Bellarmine on Psalm 127 : Verse 3

Verse 3

Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of thy house.

Uxor tua sicut vitis abundans, in lateribus domus tuae;

This is the second blessing[1] for the man who fears God and who walks “in the ways of the Lord,” that should he perchance wish to take a wife, he should take only one, and he should take her not to satisfy his lust but for the begetting of children, as the Angel instructed Tobias, saying : “Thou shalt take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, moved rather for love of children than for lust.”[2] and in fact Tobias himself said : “Lord, thou knowest, that not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, but only for the love of posterity.”[3] The Prophet therefore says : “Thy wife,” (not wives and not thy concubines), “as a fruitful vine,” that is, bearing many children, as a fruitful vine bears many clusters, “on the sides of thy house,” that is, remaining indoors, modest and chaste, she reflects on taking care of affairs inside the house, while the man takes care of things outside. St. Jerome translates this as in the innermost parts of the house, since here it is a question of the internal side of the house. Now although this is certainly a blessing,

yet in order that we may know it is not a (uniquely) great blessing, God did not actually give it to a number of His great friends, including the married, such as Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca, Zacharias and Elizabeth; and the many others He inspired with a desire for and intention of maintaining holy virginity, as is believed to have been the case with the holy Prophets Elias and Jeremias, and is known to have been the case with the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph and others almost without number; God would certainly not have deprived these of the blessing of carnal union and fruitfulness if virginity were not far and away a more excellent gift. 

Moreover, the holy men who were not married, or whose lot it was to have no children, were not actually deprived of (the gift of) fruitfulness but enjoyed it in a different and incomparably superior way. Christ is the foremost example of this for, as the head of all the saints, He did not have a wife in the flesh, nor children in the flesh, but He had the Church as His spouse and spiritual offspring without number. In the same way, Abraham had only one son by Sara, but through faith he was made the father of many nations; for all the faithful are said by the Apostle to be the children of Abraham;[4] and what is remarkable is that these holy men are not only the fathers but also the mothers of those they convert to faith or to penance : for they are fathers by reason of preaching by word and example, and mothers by praying and sighing for them. The same Apostle calls himself father in I Cor. iv, when he says : “I write not these things to confound you; but I admonish you as my dearest children. For if you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many (are) fathers. For in Christ Jesus, by the gospel, I have begotten you.”[5] Elsewhere, he calls himself mother, when he says in Gal. iv : “My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you.”[6] Now, if it is possible to assign a father and a mother to children in a spiritual sense, although the children are begotten and born to the same man, we may say that the father is love of God and neighbour, and the mother is wisdom; for it is truly love that begets children; but it begets them through wisdom when, speaking wisely and explaining the Scriptures, through its power of persuasion it brings its listeners to faith or to repentance. For it is written thus of wisdom: “Her have I loved, and have sought her out from my youth, and have desired to take her for my spouse, and I became a lover of her beauty.”[7]

[1] See Commentary on verse 2 for first blessing.

[2] And when the third night is past, thou shalt take the virgin with the fear of the Lord, moved rather for love of children than for lust, that in the seed of Abraham thou mayst obtain a blessing in children. Transacta autem tertia nocte, accipies virginem cum timore Domini, amore filiorum magis quam libidine ductus, ut in semine Abrahae benedictionem in filiis consequaris. [Tobias vi 22]

[3] And now, Lord, thou knowest, that not for fleshly lust do I take my sister to wife, but only for the love of posterity, in which thy name may be blessed for ever and ever. Et nunc Domine, tu scis quia non luxuriae causa accipio sororem meam conjugem, sed sola posteritatis dilectione, in qua benedicatur nomen tuum in saecula saeculorum. [Tobias viii 9] 

[4] Romans iv 16.

[5] I write not these things to confound you; but I admonish you as my dearest children. For if you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, by the gospel, I have begotten you. Non ut confundam vos, haec scribo, sed ut filios meos carissimos moneo.  Nam si decem millia paedagogorum habeatis in Christo, sed non multos patres. Nam in Christo Jesu per Evangelium ego vos genui.

[6] My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you. Filioli mei, quos iterum parturio, donec formetur Christus in vobis : [Gal. iv. 19] 

[7] Her have I loved, and have sought her out from my youth, and have desired to take her for my spouse, and I became a lover of her beauty. Hanc amavi, et exquisivi a juventute mea, et quaesivi sponsam mihi eam assumere, et amator factus sum formae illius. [Wisdom viii 2]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.