been scattered beside the pit" [Psalm 141:7]. "The bones" of the martyrs, that is, the bodies of the witnesses of Christ. The martyrs were slain, and they who slew them seemed to prevail. They prevailed by persecution, that the words of Christ might prevail by preaching. And what was the result of the deaths of the saints? What means, "the fatness of the earth is spread over the earth"? We know that everything that is refuse is the fatness of the earth. The things which are, as it were, contemptible to men, enrich the earth...."Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." As it is contemptible to the world, so is it precious to the husbandman. For he knows the use thereof, and its rich juice; he knows what he desires, what he seeks, whence the fertile crop arises; but this world despises it. Do you not know that "God has chosen the contemptible things of the world, and those which are not, like as those which are, that the things which are may be brought to nought"? [1 Corinthians 1:27-28] From the dunghill was Peter lifted up, and Paul; when they were put to death, they were despised: now, the earth having been enriched by them, and the cross of the Church springing up, behold, all that is noble and chief in the world, even the emperor himself, comes to Rome, and whither does he hasten? To the temple of the emperor, or the memorial of the fisherman?

Exposition on Psalm 141

Augustine of Hippo †430

"For unto You, Lord, are my eyes; in You have I hoped, take not Thou away my life" [Psalm 141:8]. For they were tortured in persecutions, and many failed. It occurs to him that many have failed, many have been in hazard, and as it were in the midst of the tribulation of persecution is sent forth the voice of one praying; "For unto You, Lord, are my eyes:" I care not what they threaten who stand around, "unto You, Lord, are my eyes." More do I fix my eye on Your promises than on their threats. I know what You have suffered for me, what You have promised me.

Exposition on Psalm 141