A Winter Banquet

Series: ONE SPARROW’S PERCH by Margaret Anne Ashfield ofs
A Winter Banquet

“Then the King said to his servants…. ‘go to the crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding banquet’. So the servants went out on the roads, collected together everyone they could find, bad and good alike and the banquet hall was filled with guests.” Mt. 22:10-11

Hurricane Juan had destroyed much of the habitat for the birds and small
animals. In addition, heavy winter snowfall that winter meant the birds had a
difficult time finding food. My husband, being Franciscan in spirit, bought the
type of seed they needed to survive; putting some in the feeder and spread the
rest on the ground.
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Our house in not situated on a lake or river, so it was a surprise one day to see
two ducks eating seed under the feeder. The next day there were four duck; and
the following day there were 10!

As I watched, I recalled how Jesus sowed good seed, the Word of His
Father and how people who one would not expect to see around Jesus, came to
be nourished by Him. First only two came, Andrew and Peter, then came others
like Nicodemus and Bartimeus. Afterwards they went away, digested what they’d
learned, saw that it was good, then shared their “find” with others. Jesus
possessed the seeds (words) of eternal life. And soon hundreds were coming to
be fed. At first the ducks were nervous in their new environment. The smallest movement
would send them flying . Like the ducks, when we first decide to be fed by Jesus,
we too are afraid, unsure and nervous,. It is a new experience. We are
called to trust, and to feel secure in the One who feeds us.

Just as the ducks had to search for food in an unfamiliar place, so we too, can
experience a “winter” of the heart. When our usual ways of praying leave us
feeling empty and hungry for God’s presence, we find Jesus is for us to come to
Him to be fed in new and different ways by His seeds of love, mercy, compassion,
forgiveness and hope. As I continued to look out over the field of pristine snow,
I asked myself, “Who or what is feeding my soul?”