麻豆社

From Father Brian D鈥橝rcy, a Catholic Passionist priest:

As I look out my window now I鈥檓 convinced that autumn exists simply for its beauty. The leaves have changed colours. Their beauty is beyond words as they blow and whirl and drift onto the ground, forming a soft carpet which silences nature.

Margaret Silf is a wonderfully sensitive, spiritual writer. I love the poetic way she approaches spirituality and in one of her recent books she suggests an unusual spiritual exercise for these autumn evenings. We should begin to live the seasons as they change, she suggests. Begin by imagining yourself as a tree on an autumn day. In your mind鈥檚 eye plant yourself in the middle of a field. Try to remember summer, the long evenings, the sunset flashing through your leaves, the warmth of night breezes, the loveliness of a full bloom of leaves, the unique insect life buzzing all around you.

Welcome again the birds who hid in your boughs; remember the animals who were shaded from the sun under your branches; be grateful for the life-giving water you sucked up from the earth, giving sap to every one of your limbs.

Move on now to imagine yourself as a tree enduring harsh winters. Your leaves fall and you鈥檙e absolutely naked, exposed to the bitter winter frost.聽聽

Margaret Silf says that autumn is a time to let go with dignity. The leaves fall and fertilise the land in their falling. They remind us that we have to let go of cherished things. Change is part of the cycle of life. Nothing remains forever.

As you reflect you will realise there is a connection between what dies and what grows out of that death. Perhaps it鈥檚 the loss of a job, loss of status or loss of a relationship. All of them are like falling leaves. No matter how we resist they happen anyway. Yet if we welcome them, what makes us most vulnerable, also makes us better people.

In short 鈥淔or everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.鈥� (Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 Verse 1)