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Chapter 24PsAug.1.24

Quod nihil sine Dei gratia possimus.

Confession of Human Frailty

The soul confesses its complete dependence on God, acknowledging human vanity and pleading for divine patience in weakness.

I am the work of your hands, and I confess this to you in reverent fear of you, because I will not put my trust in my own bow, and my sword will not save me (Ps.1 XLIII, 7), but in your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face.2 Otherwise I would despair, except that you are my hope — you who created me — and you will not abandon me, because you do not abandon those who hope in you.3 You indeed are, Lord our God, gentle and mild, patient, and ordering all things in mercy (Sap.45 XI, 21).6 And if we have sinned, we are still yours; and if we have not sinned, we know that we are counted as yours.7 We are a leaf in the whole world, and every living man is vanity (Psal.✦89 XXXVIII 6), and our life upon the earth is wind (Job VII, 7): do not be angry if we, your little ones, fall, because you know what we are made of (Psal.✦✦✦101112

God's Tender Mercy Toward the Small

The soul marvels that the eternal God shows mercy to the smallest and most fragile of creatures, urging God to rejoice in salvation rather than ruin.

Our Lord God. God of immeasurable power, surely you don't mean to display your strength against a leaf that's swept away by the wind, and to pursue a dry stalk? Eternal king of Israel, will you condemn a single flea? (1 Kings 24:15?) We have heard of your mercy, Lord, because you do not bring death, nor do you rejoice in the ruin of the dying. (Wisdom 1:13.) For your sake we pray to you: do not allow to gain dominion over this creature of yours, which you yourself made, anything that you did not make. If you grieve over their ruin, what stops you — Lord, you who are able to do all things — from always rejoicing in our salvation?

Grace Alone Enables the Will

The soul acknowledges that without God's will and power, it cannot will or accomplish the good, and prays that God's will be done for the creature's salvation.

If you are willing, you can save me; but even if I myself were willing, I cannot — so great is the multitude of my miseries that weigh on me. To will is indeed present in me, but to carry it through I do not find within my power (Rom.✦ 7, 18).✦ But I cannot will what is good unless you will it; nor can I do what I will unless your power strengthens me. And what I can do, at times I do not will, unless your will is done as in heaven so on earth. And what I will and can do, I do not truly know unless your wisdom enlightens me.✦13 And even if I do know, at times unwilling, at times too weak, my wisdom passes by imperfect and empty — unless I am helped by your true wisdom. In your will all things are established, and there is no one who can resist your will, Lord of all, holding dominion over all flesh. Whatever you will, you do in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in all the depths.✦ In us, therefore, let your will be done — we upon whom your name has been called — lest this noble creature of yours perish, which you created for your glory.✦14 And what man born of woman can live and not see death, or rescue his own soul from the power of the grave — unless you alone deliver him, O life-giving life of all life, through whom all things live?✦15

Read the original Latin

Ego autem opus manuum tuarum confiteor tibi in timore tuo, quia non in arcu meo sperabo, et gladius meus non salvabit me (Psal. XLIII, 7), sed dextera tua et brachium tuum et illuminatio vultus tui. Alioquin desperarem, nisi quia spes mea es tu qui creasti me, et non derelinques me, quoniam non derelinquis sperantes in te. Tu quippe es, Domine Deus noster, suavis et mitis, patiens et in misericordia disponens omnia (Sap. XI, 21). Et nos si peccaverimus, tui sumus: et si non peccaverimus, scimus quoniam apud te sumus computati. Nos folium universi, et vanitas omnis homo vivens (Psal. XXXVIII 6), et ventus est vita nostra super terram (Job VII, 7): ne irascaris si cadimus pupilli tui, quoniam tu nosti figmentum nostrum (Psal.

CII, 14), Domine Deus noster. Num, Deus inaestimabilis fortitudinis, contra folium quod vento rapitur ostendere vis potentiam tuam, et stipulam siccam persequi (Job XIII, 25)? num damnabis, rex Israel aeterne, num damnabis pulicem unum (I Reg. XXIV, 15)? Audivimus de misericordia tua, Domine, quoniam tu mortem non facis, nec laetaris in perditione morientium (Sap. I, 13). Propter te oramus te, ne permittas dominari quod non fecisti huic creaturae tuae quam fecisti. Si doles de perditione; quid te prohibet Domine, qui omnia potes, ne semper laeteris de nostra salvatione?

Si vis, potes me salvare: ego autem etsi velim non possum, tam magna est multitudo miseriarum mearum mecum. Velle quippe mihi adjacet, perficere autem non invenio (Rom. VII, 18). Velle autem quod bonum est non possum, nisi tu velis; nec quod volo possum, nisi tua potentia me confortet; et quod possum, aliquando nolo, nisi tua voluntas fiat sicut in coelo et in terra; et quod volo et possum, ignoro, nisi tua sapientia me illustret. Et si sciam, quandoque nolens, quandoque non valens, imperfecta et vacua transit sapientia mea, nisi adjuver a vera sapientia tua. In tua autem voluntate cuncta sunt posita, et non est qui possit resistere voluntati tuae, Domine universorum, principatum tenens omnis carnis: et quaecumque vis, facis in coelo et in terra, in mari et in omnibus abyssis. In nobis igitur fiat voluntas tua, super quibus invocatum est nomen tuum; ne pereat hoc nobile plasma tuum, quod creasti propter honorem tuum. Et quis est homo natus de muliere, qui vivat et non videat mortem, et eripiat animam suam de manu inferi, nisi tu solus eripias, vita vitalis omnis vitae, per quem omnia vivunt?

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.38.6 — My wounds are foul and festering because of my folly.
  2. ↩Ps.38.6 — My wounds are foul and festering because of my folly.
  3. ↩Job.7.7 — Remember that my life is a breath; my eyes will never again see good.
  4. ↩Ps.102.14 — You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor — yes, the appointed time has come.
  5. ↩Rom.7.18 — For I know that good does not dwell in me—that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present with me, but the working out of the good is not.
  6. ↩Rom.7.18 — For I know that good does not dwell in me—that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present with me, but the working out of the good is not.
  7. ↩Matt.6.10 — Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
  8. ↩Ps.135.6;Jer.32.17 — Whatever the LORD pleased, he did—in the heavens and in the earth, in the seas and all the deeps. Jer.32.17 — Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
  9. ↩Matt.6.10 — Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
  10. ↩Job.14.1;Ps.89.48 — Man, born of woman, is short of days and full of turmoil. Ps.89.48 — Remember, what is this life? For what vanity You have created all the children of man!

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Quotation from Psalm 43:7 (Vulgate) / Psalm 44:6 (Hebrew). The speaker renounces self-reliance and military power, confessing dependence on God alone.
  2. 2 ↩Continuation of Psalm 43:7 (Vulgate). The speaker turns from self-reliance to God's saving power — right hand, arm, and the illumination of God's countenance.
  3. 3 ↩The double causal chain (quia…quoniam) grounds the speaker's resistance to despair in two truths: God as creator and God as faithful sustainer of those who trust in him.
  4. 4 ↩Allusion to Wisdom 11:21 (Vulgate) / Wisdom 11:20-26, where God orders all things by number, weight, and measure in mercy. The deuterocanonical reference is preserved without quotation marks per policy.
  5. 5 ↩Suavis rendered as 'gentle' rather than 'sweet' to capture the quality of God's character toward the soul; mitis as 'mild' for the same reason.
  6. 6 ↩Closing citation for Wisdom 11:21.
  7. 7 ↩The two conditional clauses (si peccaverimus…si non peccaverimus) express the speaker's confidence that belonging to God is not contingent on sinlessness. Computati ('reckoned, counted') carries the sense of being registered or accounted as God's own.
  8. 8 ↩Allusion to Psalm 38:6 (Vulgate) / Psalm 39:5-6 (Hebrew): 'omnis homo vivens…vanitas.' The image of the leaf (folium) evokes human fragility and transience.
  9. 9 ↩Vanitas retained as 'vanity' per lexeme policy, preserving the biblical cadence.
  10. 10 ↩Composite allusion: Psalm 38:6 (Vulgate) for the vanity/wind image; Job 7:7 for 'remember that my life is wind'; and Psalm 102:14 (Vulgate) / Psalm 103:14 (Hebrew) for 'he knows our frame' (figmentum nostrum). The speaker weaves these together to plead for God's patience with human weakness.
  11. 11 ↩Pupilli rendered as 'little ones' rather than 'orphans' to capture the tender, dependent relationship without the modern institutional connotation of 'orphan.' Figmentum rendered as 'what we are made of' — the creaturely substance God knows.
  12. 12 ↩Ne irascaris is a negative petition ('do not be angry'), not a negative purpose clause, given the context of pleading for mercy.
  13. 13 ↩The clause 'fiat sicut in coelo et in terra' echoes the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:10), framing the speaker's inner life under the pattern of divine obedience.
  14. 14 ↩Plasma (creature/creation) carries the sense of something shaped or formed by the Creator; rendered as 'creature' to preserve the personal address.
  15. 15 ↩The title 'vita vitalis omnis vitae' (life-giving life of all life) is a solemn divine epithet; the register is raised accordingly.

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