Birds and Trees near Winter

[Shin]

'Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. [Mt 6:26]

The birds are the saints, who fly to heaven on the wings of contemplation, who are so removed from the world that they have no business on earth. They do not labour, but by contemplation alone they already live in heaven.'

St. Anthony of Padua

'Shall we all be saved? Shall we go to Heaven? Alas, my children, we do not know at all! But I tremble when I see so many souls lost these days. See, they fall into Hell as leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

'Yesterday, our old St. Francis of Assisi was more poetical than ever, in the midst of his tears and of his bursts of love. Speaking of the soul of man, which ought to aspire to God alone, he cried out, "Does the fish seek the trees and the fields? No; it darts through the water. Does the bird remain on the earth? No; it flies in the air. . . And man, who is created to love God, to possess God, to contain God, what will he do with all the powers that have been given to him for that end?"'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars