The readings of this day speak about depth and strength as the basis and as a way of our relationship with the heavenly treasure, it is not revealed to the lazy, but to the hardworking who always seek the depths, and God gives them His strength. Just as God offers the depths of His love, He wants us, as his children, to taste and also live the depths of His love and power.
Therefore, the book of Deuteronomy begins to reveal the depth of God’s care for His children in the wilderness of the world, how their clothes do not change with many years and their legs do not swell despite long, hard travels.
“Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.” (Deuteronomy 8)
And not only that, but the Lord makes sincere promises for the continuation and permanence of His care for His people in the future.”For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills;
a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; ” (Deuteronomy 8)
And the book of Samuel the prophet presents the depth of faith and full confidence in God and how a young boy overcomes a giant by divine power.
“For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. ” (1 Samuel 17)
In the prophecy of Isaiah, the Lord asks for the depth of prayer and request to experience the depth of His salvation.
“Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
“Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”
But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!”
Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7)
In the book of Job, he speaks of the depth of God’s economy and wisdom with mankind and peoples.
“But oh, that God would speak, And open His lips against you,
That He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you Less than your iniquity deserves.
“Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?
They are higher than heaven–what can you do? Deeper than Sheol–what can you know?
Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea.” (Job 11)
Therefore, in the Matins psalm, the soul turns to her God, who gave her the depth of His favors.
“Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
For You have delivered my soul from death, My eyes from tears, And my feet from falling.” (Psalms 116)
In the Matins gospel, the Lord rebukes Jews who recognize the changes of nature, but do not understand God’s economy, the obstacles of depth, formal teachings and lack of faith.
“Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.
He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’;
and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” (Matthew 16)
The Lord reproaches His disciples for the lack and weakness of their faith.
“But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?
Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?
Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? (Matthew 16)
Pauline Epistle, on the other hand, tells us about the depth of the kingdom that God offers us and the need for us to hold on to grace in order for our service to be satisfactory before him.
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12)
It proclaims man’s strong trust in God and his care and the depth of man’s communion with God in carrying the cross and aspiring to heaven.
“So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.” (Hebrews 13)
Catholic Epistle emphasize Paul’s statement that satisfactory service comes from the power and grace that God bestows, as well as the communion of pain that we experience in Him and for him and the accompanying power and glory.”If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.” (1 Peter 4)
Praxis, on the other hand, provides a model for ministers who give themselves and their lives for the name of Christ and also a commandment to the people to adhere to the teaching of the apostles and save themselves from the defilement of the world and warn against the adherence of some people to formal pride in the law and becoming Jewish and distanced themselves from the richness of Christ’s Grace as the basis for justification in the New Testament.
“Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”–to whom we gave no such commandment–
it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.” (Acts 15)
The psalm of the liturgy provides the depth of the Lord the King’s connection with His people and the depth of His gifts to them.
“The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, And the Lord sits as King forever.
The Lord will bless His people with peace.” (Psalms 29)
The Gospel of the liturgy concludes with the importance of man having depth in life with God and the danger that the depths of man should not change and his behaviors become moral principles and not the fruits of a renewed heart and a treasure overflowing with goodness.
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:
He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.” (Luke 6)
The summary of the readings
The depth of God’s care. Deuteronomy
The depth of faith. Samuel the first.
The depth of prayer. The book of Isaiah
The depth of God’s economy and wisdom. The book of Job
The Lord offers the soul the depth of His benefactions.
The Matins psalm
The hindrances of depth are the formal life and the lack of faith. The Matins gospel.
The Lord has given us an unshakable Kingdom, and we cling to grace and fix our hearts with it. Pauline Epistle
The deep honesty in ministry and in talents. Catholic Epistle
The servants give themselves and their lives for her. Praxis
The Lord’s deep connection with His people and the depth of His gifts to them. The psalm of the liturgy.
The goodness of the heart is the foundation of our works and working with the word is the rock of our life. The Gospel of the liturgy