“Then King David went in and sat in the LORD’S presence and said, “Who am I, Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you should have brought me so far?” (2 Samuel 7:18.)
Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this verse from the Second Reading proclaimed at Mass today:
“David, understanding this, says in the second book of Kings [Samuel]... “You did also speak of the house of your servant for a long time to come.” And, further on, “And now begin and bless the house of your servant that it may endure forever,” etc. At that time, David was about to beget his son through whom his lineage would be carried down to Christ; through whom, in turn, his house was to be everlasting—indeed, identified with the house of God. It was to be called the “house of David” because [it was] of David’s stock and, simultaneously, the “house of God” because it was a temple to God made not of stones but of people. In this house God’s people shall everlastingly dwell with their God and in their God, and God with his people and in his people, God filling his people, his people filled with their God, so that “God may be all in all” — the very same God being their prize in peace who was their strength in battle.
It was with this in view that, when Nathan had said, “And the Lord said to you, that you shall build him a house,” David said further on, “Because you, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to the ear of your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’” This is a house which we build by living virtuously and which God builds by helping us to live virtuously, for “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”
Only, however, when this house receives its final consecration will the words God spoke by Nathan’s lips come true: “And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, and they shall dwell therein, and shall be disturbed no more: neither shall the children of iniquity afflict them any more as they did before, from the day that I appointed judges over my people Israel.” (City of God, 17.)
It was with this in view that, when Nathan had said, “And the Lord said to you, that you shall build him a house,” David said further on, “Because you, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to the ear of your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’” This is a house which we build by living virtuously and which God builds by helping us to live virtuously, for “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”
Only, however, when this house receives its final consecration will the words God spoke by Nathan’s lips come true: “And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, and they shall dwell therein, and shall be disturbed no more: neither shall the children of iniquity afflict them any more as they did before, from the day that I appointed judges over my people Israel.” (City of God, 17.)
Collect
O God,
Who made Saint Thomas Aquinas
outstanding in his zeal for holiness
and his study of sacred doctrine,
grant us, we pray,
that we may understand what he taught
and imitate what he accomplished.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Who made Saint Thomas Aquinas
outstanding in his zeal for holiness
and his study of sacred doctrine,
grant us, we pray,
that we may understand what he taught
and imitate what he accomplished.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
