Fathers

Psalms 42

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As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 42:10

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"They who trouble me cast me in the teeth." Again that voice! "While they say daily unto me, Where is your God?" [Psalm 42:10]. And it is principally in the temptations of the Church they say this, "Where is your God?" How much was this cast in the teeth of the Martyrs! Those men so patient and courageous for the name of Christ, how often was it said to them, "Where is your God?" "Let Him deliver you, if He can." For men saw their torments outwardly; they did not inwardly behold their crowns! …

Exposition on Psalm 42 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

The cause of the sorrow or its effect is "while my bones are broken." The bones of the Church are the strong ones, such as prelates and perfect men. And sometimes through temporal adversaries, sometimes through temptations, they are afflicted. Ps. 22: "They have numbered all my bones." In every man, each virtue is like a certain bone; and if it happens that the just chaste man falls, his bone is broken. "They have reproached." Here he treats of the cause of the sadness he suffers from injurious words. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗