July 13, 2007

I was very pleased on Tuesday to be able to let our chickens out of their coop for the first time to roam around the backyard. If you are surprised to hear that we have chickens in Newark, let me simply say, so am I! Br. Crispin somehow talked us into it just before he moved to Yonkers. They arrived by mail about a month ago.

I was told that they would instinctively go back into the coop once it got dark. I meant to watch this carefully, but when I remembered it was already late enough that I found them in a panic. They were trying to get back into the coop (which we named after St. Joseph of “Coopertino,” who also flew), but the piece of wood I put up for a ramp to the doorway was too slippery for them. It was a chicken slide instead. I quickly remedied the situation, and about half of them dutifully made their way inside. The other half, about a dozen egg-layers, decided instead to settle in underneath the coop as the darkness fell.

I knew it was too dangerous for them to sleep outside in our neighborhood. There are some tough cats around – I mean that literally. The rats could be a threat too at their tender age. So I tried to coax them out with Cheerios, but they wouldn’t budge. I got an electric work lamp to shine on them, because they had already decided it was time to sleep. Then I grabbed a mop nearby and started to “persuade” them to move. Thus began a very sweaty and dirty chicken chase underneath the coop and all around it for a half hour or so until I finally managed to catch each of them and put them inside.

Why am I telling you this in a friar e-letter? Mostly because I wanted to, but here’s the moral and my excuse. When it comes to understanding God’s plan for our lives, often we score no better than those chickens underneath the coop. We settle into a comfort zone with the other chickens around us, not realizing when we are in a dangerous place. We don’t recognize the graces and gifts (the Cheerios) He offers us for what they are, and we squawk and complain when He uses stronger measures (the mop) to move us in the right direction. May we cooperate a little more with His plan to bring us to the Heavenly mansion He has prepared for us, which is not at all related to our chicken coop.

Fr. Richard Roemer, CFR

Most Blessed Sacrament Friary, Newark, NJ

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