I thought about this question as I wandered through the Monastery grounds – taking in the beauty of this fall season before it gets colder and windier.
I began by walking through the Magnificat Garden and contemplating Mary and her statue. It is the month of October and is dedicated to the rosary in which we meditate on the mysteries of the life of Christ and Mary. Magnificat means magnifies and Mary does this throughout her life. I also magnified the lord for the beauty I saw.
As I continued, I stopped at the statue of St. Scholastica. She is holding a dove symbolic of the time when her soul would leave the earth and ascend to heaven in the form of a white dove. She is also holding the Rule of St. Benedict which she helped shape.
I arrived at the cemetery and the Stations of the Cross, ending near the pieta – Mary tenderly holding Jesus in his death. Did she have any sense that this was not the end, but that he would rise from the dead and be with us always?
The cemetery reminds me of many of our beloved Sisters who have died, as well as family members, friends, and kin throughout the world. November 1st is the feast of All Saints, and we remember all those canonized saints as well as the many holy, uncanonized ones. On November 2nd, we remember All Souls and pray that they will be experiencing the love and peace of Christ that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard.” (I Corinthians 2:9.)
What is my favorite season? I came to the conclusion that it is the one I am living in during that season. …except maybe winter…
