No Shadows
The trees are still, for the most part, still the deep
green of deep summer. The soy beans and
corn fields show little to no signs that they have grown past ripening. Yet, you may have noticed that a soft prophet of the turning season is
proclaimed across the fence lines and fallow fields. Goldenrod, a true harbinger of Autumn, has
begun its bloom.
When goldenrod blooms, summer is fair spent. Those who only look tree height for signs of
autumn are still waiting. They have
overlooked the yellow that has taken firm hold across the landscape this past
week. The yellow of goldenrod sings
deceptively of summer. It is that same
bright and cheerful yellow that children use to color all those full circle suns
and telltale rays that light up the refrigerators of many parents and
grandparents. Later in the season, when
the asters come on as the final major wild bloom of the season, goldenrod will
become what Aldo Leopold described as ‘smoky gold’ when he wrote of tamaracks
in October.
The sun came up bright during my morning prayers this
morning. The Divine Office, because it
was the feast day for St. Augustine, had an excerpt from the saint’s Confessions
that spoke of God’s immutable light: “It
was not the ordinary light perceptible to all flesh, nor was it merely
something of greater magnitude but still essentially akin, shining more clearly
and diffusing itself everywhere by its intensity. No, it was something entirely distinct,
something altogether different from all these things; and it did not rest above
my mind as oil on the surface of water, nor was it above me as heaven is above
earth. This light was above me because
it had made me. I was below it because I
was created by it. He who has come to
know the truth knows this light.” Confessions, St. Augustine
All this invited my own spirit to contemplate what it will be like to experience God’s light. St. John assures us that not only will we experience God’s light, we will dwell within it: “The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb.” Revelation 21:23
One facet that my spirit considered that Augustine and
John did not, at least not in the quotes above, is that God’s light must not cast
any shadow. God’s light will envelop
everything from all angles and directions at once. We need not fear because it is not so much
that God’s light will penetrate everything, including our inmost beings, but that
God’s light will draw all to it. It is pure
invitation. We choose whether to pull
back, or to step, as we pray in each Mass, into the light of God’s face.
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
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