Anyone care to help me reflect upon and try to solve a message hidden in a messenger? A few days ago a white pigeon showed up at my back door. It was wondering around near the steps pecking at the grass, greens and the ground. It was pecking at plants and the ground obvious to me the bird was searching for something to sustain it’s life!

A Pure White Pigeon – a Dove – a Messenger with a Hidden Message:

The arrival of this bird created for me a thirst for answers as I found myself being pulled into deeper and deeper reflection. These are not ordinary times are they? And this was no ordinary bird. In fact it was a white homing pigeon. And just why did this bird choose come to my house of all the homes in my neighborhood to stop? There are at least fifty plus homes just in my local neighborhood and many others in the local city area.

Why My House?

Let me help you a little and explain my what caught my interest and curiosity. I am an unusual man of sorts. I have raised and raced homing pigeons from the time I was boy all the way to the 1950’s. But not only that, but I am rapidly approaching my 25th anniversary as an ordained Catholic Deacon. Perhaps one can begin to detect that I may see things in both a spiritual and physical perspective light that many folks wouldn’t necessarily have a clue exist. And I must admit that I have been reflecting more than a little upon this chance arrival and even this may an understatement.

Discern – Write it down – Reflect:

Fact is something is pestering me to write this down and ask for help! I wonder if there is anyone out there with who is willing to take the time to join me in reflecting and discerning the message hidden in this unexpected arrival? And then — is there someone brave and with the courage to take a risk and share the message this reflection triggered?

I already knew what I needed to know but didn’t know it:

Like the rest of you living life, teaches many lessons and often one can not digest at the time they are first learned. What I will share has been learned and taught through nature and in numerous spiritual reflections. In 2011 I discovered I had already been taught as a kid what I need to know, but I just couldn’t connect the dots to know, I already knew what I needed to know – I just didn’t know I already knew it!

The Sign and symbol of the bird. So what is it? It is white pigeon. It has wings and has the freedom to fly away. And it is a symbol of a dove spoken about in the stories of scripture from almost the beginning. Hidden to many are the symbols of scripture in the creation of the bird itself. Noah’s ark, angles with wings appearing such as Gabriel, Rapheal, and Michael. The spirit of God descending like a dove upon Jesus as he came out of the Jordan river.

Multiple Secrets –> Hidden in the Symbol yet easily available for deeper inspection:

Long ago I knew a Pigeon has ten primary flight pins (feathers) that serve to propel it through the air and with the velocity to escape it’s enemies gifted with stealth techniques. Could these feathers represent the ten commandments if kept can save one from an enemy stealthy hidden in the consequences?

Power of 12 – Hidden Message:

These birds have twelve tail feathers. Takes just a little more than a casual look to learn this fact. Hum – the number twelve – twelve months, twelve tribes, and yes the twelve apostles the leaders of the church a very rich symbol. And one who studies flight knows the tail feathers have a purpose. They serve as a rudder that guides. Combine the realty of the dynamics of flight, make possible unbelievable maneuvers which enhance the birds ability ability to escape it’s enemies.

Oil – Anointing – Hidden Message:

Yes, there is more! The bird has an oil gland at the base of it’s tail. Almost everyone has seen a bird preening but do you know how important that is? The birds uses it’s beak to rub the oil gland and thereby is able to spread a thin layer of oil all over it’s feathers. This reality offers another opportunity for an in-depth reflection. The bird is preparing for survival, a real kind of War – like the the oil of salvation, the oil of the early Christian catechumen’s who used oil to cover themselves before entering the coliseum in preparation for the fight of their life.

This oil also provides some degree of water proofing and more importantly enhances the bird’s ability to slip through the air most efficiently again enhancing it’s ability to escape it’s enemy.

Hang in There:

Hang with me a while longer. The bird has a white wattle on it’s nose or beak. It is in the shape of a heart. The color of the wattle immediately communicates the health of the bird. When a bird is healthy the color of the wattle is egg white – no yellow shade – the color of a fertilized egg. Nature – God’s creation is amazing!

The Heart of the Matter – Hidden Message – Search for Home – The Promised Land:

Scientist theorize the wattle is the primary organ the bird uses navigate and find it’s way home. I can testify that almost anywhere you take the a homing pigeon it will find home. It just needs a little practice while growing up. Homing pigeons in fact have a rich history of being willing to sacrifice their life to find home and they mate for life! They have been used in many past wars to communicate critical information upon which troops lives depended.

Now that I have taken you back to the 1950’s lets start from the beginning!

Messengers with Wings:

In scripture Angles appeared to many and they served as messengers with wings and came in the form of a dove. Why again did this bird show up at my back door? Of all the homes in the neighborhood it came to my back door. My back door happens to be the doorway through which many pets who are not our pets arrived and took up residence.

I am also the only ordained preacher in the neighborhood who also currently raises and races homing pigeons. Could this bird have known I was the most likely to recognize it’s need and it’s message?

Have I presented sufficient details that someone will be willing to embark upon a reflection journey to discover the message hidden in this story?

Use it or Lose it – Message Hidden:

I was easily able to pick the bird up though is was capable of flying away. Could this be a message I was chosen and trusted to care for the birds life?

I could now inspect the bird more closely having developed skilled hands at detecting the health of the bird almost instantly. I forgot to mention a healthy homing pigeons breast feels like one of those small footballs we boys used on the play grounds in the 1950’s. It has a supple feeling – not hard – but firm. Funny a healthy homing pigeon in your hand feels like a football you could throw and it would fly!

Well, this bird breast had suffered atrophy. Atrophy is what happens when one stops using a muscle or has overused the muscle without sufficient nourishment and rest. One just becomes weaker. A sure sign the bird was in trouble and needed some tender loving care! The flight feathers were in good shape and all ten were there.

Hidden Message = 12 Tail Feathers – Rudder – Guide – (12-4) Oh Oh!

Oh Oh, there were four tail feathers missing! Four of Twelve were missing! How to interpret the mystery. I have been involved in racing pigeons over 60 years! It is a sure sign the bird has been attacked by it’s enemy who seeks to take it’s life! A hawk during an attack will extend it’s claws and often only gets the tails feathers which then become detached from the bird saving it’s life!

Confusion here! Four tail feathers are MIA! Four of Twelve is a third. What message does this communicate about the Twelve? The Hawk got them? Yet the bird survived without them! The voice in my head says please pay attention! Where are the twelve today? Where is the Hawk? Are 1/3 of the Bishops MIA?

One is Black as in Sin – Hidden Message:

The next finding was a little more disconcerting. Oh Oh! Of the eight tail feathers remaining one was about half black. The only feather on the bird with black was a tail feather. This sign is perhaps more difficult to discern. Could this be a which do you want first message? The Good news or the Bad?

I must confess, even I have been challenged with some black markings from time to time. Sin can not be denied even in the church! And the Good News is still the Good News. The one who was sent came for the sinner so the sinner would come to understand the message that the sender treasured the sinner so much the sender was freely willing to sacrifice the greatest treasure.

Now that was what I learned in Catholic grade school in the 1950’s. A run on sentence!! Oh my!

So again why did this bird show up at my house??? Does anyone have a clue?

Who am I? I was called to follow a man who came to testify to the truth and people didn’t like the way he preached. I was called to follow a man named Steven who served at tables and the next thing you hear he is out in the street preaching and the people liked his preaching so much they stoned him to death!

“No more sermons from the deacon” = “Shut Up”. Did this bird come to my house so I would stop talking and be quite?

And just what about you? Why does it appear my church is in hiding? Why are we afraid?

I took the bird to my pigeon loft. It is located on 220 acres! I go to care for that bird every day! Every day the wind whisper’s in my ears God’s creative genius and that everyone of us was created in the image of God with a creative nature to adapt and change even as the war rages around us!

And you Say?

What message is that white bird bugging me to speak? What has happened to the tail feathers that are supposed to guide and show us how to use the creative gifts of imagination, truth, sacrifice, courage while the muscle of the bird has suffered atrophy?

So what say you?