subject: The Year of the Rainbow (3) [print this page] The Year of the Rainbow (3) The Year of the Rainbow (3)
The Child Within
Another frequent visitor in my dreams is the child. One particular night there was a beautiful little girl with long blond hair. I was joyfully lifting her up in a playful manner. Since I really loved her, upon awakening, I bestowed upon her one of my favorite names, Julie. She became the child within. One evening she gave me a very simple, yet profoundmessage. In the dream, a little girl said: "Jesus lives in everyone!"
There are several scriture references in Matthew which pertain to the child within. In chapter nine, he quotes Jesus as saying, "Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me." Later on in chapter eleven, Jesus thanks the Father for hiding these things from the learned and clever and revealing them to mere children. Most emphatically in chapter eighteen Jesus says, " Unless you chnge and become like little children, you will never enter the kibgdonm of heaven." And finally in chapter nineteen, Jesus says: "Let the little children alone and do not stop them from coming to me, for it is to such as these that the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BELONGS!"
Indeed the message of spiritual childhood was the hallmark of my great patron, St. Therese. This too is my great desire to become as trustful, as free and as grateful as a child as I continually play before my God, the loving Parent, who nourishes, protects, and teaches me in this most beautiful world!. I truly believe the words of Picasso: " It takes one a long time to become Young."
The Downs Syndrome RedBird
In order to understand the significance of this dream, you need to know the importance of the red bird in my life. As a child, I grew up in the country. We always fed the red birds. They would eat from our window feeder even while we stood at the window washing dishes and talking to them. My father taught me to whistle their call so they would answer. After entering religious life, one of my favorite God symbols was the bird in the hand. It seemed to speak of how God cared for me, a weak and frightened little fledgling, carrying me gently in the hollow of his hand. The beautiful red bird became a symbol of thecall to prayer. I pictured it in graceful flight with its melody of love piercing the heavens. My famous red bird dream occured while on retreat in Detroit at the Romero Center for peace and justice. As director, I had a German justice seeker who had no particular interest in dreams. He seemed quite speechless when presented with my cartoon character of the red bird in my dream of June 2.
I was outside and I spotted a large flabby red bird. I call MaryEllen and told her that if she were a bird watcher, she should look at this one. It landed near and began to walk around. I wa passing things out for children, some paper and some crayons. . The bird wanted to help. As I watched it, I commented that I thought it had downs syndrome. It was like a very happy child, eager to please. As darkness approached, the bird walked me to the front door or my home, told me it would see me tomorrow, and put its wing in my hand. Then it waddled off.
As I awoke laughing, I named him Isaac. It was a joke between the Lord and me. Here was my beautiful prayer life-like a down syndrome bird. Yet upon further reflection, I realized that down syndrome children are very loving. Frequently they triy too hard . And I knew tht if I had a down syndrome red bird, he would be very special to me. I would take extra good care of hinm and no one would ever be able to take his jplace. I was reassured of my unique place in the eyes of God and comforted by the fact that I was cared for so very tenderly. Even now whenever I see a red bird, I experience a special joy and am reminded of God's ever protecting presence in my life.
