June 25, 2023

Sister Anne Madeleine Brost, OSB shares a reflection on the scripture readings: Jeremiah 20:10-13; Romans 5:12-15; Matthew 10:26-33

My ruminations on this Gospel have given me 3 ideas to share. They are:

1. The Greatness of the Divine.
2. The Greatness of each of us
3. Do not fear.

These 3 are the strengths that Matthew sees and are what Jesus imparted to the disciples as they began their ministry. They are the strengths we must have as we follow Jesus.

I begin with “The Greatness of the Divine.” 

If God knows the number of hairs on my head, God must know the number of a lot of things—the number of needles on the pine trees? The wood chips on the path? The number of everything?

As Christians we need to bask in the wonder of the mystery of the Divine. We see God’s glory in all of Creation, in what has gone before us and in what is and will be. I am in awe as I get a glimpse of the evolution of this planet, especially the growth of life and the coming into greater being of humans. We have developing brains; we have growing hearts. As our minds expand, we grasp more and more Divinity.

If God knows the number of all things, then God must know about all things. God must pay attention to other quite unimportant parts of Creation. But God is Love. If Love pays attention to the hair on my head, then Love must love me.

Jesus was telling his disciples how important they are to God. If sparrows, who are the least of birds and the most common ones, always hanging around and hiding from the bigger, more dashing colorful birds, are noticed by God, then we who are much more noticeable than sparrows are surely seen by the Divine. We are loved by God. We are in God’s Love. We are part of God’s evolving Love. As far as we know, we are the peak of Creation, just under the angels. We are wonderful. 

If we are wonderful, we fearlessly share our goddness. Our goodness. We honor the goodness of other people. We encourage them to let their goodness and their goddness shine forth. Not just their grand talents and our grand talents, but the little gifts we have to give, to share: a smile, a “good morning,” maybe a story or an insight.

We live without fear because we see the Divine in each other. Jesus’ disciples were encouraged to “not be afraid” to share his message. They relied on the goodness of others, of their Jewish and pagan neighbors, to hear and accept the message of Love. And then to act because of this message of Love.

Is not this what “Community” is all about? Living without fear, sharing our goodness and goddness with one another and with all the people we meet? And hoping and expecting others to respond with their goddness?