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There is a beautiful legend St. Francis which says that once as he was journeying he lifted his eyes and saw a multitude of birds. He said to his companions, “Wait for me here while I preach to my little sisters, the birds.” The birds gathered around him while he spoke to them words like these: “My little sisters, the birds, you owe much to God, your Creator, and ought to sing his praise at all times, and in all places, because he has given you liberty and the air to fly about in; and though you neither spin nor sew, he has given you a covering for your bodies. He feeds you, though you neither sow nor reap. He has given you fountains and rivers in which to quench your thirst, and trees in which to build your nest. Beware, my little sisters, of the sin of ingratitude, and study always to praise the Lord.”
As he preached to them, the birds opened their beaks, stretched out their necks, flapped their wings, and bowed their heads to the earth. When the sermon was over, they flew up into the air, singing sweetly their song of praise, and dispersed toward the four quarter of the world, as if to carry everywhere the words they had heard.
Are we not better than the birds? Have we not more to be thankful for than they have? God is not the birds’ Father; he is our Father. Christ did not die for the birds; he did die for us. Let us, too, beware of the sin of ingratitude, and live to praise God.