When we arrive at the beginning of October here at Stanbrook, Wass, we are aware Summer is definitely over; now we are into the beautiful season of Autumn. The trees are turning and the leaves are shouting their last hurrah, as they put on their final great show of colour, wearing their cloak of gold. Sitting on this hilltop in North Yorkshire, as this wonderful season unfolds before our eyes, we are awestruck by the many different colours, light gold to golden brown, there are even some beautiful deep reds. Then, all too soon, the leaves begin to fall and the trees become bare again. It is as if the cycle of life is over.

We know this is not true; come Spring, the cycle begins again. In front of our piazza wall we have a small wildflower meadow. It always looks quite sad at this time of year as we prepare to cut back this year’s growth. Once done it all looks very barren and empty, as do many of the fields surrounding us after the harvest. The meadow is never cut back before October to allow the seeds, the fruits of this year’s flowering, to fall into the ground. What seems to be the end, is the start of a new beginning: a sign of hope.

It reminds us that looks can be so deceptive, never more so when the Autumn leaves fall to the ground and seed into the earth. The smell of Autumn is the fires burning the leaves and dead foliage, as flower beds are cleared in readiness for spring. Nature is making ready for its long winter’s sleep but the promise of new life is in those seeds.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John12:24)

As we know, although it looks as if nature has fallen asleep, those seeds are waiting for the Spring and the warmer days, the longer daylight when life bursts forth once more. It is the cycle of life, the birth, the growing, the flowering, the fruitfulness and then dying.

For us, we too go through this cycle but at our death we have been the promised eternal life. This is our hope:

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)

Our death is not the end. At our baptism we are baptized into this promise, when we are plunged into the waters of baptism into suffering, death and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ; it is the Paschal Mystery. The mystery Christ wishes us to share in. Our life is full of this promise too. It is at our baptism that we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and the seed of faith is sown in us. From this moment on we constantly live out the Paschal Mystery in our life of faith. We daily live for Christ and die to self.

John Cassian, a monk and ascetic writer from Southern Gaul who lived circa 360 to 435, is referenced (but not named) by St Benedict in the Rule. He recommends reading both Cassian’s Conferences and Institutes (RB 73:5-6).

Then the Conferences and the Institutes and the Lives of the Fathers, as also the Rule of our holy Father Basil – what else are they but tools of virtue for right-living and obedient monks?

Cassian in his first Conference relates to the reader the wisdom of an old desert father, Abba Moses. The young John Cassian had sat at the feet of this wise old monk. The Conference begins with Abba Moses’ distinction between (intermediate) goals and (final) ends. Abba Moses explains the monk’s goal is purity of heart and his end the kingdom of God. This I might add, is not just for monks or nuns but is true for us all.

The heart is the organ that keeps us alive; if the heart stops then there is no life. Purity of heart is one of Jesus’s beatitudes in his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:8:

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

It is a beatitude with a promise of eternal life. What does it mean for us? It means going back to that seed of faith sown at our Baptism when we became a temple of the Holy Spirit. Like the seed sown in spring it needs the right conditions to grow. St Benedict tells us in the Prologue to the Rule:

Who is the one who yearns for life, and desires to see good days”? And if, hearing Him, you answer, “I am the one, “God says to you, “If you will have true and everlasting life, keep your tongue from evil and your lips that they speak no guile. Turn away from evil and do good; seek after peace and pursue it (RB Prol:15-17).

These are the right conditions for that seed to burst open and flourish. We are all made for life and this is what God wants for each and every one of us. Purity of heart is the practice of these things. Through it we show our love for God and of our neighbour.

In this month of October we celebrate some wonderful feasts, and we come to the end of the season of Creationtide on the feast of St Francis, who lived so close to created things. His Canticle of Creatures brings this out so clearly and beautifully. Then, on 9 October, is the feast of St John Henry Newman, on November 1, Pope Leo will proclaim him, deservedly so, a Doctor of the Church. At night prayer one of the hymns offered in the Roman Office is one I often prayed as a teenager, Lead kindly light. In this season nature seems to be beginning to fall into its winter sleep and so much around us, especially in the news, is dark and hopeless. We all need to remember the seed of our faith, cling on to it and find ways in our lives to bring hope where there is none.

The first person I begin with is me. The road may seem dark and empty but remember the Lord said, I am with you till the end of time. (Mt 28:20).  We do not walk alone in the dark, Christ is lighting our way.

Lead, Kindly Light, amidst the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on.
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile,

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!
St John Henry Newman

Sr Andrea Savage OSB