the sparrow and the swallow - psalm 84 - 16th week saturday

Since last month I have started my reflection on the responsorial psalm of the mass.  It is my way of telling everyone that I am already too long in my present assignment – I have finished reflecting on the gospel, I have finished reflecting on the first and second readings of the mass.  Now I am reflecting on the responsorial psalm.  If after some time my superiors still will not transfer me, then you will know because I will be reflecting with you the alleluia verse.

Seriously now.  We neglect to reflect properly on the psalms though we pray it everyday.  The book of psalms is the prayer book par excellence – a prayer book without equal because in the psalms we pray using God's word and we pray with the heart, the emotions, the feeling of God.

Psalm 84, our responsorial psalm today, is a popular psalm.  In this psalm two birds are curiously mentioned:  the sparrow and the swallow: Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest in which she puts her young— in Your altars, O LORD of hosts!  Then it writes selah which in Hebrew means "pause and think about it".  So let us pause and think about this.

Why mention in particular the sparrow?  The sparrow is a common bird.  Jesus mentions it twice.  So it must be very common in that area.  In Matthew Jesus asked:  "Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?  But you are worth more than many sparrows." Then in Luke we also find Jesus asking, "Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins?" Whenever sparrows are mentioned their insignificance is highlighted, they are not worth anything.  And yet in this psalm they find a place in God's house.  In God's house they can find a home where they are safe and where they feel valued.

One may feel insignificant and useless but in the house of God one can discover a wonderful sense of purpose.

The swallow is also mentioned in this psalm.  They are the swiftest of birds, one can see them darting about everywhere like lightning as they dash from one corner of your eye to the other.  In the house of God however they are different.  In the house of God, the psalm mentions that the swallow can find a home where she could settle and rest, where she could perch and quietly lay on her eggs.  In the house of God this restless bird can raise her young undisturbed and secure. 

So too for the restless.  In the house of God the restless can find rest.  The anxious can rest in trust and security.  Those tensed by fear real and imagined can find comfort in God's loving assurance of tender care.  "Come to me, Jesus says, and I will give you rest."

Are you in the house of God?  Do you find yourself within these four walls "in the house of God"? Do we make an effort to make our communities "the house of God" where the insignificant feel valued, where the restless feel safe, secure and at rest?