What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

A few days ago I posted a link to an mp3 of a reading of part of a sermon by St. Leo the Great. I got a lot of mail about that. So, I thought I would do it again once in a while, since I am reading them anyway o{];¬) at least for texts originally composed in Latin. For individual recitation of the Office, readings in the post-Conciliar Office is Readings is an improvement, IMHO.

Oh… one more thing. Today I made this reading part of a first attempt at a podcast. Frankly, I haven’t the slightest idea of how to make a podcast. I don’t listen to them, really. I imagine some people are doing them. I had some software to do some simple mixing of files and, well… I just made one. I am sure you’ll have your comments.

But let’s go back to Augustine who surely would have made podcasts had he been able. There is a link for the podcast below.

 

 07_02_25 Augustine on Ps 61 [23:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Ex Enarrationibus sancti Augustini episcopi in psalmos (Ps. 60, 2-3 – CCL 39, 766)

    Exaudi, Deus, deprecationem meam, intende orationi meae. Quis dicit? Quasi unus. Vide si unus: A finibus terrae ad te clamavi, dum angeretur cor meum. Iam ergo non unus; sed ideo unus, quia Christus unus, cuius omnes membra sumus. Nam quis unus homo clamat a finibus terrae? Non clamat a finibus terrae, nisi hereditas illa, de qua dictum est ipsi Filio: Postola a me, et dabo tibe gentes hereditatem tuam, et possessionem tuam terminos terrae.

    Haec ergo Christi possessio, haec Christi hereditas, hoc Christi corpus, haec una Christi Ecclesia, haec unitas, quae nos sumus, clamat a finibus terrae. Quid autem clamat? Quod supra dixi: Exaudi, Deus, deprecationem meam, intende orationi meae; a finibus terrae ad te clamavi. Id est, hoc ad te clamavi, a finibus terrae; id est, undique.

    Sed quare clamavi hoc? Dum angeretur cor meum. Ostendit se esse per omnes gentes toto orbe terrarum non in magna gloria, sed in magna tentatione.

    Namque vita nostra in hac peregrinatione non potest esse sine tentatione; quia provectus noster per tentationem nostram fit, nec sibi quisque innotescit nisi tentatus, nec potest coronari nisi vicerit, nec potest vincere nisi certaverit, nec potest certare nisi inimicum et tentationes habuerit.

    Angitur ergo iste a finibus terrae clamans, sed tamen non relinquitur. Quoniam nos ipsos, quod est corpus suum, voluit praefigurare et in illo corpore suo, in quo iam et mortuus est et resurrexit et in caelum ascendit, ut, quo caput praecessit, illuc se membra secutura confidant.

    Ergo nos transfiguravit in se, quando voluit tentari a Satana. Modo legebatur in Evangelio quia Dominus Iesus Christus in eremo tentabatur a diabolo. Prorsus Christus tentabatur a diabolo. In Christo enim tu tentabaris, quia Christus de te sibi habebat carnem, de se tibi salutem; de te sibi mortem, de se tibi vitam; de te sibi contumelias, de se tibi honores; ergo de te sibi tentationem, de se tibi victoriam.

    Si in illo nos tentati sumus, in illo nos diabolum superamus. Attendis quia Christus tentatus est, et non attendis quia vicit? Agnosce te in illo tentatum, et te in illo agnosce vincentem. Poterat a se diabolum prohibere; sed, si non tentaretur, tibi tentando vincendi magisterium non praeberet.

    From a commentary on the psalms by Saint Augustine, bishop

    In Christ we suffered temptation, and in him we overcame the Devil

    Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer. Who is speaking? An individual, it seems. See if it is an individual: I cried out to you from the ends of the earth while my heart was in anguish. Now it is no longer one person; rather, it is one in the sense that Christ is one, and we are all his members. What single individual can cry from the ends of the earth? The one who cries from the ends of the earth is none other than the Son’s inheritance. It was said to him: Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession. This possession of Christ, this inheritance of Christ, this body of Christ, this one Church of Christ, this unity that we are, cries from the ends of the earth. What does it cry? What I said before: Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer; I cried out to you from the ends of the earth.’ That is, I made this cry to you from the ends of the earth; that is, on all sides.

    Why did I make this cry? While my heart was in anguish. The speaker shows that he is present among all the nations of the earth in a condition, not of exalted glory but of severe trial.

    Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from trial. We progress by means of trial. No one knows himself except through trial, or receives a crown except after victory, or strives except against an enemy or temptations.

    The one who cries from the ends of the earth is in anguish, but is not left on his own. Christ chose to foreshadow us, who are his body, by means of his body, in which he has died, risen and ascended into heaven, so that the members of his body may hope to follow where their head has gone before.
    He made us one with him when he chose to be tempted by Satan. We have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Certainly Christ was tempted by the devil. In Christ you were tempted, for Christ received his flesh from your nature, but by his own power gained salvation for you; he suffered death in your nature, but by his own power gained glory for you; therefore, he suffered temptation in your nature, but by his own power gained victory for you.
    If in Christ we have been tempted, in him we overcome the devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of his victory? See yourself as tempted in him, and see yourself as victorious in him. He could have kept the devil from himself; but if he were not tempted he could not teach you how to triumph over temptation.