Letter 1117: Anger is a fire: useful when controlled, devastating when unleashed.
On the verse: "If I had wings like a dove." Since you have asked what the saying in the Psalms means — "Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly away and be at rest" — I reply that, although many have interpreted it in various ways, I shall explain it as concisely as I can. The prophet, speaking in the person of a soul wishing to flee from the assault of the wicked, longed for the wings of a dove — that is, for the swiftness and purity of a contemplative life that would carry him far from the tumult of human wickedness. For the dove is a pure and gentle bird, guileless and without malice, and its flight represents the ascent of the soul toward God, away from the snares of the world. But this is not a prayer of cowardice or escapism; rather, it expresses the natural longing of every soul that loves virtue to be freed from the daily spectacle of sin. For even Moses, who spoke with God face to face, was wearied by the rebelliousness of the people. And Elijah, after his mighty victory on Carmel, fled to the wilderness in exhaustion of spirit. The righteous do not flee because they are weak, but because the constant abrasion of wickedness is painful to a sensitive conscience, and because solitude and quiet are the natural soil in which the virtues grow best.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
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