The Stag And The Heights

Qui perfecit pedes meos tanquam cervi, et super excelsa statuit me. Frequenter hoc animal in Scripturis divinis in bono ponitur, ut est illud: Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum: ibi, quia nimium sitiunt; hic, quia velociter currunt. Norunt enim saltibus spinosa transcendere, et loca periculose hiantia transilire, sicut ille delicta saeculi humanam salutem pungentia, et foveas profundissimas peccatorum sanctis gressibus transmeavit. Et intende quemadmodum in comparatione cervorum permaneat, qui quando plana fugiunt, montium celsa conscendunt. Significat autem se super omnem creaturarum eminentiam constitutum, sicut dicit Apostolus: Et donavit illi nomen quod est super omne nomen, ut in nomine Iesu omne genu flectatur coelestium, terrestrium et infernorum. Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus XVII Source: Migne PG 70.133a-b

He who perfected my feet like the stag, and set me on the heights. 1 Frequently in the Divine Scriptures this animal is used for good, as in: 'Like the stag desires the founts of waters.' 2 There because they thirst excessively, here because they run swiftly. For they know how to pass over thorns with leaps and over perilous gulfs with bounds, as He with holy feet passed over the faults of the world which rend human salvation and the deep pits of sinners. And see how the comparison with stags remains, when they flee over the plains and climb up into the high mountains. This signifies an establishment in eminence over all other creatures, as the Apostle says: 'And He gave to Him the name which is above other names, that in the name of Jesus every knee of heaven would bow, and of earth and of hell.' 3 Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, Psalm 36 1 Ps 17.35 2 Ps 41.2 3 Philip 2.9-10