Sr Samba Sakungo, a Missionary Sister of the Holy Rosary, is currently on a sabbatical programme at the East Asian Pastoral Institute. She shares how the morning songs of the birds have become a quiet part of her prayer and reflection.
Each morning at the East Asian Pastoral Institute, before the activities of the day begin, the birds sing. Their songs fill the morning air and gently draw my attention away from myself and towards the world around me.
As I listen, I realise that the morning does not begin with me. Creation is already awake. The birds are singing, the trees are standing, the wind is moving through the leaves, and life is unfolding all around me.
I am simply being invited to notice.
These early mornings have become a moment of prayer for me. I pause. I listen. I breathe. I receive.
The birds remind me that I am part of something much larger than myself. I belong to a living community of birds, trees, wind, water, people and all God’s creatures. Their songs awaken in me a deeper sense of gratitude and wonder.
There is something beautiful about hearing the birds before the noise of the day begins. Their singing seems to say, “Be present. This moment is a gift.” They do not seem to worry about what the day will bring. They simply sing from where they are.
This is one of the gifts EAPI is offering me during this season of my life: the grace to slow down and listen.
Listening to the birds has also helped me understand ecological conversion differently. It is not only about changing what I do; it is about changing how I see and how I relate. I am learning to recognise creation not as something outside me, but as a community of life to which I belong.
So, each morning, I allow the birds to wake something within me.
They awaken gratitude.
They awaken wonder.
They awaken attentiveness.
They awaken my responsibility to care for our common home – the earth.
And before the activities of the day begin, I whisper within my heart:
“Thank you, God, for this morning.
Thank you for the birds that sing before I speak.
Thank you for the gift of life.
Teach me to listen, to receive, and to care.”
At EAPI, the morning birds have become more than background sounds. They have become my companions in prayer and teachers of presence.
Author: Sr Samba Sakungo, MSHR.
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