Bellarmine on Psalm LXII: Verse 8

Verse 8

And I will rejoice under the covert of thy wings: my soul hath stuck close to thee: thy right hand hath received me.

Et in velamento alarum tuarum exsultabo; adhaesit anima mea post te; me suscepit dextera tua.

Because he said : “Thou hast been my helper,” lest he might be thought to be (already) safe, having no need to work further for God’s protection, he adds: “And I will rejoice under the covert of thy wings,” that is, I will remain under the shelter of Thy wings, and, hoping in Thy protection, “I will rejoice,” safe from predators, while I hide under the wings of the almighty eagle. “My soul hath stuck close to thee.” Moved by this protection and by the immense gifts (from Thee), “ my soul hath stuck,” thanks to the glue of most powerful love, “close to Thee,” that is, it sticks to Thy footsteps, not suffering itself to be separated from them by the power of any temptation. Moreover, to stick to the footsteps of the Lord by virtue of the glue of love is not to love God with a dry and fruitless affection but rather to keep His commandments in charity; for as the Lord says: “ If any one love me, he will keep my word;” [1] and so he does not say hath stuck to Thee but close to Thee, obedient and subject to Thee. But lest it appear that he is taking credit to himself for so ardently sticking  to God, he adds: “Thy right hand hath received me,” that is, I follow you like this because Thou drawest me; I love you like this because Thou didst love me first, and through loving me Thou didst make me love Thee. Blessed is he who, however much he may excel in virtue, understands that his success is from God, and always shelters himself under God’s wings like a little chicken.  More blessed is he who is able to say: “My soul hath stuck close to thee,” and does not only hope in the shelter of God’s wings but also loves with all his heart, so that with the Apostle he is able to say: “Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ?”[2] Most blessed of all is he who from his own experience, or rather by bearing witness in his own spirit to the spirit of God, has learned that he has been received by God’s right hand; for the Lord Himself says of such men: “No man shall pluck them out of my hand. and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father. I and the Father are one.”[3]

[1] Jesus answered, and said to him: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him. Respondit Jesus, et dixit ei : Si quis diligit me, sermonem meum servabit, et Pater meus diliget eum, et ad eum veniemus, et mansionem apud eum faciemus; [Ioann. Xiv. 23]

[2] Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword? Quis ergo nos separabit a caritate Christi? tribulatio? an angustia? an fames? an nuditas? an periculum? an persecutio? an gladius? [Rom. Viii. 35]

[3] …  no man shall pluck them out of my hand. ... et non peribunt in aeternum, et non rapiet eas quisquam de manu mea. ...: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father. ... : et nemo potest rapere de manu Patris mei. I and the Father are one. Ego et Pater unum sumus. [Ioann. x. 28] 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.