Here we are wondering what nature will confront us with next. Are we prepared?

In these times of uncertainty it’s nice to know that there are still some things we can fall back on when confusion seems to be all around.  One of them is the inspiration that nature is able to stir within the human spirit.  Here’s a contribution to keep us on an even keel, forwarded from our colleagues at Natural Transitions …

     

Lockdown 

by Br. Richard Hendrick,

priest-friar of the Irish branch of the Capuchin Franciscan Order.

Yes there is fear.

Yes there is isolation.  

Yes there is panic buying.  

Yes there is sickness.  

Yes there is even death.  

But,  

They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise  

You can hear the birds again.  

They say that after just a few weeks of quiet  

The sky is no longer thick with fumes  

But blue and grey and clear.  

They say that in the streets of Assisi  

People are singing to each other  

Across the empty squares,  

Keeping their windows open  

So that those who are alone  

May hear the sounds of family around them.  

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland  

Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.  

Today a young woman I know  

Is busy spreading fliers with her number  

Through the neighbourhood  

So that the elders may have someone to call on.  

Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples  

Are preparing to welcome  

And shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary  

All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting  

All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a New way  

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality 

To how big we really are.  

To how little control we really have.  

To what really matters.  

To Love.  

So we pray and we remember that  

Yes there is fear.  

But there does not have to be hate.  

Yes there is isolation.  

But there does not have to be loneliness.  

Yes there is panic buying.  

But there does not have to be meanness.  

Yes there is sickness.  

But there does not have to be disease of the soul  

Yes there is even death.  

But there can always be a rebirth of love.  

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.  

Today, breathe.  

Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic  

The birds are singing again  

The sky is clearing,  

Spring is coming,  

And we are always encompassed by Love.  

Open the windows of your soul  

And though you may not be able  

To touch across the empty square,  

Sing.