I love autumn!  The cool season of autumn and the changing of leaves has always felt to me like a season of great anticipation, of new beginnings (starting a new school year and seeing beloved friends whom I had missed all summer, a time of beginning of new exciting adventures, the harvest being brought in).  I love the flavors of the season: spiced apple cider and pumpkin-flavored things (both which I love).  Also the exciting thrill of the coming of winter (which is a season that I, unlike many people, really love)).

But in addition to all these I also love the spiritual “themes” of this season, woven into our experience of this season.  Through the celebrations of different spiritual Feasts and Saints (including some of my favorite Saints: St. Francis, and St. Therese), the Church holds up to us different facets of the Great Divine Mystery of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.

As the harvest is brought in, as the days get cooler and darker, and the natural world seems to enter into a the temporary “death” of winter, people’s minds tend to raise up to thoughts of death, the netherworld, and thus the supernatural.

The Church thus holds up to us Angels and Saints.  The Angels, the spiritual beings that guard and protect us, who help us to know the will of God, we commemorate on Sept. 29 (The Feast of St. Michael and the Archangels), and Oct. 2 (The Feast of Guardian Angels).  On Nov. 1 we celebrate the Great Feast of All Saints, remembering fellow human beings who have walked through and struggled in this world, and now reign with the Lord in heavenly glory, and who pray and intercede for us.  This reminds us too, to pray for souls that are passing into heavenly paradise, and thus we celebrate All Souls Day on Nov. 2.

And in between the Feasts of Angels and Saints comes this month of October, called the month of the Rosary, due to the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary on Oct. 7.  This day is also called the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, due to the victory at the Battle of Lepanto, when Pope St. Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the rosary for protection against the invading forces of the Ottoman Empire.

Here in the United States, forty or so years ago, the Bishops also called for this month to me a prayer for the protection of the dignity and sanctity of every human life, thus “Respect Life month.”  This is partly due to the fact that the cause for life has been particularly entrusted to the prayers of the Blessed Mother.

Throughout this month I will be sharing a bit more about the rosary, as the month of the rosary, as well as addressing a few things around the themes of respect of life.  More to come on this in future bulletin columns!

Peace,

-Fr. Kevin