85. Птица или курица

We see that the bird gathers its small chicks under its wings and warms them. So Christ our Lord wants to gather sinners under the wings of His goodness and warm them, for he says to Jerusalem: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem,... how many times have I wanted to gather your children, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, and you did not want to!” (Matthew 23:37). I say, Christ the Lord wants to gather sinners. And how does He who created us in His image and likeness not want? How can the One who sympathizes and sympathizes with our misfortune not want? How does He who sent prophets to us not want to call us to Himself? How can the One who Himself came to us for our sake, lived on earth, worked, suffered and died for us not want? How can He who so loved us not want to gather us under His wings? O sinners! He wants, wants, and, spreading the wings of His goodness, awaits us. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). All the saints have gathered under His wings and rest under the shelter of His wings. Sinners! What are we standing for? Why, scattered, do we wander and wander, like chicks separated from their mother? Christ the Lord is waiting for us and, like a bird, wants to gather us under His wings. We hear His voice calling: “Come to Me.” Come, let us run to His voice, as chicks run to the voice of their mother, let us flee to Him, and hide under the shelter of His goodness, according to the admonition of the psalmist: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Ps. 94:7-8). Let us come running with repentance and regret. And may it not become us the word that He said to embittered Jerusalem: “How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, and you did not want to! Behold, your house is left to you empty. A terrible word: Behold, your house is left to you empty!” Let us fear him and return to the Shepherd and Visitor of our souls. Apart from Him, we will not find peace for ourselves anywhere. Without Him there is no peace, without Him there is no salvation, but there is obvious misfortune and destruction. Let us turn to Him while He waits, calls, and wants to take us under the wings of His goodness. “Him that comes to Me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” You might be interested in: