“Ravens brought him bread and meat …” (Elijah is fed by God.)
“Quoth the Raven … Nevermore.” (Edgar Allan Poe is haunted by the loss of his beloved.)
Birds are all over the Bible, and in many of our favorite poems and songs.
These warm, summer days in my backyard, our pond is filled with ducks and geese; the trees and bushes are busy with blackbirds and finches, robins and pigeons and a good number of cardinals and blue jays.
I can sit for hours and watch them as they flutter from branch to branch, picking away at the food my wife gives them on a regular basis. Singing their songs. Announcing the rising of the sun and its setting.
In today’s first reading … we get the story of a Raven, sent by God to feed Elijah. This is not the first mention of a Raven in the Bible. For that, you can go here to Genesis, where you might be surprised to learn that it was indeed a Raven that was first sent by Noah to check on the flood. (The doves came later).
Scripture is downright bird happy … with mentions of a hen, turtledove, partridge, quail, sparrows, eagles and that rooster that crows three times.
God must love birds.
They seem to possess a somewhat angelic quality – flying through the air, a mission at hand; making precise landings and finding just the right food needed to survive.
Whenever we watch birds – or most any other animals – it seems we can learn about the awesome nature of God’s love for all creatures. These are the birds that need not worry because God provides.
We worry … we panic … we fear. But God tells us over and over again, be not afraid!
See the bird … BE the bird.
Today’s Psalm is particularly helpful when it comes to grasping just how much we can rely on God. Psalm 121 reminds us that God will not slip as he bears our burdens, he will not slumber while he is watching over us.
God is both our guardian and our shade, keeping us safe from both sun and moon … and all evils. He has our backs whether we are coming or going, now and forever.
And I love that the Psalm is punctuated by the repeated phrase that was used by an old monk at the Trappist Monastery in Kentucky.
Father Matthew Kelty, who used to celebrate an early “farmer’s Mass” at 4:15 a.m. and then give a nightly spiritual talk at the end of the day, always opened up his talks by saying … “My help is from the Lord” … which we would all hear and reply … “who made heaven and earth.”
Indeed, our help is from the Lord. Elijah found that to be true. So did Noah, Moses … all of our Biblical heroes.
Even the birds know it, whether they are feeding our prophets by the river or fluttering around our backyards.
