Bellarmine on Psalm LXXXIV: Verse 11

Verse 11

Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed.

Misericordia et veritas obviaverunt sibi; justitia et pax osculatae sunt.

The Prophet here introduces another mystery accomplished by the coming of the Messiah; namely mercy and justice, which seem to be opposites since one pardons and the other punishes,yet at the same time they seem to be 

connected. For it was to come to pass that, through Christ’s passion, the human race should be mercifully delivered and yet divine justice would be fully satisfied. “Mercy,” he says, “and truth have met each other,” that is, they met each other in the time of the Messiah, whereas in other times they moved in different directions. “Justice and peace have kissed,” that is, punitive justice, which was a little earlier called truth, and peace, (earlier) signified under the name of mercy, will be conjoined in closest friendship, and almost seem to embrace one another. This sense, which seems to me to be the literal sense, is developed elegantly by St. Bernard in Serm. 1 On the Annunciation. St. Jerome in his Commentary and St. Augustine both understand by mercy the mercy God showed to the Gentiles, to whom he gave a Saviour He had not promised; by truth, however, they understand justice, or fidelity, with which He presented to the Jews their Messiah, whom He had promised to their fathers, whence the Apostle says in Rom. xv. : “ For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers; but that the Gentiles are to glorify God for his mercy;”[1] so mercy and truth have met each other, because gentiles and Jews came together in the one Church, the former led through mercy, the latter through truth. By justice, which kisses peace, St. Augustine understands that justice which renders to each his due, from the observance of which peace arises, and, in the same way, the violation of which gives rise to war; and rightly he warns that men seek peace in vain when they refuse to embrace the justice of peace. Others interpret this verse in terms of the virtues, which flourished in the people at the time of the Messiah, or of those virtues outstanding in the Messiah Himself.

[1] For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. But that the Gentiles are to glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to thy name.  Dico enim Christum Jesum ministrum fuisse circumcisionis propter veritatem Dei, ad confirmandas promissiones patrum : gentes autem super misericordia honorare Deum, sicut scriptum est : Propterea confitebor tibi in gentibus, Domine, et nomini tuo cantabo. [Rom. xv. 8-9]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.