The dormancy of winter was extended this year. Snow on Easter, freezing temperatures throughout April - patience was wearing thin longing for the burst of color and warmth of the sun. Sometimes the season of winter drags on. It seems like little to nothing is growing in our life. Life is filled with the memories and comfort of what was and is; but we long for a season of new and wild life.
Maybe
what is happening in our lives is the same that happens all around us every year. The landscape grows empty
and bare to make room for new life in the same space. Every summer the trees,
shrubs, fields, and gardens become full for a season, and then they yield to the
emptying of fall and winter.
I believe the same cycles, perhaps not
annually, but cyclically, occur in our life. We experience the universal flow
and rhythm of eternal life: seasons of fullness and growth yield to seasons of
emptiness and dormancy. And sometimes, like this year's winter, the season of
scarcity feels too long.
It takes faith and patience to trust that our
lives will yield yet another spring. Our relationships will produce more
surprises and greater love and friendship. New acquaintances will become
beloved bonds. The community we share in our parish, rich with many years of
fellowship and devotion and tradition, will become a whole new place for
persons we have yet to meet.
At the Eucharist we say, "Christ has
died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!" Can we not also proclaim,
"Life has died; Life is risen; Life will come again! The message of Easter
commands such a proclamation.
Fr.
Richard
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