“Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
I enjoy watching birds as long as they do not get too close. We get excited when we see the first robin in early spring or when a cardinal lights its red brilliance on a tree branch. While on a lake in Wisconsin, a blue heron landed not far from where I was. The gangly looking bird was about four feet tall with an arched walk. Not all birds are as interesting. Most runners have experienced attacks by red wing black birds as they protect their territory. Sparrows we hardly notice, but God does. The words of Jesus in relation to them should be comforting to us. They fly about doing what comes naturally in God’s creation. We are worth more than many sparrows Jesus reassures us; how much greater then is God’s love and care for us as we seek to do God’s will.
Jesus was telling this to the Apostles whom he would be sending out into a hostile world where they would face difficulty and doubt. Difficulties and doubts not unlike those of the prophet Jeremiah in our first reading. Jeremiah was a good man trying to do what God asked of him, to call people back to a right relationship with God. He laments that because he answered God’s call there is “terror” on every side for he is denounced, whispered and gossiped about, disowned by friends. In our reading he prays perhaps with tears in his eyes, tears of loneliness, frustration, uncertainty. And yet he is able to say: “I know the Lord is with me”. Because he could pray in this way, he was able to continue on. The same would be true of the Apostles. Empowered by the Spirit, they trusted the Lord was with them and despite their challenges; they were able to go on, most of them to martyrdom.
We may not be in the front lines as was Jeremiah or the Apostles, but living Christian values in our culture can lead to gossip and rejection as well. When we bear our own tears in such moments of loneliness, frustration and uncertainty we need to pray for the grace to know the Lord is with us on our missions so that we can go on.
An elderly woman had a window seat on a plane on its way to Rome, a visit she had saved for over many years. As she looked out she saw one of the plane’s four engines failing. “We’re going to die,” she cried out. The flight attendant sought to reassure her that the plan could safely land with three engines working. “Don’t worry. God is with us. We may have only three engines but we have four bishops aboard.” The woman looked up and said, “I’d rather have four engines and three bishops.” Me too. There are things in this world which worry us but about which we can do little. We can either despair or we can trust that in the swirl of it all, God is present, the Lord is with us.
The story is told of an Englishman who was appointed ambassador to Sweden in the early 1600s. On the boat to take up his assignment it became very stormy and the man could not sleep as he worried about the weather, about the division between the two countries and the difficulty of the job ahead of him. The aid who was traveling with him said, “Sir may I ask you a question?” “Of course” said the ambassador. “Pray sir, don’t you think God governed the world very well before you came into it?” “Undoubtedly.” “And pray sir don’t you think he can take care of it while you are in it?’ The ambassador was speechless, turned and fell asleep.
Pope Saint John XXIII reportedly as he went to bed would look up a crucifix and say, “It’s all yours now Lord, I’m going to bed.”
The fact is however neither the world nor any of us is quite what we would like it or ourselves to be. Sin and selfishness and human frailty surround and engulf us. Violence and disrespect for God and one another are ever present. Sickness and the unexpected touch and alarm us. When we see our inhumanity to one another in so many ways we may well wonder where is God in all of this. When we face our own weaknesses and seemingly unfair circumstances we may well ask where is God in all of this. In those times may we pray as we did in today’s psalm response: “Lord in your great love, answer me.
He does answer. Look around you, he says, look at the sparrows which I create and care for. You are worth much more than these. Look at your blessings as well as your problems. Even the tiny hairs on your head are counted. Look at the crucifix and the sacrifice on my son.
St. Francis de Sales wrote: “In all your affairs, rely wholly on God’s providence . . . Imitate little children who with one hand hold fast to their father and the with other hand gather straw berries along the hedges. So too as you gather and handle the goods of the world with one hand hold fast to the hand of your heavenly Father, turning yourself towards him from time to time to see if your actions or occupations are pleasing to him. Above all things take heed that you never leave his hand or think to gather more and gain advantage. For should he forsake you, you will not be able to go a step further without falling to the ground”
A mother eagle built a nest on the ledge of rock jutting out over a steep cavern. Soaring through the air one day she saw her baby eagle struggling with all its might to prevent a fall to the cavern floor some 1,000 feet below. Unable to get to the ledge in time before it fell, the mother eagle swooped low beneath the rock, spread its wings and broke the fall of its little one who then clung to the feathers of its wings as they glided together safely to the canyon floor, the precious cargo safe. Our Lord who is always with us will guide us to safety in this life and to true peace in the next.
“Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. So do not be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows.” Be not afraid.