I stand to be corrected- this might be a Rufous tailed Flycatcher, who is a regular visitor to a dry tall tree in our garden.
Anna and I have sometimes stayed back at home on Sunday mornings instead of going to church.
The tuneful singing of this fly catcher was melodious and soul inspiring! It turned in all directions perched on that bifurcated stem, reaching out to all who cared to listen.
Richard Rohr, an author of Falling Upward, The Universal Christ, Breathing Under water, etc. is an observer of common things. His desire is to pay attention to the 'soul of things', the inmost meaning one can find in matter and creation.
What is in a bird's call! That is why I gave least attention to them till Anna and I started living in our cottage surrounded by tall trees, shrubs and plants, seven years ago. It is in this setting, we noticed the habits and rituals of birds, butterflies, dragon flies, squirrels, etc.
The morning and evening rituals of most birds is to make flight between their regular flight stations and announce their presence through their bird calls.
It took a while to recognise that the bird calls differed from time to time. When a bird is alone it has an unusually well formed tuneful birdcalls probably meant to attract other birds. As the singer is usually a male bird, it brings the best of the musical notes to draw the attention of a female bird. But when they are together as a pair their birdcalls are conversations between themselves which have a different tone and tenor. When they feel threatened by larger birds, they have loud and bold birdcalls through which one can sense the state of their anxiety.
I tend to think that the birdcalls originate in the 'soul' of these birds. It is the only audible expression of their presence, because of which they express their mood and state of wellness or anxiety through the tone of the birdcalls.
The human soul is no different from this.
During the two sessions of dialogue I spent with the first year medical students at MOSC Medical college last week, I was moved to by their jubilant and enthusiastic spirit for having found an opportunity to study medicine for which they put in the best of their efforts for at least tow years. I found their youthfulness and aspirational view of life well expressed in their thoughts, communication style and relational approach. I found them joyful and expectant. They inspired me with their responses, thoughtfulness and kindness. They communicated a state of contentment, which is the deepest experience one can have, which is what Richard Rohr refers to as soul experience in his writings.
It is only in that depth one can experience God in communion. While the liturgy, worship, spoken prayers, etc become the conduit for growing deeper into a consciousness of God, they by themselves cannot be all of God experience. They are our spiritual exercises to go deeper into our inner self to have an encounter experience of God. There is a God experience all of us long for not because of the ecstasy it might bring, but because of the wellness and freshness it can bring to make us awakened to realities hitherto peripheral to us.
Whether it is a Sunday Worship, or a personal reading of the Scripture, or reading a spiritually edifying book or an illness or a disappointment or a loss, each of these experiences can become a passage to the inner depth where the substance fo our being is God. This is authenticated by the writer of many epistles of the New Testament of the Bible, who expressed it vividly, '..it is in God we live, move and have our being'. It is a consciousness which makes our lives sacred and awe inspiring.
During our times spoken prayer at home, Dulcie would come near us and stay still till she hears 'Amen' at the end of the prayer. This might be her soul time!
A friend or a critic or angry person with whom we are in touch too has a prospect of being in touch with the depth of his or her being where he or she can encounter God in a personal way. It is this we can facilitate by our thoughtful and caring ways and responses, when faced with a hostile or intimidating approach.
We are often surrounded by people, whom we would not have normally chosen. It is unto them we have a mission of revealing our soul experience of goodness and abundance of grace.
Don't we feel disturbed by the hate language, harming tendencies, discrimination based on religion, increasing suffering of those who are disadvantaged financially, forceful decisions which the government makes, such as shutting down normal life in Kashmir, etc! All those who are targets of our judgements too are people who carry the imago die, the image of God in their lives.
The government of India too speaks of wealth creation and gives only marginal attention to wealth distribution.
It is in such a complex situation I heard the flycatcher sing this morning. It sounded in my soul as a music of hope, inviting me to trust in God of our lives, who would inspire all humans to live conscious of their neighbours!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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