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REFLECTION SMG VOCATIONS INFORMATION
REFLECTION
September, 2010
Monthly Reflection
'Fall leaves, fall, die, flowers away
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing night's decay
Ushers in a drearier day.'
(Emily Bronte 1818-1848)
With the coming of September we may reluctantly say good-bye to summer and perhaps resent the thought of an autumn of fallen wet leaves, November fog, winter chills, frost and snow. On the other hand, we can, with Emily Bronte embrace the seasons as they come round: in other words accept the rhythm of nature; look forward to each new day as it comes and say with the psalmist:
'This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.' (Ps.118)
We notice that earth has her seasons; the tides ebb and flow; the moon has cycles; the sun never fails to rise and set; some birds migrate; some animals hibernate and all centred round God's good time. The monk in the monastery and the enclosed religious focus their day around the Divine Office or Opus Dei while other religious and many lay people recite parts of the Office as a way of offering their day to God. Thomas Merton, in one of his writings has a wonderful image of the tiniest flower as it opens its petals in the morning dew, is looking up and praising God.
In the beautiful Canticle of Daniel where we ask the various elements - sun, moon, frost, snow, fire and heat, showers and dew, fountains, plants, springs, birds - in fact every creature to praise God, we cannot but think of and pray for countries such as Pakistan which has too much water and Kenya which has too little.
On the cover of the September Messenger, there is a picture of a combine harvester, reminding us that it is harvest time and many farmers are now busy, 'bringing in' the harvest and providing what is for us our staple diet; bread. The term 'harvest' is a recurring Biblical theme. We read of 'fields being ready for the harvest,' let 'both wheat and cockle grow until the harvest' and 'the harvest is great but the labourers are few.'
The Old Testament has vivid accounts of harvest time and as women we are struck by the image of the gleaners; women such as Naomi, who went out into the fields after the harvesting had been done to glean or pick up the stray stalks of grain which had been left in the field by the reapers, to provide food for the poor.
Inevitably we think of our own harvest. What does it consist of? It will be our ministries, our prayer and what Wordsworth calls the:
'...little, nameless, unremembered acts
of kindness and of love.'
In the Messenger also is a continuation of the wonderful series on spirituality in a time of ageing by Fr. Brian Grogan, S.J. where he writes another uplifting article for anyone in the evening of life, prompting me to remember the line from a well-known hymn: 'Abide with me, fast fall the eventide.'
In September too, we can look forward to three great feasts of Our Lady, her birthday, on the 8th; her Sorrows on the 15th and Our Lady of Mercy on the 24th.
Finally as we feel invigorated by the Visitation, we recall Mother Magdalen's comment on her last Visitation: 'We have had two Visitations this year, one at Roehampton and one here, and on both occasions not a fault to find, not a complaint made, and all giving edification by their union and happiness. Well, when Our Lord comes to visit you, May He say the same.' (Brentford, 19th August 1898).
Mary Sheehan S.M.G.
Use the following links to view recent Reflections:
REFLECTION SMG VOCATIONS INFORMATION
