Fathers

Psalms 38

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O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee. My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off. They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long. But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs. For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me. For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin. But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is. Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 38:8

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"I am become feeble, and am bowed down greatly" [Psalm 38:8]. He who calls to mind the transcendent height of the Sabbath, sees how "greatly" he is himself "bowed down." For he who cannot conceive what is that height of rest, sees not where he is at present. …

Exposition on Psalm 38 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

"Afflicted." Here he sets forth the magnitude of the sorrow. And first he sets forth such magnitude. Second, he sets forth a sign of it, at "I roared." He posited two things regarding sorrow. The first, that he is saddened. The second, that he is bowed down. By the first he designates sorrow; by the second, dejection; and he must repeat these two here. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗

Bonaventure

For no one is in any way disposed to divine contemplations, which lead to mental transports, unless with Daniel he be a man of desires. But desires are inflamed in us in a twofold manner, namely through the cry of prayer, which makes one roar from the groaning of the heart, and through the brilliance of speculation, by which the mind turns itself most directly and most intensely toward the rays of light.

Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, Prologue ↗