Fr Paolo Consonni, MCCJ
12 Sunday OT Year A
This Sunday’s Gospel (Mt 10:26-33) reference to our hair struck a chord in my heart. A few days ago, I started the process of renewing my Italian driving license. I first got my driving license 40 years ago and, oddly enough, the original document which bears the picture of me when I was 18 was never changed. Nobody would recognize me in the picture of this young man with his long hair, early 80’s style.
Finally, last week I was requested to send the old license to the Consulate to renew it, picture included. Before mailing it, I looked at that old picture of me one last time. I was flooded with memories. I remembered the feeling of being 18: full of energy, dreams, and expectations about the future. I remembered adventures with the friends I was hanging out with, the first timid romantic experiences, and the youthful restlessness of my inner search for my way into the future. “Look at me now”, I thought. “I am reaching 60, my hairline is drastically receding and so is my energy level declining. I am truly getting old”. All of a sudden, I perceived the huge gap between that old picture of me, full of youth and hair, and the actual me now, and I felt a deep moment of nostalgia for my lost youth. I was reluctant to let it go.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus mentions hair twice. The first time is during the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus commanded us not to swear: “Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.” (Mt 5:36), as if to say: your life is not under your total control, so do not bet on your health, riches, status, or other things which can suddenly change. But this does not mean that our life is unimportant. Quite the opposite: this fragile and ever-changing life is precious in God’s eyes. In fact, the second time Jesus mentions our hair, He invites us not to feel abandoned by God in the face of trials because he deeply cares for us: “Do not be afraid […] Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. Even the hairs of your head are all counted.” (Mt 10:29-30). We can face our future with confidence because we know that we belong to God and that our sufferings will not be in vain.
I find it very tender that Jesus mentions twice this common and even a bit banal experience, the whitening and loss of hair, usually associated with aging or sickness. It shows His attention to all aspects of our life, no matter how ordinary they seem to be, and the possibility of finding meaning in them. As I learned while looking at my old driving license, even these unassuming events can offer a glimpse into the depth of our hearts and uncover our inner fears.
The only way to face fear is to acknowledge and engage it: “Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light”. (Mt 10:26-27). Jesus does not hide the adversities and trials which await us because only by acknowledging them can we find the motivation and the resources to conquer them, above all our faith in God’s providential care. Jesus never said that by following Him we might escape opposition, suffering, and death: not even Himself attempted to avoid this universal human destiny. On the contrary: as a good mentor, Jesus puts forward the worst-case scenario, not to scare or shame us (“you are too weak!”), but to exorcise our fears.
Jesus promised that if we live to the full the mission He entrusted to us, and if we respect God’s primacy over all the aspects of our life (“to acknowledge Him before others”, v. 32), then we will find meaning in the challenges we encounter. In suffering, we will be united in a special way with Jesus, and this is what really matters because in Him we will find the core of our existence, the “soul” that no one can take away: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” (v. 28)
There is something more valuable than our biological body, our youth, our appearance, and our status. Something which cannot be taken away by the violence of the passing years, of sicknesses, or the evil that people do. Something which is eternal: the soul which is also our true self. Jesus knows that only when we pass through these challenging experiences, will our true selves emerge with clarity. Nothing is more precious in life than our soul.
My receding hairline is inviting me to pray along with my reluctance of getting older and to trust God’s plan for the future. What is the fear that Jesus needs to exorcize in you?
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