Verse 4
Who sendeth forth his speech to the earth: his word runneth swiftly.
Qui emittit eloquium suum terrae, velociter currit sermo ejus.
The Prophet has exhorted the holy city to praise God for the favours received; now he urges it to praise God for the favours granted to other nations, from which the city may learn how much greater are the gifts that it has received compared with those God granted to others. He therefore urges them to praise God, “Who sendeth forth his speech to the earth,” that is, who sends the precepts and decrees of His providence to the whole world, and “his word runneth swiftly,” that is, His precepts and decrees are carried most swiftly to all created beings, they quickly penetrate all things and are put into implementation. By these words, divine providence is signified, which is extended to all things, and with greatest speed, because God is everywhere, and “upholds all things by the word of his power;” as it says in
Hebrews i;
[1] and “reacheth therefore from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly;”
[2] hence David says to God in Ps.
CXVIII : “ all things serve thee.”
[3] St. Augustine ponders on the Greek words which translate as
usque in velocitatem / at speed, instead of
velociter / swiftly; he says that the sense is that the word of God is carried with such great speed, not in the way that birds, the winds and lightning move at great speed, but they in their course equal this very speed, as it says in
Wisdom vii : “For wisdom is more active than all active things,”
[4] not because wisdom, or the word of God, is properly speaking moved, but because it is present in all places, as though it had flown there at top speed.
[1] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high. qui cum sit splendor gloriae, et figura substantiae ejus, portansque omnia verbo virtutis suae, purgationem peccatorum faciens, sedet ad dexteram majestatis in excelsis : [Hebr. i 3]
[2] She reacheth therefore from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly. Attingit ergo a fine usque ad finem fortiter, et disponit omnia suaviter. [Wisdom viii 1]
[3] By thy ordinance the day goeth on: for all things serve thee. Ordinatione tua perseverat dies, quoniam omnia serviunt tibi. [Ps. CXVIII 91]
[4] For wisdom is more active than all active things: and reacheth everywhere by reason of her purity. Omnibus enim mobilibus mobilior est sapientia : attingit autem ubique propter suam munditiam. [Wisdom vii 24]
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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