Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

Chapter 8: Psalms 131–150

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Psalm 141 with Martin of Braga – The Practice of Humility

Discipline your mind carefully so that, when the crowd flatters you on all sides with only pleasant words, saying to you what they should say to God, you may realize that this praise does not properly belong to you. The only

thing praiseworthy is that which will remain with you even after you have departed from this life. Therefore whenever great flattery has exceeded the limits proper to humans, recall that well-known lesson of David, in which he shunned the poison of flatterers with these words: Let a righteous man strike me—

Martin of Braga on Psalm 141

“Humility will tell you just howmuch of the things that people ascribe to you in praise is really yours and how long it will last. Humility does not allow you to be attentive to lies.”

that is a kindness; let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head (v. 5) The “oil of the sinner” is flattery, which uses a smooth, suave anointing to brighten up, as though with cosmetics, the head of the inner self, that is, the heart. This is why David said that it was better for him to be corrected or advised by a righteous person than to be praised by any flatterer. It was right that he should denote the flatterer as a “sinner,” since hypocrisy is the greatest and most detestable crime in the sight of God—to hold one thing in the heart, to speak another with the lips. As he also says in another psalm: “His words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords” (Ps 55:21). He describes the righteous person as “The one who . . . speaks the truth from their heart, whose tongue utters no slander” (Ps 15:2–3). Practice humility, then, take it for your companion, set it as your guide when flatterers entice.