Some time ago I was walking in the city with a friend when I overheard her singing to herself. I said nothing at the time for any comment would have been an intrusion and would certainly have ended the melody. Later, I realised that for those precious moments she had been audibly in tune with herself; body, mind and spirit singing as one.
In Papua New Guinea, the local languages describe soul as ‘the seed of singing’. In those terms, singing then must be the soul in flower! Some cultures believe that the evolving universe is sung into being. So imagine that. The Creator Spirit singing her way in and out of harmonies beyond us and beauty breaking out in the most amazing forms of life.
I don’t want to live in a world where remote controls rule and new gadgets promise to make something of me. I want to live with my ears unplugged so that they can hear music of the earth, with my eyes ranging beyond the bewitching screen, my hands free to take someone’s hand instead of incessantly texting.
We can guess why St. Francis sang with the birds and why the birds sang with him. He was simply in tune with who he was in God’s eyes, a creature born to overhear the song of fellow creatures and recognise it as his own, as variations on a theme of presence and thanks.