By Sister Doreen, SSJD
George Eliot – “Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love—that makes life and nature harmonize.”
When thinking about autumn while sitting on the guest patio next to the labyrinth here at the convent, green, golden and red colours of the trees surrounding me, and busy squirrels and singing birds adding their own magic to the scene, I thought how autumn really is like the last, loveliest smile before we enter into the cold months of winter! Instead of flowers, most of which are now past their prime, there were leaves – leaf flowers of all colours, some still on the trees, some blowing in the wind, and some already resting on the ground! Perhaps like myself, there are many of us that feel there is something magical about autumn. It is still mostly cozy inviting us into a very reflective letting go time.
Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr in their book Circle of Life wrote a lovely poem called “O Antiphons for Autumn” that I thought would be a reflective sharing as we come to the end of Autumn.
“O SEASON FULL OF REMEMBERING,
Come! Come with your golden shawl.
Come scattering the beauty of well-aged leaves.
Strengthen us for changing our old patterns.
Give us memories that sustain our dreams.
O Come!
O COOLING BREATH OF AUTUMN,
Come! Come with your natural paradox.
Show us our fullness and emptiness.
Breathe into us a spirit of gracious acceptance.
Tame our desire to have summer stay forever.
O Come!
O SEEDS SPRING LOOSE FROM DYING PLANTS,
Come! Come teach us to be generative.
Carry us to places where we can take root.
Encourage the seed of our love to fall freely.
Gift us with the grace of surrender.
O Come!
O HARVESTER OF WISDOM,
Come! Come fill us with the waters of wisdom.
Show us the beauty of aging with grace.
Prepare us for the long, dark nights.
Gather from our lives all that has potential.
O Come!
O CLEANER OF GARDENS AND FIELDS,
Come! Come gather what is most precious to us.
Urge us to embrace our cornucopia of goodness.
Stir up gratitude and a sense of wonder.
Move us to give freely of our abundant harvest.
O Come!
O RUSTLING LEAVES FALLING FROM THE TREES
Come! Come live inside our aching goodbyes.
Teach us the truth of life’s impermanence.
Empty us of all that does not bless others.
Draw us into the waiting soil of wintertime.
O Come!
O RISING HARVEST MOON,
Come! Come dance your beauty into our world.
Carve a path of light between night shadows.
Soften our transitions with your moonbeams.
Shine on all weary travelers of the heart.
O Come!
O FIRST WHITE FINDERS OF DEADENING FROST,
Come! Come with your touch of mortality.
Carry us into the heart of deepest truth.
Befriend that which needs to die in us.
Teach us to be ready for the great letting go.
O Come!”
Yes! Yes! “Arise shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1.