2nd Reading, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From: Romans 8:35, 37-39

Trust in God

[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Commentary:

31-39. The elect will emerge unscathed and victorious from all attacks, dangers and sufferings and will do so not through their own efforts but by virtue of the all- powerful aid of him who has loved them from all eternity and who did not hesitate to have his own Son die for their salvation. It is true that as long as we are on this earth we cannot attain salvation, but we are assured that we will attain it precisely because God will not withhold all the graces we need to obtain this happy outcome: all that is needed is that we desire to receive this divine help. Nothing that happens to us can separate us from the Lord--not fear of death or love of life, not the bad angels or devils, not the princes or the powers of this world, nor the sufferings we undergo or which threaten us nor the worst that might befall us. "Paul himself", St John Chrysostom reminds us, "had to contend with numerous enemies. The barbarians attacked him; his custodians laid traps for him; even the faithful, sometimes in great numbers, rose against him; yet Paul always came out victorious. We should not forget that the Christian who is faithful to the laws of his God will defeat both men and Satan himself" ("Hom. on Rom", 15).

This is the attitude which enables us to live as children of God, who fear neither life nor death: "Our Lord wants us to be in the world and to love the world but without being worldly. Our Lord wants us to remain in this world--which is now so mixed up and where the clamor of lust and disobedience and purposeless rebellion can be heard--to teach people to live with joy [...]. Don't be afraid of the paganized world: our Lord has in fact chosen us to be leaven, salt and light in this world. Don't be worried. The world won't harm you unless you want it to. No enemy of our soul can do anything if we don't consent. And we won't consent, with the grace of God and the protection of our Mother in heaven" (S. Bernal, "Monsignor Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer", p. 213).

38-39. "Angels", "principalities": names of different angelic hierarchies (cf. Eph 1:21; 3:10); also a possible reference to fallen angels, demons (cf. 1 Cor 15:24; Eph 6:12). "Powers" can mean the same as "angels" and "principalities".

"Height" and "depth" may refer to cosmic forces which, in the culture of that time, were thought to have some influence over the lives of men.

By listing these powerful superior forces (real or imaginary) St Paul is making the point that nothing and nobody, no created thing, is stronger than God's love for us.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.