Desire and Petition

He calls the one possessing it by the name of possession. And I say indeed also concerning the one possessing love that it benefits. And it benefits by that benefit which love provides. If therefore I say that the holy one says this, such as the hymnodist, not separating the Holy Spirit from the one possessing it, nor do I say that the one possessing it says these things apart from the Holy Spirit. If then 'David in the Holy Spirit calls him Lord' (Ps 37:4), so also it is as a partaking, not being severed from the partaker, just as knowledge is not without the knower.

And 'he will rejoice exceedingly in your salvation' (Ps 103:5). The king, just as he is gladdened by power, so also rejoices exceedingly over salvation. And salvation and power are the same, being understood according to one or another conception. Power is that which sustains all things and leads all things thus as it thinks. So also it is salvation; for what he does, he does for the sake of salvation—what he does in men, he does for the sake of the salvation of men.

You gave him the desire of his soul. You know that the word 'himself' denotes authority, not merely the things adjacent. The desire of the soul is bad when, assuming a bad soul, one says 'soul'. But when I say that the soul itself has desire, I speak of its essential desire. The one using desire in this way sees nothing of the bad things, but of the good things; for he received the desiring faculty and the desire, so that he might pursue the beautiful things, so that he might enjoy the profitable things. If, therefore, it happens that he is a lover of silver of wealth, he did not receive the desire of his own soul, but the desire of the lover of silver. Great, therefore, is the happening of the desire of the soul, without adding 'the bad' to it. Indeed, in another psalm he also says: 'the one filling your desire with good things' (Ps 144:11). He speaks to the soul. It has been said to us many times in other places that adjacent words do not make an antithesis. If I say, 'the desire of the soul is good,' and again I say, 'the desire of the righteous is good,' the adjacent words do not make an antithesis. But if I say, 'the desire that is shameful, the desire that is evil, the desire of the unrighteous,' an antithesis is made. That desire is not simply of the soul, but of such a soul. Therefore, the adjacent words sometimes agree, and sometimes they contend and make an antithesis. Thus indeed it is said: 'every desire of a righteous man is good.'

There is no distinction between the desire of a righteous soul and the desire of a soul without addition. And he did not withhold the will of their lips, and this appears even regarding the sensible. If I say now: 'so much as a father desires his children to live well', because I have made a memory of a father, I want them to live well. But if I say: 'an evil father wants his children to do such things', I have removed paternal compassion. 'With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you' (Luke 22:15). And the 'with desire' and 'I have desired' is in such a way as: 'rightly I pursued the righteous', the worthy of being desired. And there is sometimes to desire and also the unworthy of being desired, as it says: 'passion, an evil desire'. An evil desire is not a thing to be desired, just as a pseudo-good is not called heretical, even if some call it so.

3 And he did not withhold his lips' petition from him. If the word is about the one from Mary, it is clear that he brings a petition for those for whom he has come to save. You have indeed: 'wherefore also he is able to save to the perfection, always living to intercede for them'. 6 He always lives in interceding. And take 'always' thus: as much as they need, entreating and mediating. 'And if anyone sins, we have a counselor toward the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous' (1 John 2:1). And since the others also run to the teacher with this haste, they also want to intercede for those for whom they were entrusted, not setting their own prior intercession, but following the justification of the one calling them to imitation. According to all the rewards of the king, it is necessary to be careful not to be deprived of his petition. For example, when we speak about the one ruling sensorially, saying that the petition of his lips was not withheld, but it happened in the outcome, we signify his praise. Even if we speak about the saints—for they too are called kings—and there is great praise for them, it is when their petition is well-received. For 'the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears to their petition' (Psalm 34:15), and: 'he hearkens to the prayers of the righteous' (Psalm 34:17).

3 Dipsalmos. 10 The 'dipsalmos' is found nowhere, neither in the Hebrew scriptures, especially in the Psalms. But this also lies in the song of Habakkuk. Those knowing the dialect are able to say what it means.