Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ. in his poem "God's Grandeur" might well have had today's reading from Deuteronomy in mind when he described God's greatness in the most beautiful of words:- "The world is charged with the grandeur of God...". Moses in Deuteronomy vv.32-38 lists almost as poetically the many different ways God has blessed His creatures, with signs, wonders and protection from wars and terrors, emphasizing that God is a God of the living, a God more than good to the living. He hints at the many times his people have tested God and then been forgiven and rescued.

As Hopkins puts it:
        "Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
         And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with oil
         And wears men's smudge and shares men's smell..."
         And he asks "why do men then now not reck his rod?"

Yet there is hope and all will be well. As Moses reminds his people, all that is needed is to keep faith with God's laws and commandments. 'Yahweh is God indeed, in heaven above as on earth beneath." Or, simply put, God's love is always there.

Turning to Matthew's Gospel, we see Jesus telling His disciples the same thing - that all that is needed of them as Christ-followers is a life of active self-surrender, and a gaze fixed firmly and expectantly on the glorious coming of the kingdom of God.