Free as a bird

One morning I was working at my desk in the rectory when I heard the close chirping of a bird. It sounded like it was in the chimney. Before I knew that for sure, it landed in the fireplace. And before I could secure the cover to the fireplace, it squeezed itself out through the cover and began flying around the house. I opened the front and back doors and strongly encouraged it to exit. The bird decided to stay in the kitchen because it was confident that the closed windows were its ticket back to freedom. I told it repeatedly that the open back door where I was standing was the sure bet. It wasn’t listening to me and kept running into the windows. Then, it ran into a wall and lay motionless on the kitchen counter. I asked it if it just took its life (!). Not knowing what to do and mesmerized by the turn of events, I called a parishioner who is good with birds. As soon as it heard her voice on the speakerphone, it got up and flew out the back door to freedom.

I told this story in my homily at Mass on July 4th. While everything that happened (two weeks ago) in the story is true, it serves as a parable for us vis-à-vis freedom. The life throughout our property that the bird was enjoying prior to this incident is the freedom that God has given us living in the United States. We are free to enjoy creation and nature and all of the goodness of God. It is spectacular goodness especially on our property and in our area. The bird was enjoying that freedom with all of the other birds. In the spirit of excitement and curiosity, it separated itself from them by entering the chimney. This led it away from freedom quickly as it was trapped and imprisoned in the house. We do the same can when we think we can do whatever we want and find ourselves no longer in freedom but imprisonment.

I’m clearly no St. Francis of Assisi as the bird was not trusting me. But at the open back door, I was presenting Christ. Our Lord says in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter in at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are they who go in by that way. Because narrow is the gate and narrow the way that leads into life, and few there are who find it”. The back door was the narrow gate to freedom and life for that bird; everything else in the kitchen was leading him to imprisonment and destruction. Christ in the Gospel, Church and sacraments is the narrow gate to freedom and life for us. Everything else leads us to imprisonment and destruction.

And yes, we will put a cover on the chimney.