His Eye is on the Sparrow

It is strange indeed how divine providence works. In 1905, a Canadian woman named Civilla Martin wrote a hymn that is among the most famous in the gospel music tradition: “His eye is on the sparrow.” It has been recorded by everyone from Ethel Waters to Mahalia Jackson to Whitney Houston to Gladys Knight, and even Whoopi Goldberg who led it in Sister Act 2.

Civilla told the story of its composition. She wrote: “Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York. We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle–true saints o’ God. Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for nigh twenty years. Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheelchair. Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them. One day while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it. Mrs. Doolittle’s response was simple: ‘His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.’ The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me. The hymn ‘His Eye Is on the Sparrow’ was the outcome of that experience.”

Why should I feel discouraged?

Why should the shadows come?

Why should heart be lonely

And long for Heaven and home,

When Jesus is my portion?

My constant Friend is He:

His eye is on the sparrow,

And I know He watches me;

I sing because I’m happy–

I sing because I’m free–

For His eye is on the sparrow

And I know He watches me.

Civilla may or may not have been the lawful wife of Reverend Walter Martin, a Baptist preacher and something of a grifter who wandered about New England at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Both seem to have had prior spouses, and no records survive of their respective divorces or subsequent marriage. Their sojourn with the Doolittles followed a circuitous path and Civilla’s husband’s indictment for grand larceny after defrauding and robbing an innkeeper, escaping in a stolen boat, flight from Vermont to Poughkeepsie, NY, then arrested and sent back to Vermont where he was finally tried and released “due to the effects of two severe attacks of nervous prostration that left him mentally unbalanced and unable to organize a defense.” He went on to a career as a professor in various bible colleges up and down the Eastern seaboard, and as an itinerant lecturer up whose favorite topic was “Some Cranks I have met.” Civilla went on to write the lyrics of many popular protestant hymns and died in 1948 at the ripe old age of 81.

I tell this story, a summer’s tale, to point simply to the fact that God chooses unlikely instruments for his work, and provides for them. Jesus offers encouragement for us: “Fear no one. Are not two sparrows sold for a few pennies? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Do not be afraid, you are worth more than a flock of sparrows.”

That’s the faith we’re called to, despite the wandering paths of our own lives no less complicated than Civilla’s and Walter’s.

Why should I feel discouraged? / Why should the shadows come? / Why should heart be lonely / And long for Heaven and home, / When Jesus is my portion? / My constant Friend is He: / His eye is on the sparrow, / And I know He watches me;

Patient Mrs. Doolittle and long suffering Civilla have a lesson to teach us.

I sing because I’m happy–

I sing because I’m free–

For His eye is on the sparrow

And I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled.”

His tender word I hear,

And resting on His goodness,

I lose my doubts and fears.

Though by the path He leadeth,

But one step I may see:

His eye is on the sparrow,

And I know He watches me.

Whenever I am tempted,

Whenever clouds arise

When songs give place to sighing,

When hope within me dies,

I draw the closer to Him;

From care He sets me free:

His eye is on the sparrow, 

And I know He watches me.

If you want to hear this anthem of faith, listen to our cantor Penny Manson’s soulful rendition. Some Masses last weekend were blessed to hear her live. To hear for yourself visit the 9:30 a.m. Mass on YouTube and Facebook.

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