Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 44:18

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Our heart has not turned back; and Thou hast turned aside our goings out of Thy way" (ver. 18). See here is "understanding," in that "our heart has not gone back;" that we have not "forgotten Thee, have not behaved frowardly in Thy covenant;" placed as we are in great tribulations, and persecutions of the Gentiles. "Thou hast turned aside our goings out of Thy way." Our "goings" were in the pleasures of the world; our "goings" were in the midst of temporal prosperities. …

ON THE PSALMS, Psalm 44 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Likewise they are stable in the good works of justice, which proceed from an upright heart; and therefore he says, "Our heart has not turned back," through the abandonment of charity. Lk. 9: "No one putting his hand to the plow," etc. Is. 1: "They are turned away backward," namely sinners. But the charity of the martyrs was in no way diminished, as regards the works themselves. And he says, "Nor have you turned aside our steps from your way"; as if to say: you have not permitted our actions to turn aside from the way of your justice. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗