And what is the drift of what we have just been singing to the Lord in the psalm? Have mercy on me, Lord, because man has trampled on me. Man means whoever lives according to merely human criteria. Well, anyway, those who live according to God’s standards are told, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High.^[1] But to the reprobate, who were called to be children of God but preferred rather merely to be human, that is, to live only according to human standards, you, it says, shall die like people and fall like one of the princes.^[2] Surely the fact that we human beings are mortal should serve to teach us our place, not to make us boastful. What does a worm, which is due to die tomorrow, have to boast about?

Have mercy upon me, Lord, because man has trampled me underfoot; all day long he wages war and afflicts me. The virgin mother Church, who gives birth to the faithful people and yet does not lose her virginity, asks her heavenly bridegroom with pious tears that she would not be allowed to be oppressed by her enemies, even as she recognizes that she still dwells in the misfortune of this world. Trampled underfoot refers back to that which he had spoken in the title in regards to the winepress,^[1] for wine is pressed out to the same degree that a grape is thoroughly crushed. Here he absolutely indicates the man to be the devil, just as in the gospel the Lord speaks of the very man, Now the hostile man, who sowed the thistles, is the devil.^[2] The phrase all day long he wages war and afflicts me follows. He describes what the holy church endures in this world, namely, that she is recognized to be enduring the attacks of the devil without any letup, just as the apostle says, Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and authorities of this darkness.^[3] It is a dire war because it is hidden. It is a difficult war because it is being waged with one who is stronger. For what sort of war is it to come into conflict with an enemy and not to see his ambushes? Also, our adversary is not lacking in diligence and does not ever withdraw when defeated, but he comes back all the more savagely to the same extent that he happened to be able to be defeated by divine grace. But we call it a war in a figure of speech, using the word in a sense opposite to its meaning (antiphrasis^[4]), much as we speak of a grove which has no glow^[5] or a fish pond which has no fish. Therefore, let no one of the faithful complain that he is harassed by the very frequent contrivances of the devil, because if we wish to belong to Christ, we will always endure the devil as our enemy here.

For God has made our days short, and our substance is as nothing in his sight. All things are vanity, everyone living,^[1] whether living in the body or living in virtues, and yet all things are vanity. His condition is one of fluctuation and uncertainty, and, while he does not fear, he suffers a storm in fair weather. For when he was in honor, he did not understand; he has been compared with senseless beasts and is created similar to them.^[2] For nothing, he says, shall he save them (a reference, undoubtedly, to the just who are saved not through their own merit but through the mercy of God), and my offenses are not hidden from you.^[3] These words are spoken in the person of Christ. If he, who did not sin nor was guile found in his mouth, suffered for us and bore our sins, how much more ought we to confess our faults? My soul, he says, refused to be comforted,^[4] considering the sins that I had committed. I remembered God and was delighted,^[5] knowing that I was to be saved by his mercy. I meditated in the night with my own heart, and I swept my soul. And I said, ‘Now I have begun, this is the change of the right hand of the Most High.’^[6] These are the words of a just person who, after meditating in his sleep and feeling pangs of conscience, says in the end, Now I have begun, either to do penance^[7] or to enter the threshold of knowledge; and this very change from good to better is a change not of my own strength but of the right hand and power of God.

You see, he was handed over on account of our sins, and rose again on account of our justification.^[1] Your justification, your circumcision, does not come from you. It is by grace that you have been saved through faith; and this not from yourselves, but it is God’s gift; not from works.^[2] In case by any chance you should say, I deserved it, that is why I received it. Do not think you received it by deserving it, because you would not deserve it unless you had received it. Grace came before your deserving or merit; it is not grace coming from merit but merit from grace. Because if grace comes from merit, it means you have bought it, not received it free, gratis, for nothing. For nothing, it says, you will save them. What is the meaning of for nothing you will save them? You can find no reason in them to save them, and yet you save them. You give for nothing, you save for nothing. You precede all merits, so that my merits follow your gifts. Of course, you give for nothing, save for nothing, since you can find no reason for saving and many reasons for condemning.

We heard the readings of the Scriptures while they were being recited. That is the material that has been given me to talk about. That is what I have to understand, that is from what I have to sow what wisdom I have gotten, with the help of him in whose hand, as it is written, are both we and our words.^[1] Nor is it simply pointless, what is written somewhere else: I will praise the word, in the Lord I will praise the word. What is praised in the Lord is what the Lord gives. So although I am fairly feeble, I am for all that his instrument. I grasp what I can; I share without grudging what I grasp. May he make good in your minds whatever I have done less well, because even what I do manage to convey to your ears is not worth anything, is it, unless he does the whole work in your minds?