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Chapter 15PsAug.1.15

Quod homo per se nihil possit. Quod non habeat unde glorietur. Qui gratiae divitias promereatur. Quid homo per se. Gratiae est quod in peccata non labamur.

The Soul's Confession of Poverty

The soul confesses its former self-deception and poverty before God, acknowledging that all its supposed strengths were illusions and that only by God's withdrawal did it learn its true condition.

Mighty one, most powerful God, God of the spirits of all flesh, whose eyes are on all the ways of the children of Adam, from the day of their birth to the day of their departure, so that you may render to each one according to their works, whether good or evil — show me my poverty, so that I may confess it to you: because I said I was rich and needed nothing, and I did not know that I was poor, blind, naked, wretched, and miserable (Apoc.✦✦✦1 3:17).✦ I believed I would be something, when I was nothing. I said, 'I will become wise'; and I have been made a fool. I thought I was self-controlled; but I have been deceived. And I see now that it is your gift, without which we can do nothing; because unless you, Lord, guard the city, the one who keeps watch over it watches in vain (Ps.✦2 126:1).✦ This is how you taught me, so that I might know myself: you forsook me, and you tested me — not for your sake, so that you might know me, but for my sake, so that I might know myself.

No Flesh Can Glory Before God

The soul recognizes that all good comes from God alone, that human life is a trial, and that all glory belongs to God since every good thing is His gift.

For, as I said, Lord, I believed I was something in my own right; I thought I could be sufficient on my own, and I didn't realize that you were guiding me, until you withdrew a little from me and I fell immediately back into myself. And I saw and recognized that you had been guiding me, and that my falling came from myself, and that my rising came from you. You opened my eyes, O Light, and you roused me and enlightened me. And I saw that the life of man on earth is a trial, and that no flesh can glory before you, nor can any living soul be justified — because whatever good there is, whether small or great, is your gift, and what is ours is nothing but evil.✦3 From where, then, will all flesh glory? Surely not from evil? That is not glory, but misery. But surely no one will glory from what is good? Surely not from what belongs to another? The good is yours, Lord, and the glory is yours.

The Thief of God's Glory

The soul warns against claiming God's gifts for one's own glory, prays to be kept from such disgrace, and affirms that only the poor in spirit will be enriched by God.

For whoever seeks glory for himself from what is good in you, and does not seek it for you — that person is a thief and a robber, and is like the devil, who wanted to steal your glory.✦ Whoever wants to be praised for your gift, and does not seek your glory in it but his own — even though he may be praised by men on account of your gift, he is nevertheless blamed by you, because from your gift he sought not your glory but his own.4 But the one who is praised by men while you blame him will not be defended by men when you judge him, nor will he be set free when you condemn him.✦5 But you, Lord, my Maker from my mother's womb, do not let me fall into that disgrace — that it should be thrown in my face that I wanted to steal your glory.✦6 Glory belongs to you, to whom every good thing belongs. But shame of face and misery belong to us, to whom every evil belongs — unless you choose to show us mercy.✦7 You are truly merciful, Lord. You are merciful to all that you have made, and you hate nothing that you have made. You give to us from your good things, and you enrich us who are needy with the very best of your gifts, because you love the poor and make them rich with your riches.✦8 Look now, Lord — we your children are poor, and your flock is small. Open your gates to us, and the poor will eat and be satisfied, and those who seek you will praise you.✦ I know this too, Lord, and I confess it — you yourself have taught me — that only those who recognize they are poor and confess their poverty to you will be enriched by you; for those who consider themselves rich, though they are poor, will be shut out from your riches.✦✦9

Nothing Without God

The soul confesses its utter vanity and barrenness apart from God, acknowledging that every good it possesses is received, and that standing, rising, and persevering are all God's work.

And so I confess to you, Lord my God, my poverty; and let all the glory be yours, because every good thing is yours. For through myself, Lord, I confess — as you have taught me — I am nothing other than utter vanity and a shadow of death, a kind of dark abyss, a barren and empty land that without your blessing produces nothing, and bears no fruit except confusion, sin, and death.✦10 If I have ever had any good thing, I received it from you; whatever good I have, I have as yours.✦ When I stood, I stood through you; but when I fell, I fell through myself. I would have lain forever in the mud, unless you had raised me up; I would have been blind forever, unless you had given me light.✦ When I fell, I would never have risen again, unless you had stretched out your hand to me. After you raised me up, I would have fallen continually, unless you had sustained me; I would have perished more often, unless you had guided me.

Grace That Goes Before

The soul acknowledges that God's prevenient grace alone has kept it from every sin, and that all restraint from evil and every act of faith are entirely God's doing.

So it is always, Lord: your grace and mercy always go before me, setting me free from every evil — rescuing me from the past, rousing me from the present, and fortifying me against the future — cutting away the snares of sin before my feet, and removing the occasions and causes of them. Because if you had not done this for me, I would have committed every sin in the world. For I know, Lord, that there is no sin one person has ever committed that another person could not commit, if the Creator from whom that person was made were absent. But that I did not do evil, you made happen; that I held back, you commanded; and that I believed in you, you poured out your grace. For you, Lord, were guiding me for your own sake, keeping me for your own sake — and for my sake as well — so that I would not commit adultery or any other sin.

Read the original Latin

Fortissime, magnipotens, Deus spirituum universae carnis, cujus oculi super omnes vias filiorum Adam, a die nativitatis eorum usque ad diem exitus eorum, ut reddas unicuique secundum opera sua bona vel mala; ostende mihi, ut confitear tibi, paupertatem meam: quoniam dixi quod dives essem, et nullius egerem; et nesciebam quia pauper eram, caecus, nudus, miser et miserabilis (Apoc. III, 17). Credebam me fore aliquid, cum nihil essem. Dixi, Sapiens efficiar; et stultus factus sum. Cogitabam esse continens; sed deceptus sum. Et video nunc quia donum tuum est, sine quo nihil possumus facere; quia nisi tu, Domine, custodieris civitatem, frustra vigilat qui custodit eam (Psal. CXXVI, 1). Sic docuisti me, ut cognoscerem me: quia dereliquisti me, et probasti me; non propter te ut cognosceres me, sed propter me ut cognoscerem me.

Nam, ut dixi, Domine, credebam me aliquid fore ex me, existimabam me sufficere per me, nec percipiebam quoniam tu regebas me, donec aliquantulum te elongasti a me, et cecidi statim in me: et vidi et cognovi quoniam tu regebas me; et quod cecidi, fuit ex me, et quod surrexi, fuit ex te. Aperuisti mihi oculos, lux, et excitasti et illuminasti me: et vidi quoniam tentatio est hominis vita super terram, et quod gloriari non valeat ante te omnis caro, nec justificetur omnis vivens: quoniam si quid boni est parvum vel magnum, donum tuum est, et nostrum non est nisi malum. Unde igitur gloriabitur omnis caro? Numquid de malo? Haec non est gloria, sed miseria. Sed numquid gloriabitur de bono? numquid de alieno? Tuum, Domine, est bonum, tua est gloria.

Qui enim de bono tuo gloriam sibi quaerit, et non tibi quaerit; hic fur est et latro, et similis est diabolo, qui voluit furari gloriam tuam. Qui laudari vult de tuo dono, et non quaerit in illo gloriam tuam, sed suam: hic licet propter tuum donum laudetur ab hominibus, a te tamen vituperatur; quia de dono tuo non tuam, sed suam gloriam quaesivit. Qui autem ab hominibus laudatur vituperante te, non defendetur ab hominibus judicante te, nec liberabitur condemnante te. At tu, Domine formator meus ex utero matris meae, non me sinas cadere in illam exprobrationem, ut exprobretur mihi furari voluisse gloriam tuam. Tibi sit gloria, cujus est omne bonum; nobis autem confusio faciei et miseria, quorum est omne malum, nisi tu volueris misereri. Misereris quippe, Domine, misereris omnium quae fecisti, et nihil odisti eorum quae fecisti, et das nobis de bonis tuis, et ditas nos inopes de optimis donis tuis: quoniam diligis pauperes, et divites facis eos divitiis tuis. Ecce nunc, Domine, pauperes nos filii tui sumus, et pusillus grex tuus: aperi nobis januas tuas, et edent pauperes, et satiabuntur, et laudabunt te qui requirunt te. Scio etiam, Domine, et confiteor docente te, quoniam soli illi qui cognoscunt se pauperes, et confitentur tibi paupertatem suam, ditabuntur a te: quoniam qui se divites existimant cum sint pauperes, a tuis divitiis invenientur exclusi.

Et ego igitur confiteor tibi, Domine Deus meus, paupertatem meam: et sit tibi tua gloria tota, quoniam tuum est omne bonum. Per me enim, Domine, fateor, ut docuisti me, nihil aliud sum quam universa vanitas et umbra mortis, et abyssus quaedam tenebrosa, et terra inanis et vacua, quae sine tua benedictione nihil germinat, fructum quoque non facit, nisi confusionem, peccatum et mortem. Si quid boni unquam habui, a te recepi, quidquid boni habeo, tuum habeo. Si quando steti, per te steti, sed quando cecidi, per me cecidi. Semper in luto jacuissem, nisi tu me erexisses: semper caecus fuissem, nisi tu me illuminasses. Quando cecidi, nunquam surrexissem, nisi tu mihi manum porrexisses. Postquam me erexisti, semper cecidissem, nisi tu me sustinuisses; saepius perissem, nisi me gubernasses.

Sic semper, Domine, sic semper gratia et misericordia tua praevenit me, liberans me ab omnibus malis, salvans a praeteritis, suscitans a praesentibus, et muniens a futuris, praecidens etiam ante me laqueos peccatorum, tollens occasiones et causas; quia nisi tu hoc mihi fecisses, ego omnia peccata mundi fecissem: quoniam scio Domine, quod nullum peccatum est quod unquam fecit homo, quod non possit facere alter homo, si desit Creator a quo factus est homo. Sed quod non facerem, tu fecisti; quod abstinerem, tu jussisti; et quod tibi crederem, tu gratiam infudisti. Tu namque, Domine, regebas me tibi, servabas me tibi et mihi, ut adulterium et omne aliud peccatum non committerem.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rev.3.17 — Because you say, 'I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are the wretched one, and pitiable, and poor, and blind, and naked—
  2. ↩Num.16.22 — And they fell on their faces and said, "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin and You be angry with the whole assembly?"
  3. ↩Jer.32.19 — great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the children of man, to give to each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds
  4. ↩Rev.3.17 — Because you say, 'I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are the wretched one, and pitiable, and poor, and blind, and naked—
  5. ↩Ps.126.1 — A Song of Ascents. When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
  6. ↩Ps.126.1 — A Song of Ascents. When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
  7. ↩Job.7.1 — Does not a human have a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired worker?
  8. ↩John.10.10 — The thief does not come except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
  9. ↩Luke.6.26;Matt.7.1-Matt.7.2 — Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for their fathers treated the false prophets in the same way. Matt.7.1 — Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. Matt.7.2 — For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you measure, it will be measured to you.
  10. ↩Ps.22.10 — For you are the one who drew me from the womb, who made me trust at my mother's breast.
  11. ↩Ps.115.1 — Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, because of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.
  12. ↩Ps.145.9 — The LORD is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.
  13. ↩Ps.22.27 — The humble shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD shall praise him. Let your hearts live forever.
  14. ↩Rev.3.17 — Because you say, 'I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are the wretched one, and pitiable, and poor, and blind, and naked—
  15. ↩Luke.1.53;1Sam.2.5 — He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 1Sam.2.5 — Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the barren woman has borne seven, but she who has many children has become desolate.
  16. ↩Ps.23.4 — Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me.
  17. ↩1Cor.4.7 — For who makes you different? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?
  18. ↩Ps.130.1 — A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The address 'God of the spirits of all flesh' echoes Num 16:22 and 27:16; the phrase 'whose eyes are upon all the ways' echoes Jer 32:19. The closing self-description (poor, blind, naked, wretched, miserable) closely parallels Rev 3:17.
  2. 2 ↩The clause 'nisi tu, Domine, custodieris civitatem, frustra vigilat qui custodit eam' is a direct quotation of Ps 126:1 (Vulgate).
  3. 3 ↩tentatio est hominis vita super terram echoes Job 7:1 (Vulgate: Militia est vita hominis super terram); the allusion is preserved as a natural English rendering rather than a formal quotation.
  4. 4 ↩licet is rendered concessive ('even though') rather than its alternative verbal sense ('it is allowed'), which better fits the contrastive logic of the passage.
  5. 5 ↩The ablative absolute constructions (vituperante te, judicante te, condemnante te) are rendered as temporal/causal clauses ('while/when you...') to preserve the force of divine judgment overriding human approval.
  6. 6 ↩exprobratio/exprobretur are rare terms; rendered as 'disgrace' and 'thrown in my face' to capture the sense of reproach or taunt. The ut clause is treated as a purpose/result clause ('that it should be...').
  7. 7 ↩volueris is ambiguous between future perfect indicative ('you will have wished') and perfect subjunctive ('you may wish'). Rendered as 'you choose to' to capture the optative sense fitting the prayerful context.
  8. 8 ↩misereris is an impersonal verb rendered actively ('you are merciful') for natural English. ditas (rare verb) is rendered as 'you enrich.'
  9. 9 ↩confitentur is subjunctive in a relative clause, rendered as indicative ('and confess') to preserve the characteristic/definitional force. cum is taken concessive ('though') rather than causal, fitting the irony of self-deception.
  10. 10 ↩The phrase 'umbra mortis' (shadow of death) echoes Psalm 23:4 (Vulgate) and possibly Psalm 107:10; candidate scripture allusion held for later resolution.

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