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From the Associate&
A Little Birdie
This morning I was moving some things out the back door, and had the hook set to keep the outer door open. This door has a window on it. After stepping back inside to grab the next load, I heard this bam! I looked outside to find that a male Cardinal had bashed into the window in full flight. It was now laying on its side, chirping gulps of agony. I felt so bad looking at it, that I decided to start praying over it. (Don't laugh too hard.) Well anyway, I started thinking about St. Francis, and his love for animals and all that, and how Buddhists have such a high respect for all life, whether human, animal or vegetative (partly because they believe in reincarnation, and that a grasshopper may be your deceased grandmother), and possibly that even Jesus may have healed some animal during His earthly journey, who knows. Then I thought about Dr. Doolittle. But I didn't want to be like Dr. Doolittle, so I went back to Jesus and St. Francis. (Well actually I also had this interim thought that I would be going hunting this fall, and it would be a lot of fun blasting some ducks out of the sky, so why should I give a rip about a little Cardinal.) Anyway, I returned to praying over this Cardinal for about 5 minutes. It was after about the first minute that it stopped chirping in agony. Then after about 4 minutes it rolled over onto its feet. But its wing was still bent bad. Then I prayed a little more, watching his eyelids open and close, wondering if they were gonna just close for good at any moment. But he kept breathing. So I went and got some crackers and put them in front of his beak, but he wasn't too hungry. I guess he had other physical concerns to attend to. Meanwhile, the female was flying overhead, back and forth, all concerned. After some time, the Cardinal still was not moving anywhere, and looked like it might just croke at any moment. I went inside and sat down in my chair. I decided that if God didn't want to do miracles through me, that was His prerogative. Maybe I wasn't cut out to be a St. Francis anyway. Well I decided that I would not challenge God in any way, but that I would just be thankful no matter what. And if the bird didn't heal, probably it would end up to be food for some cat in the neighborhood. Well that's the whole thing about the food chain, and how we can feel good about the death of some animals, 'cause they sustain the lives of bigger animals. I'm not sure how those animal rights activists make peace with that fact. Then I had this thought come to me, that I would fast from lunch and offer it up for the little bird (again, please don't laugh too hard). That felt a little odd, so I decided to offer my fasting up for all children (human of course) in mothers' wombs, with a little tiny bit of the offering, going for the bird: kind of like a little smidgen. Next thing you know, almost immediately after I had made the decision, that bird got up and flew away. I began to wonder if this all wasn't just some sign, that if we all at St. John's could just pray hard enough for Fr. Murtaugh, that some day he would become a Cardinal in the Church? We'll see. In addition I came to the following conclusion: sometimes it takes the offering up of sacrifices, in addition to prayers, to open the door for God's grace. I think I'm gonna fast later this week for a young couple I know, who wants to achieve a pregnancy. Can't wait to see what God does!
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