Psalms 70:3

"Let them be turned away forthwith blushing, that say to me, Well, well" [Psalm 70:3]. Two are the kinds of persecutors, revilers and flatterers. The tongue of the flatterer doth more persecute than the hand of the slayer: for this also the Scripture hath called a furnace. Truly when the Scripture was speaking of persecution, it said, "Like gold in a furnace it hath proved them" (speaking of Martyrs being slain), "and as the holocaust's victim it hath received them." [Wisdom 3:6] Hear how even the tongue of flatterers is of such sort: "The proving," he saith, "of silver and of gold is fire; but a man is proved by the tongue of men praising him." [Proverbs 27:21] That is fire, this also is fire: out of both thou oughtest to go forth safe. The censurer hath broken thee, thou hast been broken in the furnace like an earthen vessel. The Word hath moulded thee, and there hath come the trial of tribulation: that which hath been formed, must needs be seasoned; if it hath been well moulded, there hath come the fire to strengthen. Whence He said in the Passion, "Dried up like a potsherd hath been My virtue." For Passion and the furnace of tribulation had made Him stronger...

Whoever thinks that Saint Vincent could do these things by his own strength is greatly mistaken. For whoever presumes that he can do this by his own strength, even if he seems to conquer through patience, is overcome by pride. To conquer well is to conquer all machines. When it offers allurements, it is conquered by continence: when it inflicts punishments and torments, it is conquered by patience: when it suggests errors, it is conquered by wisdom. Finally, when all these things have been conquered, it suggests to the soul, Well done, well done, how much you were able! How much you have fought! Who is compared to you? How well have you conquered? Let the holy soul answer it: Let them be confounded and put to shame that say to me, Well done, well done! When then does he conquer, except when he says: My soul shall be praised in the Lord; let the meek hear and be glad. For the meek know what I say; because in them dwells the Word, in them dwells the example. For whoever is not meek knows not what the taste is of what is said: My soul shall be praised in the Lord. For every not-meek person, proud, harsh, exalted, wants to be praised in himself, not in the Lord.

): I am poor and needy, in want and distress, and much at a loss within myself. Poverty and necessity are very good pleas in prayer to a God of infinite mercy, who despises not the sighing of a contrite heart, who has pronounced a blessing upon the poor in spirit, and who fills the hungry with good things.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

They desired his hurt, his ruin; when any calamity befel him or threatened him they said, " Aha, aha! so would we have it; we shall gain our point now, and see him ruined." Thus spiteful, thus insolent, were they. What his prayer is against them: " Let them be ashamed; let them be brought to repentance, so filled with shame as that they may seek thy name ( Ps. lxxxiii.

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

Let them be turned back. This is a milder term than that used in Psalm 40, where he cries, "let them be desolate." Had growing years matured and mellowed the psalmist's spirit? To be "turned back, "however, may come to the same thing as to be "desolate; " disappointed malice is the nearest akin to desolation that can well be conceived. For a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha. They thought to shame the godly, but it was their shame, and shall be their shame for ever.