Word to the Wise
Friday, October 15, 2010 - St. Theesa of Avila, OCD, Doctor of the Church and Co-founder of the Discalced Carmelites
[Ephesians 1:11-14 and Luke 12:1-7]Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God. Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.
At my age (67), I'm fairly certain that the sparrows outnumber the hairs on my head, but I am comforted that both sparrows and hairs are the objects of God's providential care! Scripture scholars tell us that God's most frequent admonition to humans in the Bible is: "Do not be afraid!" I, for one, should have that assurance tatooed on the palm of my hand or etched somewhere so that I can be constantly reminded that the "fretfulness" that seems to come with the years is more than compensated by God's love and care. The serenity and wisdom that one hopes for in the "golden years" of life still has to be "auto-preached" before it can be preached to others! My fondness for sparrows as a symbol of God's providence comes from a retreat experience at a desert retreat house in Arizona. I was sitting one day in my little hermitage and watching a bunch of sparrows that had landed outside the plate glass door. They were pecking and squabbling and fluttering back and forth from nearby bushes as things startled them. I knew that they were engaged in all the challenges of sparrow life: getting enough to eat, taking care of the nest, avoiding predators. The passage from the gospel suddenly came alive in front of me! In fact, I felt sorry for the five sparrows that were somehow sold from a cage to an uncertain destiny! I rather doubt that many of us look at our hair as a sign of God's providence, but at least it is one we carry with us daily, even if, as in my case, the sign has diminished considerably. I must learn to take more seriously the sparrows and hairs as echoing Jesus' words: "Do not be afraid!" AMEN