Psalms 3:5

“For it was not without design that the prophet Moses, when Hur and Aaron upheld his hands, remained in this form until evening. For indeed the Lord remained upon the tree almost until evening, and they buried Him at eventide; then on the third day He rose again. This was declared by David thus: ‘With my voice I cried to the Lord, and He heard me out of His holy hill. I laid me down, and slept; I awaked, for the Lord sustained me.’ And Isaiah likewise mentions concerning Him the manner in which He would die, thus: ‘I have spread out My hands unto a people disobedient, and gainsaying, that walk in a way which is not good.’ And that He would rise again, Isaiah himself said: ‘His burial has been taken away from the midst, and I will give the rich for His death.’ And again, in other words, David in the twenty-first Psalm thus refers to the suffering and to the cross in a parable of mystery: …

Surely to Sion He brings good tidings, and to Jerusalem peace and all blessings; He goes up into a mountain, and there spends a night in prayer, and He is indeed heard by the Father. Accordingly turn over the prophets, and learn therefrom His entire course. “Into the high mountain,” says Isaiah, “get Thee up, who bringest good tidings to Sion; lift up Thy voice with strength, who bringest good tidings to Jerusalem.” “They were mightily astonished at His doctrine; for He was teaching as one who had power.” And again: “Therefore, my people shall know my name in that day.” What name does the prophet mean , but Christ’s? “That I am He that doth speak, even I.” For it was He who used to speak in the prophets, the Word, the Creator’s Son. …

4. “With my voice have I cried unto the Lord” ( ver. 4 ); that is, not with the voice of the body, which is drawn out with the sound of the reverberation of the air; but with the voice of the heart, which to men speaks not, but with God sounds as a cry. By this voice Susanna was heard; and with this voice the Lord Himself commanded that prayer should be made in closets, that is, in the recesses of the heart noiselessly. Nor would one easily say that prayer is not made with this voice, if no sound of words is uttered from the body; since even when in silence we pray within the heart, if thoughts interpose alien from the mind of one praying, it cannot yet be said, “With my voice have I cried unto the Lord.” Nor is this rightly said, save when the soul alone, taking to itself nothing of the flesh, and nothing of the aims of the flesh, in prayer, speaks to God, where He only hears. …

4. But in order that she may do this, hear what she says, what she supplicates, what she prays for. Pray thou for what thou hearest; pray for it when thou hearest it; let these words be the voice of us all: “O send out Thy Light and Thy Truth. They have led me, and brought me on unto Thy holy hill, and into Thy Tabernacles” ( ver. 3 ). For that very “Light” and “Truth” are indeed two in name; the reality expressed is but One. For what else is the “Light” of God, except the “Truth” of God? Or what else is the “Truth” of God, except the “Light” of God? And the one Person of Christ is both of these. …

30. “They shall be mindful of thy name in every generation and generation; therefore shall the peoples confess unto Thee” ( ver. 17 ). What does it profit then to “confess” indeed and yet to confess out of “the Temple”? What does it profit to pray, and yet not to pray on the Mount? “I cried,” says he, “unto the Lord with my voice: and He heard me out of His holy hill.” Out of what “hill”? Out of that of which it is said, “A city set upon a hill cannot be hid.” Of what “hill”? Out of that hill which Daniel saw “grow out of a small stone, and break all the kingdoms of the earth; and cover all the face of the earth.” There let him pray, who hopes to receive: there let him ask, who would have his prayer heard: there let him confess, who wishes to be pardoned. …

18. Moreover our Lord said to that man who said to Him: Let me go and bury my father, and I will come to Thee . And our Lord said to him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou, preach the Kingdom of God. But how is this word understood by thee, my beloved? Didst thou ever see the dead burying their dead? Or how shall a dead man arise to bury another dead man? But receive this explanation from me, that a sinner, while he is living, is dead unto God; and a righteous man, though dead, is alive unto God. For such death is a sleep, as David said, I lay down and slept, and awoke . Again Isaiah said, They that sleep in the dust shall awake . And our Lord said concerning the daughter of the chief of the synagogue, The damsel is not dead, but sleeping a slumber . And concerning Lazarus, He said to His disciples: Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go to waken him . …