GROWING SPIRITUALLY IN THE 4 SEASONS
Seasons of Autumn, Winter, Springtime and Summer
Season of Autumn
"Autumn Season is the time of harvest. the promise contained in the winter's gestation, spring's birth and summer's growth has been fulfilled.The circle is complete. This season marks the beginning of a period for thanksgiving and celebration. It is time to reflect - to bring into awareness the dependency we have upon the earth with its processes and diversity; to bring to conciousness, too, the spirit of this season and what it says to our season of personal spiritual growth."
**Source : Foundations for Global Community
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*An Autumn Prayer
O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher, for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment.
As I gaze upon your full-colored beauty, I sense all about you at-homeness with your amber riches.
I live in a society that is ever-restless, always eager for more mountains to climb,
seeking happiness through more and more possessions.
As a child of my culture, I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.
Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received and may I know that it's enough,
that my striving can cease in the abundance of God's grace.
May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure. As you O Autumn take pleasure in your great bounty, let me also take delight in the abundance of the simple things in life which are the true source of joy. With the golden glow of peaceful contentment may I truly appreciate this autumn day. AMEN
~*Taken from Prayers of a Planetary Pilgrim by Edward Hayes
**Source : Foundations for Global Community
***************
*An Autumn Prayer
O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher, for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment.
As I gaze upon your full-colored beauty, I sense all about you at-homeness with your amber riches.
I live in a society that is ever-restless, always eager for more mountains to climb,
seeking happiness through more and more possessions.
As a child of my culture, I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.
Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received and may I know that it's enough,
that my striving can cease in the abundance of God's grace.
May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure. As you O Autumn take pleasure in your great bounty, let me also take delight in the abundance of the simple things in life which are the true source of joy. With the golden glow of peaceful contentment may I truly appreciate this autumn day. AMEN
~*Taken from Prayers of a Planetary Pilgrim by Edward Hayes
Season of Winter
Silence....cold....stillness...deep...dormant...rest...waiting....
Stillness and thoughts of death come more readily to us in winter to remind us that each season is part of an ongoing cycle of birth, growth, fruition and death. The cold of winter provides the dormancy for seeds, bulbs and trees so that they may burst forth in spring. The harness of winter prepares us for the burst of creatively, freedom, and light of spring and summer. The crisp, clear, cold nights reveal a sky filled with the stars of the galaxies that connect us with our origins and the origins of all that is.
The bare branches of tress, stripped of the essentials, remind us to reflect on what is essential in our lives. Winter bring the still time for us to consider what is meaningful and what is not." **Source Foundations for Global Communication
Stillness and thoughts of death come more readily to us in winter to remind us that each season is part of an ongoing cycle of birth, growth, fruition and death. The cold of winter provides the dormancy for seeds, bulbs and trees so that they may burst forth in spring. The harness of winter prepares us for the burst of creatively, freedom, and light of spring and summer. The crisp, clear, cold nights reveal a sky filled with the stars of the galaxies that connect us with our origins and the origins of all that is.
The bare branches of tress, stripped of the essentials, remind us to reflect on what is essential in our lives. Winter bring the still time for us to consider what is meaningful and what is not." **Source Foundations for Global Communication
Winter . . . A time to rest and deepening.
Winter, a Season for Deepening
"In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
and like the seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring."
~Kahil Gibran, The Prophet
Season of Springtime
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There is a uniqueness and beauty to springtime. It is a time of new beginnings, new possibility; a time of rebirth, of hope and faith; a time to remember that the new is born out of the quiet time of recent winter and contains the seeds for the fruition of summer. To deeply identify with the Earth in the springtime is to affirm our own new beginnings, our times of rebirth, hope and faith; to remember that sometime the germ of an idea - planted during a barren time in our souls - makes its appearance in unexpected ways and unpredictedtimes; to rejoice in the possibility of bring to fruition some carefully nurtured dream.. and be grateful for the "unimaginable resurrections" in this Easter season of new life. 
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"I said to the almond tree: Speak to me of God; and the almond tree blossomed." ~Nikos Kazantzakis
Season of Summer
In the heat of the summer, an apple orchard heavy with fruit or a cornfield standing tall in the noonday sun reminds us that this season is the time of vigorous growth and great diversity. Given the right conditions of soil, water, and sun, the summer is the fulfillment of spring. So too, the fulfillment of our spring dreams requires care and energy, nourishment and vigilance, persistence and endurance.
"The first chirps of the waking birds-of the dawn, a moment of awe and inexpressible innocence, when the Father in silence opens their eyes and they speak to Him, wondering if it is time to "be"? And he tells them 'Yes'. Then they one by one wake and begin to sing.The bIrds ask the Father, if is time to be?
Not: may I wake up and move around, but may I come into being? At every moment the Creator keeps us all in being."
Source: The Environmental Vision of Thomas Merton Monica Weis, SSJi
Not: may I wake up and move around, but may I come into being? At every moment the Creator keeps us all in being."
Source: The Environmental Vision of Thomas Merton Monica Weis, SSJi
Resting a minute . . .
