The Hand that Reveals

'Aperiente autem te manum tuam, universa implebuntur bonitate.' Quid est, O Domine, quod aperis manum tuam? Manus tua Christus est. Et brachium Domini cui revelatum est? Cui revelalur, illa aperitur : revelatio enim, apertio est. Aperiente autem te manum tuam, universa implebuntur bonitate. Revelante te Christum tuum, universa implibuntur bonitate. Non autem habent a se bonitatem;nam aliquando probatur illis: Avertente autem te faciem tuam, turbabuntur Multi repleti bonitate, sibi tribuerunt quod habebant, et voluerunt gloriari quasi in iustificalionibus suis, et dixerunt sibi, iustus sum, magnus sum; et facti sunt sibi placentes. Et sonuit eis Apostolus: Quid enim habes quod non accepisti? Volens autem probare Deus homini quod ab illo habeat quidquid habet, ut cum bonitate habeat et humilitatem, aliquando cum perturbat; avertit ab illo faciem suam, et decidit tentationem; et ostendit illi quia quod justus erat, et recte ambulabat,ipso regente fiebat.  Enarratio in Psalmum CIII, Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis

'With the opening of Your hand, they shall all be filled with good.' What is it, O Lord, that You open Your hand? Christ is Your hand. 'To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?' To whom it is revealed, to him it is opened: revelation is opening. 'With the opening of Your hand, they shall all be filled with good.' With the revelation of Your Christ, 'they shall all be filled with good.' But they do not have good from themselves; and this is often proved to them. 'When You hide Your face, they are troubled' Many filled with goodness have attributed to themselves what they had, and have wished to boast of their own righteousness; they have said to themselves, 'I am righteous; I am great,' and they have become self-complacent. To these the Apostle speaks: 'What have you, that you did not receive?' So God, wishing to prove to man that whatever he has he has from Him, that with good he may gain humility, sometimes troubles him; He turns away His face from him, and man falls into temptation; thus He shows him that his righteousness, and his walking aright, was only under His rule. Commentary on Psalm 103, Saint Augustine of Hippo