The Truly Blessed

Sed beatitudinem viri nondum, vel in impiorum consilio non isse, vel in peccatorum via non stetisse, vel in pestilentiae cathedra non sedisse, consummat. Possunt enim haec et in saeculari viro reperiri: ut unum Deum esse creatorem mundi opinetur, ut a peccatis se per studium modestae innocentiae refrenet ut honorum dignitatibus privatae et tranquillae vitae otium anteponat. Sed perfectum nunc Deo virum Propheta conformans, et quem in magnis aeternae beatitudinis constituat exemplis, non communibus eum ad id docet usurum esse virtutibus sed his consummandum esse, ut beatus sit, quae sequuntur: ' Sed in lege Domini fuit voluntas ejus.' Abstensio superiorum inutilis est, nisi in consequentia adhibeatur intentio: scilicet ut in lege Domini voluntas sit. Non exspectat Propheta ut metus sit. Plures intra legem metus cohibet, paucos vero voluntas constituit in lege: quia timoris est, non audere timenda negligere; perfectae vero religionis est, praescriptis velle parere. Et idcirco beatus ille est, cujus in Dei lege non timor est, sed voluntas. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum Primum

But that man is not yet truly blessed who has not gone off into the council of the impious or stood in the way of sinners or sat in the seat pestilential. For these things can be found in a worldly man, one who admits one God to be creator of the world, who refrains from sin through the practice of modesty, keeping himself from high office by choosing for himself a private life of tranquility. But the perfect man the Prophet conforms to God and he establishes him as an example of the great blessing of eternity, not teaching that virtue is in common acts, but that which follows must be his if he would be blessed, that is: 'But in the law of the Lord is his will.' To refrain from what has just been mentioned is useless unless the mind be set on what follows: 'In the Law of the Lord is his will.' The Prophet does not look for fear. Many are kept within the bounds of Law by fear, few are established in the Law by will, for it is of fear not to dare to omit what one is afraid of, but it is of perfect piety to be ready to obey commands. This is why that man is blessed whose will, not whose fear, is in the Law of God. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 1