28 January 2022
Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Birds are beautiful creatures. Because of their ability to soar seemingly effortlessly through the skies, we associate them with freedom. “Free as a bird!” we say joyfully when we experience a moment of freedom. But we know flying freely isn’t their only activity. Tied to their incredible abilities that we admire from below, there is a need for rest and replenishment, something they do, quite often, in trees.
In today’s gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a tiny mustard seed that grows into a tree large enough to provide shade and shelter to birds of the sky. The Kingdom of God is one of love and one of its fruits is freedom. Love and freedom: there’s a beautiful link between these two gifts from God to us. Does anything make us feel that we’re soaring through the skies as much as love does? Love sets us free, but is it true love if it is not freely chosen? Paradoxically, we find ourselves gladly, willingly bound by love knowing it is the one thing that leads to true freedom.
Like the birds, let us soar freely through the skies always remembering our need to return to God, our source of love and freedom. From love we came and to love we are to return.