29-Nov-2025 | Week 48

The Holy Nativity Fast

Psalm 121
Hope in God
1I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.
Commentary
“And say, “I have lifted my eyes to the mountains from which help shall come to me” in such a way that you add to it immediately, “My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Therefore, let us lift our eyes to the mountains from which help shall come to us. Yet it is not the mountains themselves in which our hope is to be placed, for the mountains receive what they may present to us. Therefore, we must put our hope in that place from which the mountains also receive [what they give to us]. When we lift our eyes to the Scriptures, because the Scriptures were delivered through people, we lift our eyes to the mountains from which help will come to us; and yet since they who wrote the Scriptures were themselves people, they were not providing enlightenment from themselves. Rather, Christ was the true light who enlightens everyone coming into the world.”

~ St Augustine

Reflection
Question 1
What earthly things do you put your hope in when you are struggling? What are the advantages of putting your hope in God, in comparison to these things?