St. Augustine: On the Psalms, Volume 2

Top Highlights

“Therefore either ‘There is no God,’ and this is the language of the godless man, who is displeased when something contrary to his own wishes befalls himself and not another man to whom he considers himself superior; or else ‘God is unjust, since He is content with such things and does them’: or else ‘God does not rule over human affairs; He cares nothing at all about the whole business.’ All three opinions are the height of wickedness, since they either deny God’s existence, or accuse Him of injustice, or deprive Him of the government of the universe.” (Pages 93–94)

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?²¹ What did He mean us to understand, but that this Psalm refers to Him in its entirety, since He Himself uttered the opening words?²² Where, again, it goes on to speak of the words of my sins, the voice is undoubtedly that of Christ. How sins, I ask, unless sins of His Body which is the Church?” (Pages 335–336)

“Conveys into its own body; for whatever we eat, we transfer into our own body. This the Church does in regard to the saints: she hungers for those she desires to gain, and those she has in any way gained, she in a certain way consumes. Peter played this part, when a vessel was let down from heaven before him, full of all kinds of four-footed beasts, creeping things and fowls of the air, by which kinds of things are signified all peoples. The Lord was thus foretelling the Church, which was to make all peoples her food and convert them into her own body; thus He said to Peter, Kill and eat.¹⁸ O Church (that is, Peter, for upon this rock will I build my Church¹⁹), kill and eat; first kill, and then eat; destroy their being and build up your own.” (Pages 32–33)