Fr. Paul Mark comments on change: Summer is moving along. One indication that summer is reaching its height is the harvest season. Soon we will be harvesting grapes, followed by prunes, and then walnuts. Added to this are the later sunrises and earlier sunsets, cooler nights, moderate days, all signs that summer is winding down and the earth is about to enter a new season.
I welcome the change of seasons since the change brings about a type of renewal, not only for the earth but also for my heart. The seasons of life are good but also essential for the human spirit. As one season ends, we put to rest memories and activities of that season, in this case summer, and prepare to receive what waits for us in the new season. What events and encounters are waiting for us in the new season for which we will remember and be grateful for in later years? What wisdom will we receive from having undergone a time of difficulty, a time of testing, of purification, that will mark us for the remainder of our lives?
The seasons of God in my life operate in similar fashion. God the Sower, we are told in the gospel, sows his seed within me. The seed lies dormant, at rest, doing little at first, but then germinates, but not without the willingness to die for the sake of more life. God cultivates and tends the crop with the greatest care and finally the harvest arrives. Would that it was always a hundredfold.
Yes, a change of season, holds so much hope for each of us. A new beginning, the opportunity to change, to amend, to do things differently, no matter how small these may be. So, as we bid summer good bye to welcome with great anticipation the season of autumn.
Eternal Blessings,
Your brothers of New Clairvaux
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