Saint Augustine (354-430)
Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church Discourses on the psalms, Ps 109 (trans. breviary 2nd Wednesday of Advent) |
« All the prophets and the Law prophesied up to the time of John» (Mt 11:13)
| God fixed a time for his promises, and a time for fulfilling what he had promised. The period of his promises was from the time of the prophets up to John the Baptist; and the period for fulfilling what he had promised is from John and henceforward to the end. God is faithful: he made himself our debtor not by accepting anything from us, but by promising us such great blessings. The promise was not enough; he even chose to be bound by writing, creating for us a kind of bond for his promises; so that when he began to fulfil his promises, we might contemplate in scripture the order of their accomplishment. The period of prophecy, therefore, as we have before now frequently said, was the announcement of the promises. |
| He promised everlasting salvation, and an unending life of blessedness with the angels, an unfading inheritance (1Pt 1:4), everlasting glory, his own dear face, his sanctuary in heaven, and, by the resurrection of the dead, no further fear of death. This is, as it were, his final promise, towards which all our endeavors tend, and after we have received it, we shall seek nothing more, demand nothing more. |
| Nor has he passed over in silence in his promises and prophecies how that final state will be reached. He promised has us the divine nature: to mortals, immortality; to sinners, justification; to castaways, a state of glory. |
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