Sunday Meditation: Beauty, Our Invitation from God to Know Him

Changing colors in Maine

The other night we were sitting around a fire with some camping neighbors at St. Andrews on the bay (of Fundy) in New Brunswick. Overhead the moonless sky allowed a dazzling display of stars and the Milky Way. Breathtaking! On our drive through Maine the trees were changing from green to brilliant hues of gold, scarlet, and orange. We would go from a stretch of evergreens with only an occasional dash of color, follow a curve in the road to be met by a hillside of deciduous cousins dressed in fall finery. The sun was shining and the bright blue Mary sky provided the perfect background to set off their beauty.

Bluebirds in Winter

I am sitting at the office window watching four bluebirds fluttering around the two birdhouses perched on fence posts next to the row of pine trees. I've never seen them this late in the season and it got me interested in the migratory patterns of bluebirds.

Here's what I discovered. Bluebirds are considered "partial migrants." They tend to migrate to the southern portion of their breeding range, but some won't migrate at all instead staying to winter together in flocks. While their diet is about 68% insect, bluebirds will switch to berries and other plants when bugs are scarce. Virginia is within their year-round habitat and I am absolutely delighted that these colorful little feathered friends have decided to stay.

As a matter of fact, they offer a positive example for us humans. They mate for life. If we were as faithful at these sweet little birdies, we would have many fewer problems in our culture. The greatest guarantor of healthy (physically and mentally) children, is the intact family.

If you are having problems in your marriage, please get help. Divorce is a cultural disaster. Statistics show that parental divorce shaves four years off the lifespan of children (even adult children). And it is more likely that the children of divorce will themselves grow up and divorce. As the saying goes, the best things parents can do for their children is love one another. And I'm not talking about mush-love, that sparkly "feeling" accompanied by candlelight and romantic music. Love is an action verb and here are a few of its qualities: sacrificing, suffering, dutiful, hard-working, forgiving, faithful....  Love can be fun and games, but it also involves pain and anguish. Those who want only the first part should go to the video arcade.

As for my birdies, I'm smiling and thanking God for what I will think of as a "bluebird moment," one that involves being surprised by joy.

Our Lady's Lamp

I love Flannery O'Conner's work because she uses the sun and moon as Eucharistic images. In It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey offers to lasso the moon and give it to Mary. What should she do with it, she asks? "You can eat it," George responds and the light will come out of her hair and her fingers.

Capra was a Catholic and whenever I see that scene in the movie I wonder if he was using the moon as an image of the Eucharist. Eat it and you will become a bearer of the light, reflecting it to the world.

The moon is called Our Lady's lamp. Mary reflects the light of the world, her Son Jesus, like the moon reflects the light of nature's sun. And how beautiful it is! How many gifts God gives us! Let us never forget to say thank you. And if you haven't gone out to look at the night sky lately, Be sure to do it often.

The stars are brilliant in northern Virginia tonight with a little sliver of moon that looks like a smile in the night sky. Thank you, Lord, for the constant reminders of your love for us.