Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday in Lent

I lifted my eyes to the mountains.
        From where will my help come?
My help is from the Lᴏʀᴅ,
        who made the heaven and the earth.
Do not give your foot to surging;
        nor will the one who guards you sleep.
Behold, the One who guards Israel
        will neither slumber nor awaken from sleep.
The Lᴏʀᴅ will guard you.
        The Lᴏʀᴅ is your shelter at your right hand.
By day the sun will not burn you,
        neither the moon during the night.
The Lᴏʀᴅ will guard you from all evil;
        He will keep watch over your soul.
The Lᴏʀᴅ will guard your entering in and your going out
        from now and until forever. (Psalm 120 LXX [Psalm 121])

But in case we perhaps set our hope in the mountains mentioned, the second verse reveals the true Source of possible help to us, the Source which orders all things by a saving dispensation; thus our hope in the mountains is such that we realize that it is the Lord who lends help through them. It is from Him that the necessary benefit, the saving protection, the unshakeable blessing comes. As Paul says: Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God gives the increase. So that you would not think that this was some other lord—for the term is ambiguous—he says: Who made heaven and earth, thus denoting the Word by which all things were made.

After earlier asking that help come to him from the Lord, he suddenly changes direction and addresses his soul, urging it to continue with unflagging strength in its saving request. The foot is the extremity of our body, which at the mind’s command transports us to different places. By comparison with this we call our thoughts our feet, for we make our way into good or evil situations through them. So it is these feet, by which the devil fell and the first man was laid low, of which the prophet speaks to his soul. He prays that they may not be subverted by the slippery nature of sins, and that he may not experience destruction within, while his body remains unharmed. Such a slip is in the nature of pride, which often drives God’s servants to sin when they have already made progress. They fall into the worst error through thinking that they are of some importance.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 120:2–3