Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time A
It’s been kind of fun to be with Fr. Justin
as
he experiences a North Country autumn for the first time.
From
the way he describes it,
his
part of India doesn’t really have the four seasons:
they
have almost nonstop monsoon rains in June, July, and August,
but
then during the rest of the year
the
weather remains pretty much the same.
Needless
to say, Fr. Justin has noticed
how
much changes here in the fall.
He’s
noticed the temperature changing.
(No
one is more grateful for these warm and sunny days!)
He’s
noticed the changing flavors;
it
seems that apples are rare and expensive in India,
and
pumpkin is a brand new taste to him.
And
then there have been the changing leaves.
Fr.
Howard Venette took him
on
a hike up St. Regis Mountain Friday afternoon,
and
he couldn’t stop talking about the view from the top:
the
surrounding Adirondack peaks, the many lakes,
and—of
course—the bright, colorful leaves.
Driving
around a few days ago,
Fr.
Justin asked me a very logical question:
“Why do the leaves change color?”
“Why do the leaves change color?”
While
it’s something we locals just take for granted,
it
wasn’t all that obvious to him.
So
I told him, “Actually, it’s because they’re dying.”
I
had to clarify:
it’s
not the whole tree that’s dying, but just the leaves.
The
leaves must change and fall each year
so
the tree can survive through the cold and dark of winter.
Change.
Jesus
challenges us with the story of two sons,
both
of whom changed their minds:
one
of them really needed to,
while
the other ought not have.
It’s
been said that the only person in the entire world
who
actually welcomes change…is a wet baby.
Nonetheless,
change comes.
It’s
an unavoidable part of life.
We
experience change in our personal lives,
in
our families, in our work,
in
our country and community, in our culture and society,
even
in our Church.
In
general, we don’t take change very well,
nor
make some changes very easily.
Certainly,
and with good reason,
there
are many things upon which we depend
to
be steady and stable.
But
it’s a rather dangerous illusion to think
that
everything can and should stay just the same.
How
often we get things backwards—
desperately
trying to hang on to the wrong things,
but
all-too-willing to let the right ones go!
We’re
like a tree prepared to lose its trunk and limbs
because
it hates to shed its green leaves
as
winter approaches.
No
question about it:
the
dying part of change is always hard.
But
changing, letting go—yes, even dying—
opens
the way to something beautiful and glorious
which
we’d otherwise completely miss.
God,
who is unchanging and unchangeable,
freely
chose to humble himself,
taking
on our human nature and dying on a cross.
We
are to make this attitude of Christ our own.
What needs changing in my
life?
Are
there sins from which I need to turn?
Do
I hang on to old ways simply because they’re comfortable,
not
because they’ve fruitful or virtuous?
Have I been looking out only for my own interests?
And what ought I not to have
changed in my life?
Are
there people whom I’ve failed?
Are
there principles I’ve compromised or abandoned?
Do my words say one thing but my deeds another?
Take
a lesson from the autumn leaves.
Be unafraid
to change whatever needs changing.
Instead
of fighting change, embrace it—
and
your life just might take on a new and more brilliant color.
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