Change of Seasons, Change of Heart

It’s official, autumn is here. Oh, I do know that autumn technically arrived a week or two ago at the equinox. It just doesn’t seem like fall when the temperatures near triple digits every day and the wind carries nothing but heat from the inland deserts. My friend told me about her first whiff of hot apple cider of the year today, and immediately my thoughts turned to all things fall.

This is a season of contrasts. Crisp clear days full of outdoor adventure and cool crisp nights for snuggling with family. Warm clothing comes out of storage to be aired and the crock pot comes out of its hiding place in the back of the cupboard.

This is also a season of spiritual contrasts. The long weeks of Ordinary time will soon give way to Advent and the beginning of another liturgical year. The parables and ministry of Jesus that have been so prominent in the liturgy will shift in focus to talk of the end times which culminate in Jesus being crowned as king forever.

What can we do to shift our focus from the hard work of ordinary time to the quiet rest that precedes the harvest? The first step could be to spend some time in quiet prayer reviewing the year. What went well? Say a prayer of thanksgiving. What did we do poorly? Say a prayer of repentance and ask the Lord to help us improve. If there are any lingering issues that we can’t seem to resolve, this would be an excellent time to bring them to Jesus and surrender them to His will. If the problems are troubling enough, we will need to do this over and over. It doesn’t matter how often we need to surrender the same thing, because we cannot conquer our problems and sins without His help, What matters is that we surrender the troubling thoughts each and every time they occur. The Rosary and the Chaplet are two wonderful devotional prayers that can help us focus on Jesus and not on ourselves alone.

A next step in preparing for the end of the liturgical year is to renew our dedication to receiving the Sacraments. We all get busy this time of year with school, sports and work. It can seem easier to sleep in on Sunday morning than to drag our tired bodies out of bed to attend Mass. That’s the worst thing we can do. Skipping Mass deprives us of our chance to worship God with our family and parish. It also deprives us of the Eucharist-the very source of life and strength. It is also a good idea to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where we will receive the grace of forgiveness and the grace to continue the struggle against our own woundedness.

The changing of the seasons and the arrival of year’s end remind us of how quickly time can go and also that time is short. As we renew our focus on Jesus, spending time with Him in prayer, and receiving the Sacraments, we will find ourselves less afraid of the end. After all, it ends with Jesus our King reigning forever in our hearts.