I invite you, dear reader, to leave the practical affairs of daily life and rest a little in the lessons that God has left magnificently “written” in creation. Through contemplation, let us raise our spirits and dwell for a while with the supernatural. What is admiration, if not to find the Creator reflected in His work?
The scene is simple: a duck swimming about on the waters of a river. Its carriage denotes nobility and tranquillity.
Someone laden with problems, oppressed by anxieties and faced with the prospect of new challenges might “envy” this peaceful and quiet existence. “How pleasant is a duck’s life! Free from all difficulties, it spends its days moving about unhindered…,” our observer might think. But he would delude himself by indulging in such a reflection, which would in no way elevates him to God…
If everything bears a “signature” of the Lord’s grandeur, the consideration of this simple bird offers us one of the most beautiful: the fight! I dare say that the fight is not only a component of earthly existence, but its apex. Jesus, in shedding His Most Precious Blood on the Cross, did nothing other than fight to free us from sin, to open the gates of Heaven for us, to destroy the power of hell and to triumph in the universe. If even He desired the fight, why do we despise it?
Perhaps the reader is thinking that the author of this article has lost the logical thread of the idea that she wished to transmit… Not at all! It is exactly in the delightful movement of the duck on the water that lies the central point of our meditation!
Sometimes the current becomes strong enough to sweep it away. To maintain its dignity and get where it wants to go, the duck has to make the constant effort of swimming against the current. It doesn’t seem to be, does it? No one sees the veritable battle that this fowl is fighting to stay on course.
If the struggle is present even in the existence of irrational beings, how can it be absent in the daily life of the king of creation, man?
It is up to each one of us, whatever our state in life, to remain firm in the principles of Faith and in the ideals we have embraced. In the most varied contexts in which we find ourselves, there will always be a certain relativism, a “loosening of the reins,” a temporizing that causes us to waver between the spirit of the world and the spirit of Christ. Now – as we well know – whoever is not entirely with Our Lord is against Him (cf. Mt 12:30; Lk 11:23)…
The “current” of the devil, of the world and of the flesh, whether inside or outside of us, is and always will be a factor in our fierce battles. It is also worth remembering that the interior confrontations are quieter, but also more complex; men do not see them, only God contemplates them.
If ducks were mediocre and grew weaker as the power of the waters increased, certainly our generation would never have known them, since the river would have swallowed them all… Therefore, it is equally necessary for us to make an effort to remain integral in the fight against the spirit of evil!
Today we know and revere countless heroes who have spared no effort to raise the banner of Faith on the winds of history. Does not Heaven want us to be like them? The important thing is to forge ahead with the audacity proper to children of the light, full of confidence in divine action, without ever retreating or giving up. “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom 8:31). Perhaps many do not see the battles we wage for Our Lady’s victory, as in the ducks’ discreet resistance. But the Omnipresent One accompanies them, and this gaze is enough for us! ◊
