"Cardinals appear when Angels are near." -- Housekeeping 101 on Facebook I did something different this morning, and it's something I plan on doing daily, good weather permitting: I walked to and attended morning Catholic Mass. I'm a daily Mass person; I watch it every day at 6 AM on YouTube courtesy of a parish in Australia. Doing so, I find my day begins properly. But the "walking to Mass" daily thing has been on my mind for sometime, and French novelist Francois Mauriac is to be credited. In his book, Young Man in Chains, he describes how wonderful the feeling was as he, in the dawn of day, walked to a local cathedral as soft bells chimed, he prepared to worship the Lord and receive Holy Communion. So, I exited our tiny Bloomfield, New Jersey home this morning and began what I knew would be a somewhat (for me) challenging walk due to the hilly spots in some portions of the journey, which eventually give way to a pitch and smoother, elevated walkways both coming and going. As I strolled, bible and prayer journal #4 in hand, birds chirped from the trees, and nary a car was seen of heard in the quiet neighborhood. Then I saw it, just a few feet away from me, pecking at the ground with a few sparrows. A bright red cardinal. It's the contrast in color -- the bright red amid the green leaves, brown tree bark -- that is the joy for me. The cardinal stands out, much like a red-tail hawk's huge wingspan when flying sets those unfamiliar with the sight to awe. Ironically enough, I shared a Facebook post courtesy of Housekeeping 101 this past weekend, which featured beautiful red cardinals, a soft tune, and the following words: "Cardinals appear when Angels are near." So, the question is, is there a truth to that statement? Were angels guarding and guiding me during my walk to Mass? Are they watching over my life, and those of my wife and daughter, as my last day of work on 5/31 approaches? Steve
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Steve Sears is a New Jersey based freelance writer
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