While nature awakens in spring and everyone is preparing for new life, the cuckoo is not at all concerned. Rather than looking for twigs and soft wood to build a nest for its young, it impudently lays an egg in the dwelling of another bird, leaving its worries behind. The cuckoo’s young, hatched from the egg, are very voracious and aggressive. Even though they are still blind, they push their bird siblings out of the nest, who usually fall out and die. This procedure requires the adoptive parents to exercise maximum care. The confused birds lose their offspring and must also feed the impudent intruder until it leaves the nest. Similar practices also appear among people. Those who only care about themselves do not perceive or register anything except themselves.
The rich man did not notice the poor, sore-covered Lazarus. He neither harmed him nor helped him. And Abraham answered him accordingly: ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them. If they ignore Moses and the prophets, they will remain unconvinced even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:29–31).
How many people today are fully occupied with learning how to pack a suitcase? They are very noisy, talkative, critical, and interfering. They sit in their comfortable nest and chirp shrilly like a cuckoo’s chick. They want everything at the expense of others. They do not see that others are there too. They say that everyone should strive and be clever. In their whirlwind of activity, they cannot hear God calling them to open their hearts and hands.
The children were set a task at school: ‘What warms and pleases you the most?’ One boy replied: ‘I feel warmest when we chase each other.’ Another said: ‘When I sit by the stove at my grandparents’ house.’ Another said: ‘When I sit on the radiator.’ Another boy said: ‘When we froze on the climb to Magura and Dad gave me a glass of slivovitz.’ One girl said, ‘When Mum says something nice to me and hugs me.’ The church offers us the warmth of God’s word. It hugs us and notices even the little things that are given out of love.
