Psalm 86 [MT 87]

"Her foundations are upon the holy hills" (ver. 1). The Psalm had as yet said nothing of the city: it begins thus, and says, "Her foundations are upon the holy hills." Whose? There can be no doubt that foundations, especially among the hills, belong to some city. Thus filled with the Holy Spirit, and with many thoughts of love and longing for that city, as if after long internal meditation, that citizen bursts out, "Her foundations are upon the holy hills;" as if he had already said something concerning it. And how could he have said nothing on a subject, respecting which in his heart he had never been silent? For how could "her foundations" have been written, of which nothing had been said before? But, as I said, after long and silent travailing in contemplation of that city in his mind, crying to God, he bursts out into the ears of men thus: "Her foundations are upon the holy hills." And, supposing persons who heard to enquire of what city he spoke he adds, "the Lord loveth the gates of Sion." Behold, then, a city whose foundations are upon the holy hills, a city called Sion, whose gates the Lord loveth, as he adds, "above all the dwellings of Jacob." But what doth this mean, "her foundations on the holy hills"? What are the holy hills upon which this city is built? Another citizen tells us this more explicitly, the Apostle Paul: of this was the Prophet a citizen, of this the Apostle citizen: and they spoke to exhort the other citizens. But how are these, I mean the Prophets and Apostles, citizens? Perhaps in this sense; that they are themselves the hills, upon which are the foundations of this city, whose gates the Lord loveth Let then another citizen state this clearly, that I may not seem to guess. Speaking to the Gentiles, and telling them how they were returning, and being, as it were, framed together into the holy structure, "built," he says, "upon the foundations of the Apostles and Prophets:" and because neither the Apostles nor Prophets, upon whom the foundations of that city rest, could stand by their own power, he adds, "Jesus Christ Himself being the head comer stone." That the Gentiles, therefore, might not think they had no relation to Sion: for Sion was a certain city of this world, which bore a typical resemblance as a shadow to that Sion of which he presently speaketh, that Heavenly Jerusalem, of which the Apostle saith, "which is the mother of us all;" they might not be said to bear no relation to Sion, on the ground that they did not belong to the Jewish people, he addresses them thus: "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets." Thou seest the structure of so great a city: yet whereon does all that edifice repose, where does it rest, that it may never fall? "Jesus Christ Himself," he saith, "being the head corner stone."

A psalm of a canticle, for the sons of Korah. The difference between a psalm and a canticle I have often stated. A psalm is spoken from the psaltery, but a canticle is uttered from the voice. A psalm has to do with the hands, that is, with works; a canticle with contemplation (theoria).

Its foundations are in the holy mountains. He did not say beforehand whose, yet he said, Its foundations are in the holy mountains. The one who speaks is the prophet: the sons are of Korah. What Korah means, I have often stated: a skull, that is, the sons of the resurrection. Its foundations: whether of God, or certainly of the Church. And what are the foundations, if not the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? These foundations, then, are not in the valleys, but are in the mountains: and not on any mountains whatever, but on the holy mountains. Paul says: 'As a wise architect I have laid the foundation'—that is, faith in the Trinity. Then he also says in another place: 'For he was awaiting the city having foundations, whose builder and maker is God.' Its foundations are in the holy mountains. He said, In the holy mountains, because there are also other mountains that are not holy. Then it is also said in Isaiah: 'Upon the dark mountain lift up a sign.' And in another place it is said: 'Who are you, corrupt mountain?' It is also said in Jeremiah: 'Give glory to the Lord your God, before your feet stumble against the dark mountains.' You see, then, that there are also dark mountains: and it is said to us by Jeremiah that we should give glory to God before our feet stumble against the dark mountains. For if our feet strike against those mountains, we cannot give glory to the Lord. Its foundations are in the holy mountains. Whom can we call the foundations? The apostles. In them were the foundations: where the faith of the Church was first laid, there too the foundations were laid.

We ought to know that what we have interpreted of the Church can be understood also of our soul. For if Zion is interpreted as a watchtower, and our soul in no other way but always considers higher things: the true church, the true temple of Christ is nothing other than the human soul. The Church of Christ is nothing else but the souls of those who believe in Christ. 'You,' he says, 'are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you.' Its foundations are in the holy mountains: that is, the foundations of God are nowhere but in the holy mountains, in the doctrines of the believing soul. The Lord loves the gates of Zion. Our Zion has very many gates: which, if we open them, the bridegroom enters in to us, and sleeps with us. Then he himself says: 'Behold, I stand before the door and knock: if anyone opens to me, I will enter and dine with him.' Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. A city is not one building, but consists of many buildings: so the Church and our Zion, unless it has many virtues, will not be the city of God. I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. She who once was in the breadth of sins, afterward ascended into the remembrance of God. Will a man say to Zion, and a man is born in her? I speak to you a wondrous thing, but a true one. Our Zion, in which at times there are foreigners, and Tyre, and the Ethiopian: that watchtower, that harlot, that Rahab, that Babylon, she who spread apart her feet to everyone passing by, according to Ezekiel: that harlot, if she wills, suddenly becomes a virgin. She becomes a virgin, and conceives the Son of God, and gives birth. 'From the fear of you, O Lord, we conceived and were in labor; we brought forth the spirit of your salvation upon the earth.' See, then, that the harlot conceives from God and gives birth, and brings forth the Savior. We brought forth the spirit of your salvation upon the earth. Therefore our soul, that Rahab, that harlot, can conceive and bring forth the Savior. And a man is born in her. If we will, Christ is born daily: through each single virtue Christ is born. For if 'Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God,' whoever does a virtuous deed generates virtue. And he himself, the Most High, founded her. He who is born in you, he himself gives the foundation to your Zion. The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples. It is clear that what the Lord speaks in Scripture, he speaks to no one as he does to Zion. And yet, when all these things have come to pass, when Christ has been born in her, the victory is not certain and secure, but we are always in danger. As it were the dwelling of all who rejoice is in you. He who is joyful, from that very cheerfulness is secure: but he who is secure is quickly deceived. But he who dreads ambushes can quickly escape: with the Lord granting it, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

"The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (ver. 2). I have made the foregoing remarks, that ye may not imagine the gates are one thing, the foundations another. Why are the Apostles and Prophets foundations? Because their authority is the support of our weakness. Why are they gates? because through them we enter the kingdom of God: for they proclaim it to us: and while we enter by their means, we enter also through Christ, Himself being the Gate. And twelve gates of Jerusalem are spoken of, and the one gate is Christ, and the twelve gates are Christ for Christ dwells in the twelve gates, hence was twelve the number of the Apostles. There is a deep mystery in this number of twelve "Ye shall sit," says our Saviour, "on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." If there are twelve thrones there, there will be no room for the judgment-seat of Paul, the thirteenth Apostle, though he says that he shall judge not men only, but even Angels; which, but the fallen Angels? "Know ye not, that we shall judge Angels," he writes. The world would answer, Why dost thou boast that thou shalt be a judge? Where will be thy throne? Our Lord spoke of twelve thrones for the twelve Apostles: one, Judas, fell, and his place being supplied by Matthias, the number of twelve thrones was made up: first, then, discover room for thy judgment-seat; then threaten that thou wilt judge. Let us, therefore, reflect upon the meaning of the twelve thrones. The expression is typical of a sort of universality, as the Church was destined to prevail throughout the whole world: whence this edifice is styled a building together into Christ: and because judges come from all quarters, the twelve thrones are spoken of, just as the twelve gates, from the entering in from all sides into that city. Not only therefore have those twelve, and the Apostle Paul, a claim to the twelve thrones, but, from the universal signification, all who are to sit in judgment: in the same manner as all who enter the city, enter by one or the other of the twelve gates. There are four quarters of the globe: East, West, North, and South: and they are constantly alluded to in the Scriptures. From all those four winds; our Lord declares in the Gospel that He will call his sheep "from the four winds;" therefore from all those four winds is the Church called. And how called? On every side it is called in the Trinity: no otherwise is it called than by Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: four then being thrice taken, twelve are found. Knock, therefore, with all your hearts at these gates: and let Christ cry within you: "Open me the gates of righteousness." For He went before us the Head: He follows Himself in His Body. ...

And because each one builds upon the foundation—one gold, another silver, another precious stones—The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. Does he love those gates which we see have collapsed? Does he love those gates, and does he love that Zion, which has been plowed like a field? And see what he says, The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. See what he says: above all the cities of Jacob, that is of Judea, he loves this city alone. And how is it that we see the others in part still standing, while this one has utterly collapsed? Let us read the Apocalypse of John, let us also read Isaiah, where the city of Jerusalem is built, and its twelve gates are said to be constructed of precious stones, and the city itself descends from heaven, and its walls are said to be of gold, and its streets are said to be paved with emerald, and each of the gates is said to be constructed of a single precious stone. These are all the riches of the Lord, and does the Lord love these the way men do too? He forbids us from avarice, and does he himself build a city out of avarice? Therefore the Lord loves the gates of Zion, those twelve gates of Zion: it is clear that he wrote of the apostles. Above all the tabernacles of Jacob: above all the ancient saints.

This much we have said so far according to one figure. But let us speak also in another way. The Lord loves the gates of Zion. To me the gates of Zion seem to be the virtues. For just as the gates of death are the vices and sins, so the gates of Zion seem to me to be the virtues. Then he says in another place: 'You who lift me up from the gates of death.' But if the gates of death are sins, then the gates of Jerusalem are virtues. Above all the tabernacles of Jacob. See that Jacob, that is the old people, has no foundation, nor a house set upon foundations, but tabernacles which quickly pass away.

"Very excellent things are said of thee, thou city of God" (ver. 3). He was, as it were, contemplating that city of Jerusalem on earth: for consider what city he alludes to, of which certain very excellent things are spoken. Now the earthly city has been destroyed: after suffering the enemy's rage, it fell to the earth; it is no longer what it was: it exhibited the emblem, and the shadow hath passed away. Whence then are "very excellent things spoken of thee, thou city of God"? Listen whence: "I will think upon Rahab and Babylon, with them that know Me" (ver. 4). In that city, the Prophet, in the person of God, says, "I will think upon Rahab and Babylon." Rahab belongs not to the Jewish people; Babylon belongs not to the Jewish people; as is clear from the next verse: "For the Philistines also, and Tyre, with the Ethiopians, were there." Deservedly then, "very excellent things are spoken of thee, thou city of God:" for not only is the Jewish nation, born of the flesh of Abraham, included therein, but all nations also, some of which are named that all may be understood. "I will think," he says, "upon Rahab:" who is that harlot? That harlot in Jericho, who received the spies and conducted them out of the city by a different road: who trusted beforehand in the promise, who feared God, who was told to hang out of the window a line of scarlet thread, that is, to bear upon her forehead the sign of the blood of Christ. She was saved there, and thus represented the Church of the Gentiles: whence our Lord said to the haughty Pharisees, "Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you." They go before, because they do violence: they push their way by faith, and to faith a way is made, nor can any resist, since they who are violent take it by force. For it is written, "The kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Such was the conduct of the robber, more courageous on the cross than in the place of ambush. "I will think upon Rahab and Babylon." By Babylon is meant the city of this world: as there is one holy city, Jerusalem; one unholy, Babylon: all the unholy belong to Babylon, even as all the holy to Jerusalem. But he slideth from Babylon to Jerusalem. How, but by Him who justifieth the ungodly: Jerusalem is the city of the saints; Babylon of the wicked: but He cometh who justifieth the ungodly: since it is said, "I will think" not only "upon Rahab," but "upon Babylon," but with whom? "with them that know Me." ...

Pass now, pray, to the others who were saved by repentance. Perhaps even among the women someone will say, "I have committed fornication and adultery. I have defiled my body with every excess. Can there be salvation for me?" Fix your eyes, woman, on Rahab, and look for salvation for yourself too. For if she who openly and publicly practiced fornication was saved through repentance, will not she whose fornication preceded the gift of grace be saved by repentance and fasting? For observe how she was saved. She said only this: "Since the Lord, your God, is God in heaven above and on earth below." "Your God," she said, for she did not dare call him her God, because of her wantonness. If you want scriptural testimony of her salvation, you have it recorded in the Psalms: "I will think of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me." O the great loving-kindness of God, which is mindful even of harlots in Scripture. He did not say merely, "I shall think of Rahab and Babylon," but added, "among those who know me." The salvation procured by repentance is open to men and women alike.

Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Therefore that which was said, Its foundations are in the holy mountains, we can also say of God. But we can also say this. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. What is this city? Where were glorious things spoken? In all the prophets it was spoken of this city. Isaiah says: 'Arise, arise, O Jerusalem, put on the strength of your arm.' Again Isaiah himself: 'I am the strong city, the city that is besieged.' David too says: 'The rushing of the river gladdens the city of God.' And in another place: 'O Lord, in your city you will bring their images to nothing.' And the Savior spoke glorious things of this city: 'A city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden.'

I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. Since he said, Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God, and yet we understand that very city as the Church gathered from the nations: therefore now it is said concerning the calling of the nations, I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. Whoever is a sinner, let him be secure: the Lord was mindful of Rahab. I said secure, if he returns to the Lord: for otherwise security without tears has no remedy. I will be mindful of Rahab: of that harlot Rahab, who received the spies of Jesus, who was in Jericho, where Jesus had come, and he sent two spies. Jericho, this world, which is overturned in seven days, wishes to kill the spies. And while it desires to kill the spies, the harlot Rahab alone received them. And she received them, not in a lower place, but in an upper room, on the housetop, that is, in the height of her faith, and she hid them in flax, that is, in tow of flax.

This much we have said so far according to the historical sense, and you see how from the history itself we gradually ascend to the mystical sacraments. Jesus the leader, who had led the people out of Egypt: Jesus, who is interpreted as Savior, after Moses had died and been buried in the land of Moab, in the land of Arabia, that is, after the Law was dead, desires to lead his people into the gospel, and sends two spies to Jericho: two spies, one to the circumcision, another to the nations, Peter and Paul. Jericho seeks to kill them; that harlot receives them, the Church gathered from the nations. She believes in Jesus, and those whom Jericho wished to kill, she herself saves on her housetop. And she places them on the housetop, in her lofty faith, and hides them in the flax of the reed. Though she is a harlot, yet she places them in flax. Flax comes to whiteness through much toil and diligence. You yourselves know that flax is born from the earth, and when it has been born in the earth, it is black, has no beauty, no use. First then it is taken from the earth, it is broken, then it is twisted, afterward it is washed, then it is beaten, then it is combed, and with much care and toil it scarcely comes to whiteness. Therefore this is said, that this harlot indeed received the spies in her flax, so that those spies might turn her flax into whiteness. What then? She gives them counsel, and says: 'Wait here three days.' It was not one day, not two, but three days. See what she says, Wait three days. She does not name three nights, but three days, because she had an enlightened heart. And then she says, and after three days: and what does she say? 'Do not,' she says, 'go through the plains, but climb up into the mountains.' For the faith of the Church is not established in the valleys, but in the mountains. Jericho then is afterward overturned by Jesus, and this harlot alone is preserved unharmed. Therefore this is said. I will be mindful of Rahab: that is, of her who received my spies, and I on the day of judgment will be mindful of her.

I will be mindful of Rahab. What does Rahab mean? We have spoken according to the history: let us speak also according to the interpretation of the name and according to the anagogy. Rahab is interpreted in two ways: either it is interpreted as breadth, or certainly it is interpreted as pride. So see what he says. She who once walked in the broad and spacious way that leads to death, she who was proud and had a rush toward ruin, was afterward converted into humility. I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon. Babylon is interpreted as confusion. See what he says. Not only will I be mindful of Rahab, but also of Babylon, whatever soul is confounded by vices and sins. And of Babylon among those who know me. See what he says. Though someone may have been Rahab, though he may have been Babylon: yet I will be mindful, whoever will have known me. Therefore if we have been Rahab and Babylon, we too ought to be secure, and to say: God said, I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon. But see what follows. Among those who know me. They were Rahab and Babylon, but afterward they were converted to me. I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. She who once was in the breadth of sins, afterward ascended into the remembrance of God.

Thus far he has spoken as if through riddles: but now he speaks more openly of the calling of the nations. For see what he says. Behold, the foreigners and Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there. He calls them foreigners to distinguish them from Israel: for we are the foreigners. And Tyre. Tyre is interpreted as tribulation, that is, sor. And the people of the Ethiopians: black, and wrapped up in the filth of sins. And the people of the Ethiopians. This is what is said: 'Ethiopia will stretch out her hand before God.' Behold, the foreigners and Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians. What is said is this: Those who before were strangers, those who before were in tribulation, who were set in the heart of the sea (for it is said of Tyre 'Tyre set in the heart of the sea'): those, then, who first were in the sea, and were beaten by the waves, were afterward found in the Church. And the people of the Ethiopians. We were once Ethiopians, Ethiopians in vices and sins. Why? Because sins had made us black. But afterward we heard 'Wash yourselves, be clean,' and we said 'You will wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.' We Ethiopians, then, were turned into whiteness. Behold, the foreigners and Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there. Where were they? Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. These were there: that is, in the city of God.

Listen now to a deep mystery. Rahab is there through Him, through whom also is Babylon, now no longer Babylon, but beginning to be Jerusalem. The daughter is divided against her mother, and will be among the members of that queen to whom is said, "Forget your own people, and your father's house, so shall the king have pleasure in your beauty." For how could Babylon aspire to Jerusalem? How could Rahab reach those foundations? How could the Philistines, or Tyre, or the people of the Ethiopians? Listen to this verse, "Sion, my mother, a man shall say." There is then a man who says this: through whom all those I have mentioned make their approach. Who is this man? It tells if we hear, if we understand. It follows, as if a question had been raised, through whose aid Rahab, Babylon, the Philistines, Tyre, and the Morians, gained an entrance. Behold, through whom they come; "Sion, my mother, a man shall say; and a man was born in her, and Himself the Most High has founded her" [Psalm 87:5]. What, my brethren, can be clearer? Truly, because "very excellent things are spoken of you, thou city of God." Lo, "Sion, O mother, a man shall say." What man? "He who was born in her." It is then the man who was born in her, and He Himself has founded her. Yet how can He be born in the city which He Himself founded? It had already been founded, that therein He might be born. Understand it thus, if you can. "Mother Sion, he shall say;" but it is "a man" that "shall say, Mother Sion; yea, a man was born in her:" and yet "he has founded her" (not a man, but), "the Most High." As He created a mother of whom He would be born, so He founded a city in which He would be born. What hope is ours, brethren! On our behalf the Most High, who founded the city, addresses that city as a mother: and "He was born in her, and the Most High has founded her."

The Church had to be founded: therefore it was necessary to lay the foundations, namely the commandments of God, and it was necessary that they be placed in some person. This could not be except in the glorious Virgin; as the Psalm says: "His foundations are in the holy mountains: a man is born in her, and the Most High himself has founded her."

Will a man say to Zion, and a man is born in her? The Seventy translators rendered it thus: Will a man say to Zion? Many, then, expected, and did not understand what μήτη Σιὼν is: and they added a ρ, and they read μήτηρ Σιὼν ἐρεῖ ἄνθρωπος (mother Zion will a man say). And they say this because there follows, And a man is born in her: they expect that it also ought to be said in this way, Mother Zion will a man say. Because a son is said to be born, therefore they err in the word "mother." Let us then speak first according to what is commonly said (for neither ought we to dismiss that interpretation), let us then say also ourselves: Mother Zion will a man say, and a man is born in her. These are they who had been born in the Church, the foreigners, Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians: these are they who are born in the Church. They believe in the Church, and are born in the Church. For unless they have been baptized, they will not be sons of the Church. But those who have been baptized in the Church, they call the Church mother.

Let us also speak according to the Hebrew truth. Will a man say to Zion, and a man is born in her? What he says is this. Who will be able to announce to Zion, who will be able to announce to her of men, that a man will be born in her, and he himself will save her? That is, no man can announce to her that Zion will be saved in the man who will be born in her. And a man is born in her. Who is this man? He himself, the Most High, founded her. Let the Arians answer: for they say that the Father alone is the Most High. Behold, here it is said of the Son, And he himself, the Most High, founded her. He did not say, The Son of God who was in the beginning with the Father. But what did he say? A man is born in her, and he himself, the Most High, founded her. But if he is called the Most High, how much more the Word of God?

As though it were said, How do ye know this? All of us have sung these Psalms: and Christ, Man for our sake, God before us, sings within us all. But is this much to say, "before us," of Him who was before heaven and earth and time? He then, born for our sakes a man, in that city, also founded her when He was the Most High. Yet how are we assured of this? "The Lord shall rehearse it when He writes up the people" [Psalm 87:6], as the following verse has it. "The Lord shall declare, when He writes up the people, and their princes." What princes? "Those who were born in her;" those princes who, born within her walls, became therein princes: for before they could become princes in her, God chose the despised things of the world to confound the strong. Was the fisherman, the publican, a prince? They were indeed princes: but because they became such in her. Princes of what kind were they? Princes come from Babylon, believing monarchs of this world, came to the city of Rome, as to the head of Babylon: they went not to the temple of the Emperor, but to the tomb of the Fisherman. Whence indeed did they rank as princes? "God chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong, and the foolish things He has chosen, and things which are not as though they were, that things which are may be brought to nought." [1 Corinthians 1:26-27] This He does who "from the ground raises the helpless, and from the dunghill exalts the poor." For what purpose? "That He may set him with the princes, even with the princes of His people." This is a mighty deed, a deep source of pleasure and exultation. Orators came later into that city, but they could never have done so, had not fishermen preceded them. These things are glorious indeed, but where could they take place, but in that city of God, of whom very excellent things are spoken?

The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples and of the princes, of these who have been in her. He did not say, who are in her; but, who have been in her. The Lord will tell. And how will he tell? not by word, but by writing. In whose writing? in that of the peoples. That is not enough, but he also says, of the princes. And of which princes? who are in her? He did not say this; but, who have been in her. See, then, how holy Scripture is full of sacraments. We read the apostle Paul, we read Peter, and we read him saying 'Do you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me?' And what Paul speaks, Christ speaks. 'For whoever receives you, receives me.' Therefore our Lord and Savior tells us and speaks in the writings of his princes. The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples, in the holy Scriptures: which Scripture is read to all peoples, that is, so that all may understand. What he says is this. So the apostles wrote, so the Lord himself spoke in his gospels, not so that few might understand, but that all. Plato wrote in writing: but he did not write among the peoples, but among the few. For scarcely three men understand him. But these, that is the princes of the Church and the princes of Christ, did not write for the few, but for the whole people. And of the princes, that is, of the apostles and of the gospels. Of these who have been in her. See what he says, Who have been, not who are: so that, apart from the apostles, whatever else is said afterward may be cut off, may have no authority thereafter. Therefore, however holy someone may be after the apostles, however eloquent he may be, he has no authority: because the Lord tells in the writing of the peoples and of the princes, of these who have been in her.

So thus, after drawing together and mingling every source of joyous exultation, how does he conclude? "The dwelling as of all that shall be made joyous is in You" [Psalm 87:7]. As if all made joyous, all rejoicing, shall dwell in that city. Amid our journeyings here we suffer bruises: our last home shall be the home of joy alone. Toil and groans shall perish: prayers pass away, hymns of praise succeed. There shall be the dwelling of the happy; no longer shall there be the groans of those that long, but the gladness of those who enjoy. For He will be present for whom we sigh: we shall be like Him, as we shall see Him as He is: [1 John 3:2] there it will be our whole task to praise and enjoy the presence of God: and what beyond shall we ask for, when He alone satisfies us, by whom all things were made? We shall dwell and be dwelt in; and shall be subject to Him, that God may be all in all. [1 Corinthians 15:28] "Blessed," then, "are they that dwell in Your house." How blessed? Blessed in their gold, and silver, their numerous slaves, and multiplied offspring? "Blessed are they that dwell in Your house: for ever and ever they will be praising You." Blessed in that sole labour which is rest! Let this then be the one and only object of our desire, my brethren, when we shall have reached this pass. Let, us prepare ourselves to rejoice in God: to praise Him. The good works which conduct us there, will not be needed there. I described, as far as I could, only yesterday, our condition there: works of charity there will be none, where there will be no misery: you shall not find one in want, one naked, no one will meet you tormented with thirst, there will be no stranger, no sick to visit, no dead to bury, no disputants to set at peace. What then will you find to do? Shall we plant new vines, plough, traffic, make voyages, to support the necessities of the body? Deep quiet shall be there; all toilsome work, that necessity demands, will cease: the necessity being dead, its works will perish too. What then will be our state? As far as possible, the tongue of a man thus told us. "As it were, the dwelling of all who shall be made perfect is in You." Why does he say, "as it were"? Because there shall be such joy there as we know not here. Many pleasures do I behold here, and many rejoice in this world, some in one thing, others in another; but there is nothing to compare with that delight, but it shall be "as it were" being made joyful. For if I say joyfulness, men at once think of such joyfulness as men use to have in wine, in feasting, in avarice, and in the world's distinctions. For men are elated by these things, and mad with a kind of joy: but "there is no joy, says the Lord, unto the wicked." [Isaiah 48:22] There is a sort of joyfulness which the ear of man has not heard, nor his eye seen, nor has it entered into his heart to conceive. [1 Corinthians 2:9] "As it were, the dwelling of all who shall be made joyful is in You." Let us prepare for other delights: for a kind of shadow is what we find here, not the reality: that we may not expect to enjoy such things there as here we delight in: otherwise our self-denial will be avarice. Some persons, when invited to a rich banquet, where there are many and costly dishes yet to come on, abstain from breaking their fast: if you ask the reason, they tell you that they are fasting: which is indeed a great work, a Christian work. Yet be not hasty in praising them: examine their motives: it is their belly, not religion, that they are consulting. That their appetite may not be palled by ordinary dishes, they abstain till more delicate food is set before them. This fast then is for the gullet's sake. Fasting is undoubtedly important: it fights against the belly and the palate; but sometimes it fights for them. Thus, my brethren, if you imagine that we shall find any such pleasures in that country to which the heavenly trumpet urges us on, and on that account abstain from present enjoyments, that you may receive the like more plentifully there, you imitate those I have described, who fast only for greater feasting, and abstain only for greater indulgence. Do not ye like this: prepare yourselves for a certain ineffable delight: cleanse your hearts from all earthly and secular affections. We shall see something, the sight of which will make us blessed: and that alone will suffice for us. What then? Shall we not eat? Yes: we shall eat: but that shall be our food, which will ever refresh, and never fail. "In You is the dwelling of all who shall be, as it were, made joyful." He has already told us how we shall be made joyful. "Blessed are they that dwell in your house: for ever and ever they will be praising You." Let us praise the Lord as far as we are able, but with mingled lamentations: for while we praise we long for Him, and as yet have Him not. When we have, all our sorrows will be taken from us, and nothing will remain but praise, unmixed and everlasting. Now let us pray.

As it were the dwelling of all who rejoice is in you. The prophet speaks to the Church, and says to her: As it were the dwelling of all who rejoice is in you. Why did he not say, The dwelling of all who rejoice is in you, but said, As it were of those who rejoice? It is said in another psalm: 'When the Lord turned back the captivity of Zion, we became as those who are consoled'; and he did not say, consoled. So also in this place he says, As it were the dwelling of all who rejoice is in you. Why did he say all this? Because in the present age, however holy someone may be, however much he renounces the world, he does not have perfect victory. Then it is said in the gospel: 'Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be consoled.' But if it was said 'Blessed are they who weep, for they shall laugh': it is clear that in the present age there is no certain joy. Therefore our joy is as it were joy. The dwelling is in you. See what he says: that someone may never withdraw from the Church.