Fathers

Psalms 41

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Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil. Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive. He shall be blessed on the earth, and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies. Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness. I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.” My enemies speak evil against me: “When will he die, and his name perish?” If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it. All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the worst for me. “An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him. Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.” Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me. But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them. By this I know that you delight in me, because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me. As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set me in your presence forever. Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting! Amen and amen.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 41:4

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

But why this? Because He "scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." Why this? Because to men sinning was it said, "In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread." Therefore because all these chastisements, in which all our bed is turned in our infirmity, man ought to acknowledge that he suffers for sin; let him turn himself, and say what follows: "I said, Lord, be merciful unto me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee." O Lord, by tribulations do Thou exercise me; to be scourged Thou judgest every son whom Thou wilt receive, …

Exposition on Psalm 41 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

And because to the merciful mercy is owed, being conscious of his mercy, I ask for mercy. First, therefore, he asks for mercy absolutely; second he shows in what respect he especially asks for it; third he assigns the cause of the petition. He says therefore, "O Lord, I said, have mercy on me"; as if to say: I do not have recourse to justice, but to mercy, because our salvation is not in our own acts of justice. Is. 64: "All our acts of justice are like a polluted garment." But in what does he ask for mercy? …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗