A Lenten Reminder on Wings

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With Wednesday came the beginning of Lent, and this year my sacrifice will be ingratitude.

God is the giver of all good things, but too often I am an ungrateful recipient. An example slapped me in the face recently, when a flock of cedar waxwings descended upon the trees outside my office window.

For those unfamiliar with these beautiful creatures, they are colorful medium-sized songbirds found throughout the United States. Named for their wing tips, which look as though they have been dipped in red wax, they sport black masks and have tails tipped with saffron. Their head and chest are the color of milk chocolate, their wings shades of gray, their underparts a soft yellow.

The species is fairly common in Utah, but in the two years I’ve been bird watching I’ve only seen them four times, and then at distances too great for good photographs.

That all changed on Wednesday, when the flock of cedar waxwings landed 10 feet from me, flitting from branch to branch, feasting on last year’s crab apple crop, tossing the berries in the air to catch and swallow whole, and hanging upside down to peck at the fruit dangling from the most delicate branches.

While watching this marvelous sight through my camera lens, I had the temerity to ask God, “Where’s my Bohemian waxwing?”

The Bohemian waxwing is uncommon in these parts, unlike its cousin. Their appearance is much the same, but in addition to the black mask, the Bohemian waxwing boasts peach-colored facial markings. I have yet to see one, and on Wednesday my attitude was that, if God were generous enough to send a flock of waxwings, he ought to have included at least one Bohemian so I could add it to my life bird watching list. After all, I’ve been stuck at 225 species for three weeks!

Once the birds outside my window took flight, I sent a photo of them to my coworkers and received many compliments. Nevertheless, it wasn’t until evening prayer that I was able to say, “Thank you, God, for the gift,” without adding, “But….”

This unflattering anecdote is why ingratitude is the focus of my fast during these 40 days of Lent. I resolve instead to acknowledge all the gifts God has given and continues to provide. In truth I lack for nothing that I need, and very little of what I want.

Fasting, one of the three pillars of Lent, “wakes us up,” Pope Francis says, because “it makes us more attentive to God and our neighbor. It revives our desire to obey God, who alone is capable of satisfying our hunger.”

The second Lenten pillar is almsgiving, and the Holy Father has wise words for this as well: “I would also hope that, even in our daily encounters with those who beg for our assistance, we would see such requests as coming from God himself. When we give alms, we share in God’s providential care for each of his children. If through me God helps someone today, will he not tomorrow provide for my own needs?”

The third pillar is prayer, which I seem recently to have abandoned. Here Pope Francis’ words cut to the heart: “If your prayer life is boring, you’re focusing on yourself,  not Jesus, not the needy.”

This, again, is a reminder of my ingratitude, so I will re-focus on raising my mind and heart to God, although I think perhaps I shall be more courteous in the way in which I request good things from him.

Marie Mischel is editor of the Intermountain Catholic. She can be reached at marie.mischel@dioslc.org.