Calling Out

Ad Dominum, cum tribularer, clamavi, et exaudivit me... Tribulatio est haec vita, ex qua, qui humiliter ad Deum clamant, sicut Publicanus qui ait: Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori, exaudiuntur. Sed videamus quid iste poentients clamet: Domine, libera a labiis inquius, et a lingua dolosa... Labia iniqua sunt, quae nos suggerendo ad iniquitatem sollicitare nituntur, lingua dolosa est, quae nos avertere vult de via justitiae. Illa nos ad peccandum suggerunt; ista nos a benefaciendo retrahit. Sed consideremus, quid nobis ad has preces respondeat Dominus. Quid detur tibi, aut quid apponatur tibi ad linguam dolosam? Ecce quid tibi dabitur ad respondendum linguae dolosae, quae solet, non consulendo tibi, sed subvertendo te, dicere: Non potes saeculum dimittere, non potes tam arctam viam et tam angustam portam ingredi. Sagittae potentis acutae cum carbonibus desolatoriis. Id est, quid in Evangelio dicitur: Apud homines hoc impossibile est, apud Deum omnia possibilia sunt. Sagittae potentis verba Dei sunt, quae transfigunt corda nostra ad contemnendum saeculum, et ad amandum Deum: ex quibus sagittis amor excitatur, non interitus comparatur. Cum carbonibus desolatoriis, id est vastatoriis. Sed si parum est verbis sagittare, sufficiat exemplis demonstrate. Qui fuerunt peccatis nigri et frigidi, iterum charitate Dei accensi vestaverunt et destruxerunt opera diaboli in cordibus suis, ut praepararent habitationem Deo in semetipsis, et post multa peccata multum dilexerunt Deum: ideo multum dimittetur eis. Heu me! quia incolatus meus prolongatus est, habitavi cum habitantibus Cedar, multum incola fuit anima mea. Ecce iste a lingua dolosa liberatus, verbo Dei sagittatus, exemplis multorum robortus, quid proficiat, quove ascendere quaerat, videamus. Heu me! inquit, quod incoltus meus prolongatus est! Vox dolentis et miseriam plangentis, quod diu peregrinatione hujus mortalitatis incolatus ejus prolongetur. Incola vero est qui terram alienam colit. Unde iste se plangit, et ad patriam suspirans redire, addidit: Habitavi cum habitantibus Cedar. Cedar tenebrae interpretantur. Significat autem peccatores, inter quos in hoc saeculo justi peregrinantur, necdum extremo judicii ventilabro area, id est Ecclesia, purgata et segregate: unde iste desiderans ascendere ait: Multum incola fuit anima mea. Corpus locis, et anima affectibus peregrinatur. Unde iste sagitta charitatis vulneratus toto desiderio ad coelestem anhelat patriam. Alcuinus, Expositio in Psalmos Graduales, Psalmus CXIX Source: Migne PL 100.619c-621a

I called out to the Lord when I was troubled and He heard me... 1 This life is tribulation, because of which those who humbly cry out to God, like that tax collector who said: 'May God be propitious to me a sinner,' 2 are heard. But let us see what this penitent one calls out: O Lord, free me from the lips of the wicked, and the evil tongue... Lips are wicked that strive to attract us to wickedness by suggestion. The tongue is evil that wishes to lead us from the way of righteousness. The former counsels us to sin, the latter to turn ourselves from good works. But let us consider what the Lord shall reply to us with these petitions. What shall be given to you, or what appointed for the wicked tongue? Observe what shall be given to you in response to the wicked tongue, the custom of which is not to edify you but to pervert you, saying: 'You cannot cast off the world, you cannot walk on a way so narrow and so difficult.' 3 The sharp arrows of the mighty one, with coals that lay waste. That is, what is said in the Gospel, 'With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' 4 The arrows of the mighty one are the words of God that pierce our heart for the spurning of the world, and to love God, which arrows rouse love and should not be compared to those that kill. 'With coals that lay waste,' that is, those who ruin. And that words are indeed arrows let it be enough to demonstrate with examples. They who were dark and chilled are clothed with the blazing love of God and they destroy the works of the devil in their hearts, so that they might prepare a dwelling for God in themselves, and after a long time of many sins, love God, and therefore much is forgiven them. 5 Alas for me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar, my soul has long been a sojourner. Behold the man who has been freed from the evil tongue, by the archery of the word of God, and who has been strengthened by the examples of many. And how this is to the advantage of one who seeks to ascend, let us see. 'Alas for me,' he says, 'that my sojourning is prolonged!' This is the voice of one who is sorrowful and crying out in misery because his sojourning in the wandering of his mortality is prolonged. He sojourns who dwells in a foreign land. Whence he sighs for himself, and longing to be returned to his fatherland, he adds: 'I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar.' Cedar may be understood as darkness and it signifies sinners, among whom the righteous wander in the world, for the winnowing fan of final judgement has not yet sifted and separated the threshing floor which is the Church. 6 Whence this one who desires to ascend then says, 'My soul has long been a sojourner.' The body wanders in space, the soul in passions. Therefore this one who has been wounded by the arrow of love gasps with all his desire for the heavenly fatherland. Alcuin of York, Commentary on the Gradual Psalms, from Psalm 119 1 Ps 119.1 2 Lk 18.13 3 Mt 7.13-14 4 Mt 19.26 5 Lk 7.47 6 Lk 3.17