Scripture
Psalms 49 · Psalms 52 · Psalms 59 · Psalms 74
Deus deorum. The coming of Christ: who prefers virtue and inward purity before the blood of victims.
1 A psalm for Asaph. The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken: and he hath called the earth. From the rising of the sun, to the going down thereof:
2 Out of Sion the loveliness of his beauty.
3 God shall come manifestly: our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall burn before him: and a mighty tempest shall be round about him.
4 He shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge his people.
5 Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before sacrifices.
6 And the heavens shall declare his justice: for God is judge.
7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak: O Israel, and I will testify to thee: I am God, thy God.
8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices: and thy burnt offerings are always in my sight.
9 I will not take calves out of thy house: nor he goats out of thy flocks.
10 For all the beasts of the woods are mine: the cattle on the hills, and the oxen.
11 I know all the fowls of the air: and with me is the beauty of the field.
12 If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13 Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God the sacrifice of praise: and pay thy vows to the most High.
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
16 But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth?
17 Seeing thou hast hated discipline: and hast cast my words behind thee.
18 If thou didst see a thief thou didst run with him: and with adulterers thou hast been a partaker.
19 Thy mouth hath abounded with evil, and thy tongue framed deceits.
20 Sitting thou didst speak against thy brother, and didst lay a scandal against thy mother’s son:
21 These things hast thou done, and I was silent. Thou thoughtest unjustly that I should be like to thee: but I will reprove thee, and set before thy face.
22 Understand these things, you that forget God; lest he snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you.
23 The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: and there is the way by which I will shew him the salvation of God.
Dixit insipiens. The general corruption of man before the coming of Christ.
1 Unto the end, for Maeleth, understandings to David. The fool said in his heart: There is no God.
2 They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities: there is none that doth good.
3 God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God.
4 All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one.
5 Shall not all the workers of iniquity know, who eat up my people as they eat bread?
6 They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them.
7 Who will give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when God shall bring back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
Deus, repulisti nos. After many afflictions, the church of Christ shall prevail.
1 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the inscription of a title, to David himself, for doctrine,
2 When he set fire to Mesopotamia of Syria and Sobal: and Joab returned and slew of Edom, in the vale of the saltpits, twelve thousand men.
3 O God, thou hast cast us off, and hast destroyed us; thou hast been angry, and hast had mercy on us.
4 Thou hast moved the earth, and hast troubled it: heal thou the breaches thereof, for it has been moved.
5 Thou hast shewn thy people hard things; thou hast made us drink the wine of sorrow.
6 Thou hast given a warning to them that fear thee: that they may flee from before the bow: That thy beloved may be delivered.
7 Save me with thy right hand, and hear me.
8 God hath spoken in his holy place: I will rejoice, and I will divide Sichem; and will mete out the vale of tabernacles.
9 Galaad is mine, and Manasses is mine: and Ephraim is the strength of my head. Juda is my king:
10 Moab is the pot of my hope. Into Edom will I stretch out my shoe: to me the foreigners are made subject.
11 Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?
12 Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go out with our armies?
13 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the salvation of man.
14 Through God we shall do mightily: and he shall bring to nothing them that afflict us.
Confitebimur tibi. There is a just judgment to come: therefore let the wicked take care.
1 Unto the end, corrupt not, a psalm of a canticle for Asaph.
2 We will praise thee, O God: we will praise, and we will call upon thy name. We will relate thy wondrous works:
3 When I shall take a time, I will judge justices.
4 The earth is melted, and all that dwell therein: I have established the pillars thereof.
5 I said to the wicked: Do not act wickedly: and to the sinners: Lift not up the horn.
6 Lift not up your horn on high: speak not iniquity against God.
7 For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert hills:
8 For God is the judge. One he putteth down, and another he lifteth up:
9 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink.
10 But I will declare for ever: I will sing to the God of Jacob.
11 And I will break all the horns of sinners: but the horns of the just shall be exalted.
Catechism
Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part 2, Chapter 1, Sections 47-48
Third Effect Of Baptism: Grace Of Regeneration
But to return to the effects of Baptism, it should be taught that by virtue of this Sacrament we are not only delivered from what are justly deemed the greatest of all evils, but are also enriched with invaluable goods and blessings. Our souls are replenished with divine grace, by which we are rendered just and children of God and are made heirs to eternal salvation. For it is written: He that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved, and the Apostle testifies that the Church is cleansed by the laver of water in the word of life. Now according to the definition of the Council of Trent, which under pain of anathema we are bound to believe, grace not only remits sin, but is also a divine quality inherent in the soul, and, as it were, a brilliant light that effaces all those stains which obscure the lustre of the soul, investing it with increased brightness and beauty. This is also a clear inference from the words of Scripture when it says that grace is poured forth, and also when it usually calls grace, the pledge of the Holy Ghost.
Fourth Effect Of Baptism: Infused Virtues And Incorporation With Christ
This grace is accompanied by a most splendid train of all virtues, which are divinely infused into the soul along with grace. Hence, when writing to Titus, the Apostle says: He saved us by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost, whom he hath poured forth upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. St. Augustine, in explanation of the words, poured forth abundantly, says: that is, for the remission of sins and for abundance of virtues.
By Baptism we are also united to Christ, as members to their Head. As therefore from the head proceeds the power by which the different members of the body are moved to the proper performance of their respective functions, so from the fullness of Christ the Lord are diffused divine grace and virtue through all those who are justified, qualifying them for the performance of all the duties of Christian piety.
Why The Practice Of Virtue Is Difficult Even After Baptism
Though we are thus supported by a powerful array of virtues, it should not excite our surprise if we cannot, without much labor and difficulty, undertake, or at least, perform acts of piety and of moral virtue. If this is so, it is not because the goodness of God has not bestowed on us the virtues from which these good works proceed; but because there still remains after Baptism a severe conflict of the flesh against the spirit, in which, however, it would not become a Christian to be dispirited or grow faint.
Relying on the divine goodness we should confidently hope that by a constant habit of leading a holy life the time will come when whatever things are modest, whatever just, whatever holy, will also prove easy and agreeable. Let these be the subjects of our willing consideration, the objects of our cheerful practice, that the God of peace may be with us.