Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 388

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 




There are many images and stories within our Christian tradition to remind us of God's particular concern for each of us.

Those unfamiliar with the faith and those not yet mature in it may wonder, "Does God have time for me? Doesn't God have more important things to do than worry over me? Or care about my moral life?"

They suppose that God is like a human being who, despite the claims of multi-taskers, cannot pay attention to more than one thing at a time. The mind of God is infinitely beyond the comprehension of yours and mine. I can't even figure out quantum computing, despite reading several articles and one book about it! 

In any case, for those small-minded persons who suppose God's mind is equally small, we have Our Lady Help of Christians. And Guardian Angels. And the parable of the sparrows. Are you not worth more than many sparrows? 

We encounter God's particular concern for each of us in the Sacrament of Penance, especially when we use the one-to-one formula. Entering that small room with a priest, assured there is no one else within earshot, identifying and naming my own particular violations of my baptismal vows, I come to understand the all-knowing, all-forgiving God has never taken his eyes off me. 

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him [on] the last day.”

I remember too that the Lord, even as he died on a cross, commanded me to "Behold your mother" in the woman who stood beside me on Calvary. And he spoke to her, "Woman, behold your son." 

It doesn't matter how many children a woman has, she has a particular relationship with each of them, and a particular concern for each son and daughter. If those children have grandchildren the grandmother's heart widens even further. Should she live to see a fourth generation she will gladly take them also under her prayerful protection. She will "spread her tent" as the Holy City of Jerusalem welcomed a thousand generation of pilgrims:

Raise a glad cry, you barren one who never bore a child, break forth in jubilant song, you who have never been in labor, For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife than the children of her who has a husband, says the LORD. Enlarge the space for your tent, spread out your tent cloths unsparingly; lengthen your ropes and make firm your pegs. For you shall spread abroad to the right and left; your descendants shall dispossess the nations and shall people the deserted cities. Isaiah 54: 2-3

 With these many assurances, no one need feel abandoned. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches over me.