Bellarmine on Psalm 112 : Verses 6, 7 & 8 (conclusion)

Verses 6 & 7

Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill: That he may place him with princes, with the princes of his people.

Suscitans a terra inopem, et de stercore erigens pauperem : ut collocet eum cum principibus, cum principibus populi sui.

He reveals why God looks upon the humble: and he says that God does this to exalt them.  Although this can be applied to those men raised up by God from the lowest depths to the heights, such as Joseph the patriarch, Moses, David and other such like, yet these two verses are most apt for the (whole) human race, that is, the whole of the little flock of the elect, to whom the Saviour says in Luke xii: “Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom,”[1] for the human race lay prostrate on the earth, on the dunghill of original sin and the miseries resulting therefrom; and yet God seated in heaven looks upon the earth, and He raises up man, despoiled by robbers and left for dead, so that He can place him “with princes:” and not with just any princes but with “the princes of his people,” the possessors of the heavenly Jerusalem who share in the heavenly kingdom. For being raised out of the temporal poverty (of this world), even if this seems a great thing to us, is in fact of little significance and scarcely counts as being raised up, since the things of the earthly kingdom are perishable, handed to us for our use, and carrying an obligation to render an account for them at the day of judgement; they are bound up with a great affliction of the spirit, and risk the loss of eternal salvation. But being raised up from the state of sin and death to the state of glory and blessed immortality, to equality with the angels, to sharing in the community of that good which makes God Himself blessed, this is the true and the truly great raising up or exaltation, which is most greatly to be sought.

[1] Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom. Nolite timere pusillus grex, quia complacuit Patri vestro dare vobis regnum. [Luke xii. 32]

Verse 8

Who maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children.

Qui habitare facit sterilem in domo, matrem filiorum laetantem.

In the same way that the condition of being lowly and despised is (considered) a misfortune among men, so is barrenness among women. But just as God looks upon men who are humble, so that He may raise them from the lowest position up into His kingdom, so too He looks upon women who are humble, so that He may lead them from barrenness to fertility. This can be applied to several women, such as Sara, Rebecca, Rachel, Anne and others. But in a higher sense it refers to the Church assembled from the gentiles, that for a long time remained barren, but who in her old age bore numerous children, as the Apostle says in Gal. iv, taken from Isai. liv: “Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not: break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband.”[1] This is relevant to the words: “Who maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house,” where the word “house” is read as referring to a family or an abundance of children, so that the sense is: Who makes the barren woman, who lives alone, dwell surrounded by her children, in a great family. This is explained by the words that follow: “the joyful mother of children.” This is explained by the words that follow: “the joyful mother of children;” for to dwell in a house is to be the mother of children, and by reason of this, for the woman who was sorrowful because of barrenness and loneliness to be joyful because of the multitude of her children.

[1]   For it is written: Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not: break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband. Scriptum est enim : Laetare sterilis, quae non paris; erumpe et clama, quae non parturis : quia multi filii desertae, magis quam ejus quae habet virum. [Gal. iv. 27]   

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.