Psalms 146:2

From the words of this psalm, which we have just sung, may the Lord grant that we might be able to speak to you. For we have said: I will praise the Lord in my life; I will sing psalms to my God as long as I live. With these words, let us first remind your Charity that when you hear or say as long as I live, I will sing psalms to my God, do not think that when this life ends, the praise of God will end for us. For we will praise Him even more then, when we live without end. For if we praise in the pilgrimage from which we depart, how much more will we praise in the house from which we will never depart? As is said and read and sung in another psalm: Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they will praise you forever and ever. Where you hear: forever and ever, there is no end. And to live a blessed life, where God is undoubtedly seen, is to be loved without offense, to be praised without end; this will indeed be our life, to see God, to love Him, to praise Him. If therefore we praise when we believe, how will we praise when we see? How will sight praise, if faith praises so? For the Apostle says: As long as we are in the body, we are pilgrims from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by sight. Now therefore by faith, then by sight. Now we believe what we do not see, then we will see what we believed. The one who believes is not ashamed, because it is true what he will see. But our Lord first built faith in us, where, if the reward of faith is given, it should not be sought prematurely.

But who saith it, and to whom saith he it? What shall we say, brethren? Is it the flesh that saith, "Praise thou the Lord, O my soul"? And can the flesh suggest good counsel to the soul? However much the flesh be conquered, and subjected as a servant to us through strength which the Lord imparteth, that it serve us entirely as a bond slave, enough for us that it hinder us not. ...For the body, inasmuch as it is the body, is even beneath the soul; and every soul, however vile, is found more excellent than the most excellent body. And let not this seem to you to be wonderful, that even any vile and sinful soul is better than any great and most surpassing body. It is better, not in deserts, but in nature. The soul indeed is sinful, is stained with certain defilements of lusts; yet gold, though rusted, is better than the most polished lead. Let your mind then run over every part of creation, and ye will see that what we are saying is not incredible, that a soul, however blameable, is yet more praiseworthy than a praiseworthy body. There are two things, a soul and a body. The soul I chide, the body I praise: the soul I chide, because it is sinful; the body I praise, because it is sound. Yet it is in its own kind that I praise the soul, and in its own kind that I blame the soul: and so in its own kind I praise the body, or blame it. If you ask me which is better, what I have blamed or what I have praised, wondrous is the answer thou wilt receive. ...So you speak of the best horse and the worst man: yet thou preferrest the man thou findest fault with to the horse thou praisest. The nature of the soul is more excellent than the nature of the body: it surpasseth it by far, it is a thing spiritual, incorporeal, akin to the substance of God. […]

Herein I will have an eye to him as the Lord, infinitely blessed and glorious in himself, and as my God, in covenant with me." Praise is most pleasant when, in praising God, we have an eye to him as ours, whom we have an interest in and stand in relation to.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

While I live will I praise the Lord,....

While I live will I praise the Lord. I shall not live here for ever. This mortal life will find a finis in death; but while it lasts I will laud the Lord my God. I cannot tell how long or short my life may be; but every hour of it shall be given to the praises of my God. While I live I'll love; and while I breathe I'll bless. It is but for a while, and I will not while that time away in idleness, but consecrate it to that same service which shall occupy eternity. As our life is the gift of God's mercy, it should be used for his glory. I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. When I am no longer in being on earth, I hope to have a higher being in heaven, and there I will not only praise, but sing praises. Here I have to sigh and praise, but there I shall only sing and praise. This "while I have any being" will be a great while, but the whole of it shall be filled up with adoration; for the glorious Jehovah is my God, my own God by covenant, and by blood relationship in Christ Jesus. I have no being apart from my God, therefore, I will not attempt to enjoy my being otherwise than by singing to his honour. Twice the Psalmist says "I will"; here first thoughts and second thoughts are alike good. We cannot be too firm in the holy resolve to praise God, for it is the chief end of our living and being that we should glorify God and enjoy him for ever.