This summer I spent mostly at home, feeling a bit under the weather. But I'm not sad, not at all. Or, if I were sad for a reason, it's that I didn't spend more time in nature. However, even so, the days I did go out were in the countryside. And it was wonderful! For services, we retreated to the monastery in the heart of the forest. Something out of a fairy tale! It's 7 kilometers from the village. The dust sometimes gets annoying, but it has its role: to still keep a distance from the world of the world.
At the vigil, just us and a handful of Fathers. Oh, and I mustn't forget: the choir of little birds. You'd have thought they were taking turns: one "Lord, have mercy" from the Fathers, one "Lord, have mercy" from the little birds. What beauty!
But... what do you know?! Besides the kittens, puppies, and singing creatures, someone else arrived: "vixen fox." I plucked up the courage to ask Father Sofian Munteanu about the lady with the bushy tail, and Father, kindly, told me:
"Well, first her mother arrived and gave birth to her cubs at the farm, in the barn. She would come so we could give her food to take to her cubs. Then, after we became friends, we would feed her from our hand. After that, the rest of the family came too, but she was the friendliest. The vixen fox still has her old habit, as she stole the cats' bag of kibble! She still comes to services, to vigils, and sits there, as if she's praying too. The workers said that a very thin female wolf also came with her limping cub, and they fed them too.
It is said that when wild animals become domesticated, the end will come. This idea comes from biblical prophecies (such as the Book of Isaiah), which describe an era of universal peace, where the wolf will live with the lamb. In the spiritual vision, this moment does not mean a destructive end, but a renewal of the world and a return to the harmony of the Garden of Eden. The signs are peace among living creatures (wild beasts and gentle animals will live without fear), man's reconciliation with nature (the disappearance of aggressiveness from the living world). This end means transformation, not destruction of the world. It will be the end of a bad era and the beginning of an age of peace."
What else is there to say? This whole incident makes me think of us, humans. Rational beings, who distance ourselves from or even refuse God. We waste our time on all sorts of worldly things, while the voiceless creatures glorify God.
"Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
Alexandrina