Genesis 8:6-11. "At the end of forty days Noah ... sent forth a raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided ... but the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him in the ark ... So he put forth his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove ... and the dove came back to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth."

This is not a random selection this morning, but part of the first reading at Mass today. As I was listening, I didn't really remember hearing the part about the raven before, and I started wondering what that was all about. It occurred to me that the raven is a bit of a warning. We should strive to be like the dove, and not like the raven.

Ravens and doves are very different. At a very basic level, ravens are black while doves are white, a pretty symbolic distinction right there. Ravens are very intelligent; they think independently, remember human faces, and can solve puzzles. I don't know how smart doves are, but they certainly do not have the reputation for intelligence that ravens do. Ravens are also symbols for death and decay, since they feast on carrion, while the dove is a symbol for light and hope.

Maybe Noah sent the raven out first because he knew how intelligent it was. But the raven did not cooperate, it did its own thing, flying to and fro until the water was dried up. The raven was not helping Noah, just looking out for itself, relying on its own intelligence to survive. When Noah sent the dove, though, it came right back it to Noah for safety when it found nowhere to land. Noah tenderly brought the dove back into the ark, and kept her safe for another seven days before sending her out again. This time she returned with an olive leaf, alerting Noah that the waters had subsided.

I am thinking of Noah as a symbol for God here, and the birds as symbols for us. God knows this world is very messy, flooded with evil, but He keeps us safe in His ark, the Church. He does, however, also send us out on mission. When He sends us, are we like the raven, selfishly clinging to our freedom and our own intelligence, and forgetting what God wants us to do; refusing to return to the safety of the ark when things look bad, and instead trying to figure things out ourselves? This is the danger of the world, that it will lead us away from God and into its ways, ways that include ego-centric self-reliance. We should instead be like the dove. We should go out when God sends us and complete our mission, but always remember that there is the safety of the ark to which to return.

Anytime we cannot find a place to land in this crazy world, we should return to God and the ark. He will put out His hand, take us, and bring us into the ark with Him. There we will be kept safely, revived by Him until we are sent out again.