Father Dominic Emmanuel

Among some of the new things that one experiences in the green hinterland during early morning walk is the chirping and twittering of birds in the bushes and trees. Varieties of birds have distinctive sounds such as chirping, twittering, whistling and some, of course, simply singing away. Listening carefully to these birds a little after 5 am can be described as an “out of the world” experience.

Pleasantly surprised, I began wondering what these birds were chirping about. And particularly this so-called “Malabar whistling-thrush” — who was it singing for? Or indeed who was it singing to? One could not resist asking many more questions when one heard several of them chirping and singing so melodiously.
Suddenly I was reminded of Sr Anjali — the nun who used to take religious education classes in our early school years. “Do you know why hens look up to the sky soon after sipping a few drops of water?” she used to ask us. “The hens look up to express their gratitude to God for giving them those drops of water”, would be her explanation. “And why does a squirrel have three stripes on its back” she would quiz, being sure that none of us would have a clue. “Those are the marks of the three fingers of, ‘the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’, placed there to protect it from harm”, would be her next surprise for us.
Those were some creative ways of bringing the presence and consciousness of God into our innocent lives and thus laying a foundation for some form of spirituality to later build our lives on. Sr Anjali, who was from Kerala, could not take us through the experience of singing birds, as one only saw some sparrows around our houses in Rajasthan those days.
It is probably from that little learning that I imagined who the “Malabar whistling-thrush” must be singing to. My heart made me believe that at the crack of dawn, well before the first rays of the sun could peep out of the clouds, the thrush, like all other birds, must be busy singing praises of God. In addition, for those who would care to listen to them, the birds, without any imposition, would be inviting them (us), to join them in praising God. While extremely pleased with myself for sighting the singing thrush and being engrossed in watching it produce those musical notes, I was brought down to the ground by the horn of a milk van. The contours on the driver’s face clearly showed that he was in a hurry and on a definite mission. That brought me to the plane of our everyday life, so different from the seemingly carefree lives of those birds. But are birds really carefree? Do they not need to look and work for their food too? But is food their worry first thing in the morning? No! Those moments are for God, to praise and to thank Him for the new day and to ask for his blessings for the rest of the day.
All this brought me to observe what others around me were at. I found that some had gone to bed late as they had to complete auditing and so missed joining the birds in thanking and praising God. Others had studied late for the exams and had to rush to the college in the morning. Yet others had been up late as there was a movie on the telly. And women in the village had opened their eyes only to look for firewood while others got the pots ready for that milkman approaching home. I soon realised how a normal day for an ordinary person begins with the cares of life, each task appearing more important than the other. And often for most people, the day would also end running after the chores they think are most necessary for our kind of existence, unlike those of the birds.
Jesus once told his listeners, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
Undoubtedly, we need to take care of our needs but should we really begin our day or end it with umpteen worries on mind? Or is the way of the birds really the way to begin our day? Would praising and thanking God not make our task of the day easier? For, then we would not be worrying about achieving those goals alone but with God who makes all things possible for everyone.

— Father Dominic Emmanuel, a founder-member of Parliament of Religions, is currently the director of communication of the Delhi Catholic Church. He was awarded the National Communal Harmony Award 2008 by the government of India. He can be contacted at frdominic@gmail.com