Provincial Ponderings - March 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Let me begin by saying Happy Spring and welcome back to the Beacon as springtime is upon us! The start of Spring brings with it a rush of hope inside of me as I see seeds beginning to blossom, as I hear the sounds and songs of birds chirping, as I notice the longer light of the day’s length, and as I enjoy the increasing warmth of the sun’s rays. These “budding” signs of life in nature awaken new energy to break out of the holy darkness of winter into the dawning of new life in springtime. This sense of new life comes to consciousness in me in simple and natural ways, for example, I hear myself saying to myself things like “I want to go out to play,” or “I want to get outside and take a walk,” or “I really want to get together with my friends.” There is something about spring that awakens a spirit of hope deep within my heart and soul to bring me out from winter’s sacred quiet and into my awareness of my deep desire to choose life—and to live it—with gusto and passion. To be sure that ‘special something’ about spring is not something magical, whimsical, or coincidental to me. It is gift, grace, and blessing of God. 

The season of Spring is also the season of nature when we Christians celebrate the liturgical season of Lent. Interestingly enough the etymology of the word Lent comes from the Old English word, lencten, meaning springtime and the season of spring, and the Old Saxon word, lentin, meaning lengthening of the day. As a people of faith, we believe that all things come into being by God’s creative and bountiful love. The gracious providence of God brings nature and grace together in the contemporaneous experiences of Nature’s season of Spring and our Lenten season of prayer, penance, and conversion. What do I mean? Both seasons draw us into the summons and experience of new life, growth, and change that brings about a deeper sense of hope, peace, and joy from deep within one’s being. As nature renews herself in spring, Lent—the Church’s Spring, if you will—invites us to growth and renewal in our life with God, with one another, and with all creation. As spring beckons me to engage and enjoy the new life it reveals in nature’s way, the grace of Lent calls me to choose new life by turning to God with my whole heart to encounter the One who is gracious, kind, and merciful. In my wanting to go out to play in the spirit of springtime, I also hear and sense the invitation of the Holy Spirit to experience my freedom as a child of God who is loved abundantly and unconditionally and who is invited to experience the joy and fullness of life that such love bestows in the core of my being.

To quietly walk about in springtime’s cathedral of creation is to be drawn into the beauty of creation and the presence of God. From looking up to the sky, the clouds, and the stars above; to noticing the trees, the plants, and the grass below; to being touched by people and places that I encounter along the way, my spirit is so often lifted up in awe and wonder. In such moments I hear the echo of the words of the song, “How Great Thou Art,” ringing in my ear:

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, how great thou art, how great thou art. 

The words and the song readily become a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God in such moments of grace and blessing. 

The seasons of nature and the liturgical seasons of our lives are all given to us as gifts from God to be received with gratitude and to be shared with great generosity. There is no coincidence that Spring and Lent coincide. That in so many ways they go hand in hand is only of God’s Providence! And so, I hope and pray that we might experience the blessings of springtime as inspiration and invitation to a deeper spiritual experience of the gift of Lent. I also hope and pray that we might all experience the blessings of Lent as inspiration and an invitation to a deeper spiritual experience of the gift of spring.

Happy Spring and Happy Lent!