How does the Holy Bible invite us, along with all nations, to extol and praise?

The Holy Bible invites all nations to shout joyfully and praise (Ps. 47:1; 98:4), so that all the earth may be transformed into a heaven that rejoices in the Lord. This invitation is especially directed to the upright in heart (Ps. 32:11; 33:1), and addressed to every believer as a personal gift (Ps. 9:2). A believer feels that all is proceeding as it should, not when he enjoys good health or achieves success in some endeavor, but when he realizes that he has

120 St. Jerome, Homily 20 on Ps. 90(91) (FOTC 48:160).

121 Dr. Adnan Tarabulsi: Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew by St. John Chrysostom (1996): p. 5.

122 Pastor Augustine of Paromeos, St. Jacob of Sarug (1988): p. 27.

123

St. Jacob of Sarug, Memre 66 on the tree of knowledge of good and evil, alms and poverty (see the text of Paul Bedjan and Dr. Behnam Sony).

124 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Statues 1.1 (NPNF I/9:331).

125 Pastor Augustine of Paromeos: St. Jacob of Sarug (1988): p. 27.

acquired God, the source of satisfaction, wisdom, joy, and praise. Then his heart cries out every morning, “Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Let the Gentiles be glad and greatly rejoice” (Ps. 67:3, 4 LXX).

St. Basil the Great says, “‘Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful’ (Ps. 33:1). The voice of exultation is familiar in the Scripture, signifying a very bright and happy state of soul in those deserving of happiness. ‘Rejoice,’ therefore, ‘in the Lord, O you righteous,’ not when the interests of your home are flourishing, not when you are in good health of body, not when your fields are filled with all sorts of fruits, but, when you have the Lord — such immeasurable Beauty, Goodness, Wisdom. Let the joy that is in Him suffice for you. He who rejoices with joy and happiness in anything that is much desired, seems thus to rejoice in Him.”¹²⁶

This is what the Psalmist meant, who sang before the coming of the Savior, “ Your salvation is among all nations ” (Ps. 67:2); and what filled the heart of Simeon the Elder with joy, when he took Him up in his arms and praised Him saying, “For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples ” (Luke 2:30–31).

St. Augustine says, “Listen to the following phrase, how he does not speak of a part: ‘Let all the peoples praise You’ (Ps. 67:3). Walk along the way together with all nations; walk along the way with all peoples, O sons of peace, sons of the one Catholic Church. Walk along the way, looking forward, as you walk … even those who fear thieves sing (on the way). How much better, that while you are safe, you sing in Christ! This path has no thieves; but if you stray from the path, then you shall fall into the hands of thieves.”¹²⁷

Patriarch Anthimus of Jerusalem says, “David the Prophet calls upon all people to repent and to confess the beneficence of God. His saying, ‘ All the peoples ’ (Ps. 67:5), contains a prophecy that he would offer to God the sacrifice of praise and prayer everywhere, not only with the Jews and in Jerusalem.”¹²⁸

It behooves us, the faithful, that our hearts rejoice always in the Lord. St. John Chrysostom says, “‘ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.’ (Col. 3:16) … Look at how St. Paul the Apostle is considerate to the feelings of others: seeing that reading is toilsome, and its irksomeness great, he led them not to histories, but to psalms, that you might at once delight your soul with singing, and gently entertain your friends. ‘Hymns,’ he says, ‘and spiritual songs.’ But now your children will utter songs and dances of Satan, like cooks, and caterers, and musicians; no one knows any

126 St. Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms 15.1 (FOTC 46:227), amended.

127 St. Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms 67.6 (NPNF I/8:283), amended.

128 See Anthimus of Jerusalem, Tafsīr al-Zabūr al-Ilāhī al-sharīf (Commentary on the Divine, Honorable Psalms) (Fiyīnnā, 1792).

psalm, but it seems a thing to be ashamed of even, a mockery, and a joke. There is the treasure house of all these evils …

“Teach him [your son] to sing those psalms which are so full of the love of wisdom; as at once concerning chastity or rather, of not complying with the wicked, immediately with the very beginning of the book [of Psalms] …

“When he has been instructed out of the Psalms, he will then know hymns also, as a more divine thing. For the Powers above chant hymns, not psalms. For ‘a hymn,’ says one, ‘is not comely in the mouth of a sinner’ (Sir. 15:9) …

“What is the hymn of those above? The Faithful know. What do the cherubim above say? What say the Angels? ‘Glory to God in the highest!’ (Ps. 112:5) Therefore after the [Psalms] come the hymns, as a thing of more perfection …

“And even if you are in the marketplace, you can collect yourself and sing unto God, no one hears you. For Moses also in this way, prayed, and was heard, for He said: ‘Why do you cry unto Me?’ (Ex. 14:15); although he said nothing, he cried in thought — wherefore also God alone heard him — with a contrite heart. For it is not forbidden one even when walking to pray in his heart, and to dwell [in thought] above.”¹²⁹