God heard the boy’s cry,
and God’s messenger called to Hagar from heaven:
What is the matter, Hagar?
Don’t be afraid; God has heard the boy’s cry in this plight of his.
Arise, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand;
for I will make of him a great nation.
The peace of the Lord be with you.
For the last three years I’ve had the privilege of working with young people in school settings. During this work, I have very often confronted or been confronted by how children are affected and often pay the price for adult decisions. We see such a situation in our first reading today. It’s very interesting how God handles the situation and it fits not only the literature about early childhood resilience but also about the incredible mercy of God. The resiliency literature stresses time and again that the impact of a childhood trauma can often be mitigated by the presence of one supportive affirming adult.
As we see in this reading today, God supports children and walks with them in a very particular way — sometimes sending an adult to help rescue the soul and life of a child. As we walk through this day and as we make decisions may we think about the consequences of our choices and how we are being called to be agents of God’s mercy for most vulnerable among us.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.