Addressing the Pauline Family, Blessed James Alberione underscored the efficacy of faith with these words: “Faith in Divine Providence leads us to realize that God is taking care of all things, big and small.” Faith helps us discover the beauty of the infinite love of God, who looks after his creatures with immense tenderness.
This means penetrating the heart of the Gospel message. Jesus reveals to us a God who is very close to human beings and completely invested in their happenings. This truth frees us from worries about tomorrow. Anxiety about the future is the consequence of the existential attitude of the person who wants to plan and supervise everything, as if all things depended on him/her. But the future lies in the hands of God, our Father, who looks after all things: “Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are?” (Mt. 6:26) “Look”: this imperative reveals how necessary it is to observe everything attentively; to fix our gaze on the interior dimension. The word underscores that we should let nothing escape us. In his teachings, Jesus dedicates abundant space to the importance of experience, helping people become aware of the Father’s relationship with the world. God takes care of everyone and everything, even the defenseless birds of the air.
The disciple of Jesus is invited to look at nature attentively and find in it an answer to the anxieties that agitate the waters of life. The birds and flowers that the Master speaks about are not held up as models for us but as witnesses to the fact that God lavishes immense care on them. He feeds and tends them. In the Bible, the experience of a nurturing God is translated as a God who keeps us company in our difficulties and supports us in the desert of “testing.” Our provident Father is very attentive to the story of each of his children because people count more than birds and flowers.
The purpose of emphasizing the fact that humans are more important than the lower orders of creation is to convince us that God is taking special care of every person. None of us can add even one extra second to our lives. In placing prayer at the heart of everything, Blessed James Alberione enlightened every apostolic situation with a liberating truth, namely: nothing we do is worthwhile if it is the anxious efforts of a person without trust in God. Faith helps us see that God the Father is watching over each of his children, moment by moment, with great benevolence. He knows what makes life livable and enjoyable and he is aware that this is not something secondary, so he provides. The discovery of this truth can help us live our faith freely and luminously.
