Ostrich
[T]he Church fasts and prays in order to have less flesh by mortification, and by prayer to acquire wings, because prayer is the soul’s wing by which it flies to heaven. So the soul will be able freely to follow Christ in his ascent: he ascended, opening the road before us, and he flew on the wings of the winds. For a bird that has much flesh and little plumage cannot fly very well: consider, for instance, the ostrich.
--Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend, ch. 70 “The Greater and Lesser Litanies”
Consider well the sparrow here that neither sows nor reaps the seed yet faces winter without fear and know that God will meet its need; the swallows in the Temple eaves that swoop and dive and make their nest in better shelter than the leaves and at God’s altar take their rest; but they that fly to heaven, you see, are breath and prayer, are quick and light. An ostrich in God’s aviary, I cannot match their upward flight. Nor can I, like the Spirit, move upon the waters, skimming waves, for I am not the wind-swift dove, nor penguin that abysses braves. The hawk that on the high wire preens or up against the sun may glide, velociraptors in its genes, can dive to drive out sin and pride.; and even vultures show their trust in God’s provision, good and kind, who ride upon the slightest gust and eat what others leave behind; but I can only turn and flee or coward hide my head in sand. What mercy there can be for me must come like birdseed from God’s hand. So he, unstinting pelican who tore his breast to feed his chicks, comes to his ostrich once again who flies just like a load of bricks and leads me where he first has stepped along the way he first has known. A better shepherd never shepped, and he will lead me gently home.
Brought to tears. Thank you!
So great. As always.