{"id":8416,"date":"2014-10-31T09:09:36","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T08:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/?p=8416"},"modified":"2014-10-31T09:09:36","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T08:09:36","slug":"mine-upholder-lest-i-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2014\/10\/mine-upholder-lest-i-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Mine Upholder, lest I fall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"agostino\"From the Commentary on Psalm 143 by St Augustine, Bishop & Doctor<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBlessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands for battle, my fingers for war\u201d.\u00a0 These are our words, if we be the Body of Christ.<\/strong>\u00a0 It seems a repetition of sentiment; our hands for battle, and our fingers for war, are the same.\u00a0 Or is there some difference between hands and fingers?\u00a0 Certainly both hands and fingers work.\u00a0 Not then without reason do we take fingers as put for hands.\u00a0 But still in the fingers we recognise the division of operation, yet still a sort of unity.\u00a0 Behold that grace!\u00a0 The Apostle says, \u201cTo one, this; to another, that; there are diversities of operations; all these works one and the self-same Spirit; there is the root of unity.\u201d\u00a0 With these fingers then the Body of Christ fights, going forth to war, going forth to battle.<\/p>\n

By works of mercy our enemy is conquered, and we could not have works of mercy unless we had charity, and charity we could have none unless we received it by the Holy Ghost; he then teaches our hands for battle, and our fingers for war: to him rightfully do we say, \u201cMy Mercy\u201d, from whom we have also that we are merciful<\/strong>: for he shall have judgment without mercy, that has showed no mercy.\u00a0 \u201cMy Mercy and my Refuge, my Upholder and my Deliverer!\u201d\u00a0 Much toils this combatant, having his flesh lusting against his spirit.\u00a0 Keep what you have.\u00a0 Then shall you have in full what you wish, when death shall have been swallowed up in victory; when this mortal body has been raised, and is changed into the condition of the angels, and rises aloft to a heavenly quality.<\/p>\n

There is life, there are good days, where nought lusts against the spirit, where it is not said, \u201cFight\u201d, but \u201cRejoice\u201d.\u00a0 But who is he that lusts for these days?\u00a0 Every man certainly says, \u201cI do\u201d.\u00a0 Hear what follows.\u00a0 I see that you are toiling, I see that you are engaged in battle, and in danger; hear what follows: \u201cDepart from evil, and do good\u201d: let not the poor first weep under you, that the poor may rejoice through you.\u00a0 For what reward, since now you are fighting?\u00a0 \u201cSeek peace, and ensue it.\u201d\u00a0 Learn and say, \u201cMy Mercy and my Refuge, mine Upholder and my Deliverer, my Protector\u201d: mine Upholder, lest I fall; my Deliverer, lest I stick; my Protector, lest I be stricken.\u00a0 In all these things, in all my toil, in all my battles, in all my difficulties, in him have I hoped, who subdues my people under me.\u00a0 Behold, our Head speaks together with us<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Commentary on Psalm 143 by St Augustine, Bishop & Doctor \u201cBlessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands for battle, my fingers for war\u201d.\u00a0 These are our words, if we be the Body of Christ.\u00a0 It seems a repetition of sentiment; our hands for battle, and our fingers for war, are <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[178],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-florilegium-patristicum"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-2bK","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8418,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8416\/revisions\/8418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}