“Therefore fear them not. For nothing is covered that shall not be revealed: nor hid, that shall not be known. That which I tell you in the dark, speak ye in the light: and that which you hear in the ear, preach ye upon the housetops. And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: better are you than many sparrows.”
Do not fear, Theophila, those who do wrong to you, for their works are loveless and therefore empty. No one can do you true harm, for in sinning they only harm themselves; if your love for Jesus is intact, then you are secure: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid” (John 14:27). The entirety of the divine mystery, the true nature of love is open to you, if you simply care to look: “He brought me into the cellar of wine” (Canticle 2:4); “To you they ministered those things which are now declared to you by them that have preached the gospel to you, the Holy Ghost being sent down from heaven, on whom the angels desire to look” (1 Peter 1:12); “But when they shall be converted to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:16). To you, Theophila, it is given to know God: “No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18) and to love like Him: “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and his charity is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12). What is the frustrating or even malicious action of your neighbor against you in comparison to this? Therefore, let your love flow without reservation; what He speaks to you is darkness to the world, but a magnificent light to your mind and heart: “For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved” (John 3:20). Or, to speak in darkness and in your ear is in the intimacy of your private reading and prayer: “But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee” (Matthew 6:6), that you may fall more madly in love, and then sing your love song out before others: “Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house” (Matthew 5:15). Thirdly, this can mean that what is spoken to you while you feared God, you can then come to fully grasp and speak with joy when you fall in love with Him: “Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath pain” (1 John 4:18). You speak in the light when you are inflamed by the love of the Holy Spirit, now able to understand the Scriptures in the light of the love that you have found: “Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he spoke in the way, and opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). Thus, “One thing is necessary” (Luke 10:42), the loving knowledge of God, which you are called to breathe in through reading and prayer, and out by words and deeds: “When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost’” (John 20:22). So exalted is this that Jesus puts all other cares, including death, beneath it. Now, there is one opinion that matters in your life: That of your Beloved Jesus. To act according to love of Him is justice, and to intentionally displease Him is to adulterate your marriage: “As a woman that despiseth her lover, so hath the house of Israel despised me, saith the Lord” (Jeremias 3:20), and to live without His love is to live without love, and this is hell: “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). To live without the love of God is the death of the soul, whereas love is the beauty of the soul: “Behold thou art fair, O my love, behold thou art fair, thy eyes are as those of doves” (Canticle 1:14). Now, because of this beauty, Jesus then moves into your extraordinary worth: “As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters” (Canticle 2:2). The love God has for you is beyond all understanding, even putting Himself in the way of death for your safety: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13); “Jesus t herefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: ‘It is consummated.’ And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost” (John 19:30). How then, Theophila, can that which happens to you break this love, when even the smallest and most insignificant birds die within the loving providence of God? Your soul is immortal, and more precious to God than all material reality: “Thou becamest honourable in my eyes, thou art glorious: I have loved thee, and I will give men for thee, and people for thy life” (Isaias 43:4). Or, the two sparrows for one farthing represents the body and soul that are discarded for the sake of sin, which is of little worth, but when someone falls to the ground of worldly desires, the Father sees them with mercy and compassion, desiring to bear them up on the wind of love back into the air of spiritual reality: “But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaias 40:31). The Father knows every single hair on your head, His care is unspeakable, His knowledge unfathomable, and He has directed all this to loving you: “Even to your old age I am the same, and to your grey hairs I will carry you: I have made you, and I will bear: I will carry and will save” (Isaias 46:4). All created being is made with love, loved, and upheld with love, even down to the sparrow and the flower, and you are of an unspeakably greater dignity than these. Never doubt God’s perfect love for you then, Theophila, or the providence that cultivates love in you, for “He set in order love in me” (Canticle 2:4). Trust that love is alive and working hard in your life, that you may be brought to the fullness of love, only passing from this life when your love story is one that is finished and at the fullness of its beauty: “Call me not away in the midst of my days” (Psalm 101:25).