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Chapter 12PsAug.1.12

Contra concupiscentiarum laqueos oratio. Hos laqueos quis effugiat.

Cry from the Prison of Darkness

The soul, buried in the darkness of its prison, calls on the creative power of God to speak light and new life into its depths.

These are the shadows that cover me in this dark abyss of my prison, where I lie prostrate until the day dawns and the shadows recede: let there be a voice in the firmament of your power, the voice of the Lord in might, the voice of the Lord in majesty — let it say, Let there be light, and let the darkness flee, and let the dry ground appear, and let the earth bring forth green grass that yields seed and the good fruit of justice in your kingdom.✦✦

Prayers Against Inner Snares

A series of petitions asks God to guard the soul from disordered thoughts, carnal desire, and pride, and to claim the heart wholly for himself.

Lord, Father and God — the life through which all things live, and without which all things are counted as dead — do not abandon me to an evil train of thought, and do not give me over to the pride of my eyes. Take away from me these desires, and do not hand me over to a mind that is irreverent and senseless. But possess my heart, so that it may always think of you. Light up my eyes so that they may see you — and so that they may not be lifted up before you in eternal glory — but so that they may humbly perceive, not in wonders beyond themselves, and so that they may see what is on the right, not what is on the left, away from you. And let my eyelids go before my steps — for your eyelids also search the sons of men.✦

Desire Reordered by Divine Sweetness

The soul begs to be struck by God's hidden sweetness so that desire is reordered away from the world's snares toward eternal longing for him.

1:16. Strike down my desire with your sweetness — the sweetness you have hidden from those who fear you — so that I may long to desire you with eternal desires. Do not let my inner taste, enticed and deceived by vain things, place bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, darkness for light and light for darkness, in the midst of so many snares everywhere the enemy has set along this road to capture souls — snares with which the whole world is full — so that whoever has seen them does not pass by in silence, declaring: For whatever is in the world is either the desire of the flesh, or the desire of the eyes, or the pride of life.✦

The World Full of Snares

The prayer broadens into a lament that the whole world is full of snares, yet rejoices in the soul whom God delivers from every snare of desire.

II, 16). See, Lord my God, the whole world is full of the snares of desire — snares they have set for my feet. And who will escape these snares? Truly, the one from whom you have taken away the pride of their eyes — let the desire of the eyes not seize them; and the one from whom you have taken away the desire of the flesh — let the desire of the flesh not seize them; and the one from whom you have taken away an irreverent and senseless mind — let the pride of life not craftily deceive them.✦1 Oh, how happy the one to whom you will do these things! Indeed, they will pass through unharmed.

Plea for Rescue from Enemies

The soul urgently asks God for help lest it fall into enemy snares and be mocked by those who hate him.

Now I beg you — by your own self, help me — lest I fall before my enemies, caught in the snares they have set for my feet, so that they might bow down my soul.2 But rescue me, O strength of my salvation, lest your enemies who hate you hold me up to ridicule.✦3

Shelter of the Father and Mother of Orphans

The prayer culminates in a plea for God to scatter enemies and hide the soul under his wings, rejoicing as a child sheltered by the father of orphans and the watchful guardian of Israel.

Rise up, Lord my God, my stronghold; let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee from your presence (Ps.✦4 LXVII, 1): As wax melts before a fire, so let sinners perish before the face of God.✦5 Let me be hidden in the shelter of your face, and let me rejoice with your children, filled with all your good things.67 And you, Lord God, father of orphans, and you, mother of your wards, hear the cry of your children; spread out your wings so that we may take refuge beneath them from the face of the enemy — O tower of strength for Israel, you who neither slumber nor sleep as you guard Israel — because the enemy who attacks Israel does not slumber either.✦✦✦8910

Read the original Latin

Hae sunt umbrae, quibus operior in hac abysso caliginosa carceris hujus, in quo prostratus jaceo donec aspiret dies, et inclinentur umbrae, fiatque vox in firmamento virtutis tuae, vox Domini in virtute, vox Domini in magnificentia: dicatque, Fiat lux, et effugentur tenebrae, et appareat arida, germinetque terra herbam virentem et facientem semen et fructum bonum justitiae regni tui. Domine Pater et Deus, vita per quam omnia vivunt, et sine qua omnia mortua computantur, ne derelinquas me in cogitatu maligno, et extollentiam oculorum meorum ne dederis mihi. Aufer a me concupiscentias, et animo irreverenti et infrunito ne tradas me (Eccli. XXIII, 4-6): sed posside cor meum, ut te cogitet semper. Illumina oculos meos, ut te videant, et non extollantur ante te, gloria sempiterna: sed humiliter sentiant, non in mirabilibus super se; et quae a dextris sunt videant, non quae a sinistris abs te. Et palpebrae meae praecedant gressus meos: nam et palpebrae tuae interrogant filios hominum (Psal. X, 6). Allide concupiscentiam meam dulcedine tua, quam abscondisti timentibus te, ut concupiscam concupiscere te concupiscentiis sempiternis: ne vanis illectus et deceptus interior gustus ponat amarum dulce, et dulce amarum, tenebras lucem, et lucem tenebras in medio tot decipularum passim ab inimico super faciem viae hujus ad capiendas animas paratarum, quibus plenus est totus mundus, ut is qui vidit, sub silentio non transivit, inquiens: Quidquid enim est in mundo, aut est concupiscentia carnis, aut concupiscentia oculorum, aut superbia vitae (I Joan.

II, 16). Ecce, Domine Deus meus, mundus totus plenus est concupiscentiarum laqueis, quos paraverunt pedibus meis. Et quis effugiet hos laqueos? Profecto a quo tu abstuleris extollentiam oculorum suorum, ut non eum capiat concupiscentia oculorum; et a quo tu abstuleris carnis concupiscentiam, ne eum capiat carnis concupiscentia; et a quo tu abstuleris animum irreverentem et infrunitum, ne eum callide decipiat superbia vitae. O quam felix cui haec facies! quippe pertransibit immunis. Nunc deprecor te per te, adjuva me; ne corruam in conspectu adversariorum meorum captus laqueis eorum, quos paraverunt pedibus meis, ut incurvent animam meam. Sed erue me, virtus salutis meae: ne sibi risum exhibeant de me inimici tui qui oderunt te.

Exsurge, Domine Deus meus, fortis meus; et dissipentur inimici tui, et fugiant qui oderunt te a facie tua (Psal. LXVII, 1): sicut fluit cera a facie ignis, sic pereant peccatores a facie Dei. Et ego abscondar in abscondito faciei tuae, et gaudeam cum filiis tuis, satiatus omnibus bonis tuis. Et tu, Domine Deus, pater orphanorum, et tu, mater pupillorum tuorum, audi ejulatum filiorum tuorum; et extende alas tuas, ut fugiamus sub eis a facie inimici, turris fortitudinis Israel, qui non dormitas neque dormis custodiens Israel, quia non dormitat hostis qui impugnat Israel.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Gen.1.3 — And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
  2. ↩Gen.1.9-Gen.1.11 — And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered to one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. Gen.1.10 — And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Gen.1.11 — And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation—plants yielding seed, fruit trees bearing fruit according to their kinds, whose seed is in them, upon the earth." And it was so.
  3. ↩Ps.10.6 — He says in his heart, "I shall not be shaken, from generation to generation, I shall not encounter calamity."
  4. ↩1John.2.16 — For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world.
  5. ↩1John.2.16 — For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world.
  6. ↩Ps.140.8 — O LORD, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
  7. ↩Ps.67.1 — For the director. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
  8. ↩Ps.67.1 — For the director. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
  9. ↩Ps.121.4 — Behold, the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.
  10. ↩Ps.68.5 — Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts — his name is Yah — and exult before him.
  11. ↩Ps.91.1 — Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The three clauses map onto the triad from 1 John 2:16 (desire of the eyes, desire of the flesh, pride of life), though the first clause uses 'pride of the eyes' where the biblical text has 'desire of the eyes.' The prayer treats pride of the eyes as the root that opens the door to desire of the eyes.
  2. 2 ↩The ut clause at the end ('so that they might bow down my soul') expresses the enemies' intended purpose, not the speaker's prayer. The ne clause ('lest I fall') is the primary petition.
  3. 3 ↩The speaker addresses God as 'strength of my salvation' — a title drawn from Psalm 140:8 (Vulgate) / Psalm 140:7. The enemies are identified as God's enemies, not merely the speaker's, raising the stakes of the petition.
  4. 4 ↩Quotation from Psalm 67:1 (Vulgate). The closing parenthetical citation is incomplete in the source.
  5. 5 ↩Continuation of Psalm 67:1 (Vulgate). The psalm numbering follows the Vulgate (Psalm 67 = MT Psalm 68).
  6. 6 ↩'abscondito' (abl sg n) rendered as 'shelter' to convey the sense of a hiding place; could also be 'secret place' or 'hidden place.'
  7. 7 ↩'cum' with the ablative rendered temporally ('with') rather than causally, following the candidate gloss guidance.
  8. 8 ↩'pater orphanorum' and 'mater pupillorum' draw on biblical imagery of God as protector of the vulnerable (cf. Psalm 68:5, 'father of the fatherless'). The maternal image is striking and preserved as in the source.
  9. 9 ↩'quia' rendered as 'because' to preserve the causal force: the reason God must stay awake is that the enemy is also awake and active.
  10. 10 ↩'ejulatum' rendered as 'cry' (from 'wailing, lamentation'); could also be 'lament' or 'wailing.'

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