Exposition of the Same First Psalm According to the Allegorical Interpretation, That Is, Concerning Christ.
As has been shown, sacred Scripture is interpreted allegorically when what is written in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms is interpreted concerning Christ, which is to be understood about those Scriptures that are not literally interpreted concerning Christ. Therefore, this Psalm, which can be understood literally about any just man and the wicked in general, can very fittingly be interpreted allegorically about Christ. For it says: "Blessed is the man"—namely, Christ—who from the first instant of His conception in the Virgin Mother was a perfect and blessed man: perfect not by reason of His age, but because of the fullness of grace, the eminence of virtues, and the perfection of wisdom. In all these, the soul of Christ was created perfect. He did not grow in these qualities concerning their possession but concerning their exercise, as it is written: "The Lord will create a new thing on the earth: a woman shall encompass a man," that is, a chosen Virgin will bear a child who, by age, is a boy but by perfection, a man. Christ was also blessed from the beginning of His conception by His mother because of the most perfect fruition of the Divinity and the most clear and beatific vision of God. For from the first moment of His creation, the soul of Christ saw God as clearly and blessedly as He does now. He never progressed in the essential reward of the blessed.
Since the human nature of Christ, from the first moment of its creation, was given the grace of being united with the Word by personal or hypostatic union—that is, subsisting in the same personal existence in which the Only Begotten Son of God eternally subsists—being assumed into the uncreated existence of the Son of God, it is much clearer that the beatific vision of God was granted to Christ’s soul from the beginning, as testified by Damascene and Thomas. For it is a lesser thing to contemplate God beatifically than to be personally united to Him. Thus, Christ is indeed the blessed man. He is also called "man" because He never failed in true strength, but in all things, He acted with the greatest virtue.
Thus, "Blessed is the man," that is, Christ, "who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly." For He did not consent to the temptation of the devil, who counseled Him to throw Himself down and worship him, nor did He follow the evil counsel of the scribes and Pharisees. Rather, He was full of the counsel that is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. "And He did not stand in the way of sinners" because He was completely immune from all sin. He did not take on sinful weaknesses, but only natural and penal ones, such as hunger, thirst, fear, sorrow, and death. "And He did not sit in the seat of pestilence." For He did not offer a bad example to anyone, nor did He promote false doctrines, even though many people often took scandal from His words and actions. But this scandal was due to their own malice or weakness. On the contrary, Christ’s life was an example of all holiness and perfection, and every one of His actions is instruction for us, as He Himself said: "I am the light of the world; whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness." Christ also brought to the world a saving doctrine, and to the legal precepts, He added evangelical counsels, containing the fullness of all perfection. "He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it."
Here, three things are touched upon that distinguish Christ from the first parent, Adam. Adam, indeed, "walked in the counsel of the ungodly" when he consented to the temptation of the serpent and Eve’s instigation. "He stood in the way of sinners" when he ate of the forbidden fruit. And "He sat in the seat of pestilence" when he tried to excuse his own sin, even trying to blame the woman and, in a way, God the Creator, saying: "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." But none of these things were found in Christ. "But his delight is in the law of the Lord"—this applies to Christ singularly and perfectly. For He alone perfectly fulfilled the commandment of divine charity in this life, much more perfectly than any of the blessed in heaven could fulfill it. For with all His heart, all His mind, all His strength, and all His soul, He always actively directed Himself toward God—contemplating Him, loving Him, honoring Him, and obeying Him in all things, as He Himself testifies in the Gospel when speaking about the Father: "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." And again: "I do not seek My own glory but I honor My Father." And when He was near His passion, He said to the Father: "Not My will, but Yours be done." Likewise, what follows was perfectly and actively fulfilled by Christ as a man in this life: "And on His law, He meditates day and night," that is, at every time and in every moment. For Christ's intellectual operation could not be impeded or interrupted by sleep, external actions, or the sensitive appetite, nor by anything else. All things in Him were most orderly, and the lower always served the higher and was moved by its command. Thus, Christ’s soul meditated on divine things without interruption, knowing all that is, was, and will be, especially all things pertaining to the mystery of human redemption, which He always knew and actively saw in the Word, as He does now.
"And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season." Here the fruitfulness and utility of Christ are signified by the comparison to a tree planted by flowing waters. Such a tree flourishes in due time and produces fruit, and thus it is delightful to the one who beholds it, useful to the one who eats from it, and praiseworthy to the one who possesses it. In the same way, Christ, who is "the most beautiful among the sons of men"—He whom the angels desire to look upon—is delightful to the one who contemplates Him sincerely, useful to the one who spiritually partakes of Him, and the most praiseworthy good to the one who possesses Him through charity and grace. Just as a fruitful tree produces abundant fruit and refreshes many, so Christ produced much fruit when, by His most precious blood, He redeemed the human race and bore many fruits—countless souls of the elect whom He saved by His death. Hence, as He was about to enter into His passion and carry His cross, He compared Himself to a green tree, saying to the women who were weeping for Him: "Do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children; for if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" This can also be interpreted as referring to the tree of life planted in paradise, to which Christ is compared because, just as man would have lived forever if he had been able to eat from that tree, so also whoever eats Christ worthily will never die. Likewise, the tree can also signify wisdom itself, of which Solomon says it is a tree of life to those who lay hold of it. Christ is the wisdom of God the Father. And wisdom planted by streams of water is the only-begotten Son of God, truly incarnate and living among sinners, who are compared to flowing waters, but without stain. Thus, the incarnate Word of God is rightly compared to the tree planted by streams of water. The expression "as if" not only implies a similarity but also expresses a reality, for in this way, Christ Himself is indeed the tree planted by streams of water.
"And its leaf does not wither," because the words, preaching, and prayer of Christ were not in vain, nor did they perish or fade away, but they bore fruit in the hearts of the elect and were verified in the end, as He Himself said: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away." "And whatever He does shall prosper." Every action of Christ was meritorious. Indeed, whatever He thought, said, and did as a wayfarer was meritorious. Thus, His entire life was continually meritorious. However, since He was also, as a man, united to the Word, the perfect comprehensor, He did not merit the essential reward for Himself, nor did He progress in it. Nevertheless, His whole life was meritorious for the essential reward of others, namely His members or His mystical body, which is the Church. Therefore, Christ’s entire life was meritorious for us, and thus, "everything He did prospered"—that is, it led to eternal life for the predestined, to whom the merit of Christ is applied through the sacraments of the Church, faith, and charity, and it cooperates with them for eternal happiness. This is what the Lord says through Isaiah: "The word that goes out from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and it shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
Next, Scripture speaks about those who are not united to Christ and do not follow His footsteps. It says: "Not so the wicked, not so." No saint can be equal to Christ, but they can be similar to Him. For Christ, as God, infinitely exceeds everyone in all perfection, but as man, He is also greater and more worthy and more beloved than the entire multitude of the elect, angels, and men together. For God does not give the Spirit by measure to Christ. But the faithful who follow Christ faithfully as their King—as it is written, "Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which He walked"—are in some way assimilated to Christ in the aforesaid goods, by not walking in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standing in the way of sinners, nor sitting in the seat of pestilence, but their delight is in the law of the Lord. But the wicked are not so. They in no way resemble Christ in virtue or grace, nor are they loved by Him according to present justice with the love of grateful charity, for likeness is the cause of love. On the contrary, He hates them with a perfect hatred. Therefore, their condition is immediately shown: "They are like chaff that the wind drives away." Just as the wind drives chaff from its place, so the word of Christ will drive the wicked away from the face of the earth, from the congregation of the just, and from the society of the saints, when He separates the sheep from the goats, when He clears His threshing floor, gathering the wheat into His barn but burning the chaff with unquenchable fire. He will then say to those on His left that harsh word: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire."
"Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment," because they are separated from Christ and deprived of all grace; hence, they will not stand in the judgment. This can be understood both of the judgment of discretion, by which the good judge themselves—of which the Prophet says: "I will tell you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: to do justice"—and also of the judgment of blessed reward, as was explained in the previous section. "Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." Counsel properly refers to the inquiry of reason about what should be done or omitted. The counsel of the righteous, then, is to love God above all things, to serve Him reverently, to grow daily in His charity and grace, and to repent worthily for past sins. But the wicked do not rise in this counsel; they remain in the mire of vices and the filth of passions. They do not heed Paul crying out: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead." And again: "Set your minds on things above."
"For the Lord knows the way of the righteous," that is, what has now been said concerning the difference between the wicked and the just is true, because the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Judge of the living and the dead, knows the way of the righteous—that is, He approves of the actions of the good, whose very hairs are numbered. "But the way of the wicked will perish," for they will not attain the ultimate end, which is God, blessed forever.
Comments
Post a Comment