Psalms 85:8

I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me. The prophet prays on behalf of the people, and he who speaks within himself while God speaks, and he says, I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me. You see that God speaks not in the ears but in the heart; just as Zechariah too says: "And the angel who spoke within me said to me." There the angel is understood to be our Lord, who announces the will of the Father, who in Isaiah is called the "angel of great counsel." I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me: I will incline the ear of my heart, that I may hear what the Lord God speaks within me.

For he will speak peace unto his people, and upon his saints, and unto those who are converted to the heart. I see three kinds of people: the common people, the saints, and those who are converted to the heart. He speaks peace with his people: not with the people of the Jews, of whom he says in Hosea, "You are not my people," but concerning all Christians who have believed in him. For all whosoever are in the Church are together called the people of the Lord. But those who are already foremost among them, and advance in spiritual deeds, are called saints of God, just as Paul writes in his epistles to the churches and to the saints who are in them. This third follows, And unto those who are converted to the heart. These are they who had been tripped up by the devil, and afterward, doing penance, are converted to the virtues. For at the time when they sinned, they lost their heart — that is, the prudence of the heart, which, being converted to better things, they receive again. Hear, O Montanus; hear, O Novatus; hear, O Maximilla and the rest among the Phrygians, you who say that there is no penance. The Lord speaks to his people, that is, to all Christians without exception, and to his saints who are foremost in the Church, and to those who are converted to the heart, that is, who do penance. Blessed indeed is he whom no sin has ever stained, in whom no wound has ever been fixed: yet the second blessedness is, after a wound, to heal the scar.

I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me. Many think, when Moses speaks and says, "Thus says the Lord," and Isaiah, and the rest, and when it is said, "The word of the Lord came to Isaiah" or "to Ezekiel the prophet," that the speech comes from outside, and that the prophet hears through these ears of his what is spoken by the Lord. It is not so. Indeed, what does our Lord Himself say to the Pharisees and the Jews? "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." And Isaiah says: "The Lord has added an ear for me." See what he says: The Lord has added an ear for me. Because I did not have that ear which is in the heart, He added it for me, that I might be able to hear the words of God. And so now, then, whatever the prophet hears, he hears in his heart. For just as we cry out in our hearts, "Abba, Father," and that cry is a cry of silence, and the silence is heard by the Lord: so too the Lord speaks to our heart, which cries out, "Abba, Father." Therefore, then, the prophet now says: I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me. Something similar the prophet Habakkuk also says: "I will stand upon my contemplation, and I will see what the Lord will answer me, and what I shall answer to Him" — and I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me. Therefore this also that he says, I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me, he speaks in the heart, he speaks in the understanding. Do you wish to know what the cry of the heart is like? Do you wish to know that a cry before God is not one of voice, but of tears? It is said in the Lamentations of Jeremiah: "The pupil of my eye was not silent." For He will speak peace unto His people. This is properly said of the people of the Jews, who are to believe in Christ: that is, it is said of the coming of Christ and of the faith of the Jewish people, that is, of the apostles, and of all who believed the apostles. For He will speak peace unto His people. Peace is not spoken of except when there is war.