Eagles Learn to Fly

Dear Friend,

After the celebration of Father Henri’s ordination last week, I asked several parishioners who were present at the liturgy for their impressions. There were comments about the joy so evident on Henri’s face, the energy of the music, the presence of many friars, the laying on of hands and the oil. One person seemed to sum it all up when she put her hands in the air and said “The whole thing was just so uplifting!”

I thought of that word as I was praying over our scriptures for this weekend. We hear the Lord call to Moses, “…Tell the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself.” Through a quick Google search I learned that eaglets learn to fly by “branching” and “fledging” and watching their parents ride the currents of air. It’s all a process of uplift, much like Father Henri, in his priestly role, will be demonstrating in the months ahead as he practices lifting the assembly in prayer.   

In a sense, God’s action toward the Israelites in the desert was one great act of lifting up. He calls them a “kingdom of priests” in the same way that Henri’s ordination was a sign to all of rising in dignity and going out as a “holy nation”. As the apostles learned, so Henri and all of us learn, slowly, and from Jesus, first hopping to the nearest branches -  and for the apostles that meant “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. And then we branch out into wider spaces to share with others the currents of Gospel freedom, the uplifting energies of connection and healing. The kingdom of God’s own wind and breath is near at hand!

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan ofm