The Prayer of the Helpless Man

Having come into the tranquility and stability of the mind from poured-out and disordered affections, they have entered Babylon having known God, whom God remembers, deserving of His remembrance when judged. The expansion may signify those coming from the east and west toward the kingdom (Ps 86:6).

Regarding the Church, not only the rulers but also the peoples have been inscribed into the citizenship of the heavenly city of the living God, having a registration upon the church of the firstborn who are written down in heaven, which only God is able to recount. For their registration has not happened from the mere collection of their names, but from that which reveals the quality of their soul, which only He Himself bears. And it is possible to learn from the opposite by the observer: in Jeremiah it has been written, 'Those having departed from the earth shall be written' (Jer 3:3). Just as those having departed and having become far from God are written upon the earth as the image of the worldly, surrounding themselves with earthly and material things and thinking of them, so those bearing the image of the heavenly and having citizenship in the heavens, being enregistered there, have been enrolled in the book of God.

Regarding 'For Ma'elah,' that is, for the dance or the chorale of the sons of Korah, for the understanding and for answering wisely to him who fears God and because of this truly becomes an Israelite. For their fear is interpreted as having all the divine fear and reverence, and to answer with understanding is proper for a wise listener while announcing the song with the dance and the divine chorale of the psalm.

'I have cried to You not only by day but also by night' (Ps 87:2,3), not occurring in solitude among the bright and pleasant things of life (it is impossible to be so by day), but also having been in the gloomy ones, containing a nocturnal state; having cried out in the day, so that the participation in the good things might remain for me, and in the night, so that when its end is coming out of the night, I might be able to rouse my spirit toward You. And it is possible to say more simply, similarly to what was said by the Savior: 'The Father will avenge His children who cry to Him day and night' (Luke 18:7). For he who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night and through it...

With works and disposition, he cries out to the God of his salvation day and night, at times asking for salvation, at others entreating that it might be preserved, which already exists. And the voice saying, 'Let my prayer enter before you' (Ps 88:4), speaks with much boldness toward God. For I ask such things as are profitable for me and appropriate for you and good to give (for I ask for the truly good things); let our prayer become in your hearing; for in this way you will also grant the responses I have requested, descending and inclining toward my cry; for in this way I have believed to be heard; therefore, O Lord, I cry out to you.

For many are the enemies lying in wait to tear my life into the pit (Ps 88:4), by whom my soul has been filled with despondency and evil struggles, that is, the indulgence of evil circumstances. The Holy Scripture calls the same place both the pit and the grave (Ps 88:5). The Savior himself, having become not a sinner, came for the salvation of those being slain to give a ransom, by the grace of God, having tasted death above all. For he alone died on behalf of all, and in this way he was counted among those descending into the pit.

For as each one rightly descends into the pit because of what he has done or thought, I was counted and numbered with them; not being led to this by the works of following, but by the Father's good pleasure and our will to be counted among those descending into the pit and being judged; not that I became arbitrarily and voluntarily as a helpless man, the likeness of which is not being raised to the man. 'Depart'; for he has become a man according to truth, and he says that to be like a man is not simply to be a man, but a helpless man. For being able not to suffer, not to be seized, and not to be bound, he gave himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

But even if he has become a helpless man voluntarily, as also to be cast into death, yet he is free among the dead. For among all those departing to the place of the dead, being led by some, not only the wicked but also the distinguished, Jesus alone has been emboldened to say, 'No one takes my soul from me; I lay it down from myself, so that I may take it again' (John 10:18). But what is the soul of all those by some into...