Bellarmine on Psalm 122 : Verses 2 & 3

Verse 2

Behold as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress: so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.

Ecce sicut oculi servorum in manibus dominorum suorum; sicut oculi ancillae in manibus dominae suae : ita oculi nostri ad Dominum Deum nostrum, donec misereatur nostri.

He explains why he has raised his eyes to God, so that God might look upon him being scourged and might be moved by the wretched sight to mercy, so as put an end to the scourging. He illustrates this with a similitude involving servants, who, when they are flogged by their masters, look sadly at the hands of those who are flogging them, seeking by their look to move their masters to mercy and to bring the punishment to an end. The words as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters are more clearly understood from the Hebrew, where it has unto the hands of their masters, and this corresponds to the (following) words:  “So are our eyes unto the Lord our God.” The same similitude is used not only with regard to servants but also to handmaids, because not only men but women too are on a journey to their heavenly homeland., and on this journey they are scourged; but because men are strong, they are properly called men; weak and delicate men may be said to be women; and both of these classes suffer their scourges on this (earthly) journey. In fact, the scourges by which God punishes men relate not only to manifest persecutions and calamities, but also to hidden temptations, by which the soul is constantly troubled, and the fears, griefs and sorrows from which no-one is spared in this life; the Psalm does not say there is a particular time to raise our eyes unto God, but rather *we should do this) without ceasing, “until He have mercy on us,” which will not come to pass until we arrive in our heavenly home; for then “God will crown us with mercy and compassion, when He will heal us from all our infirmities, and He will satisfy our desire with good things,” as it says in Ps. CII.[1]

[1] Who redeemeth thy life from destruction: who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion. Who satisfieth thy desire with good things: thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's. qui redimit de interitu vitam tuam, qui coronat te in misericordia et miserationibus; qui replet in bonis desiderium tuum : renovabitur ut aquilae juventus tua. [Psalm CII 4-5]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.