Bulletin Article for November 17, 2013

I remember years ago, my dad complaining about the onset of winter. I couldn’t quite understand his negative attitude toward that season then, but of course, I was much younger, my joints more supple, and arthritis had yet to take up residence in my body. Now, in my 60’s, I quite understand my dad’s lack of appreciation for winter. It’s not so much the nuisance of the cold, the snow, the ice and its affect on a much older and well worn body that has caused this change in my appreciation. There is a barrenness to the tone color and the color of winter. The only sounds nature offers is the wail of bitter cold wind, and the crunching of snow under one’s feet. The color palate of winter is equally barren consisting mostly of white, grey and black. This fasting from sound and color produces an intense longing for birdsong and the bright colors of green foliage and flowers. As dismal a picture as this may seem, perhaps winter is exactly what we all need at this time of year. For without winter, how would we come to appreciate fully the gifts of sound and color that spring and summer give us? Would not we take them for granted? It is not by accident that the scripture we hear in church at this time of year possesses a rather somber quality. These are the readings of the eschaton, the end times, when the Church and all of Creation awaits the Second Coming of Jesus. There is a yearning in the scriptures for something more than what this life offers. There is an intense longing that stirs deep within us to experience Jesus first hand with all the sights, colors, sounds and wonders that his disciples experienced long ago. The only difference between awaiting the coming of Jesus and awaiting the coming of spring and summer, is that we will never tire of the joy and peace the Second Coming of Jesus brings. As we sing at Mass, “Save, us Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.” Come, Lord Jesus, come.