by Melodius Monk

One of the Lauds antiphons this morning was this text from Luke: “Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Singing in Latin, the onomatopoeia of the text makes me laugh with all its crisp consonant sounds when these words are said out loud: “vestri capilli capitis” – meaning, “the hairs of your head are all numbered.”

I wonder why God would ever care to know how many hairs are on my head; a number that probably changes slightly daily for all the seven billion people God has to look out for! Perhaps the silliness of this analogy is part of Jesus’ point to us. In our daily life, equipped with our ever more powerful and slimmer smart-phones and other synching gadgets, it’s easy to feel very powerful and in control, and to forget that our true power comes not from ourselves, but from the Father’s spirit living in us and around us.

When we get afraid, or too stressed out about all the many paradoxes in our lives, we can laugh with Jesus’ words, vestri capilli capitis, and remember that he is in charge and has good intentions for all things, even our hair.