Reflection on the Seasons of Life

Something about Holy Week and the Easter Triduum has always left me feeling a little speechless.  The contemplation of God’s saving power moves us beyond our usual descriptions of what we feel and experience.  It’s in the nature of the mystery of salvation to put us in awe and to challenge the way we think about things. The events that transpired in our Lord’s passion were not the ones that were expected.  Even today the way that God works in our lives often transcends reason and expectation.

As we move toward Easter we have the opportunity to consider the passion of the Lord: to put our hearts close to his heart as the Church retells the story of salvation.  This week is also a good time to consider what challenges us most in terms of faith, and thus it is an occasion to contemplate our personal trials by considering the struggles and trials of Jesus and those around him in the events leading up to Easter Sunday.

Every Easter season that I can remember had its own special character—the beautiful childhood Easters long ago with family members, which included egg hunts followed, in Texas style, by a grand barbecue.  I can still smell the smoke in the spring air!  I also remember the Easter seasons of my young adulthood when I first considered the work of Christ in my life.  What came into my life from those seasons still amazes me.  For as long as I can recall this season has symbolized a time of renewal and fresh starts.  It seems, though not oddly when considered in light of renewal, that some of the most profound decisions of my life have followed the discipline of Lent and emerged during the season of Easter.  Thus it has also been a time for great changes.

I don’t know exactly what God is saying to me this year.  Like other seasons of the past it appears to be taking on a character all its own.  Perhaps as a part of getting older I am seeing the natural rhythm of life—the inhaling and exhaling, the giving and receiving, the giving up and letting go.  Still, I’m speechless about it all.  God has something in store—a word, a vision, a realization—what I can’t say.  Yet I wait in anticipation…in it all I thank God for every little thing, for every little nuance of life’s precious seasons.

Comments

[forget me not]

This is so true. Every year, especially during Lent, I seem to undergo some kind of overhaul...sometimes traumatic. But something special always comes of it, with time. It truly is in tune with the seasons of nature. New life abounds everywhere!

[LS]

Amen to both of you.

Speechless is a good thing, and a sweet way to put it.

[Gabrielle]

I think getting in touch with the rhythm of nature plays a big role in the spiritual life, not just in the liturgical year as a whole, but daily, as we can see in the rhythm of monastic life, or in the Liturgy of the Hours.

Happy Easter, deacon dan!

[marco frisbee (Paul Stokell)]

I echo the Amen.

After all the moments of fasting hunger, frustrations with Lenten discipline and falling down all the time (spiritually, anyway) it all ends up the same. Easter comes and the joy is irrepressible. Jesus loves us and teaches us and saves us anyway, and we're free to love Him right back.