Verse 9
And unto his saints: and unto them that are converted to the heart.
et super sanctos suos, et in eos qui convertuntur ad cor.
He now explains what he said, “ unto his people;”
[see verse 8 above] for God promises peace to His people, but not to all : for in the people of God there are good and bad; but peace is not for the bad, but for the good : “Much peace have they that love thy law,”
Ps. cxviii;
[1] and “There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord,”
Isai. xlviii.
[2] The following words explain who they are to whom peace is promised: “And unto them that are converted to the heart.” For holiness begins, and in consequence peace too begins, when man turns from external to interior things, whence it is said: “Return, ye transgressors, to the heart,”
Isai. xlvi.;
[3] and concerning the prodigal son, it is said in Luke xv. : “And returning to himself.”
[4] For a man begins to return to himself, or to return to his heart, when he starts to reflect within himself on the vanity of temporal things, and on how short-lived and superficial is the pleasure of sin; and, in contrast, how great is the
nobility of virtue, how immense is the value of eternal goods : but in a little while a man progresses when he starts to live with himself and, concerning things outside himself, he does not believe the judgement of the external senses, nor the discourses of the children of this world; but, returning to his heart, he consults right reason about all things, he consults divinely inspired faith, he consults truth itself, which is God. Finally, that man is truly converted to the heart, and he begins to savour the peace (of God) that surpasseth all understanding,
[5] who raises a tabernacle to God in his heart, and rises on the wings of contemplation from the image,
[6] which is the rational soul, to the originating reality, which is God : and there, beholding the infinite beauty of the Creator, he is
so enraptured and inflamed by his love that he considers all things other than God to be as nothing, and he cleaves so closely to God in the bond of charity that inwardly he forgets other things. No pressure of the world can disturb the peace of a man so disposed. But let us come to the words used. The Latin codex seems to be consonant neither with the Hebrew nor the Greek. The Hebrew codex has,
And unto his saints, and they will not return unto (their) folly, but the Greek has,
And unto his saints, and unto them who turn in their heart unto him. But the reading in our Latin Vulgate edition is most ancient, and St. Jerome follows it in his text, and in his Commentary of the Psalms; as does St. Bernard in his sermon on these words: “I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me;” and there is no discrepancy : for to be converted to the heart and to convert/turn the heart to God, mean the same thing; indeed, he who is converted to the heart, ceases to heed external and visible things, which are transitory, and begins to contemplate interior and invisible things, which are eternal, and among which God has pride of place; and so converted to the heart and not converted or returning to (their) folly, they can be received on account of this.Nor is it difficult, for anyone desiring so to do, to reconcile the Hebrew with the Latin : for the Hebrew word signifying
non / not, can be read as
el / in, with the alteration of only one point; so too the word
lechislah, meaning
ad stultitiam / to (their) folly, can be read as
leb sela, meaning heart; for the word
selah is found throughout the Psalms and means either nothing or always, depending on what the context requires, or it means something not known to us, whence it is omitted by translators. Accordingly, the Hebrew words can be rendered thus:
And in those who are converted in heart or to the heart, for ever.[1] Much peace have they that love thy law, and to them there is no stumbling block. Pax multa diligentibus legem tuam, et non est illis scandalum. [Ps. cxviii. 165]
[2] There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord. Non est pax impiis, dicit Dominus. [Isai. xlviii. 22]
[3] Remember this, and be ashamed: return, ye transgressors, to the heart. Mementote istud, et confundamini; redite, praevaricatores, ad cor. [Isai. xlvi. 8]
[4] And returning to himself, he said: How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger? In se autem reversus, dixit : Quanti mercenarii in domo patris mei abundant panibus, ego autem hic fame pereo! [Luc. xv. 17]
[5] And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Et pax Dei, quae exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. [Philipp. iv. 7]
[6] Vide: And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Et pax Dei, quae exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. [Gen. i. 7]
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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