So, one of the brethren had asked me, in connection with the conference on the hearts that we had last Saturday, maybe explain the psalm 50, the psalm is a rarer, and I think we have done that once in the past, but maybe we can try it again, just in seeing in it an example of that interiorness which we were speaking about in the last setting. So, that starts, miserere mei Deus, secundum magna misericordium, too. I think an important thing is, first, the introduction, or the heading, which in the first one, in the first verse, sets up, as it were, the situation out of which the psalm

[01:25]

was born as the... confession of David and his personal and his great sin with Elizabeth and Uriah and I think it's good and of course these things are probably not historical but they have a still a great value because they are apt to throw light on this one, who must always think that if, let us say, it may not be right and it's not a part of the exact explanation of the psalm, put it into this situation which is depicted to us or explained to us in the second book of Samuel, in the eleventh and the twelfth chapter.

[02:39]

Nevertheless, the people who, let us say, put it there, and put the psalm into this connection did it out of a very deep insight contemplative insight into the whole workings of holy scripture and it may very well be that the psalm is really in and has an inner connection not maybe not historical, I mean, that David now, at this moment, as his confession of sin, his acknowledgement of sin, has sung this song, you know, or that the song came out of him historically in remembrance of this situation, but maybe personally, but still, you know, the whole tradition, the whole...

[03:43]

The basic thoughts and feelings of the chosen people are bound up with the whole history. also and especially of David and in David the general faith and the general spirit of the nation is reflected and the nation breathes and thinks and prays through him as the leader so that certainly this is sin and this is conversion plays not only, let's say, a historical role, but a typical role, and is, as it were, present in the whole development and through the history of the chosen people and in the history of every single Israelite. So that David's sin is, in some way, not only a personal sin limited to him,

[04:46]

but it is in some way like Adam's sin. It is a sin in which the whole people and not every single Israelite in some way is involved, in which he sees himself. So, therefore, I think that connection has a deep meaning, meditative meaning, not, let us say, in the historical sense in which we conceive history today, So therefore it is good, you know, just to refer to the situation And, you know, it is Nathan who comes then to David and tells David a parable of the poor man and the rich man. And the poor man has this one lamb, and that lamb becomes and is a child of the household, and it grows up in his lap, and his whole soul is bound up with this lamb.

[05:47]

And then comes the rich man, And instead, who has everything he wants, instead of taking one of his own lands, takes away the lamb of the poor in order to slaughter it and prepare a meal for a guest. And then David, in listening to that, gets all excited against this man and says, this man is worthy of death. And at that moment, Nathan says, adjuhal. You are the one who has done that. That moment, see that again is one of these typical moments of awakening, the sudden awakening of the heart. Suddenly the deeper region of the heart is touched, is pierced and... the inner reality comes to life. So, therefore, David expresses that inner reality as he sees that in that moment of repentance, I have sinned against the Lord.

[06:58]

He says, I have sinned against the Lord. So, that is the last inner spiritual theological reality of what he has done. I have seen for the Lord. And this acknowledgement, this confession, brings about the divine pardon, not, however, a freeing of the divine punishment, as you know. So that is the situation, you see, and therefore the whole psalm has to be seen and can be seen right in that light. It is the voice of a heart that suddenly, in a mirror, sees its own true reality before God, and that reality is sin and sinfulness. So then from that starts the text and the first is the invocation, that is in Psalm 3 and 4, the invocation.

[08:07]

I would say that one of the... the characteristic notes of the whole psalm is aware of it, is emphasis, it is emphatic in every respect, in every one of its various parts, emphatic. It is a nonplusultra, it is going to the utmost in every direction, At first, this emphatic nature of the psalm comes out right away in the first invocations. Invocation. Be gracious unto me, O God, according to thy mercy, according to the multitude of thy compassions, lock out my transgressions. So the essence of this invocation consists in the emphatic calling upon

[09:13]

as the saviour God, under three aspects which, as you know, do not come out in the present vulgar translation. The three are essentially the same in order. that are, of course, synonymous. Not, however, that way in the Hebrew text. That is the first thing that we have to... to remember, but this invocation is in itself a remembrance or renewal of the self-manifestation of the mercy of God in its infinite richness and all its various facets, which we find in the 34th chapter of the second book of Moses, the Exodus,

[10:19]

in the manifestation of the mercy of God to Moses after the sin of the golden cup. and there the name is proclaimed and that name of God is mercy but in all various shades and you know that those things come up again and again in all various also not only in Psalm 50 but in all different Psalms as for example I noticed here noted down Psalm 85 Psalm 102 Psalm 144 Then also in other places, as in not only Exodus 34, 6 and 7, but also Numery 14, 18. and 2 Kings 23. So, in various things, it's one of these red threads that goes through the whole of Holy Scripture. Joel 2.13, Ecclesiasticus 2.13, Jonas 4.2, Wisdom 15.1.

[11:26]

Oh, I have forgotten a Holy Scripture. Do we have that here? So therefore these three words which are mentioned here are the three key words to denote the mercy of God, and that is carnal, and that is chesed, and those three, you know them. Chanan, chesed, and raham. Chanan or chenen is what we could translate as favor. The chesed is love, and raham or rahamim is usually misericordiae. It's the plural, rahamim, which means compassion. And the three signify three relations, three relations, let us say, of mercy, of goodness.

[12:29]

One is of the mighty one towards the one who absolutely depends on him, to his servant, the king to his subject, the master to his servant. is kanal, favour. It's that, in connection, I can't explain it, but in the Hebrew language, it is, let's say, a cloud, a rain cloud which goes high, sails over the country, and then lets down the rain at a spot, crying for water, a favour, kanal. How do you write that? Oh, it's always the root word, you know, root. It's a he or ha, H, you know, H-N-N, H-N-N. The other one is H-S-D, he or she. And the other one is R-H-M, ha-ha. Those three, whatever that may help.

[13:38]

The important thing is that you see that. The first is the invocation. David, or the one who sings in the psalm, proclaims himself That is the implication as the servant who entirely depends on the favour and grace of the king because he is the sinner who has lost every right. and therefore entirely depends on the king. Therefore it's also at the same time a glorification. We will find that later. So the favor of the mighty which the poor or the slave or the subject invokes and in which he's conscious of his own helplessness and extols the glory of the one whom he invokes. Then the next chesed, that is usually translated as love or as mercy.

[14:46]

I think in our usual English translation it's mercy. Chesed is, as you know, the covenant love. Chesed is a love, for example, between two people who are essentially on the same level. Bridegroom and bride are united to one another through chesed. The marriage, you know, is a chesed relation. It's a covenant relation. It's that relation which makes Yahweh the bridegroom of Israel by the covenant which God has made with his people. Chesed. So, therefore, that's the second thing that David, that's the son, invokes. Say, could you be gracious unto me, have favour on me, according to thy chesed, thy covenant love, thy mercy. See, it's lifting up. Now, the one who asks, the sinner asks, reminds, as it were, that he is an Israelite.

[15:51]

and that in Israel's Israelite he is member of the covenant, that therefore God is his friend, that God promised his loyalty to him, and therefore that is what he calls upon. And then the last and the strongest, according to thy mercy, according to the multitude of thy compassions, that are the wahamim or misericordia. That is a good translation. Misericordia, that means the core which is turned to the miser, the heart which... goes out, reaches out to the poor one, but in the specific relation of the soul that the whole inner, how could I call it, you know, that the whole inner

[16:56]

The viscera, you know, that's what St. Paul always, Amo vos in visceribus Jesu Christi, I love you in the viscera Jesu Christi, in the inner thoughts of Christ. That means that is, of course, taken from the mother, the mother who gives her own inner thoughts, Life, as it were, to the child and clothes the child with her own flesh and brings it forth out of her womb and therefore loves it really and truly as a part of herself. And that is here, Rahabi. It's the motherly love. It's God, it's Javi, insofar as Israel is his son, his child. And therefore, part of his innermost heart.

[18:00]

So you see that I just give you that as a typical example of right in the beginning of the psalm of the emphatic nature of it, the constantly instant prayer here, going step after step, turning to the power and glory, turning to the love of the friends, And then turning to the motherly love in which, as you know, Isaiah has described it, that I shall love you as a mother who loves her child and dandles her child. than the child on her knees. So that is therefore, that is the invocation, beautiful as the motherland which she has for the child of her womb.

[19:06]

So you can right away, you can see, you see that the one who, the sinner who cries out in this way, cries out in the fullness of faith. The fact of his sin does not mean to him that he is completely cut off. That is the beautiful thing in Wisdom 51, I think, which could be mentioned in this connection and which illustrates the thought which is behind the psalm, in which it says, But thou, our God, art gracious. and true, patient, and ordering all things in mercy. For if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy greatness." If we sin, we are thine, knowing thy greatness. That is a very exact, beautiful description of the situation here of the psalmist.

[20:13]

If we sin, we are thine, knowing thy greatness. Beautiful. One could put that as a motto for the whole song, Miserere. So, and then of thy compassion, blot out my transgressions. My transgressions, that is, my crying. right away here comes now the other emphasis. And that's the beauty of it, you know, that you must understand that these two things are together and are put right together in the psalm. The absolute faith in the infinite mercy of God in all its various aspects as favor, as friendship, as parental love, and then together with that immediately the sin of man. And the sin of man in its abysmal badness is emphasised just the same way.

[21:22]

Blot out my transgressions. Dasha means the crime. It is that crime which means rebellion against God. And in that way, the separation from God, losreizo, separation from God, tearing oneself away from God, rebellion. So the strongest expression of sin right there in the beginning, confronted with the emphatic proclamation of God's mercy. But then this same emphasis and emphatic character is continued then on the line of sin in the following verse. Wash me thoroughly from mine. Now, of course, here is always difficulty of the English language or any translation. Iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

[22:29]

But you can at least, you know, just reading and listening to the English text or whatever translation there is, you notice the one thing and that is constant repeated expression, sin, transgression, iniquity. whatever we can mobibize in the English language, which in these finer things is not as versatile as the Hebrew language. so wash me thoroughly from my iniquity cleanse me from my sin now it may be difficult to say exactly you know determine but again one thing is true wash me is an external action Cleansing is an internal action, and to that also here the words and the expressions for sin correspond. Sin is always a disturbance, a disturbance of order, and therefore a manifest thing, a thing that in some way becomes manifest and is known and realized by others.

[23:41]

Sin is an aberration from the path, you know, and therefore is a disorder and is as such is realized, you know. Wash me from this sin as an external, as a... visible manifestation disorder. Cleanse me from my sin. There, that word, which is here used in the Hebrew, denotes the inner stain, which is the disturbance or the inner in our relation to God. Let us say that in the uncleanness of the heart which sin involves. The sinful man is not more allegorical, as we could say, in the truth of God. He is, interiorly, he is stayed, spoiled.

[24:43]

And that is expressed here, cleanse me from my sin. Cleansing is that expression which we have so often in the Petit. And then comes, after that, this here is the invocation, these two. Then comes in 5, 6, 7 and 8 again the emphatic confession or acknowledgement, emphatic acknowledgement of sin. This emphatic acknowledgement of sin has always, in the Psalms, In the Old Testament, there are always two things which we should keep in mind. We would say the confessio, the act of confession, the acknowledgement of sin. One is the, yes, I am a sinner, and express that in saying, all is dead.

[25:54]

And then at the same time, the confession is also there and connected with glorification of God's justice. Those two things always go together and make the fullness of a confession in the old sense. Confession in the old sense is not only the acknowledgement of one's own personal state or deed, what one has done, one's own personal guilt, but it always also goes together with a declaration of the justice of God. That is what, of course, not only a thing which is common or which is expressed in our religious relation to God, but that is also a thing which is part of any juridical forensic process of law.

[26:58]

I think if you go to those happy times, I don't remember them very well anymore, but we read and translated in the spread of our brows, Lysias, the famous advocate and his speeches in favour of his clients, And that is always a standard element of it. Of course, in the juridical court, the standard part is the glorification of the justice and equity and goodness of the judges. But then, of course, earthly lawsuits and politics would require that the guilt of the accused is either denied or is torn down or is, you know, in some way covered up.

[28:13]

I mean, that belongs there. But not so before God. You know, of course, before God, The acknowledgement of his justice exists emphatically and the acknowledgement of sin, both emphatically. And that is what you see here. For I know my transgressions. That is acknowledgement and that is emphatic. I know my transgressions. God has always known them. But now I know my transgressions. And this, my acknowledgement and my knowing, is not only a passing thing, and that is again what I would call in the line of emphasis, that it is, you know, the realization of one's sin may be something that is there for a moment, and the next moment it is forgotten. The one who prays here, and my sin is ever before me.

[29:22]

It's not only like a cloud that disappears as soon as a little light falls on it. but my sin is always, is ever before me. That's, of course, the true essence of humility, and that is what Saint Benedict also asks, you know, and asks of the monk, that he should be constantly consider, you know, and be aware and constantly repent his transgressions. Therefore, I know my transgression and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have I sinned. Against, again, emphasis, you know. On the one hand, you know, I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. That is as far as I'm concerned, you know, the radical acknowledgement of sin.

[30:23]

Then the other, against thee, thee only have I sinned. and on that which is evil in thy sight, that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, and be in the right when thou judgest. Now that is what we call doxology, forensic doxology. That is why right here. See, you have therefore the emphatic statement of the personal thing, right away connected, you know, with the emphatic also statement that this, my sin, which I deep into the very roots of my being, remember, is directed against thee. That is the essence of it. It's rebellion against you, O God. That and you alone.

[31:25]

And therefore that is now the thought which enters into the heart of the sinner who cries here in all his depth, I have sinned against you. And what is that? My king, you see. And it is the bridegroom of my soul. And that is my father and my mother. Against thee, thee only have I sinned. and done that which is evil in thy sight. By the way, this verse is a verbal allusion to the second Samuel and the eleventh chapter. That thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, and be the right when thou judgest, There is a little diversion here in the understanding of lema'an, lema'an, which is, that's thou, can have two meanings.

[32:29]

Usually it is in that way, that's thou mayest be justified. but it can also mean, and therefore are you justified when thou speakest, and be in the right when thou judgest. The meaning, however, is, you know, always this, that the one who here realises, you know, I have sinned against you, you alone, and he thinks about who God is, whom he through his sin has offended. And therefore you will be justified when you speak. That is the glorification of the church. That means realizing that I have sinned against you and that shows me the depth of my sin. it also opens to me that vista and that horizon of your justice which I completely acknowledge, which I completely surrender to.

[33:39]

And that again, of course, has to be seen, you know, in that same connection in which the whole psalm has started. Miserere mei Deus, secundum anna misericordia tua. The justice of God in the Old Testament is never and only, let us say, is simply forensic justice of the letter. Never. But that justice is never separated from love. Never separated from love. So that this surrender to God's justice Complete, absolute serenity of God's justice is also filled with deep hope, even with the realization of salvation. You being the writer and thou judgest. But certainly it is that inner feeling, that inner realization, that this sin against God, you know, also will be used by God

[34:53]

for something better, to his glory. And this sin that has been committed is in some way, therefore, in some mysterious way, is Felix culpa, through God's justice. And we result in God's glory, serve God's glory. But that does not mean in any way to explain away or to diminish or to gloss over the nature and the gravity of sin. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Therefore, the process of confession goes further from, let us say, a single deed. It goes to the inner root of that deed, to the general condition, into the being of the sinner.

[36:00]

And the being of the sinner is in that way alluded to. I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. That means that the tendency to sin is something which is inborn in me, which I find there when I really and sincerely look at me. I find that as an inner part of myself. There is that, what we call in the language of our theology, fomes peccati. that inner tendency which is the more I descend as it were into the depth of my heart and use God's justice as the light which helps me to self-knowledge, the deeper I see that this single deed points and is rooted in something that I am, that in some way is identical with my whole being.

[37:12]

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts. Make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart. The man descends, as it were, into himself and into the ontological sinfulness in which he sees himself entangled, bound up with. and in this attempt, as it were, to plumb the whole depth of his heart, in this tendency and in this desire to be before God absolutely truthful, then here in this innermost secret of his personality, then he discovers, he sees, what is called here the wisdom in my inmost heart. Make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart.

[38:16]

A revelation takes place. A light is coming up. is the wisdom, it is that light which, to me, is also visible and described by St Paul in our prayer. I think that Romans 11. In Romans 11. Just at this place where I want to... For as you also at one time did not believe God, but now have obtained mercy by reason of their unbelief,

[39:27]

So they too have not now believed by reason of the mercy shown you that they too may obtain mercy. Then comes that for God has shut up all in unbelief that he may have mercy upon all. I think that verse of Holy Scripture could well be taken as an illustration in the light of the New Testament of this verse which here occupies us at the moment. Make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart. The inmost heart has in some way been revealed I was born in iniquity. That is, that is to say, the depth of the heart. The realization of sin as an ontological part of me, as in some way something inescapable, identified with me, not only as an occasional transgression, but as a status.

[40:34]

For God has shut up all in unbelief, that he may have mercy upon all. And then comes that canticle. all the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. I could well think that St Paul, even in writing this, had just this verse of the San Miserere in his mind. Show me wisdom in my inmost heart, where I'm faced, you know, with the sin as status. Here the wisdom comes, and that is, has shut up all in unbelief that he may have mercy upon all. Oh, the death of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God. How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who was first given to him that recompense should be made him?

[41:46]

For from him and through him and unto him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. That is also the depth of gnosis that we reach here in this verse. Now, that is the end then, let us say, of the acknowledgement of sin. That was the second part of the psalm, the first part, the invocation of God's mercy. The second part was the confession, and that goes down to verse 8, and then comes from verse 9 to verse 11, the prayer for forgiveness.

[42:34]

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