Copiosa apud eum redemptio.

I don't think I've ever explained why I chose the domain "copiosa.blogspot.com" for my blog, and why it says a plentiful redemption across the top of the page. Maybe, too, that St. Augustine quotation, "Love God and do whatever you please," makes people uncomfortable sometimes with its vagueness. I confess that sometimes I use terms that are meaningful to me in a specific way, without explaining myself. I thought that maybe today is a good day to do that.

"Copiosa" is a Latin word that means "plentiful, abundant." (Like 'copious,' as in, "Teenage boys use copious amounts of hair gel.") It appears in Psalm 130:7 of the Latin Vulgate.

Psalm 130 is my favorite psalm. In the Latin church tradition, they call it the "de profundis," after the opening words of the song: "Out of the depths." It is a soul's cry for forgiveness, for salvation, for redemption, both for the individual and for his people. The verse that first caught my attention in this psalm was verse 7: "O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the Lord is steadfast love, and copiosa apud eum redemptio - with him is plentiful redemption."

That explains for itself, I hope, why I love that phrase so much. The Latin is because I just happen to like Latin, and I like the sound of the word "copiosa" as well as its meaning. Plentiful! Our God is an abundant God, and he restores us from spiritual poverty to plenitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.

A bit more about the title and subheading: Somewhere along the way I came upon the story of St. Alphonsus, an 18th-century Roman Catholic priest who founded the Redemptorist religious order. I don't often read or quote Catholic monks, especially when they're big-time Mariologists, but I really liked what he had to say here. It's a beautiful, beautifully true picture of God in Christ. I especially like his interpretation of Augustine's words.

THE WHOLE SANCTITY and perfection of a soul consist in loving Jesus Christ, our God, our sovereign good, and our Redeemer. Whoever loves me, says Jesus Christ himself, shall be loved by my eternal Father: My Father loves you, because you have loved me (John 16:27).

Some, says St. Francis de Sales, think perfection means an austere life, others prayer, others frequenting the sacraments, others works. But they deceive themselves. Perfection means loving God with our whole heart. The Apostle wrote, "above all things have charity, which is the bond of perfection" (Col. 3:14).

It is charity which keeps united and preserves all the virtues that render a man perfect. Hence St. Augustine said: "Love God, and do whatever you please," because a soul that loves God is taught by that same love never to do anything that will displease him and to leave nothing undone that may please him.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love
and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.