Paschal Mystery

'Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall.

Our love is an endless season."

The words on darlin' and my wedding invitation.

The Paschal Mystery.

The dying, rising, and going forth.

The cycle spiraling and spiraling

throughout our lives,

within our days.

Four Japanese woodblock prints hang in our dining room.

Each depicting a certain season.

Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall.

The Paschal Mystery.

The seasons of our lives.

The points of dying to self, experiencing resurrection, 

and then going forth,

until our life on earth ceases.

Winter, the cold, the desert, the suffering,

the earthquake, the tsunami, the storm.

The seeking, straining and calling for help.

The surrender--complete and reverberating.

The cry, the wail, the sobbing, the repent.

The dying.

Spring, the blooming and flowering, the warmth and the rain.

The sight of new life.

The birth from the wait.

The warmth of the sun.

The fruit of the labor.

The flowering of beauty,

 and promise fulfilled.

The rising.

Summer, the continued sunshine, the harvest reaped. 

The ordinary and the stability.

The embrace of the routine,

 and the obedient service to humankind.

The rejoicing.

The going forth.

Fall, the return of the cold, the changing of colors,

the glory, then quickly the fading.

The planting of seed,

the hope of the spring.

The preparation for challenge,

and standing firm.

The dying--to begin again.

The Paschal Mystery like the four seasons within a year,

our lives, the world.

The mystery surrounds us, pervades us, summons us

to listen--listen with the heart--

for the "peace..beyond all understanding,"
which will "guard our hearts and minds,

in Christ Jesus." Php 4:7